Steven Gerrard does not believe any of his Aston Villa’s have a secure spot in his starting XI following their recent tricky patch of form.
That is according to Dean Jones, who was speaking on the latest edition of Touchline Talk following Villa’s recent defeat against Watford at the weekend.
Villa made a bright start to life under Gerrard after four wins from their opening six Premier League games with the 41-year-old in the dugout.
However, the Villans have seen their form drop off massively, with just one win from their last seven games in the English top flight – with an FA Cup defeat mixed in there as well (via Transfermarkt).
And Jones believes the recent form of Gerrard’s side has left the manager questioning his side ahead of what could be a big summer for the club.
He said: “I don’t honestly think, there’s barely anyone in this side who’s safe. I think that’s how seriously he’s looking at this situation.
“I mean, he was pretty ruthless in terms of the signings he made in January, because I thought they might just be adding a defensive midfielder when we were opening up the window. He didn’t even bother doing that, they looked at other positions where they seemed quite well-catered for.
“I think it’s going to be the case on and on, because Steven Gerrard is never going to be satisfied with just being good enough, he’s going to want to get better and better.
“And he’s going to want to have Aston Villa in that conversation where they’re knocking on the door of European football again. That has to be the ambition. He has been promised big backing of the owners. And so they’re going to have to live up to those words now.”
TIF Thoughts on Steven Gerrard’s squad…
Aston Villa have seen a lot of changes to their squad since the end of the 2020/21 campaign, with the revenue generated by Jack Grealish’s departure funding a rebuild (via Transfermarkt).
However, there is clearly room for improvement going off their recent form, which has seen Villa keep just one clean sheet since the turn of the year.
And it is not just in defence where Villa are struggling, as in attack, Villa have failed to score in either of their previous two games against relegation-battling Newcastle United and Watford.
So it is no surprise Gerrard would be willing to ring the changes at Villa Park, especially having seen what his side are capable of following his promising start in the dugout.
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