Tyrone Mings was in a positive mood after Steven Gerrard’s first match as Head Coach ended in victory.
The Aston Villa captain was on the scoresheet as a new era for the club began with a hard-fought 2-0 success against Brighton & Hove Albion.
And speaking after the match, Mings hailed his teammates for buying into the ideas of Gerrard and his coaching staff.
He said: “It’s felt different ever since the new gaffer’s come in. He’s had new ideas and everyone’s bought into it.
“We haven’t had long to work on perfecting the ideas that the manager’s trying to get over to us, but we gave it a good go today.
“Everyone’s bought into it so far and I think you could see that in our performance and our willingness to work as a team and for each other.”
After five straight defeats, there were some nervy moments inside Villa Park during an even match that remained goalless until the 84th minute.
But from the moment Ollie Watkins’ shot hit the back of the net to put the home side 1-0 up, the noise was deafening through to when the players left the pitch having been serenaded to ‘Sweet Caroline’ by a euphoric crowd.
“It’s important to enjoy the highs in football and it’s important to feel the atmosphere when Villa Park gets going. They can create such a fantastic atmosphere,” Mings said.
“This has to be a hard place for other teams to come, it has to be a place that we enjoy playing and it has to be a place where we excite our fans.
“We’ve had a tough period – there’s no doubt about that. We’ve had to ask some difficult questions of each other and it was time to stand up and be counted.
“It was time to put in a big performance and it was a step in the right direction.”
