Michael Owen rant nails what Steven Gerrard has to do at Aston Villa

The task Steven Gerrard has on his hands at Aston Villa is starting to become clear.

After a fine start to life as Villa manager following his November move from Rangers, Gerrard's side have picked up only five points from a possible 21 in a run stretching back to the middle of December.

Villa have lost to Brentford, Newcastle United and Watford in that sequence of matches, all teams below them.

Consecutive 1-0 defeats to Watford and Newcastle have proved damaging with the relegation battlers capitalising on poor performances from Villa to secure vital wins.

Gerrard wants to take Villa back into Europe and that is the brief he has been handed by the club's hierarchy.

It has been a season of upheaval for Villa right back into the summer with Jack Grealish leaving and a recruitment drive aimed at bolstering the squad across the pitch.

Dean Smith left after a poor start to the campaign but all that said Villa got themselves into a good place after beating Everton 1-0 on January 22.

A month ago they were eight points from Wolves but are now 13 from Wolves, now in seventh place.

It is hard not to feel like an opportunity has been missed, especially given the excellent January recruitment that saw Philippe Coutinho and Lucas Digne move to B6.

Now Gerrard has the chance to figure out who deserves to be a part of his plans going into a crucial summer transfer window that will set the scene for a huge 2022-23.

Gerrard's former Liverpool and England team-mate Michael Owen nailed exactly what the Villa boss must do when discussing the state of Manchester United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in November.

"I go back to what Jurgen Klopp did at Liverpool," Owen said during punditry duty for the streaming network DAZN.

"He's the