Matt Maher: The pressure will crank up when the window closes

For Steven Gerrard, in his own opinion, the time is now.

“After a couple of transfer windows and six months in the job, I think it is fair people say this is Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa,” he said earlier this month.

“We have had time to shape it and get it how we want it to look, put our own stamp on it.”

Were Gerrard asked the same question today, he would probably be sure to greater emphasise the importance of those two transfer windows being completed.

A serious injury to £26million summer signing Diego Carlos, sustained in a 2-1 victory over Everton barely 24 hours after the above comments were made, made a rather serious dent in the Villa boss’s plans.

Sourcing an effective replacement for the Brazilian is now the club’s No.1 priority before next Thursday’s deadline.

Their success, or otherwise, could be critical to Gerrard’s aim of turning Villa into a top-half Premier League unit.

He is not the only manager in the region for whom the next few days have the potential to be significant. Bruno Lage and Steve Bruce, for varying reasons, are also hoping to bring in players who can make a big difference to their own chances of success.

Of the trio, Lage has been in his job the longest and this is the third transfer window of his reign.

The limited nature of Wolves’ activity during the first two, however, means making a complete assessment of his performance slightly tricky until now.

There is no question Lage restored some energy to an environment which had begun to stagnate in the final days of Nuno Espirito Santo’s reign.

But there was also a sense he was compromised somewhat by the players at his disposal and unable to fully implement his own vision during his first season at the helm. It was certainly the biggest piece of mitigation for the steady loss of momentum which saw a campaign alive with promise in early spring fizzle out into an underwhelming 10th-placed finish.

With Wolves having already spent around £90million and broken their transfer record during the current window, it is no longer an excuse so readily available to the head coach.

It will be even less so should the club be successful in recruiting a striker before deadline.

True, they still have Raul Jimenez and the hope will be the Mexican can rediscover the form which made him one of the Premier League’s best frontmen prior to suffering a fractured skull in November 2020.

Yet behind Jimenez, Lage’s striking resources are sparse and it is clearly the most pressing need. Should he get the players he wants, the pressure to deliver ratchets up another couple of notches.

Tuesday’s Carabao Cup win over Preston was Wolves’ first in any competition since beating Villa 2-1 at Molineux on April 2.

Bruce has been in charge at Albion for only six months but the expectation is no less than that faced by Gerrard or Lage. In many respects, it is greater.

While for Villa and Wolves the margin between success and failure will most likely be measured by the difference of a few places in the middle of the Premier League table, for Albion in the Championship the equation is far simpler. Either they win promotion, or they don’t. Should it be the latter outcome, it is difficult to see Bruce staying beyond the 18-month contract agreed in February.

It is a brutal business but the 61-year-old knew exactly what he was signing up for. With four promotions already on his CV, it is an environment he has largely thrived in.

Like Lage, his greatest wish will be to see a striker arrive through the doors before next Thursday, though Albion’s squad is thin enough in other areas for the manager to admit he would ideally like two or three more additions.

It is no secret money is tight at The Hawthorns, the possible comfort for supporters the fact Bruce has often done his best work on smaller budgets.

Recruitment, of course, is only one aspect of building a successful team. Coaching, man-management and tactics will always be the primary foundation of any managerial tenure.

Yet few of the latter begin when teams are on the up and questions about transfer budget will always be the first asked (after salary) by any applicant.

Every job differs in circumstance but it is only fair a manager gets at least some time to mould the squad to their preference.

Gerrard clearly identified a need to strengthen Villa’s defence during the second half of last season and the loss of Carlos means he is missing a key pillar of his rebuild. In four matches so far, he has named four different centre-half pairings yet his team are still to keep a clean sheet.

Tuesday’s 4-1 win at Bolton was only Villa’s fifth under Gerrard in a match where they have conceded. It was only the second time they had come from behind to win since he replaced Dean Smith last November.

Little wonder, in that light, a proposed £25m move for Watford forward Ismaila Sarr collapsed in part due to the realisation funds ideally needed to be spent further back in the team. Another midfielder is also desired in a week of potentially huge long-term importance for Gerrard and his West Midlands counterparts.