Ever since Gerrard left Liverpool as a player, there was always speculation about him returning to Anfield for the club’s managerial role at some point in his career.
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Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side will be eager to recover swiftly from their Premier League setback to Tottenham Hotspur at the weekend. They were held to a 1-1 draw at Anfield, which allowed leaders Manchester City to increase the lead at the top to three points. With only three games left to play in the league this season, Klopp would want his team to make the most of every opportunity available to them. First up on their list is a trip to Aston Villa. At Villa Park, former Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard will be leading the home side’s challenge from the dugout. Ever since Gerrard left Liverpool as a player, there was always speculation about him returning to Anfield for the club’s managerial role at some point in his career.
Several former players, experts and fans have weighed in on this topic, with many strongly believing that one day he will be the Liverpool manager. Jurgen Klopp was the latest to have his say on the topic. Asked about Gerrard being his “possible successor” as Liverpool manager, Klopp in his press conference said, “I have no idea. But my ‘possible’ successor, yes, of course it’s possible that Stevie will be manager here one day.” Stressed on whether he sees that happening in reality, Klopp added, “I have no idea, that’s not my decision to make. It is about other parties and Stevie as well. But, yes, I think it’s possible, that’s it.”
The weekend draw was a significant blow to Liverpool’s ambitions of winning the Premier League title. Manchester City now not only have a three-point lead but also have a four-point cushion over the Reds in goal difference. Asked whether he still believes the title race is not over, Klopp said, “It is clear that it is not over, whatever happened, because we both have three games to play. And my concern is actually: how can we win our games? We have absolutely no hand in how City will play their games. But before they are played I think we should not add on points; we don’t do that and I’m pretty sure City are not doing that. [Until] it’s not reachable anymore, why should we stop believing? That’s what we do.”
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Manchester City lead the table with 86 points from 35 games, while Liverpool have 83 points from the same number of matches. City’s 5-0 win over Newcastle United means they now have a healthy goal difference of 68 compared to the Reds’ 64. Klopp then spoke about how the players are now feeling after Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham. “Better. It’s very easy to describe our situation. There are obviously different perspectives. You can take it exactly like it was and say we drew, they won, makes it three points [behind City] and the goal difference changed obviously as well,” he added.
“Or, you can see it like this, we were six points behind and they lost and we won – and the rest is exactly the same. And we would be flying, we couldn’t wait until we could play Aston Villa and try to bring the next three. As human beings, it’s really cool, we can decide by ourselves how we see it. There are some facts but we are allowed to ignore them and then I try to help the boys see it like me and invite everybody else as well. Let’s just assume we won the last game and they lost and now we go to Aston Villa. That doesn’t make the Aston Villa game a little bit easier, not at all, it just gives you a nicer perspective and that’s what I think is important as well.”
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