Steven Gerrard: Aston Villa need to wake up fast

Emmanuel Dennis’ 78th minute header was enough to earn the struggling Hornets a first Premier League win since November, while condemning Villa to a second straight defeat.

Gerrard had been eager to bounce back from the previous week’s loss at Newcastle but this was another below-par display.

And he said: “My reaction is not too much different to last week. I am really frustrated and disappointed in the performance and result.

“We have lacked quality in the final third, that is for sure. I have had a really honest conversation with the players. We need to wake up and wake up fast because our recent form and performances are way short of what is needed to move up this table.”

Villa, who have now won just one of their last eight matches, had 20 shots at goal during the match but did not force visiting keeper Ben Foster into a serious save.

Gerrard continued: “I tried to be more aggressive as the game wore on because we were looking for a breakthrough.

“We got into a lot of good areas today. We had a lot of the ball and the game panned out as we thought it would, with us needing to force the breakthrough.

“But we have lacked quality in the final third. We have only managed one shot on target out of 20 which is not good enough. That responsibility falls on me and my staff and we will have to take whatever comes our way.”