‘I thought this was a local derby’; angry Gerrard cites three reasons why Wolves outplayed Villa
Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard struggled to convey his feelings after watching his side lose 2-1 to Wolves on Saturday afternoon.
The Villans arrived at Molineux looking to bounce back after defeat to both West Ham and, last time out, Arsenal. But they left with nothing to show for their efforts after a seventh-minute strike by Jonny and Ashley Young’s first-half own goal. Ollie Watkins did manage to pull one back via the penalty spot with four minutes left on the watch.
But it was not enough as Wolves moved above the Hammers into seventh spot in the table.
Gerrard was unhappy with his charges. And, although he felt they rallied after the interval, the damage was already done.
“At the end we were in a position where we had nothing to lose but we put ourselves in a really difficult place in the match with our first-half performance,” he told BBC Sport.
“We were second best and the game could have been dead and buried at half time. We were arguably better in the second half but we can’t keep gifting goals – this league is unforgiving.”
And the former England captain confessed that his side’s lack of urgency left him baffled.
He added: “I just said to the players, ‘I thought this was a local derby, where we had to come out of the blocks and have a war from the first minute’.
“But we only started having a war in the 70th minute and it was too late, but we’ve only got ourselves to blame.”
Gerrard unhappy with Villa gifts
It has been a roller coaster for Aston Villa fans since Gerrard replaced Dean Smith at the helm. Consecutive victories over Brighton, Southampton and Leeds seemed to signal the start of better times.
But they are now pointless from three outings and face Tottenham and then Leicester City next in the league. Gerrard had little positive to say about his side’s performance.
And it seems as though he might have a few words to say to his players on Monday morning.
“Their goalkeeper has made two or three world-class saves but we’ve gifted two really poor goals and you can’t afford to do that. We conceded a really poor goal and then had a real wobble,” he continued.
“Wolves were sharper, more aggressive and they knew it was a derby and we didn’t realise we were in a derby until the second half and beyond. I can’t put my frustrations into words.”
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