Aston Villa fans 'don't relate' to Gerrard as pressure builds at Villa Park

Aston Villa supporters do not ‘relate’ to manager Steven Gerrard and many fans want him out of the club after a slow start to the season, according to journalist Dean Jones.

Gerrard was handed more than £60 million to improve his first-team squad over the summer but he is now under pressure in the Villa Park dugout.

The Liverpool legend stretched Villa’s unbeaten run to four games in the Premier League on Monday night with a 1-1 draw away to bottom-of-the-table Nottingham Forest.

After full-time, Gerrard insisted that he needs his attacking unit to ‘be more potent’ and called on his big-name players to ‘be headline writers’.

Philippe Coutinho and Emiliano Buendia both started the game but it did not help, with chants for Gerrard to go even heard from the away section of the City Ground.

During Sky Sports’ coverage of the game, pundit Roy Keane said he wanted to see Villa give their manager at least until January to turn things around but added that his players were not helping at present.

Jones believes that, if Villa do not sharpen up in attack, the former midfielder’s future is going to come under serious questioning.

The journalist adds that Gerrard may have to rely on chief executive Christian Purslow’s influence in the boardroom.

When asked about Villa’s attacking problems, Jones told GIVEMESPORT: “If that doesn’t change, then obviously Gerrard’s future is going to come into question. This is a case of managing the project at Aston Villa because how soon do they want and need success? Gerrard has to hope that Purslow’s influence pays off for him here. But there’s no doubt the fans are getting irritable. The lack of goal threat, they don’t relate to Steven Gerrard, I think a lot of them don’t want him already. I