Liverpool’s head coach, Arne Slot, appeared to call Steven Gerrard out to his face for rejecting one of the club’s recent requests to their former captain.
Slot cut a lot happier figure than he has of late, following his Liverpool side’s 2-0 victory over Aston Villa at Anfield, which ended a run of four successive Premier League defeats.
The Reds came into the match ten points behind league leaders Arsenal, who had beaten Burnley 2-0 at Turf Moor earlier in the day.
And Slot may have feared the worst when Hugo Ekitike’s header was ruled out for offside just before half-time, but a matter of moments later, Mohamed Salah took full advantage of Emi Martinez’s loose pass to register his 250th goal for the 20-time Premier League champions.
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The Reds doubled their lead through Ryan Gravenberch on 58 minutes, with his shot deflecting off Pau Torres and past the helpless Martinez.
The victory saw Liverpool go third behind leaders Arsenal and second-place Bournemouth ahead of Sunday’s round of fixtures.
And following his side’s comfortable win, Slot gave his thoughts to TNT Sports’ panel made up of former Liverpool midfielders, Gerrard, Steve McManaman and Joe Cole.
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Host Lynsey Hipgrave said: “This is your first time meeting Steven [Gerrard], I believe,” before the pair embraced by shaking hands as the others laughed along.
Slot then cheekily reminded Gerrard that he had “invited him” to Liverpool’s training ground “indirectly” before the Scouser quipped: “I’ll be there tomorrow.”
“To join in or just to watch?” McManaman joked.
Slot then answered some questions about his side’s performance before saying he was looking forward to the challenge of welcoming a “special” Real Madrid side to Anfield in the coming days.
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It must be noted that the exchange was warm, with the Dutchman even asking about Gerrard’s paddle skills before the end of their chat.
Ahead of the game, Gerrard defended the Liverpool boss when speaking about the rumours that his job was under threat.
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"Listen, the job he done from taking the reins off Jurgen Klopp was impeccable and he deserves a lot of praise for that,” Gerrard claimed.
"So that's the reason why it's been frustrating the last few weeks, people calling him for to be sacked and for there to be changes - that's absolute nonsense.
"But if you make that many changes in a short space of time, there's going to have to be a transitional period somewhere, then if you add a few injuries in there, it's going to be a challenging time.”
Liverpool return to action against Real Madrid on Tuesday before they make the short trip to the Etihad, where they will face Manchester City next Sunday.
Topics: Liverpool, Arne Slot, Steven Gerrard, Premier League, Football, Anfield
Luke Davies