After a 3-0 loss to Fulham, Aston Villa have sacked manager Steven Gerrard, the club announced. While the loss was bad enough on its own, it saw Douglas Luiz receive a red card, the team concede a penalty and score an own goal. This sacking has been coming since stripping Tyrone Mings of the captaincy back in August before needing to restore him to the team due to Diego Carlos going down with an injury. Gerrard hasn’t been able to balance the squad despite having talented players like Lucas Digne, Matty Cash, Emiliano Buendia, Ollie Watkins and Luiz available to him. The club is in 17th place in the Premier League.
A club spokesman said, “We would like to thank Steven for his hard work and commitment and wish him well for the future.”
It’s a terse statement but looking at the numbers, it makes sense as Aston Villa are winless in their last four with one win since the middle of August. They have also failed to score more than one goal in ten straight league games while keeping only two clean sheets this season.
Aston Villa are reportedly interested in convincing Mauricio Pochettino for their opening but it may take a lot to get the Argentinian coach to join a team that is above the relegation zone only on goal difference. Since taking over for Dean Smith, Gerrard only has 13 wins in 40 matches managed, picking up 1.18 points per match which is unacceptable for an ambitious board like Villa’s and a far cry from his success at Rangers. A big difference this season was the loss of his assistant coach Michael Beale who is currently leading the Championship with QPR and also turned down an approach from Wolves for their vacant managerial opening.
