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Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa in-tray: Gel new signings, sort out defence, promote youth

by Patriot

12/11/2021 2

Why Steven Gerrard must prioritise gelling new signings, sorting out the defence, promoting youth and connecting with the fans at Aston Villa; Gerrard has left Rangers to sign three-and-a-half year deal at Villa

ith Steven Gerrard named Aston Villa boss, we look at the five areas he must prioritise in his first Premier League managerial job.

Gerrard has left Rangers to sign a three-and-a-half year deal at Villa Park, with the Midlands side 16th in the Premier League, on the back of five straight defeats which prompted the sacking of Dean Smith.

With tricky fixtures on the horizon, there is no time to waste for the former Liverpool midfielder. Here is what will be in the in-tray when he arrives at Bodymoor Heath

Not every manager can be a lifelong supporter – in fact, Smith’s love for the club he led was a unique occurrence in today’s game – but after Smith followed Jack Grealish out the door in the space of three months, a large part of Villa’s soul went with it.

Now, soul does not equal results, but it certainly helps. It helps sell tickets, it helps sign players, and it should increase patience for what is still a sizeable project.

After a few years of drudgery straddling the end of their Premier League days and the start of their Championship stay, Smith and Grealish partnered to bring fan-feeling back to Villa Park.

Villa fans will want a manager to show love and affinity for a club they feel, realistically or not, should be challenging for Europe. Gerrard’s partisan tenacity at Rangers suggests he will connect with the supporters, but there is a justified feeling that Villa is just a useful stepping stone to the Liverpool job. He will have to make all the right noises.

Smith’s LMA statement after the sacking suggested he felt hard done by.

“I felt that with important players soon returning to full fitness we would achieve a top-half finish,” he said, no doubt referring to the fact summer signings Leon Bailey, Emi Buendia and Danny Ings have played only 34 minutes together over two games. That was 22 minutes as Arsenal turned a dominant 2-0 lead into three, and 12 minutes while 3-0 down against Watford. Not exactly ripe circumstances to judge.

CEO Christian Purslow insisted these three signings, totalling nearly £100m, were carefully measured to make up for the over-reliance on Grealish. But their use, albeit not all at once, proved to be Smith’s downfall.

Bailey, in and out of the squad due to injury, has started only two top-flight games, and despite looking devastating in spurts in the opposition half, is yet to show the off-the-ball discipline needed to be a top-half Premier League winger.