Steven Gerrard sacked following 3-0 defeat to Fulham on Thursday night; former Liverpool midfielder departs after 11 months in the job; Villa have won two of 12 Premier League games this season; Mauricio Pochettino the bookmakers' favourite to replace Gerrard at Villa Park
Monday 24 October 2022 13:42, UK
Jamie Carragher analyses Steven Gerrard's sacking at Aston Villa, Philippe Coutinho's poor form and whether Mauricio Pochettino could replace Gerrard at Villa Park.
Carragher's former Liverpool team-mate Gerrard was sacked on Thursday night after a damaging 3-0 defeat at Fulham that leaves the club 17th in the Premier League, outside of the relegation zone on goal difference.
In his 11 months in charge Gerrard signed Philippe Coutinho, but the Brazilian is yet to score or assist this season.
The bookmakers' favourite to replace the former England captain, who won just 13 of his 40 games in charge at Villa, is Mauricio Pochettino.
Here, Carragher takes a look at Gerrard's reign, the form of Coutinho and whether Pochettino could be the new Villa boss...
Results is why it went wrong for Gerrard. I don't think there's too much of a shock that the news came out after the game.
You saw the reaction of the Villa fans to the performance and the result at Fulham and it's just whether the Aston Villa board would let Stevie take the game against Brentford because it's so close around the corner on Sunday.
But I think the reaction from the Villa fans - maybe they felt that the ground maybe a little bit toxic on Sunday - and so it was better for all parties to part ways.
Of course I feel for Gerrard, and as you do for most managers when they lose their job, they put everything into it.
You'll always look at the players, but every manager knows when he goes into a job if the players aren't performing at their best, it's the manager who's going to carry the can. Stevie's well aware of that, I'm sure he'll be disappointed in certain performances and maybe of individuals and the team.
But when you go into management you know the price on the ticket and if the results aren't right or whether the players are letting you down or not performing, it's the manager who carries the can and that's always been the case, and that's the brutal part of football management.
One of the big plus points of Stevie going to Aston Villa was that he could maybe attract players that maybe the manager before couldn't just through his own name, and his contacts within the game. I think Philippe Coutinho is a real standout, getting him from Barcelona.
Obviously it hadn't gone well for him there, but you think if he could reignite the ability we've seen in a Liverpool and Brazil shirt in the past it could be really special.
He was the one attacking player at Aston Villa he brought to the club. A lot of the players had been brought by the previous manager with the funds from Jack Grealish and that was the big problem for the team, they didn't score enough goals.
Coutinho was Stevie's man but he just didn't produce. I just think the Premier League for him now is just a bit too quick, too powerful, and it certainly wasn't the same Coutinho we've seen three or four years ago.
I'm really not sure whether Stevie would go back in or wait 12 months. I spoke to him a few days ago, actually, about the upcoming games for Aston Villa and he's not daft, he knew the situation.
But it'll be really interesting what he does next, that's not something I've spoken to him about.
Whether he's the type of guy who wants to be a manager for the next 20 years or he would maybe almost pick certain jobs that really appeal to him - I think that's what he's done in the first few jobs that he has picked.
He was obviously really close to Liverpool, got a job at the youth team. He completely turned Rangers around and then Aston Villa is a huge club in the Premier League, the biggest club in the Midlands, so it's hard to turn that down.
Whether Stevie would drop down to the Championship I'm really not sure.
Any football club has got to be ambitious and we kept hearing over the last few weeks how ambitious the football club are and that was why there was more pressure coming on Stevie.
Pochettino would be a great manager. He's a top manager and I think he would be a great appointment for Aston Villa.
You look at where Villa are in the table now and Pochettino's just come out of PSG, coaching Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi, and surely he'll want to be back at that level in terms of the Champions League.
But if Villa could get that over the line then I think that would be a fantastic appointment for them.
