A Tale of Two Number Eights: Gerrard loses himself as Mata's resurgence continues

Already dressed in his club suit, minutes after the conclusion of his final appearance against Manchester United, Steven Gerrard fronted up to the Sky Sports television cameras to offer his explanation for the shortest outing of his 17-year Liverpool career. “I let my team-mates and the manager down today, I let all the supporters down – I take full responsibility,” he proffered earnestly, with disappointment and regret etched all over his furrowed brow. This was not the way it was supposed to be. Liverpool, hassled, harried and dominated in midfield by United over the course of the preceding 45 minutes, needed an injection of character, courage and imposition in the middle of the park. Gerrard, parked on the bench for the first half, was the one manager Brendan Rodgers called for to provide it after the interval. [caption id=“attachment_2168465” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  The metaphorical red cape Gerrard has donned countless times over the past decade and half has long since deserted him. AP[/caption] The metaphorical red cape Gerrard has donned countless times over the past decade and half has long since deserted him, but Rodgers, whose side trailed by a goal, recognised the 34-year-old’s potential to change the course of proceedings on his 35th appearance against the fiercest rivals of all, despite the midfielder’s diminished importance in recent months. Liverpool, perhaps coincidentally, perhaps not, have won all six of the league games he has missed this season. A full-blooded – if not wholly legal – challenge on Juan Mata signalled Gerrard’s arrival in characteristically visceral fashion and elicited roars from all four stands at Anfield, but those roars soon turned to stunned howls of disbelief as the captain trotted back toward the touchline and down the Anfield tunnel within 40 seconds of his introduction. Ander Herrera, perhaps seeking retribution for Gerrard’s earlier tackle on his compatriot moments earlier, went in firmly on the Liverpool man, who responded by slyly, and forcefully, planting the studs of his left foot on Herrera’s right calf. Referee Martin Atkinson correctly reached for his red card. Having pockmarked so many Liverpool-United meetings with moments of excellence over the past two decades, Gerrard had now left an indelible memory in unforgiveable circumstances during his last-ever confrontation with the old foe. While it was certainly the last way Gerrard would have wanted to mark his final meeting with Manchester United, in some aspects it provided a succinct microcosm of his career. The antithetic embodiment of the patient, probing midfield ideologies espoused by the likes of his former partner Xabi Alonso and Xavi, to name just two, Gerrard’s legend has been built on an impulsive and unbreakable desire to force the initiative, an unwavering commitment to all-action gusto. Gerrard’s old England team-mate Gary Neville recently described playing behind Michael Carrick as like “going into a bar and hearing a piano playing”. Using that analogy, Steven Gerrard should be synonymous with thrash metal. While the afternoon went appallingly for Liverpool’s number eight, it couldn’t have gone any better for the man sporting the same shirt number for the visitors. “I think it’s my best game in a United shirt, yes – it’s a massive game, probably the biggest in English football, so to score two goals is great for me,” grinned Mata, who after 20 months as a square peg in a round hole at both Stamford Bridge and Old Trafford, may just have found a way to make himself a key figure once again. Ruthlessly cast aside by Jose Mourinho at Chelsea after two majestic seasons as the club’s chief creative hub, Mata, it’s fair to say, has often been the odd man out at Old Trafford, deprived of the No.10 role he is capable of filling with excellence due to the proliferation of blue-chip attacking components at Louis van Gaal’s disposal. But positioned on the right-hand side of a loose 4-3-3 at Anfield, Mata circulated and retained the ball intelligently, as well as offering an outlet. His smart run between Mamadou Sakho and Alberto Moreno, followed by a cushioned first-touch and clinical right-footed finish, handed United a deserved lead. His angled scissor-kick volley, when he adjusted his body to perfection to meet Angel Di Maria’s hastily chipped through ball, provided the postcard moment of the match and what ultimately proved to be the winner. Liverpool’s No.8’s days of indispensability and match-winning brilliance are now spoken of in the past tense. If Mata continues to be trusted by Van Gaal, there is no reason why that should be the same at the other end of the East Lancs Road.