In the 16th round of the Premier League, Villa lost 0-1 away to Liverpool, and Gerrard returned to Anfield after six years as the head coach of the away team.
The top three in the Premier League in this round all scored 3 points on penalties, but the winning atmosphere was slightly different, obviously the battle between Liverpool and Villa, Gerrard left the team so far for the first time as an opponent to return, so that the 50,000 fans in the stadium collectively stood up and applauded, which made the witnesses sigh. Relying on indomitable defense and carrying the onslaught of the old owner, Gerald's trip home can be called a defeat. Rumored to succeed Klopp in 2024, at least for now, everything is so natural.
"It always felt great to walk through the door at Anfield and it carries a lot of my memories. But I prepared for this game professionally and didn't mix personal emotions into it. In the pre-match press conference, Gerrard talked about the nostalgia for the trip home, after all, if it were not for Villa's decisive dismissal of Dean Smith, the Jay team who made 710 appearances here in the player era would not be who they are now, and Klopp put on a top hat for the deceased who had never worked together but was extremely appreciative: "Thanks to Gerrard, he would not play. When he came on the pitch, he deserved everything he would get and he was one of the best players of all time. Before the game, Ian Rush asked Gerald with a little difficulty: "Owen said he hated going back to Anfield, what do you think?" Gerrard had something to say: "If I had been to Manchester United, I would hate to come back. Although the arrival of the Jay team in a black coat was slightly strange to the visiting coach, he immediately greeted him with applause to the fans who shouted their names in the stands.
Although he was a rookie with only 5 games of experience in the Premier League, Gerrard's familiarity with Liverpool's roots was still revealed in a highly targeted defensive counterattack: the collective movement ability of Cash, Consa and Mins at the defensive end was extremely excellent, using dense areas and mutual complements to maximize the continuous pressure of the Reds' trident, while Watkins, who was usually alone in the opposing half, made Van Dijk nervous and even lost a yellow card. Compared with Damien Martinez, who is high and low and exceptionally focused, Alisson is undoubtedly the most foreign presence in the first half, and the Brazilian almost missed the ball twice, and his fans' blood pressure was up. Compared with Klopp, who has been pressuring the fourth official since the second half of the first half and chanting words, Gerald, who is also standing and commanding, is surprisingly quiet. On this cold and rainy night, the humble away team is no different from the Wolves team that also dragged the Red Army into the mud in the previous round.
The white roll at the half was enough for Gerrard to praise the disciples in the locker room, but Villa's manager may have forgotten that in the past 17 times the Red Army veteran led the team to visit Anfield, lost 15 games here, and entered the second half, completely suppressed Villa's home team in the half, iron heart to win the opponent, and the away team that shot all 4 times off target, there was no power to fight back, and the wing that created the penalty was 3 to 3, and the three defenders on the right side of Villa almost did the same, helpless to face salah, who was almost crazy in the recent state, The inferiority of Mins's absolute speed still made the away team stick to a hundred and one hundred hours. As Klopp said in his post-match replay: "After losing his rhythm, That foul by Mins wasn't easy to avoid. Since then, Gerrard has sent in frontcourt players such as Incess, Sansson and Buendia to try to change the passivity, but it is clear that this nostalgic night, Liverpool, which is chasing Manchester City, is not ready to become the former captain.
After continuing to follow the Blue Moon with 1 point, the Reds generals rarely talked about the game after the game, but left more praise to Gerrard. Van Dijk, who has a great presence on both ends of the game, took the lead in saying: "Gerrard will always be a Liverpooler, you will inevitably think of him when you think of the team, he has always been a legend of the Reds, and he has always been welcomed here." Henderson is even more far-sighted as one of the few players in the squad to compete with Gerald: "Gerrard has been doing a great job at Villa, and their recent form confirms that, and we have long felt that this game was a major test for the team. Klopp simply named Gerrard to take over: "It's strange to meet him as an opponent, even in their coaching staff there are many old faces, Gerrard is a Liverpool legend, this will not change, it should not change." I'm not going to stay at Liverpool forever, so I hope it's Gerrard who will always be here. But that doesn't put pressure on us to play. ”
Wen | Yang Jian
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