Steven Gerrard Manager
Steven Gerrard called out his Aston Villa squad in the dressing room after his side’s 1-1 draw with Burnley. Thousands stayed well after 10pm for Villa’s lap of appreciation after Emi Buendia cancelled out Ashley Barnes’ first-half penalty. The result leaves Villa in 14th and, in the last 10 matches, Gerrard’s men have taken just nine points from a possible 30. Speaking after tonight’s 1-1 draw,
Steven Gerrard said “I’ve just said to the players in the dressing room, ‘You’re a lucky group and I’m a lucky manager because we’re 14th in the league at Aston Villa which isn’t enough’. The fans are there in their numbers and their thousands cheering the boys on, and they have done home and away all season. There’s 20,000 people on a waiting list to come and watch them play. They’re lucky, they deserve more and we need to give them more. I assure all of them that we will work tirelessly in the coming weeks and months to be better prepared for next season but, in the short term, there’s another big three points to play for at the weekend and we need to focus on that first.”
On the match itself,
Steven Gerrard added: “We gave ourselves a big problem conceding the penalty. Outside of that we’ve done everything to win the game. We just lacked the quality in the final third. The issue for me is we need to solve a bigger problem. We’re creating chances but not scoring enough goals. I want to challenge my players to find better quality. We created enough opportunities to score more. We can’t just say it was because the keeper played well. I’d like more quality in the final third. Our supporters deserve it [a good performance against Manchester City on Sunday]. We’re 14th. The fans have been incredible, following us near and far. The least we can do is try to make them proud. We can’t control people asking us questions [about the title race]. We just have to focus on preparing in the best way we can. There are three points to play for.”
