Steven Gerrard is 'itching' for Liverpool job and holds Arne Slot firing 'belief'

A body language expert has questioned whether Gerrard was entirely truthful during his guest appearance on last week's The Overlap podcast, where he backed Slot and Liverpool

Gerrard spoke during last week's episode of The Overlap(Image: The Overlap/YouTube)

Steven Gerrard is “itching” to get back to Liverpool but is only willing to return as first-team manager, claims body expert Darren Stanton.

Gerrard has been active in the media circuit of late, becoming a regular pundit on TNT Sports and he also made an appearance on talkSPORT, where he discussed everything from Liverpool’s slump to Trent Alexander-Arnold’s England chances.

He also appeared on the Stick to Football podcast last week alongside former Premier League stars Gary Neville, Jamie Carragher and Roy Keane. During the episode, Gerrard claimed he wants Arne Slot to succeed and continues to back him, but Stanton says he picked up on nonverbal cues that may suggest otherwise

“Steven Gerrard is not being authentic and not being truthful when he’s asked about going in as Liverpool manager,” Stanton told OLBG.

“I think he believes he can do a better job than Arne Slot is doing right now. He doesn’t want to go in as second fiddle to Slot or anyone else, I don’t think. I just don’t quite think he believes he is going to get the opportunity to be Liverpool manager at this rate.

“I don't think Gerrad has any doubts in terms of his own level of competency to be successful as Liverpool boss but I think he would want to go in and do it his way, with free rein to do as he sees fit.

“There are a lot of hand-to-mouth gestures from him in this interview, touching his mouth, touching his eye, and these are all signals that he is feeling quite unsure when speaking about it all.

Gerrard appeared on last week's show(Image: YouTube/The Overlap)

“We see some classic gestural slips too, which are the physical versions of a Freudian slip, when we say the very thing we are trying not to.

“He talks about believing the club, the manager and the players will all come back together but he’s shaking his head. It’s like saying yes but shaking your head to say no. It’s a nonverbal contradiction.”

Gerrard also said he would be willing to go back to Liverpool as an assistant coach one day, but Stanton is unsure.

“When Gerrard is asked whether he would go back in at Liverpool as an assistant manager, he does what we call a bilateral shoulder shrug,” added the body language analyzer.

Slot is coming under increasing pressure at Liverpool(Image: Getty Images)

“This is when a person only shrugs one of their shoulders. This tells us he basically has no confidence in the answer he gives at this point.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if he has already talked to Liverpool. It would make sense given what we would call lip suppression, where he’s physically holding back his mouth from saying too much, and too much of what he really thinks and knows.

“There are certain discrepancies in terms of what he's said verbally compared to what he's doing nonverbally, where his body language is not consistent or congruent with the words coming out of his mouth, such as when they asked him straight up whether he would take the job.

“He would only go into Liverpool if they gave him the top job with the latitude to do things his own way. There are a lot of red flags for deception when you read into Gerrard’s facial expressions and gestures when he’s trying to hide what he really wants to say.

“It’s clear he is absolutely itching to get back to Liverpool, though. It’s where his heart is, clearly. He is almost aching for the chance to go back as manager.”

Stanton went on to explain that Gerrard may actually doubt that things are going to work out for Slot at Liverpool, saying: “Gerrard is trying to make out that everything is going to be OK at Liverpool given the way things are but I don’t think he believes what he is saying at all,” added Stanton.

“We see him touch his mouth again straight after his shake of the head, and that’s almost akin to what we might see a child do when catching themselves doing something wrong. It’s a physical gesture that broadcasts the message that I wish I had not done that. He knows there are issues that won’t just go away.”