Steven Gerrard’s ‘honest’ message to Aston Villa stars before Coutinho goal vs Man Utd
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Steven Gerrard delivered an ‘honest’ message to his Aston Villa players following a below-par first-half performance against Manchester United. Exciting new signing Philippe Coutinho came off the bench to score the equaliser in the 2-2 draw after the Red Devils led 2-0.
Coutinho finished the impressive Jacob Ramsey’s cross to complete a remarkable comeback.
The latter had equalised to give Villa hope after Bruno Fernandes’ brace had appeared to hand United all three points.
Fernandes opened the scoring after six minutes when his speculative long-ranger squirmed through the grasp of Villa goalkeeper Emi Martinez.
The Portuguese then scored again midway through the second half. These were his first goals since a hat-trick on the opening day of the season.
Villa fought back and ultimately levelled thanks to Coutinho and Ramsey.
But Gerrard felt that his side deserved to trail and offered his players some home truths at half-time.
“That (draw) is a big positive now. I think in the second half we improved a lot,” Gerrard told Sky Sports.
“It needed a bit of honesty at half-time. We had to demand more from the players, collectively, because in the first 25 minutes we were second best.
“We didn’t commit to doing what we wanted to do. We prepared in a really positive way and wanted to be aggressive and on the front foot and really jump on Manchester United.
“We thought there was an opportunity there. Listen, credit to them – they were better than us throughout the first half.
“But I felt that the first goal came from us being passive and second best. We were giving away corners and silly fouls.”
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