View: Michael Beale is making Aston Villa regret decision to let him leave for QPR
Aston Villa have endured a difficult start to the 2022-23 Premier League season and it is not all down to Steven Gerrard’s managerial inexperience.
Throughout his time at Rangers prior to joining Villa in November 2021, Gerrard had Michael Beale alongside him as his assistant manager and he reunited with the 42-year-old at Villa Park when he took the job.
But Beale has always had ambitions of being a manager himself and chose to make the leap of faith over the summer as he took the reins of Championship outfit Queens Park Rangers.
Life at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium has begun terrifically for the former Villa man with QPR sat level on points with Sheffield United and Norwich City at the top of the second-tier league table.
There is a smooth blend of attacking football and clever decision-making that has catapulted the R’s up the division while Gerrard can’t get that same blend to work at Aston Villa.
He did bring in another Championship manager as Beale’s replacement by poaching Neil Critchley from his post at Blackpool on the eve of the new campaign but he has not had the desired impact.
Villa are now surely regretting the decision to let Beale leave in order to take charge of QPR given the struggles of the team so far this season compared to the Championship high-flyers.
Aston Villa are currently languishing in 16th in the Premier League, just three points above the drop zone after a 1-1 draw away at Nottingham Forest, who were bottom at kick-off on Monday night (10 October).
Critchley has to find that same spark that Beale had at Bodymoor soon or it could cost Gerrard his job in the hot seat at Villa Park with results on the slide.
In other Aston Villa news, it could soon be time for the boss to repair his relationship with this committed defender if injuries get any worse.