Steven Gerrard has caused trouble at Aston Villa by taking the captaincy off Tyrone Mings and dropping him from the club's starting XI.
That's an opinion held by Richard Keys, who believes Gerrard has made a mistake with his decision to replace Mings by handing the armband to new skipper John McGinn. The former was not included in the Villa side to face Bournemouth on Saturday, with Diego Carlos and Ezri Konsa preferred, while Calum Chambers appears to be deemed as third choice centre-back.
Mings has fallen out of favour at Villa following a string a below-par performances towards the back end of last season and he has since been linked with a move away from the club. The player did not feature as Villa were beaten 2-0 at Bournemouth thanks to goals from Jefferson Lerma and Kieffer Moore.
He said: "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 x-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."
Gerrard has won just 10 of his 29 matches in charge of his Villans after replacing Dean Smith last November. Although Villa steered comfortably away from the relegation zone with the former Rangers boss in charge, that did not tell the full story. Villa were beaten by Watford, Wolves, Newcastle amongst others and failed to beat Crystal Palace, Burnley and Leeds United at home. The latest plan of action to change this was to drop Mings.
Did Steven Gerrard make the right decision by stripping the captaincy off Tyrone Mings? Let us know in the comments below!
Keys added: "Dean Smith dropped Mings once - during his last few months at Villa. I’m told Mings didn’t react well. He was an instant problem with his attitude. Why didn’t Gerrard know this? Perhaps he did?
"The reason I ask is that if he did surely the time to tell Mings the bad news was last May? Why didn’t he call him in at the end of last season and have a grown up conversation?
"He could’ve told Mings that he wasn’t in his plans. He could’ve invited Mings to find another club - while at the same time suggesting if he wanted to knuckle down and prove his manager wrong he’d be happy to accommodate that. But no - Gerrard left his bad news until 10 days before the season started. Big error."
