The slip. Everyone attuned to Premier League folklore knows it as the moment Liverpool’s title challenge flat-lined last season, as the start of “probably the worst three months of my life” for Steven Gerrard and as a defining act from which the 34-year-old cannot escape, an impression Chelsea fans will reinforce with relish at Anfield on Saturday. And in keeping with all folklore, inconvenient truth has been airbrushed out of the tale. There is an element of myth about the slip that suits all parties.
For those who thrive on the fall of an iconic leader, or were averse to Liverpool winning their first league championship in 24 years, the Gerrard stumble that led to Demba Ba’s opening goal for Chelsea in April was the thing that banners and songs are made of. Those who subscribe to the theory that fate cruelly conspired against Brendan Rodgers’ team need also look no further than that jaw-dropping twist.
It was undeniably a pivotal moment in the 2-0 defeat and a contributory factor towards Liverpool’s wait for a 19th league crown reaching a 25th year. But, because it is Gerrard, it has been exaggerated into the cause.
José Mourinho, never one to miss an opportunity to wound an opponent on or off the pitch, became the theory’s latest proponent on the eve of Chelsea’s return to Anfield. “It gave the title to Man City, as simple as that,” the Chelsea manager said on Friday. “Liverpool, with a point in that match, would have been champions. Without it, they lost the title. It meant nothing to us. It was just a match that gave the title to Man City.”
The champions’ role in the eventual outcome of the title (City remained six points behind Rodgers’ leaders after Liverpool’s first league defeat in almost six months) is downplayed. So too Liverpool’s inability to find an equaliser in the 45 minutes that remained against Chelsea, Luis Suárez’s subdued display against a defence containing a 20-year-old debutant in Tomas Kalas and the effectiveness of Mourinho’s disruption tactics at Anfield. It was not lost on Liverpool that Ba’s goal arrived in the third minute of time added on mainly for Chelsea’s time-wasting that afternoon.
This is not deflecting the significance of the slip to Liverpool. It has offered them a get-out too.
One Liverpool supporter was so irritated at the latest mention of a slip costing his team the title, on BBC Radio 5 Live’s 606 phone-in last week, that he contacted the show for the first time in years of listening to contest the popular belief. His argument that the blame lay with poor defending by Rodgers’ team throughout a season when they conceded 50 goals, two more than relegation-threatened Crystal Palace, was a nail-on-the-head call. Gerrard has strayed towards revisionism too, telling reporters in the summer there was no mistake involved when Mamadou Sakho’s pass rolled away from him, merely a slip that can happen to anyone at any time.
Suárez’s autobiography, Crossing the Line, offers another factor for Liverpool’s late collapse. The Uruguayan admits asking about Liverpool’s title celebration plans before the Chelsea game and claims championship No19 was a topic of discussion in the dressing room during the final weeks of last season. The revelations cast grave doubt on Rodgers’ insistence at the time that Liverpool were immune to complacency, despite going unbeaten in the league in 2014 until Chelsea arrived on Merseyside.
Suárez doubts whether he could have continued playing had he been in Gerrard’s unenviable position last season. It merely underlines the Liverpool captain’s strength of character that persevering has never been in doubt. “He has got the inner strength that the very best players have,” says Rodgers. “You have to have that to perform at the level he has for 15 years at one of the top clubs in the world where the scrutiny is on you week in, week out. He has performed at a level that gets him over disappointments, that allows him to keep going and it is his character that defines him above even his talent. He has been remarkable for this club throughout his career here and will continue to be.”
Rodgers concurs that a weaker character might never have recovered from the events of 27 April at Anfield. “I think it probably would have broken them,” he adds. “But, and I’ve got to be honest, I’ve never thought about it. Maybe in 10 years’ time when I’m elsewhere I’ll probably look at last season a lot closer but I never look into the past too much. Steven is a big character and I know from seeing him work every day that he’s got over it. It’s something you might think a bit more about when you finish or retire but he and I haven’t had time to dwell on what happened.”
Inflicting a first league defeat of the season on Chelsea is of more immediate concern to the Liverpool manager, his team selection at Anfield sure to be forensically scrutinised after making seven changes for the Champions League defeat at Real Madrid on Tuesday.
Rodgers denies the repercussions of his last encounter with Mourinho are still being felt at Anfield. “Not at all,” he contests. “I’ve heard that – the hangover from last season – but there is nothing.” Liverpool, however, have not recaptured the momentum Chelsea took from them that spring afternoon. Rodgers’ team had scored in 28 games before Chelsea and not lost in the Premier League for four months. Now they are without a goal in four of their last five matches and have lost seven of 16 games in all competitions this season.
“Our momentum halted, absolutely,” the manager agrees. “We went on and drew the next game against Palace but it is more than that. We had players coming back after a World Cup, pre-season which was broken and of course the issues we have spoken about before – introducing players and losing players. The repercussions of that game were of course disappointing but that isn’t the sole consequence of where we are at now.” Nor was the title lost solely on a slip.
