Steven Gerrard makes ‘stupid’ admission as Aston Villa boos send message to Christian Purslow
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Aston Villa’s slow start to the Premier League season continued with a 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.
The division’s bottom club had lost their last five games before hosting Villa, while Steve Cooper’s men are now winless in seven after Monday night’s draw. Emmanuel Dennis opened the scoring after the first quarter of an hour before Ashley Young equalised seven minutes later.
Steven Gerrard’s men are now unbeaten in four, but after taking just nine points from nine games, he needs to start winning points and quick before the Premier League breaks for the World Cup next month. Here are the talking points from Villa’s 1-1 draw win over Nottingham Forest…
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WORRYING COMPARISONS
If Villa fail to beat Chelsea at the weekend, Gerrard’s win percentage this calendar year will be 26.6 per cent, while Dean Smith – who was sacked after a poor run of results from the start of 2021 until the point of his dismissal – boasted a 31.1 per cent win ratio in the 35 games he took charge of from the start of January until mid-November last year.
Given that club CEO Christian Purslow referenced Smith’s struggles to get results throughout the whole calendar year, Gerrard’s position will likely be under scrutiny, unless the board feel he is the right man to lead this group of players forward. Remaining unbeaten in four games does prove that Gerrard has managed to fix some of the problems that stumped his side in the first weeks of the campaign, but there’s still so much more work to do.
If Villa lose to Chelsea on Sunday then it’ll bump Gerrard’s losing rate up to 46.6 per cent since the turn of the year, which for reference is just two per cent lower than what Smith recorded from the start of last year until mid-November. In the statement released following Smith’s departure, Purslow made it very clear that the club’s run of results since the turn of last year were simply not good enough.
“After a good start to last season, this year we have not seen the continuous improvement in results, performances and league position which we have all been looking for,” he said. “For this reason we have decided to make a change now to allow time for a new head coach to make an impact.”
Gerrard placed significance on the club’s trip to the City Ground knowing that a win would have propelled Villa into ninth position in the Premier League, but after failing to win away from home at the fifth time of trying, there could be more questions asked of him come the end of next weekend.
GERRARD BLAMES ATTACK
The Villa head coach is adamant that his team will start to climb the league table when his forwards start to take their chances. After the draw with Forest, Gerrard said: “I thought we were the better team and I thought that we created the better out of the two teams in terms of opportunities.
“I still think we need to create more in the final third. I still think we lacked a bit of quality, moments of magic, I think outside of Ashley Young’s fantastic strike we need to demand more from the players.
“I don’t want to sit here and talk about four games unbeaten because it’s not enough, the last two performances we need to be taking maximum points rather than just the one so there’s a lot of frustration there. I’ve challenged the players to give us more in that area on the pitch because up until that point there’s not much wrong.
“I do feel like we are saying it too much, what I will say is that our midfield and defensive players are really stepping forward. It’s not an application or a commitment thing at all, we just need more quality from our big hitters. When we get that and step forward, I’m sure we’ll turn these draws into wins and tonight was an incredible opportunity for us to jump up the league and we haven’t grabbed it.
He added: “It’s not just confidence, it might be a part, of course. Forward players want to be confident, but we are giving them a lot of freedom, we’ve put in a lot of work in this area, so we need to keep persevering and it will change.”
‘I’M NOT STUPID’
Speaking specifically about the pressure surrounding his position after a worrying start to the campaign, Gerrard was keen to remind reporters that he has thick skin.
“I’m aware that we should have more points, more goals, I’m not stupid,” he said. “I haven’t got my head buried under the sand.
“I know there’s pressure, there has been since the opening day when we never got the results we should have at Bournemouth so I’m very much aware of the external pressures and noise. I’m not soft.”
YOUNG EXCELLENT
He might no longer be at the very peak of his powers, but while Villa appear to be in transition, the club cannot afford to be without Young’s experience and leadership. Gerrard, who was desperate to secure his signature for another season following the conclusion of the 2021-22 campaign, will surely be open to extending his stay further, if 37-year-old Young is up for committing to another Premier League season.
“To be honest, he’s turning out to be the most important signing we’ve done,” Gerrard said. “His performances have been above and beyond.
“He’s the one who has driven us to turn this corner and given us a small platform for us to build from. He’s epitomised everything we needed to do and get back to. Standing up, rolling your sleeves up, being professional, getting back to basics, training well, doing the basics well, communicating on the pitch, driving other people to be better.
“I think Ashley has helped me drive people into better form. We’ve got more people now closer to where we need them. If we can get two or three more, we’ll be alright. I’m confident of that.”
KONSA COVERING CARLOS WOES
After being questioned for his performances in the opening weeks of the season, Konsa has stepped up for Villa and looks every bit the reliable, composed centre-half that he had become under Smith a few years ago. The 24-year-old struggled in parts of the last campaign to kick-on from the progress he made during Project Restart and in 2020-21, but following the injury blow to Diego Carlos, – who joined the club in a £26million switch from Sevilla in the summer – Konsa is once again forming a solid partnership with Tyrone Mings.
Between the two defenders they have won the vast majority of the duels they have competed for in the last three games. Against Forest, Mings and Konsa were unfortunate not to keep their third clean sheets after Southampton and Leeds United.
Gerrard has gone back to basics since the home defeat to West Ham in August, and to reasonable affect too. Konsa has benefited from the gaffer’s tactical tweak and with the Villa squad littered with quality in attacking areas, his contributions need to be recognised with points on the board.
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