Steven Gerrard names 'most important' aspect of Liverpool win over Aston Villa

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But for Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard, one of the biggest outcomes of the 2-0 win over Aston Villa was what it did for two players in particular.Liverpool and their head coach Arne Slot went into Saturday's match under big pressure after a run of six defeats in their previous seven games in all competitions - and staring an unwanted club record directly in the face.Had they fell defeat to an in-form Villa side, they would have lost for the fifth time in a row in the league for the first time since the 1953-54 season.READ MORE: Trent Alexander-Arnold speaks out on Liverpool reunion and 'agent Jude' and makes goal celebration vowREAD MORE: Liverpool 19-year-old can't stop scoring as bizarre injury-time period ends in miseryInstead the Reds rode their luck in the early stages, avoiding another dreaded early goal, and then were gifted further good fortune when Emiliano Martinez inexplicably passed the ball into the path of Mohamed Salah, who stroked it into the empty net to bring up 250 goals for the club.Liverpool built on that landmark moment in the second half and, after Ryan Gravenberch benefitted from a wicked deflection to double the advantage, they began to resemble the team that romped to the Premier League in Slot's debut campaign in charge, with encouraging performances coming across the pitch from players whose form had dipped.The victory relieved the pressure on Slot and brought smiles to the faces of captain Virgil van Dijk and talismanic forward Mohamed Salah, which Gerrard spotted at full-time and which he believes is going to be crucial."Most importantly, the two most important players in Liverpool’s squad - Van Dijk and Salah - are both back smiling," said the ex-Villa boss on TNT Sports."Van Dijk is smiling because of the clean sheet and how the team defended tonight - and the star man Salah scored the goal and he’s smiling."Those two are key for this team moving forward. We put it on them before the game that they had to be the ones to step forward and they’ve both stepped forward."Van Dijk's and Salah's Anfield legacies are already cast in stone but, along with Slot, they came in for criticism for their performances as the Reds' results nosedived.The former is aware of some of the stick he has been receiving and, after helping his side to only their third clean sheet of the campaign, the Dutchman referenced Wayne Rooney's comments about how he felt there had been a lack of leadership at Liverpool in recent weeks.Van Dijk, like Salah, regarded as one of the greatest-ever Premier League players, said: "Just to come back to this particular player, obviously a legend, a big player of the game who inspired so many, I can say only positive things, but I feel that comment is just I would say it's a bit of a lazy criticism."That's my personal opinion.

It's easy to blame the older players but he knows obviously as well as everyone else we do it together trying to help each and every one of us to try to get out of this and, like I said as well, last year when things go well you don't hear that at all. Like I said, he has an opinion and we have to deal with it.

I don't take it personally whatsoever."Salah also responded to his critics in style, with his second goal in as many games taking his tally for the term up to five, before embracing Gerrard after speaking to TNT Sports.The Egyptian said said: “I said at the beginning it is a very tricky season for us, we have a few new players, very good signings, but they need time to adapt to the team and we lost a few good players as well.“We just need time to adapt and know each other’s games and we will be fine.”Slot will certainly be hoping that will be the case after the toughest spell of his tenure on Merseyside.Gerrard gave his full backing to the Dutchman before the game, branding talk of him being sacked as "absolute nonsense", and afterwards he offered further support to Slot in a big week for Liverpool that sees them host Real Madrid on Tuesday before travelling to Manchester City on Sunday."I think he’s handled the last couple of weeks really well," said the former Reds captain."He’s been calm, he has been under immense pressure, so have his players, but that’s the demands here at Liverpool Football Club, especially off the back of becoming champions."You don’t rest on that. He’s handled it well, it’s a great win so he deserves a lot of credit for that but they come thick and fast."In two days time, the pressure will build again because he’ll be expected to beat Real Madrid."