Steven Gerrard will step up his plans for a summer shake-up at Aston Villa after his side’s latest “painful” loss.
Villa crashed to the biggest defeat of Gerrard’s reign in a 4-0 thumping at home to Tottenham. Villa were unlucky to trail 1-0 at half-time after creating lots of chances. But Danny Ings, who has just five goals since a £25million summer move from Southampton, scuffed two good openings.
And Ollie Watkins failed to hit the target with a free header from six yards which left Gerrard visibly frustrated on the sidelines. The Villa boss was also unhappy with his side’s defending as he rued having to wait until April 23 for Villa to put their display right away at Leicester.
Gerrard said: "It's horrible. It’s going to be tough, it's going to hurt for a while, which is not what you want in this position. You want a game straight away. Defensively, it was very painful.
“There's enough food for thought already. We know where we are, we know the reality. There's a gap to the teams above us - certainly to the top six. We gave everything we could for a certain amount of time and I thought we looked outstanding, so that's a real positive for me.
"But from a defensive point of view, second-half, it's not good enough - individually or collectively. Without naming names, we've got a lot to learn.”
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Gerrard is set to be backed in the summer by Villa's billionaire owners to bring in a new defender, midfielder and striker. Targets include Brighton ’s Yves Bissouma - who could be swapped with Danny Ings - and Liverpool ’s Joe Gomez.
On the other side of the coin is a mission to ditch the deadweight around Villa Park. As revealed by the Sunday Mirror, eight players are ready to be put up for sale this summer. Philippe Coutinho's £425,000-a-week wages are in excess of the club's current structure, with newly minted Newcastle ready to take on that financial burden.
The positions of Tyrone Mings and Ezri Konsa are under scrutiny - as is one-time Arsenal target Douglas Luiz - and a glut of fringe players will be allowed to leave. They include the likes of Anwar El Ghazi, Bertrand Traore and Trezeguet. Surprisingly, if Villa receives bids for midfielder Morgan Sanson and Leon Bailey, they too will be considered.
