Gerrard points the finger after Villa defeat; reveals what he must do to improve
Aston Villa boss Steven Gerrard felt poor defending was behind his side’s loss to West Ham, with little between the two teams throughout the contest.
Villa were looking for a fourth straight Premier League victory but lost 2-1 at the London Stadium. The game remained scoreless until Andriy Yarmolenko broke the deadlock on 70 minutes. Pablo Fornals doubled the Hammers advantage with eight minutes left on the watch.
And, despite Jacob Ramsey’s 90th-minute strike, the East End outfit held on to take all three points. The result sees the Villans in ninth spot in the standings while West Ham sit sixth.
Gerrard was disappointed with the result but felt Villa were the architects of their own downfall.
“I think we lost the game on moments. We were keeping the ball well but we didn’t create as much as wanted,” he told BBC Sport. “At 0-0 at half-time, away from home, we were in an OK place.
“I never thought there were two goals against us in the game, but we have to look at ourselves defensively because we have ourselves to blame.
“We managed to get a fantastic goal and take West Ham to the wire but their second goal was very hurtful to us.”
And the former Rangers chief believes there was not too much between the teams.
Kalvin Phillips number 1 target for Gerrard and Aston Villa this summer
Aston Villa will push hard for Kalvin Phillips this summer as he is their number 1 target
“The game was decided by moments that went against us and we couldn’t do more with the moments we had,” he added. “We have a few bumps and bruises so we have to recover well before Arsenal next week.”
Gerrard with much to learn
Gerrard took over the club after the dismissal of Dean Smith. The West Midlanders were on a bad run of form.
There is no question that the ex-England skipper had made a huge difference, especially in the transfer market. He is happy with how things have gone but knows that, personally, he has issues to work on.
“We are satisfied in a lot of areas. We started the job in 16th and we are 9th. There are still areas we can improve, we want to finish as high as we can,” he continued.
“I have been around this league for a long time. I might be inexperienced in standing on the side but I’ve been around a lot of football matches.
“A big thing I’m trying to improve on is staying balanced and calm when things go against you. Hopefully next time we go to West Ham, the moments will be in our favour.”
