Steven Gerrard of Liverpool Legends is embraced by John Aldridge, Coach of Liverpool Legends, after their 2-0 victory in the Legends Charity Match between Liverpool Legends and Chelsea Legends at Anfield
Steven Gerrard of Liverpool Legends is embraced by John Aldridge, Coach of Liverpool Legends, after their 2-0 victory in the Legends Charity Match between Liverpool Legends and Chelsea Legends at Anfield
I was back in the dugout at Anfield on Saturday for the Liverpool Legends game and you know what, it’s such a great day. It really is, everyone is a winner.
We thank Chelsea for coming. We help them in specific ways as well. I think this last game was actually typified by Peter Crouch. He just typified everything about the day. The way he celebrated his goals, his empathy, the way he took everything in, the fun part of it. He loved it and it was just brilliant.
His antics on the pitch and off the pitch and his happiness just summed it all up. Crouchie did really well but they all did, all the players played their part.
Related Articles
Trent Alexander-Arnold's story changed and it might explain why he could leave Liverpool
Arne Slot told to re-sign 11-goal forward who is 'better' than Cody Gakpo for Liverpool
He was infectious and so too was Tash Dowie! Stevie G was brilliant, I don’t want to miss anyone out because they all did really well.
And we won! In front of a 60,000 crowd! It is a little bit sad though that, say for 40,000 of them, it could well be the first time they have been at Anfield this season because they can’t get tickets.
It’s not like when I was a kid, I could get up to every single home game. These kids go once or twice, wanting to see a Liverpool team play, seeing players that they know of, and getting to see them win too. It’s absolutely joyful, it’s brilliant.
You want to win it for the kids. When Crouchie scored the first goal and went to the corner, I looked around at all the kids, I’ll never forget how lovely the moment was.
I was lucky when I was their age and was able to watch Roger Hunt, Kevin Keegan, Ian Callaghan and co. We put that across to the lads at these legends matches over the years, to keep it more competitive for them and to try and win it for the fans - for the kids.
They take it on board. They want to win obviously, because it’s a game of football and they’re all competitive.
You only need to look at the battle between Jay Spearing and Dennis Wise for proof of that! Wisey never changes, he’s always been a nark! He’ll never stop being a nark!
But we’re glad that he came up and played. He did well for his age and Jay loves it. Jay absolutely loved it. He’s still fit and young, compared to most of the others. He was excellent.
No player wants to come off and we saw that with Djibril Cisse. He wasn’t pleased with us when he came off, he was fuming!
He should have scored! I was waiting for him to go in at the far post, to stretch for it, but he didn’t stretch and then felt his hamstring.
We all thought we better bring him off in case he gets worse, but he insisted he was alright. But if he was alright, he should have scored!
Strikers back scoring
We’ve seen a few players pick up knocks during the international break, and that’s never good, especially at this time of the season with the Premier League title on the line. But I think there is enough time for them to be back for Everton.
I’m pretty sure they’ll be alright, Gravenberch, Alisson and Konate. It looks like it is nothing serious and that is always the worry when they go away on international duty. But it’s a worry whenever you play football.
It’s good to see the forwards scoring too. Salah, Gakpo and Diaz have all got goals, while Jota’s got an assist too. They weren’t in their best form before the break so hopefully it does them the world of good.
We just need to see Nunez get a goal now. When you’re not scoring, you do lack confidence. I know that first-hand because it has happened to me.
You’ve just got to keep on getting in there and creating the chances, getting on the end of chances and eventually one of them will go in.
When you’re scoring and playing well, it’s like you’re up against a 5ft goalkeeper. Your confidence is up and you find the corners. But when you’re not, it’s like a WWE wrestler in a hockey goal!
It plays on your mind. When your confidence is low, it looks that way. But when it’s high, anyone could be in goal, you’re still going to score.
The lads do need a bit of confidence so hopefully these goals can help. But you can’t wait for things to happen, you’ve got to go and make things happen in the box. It only happens when you make it happen.