A section of established Aston Villa stars have reportedly been left miffed by Steven Gerrard 's way of working in search for success.
The former Rangers boss is hell-bent on leading the Villans to greater heights but the 41-year-old was left ruing his side's display in their lifeless 2-0 defeat to Bournemouth on the opening day of the English Premier League season. And the misstep on the south coast comes amid a storm after Gerrard challenged former skipper Tyrone Mings to look him in the eye and tell him he's ready to start again.
Owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens have grand plans for Villa and chief executive Christian Purslow handpicked Gerrard to usher in a new era of success after he was lured from Ibrox last November. And they green lit a summer spree which landed Sevilla standout Diego Carlos, Marseille free agent Boubacar Kamara and loan standout Phillipe Coutinho.
But now a loaded report on how Gerrard is perceived at Villa claims the Liverpool icon is not universally popular among all his playing staff. The Mirror states: "His high standards and forthright attitude isn’t going down well among all of the players he inherited when he replaced Dean Smith last November. Some of whom were very comfortable and content just to be at a big club like Villa, with decent salaries and sell-out 42,000 home games.
"Yet that all ended when Gerrard breezed in to push the club forward with the backing of billionaire owners Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens. Gerrard's demands for even more competition and commitment since from Villa’s squad has been a shock to several."
Aston Villa host Everton on Saturday as he squares off against old England team-mate Frank Lampard as both seek their first points of the season.
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