Ty Bracey exclusive: Steven Gerrard struggling at Aston Villa but no obvious replacements
We’re delighted to welcome Villa View host Ty Bracey as our exclusive Aston Villa columnist each week he’ll be giving his views on the biggest talking points at the club…
Aston Villa are not showing the right signs of improvement under Steven Gerrard but there is no clear candidate to replace him believes Ty Bracey.
The Villans head to the Emirates on Wednesday night (31 August) sitting in 16th place in the Premier League, having won only once and lost three of four, after losing 1-0 to West Ham last time out (28 August) who had previously been bottom and without so much as a goal.
It’s a far cry from the lofty ambitions that the summer and the transfer window had previously helped instil, but Bracey wants Gerrard to be able to turn it around and feels he likely has at least until the World Cup break to do so before his job is under any serious threat.
In trying to assess the former Rangers manager’s time at Villa Park he exclusively told Villa News: “It’s a really tricky question. I really, really want Gerrard to succeed, I really do. And it’s a really tough one because we’ve been patient for so long as fans.
“I really, really want to see us push up the table and push into that top 10. And the performances we’ve seen so far it hasn’t looked like performances of a team who are going to enter the top half.
“It’s very early on in the season so I try not to be impatient. We can’t just keep replacing managers every time, you only have to look at a situation like Arsenal and how [Mikel] Arteta did.
“Managers need to be given time. I’m aware he’s been around for a while now and the win percentage [isn’t great], but what we mustn’t do is act on rash decisions.
“It’s one of things where theoretically if we replace Steven Gerrard who do we replace him with? Who’s on the market?
“I think it’s very important that if that does come into the conversation the replacement has to be the right one.
“As it stands at the minute, I think it will be something that lasts up until towards the World Cup break.”
Statistical comparisons to previous Villa bosses, as well as ex-England teammate Gary Neville’s ill-fated spell in charge of Valencia [talkSPORT], have been doing the rounds of late and don’t make for very comfortable reading as a fan of the club.
Flat performances and underperforming stars mean the season has got off to an unexpectedly poor start, with the injury to Diego Carlos also a major headache for the former Liverpool captain.
The decision to strip Tyrone Mings of the captaincy also drew extra attention onto the manager which has lingered amid the bad results, and he could badly do with a couple of wins to boost the squad, the fanbase, and his reputation.
In other Aston Villa news, Gabby Agbonlahor has mounted a case for the defence on talkSPORT.