Aston Villa 'culprit' named as Steven Gerrard told to sort out 'all over the place' defence

Former Aston Villa attacker Paul Merson has suggested that Steven Gerrard should drop club captain Tyrone Mings due to the defender's "poor" form.

This comment came before Villa again failed to keep a clean sheet against Watford this weekend, making it just one clean sheet in their last eight matches stretching back to Boxing Day. The only shutout came at Everton last month, with Gerrard 's side conceding 13 goals during that time.

Ezri Konsa was again unavailable after serving the final match of the suspension picked up during the Leeds United draw, and Merson believes changes still need to be made.

“They are a great club, don’t get me wrong, but the team have been inconsistent for years," Merson said on Sky Sports’ Soccer Saturday programme pre-match (via Birmingham World ).

“One minute they are up here, the next they are down here. You have got to get consistency, and that’s been the problem for Villa. Defensively, I don’t think they have been good enough.

“They don’t keep enough clean sheets and are all over the place, at times, so that needs to turn around, but I’m sure they will stay up.

“ Tyrone Mings has been poor, if I’m honest, and he’s the culprit for a lot of the goals they have let in recently. Steven Gerrard might have to pull him out of the team, in my opinion.

“He might be the one that could need to be left out; for a game or two. I think he’s been really struggling for form.

“Steven, like [ Everton manager] Frank Lampard will be watching all of these players, like who can play on at home, or away, and who gets on the ball when the shackles are already off.

“He’s got a lot of work to do. He’s come into Villa, and he’s a winner, who wants to make sure this team are fighting for Europe next