Steven Gerrard shared his thoughts on a number of topics as he sat down with VillaTV following the conclusion of the 2021/22 season.
The Aston Villa head coach spoke about the swift signing of Boubacar Kamara, reflected on his first six months at the club, discussed the kind of team he wants to build, the challenges that lie ahead and much more.
Supporters can read the full interview and watch on VillaTV below…
Steven, the dust has barely settled on the season but already preparations have begun for the future with the arrival of Boubacar Kamara…
“We’re really happy with that news, I think we’ve signed a fantastic player with huge potential. This is a player who has played a lot of football at the highest level and has recently been called up to the national team on his recent performances. I’m absolutely delighted to welcome him to Aston Villa, and he’ll certainly make our team and our squad a lot stronger. It’s a big day for the club. It shows our intent, straight after the season that’s just passed us, and it shows our intent going into the new one. I’m delighted.”
He's a young player with European experience. What will he bring to Aston Villa?
“He’s a young player, in terms of age, but he plays with a lot of maturity. He’s played a lot of games in one of the top five leagues. He’s robust, he’s very consistent and he’s exactly the type of player we need if we want to go to the next level. He suits our style, and I have no doubt that once he settles, the Aston Villa fans will be witnessing a very top player.”
In signing someone who can play defensive midfielder, you’ve addressed a position of need…
“He can play as a defensive midfielder. He can also play as a left eight or a right eight in our system. He’s also capable of playing as a centre-back in the middle of a back three – he can also play to the right or the left. He has got a bit of versatility, but we have signed him as a midfielder. It’s always nice as a manager to know someone can take on tactical information. We watched him a lot at Marseille and he’s played in numerous roles with consistency at a high level. It was well documented I went out to watch the game against Nantes and he was man of the match, clearly, as a central midfielder in a two. Both sides of the game, out of possession and in possession, he had a lot of quality. We couldn’t wait to get the signing done. It’s only happened recently because he wanted to be very respectful to Marseille, which is understandable. To get the news recently that he’d signed is a big step for Aston Villa.”
"I want players that are obsessed to win. I want us to really bottle the feeling of our inconsistencies this year and be really obsessed in pre-season to become better prepared, mentally and physically. I want winners in the dressing room. I don’t want players that are content to finish 14th in the league and going out of cup competitions early. That’s got to hurt."
Steven Gerrard
The club have moved so swiftly on this deal, has it set the tone for the summer window?
“I think the tone was set in the previous window. We made four signings. Robin Olsen, as you saw against Manchester City, performed at a high level and is more than capable of challenging Emi (Martinez). We’re hoping to maybe get some progress on that one moving forward. I thought Calum (Chambers), Lucas (Digne) and Phil (Coutinho) again showed the reasons why we brought them into the club against a top side (City). They performed ever so well. I think the tone was set in the previous window. We got superb backing from the owners, Christian (Purslow) and Johan (Lange) to help get those signings done. Again, straight away we’ve moved swiftly, we’ve moved quietly to try and get another big player in the door. To do that on day one of the off-season is a massive step. Now it’s time to push and move forward for the next piece of the jigsaw.”
This signing marks the start of your first full season as head coach here. How important is it that you now have some time over the course of June and into pre-season to implement the changes you want to see across the squad and the club?
“Very important. We’ve used the last six months to analyse the whole playing staff. We’ve tried to implement a style and an identity that as you can see, clearly, is a work in progress. There have been a lot of positives. There have also been some inconsistencies, and there are a lot of areas to work on to get it how we want. We want to use this stage now to recruit extremely well and then take that into a full pre-season with the group. We’re hoping by the back end of pre-season that it looks more like a Steven Gerrard Aston Villa team and that we can be better and stronger going into the new season. I’m extremely excited – I have been for the last six months. I’ve watched everyone really closely, staff members too. We’re going to continue to shape and polish this up so that we’re better prepared for next season.”
You came into the club in November with the team on a bad run and in a precarious position. In the 27 games since, the results would put us ninth in the table. How do you reflect on your first six months at Villa?
“It’s certainly a work in progress. I’ve seen a lot of positive things, we’ve got some fantastic players here and there’s certainly a base to build something special from, I believe. I’m confident we can do that. It’s difficult when you inherit a group of players that have been used to a different style in the middle of a season. Straight away you’ve got to go into the best league in the world, with the best competition and challenges. That’s very testing and challenging but we’ve managed it really well. We’ve managed to steer ourselves away from any mess at the end of the season. We’ve remained in the Premier League and finished 14th, which is not acceptable and we’re not happy with that at all. Results since we’ve come in the door show that we finished ninth. That’s something to build on, it’s respectable and next season we want to improve on that. Hopefully, during a full campaign, we can push up towards the top half of the league and really put pressure on teams pushing for places in the top half.”
The season ended in dramatic fashion at Manchester City, where we saw the team show many positive qualities but ultimately come up just short. In some ways, did it sum up how this campaign has gone?
“I think so. That’s a fair question. We were outstanding for 75 minutes. We were in control, and I don’t say in control as in dominating possession, because you know that’s always going to be a challenge against one of the best teams in the world, but in terms of the players carrying out a gameplan. Three-quarters of it was near enough perfect. We ran out of steam, we ran out of energy and we tried to make changes to get help to the players on the pitch. Unfortunately, when we conceded the first one, the momentum in the game changed. City were relentless and you have to give credit to them. I saw enough in the game, enough positive things, to know that we’re not too far away from becoming a really good team.”
What characteristics and traits would you like to see from your team moving forward?
“I want them to be mentally stronger throughout the full game. I want players that are obsessed to win. I want us to really bottle the feeling of our inconsistencies this year and be really obsessed in pre-season to become better prepared, mentally and physically. I want winners in the dressing room. I don’t want players that are content to finish 14th in the league and going out of cup competitions early. That’s got to hurt. We’ll try and set a culture and a standard here where it’s not acceptable here to be inconsistent. That’s the challenge moving forward.”
We know the ambitious plans the owners and yourself and your staff have for the club. How optimistic can supporters be as we look to the future?
“We want them to be optimistic, we want them to be excited and we’re going to try and make acquisitions that will make them even more excited. But we, as a staff and as players, have got to deliver for the supporters. They’re the most important part of the club. The owners have been very supportive, they always have been. Even before I came in, they really did a fantastic job at Aston Villa. Christian and Johan I know share the same ambition as myself and we need that to filter down to the rest of the club. Everyone who’s representing Aston Villa needs to come back after a summer break fresh, re-energised, reset and ready to go again because we can’t be satisfied with how this season’s gone.”
