Express & Star journalist Luke Hatfield believes that Aston Villa’s midfield could be a problem for new manager Steven Gerrard.
In their last match prior to the international break against Southampton, Villa lined-up in a 4-2-3-1 formation with John McGinn and Marvelous Nakamba sitting in front of the back four, Emi Buendia in the number ten role and Leon Bailey and Anwar El Ghazi either side of him.
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Southampton won the match thanks to a single goal from Adam Armstrong and Hatfield believes that there are still question marks over the Villa midfield.
“The midfield, which was questioned during the transfer window, I think those question marks are still there,” Hatfield told This is Futbol.
The defeat to Southampton was Dean Smith’s last match in charge of Aston Villa as the club parted company with him and have since replaced him with Gerrard, who joins from Scottish Premiership Champions Glasgow Rangers.
Whilst Gerrard’s immediate focus will be the club’s next fixture against Brighton and Hove Albion, with the transfer window under two months away, you would imagine he will be assessing the current squad and looking at which areas of the pitch they need to improve.