Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard urges his team to step it up or risk being dropped
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard has challenged his players to step things up after a disappointing 1-1 draw on Monday evening with Nottingham Forest.
The City Ground is a tough gig to take points home, but with Forest massively struggling you would have expected Villa to get the job done.
Gerrard divulged that he challenged the forward players of his team to give more to his team after their lack of goal contributions this campaign.
“I have challenged the forward players to give us more in that area of the pitch because I think up to that point there is not a lot wrong,” said Gerrard as quoted by the Express and Star.
“It’s not an application or commitment thing at all. We need more from our big hitters. When we get that and they step forward with more for us I am sure we can turn these draws into wins.
“Tonight was a great opportunity to jump up the league and we did not take it.
“Hopefully players can get into better form and step forward. If not I am going to have to try and change things, whether that is personnel or system or shape. We tried to do that in the game tonight but not much changed.
“Right now you are thinking what you are going to do for the weekend and there could be changes in the team. It could be pretty quick.”
More.
Aston Villa need more moving forward, the football under Gerrard has become stale and predictable, at least Dean Smith’s side were exciting to watch.
It looks like the players are just settling for results at the moment, the talent is there they just aren’t utilising it in the correct manner.
Too many of Villa’s “big” players are going missing during games, Philippe Coutinho is a shell of the player he used to be whilst playing for Liverpool.
Gerrard’s appointment was meant to push Villa to the next level, to gain European football in some capacity, they couldn’t be further from that right now.
It’s an experiment that seems to have run its course, it just doesn’t look like the former Rangers boss is able to get the best out of this crop of talents.
Villans are craving something different and if Gerrard continues with this defensive backward football his time at Villa Park will come to an abrupt end.
In other Aston Villa news, John McGinn admits to the Villa v Southampton Premier League clash being a boring affair.