Honeymoon period: over. January signings bounce: well, that barely got off the ground. Aston Villa have not entered crisis mode yet, but one win in eight has Steven Gerrard staring at one of the tougher tests of his fledgling managerial career.
After 13 matches Gerrard now has more league defeats at Villa (six) than he endured from the beginning of the 2019-20 season with Rangers until he left in November last year (five).
There were difficult defeats in Scotland, crushing European exits too, but Gerrard never suffered back-to-back league losses at Rangers, meaning it did not take long for the faith in his system to be restored.
That faith is undoubtedly being questioned at Villa Park, with jeers greeting the full-time whistle on Saturday as a 1-0 loss to Watford came just six days after defeat by the same scoreline at Newcastle.
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7 touches and 0 shots - Lukaku's anonymous display against Crystal Palace will concern Tuchel21 February, 2022A system which initially saw Gerrard pick up four wins from his opening six Premier League games – that also featured narrow one-goal defeats to Manchester City and Liverpool – has now started to falter.
Villa will be grateful those 12 points at least stalled talk of a relegation battle, but Gerrard had already warned that complacency could see them dragged into one before Saturday’s loss to yet another side out to avoid the drop.
Had it not been for Emi Martinez’s performance, including one sublime save to deny eventual match-winner Emmanuel Dennis, it could have been more damaging, but still the Watford loss exposed some brutal truths for Villa. Some were evident beforehand, but the return of 20 shots for just the one on target was a headline concern impossible to ignore.
“For me that is a quality issue,” Gerrard admitted. “That has to come from within the dressing room.
“We have really talented players. People have got to stand up and be counted. I will take the heat and the pressure. The responsibility is on me, of course it is. But when it is a quality issue in the final third it has got to come from the dressing room as well.”
‘Coutinho is a creator who offers little defensively’
Daniel Storey‘s Aston Villa segment from The Score
Steven Gerrard is now in a hole of his own making. It isn’t just that Aston Villa have taken five points from their last seven matches, or that Dean Smith was sacked after taking six points from his final seven games. It’s that Villa were absolutely rotten against Newcastle last weekend and therefore that Gerrard was tasked with provoking a response. Somehow, Villa were worse against Watford on Saturday.
The specific current issue appears to be that Villa were already a fairly creative team that shipped silly goals and often struggled to take its chances, and yet Philippe Coutinho was their landmark January signing. Coutinho is a creator who offers little defensively. Now everything goes through him, which is fine when he plays well and becomes highly problematic when he doesn’t. Villa are still a fairly creative team that ships silly goals and often struggles to take its chances. And now they are reliant upon a player who may well not be at Villa Park next season.
There’s also a wider, quasi-philosophical problem. Villa have made no secret of their desire to spend heavily to make a push for the European places. But on current evidence, Villa’s investment has made them worse, not better. Coutinho stays high up the pitch. Lucas Digne is an attacking left-back who leaves spaces in behind. Villa took 1.44 points per game in the Premier League last season and that has dropped to 1.13 points per game this season.
Nobody is saying that you should reject the chance to sign better players. But it is not a strategy in itself. It only works if you then fit those players into a coherent, balanced system and it only works if you have a coach that proves themselves capable of improving the players they inherited.
This is now Gerrard’s problem. He clearly has plenty of time to fix things, but Villa supporters are getting restless at their team’s inability to halt a slump that has not been altered by a change in manager. If that’s not all on Gerrard, his club has spent more than £350m on new players since June 2019 and that creates significant pressure on the person tasked with coaching and assembling them.
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Villa were also incredibly exposed at the back, much to Ismaila Sarr and Dennis’ joy particularly on the counter, with flying full-backs making for unprotected centre-backs – especially when your midfield has pushed forward too.
A team that needs to address defensive and attacking shortcomings already gives their manager plenty to ponder, but the issues do not stop there. The midfield balance is askew. Gerrard’s go-to trio has been John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and Jacob Ramsey, but there is a feeling among Villa fans that a shake-up is required in the middle of the park.
Morgan Sanson, a name fans away from Villa could be forgiven for forgetting, is barely getting a look-in. Six league appearances amounting to 224 minutes are all that the French midfielder has mustered this season, and Sunday’s Instagram post simply reading “Never give up” after four games of sitting on the bench outlines his current frustrations.
Gerrard had even said there would be changes after the Newcastle defeat, but Ollie Watkins was the only casualty from that match for the starting XI against Watford.
It is unlikely Gerrard will be as forgiving next time around, and so Saturday’s trip to Brighton – three months after his Villa reign began with a 2-0 win over the Seagulls – could see a couple more adjustments.
“We need to wake up and wake up fast,” Gerrard added. “Our recent form and our recent performances are way short of what’s needed to move up this table.”
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Martinez aside, there is plenty to correct. With 14 league games remaining, Gerrard will look to hammer home his methods in the hope this system can remain in place, even if that means a change in personnel.
But where they lie in the table in the weeks to come will no doubt dictate that.
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