Steven Gerrard has urged the performance of Jon Moss to be assessed after his Aston Villa side were beaten by Liverpool.
Douglas Luiz’s third-minute opener was swiftly equalised by Joel Matip before Sadio Mane’s header midway through the second half gave the Reds a 2-1 win at Villa Park on Tuesday night.
Moss and his fellow officials prompted ire from both sets of supporters with a succession of questionable decisions during a combative game in which nobody was booked.
And when asked for his opinion on the referee, Gerrard said: “No comment, I just hope that it’s looked at. That’s all I say. I hope it’s looked at.
“Have I gone to talk to Jon Moss? No. I just hope his performance is looked at. I don’t want to be sour, Liverpool scored two goals against us and we need to look at that and I don’t want to cover over any cracks.”
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Told that Moss was retiring at the end of the season, Gerrard responded: “Is he? Good."
Villa had started strongly against a much-changed Liverpool side but were gradually pegged back by the visitors.
And assessing the game, Gerrard said: “Possibly we should have got more but we have to take the big moments we create in the game. We are frustrated we didn’t score more than once. The big positive for me was that we were ambitious, brave, courageous and went toe-to-toe against one of the best teams in the world.
“They have world-class players have that have been together for a long time, and my players haven’t let themselves down. I’m proud of them.
“We knew at the time we would have to suffer, Liverpool keep the ball extremely well. You have to be calculated and not too much on the front foot too often. But I thought we won the ball in some amazing areas and it was about trying to play down the sides and over the top of the Liverpool defence.”
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Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson Becker made two important saves to deny former Reds striker Danny Ings during the second half, and Gerrard added: “I’m sure Danny is going to play one or two of those moments over in his head on the way home but for me his performance was outstanding.
“He has nothing to concern himself with. I know on another day he will take those chances. He should be proud of what he gave, he worked his socks off and gave Liverpool problems.”
