Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers addressed the media this morning ahead of Saturday’s meeting with Crystal Palace and started off by confirming that departing skipper Steven Gerrard will start in his final game at Anfield.
A lot of questions focused on the departing captain and when asked about the possibility of Gerrard returning to Liverpool in a coaching role, Rodgers said:
“Steven leaving here isn’t permanent, certainly as long as I’m here. If coaching is the route he wants to go down when he finishes in America, then that’s certainly something we will discuss in more detail.”
With Gerrard being almost ever-present in the Liverpool team for the last 16 years, Rodgers was wary of the hole he was going to leave.
“I’ll miss him because if you look from when I came in here, he played about 46 games for me in the first season I was here, 39 last year and up until now [this season] he’s made 39 appearances. In that record alone, you see the value and importance I put on him as a footballer.”
Moving on, the journalists queried Rodgers about the tomorrow’s opposition. Crystal Palace are 12th in the table and are safe from any relegation concerns that may have surrounded them. Rodgers was particularly complimentary of the work Alan Pardew has done since taking over in January.
“I think he’s gone in there and revitalised them, made them more aggressive in attack, maximised what he’s getting out of the players and has done a wonderful job. We’re well aware of the threat and we know it’ll be a tough game.”
With regards to injury news, Rodgers did not have anything new to convey. The manager has selected an unchanged line up in the last two league matches.
In the reverse fixture at Selhurst Park, Palace secured a 3-1 victory over a lacklustre Liverpool side so some form of payback may be in order in Gerrard’s last ever match at Anfield.
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