Steven Gerrard will succeed with Aston Villa insists Watford's Roy Hodgson

Hodgson got one over on Gerrard, whom he managed at Liverpool and England, as Watford left Villa Park with a 1-0 win on Saturday.

The defeat was Villa’s second on the spin and a run of just one win in eight in all competitions is comfortably the worst of Gerrard’s young managerial career.

But former Albion boss Hodgson, who recently returned to management at the age of 73, was happy to offer words of encouragement to his former charge.

He said: “Steven is going to be an extremely good manager because of his knowledge of the game, his determination to succeed and because of his manner.

“He has an extremely good coaching manner and his players will react to that.

“They respect him and admire him anyway but they will respect and admire him even more when they get to know him as a person and as a man. So I wouldn’t fear for him at all.

“I don’t know what the expectations are, Aston Villa-wise. I don’t know if they expect Steve to come and lift them into the Uefa spots. I really couldn’t tell. But I know one thing. They’re going to be very, very comfortable in the league next year and at the end of the season he will have gained important experience and will go into next season an even better manager and coach than he is now.”

“Steven doesn’t need any help or advice from anyone.

“And if he does want someone to lean on for a bit of advice he’s got Gary McAllister alongside him who can certainly give him as much good advice as I could possibly give him.”

Watford’s win was their first in the Premier League since November, while defeat left Villa sitting 12th in the table. Gerrard later called on his players to “wake up fast” after a run of just one point from three matches against teams below them in the standings.

“I have had a really honest conversation with the players,” he said. “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.

“I am really disappointed by the performance and result. We lacked quality in the final third. That responsibility falls on me and my staff and we will have to take whatever comes our way.”