Mauricio Pochettino would be attractive to Aston Villa like Steven Gerrard – Ashley Preece
Mauricio Pochettino is the kind of big name manager that Aston Villa would find attractive, just like Steven Gerrard, says Ashley Preece.
Despite a mini revival in the form of four points from the past two fixtures against Southampton (16 September) and Manchester City (3 September), Villa have had a rough start to the season and the manager has come under pressure as a result.
Former Tottenham boss Pochettino, who has been without a job since being sacked by Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, has been mooted as a potential replacement for the incumbent if things haven’t improved significantly by the World Cup break [Football Insider, 30 September], and Preece has confirmed the Argentine would be the right profile.
The Birmingham Live journalist told GiveMeSport (30 September): “This type of calibre of manager would be an attractive proposition for the owners and for Christian Purslow, himself, as well.
“Villa like a big name and they’ve got one at the moment, with Steven Gerrard at the helm.”
Waiting in the wings
With Villa set to return to action with a tough trip to Elland Road on Sunday 2 October, in the first game after the international break and missing Lucas Digne and Boubacar Kamara through injury, more will be known about the trajectory of the team after that game.
Despite taking three points against the Saints in the last game, the action was not easy on the eye, and shorn of more key players that could be even more the case in West Yorkshire.
With last season seeing the Villans too open down the middle they went out and signed Diego Carlos and Kamara specifically to combat that problem.
The Brazilian centre-back was ruled out for the year almost immediately with a ruptured achilles, and now the French midfielder is going to be unavailable until after the World Cup.
So there are fears that the same issues from the previous campaign could crop up again now that the squad is largely the same as last year’s.
Should that be the case and Villa are still sitting around 14th or worse in the next six weeks then Gerrard leaving could become a genuine concern, in which case it sounds like the man who took Spurs to the Champions League final would be on the agenda.
In other Aston Villa news, Trevoh Chalobah ticks boxes for the club says Alan Hutton.