Shropshire Star

Steven Gerrard: Aston Villa can stand up to physical challenges of Premier League

Steven Gerrard believes Villa’s new boys are more than well equipped to deal with the physical challenges posed by the Premier League.

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The head coach handed debuts to defender Diego Carlos and midfielder Boubacar Kamara, and both grew into the challenge of a fired-up Bournemouth side who produced a fine opening day’s performance to inflict a 2-0 defeat on the claret and blues.

“We expected a physical battle and the team they picked with a back five and players such as (Philip) Billing and (Kieffer) Moore meant we knew there would be physicality in the game,” said Gerrard. “I think we stood up to that in the main in general play and I don’t think they caused us problems with that physicality – the problems came from us not defending set plays.

“I thought Bouba was really good, arguably our strongest performer, and I was really happy with how he did.

“I think apart from the set pieces defensively as a team we did okay and Diego helped us in general play to be solid.”

Carlos lined up alongside Ezri Konsa at the back, getting the nod ahead of both Calum Chambers and Tyrone Mings, and, in his post-match interviews, Gerrard was asked whether the former skipper’s influence was missed.

“People might talk about that and the easy thing after a defeat is to look at the people who weren’t on the pitch,” he replied, adding that Mings has also been struggling with a niggling injury.

“We had enough quality on the pitch to win that game and when Tyrone is back to his best and looks me in the eye and shows me he is ready to play, he will get opportunities.

“He has missed some training time with an injury niggle but the challenge which I gave him when making the decision with the captaincy was to get back to his consistent best and get back in the team.

“We can’t just have one leader on the pitch, we need numerous leaders out there, and I fully believe that we have got that.”

Gerrard also revealed that a planned friendly with Liverpool on Sunday had been cancelled as he felt his players “had enough in their legs” and didn’t require another physical workout.

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