Steven Gerrard says Ashley Young’s performance “epitomised everything” his side needed as Aston Villa battled back to draw 1-1 with champions Man City. Young replaced Matty Cash in the 25th minute and was many people’s star man with Leon Bailey cancelling out Erling Haaland’s opener. On Young,
Steven Gerrard said: “I’ve just finished my chat downstairs with the players. I tried to be brief because they’ve probably heard enough of me, especially over the last couple of days and weeks! Losing Matty Cash was a blow because he’s important in how we play because we need his energy and his legs. I’m disappointed with that injury but I thought Ashley Young epitomised everything we needed today and he has since I come through the door. I think when you take over a challenge like this so early in your managerial career it’s vital you have the right senior players. I’m working with the senior players in situations and Ash is someone who I haven’t had to work with because he’s been there, he’s done it and he’s got that winning mentality. He’s got the standards. I thought his performance epitomised everything about us today and the supporters… a lot of that should be for Ashley Young because he drove a lot of our players when he came onto the pitch. He was magnificent.”
Offering an update on Cash, Gerrard says it’s too early to put a timeframe on the Poland international’s injury,
Steven Gerrard added: “Cashy’s got a hamstring situation. We’ll check it out in the next couple of days. He’ll have an MRI scan.”
