Former England international Paul Scholes, writing in his Independent column, explained he feels Brendan Rodgers’ decision not to start Steven Gerrard against Manchester United contributed to the Liverpool captain’s sending off last Sunday.
Gerrard was left on the bench in Liverpool’s game against Manchester United at Anfield and after the home side went a goal down the captain was introduced at the start of the second-half in place of Adam Lallana.
The Liverpool captain did make an impact, but not in the way his side would have hoped for. The former England skipper was sent off for stamping on Ander Herrera within a minute of his introduction.
The Reds went on to lose the game 2-1 and Scholes feels the decision to leave Gerrard out from the starting eleven was a mistake on the part of Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.
He believes the Liverpool captain should have been an automatic starter in one of the biggest games of the season for the Reds.
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“Should he have started the game? Of course he should”, Scholes wrote in his column.
“There was only one person who can have thought that Gerrard was not right to start against Manchester United at Anfield in a must-win game for Liverpool, and that was Brendan Rodgers.”
The Manchester United legend added that Gerrard must have felt frustrated by Liverpool’s performance in the first-half, where they rarely put in a tackle to disrupt Manchester United’s flow.
“United were brilliant in the first half, but if they had been up against Gerrard then it might have been different. He had the frustration of not playing in the game, and then he had to watch a first half in which none of his team-mates even made a tackle.
“It is not nice to stand on the sideline and see your own team getting destroyed at home to a big rival.”
The Liverpool captain will now remain suspended for their next two league fixtures against Arsenal and Newcastle United and also for their FA Cup quarter-final replay against Blackburn Rovers.
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