Gerrard was sacked on Thursday, but Klopp doesn't have any concerns about the Reds favourite's ability to hack it in management
(Image credit: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images)
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp has no doubt that Steven Gerrard will continue to carve out a managerial career after being sacked by Aston Villa.
Gerrard was dismissed on Thursday night, following Villa's abject 3-0 defeat at Fulham. He left with Villa sitting 17th in the Premier League, having lost seven of their first 11 games of the season.
There was a toxic atmosphere in the Craven Cottage away end, with Villa fans vociferously chanting for Gerrard to get "get out of our club" – but Klopp has backed the Reds icon to come back stronger.
Believing in Steven: Jurgen Klopp (Image credit: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
Klopp spoke to Gerrard on Friday morning, before addressing the media ahead of Liverpool's Saturday lunchtime trip to Nottingham Forest. The German said:
"We [Gerrard and I] had a little exchange this morning, but nothing too deep, not a long conversation... I can imagine that it's disappointing for him because of the the ambitions he had and the things he wanted to achieve with Aston Villa, and that's obviously not cool. But I don't think we have to worry now about Stevie...he said himself yesterday after the game, [he's been in] the game long enough and these kind of things can happen.
"Always in life, we all get knocks here and there; it's always about how we respond. You all know Stevie still better than I do; he always came back and he will come back from [being sacked], no doubt about that. Things like this can happen: a lot of great managers out there had to leave their previous clubs for different reasons; some of the best did that quite frequently during their career and showed up somewhere else; learned from it; found a better situation; whatever. He will back, 100%."
Gerrard lost 19 of his 40 games in charge of Villa (Image credit: Aston Villa FC via Getty Images)
Gerrard succeeded Dean Smith as Villa head coach in November last year, having first stepped into the dugout with Rangers – who he guided to the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership title, the club's first since returning to the top flight in 2016.
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The former Liverpool skipper – who famously captained his boyhood club to Champions League glory in 2005, scoring the goal which sparked the 'Miracle of Istanbul' – has been touted as a future Reds manager, but such talk will surely have died down given his struggles at Villa (he finished with a win percentage of 32.5%).
Tom Hancock started freelancing for FourFourTwo in April 2019 and has also written for the Premier League and Opta Analyst, among others. He supports Wycombe Wanderers and has a soft spot for Wealdstone. A self-confessed statto, he has been known to watch football with a spreadsheet (or several) open...
