Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard is being “almost too honest” in front of the television cameras this season – and it could end up costing him his job.
That is according to former Villa manager Tim Sherwood, who was speaking on TalkSport about the West Midlands side’s start to the season.
Gerrard’s side currently sit 17th in the Premier League table after the first six games of the season, having secured four points following one victory and a draw.
It has been a relatively tumultuous summer at Villa Park, with arguably the biggest talking point being the former Rangers manager’s decision to strip Tyrone Mings of the captaincy and give the armband to Scotland midfielder John McGinn.
And after a relatively poor start to the season, Sherwood believes that Gerrard has been too honest when being interviewed this campaign.
He said: “Stevie at the moment, when I see him in front of the cameras, he’s very honest – almost too honest.
“And, you know, it doesn’t pay to be too honest as a manager, sometimes you’ve just got to tell people what they want to hear, but that’s where he wants to go.
“I mean, I always did it that way as well, you know, I wore my heart on my sleeve, and it takes its toll in the end – you end up losing your job.
“I think he’s trying to take the pressure off the players, he’s trying to take all the onus on him.”
TIF Thoughts on Sherwood’s comments…
We believe that whilst Gerrard’s honesty can be refreshing to hear in a world where we are used to hearing the same recycled stock phrases from managers in post-match interviews, we think that the Liverpool legend could do with backing his team a bit more in public.
This honesty was laid bare when asked about Douglas Luiz’s Villa future towards the end of the transfer window – with his response not going down well with some connected to the club.
However, he has previous of this while at Rangers, having torn into his side following poor results – so perhaps this is just part of his management style.
We think that giving the players more public backing and keeping his criticisms for when the cameras are away would be more appropriate at a time when Villa are struggling.
Therefore, we agree with Sherwood and think that Gerrard may need to re-evaluate his approach to pre-match and post-match interviews in order to garner the best relationship and performances out of his players.