Richard Keys hammers Steven Gerrard for ‘big mistake’ at Aston Villa
Richard Keys has blasted into Steven Gerrard for his captaincy decision as Tyrone Mings was stripped of the armband at Aston Villa.
John McGinn was named as the new Villa skipper prior to the start of the new Premier League season which the Villans started with a 2-0 defeat away at newly-promoted Bournemouth.
As he often does, Keys has gone in on the former England captain on his blog and he thinks that Mings could now become a problem within the dressing room.
“Pre-match at Bournemouth he told us that they’d had a trouble-free pre-season and were ready to go,” Keys wrote. “Well, they weren’t. And they didn’t have a trouble-free pre-season.
“Gerrard walked into trouble all of his own making. He stripped Tyrone Mings of the captaincy – and dropped him at Bournemouth. Big mistake. He’s divided his dressing room right down the middle.
“Mings will have his supporters. And they’ll make their feelings known. Some won’t care – but in the other corner will be a group that are delighted to see the ex-captain brought down a peg or two.
“The unrest will spread to the canteen. Players will sit in their chosen groups – muttering and whispering. It’ll be the same on the coach. Negativity will spread like a virus. Little things become big problems.
Dean Smith dropped Mings once – during his last few months at Villa. I’m told Mings didn’t react well. He was an instant problem with his attitude. Why didn’t Gerrard know this?”
One game
Now is not the time to start panicking or saying that decisions are absolutely wrong because there are still 37 matches left to prove everyone wrong.
Sure, the defeat on the South Coast was inexcusable and not what anybody expected at Aston Villa, Gerrard in particular, but one result does not define a team or a season.
The Villans will get back into training and sort things out for the second match of the campaign but as for Mings, he should be professional enough to get on with it.
Part of progressing as a club is seeing some players move into different roles or out of the door entirely and that is all that is happening with the England international.
If he does allow this to affect him and start to cause friction in the dressing room, then he will be shipped out of Villa Park at the earliest opportunity.
In other Aston Villa news, there was one glaring problem in how Villa defended at the Vitality Stadium but it should be easily addressable.