In a truly peculiar game, albeit one of searing emotions for Liverpool fans, their iconic captain Steven Gerrard played his final game at Anfield with a tepid 3-1 loss to Crystal Palace; a recurring theme for the Reds this season. Here co-editor Kevin Kelly discusses three key talking points.
Lallana Gets The Party Started:
In what began and ended in a poignant and rather sombre nature, it seemed for a while an impromptu party may ensue. Indeed, Adam Lallana opened the scoring, latching onto a curiously dodgy back-pass from ex-Liverpool man Martin Kelly Lallana bore in on goal and smashed the ball home, before celebrating by embracing Gerrard in a heartfelt hug.
Lallana has suffered an inconsistent first season for Liverpool, with injuries often plaguing the attacking midfielder. Lallana has now scored five goals and made three assists for the Reds in the Premier League, directly contributing to a goal every 212 minutes of play.
Sadly for Gerrard and the Liverpool fans though, the goal seemingly sprung Alan Pardew’s men into life who decided to spoil the party by opening up a shockingly porous Liverpool team.
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Puncheon in the Gut for Liverpool Fans – But Bolasie Shines Too:
Jason Puncheon and Yannick Bolasie were the key conspirators on the day looking to spoil Gerrard’s day and any semblance of a comic book ending for
Roy of the Rovers
the Liverpool captain. Fans instead were served a Jason Puncheon equaliser, courtesy of a free-kick that wrong-footed Simon Mignolet.
Given the way that this season and many others during Gerrard’s time with Liverpool have gone, perhaps it’s more fitting that it wasn’t all plain sailing for the Reds during the midfielder’s final game at Anfield.
Yannick Bolasie was the star of the show, displaying surreal skills on the day, making fans question how this is a player who largely has played in the lower leagues for sides such as Rushden and Diamonds?
Palace paid Bristol City around £400,000 for the Democratic Republic of Congo international in 2012 but his value has steadily increased and rumours that he was a Liverpool target prompted Pardew to give the 25-year-old a £20m price tag. Now he would want more.
“Every player has a price” – Alan Pardew
The Crystal Palace manager, Alan Pardew, has said any club wanting to buy the winger Yannick Bolasie would have to pay “£40m to £60m”, but he conceded that “every player has a price”.
No doubt an obscene over-valuation, but nevertheless Bolasie and Puncheon lit up Anfield, unlike the home side could on the day.
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Gerrard is Leaving but Rodgers is Staying Put:
.. Or so the banners says. While it was a ‘Rodgers out – Rafa in’ banner flown over Anfield recently, Saturday saw another embarrassing banner ‘In Rodgers We Trust’, flown over the match.
For all the credit he received failing gloriously last year, Rodgers has copped plenty of flak this campaign, and the plane, however bizarre a medium to get message across, does show the Irishman hasn’t lost the support of all the fans yet.
A tough summer transfer window for Liverpool follows, and should Rodgers be lucky enough to keep his job for now, it is those new player acquisitions which will likely make or break his Liverpool tenure for good.