Jamie Carragher was called out for his ‘protection’ of the now-sacked Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard amid the drama surrounding Manchester United star, Cristiano Ronaldo.
The Liverpool legend recently stated on Twitter that only ‘1%’ of people will defend Ronaldo’s recent tell-all interview with Piers Morgan, and they will be his mates, but Carragher was called out for seemingly doing the same when Gerrard was in the Villa dugout.
Before Carragher spoke about Ronaldo’s current situation with Rio Ferdinand, Manchester United fan Stephen Howson wanted to address the ‘elephant in the room’ and how he protected Gerrard when he was at Villa, despite the former midfielder being the ‘worst manager’ in the Premier League.
Back in September, prior to Villa’s 1-1 draw against Manchester City, Carragher wrote a column where he defended Gerrard’s reign, at the time – the headline of that article read ‘My hero and best friend Steven Gerrard’.
Nonetheless, this is how the conversation unfolded on Vibe with Five.
“Before we get into any of this, there is a massive elephant in the room that we have got to address,” said Howson. “So, you are talking about the 1% of people that might not be happy with what Ronaldo has done and you are insinuating that the 1% are his mates. Rio (Ferdinand), Roy (Keane) and Patrice Evra.
“But before we get into that, we need to talk about you and Steven Gerrard. And the protection he has had off you, despite being the worst manager in the league this year. Why is it alright for you to do that, but not these lot?”
Carragher responded: “Why, when did I defend him?”
Howson added: “I can read out some headlines if you like (reads out Carragher’s article on Gerrard ‘my hero and best friend’ from September) – have you seen how Aston Villa have done since he went?”
Carragher responded: “I said Stevie was right to lose his job. I actually did that newspaper article the day before they played Man City, so I didn’t do it when they had an easy game. They actually got a good result against Man City. But I think it was the right decision for him to go because the manager before went in similar circumstances. Now, did Rio say that about Ole (Gunnar Solskjaer)?”
VILLA UNDER UNAI EMERY
This was an appointment Villa should have made when they sacked Dean Smith because the trophy-laden coach has already made an impact in the Midlands.
It’s still early days, but the mood around Villa Park is very different and there is hope that he can push the team up the table.
Two Premier League games for the 51-year-old and two wins, so it’s the perfect start so far, but the biggest challenge awaits him post-2022 World Cup.
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