Sometimes, a man can rage just a little too hard against the dying of the light. That was the pitiful reality of Steven Gerrard’s final match for Liverpool against Manchester United.
He wanted it too much. The heroic last hurrah, the script from the heavens, the breathless drama, the epic final scene.
Gerrard’s codas are rarely short of spectacular. Last-minute goals, revivals, miracles even. This was a screen grab — blink and you’d miss it — a dismal little cameo that, knowing the man, will probably haunt him into his twilight years. And not just as a footballer either.
Gerrard hoped for so much from his final Anfield appearance against Manchester United. These are the games he knows he will miss and he wanted so badly to make it count. It was over before it had begun.
Thirty-eight seconds. That was Gerrard’s contribution to this game. Introduced at half-time by Brendan Rodgers, with Liverpool already trailing, Gerrard no doubt hoped to make a big impact on the 45 minutes. He failed even to make it to 45 seconds — seven short when a stamp on Ander Herrera ended his involvement.
It is possible to have sympathy for Gerrard’s misguided desire while also believing referee Martin Atkinson’s straight red card was entirely merited. Gerrard put one in on Juan Mata — very hard but fair — Herrera then gave him one back, and Gerrard stamped on him in fury as retaliation. Atkinson saw it and flashed a red card instantly.
He also booked Herrera, although that may have been as a sop to the home crowd, watching their talisman disappearing forlornly down the tunnel. Gerrard didn’t even protest greatly. He knew he was wrong, he knew he had lost it in his desperation to leave the pitch a winner on 90 minutes. He knew he had let his team-mates down, too — and admitted it in a heartfelt apology, made immediately after the match.
Last year, the slip against Chelsea — that was misfortune. This he recognised was little short of madness. Did it cost Liverpool the game, or at least a point? Possibly. Considering how close the scoreline was with 10, who knows if United would have held out against 11? Certainly, Gerrard’s exit left Liverpool with a hill to climb, doubly so when Mata scored his second of the game — one of the goals of the season to stretch United’s lead to 2-0.
The defeat leaves Liverpool five points adrift of the top four and still to visit Arsenal and Chelsea. The first of those games must be played without Gerrard, who will also miss next month’s FA Cup quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers.
After this, how much he will start of the remainder of the season is unknown. A player so overwhelmed by need as his final weeks slip away is hardly reliable. Gerrard had not been sent off in the Premier League for nine years, so this was entirely out of character. That will worry Rodgers as he prepares to regroup for one last assault on Champions League qualification.
Manchester United are in the box seat now. Having ridden their luck so often this season, with a daunting run of fixtures one of two things had to happen. They would either improve, as promised by Louis van Gaal, who claimed his teams always got stronger in the second half of his first season; or United would experience a fearful reckoning, savaged by tougher opponents.
Following an impressive display against Tottenham Hotspur last week, United appear to have taken option one. The first half here, certainly, was as good as they have played all season.
They reduced Liverpool to less than 40 per cent possession, the midfield was exceptional and they scored a vital goal through Mata.
He is one of the three most improved players under Van Gaal and all were in effect. Michael Carrick has had a huge influence as a defensive screen since returning from injury, while Marouane Fellaini has tremendous nuisance value as a deep-lying targetman, a unique position Van Gaal appears to have created for him.
Mata is in much better nick than this time last season under David Moyes, too, particularly as a goal-scorer. His two on Sunday were exceptionally taken — and constructed. It was a beautifully worked move for the 14th-minute opener. Daley Blind won the ball on the left, feeding Fellaini who picked out Herrera in the middle. It was his pass that clinched it, splitting the Liverpool defence and leaving Mata with only Simon Mignolet to beat. The finish was equally impressive, shooting across the goalkeeper inside the far post. Liverpool’s usual fluency was missing but after 35 minutes they should have levelled. Jordan Henderson crossed from the right, the ball falling to Daniel Sturridge, who generously laid it back to Adam Lallana.
Maybe he regretted his decision after Lallana powered his shot low against the perimeter advertising. It wasn’t terribly wide, but Lallana had to do better from there. He made way for Gerrard at half-time.
Liverpool improved, strangely, despite being reduced to 10 but United were worth their victory and — Gerrard’s sad exit aside — were responsible for the most memorable moment of the afternoon.
It came after 59 minutes. Carrick broke up play and fed the ball to Herrera. His blocked shot fell to Mata who then found substitute Angel di Maria. He paused, waited for the opening, and chipped it back to Mata. What happened next was simply delightful. Mata took two steps back, sized up the dropping ball and hit a sideways scissor kick on the volley which utterly defeated Mignolet.
By far the best team for an hour, United could have won by more had Wayne Rooney not had an injury-time penalty saved after Emre Can had clumsily felled Blind. It was a fine diving stop by Mignolet and of particular frustration for Rooney, being only his fourth shot on target at Anfield in his career.
That Liverpool had earlier got a goal back and had Van Gaal’s men sweating for a while is tribute to a spirit that is increasingly independent of Gerrard’s presence — and will need to be in the coming weeks.
The goal came from Sturridge in the 69th minute, beating David de Gea at his near post from a lovely pass by Philippe Coutinho, to remind Roy Hodgson there is not just the one prolific English striker in the Premier League right now.
At the end, Atkinson was booed by the locals, although it is hard to see what he got so drastically wrong. If anything Liverpool were lucky — Martin Skrtel appearing to stamp on De Gea in the last move of the match, provoking a mild scuffle. Atkinson looked to have missed it, the television cameras didn’t, and considering what happened to Diego Costa earlier in the season, it is unlikely the FA will either
