Downbeat Steven Gerrard confessed his toiling Aston Villa side took a big step back after their comprehensive 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace.
The former Rangers boss watched on as Ollie Watkins' opener counted for little at Selhurst Park as his side were outclassed by Patrick Vieira's men for much of the encounter. Gerrard has been left ruing the loss of Diego Carlos due to a serious achilles injury, which could rule the Brazilian out for a large chunk of the season.
But the 42-year-old, with one win in his last seven Premier League games stretching back to last season, refused to use injury woe as an excuse after watching his team come unstuck in London. Speaking after the setback, he said: "The get-out is to say we don’t have enough in the building. But I have full belief in these players we can find this consistency. We had a huge setback this week in the heart of defence, which was well documented. In the coming days we will do everything we can to give the players more support. We want to move forward and are not satisfied with the inconsistency.
