Everything Steven Gerrard said about Liverpool on Stick to Football

Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard discussed Arne Slot's struggles and Mohamed Salah's exit, as well as revealing that he's open to returning to Anfield as an assistant manager

Steven Gerrard speaking on Stick to Football(Image: YouTube/The Overlap)

Steven Gerrard believes Arne Slot deserves the opportunity to turn things around at Liverpool, despite acknowledging that the Reds have been woeful at times this season.

The head coach still retains the backing of the club's former captain, following his Premier League title triumph last year. Gerrard, 45, makes no secret of his ambition to manage Liverpool one day and remains open to returning in an assistant coaching capacity.

He also floated the idea of supporting Xabi Alonso in the future, should his former teammate make a return to Anfield. Mohamed Salah also held direct talks with Gerrard regarding his Liverpool future in December.

Below is everything Gerrard had to say about Alonso, Salah, Slot and the current Liverpool side on episode 123 of Stick to Football.

On Liverpool this season

Reflecting on the Reds' current campaign, Gerrard said: "I've really enjoyed watching them in the Champions League because I think they look like a completely different team when they've gone into the big Champions League games. I think they're in a decent place there.

"It's a really tough ask of them going into the next one against PSG, but a lot of the games I've gone to, I've enjoyed watching them. In the league, they look very different. I haven't really enjoyed watching them.

"It looks as if they've got a lot of issues to fix. I've covered some of the games as well for TNT (Sports), and after the game, it's been difficult to sort of put your finger on one issue that they've got because they've got quite a few, and it's all over the pitch. They've been very mixed and very two-faced as a team this season."

Steven Gerrard greets his fellow Liverpool legend, Mohamed Salah, after the win over Aston Villa(Image: Getty Images)

He went on to say: "The first signs of the issues they've got now, I saw it in the League Cup final. I traveled over from Bahrain. I took my lad to the game, went into the game really confident that they'd beat Newcastle (United), although I like how Eddie (Howe) sets his teams up and knew it would be a difficult game.

"But they just dominated us from start to finish, they just bullied us. That was the first time I thought, 'Ooh, that's so far away from what I was watching a few months before.'

"As the league filtered out then, there were a lot of these types of performances that didn't look like the previous Liverpool team. Quite passive, disconnected, out of shape, easy to get through, giving big chances up, and you've seen it a lot more in recent weeks."

Gerrard on Slot

Turning his attention to Slot, Gerrard remarked: "I think he (Arne Slot) took over a (Jurgen) Klopp squad and a Klopp team. I still think a lot of the values and behaviors in that team carried on through. I think his style has been a nice match. They've got a new manager, a new voice, been like a breath of fresh air to a certain point.

"But I think some of the issues they're having this season, for me, watching as a fan from the outside and from afar, and going to some games, is it's been happening at the back end of last season as well."

Gerrard added: "I really like the manager. I think he's really honest. I hear really good things about him as a coach, and his style, his tactics, and his details. I hear really, really good things. I've never watched him closely. I think he's really honest in the media, maybe sometimes too honest.

"But as a Liverpool fan now, and just someone who's been an ex-player and sort of knows a little bit (more) on the inside than what most normal punters would know, these Liverpool fans, once they get to this stage, it's very difficult to get them back around, from my own personal experiences and what I've seen, very difficult to get them back around."

Before the Kop icon concluded: "He has (got credit in the bank) with me, because, I think more than anyone on the planet, I know how difficult it is to win a league, and for him to come in and win a league in his first season. I've been getting asked questions in the media for a long time, what do you think, does it need to change, and blah, blah, blah.

"He's got a lot more credit with me. I know how difficult it is, at Liverpool, they demand, they expect to win it every year. So I think he needs the opportunity to sort of play his way out of trouble, fix the issues, and try to get himself back in a good place. I think he did, during that period, a few months ago, where they'd lost nine out of 12, but then they went on a run where he took them from 12th to 4th in the league.

"I think someone who's won a league deserves at least a full season to try and get out of the problems and the issues that they've got. I'm certainly one of those people, but I have to understand what the fans are saying as well, because it has been dire in certain games and performances, like, really dire."

On Salah

Regarding Salah's departure from Liverpool at the season's end, Gerrard commented: "No, not (shocked) at all. I think it's in everyone's best interests now, I think the timing's right, in my opinion, especially after the... He's obviously had a disagreement with the manager, I don't know at what level, because obviously he's done the interview, which I think he'll regret further down the line, but that told me that there was an issue there.

"I think also, even going back before that, I think Liverpool as a club probably only wanted to give Mo Salah one year, rather than the two. Because he had such an outstanding season, and he was relentless, and his numbers were great, they have given him a two-year contract, but for me, I've only really ever seen it as another one year at that level. We've all played in them years and stuff.

"I just think for everyone, it's in everyone's interests for it to end, but also end on Mo Salah's terms. So I spoke to him around that interview, at the time, and sort of said to him, look, don't do what you've done, and go under a cloud.

"I spoke to him directly. He texts me now and again, or I text him now and again, more to do with if going somewhere with Lio (Gerrard's eight-year-old son), just so Lio can see him, really, but I'm not close to him. But it gave me the opportunity to say to him, 'Look, you've been here for eight, nine years, you've been a king here, you've got this legacy and stuff, just go on your terms the right way.'

"He was still a little bit emotional from the incident, and he was struggling; he was in and out of the team at the time, and he was upset. But I just thought it would have been a shame if he left in January, and he just left. I'm not sure (if that was a consideration at the time), not sure, don't know.

He added: "Knowing him, obviously, the relationship I've got with him, he'll still have himself down as one of the best players in the world, and I think that's the reason why the fallout's come apart, that he was probably struggling with the transition of a manager saying, 'You're not starting today, and you're missing out.'

"'I'm still one of the best players in the world,' I think that's his mentality and I think there's good players, there's top players and then there's them ones that are at the very top that are a little bit freakish in terms of their mentality and how they think and he's one of them where he's just, 'I'm the best, I'm the best, I'm the best.'

"I wouldn't be surprised if it's another big club somewhere else, but I don't think he'd do it to a rival. I think it'd be Saudi. Having lived over there and how he's thought of around there, I think it'll be Saudi. (Italy) wouldn't surprise me or shock me, but if I had to put money on it, I would say Saudi.

"Listen, he's the No. 1 over there. There are some good teams at the top end there; he'd be playing with good players as well, very good players, and you can have eight foreign players, so he'd be playing under a good manager, and he'd be playing with good players."

On Alonso and Liverpool dream

Speaking about his affection for Liverpool, the former midfielder remarked: "I've got a brilliant connection with the club. I always have, and probably a stronger connection since I left; they've always been unbelievable. Any area I could help the club in, I'd always try to do it if I could.

"But I suppose what you want to know is, do I want to manage Liverpool at some point in my life? Of course, that would be a dream. But I think, would I be ready for it right now to take it over a period of time? Probably not.

"But is there a possibility in the future to be alongside someone, one of the elite managers that you're talking about, i.e., a (Jurgen) Klopp? Depends who it is and how the conversation goes, and you know, does he need me? What does he think I can offer?

"You have to understand it before you sign up for it, what the role is, and it's to support the manager and to be that assistant. I would do it for Liverpool Football Club if I were asked and they felt I was the right man to do it, I'd be open to it, yeah, of course. The other side of it as well, it's the chance to be part of something, you're winning for Liverpool again, and that connection won't leave me, I do love them."

Gary Neville hinted at the prospect of Gerrard working under Alonso at Liverpool, stating: "You talked about being an assistant, I'm just connecting dots here, if Xabi Alonso came to Liverpool, which has been mooted..."

Gerrard cut in, saying: "I can just see the headline now, Nev: 'Gerrard wants Slot to get the sack so he can be Alonso's assistant.' I'm on you. Is that why you brought me here?"

He continued: "I'm going to really, really answer this the right way for you. I want Slot to get the opportunity to fix Liverpool. I think he deserves that, but if (laughs)."