LIVERPOOL, England (Reuters) – Steven Gerrard’s return to Anfield as Aston Villa supervisor led to a 1-0 defeat by Liverpool with a 67th minute Mohamed Salah penalty maintaining the Merseysiders some extent behind Premier League leaders Manchester City.
There was little fanfare for Gerrard, the Liverpool-born former captain and Champions League winner, as he took his place within the technical space earlier than the sport and caught together with his method of treating the sport like every other.
Even on the last whistle, when Liverpool followers lastly broke right into a refrain of his identify, Gerrard, on the pitch shaking palms with gamers and officers, made no reciprocal gesture, saving his applause for Villa’s visiting assist.
Asked concerning the response from the Liverpool followers to his return, Gerrard was ice chilly.
“For me the precedence is the assist from the Aston Villa followers,” he stated.
It was knowledgeable method from Gerrard, one which confirmed respect for his new membership and their supporters and he may have added to his rising fame as a supervisor from the way in which he set his workforce up to frustrate Juergen Klopp’s facet.
It was a conservative method, with Ollie Watkins enjoying as a lone striker supported by veteran Ashley Young and a financial institution of three midfielders sat in entrance of the again 4, however it succeeded in limiting Liverpool’s area.
Inevitably although, Liverpool dominated the primary half with Villa keeper Emiliano Martinez doing nicely to preserve out a back-post header from Andy Robertson and a close-range shot on the close to publish from Salah.
After the break, Martinez produced an excellent reflex cease to preserve out a robust header from Virgil van Dijk however Liverpool’s strain lastly paid off when Salah went down within the field beneath problem from Tyrone Mings.
The Egyptian fired house an unstoppable spot-kick after protests from Villa. Gerrard felt that the choice was “gentle” and was puzzled that referee Stuart Attwell didn’t go to the pitchside monitor to assessment the choice.
The Villa supervisor threw on ahead Danny Ings and the attack-minded Emiliano Buendia in a bid to discover a late leveller and the way in which his facet put strain on the Liverpool defence within the latter phases left him questioning what may need been had he taken a extra optimistic method earlier.
Villa claimed in useless for a late penalty when Ings went down as Liverpool keeper Alisson Becker challenged leaving Gerrard annoyed.
“I assumed Liverpool had been higher when it comes to basic play. Their model was higher than ours, however we’ve completed so nicely to comprise them for giant intervals. Ultimately the sport has been determined by a penalty. There had been two penalty incidents within the recreation, Liverpool acquired theirs,” he stated.
Klopp conceded his workforce had misplaced their means after taking the lead.
“For 75 minutes we had been excellent. Clearly the higher facet and performed in all of the areas we wanted to play. We created moments,” stated the German.
“But we go 1-0 up and… Argh. Then the sport opens up, let me say it like this… We misplaced the rhythm. That’s an issue in soccer so you could have to maintain it from the start.”
Liverpool are on 37 factors with leaders City, who beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 1-0 earlier on Saturday, on 38 factors and third-placed Chelsea on 36 factors.
(Reporting by Simon Evans, Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
