Last season, Liverpool FC gave one of the worst good-bye’s to their legendary mid-fielder Steven Gerrard, as Stoke City destroyed them at the Britannia, winning 6-1 on the day and the memories still haunt the new Liverpool FC captain, Jordan Henderson.
A game making the headlines, for being Gerrard’s farewell game, later made headlines, for being one of the worst of his long and relatively successful career. The Reds face them again, this time when they travel to Britannia on the opening day of the Premier League season.
It was a sickening feeling, really – Jordan Henderson on the 6-1 drubbing by Stoke City
Speaking to The Guardian, Henderson spoke about that fateful night, when they were 5-0 down to Stoke City at half-time, he said:
a It will be a day that many of us will never forget.
a The way we played, the result, the goals we conceded, everything, it went from bad to worse.
a At half-time in the dressing room, a few of us tried to say some things to get everyone going and get something back. But then full-time came and it was awful. It was a sickening feeling, really. It was embarrassing to go there as a Liverpool player and get beaten like that.a
Liverpool FC did score a goal in the second half of the game, again it was their former captain, trying to bail out a failing team in a finale that he would not have dared to dream in his worst night-mares. And only after a couple of hours, the players boarded a flight to Dubai, where they had planned to give the 35-year-old the send-off he deserved. However, Henderson reveals that many of the players, were reluctant to go on that tour, still in shock as to what had transpired a couple of hours ago on the pitch.
a A lot of us didna t want to go to be honest,a added Henderson, who assumed the armband from his former midfield colleague this summer. a It had been organised for a number of months and it was especially for Stevie.
a He has been such a huge role model for everyone who has been here and wea d wanted to make sure that we said goodbye to him properly off the field on a more personal level for him. If it was just a holiday, we wouldna t have gone. That is natural when that happens. It stays with you but then there comes a point when you have to move on.
a I wona t forget that day in a hurry. That game will stick in my mind for a long time.”
Can Stoke repeat the heroics of that night?
Stoke ran riot that day, with Mame Biram Diouf scoring twice in four minutes, to open the floodgates, before Jonathan Walters, Charlie Adam and Steve N’Zonzi all scored before the end of the first half. The departing captain, scored one last goal for his beloved club, taking his tally up to 186, before former Red Peter Crouch, completed the rout, adding the sixth.
Brendan Rodgers has since then undergone a massive overhaul at Anfield, bringing in seven new players, while spending in the region of A?80 million. The new look Liverpool FC side would be looking to avenge the drubbing of their last visit to Britannia, and Jordan Henderson would be looking to rally his troops to avoid another similar event from happening.
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Stoke City may be able to beat the Reds again this time, but a repeat of that night is unfathomable.