Steven Gerrard understands frustration of Aston Villa fans

Under-fire boss Steven Gerrard said he understood the frustration of supporters after Villa were booed off following Sunday’s 1-0 defeat to West Ham.

File photo dated 23-04-2022 of Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard. Although Ten Hag is the only new managerial appointment, a raft of coaches will be under the spotlight during their first full campaigns at their current clubs. Issue date: Wednesday July 27, 2022. PA Photo. See PA story SOCCER Premier League Talking Points. Photo credit should read Mike Egerton/PA Wire..

Gerrard personally took flak from the stands as he made his way to the tunnel following a third loss in four Premier League matches.

And he said: “We certainly share our supporters’ frustration, there’s certainly nobody more frustrated than me.

“The only thing we can do now is act and try and put that right. I’m all in to make that happen, my staff are, but it’s got to come from within the players as well.

“The players have got to really stay together now and find results to move up the table.”

Gerrard admitted Villa lacked spark in attack after they failed to seriously test visiting keeper Lukasz Fabianksi.

West Ham, who started the day bottom of the table and still searching for their first Premier League goal, were similarly toothless but made the breakthrough 16 minutes from time when Pablo Fornals’ drive deflected off Ezri Konsa and over goalkeeper Emi Martinez.

Gerrard said: “You can say it was cruel, you can say it was bad luck, but we’ve had 90 minutes ourselves to score goals and I think that’s what was missing from our performance, that little bit of imagination and creative spark in the final third.

“We started with two attackers on the pitch and Phillipe Coutinho to try and have that. We’ve done a lot of things right up until a certain point in the pitch but we just couldn’t find openings.

“That can be two things, either our creative players have an off day or you give credit to West Ham, their organisation and defending their area really well.

“The game was in the balance at half time, we did a lot of things right, we never got any luck off the set plays and I said to the players we need to continue doing the right things. I think we stopped passing the ball well and we were a little but more open.

“Then the big moment in the second half has gone against us but we still had enough time, we changed a few things with our attacking talent from the bench, but we couldn’t create that opening to get us back in the game.”