Steven Gerrard makes ‘good’ Jonathan Moss quip after Aston Villa loss v Liverpool
Aston Villa fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Liverpool on Tuesday night (10 May) despite a battling display from Steven Gerrard’s men.
Douglas Luiz had given the Villans the perfect start, scoring after just four minutes but the home side were quickly pegged back by Reds defender Joel Matip.
Sadio Mane popped up to score the decisive goal in the second half as Jurgen Klopp’s side kept the pressure on Manchester City, who Villa play on the last day, in the title race.
Gerrard was particularly disappointed in referee Jonathan Moss’ performance with the incident involving Luiz being a particular sticking point for the former Liverpool midfielder.
I just hope that it’s looked at. That’s all I say. I hope it’s looked at,” Gerrard said after the game, as quoted by the Liverpool Echo.
“Have I gone to talk to Jon Moss? No. I just hope his performance is looked at. I don’t want to be sour, Liverpool scored two goals against us and we need to look at that and I don’t want to cover over any cracks.”
He was then told that Moss was retiring at the end of the season by a journalist and Gerrard responded: “Is he? Good.”
Encouraging
If we ignore Moss’ awful night with the whistle (he’s already retired in his mind) then there was plenty to be encouraged by for Gerrard and Villa fans.
We might have lost when the final whistle went but we made one of the world’s best football teams work extremely hard to gain those three points and we could have easily taken something from the game on another day.
The end of this season is all about finding a formula that works so we can carry it into next season where we have to be aiming towards the European places with the right investment over the summer.
Now we have very little to play for in the Premier League, we can afford to be a bit more expansive and experimental and Tuesday’s performance proved that we have European quality within us.
Much better sides have been rolled over by the Reds this season so Gerrard won’t be too disappointed with the defeat and will be even more motivated to beat City on the final day and give his former employers every chance of lifting the trophy that eluded him as a player.
In other Aston Villa news, Ollie Watkins is a reported target for David Moyes at West Ham with a huge £50million price tag mooted.