Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard has admitted that it took him ‘months or years’ to mentally recover from his infamous slip against Chelsea in 2014, even influencing his decision to leave the club altogether the following summer.
Gerrard’s slip in the game at Anfield gifted Chelsea striker Demba Ba a decisive goal that put a huge dent in Liverpool’s Premier League title challenge, which then fell apart completely just over a week later as a result of second half collapse against Crystal Palace.
Gerrard himself spent just one more year at Liverpool, taking his total number of appearances for the club up to 710, before opting to start a fresh chapter at LA Galaxy in MLS.
Now, looking back on that time in his career, the former England captain has revealed that the mental fallout from the slip was a factor behind his Liverpool exit.
Speaking to Gary Neville on The Overlap, Gerrard admitted he is still haunted by that moment and carries a ‘bruise’ with him to this day.
“It is something that I always will take responsibility for. That's the moment I look back on and think 'If only I'd got that right, it would be so much better',” the Aston Villa manager said.
"It definitely flashes back. I think the reason why I always say that moment [is my lowest] is because I don't want people to think I'm ignoring it. Unfortunately, it happened to me at a real cruel time from a personal point of view.”
"It definitely had an effect on me mentally for some time – I don't know whether it was months or years – still to this day it doesn't feel great. Timewise, maybe that affected my decision to go to America. I think being in Liverpool, when you're in that routine, sometimes you've got to break free.
He continued, “I still wanted to enjoy my football – I still felt I had a few years left. I felt like the best thing for me, my family and the ending was to just go and reset. It wasn't off the back of that, but probably where I was at, I'd say it had an influence.”
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Source : 90min