View: Steven Gerrard cannot afford for Aston Villa to have a slow start to the season
Steven Gerrard has been backed by Aston Villa in the transfer market this year and continues to be so, now results must follow in return.
A significant improvement from the 14th-placed Premier League finished in the 2021/22 season will be expected from everyone around the club as the new campaign kicks off, not least the manager himself.
He didn’t have a full season in charge last term but despite the majority of the Jack Grealish money having been spent in the summer on Emi Buendia, Leon Bailey and Danny Ings, the club were active in January for the new boss.
Shelling out £25million on Lucas Digne from Everton was a signal of intent, but the loan capture of Philippe Coutinho was a clear sign of where the former Rangers boss and the board want the Villans to be operating.
Granted, the deal for Gerrard’s Brazilian ex-teammate was team-friendly in a way that it hasn’t been for anyone else in recent years, but it was still a commitment on the salary side and ended up largely sidelining the club’s record signing in Buendia.
He proved to be successful enough for the deal to be made permanent this summer for £17million [Sky Sports], and Sevilla’s Diego Carlos has followed for £26million [Daily Mail], while the free agent pickup of Boubacar Kamara will have been on a sizeable contract.
All of this will have been music the supporters’ ears as any fanbase wants to see ambition from their club, and activity in the transfer market is the fastest way to signify that through the offseason.
Despite only Matt Targett’s move to Newcastle bringing in any money to speak of, with the loan move for Ludwig Augustinsson to replace him, Gerrard is still looking to add further additions in midfield and up front.
It would be little surprise to see him be successful in those aims as he has largely got what he wants since arriving at Villa Park.
From the club’s point of view they are doing what any manager would ask for in backing him, and ultimately there is little point in going to the trouble of appointing a title-winning manager if you aren’t going to give him the tools he wants to do the job.
But it has given the former England captain little margin for error.
The players that have arrived this summer, and those that may still sign, are ones that will expect to be challenging for European competition, and while that stretches further down the table than ever since the introduction of the Europa Conference League, the English top flight is not short of pretenders for those positions.
Only a disastrous year from the so-called “Big Six” would relegate any of them below a minimum of seventh, while last term’s final European qualifiers, West Ham, were in position to be disappointed with the third-tier competition having just reached the Europa League semi-finals.
Leicester had their weakest season in some time after missing out on the Champions League at the last in the previous two campaigns, and Newcastle’s outlook has changed immeasurably since their Saudi-backed takeover.
Include Villa and that is half of the division, but would a top-half finish outside of Europe be sufficient after the backing Gerrard has received?
Possible the answer is yes, but it will depend on the manner in which it was reached. Fans will not unreasonably be expecting better results and better football this year.
From 13 March to the final game of the season in 2022 Aston Villa played 11 Premier League games and beat only relegated Norwich and Burnley.
Something similar for a comparable stretch of 2022/23 and Gerrard could quickly find himself on the hot seat with the fans and the owners not unreasonably asking difficult questions.
Major improvements in results, or at the very least clear signs that things are heading in the right direction, are surely going to be needed with the stakes consistently raised since the manager arrived.
In other Aston Villa news, Paris Saint-Germain have joined the race to sign Carney Chukwuemeka.