Steven Gerrard Manager
Steven Gerrard says Cameron Archer is “chomping at the bit” for more game time at Aston Villa. The youngster has managed just nine Premier League minutes this season and, despite Villa struggling in front of goal against 10-man Leeds United, failed to make it off the bench. The 20-year-old came into the 0-0 draw at Elland Road having trained just once this week and, when asked if Archer is desperate for more game time,
Steven Gerrard said: “He’s only done one full session. Is he chomping at the bit? 100 per cent. You’re a fan of Cameron, you, aren’t ya? Or are you a mate of the family? Something’s going on because you’ve asked me 25 questions this year and I reckon 19 have been on Cam Archer. You’re a fan aren’t ya?”
Archer, as we know, failed to secure a loan move to Watford in the summer as negotiations collapsed to bring Ismaila Sarr to Villa Park. The striker scored four in four England under-21 caps back in June while, last season, scored 17 in his 26 senior appearances for Villa and Preston. On Villa’s woes in front of goal against Leeds,
Steven Gerrard added: “We have had 19 shots on goal and 12 inside the area so we need to be better. Leeds defended well and dug in and you would expect that but we created more than enough and it was that last bit that was missing. If we had found that we would have been happy. At times Leeds wanted to go to war and we did that. We frustrated Leeds and the crowd. When our moments came we got the ball into the right areas and to the people we wanted to but it didn’t happen. We need more goals. We need our attacking players to step forward and be more ruthless. That tally [six goals so far] is not enough at this stage of the season and we know where we want to go. We keep working and putting the sessions on and rehearsing the moments that will come their way. We have improved slightly defensively and we need to continue that but we need to keep creating these moments and hopefully our players will gobble them up.”
