The players weren’t having him- EPL striker reveals how Villa stars reacted to Big Time Gerrard
Soccer Football - Premier League - Fulham v Aston Villa - Craven Cottage, London, Britain - October 20, 2022 Aston Villa manager Steven Gerrard after the match Action Images via Reuters/Paul Childs EDITORIAL USE ONLY. No use with unauthorized audio, video, data, fixture lists, club/league logos or 'live' services. Online in-match use limited to 75 images, no video emulation. No use in betting, games or single club /league/player publications. Please contact your account representative for further details.
Michail Antonio wasn’t surprised to see Aston Villa hammer Brentford 4-0 as the players celebrated Steven Gerrard’s sacking.
Less than a year after walking away from Ibrox the axe fell on Gerrard soon after the 3-0 defeat at Fulham.
In pre-season Gerrard took the captaincy away from Tyrone Mings with a dismal run of results firmly blamed on the players.
Acting Big Time worked well on journeymen like Ryan Jack, James Tavernier, Scott Arfield and Connor Goldson but a very different style is required with time served EPL players with the security of long term contracts to fall back on.
Speaking to the Footballers Football Show on the BBC, West Ham forward Antonio revealed:
Honestly, what I’ve heard on the grapevine is that there were a few players who weren’t really having him.
I’m not too sure how many there were but what I heard is that a few players weren’t really having him and didn’t like how he was.
It wasn’t how he wanted to play, it was more how he was as a manager himself and how he dealt with the players. That’s what I heard
Unai Emeri, the former Arsenal and Aston Villa boss has replaced Gerrard as Villa manager.