Identities will be reset at Aston Villa during the two-and-a-half-week break they have before facing Leeds United, at least that is the aim for Steven Gerrard.
The Villa Park boss will face Marcelo Bielsa for the first time on Wednesday night in Birmingham, where the two sides will return to the field after an unusually long mid-season break.
Traditionally, international breaks have given clubs one free weekend or a two-week gap between matches, but Villa and United’s FA Cup exits mean they have even longer to prepare.
Gerrard, still less than three months into his job in the second city, has set out his stall for what he wanted to achieve ahead of the Leeds clash.
Speaking prior to Villa's winter break, Gerrard told BirminghamLive: "We need to use the next two-and-a-half weeks now because they're very important.
“From a physical point of view, we need to train hard. We also have an opportunity for unlimited physical days where we can reset our identity in and out of possession.
"We'll use this time as a mini pre-season which, hopefully, will benefit us in the short time and will have us ready for the remaining fixtures.
"Our plan is quite clear: we want to finish as strong as we can. The next two weeks is a very important time for the team and the group.
"Hopefully you'll see us fine-tuned in different areas where maybe we've been a bit short of late and, hopefully, we're a better team for that in the coming weeks.
"For sure, I think we can improve our fitness. We have an opportunity to really reset our identity in how we want the style to look, both in and out of possession.
"We've had some really good training time so far and we don't want to see this as a holiday period where players go here, there and everywhere.
“We want to use the time, the time we never had when we arrived, so we'll use it as a mini pre-season.
"We'll work some days physically, some days on our shape, we want some really strong training days to benefit us for the remaining games."
