Steven Gerrard was fired 90 minutes after Aston Villa fell to an embarrassing 3-0 defeat by Fulham at Craven Cottage final night time.
Villa are solely out of the underside three on objectives scored and, with the travelling help repeatedly booing Gerrard, the membership determined to take swift motion. The 42-year-old has been within the job for lower than a yr and has been unable to make a hit of his first administration function in English soccer. “We wish to thank Steven for his laborious work and dedication and need him effectively for the long run,” a Villa spokesman mentioned.
It’s unclear who will take cost of Villa after they host Brentford on Sunday. They’ll hope to make a swift appointment and have thought-about an bold transfer for Mauricio Pochettino. It stays to be seen if the previous Tottenham supervisor, who’s out of labor after being fired by Paris Saint-Germain on the finish of final season, can be prepared to enter a relegation battle.
If Pochettino proves unattainable an alternative choice for Villa might be Brentford’s Thomas Frank. Nevertheless Brentford have made a powerful begin to the season and have opened talks with Frank over a brand new deal.
The scenario is massively regarding for Villa, who’ve spent closely lately. That they had excessive hopes when they replaced Dean Smith with Gerrard final November. The previous Liverpool captain was probably the greatest gamers of his technology and he impressed in his first administration job, main Rangers to the Scottish title in 2021.
Nevertheless he has struggled to win Villa’s followers over. Villa ran out of steam final season, ending 14th, and have made a poor begin to this marketing campaign. There’s little sample to their play and Gerrard has been unable to make the signing of Philippe Coutinho work.
There had been promising indicators throughout Villa’s 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea final Sunday. However Gerrard’s facet had been abject in opposition to Fulham. They had been tactically poor and lacked effort. Douglas Luiz was despatched off for a silly purple card. Tyrone Mings, who was stripped of the captaincy by Gerrard final summer season and dropped at the beginning of the season, scored a late own-goal.
The announcement from Villa got here after Gerrard had carried out his post-match media duties. He had admitted that he was below stress. “Soccer is in my DNA, quitting definitely not, so we are going to see what occurs shifting ahead,” he mentioned. “I’ve been across the sport a very long time and I definitely perceive the scenario.”
