Carragher believes his former team mate’s ‘moment of madness’ was borne out of frustration
In a game that contained numerous talking points and once again demonstrated the poor level of refereeing in the Premier League, there was little for Brendan Rodgers to take from the match, in the way of positives.
Whether it was the soft penalty that Mignolet saved, the Gerrard red, or the fact that Phil Jones should have also been sent off (not to mention numerous incidents that went against Liverpool), there were a number of moments that Brendan Rodgers could point to that contributed to a poor display, with the red for the captain being the only thing the referee got right all day.
Few would disagree that the Reds were solely responsible for their own downfall though, with Martin Atkinson merely assisting United in making the win look more comfortable than it was. However, some will no doubt still point to Gerrard’s sending off as the pivotal point in the match and Jamie Carragher believes that Gerrard lashed out in frustration at no longer being a permanent fixture in his final season.
Speaking on Sky Sports after the game, Carragher said: “There’s no doubt that not playing at Swansea (in Liverpool’s last game) and then not playing this game would be a frustration,’ Carragher told Sky Sports.
“He’s been at Liverpool 17, 18 years, he’s always been the man, the captain, there’s never been a case where he’s been out of the team and as soon as he’s fit he goes straight back in the team.
“This is the first time I think, last week at Swansea and today, that hasn’t happened, so there’ll be frustration there.
“Watching the first half from the bench he’d have been disappointed, Liverpool weren’t playing well, they were losing 1-0.
“But there would have been more frustration. I think he’d have been watching players in his position performing not great and thinking, ‘Why am I not playing, why am I not on that pitch?’
“Steven Gerrard is an emotional player. You see that in his career and it’s taken teams I’ve played in into some unbelievable moments.
“Sometimes he hasn’t played with his brain in terms of when he’s done well, it’s been his heart – the (FA) Cup final against West Ham, Istanbul (the Champions League final). That wasn’t Steven Gerrard playing with a cold, calculated head, that was just playing from the heart. He can do special things like that.”
He continued: “But on the flip side of that, when he plays in games like this and he comes on maybe a bit frustrated – he’s had seven red cards in his career, four of them have been Everton and Manchester United, two each now. An Everton one was coming off the bench, an Everton one was 15, 20 minutes into a game. I think the United other one was an FA Cup game in the first half and if I think right they were all straight reds.
“There’s no doubt being a local player, the emotion of these occasions, the frustration coming into this game, has contributed to the moment of madness.”
While true, Gerrard’s sending off simply compounded what had been an awful day for LFC. Liverpool were far too slow out of the traps, as was the case against Swansea City, but unlike the opposition on Monday, Manchester United had the wherewithal to punish the Reds. There’s no doubt having Gerrard on the pitch would’ve made a difference but Rodgers needs to ensure that Liverpool do not start any of the remaining games that slowly for the remainder of the season.
