Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard admits Nottingham Forest clash is a must-win game
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has admitted that Monday’s Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest is a must-win game.
Villa head into the fixture off the back of a three-game unbeaten streak, however, their poor form in front of goal has been plain to see.
New boys Forest sit at rock bottom of the league after five straight defeats and Gerrard confessed he wants to win the game.
“We’ve given ourselves a platform to build on and five points is a better return than the previous games,” said Gerrard as quoted by the Express and Star.
“But we don’t want to go unbeaten against Forest. We want to go to Forest and win. That’s the only focus. That’s the only game plan in my mind.
“We don’t go there thinking how can we go four unbeaten. The mentality is how can we take maximum points?”
Decisive.
Despite Forest’s poor form, the City Ground is always a tough and hostile obstacle to overcome so a win Monday evening is no forgone conclusion.
Nevertheless, if Gerrard’s Villa does lose, it speaks volumes about his leadership and the state of the squad moving forward.
They’ve spent big in the summer and although they have maintained a decent run of games, they’ve been far from impressive.
The Former Rangers boss’s tactics have to come under scrutiny if they fail to score against Forest, who have been leaking goals this campaign.
Gerrard does seem to set his team up extremely defensively, which is odd considering the amount of flair they have in their engine room, they need to utilise this more.
Monday evening’s fixture will be a good time to do this, against a confidence-strickened Forest outfit who look like doing anything other than winning right now.
Questions will be raised if Aston Villa fails to deliver anything other than three points.
In other Aston Villa news, John McGinn admits to the Villa v Southampton Premier League clash being a boring affair.