STEVEN GERRARD has given a defiant five-word response after his Al-Ettifaq side won their first league game in four months.
And it was all thanks to two ex-Premier League stars Georginio Wijnaldum and Demarai Gray’s goals against Al-Khaleej.
Gerrard’s side have struggled for form but have turned things around in a 2-0 win away to Al-Khaleej on Thursday.
And a sigh of relief was felt by the Liverpool legend who said, “the pressure is now off”.
Goals from both former Liverpool midfielder Wijnaldum and ex-Leicester and Everton star Gray saved Gerrard from losing his role at the club.
Before Thursday’s win, Al-Ettifaq’s last victory in the league had been a 3-2 win over Al-Wehda in October.
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Between then and their most recent win against Al-Khaleej Gerrard’s team had drawn five games in the league and lost three.
And this is only the beginning of a comeback for Gerrard’s side as he insisted “we have a lot of time to improve before the next game.”
The Englishman’s team are now in eighth place in the Saudi Pro League having taken 28 points from their first 20 games.
Gerrard made the move to the Gulf State last summer but has failed to deliver consistent performance.
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The former Aston Villa boss has only a 36 per cent success rate for the Saudi side – winning just eight games out of 22.
Meanwhile, Gerrard’s old Reds teammate Jordan Henderson also made the move to play for Al-Ettifaq last summer.
But the transfer did not go to plan and last saw month saw the England international return back to Europe for Ajax.
Al-Ettifaq’s next clash is against Saudi Pro rivals Al-Hilal on February 26.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
