Aston Villa head coach Steven Gerrard says he “understands” why away fans booed at full-time following the 1-1 draw against Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Ashley Young’s stunner in the first half levelled the game up after Emmanuel Dennis broke the deadlock in the first quarter of an hour. The result means Villa extend their unbeaten run to four games, which is a record under Gerrard, but three points were for the taking at the City Ground against a newly-promoted side who are now winless in seven Premier League matches. After full-time the travelling Villa faithful booed as a sign of their growing frustration having watched their side fail to win away from home at the sixth time of asking. And Gerrard wasn’t surprised at the fans’ reaction.
Steven Gerrard said: “They’ve come here tonight and we’re playing a team who give a lot of chances up and goals up. We had a massive opportunity to go from 16th to ninth so the fans deserve for us to go and win that game. So of course I understand that.”
Speaking more generally about the game,
Steven Gerrard said: “I don’t think we created enough to say we deserved to win. I wanted us to create more clear-cut chances. I don’t think there was too much wrong with the performance up to a certain point. It wasn’t a foul [for the free-kick leading up to the goal]. Tyrone Mings got a clear contact on the ball but saying that we still have to defend the set piece better. It was a fantastic strike and it was one of a few moments of quality in the final third. Ashley [Young] is leading by example for us at the moment and we are really pleased with him. We are grinding at the moment. We are close to turning draws into wins but to do that we need big players to step forward for us and give us a little more quality in the last bit of our play. In the last couple of games we are going away frustrated. We have tried to change our system a bit to be a bit more bold. We finished with a really bold team out there to try and find that bit of magic and quality.”
