Football presenter Richard Keys has criticised Steven Gerrard's decision to strip Tyrone Mings of the Aston Villa captaincy, insisting it has 'divided' the club's dressing room.
The Liverpool legend confirmed midfielder John McGinn as the new leader of his team and has faced scrutiny after leaving Mings on the bench during Villa's opening day defeat to Bournemouth. Pressure is on Gerrard to deliver improvement this season after strengthening this summer, and Saturday's result certainly came as a surprise to supporters of the club.
Ex-Red Philippe Coutinho has been acquired on a permanent basis, meanwhile the likes of Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos have added further quality to the group. The latter was handed his Premier League debut at the expense of Mings, who now faces a battle to force his way back into the starting-eleven.
READ MORE: Liverpool's Plan B must become Plan A after 40 minutes at Fulham
READ MORE: Dermot Gallagher gives verdict on Virgil van Dijk penalty decision against Liverpool
Gerrard challenged the England international to get 'back to his best' when speaking after Saturday's loss, making clear his place within the team is anything but guaranteed. Far from impressed with this somewhat ruthless approach, Keys has accused the Liverpool midfielder of causing 'trouble all of his own making'.
"Few of the weekends’ results surprised me. The exceptions were Liverpool’s anaemic performance at Fulham and Villa’s defeat at Bournemouth. Then the Gerrard/Neville meme [managerial records compared] started doing the rounds. It doesn’t make good reading for either of them. Coaching has done with Neville so it doesn’t really matter from his perspective - but it’s damaging for Steven," he wrote in his online blog.
"So what’s wrong at Villa? Last season was a free hit. Gerrard had plenty of time to work out what he wanted and Villa spent big on his plans in the summer. That’s why I expected to see them hit the ground running.
"Pre-match at Bournemouth he told us that they’d had a trouble free pre-season and were ready to go. Well they weren’t. And they didn’t have a trouble-free pre-season. Gerrard walked into trouble all of his own making. He stripped Tyrone Mings of the captaincy - and dropped him at Bournemouth. Big mistake. He’s divided his dressing room right down the middle.
"Mings will have his supporters. And they’ll make their feelings known. Some won’t care - but in the other corner will be a group that are delighted to see the ex-captain brought down a peg or two. The unrest will spread to the canteen. Players will sit in their chosen groups - muttering and whispering. It’ll be the same on the coach. Negativity will spread like a virus. Little things become big problems."
READ NEXT:
- Trent Alexander-Arnold will listen to Jurgen Klopp advice others at Liverpool ignored
- Worldwide football fans have made clear point about Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp
- Liverpool have a worrying problem that began back in May
- Linda Pizutti responds to advert mocking 'moaning' Liverpool fans
- Midfielder set to sign for Manchester United made revealing Liverpool admission
