What Steven Gerrard told Aston Villa players ahead of Newcastle United test

Steven Gerrard has called for a collective reaction from his Aston Villa players ahead of their trip to face Newcastle United on Sunday afternoon.

His side squandered a two-goal lead against Leeds in midweek in a 3-3 draw which the former Liverpool captain compared to a basketball match.

Some members of the Villa side were singled out for criticism with Tyrone Mings having to shoulder much of the blame from supporters for another below-par performance.

He was beaten in the air by 5'5" Dan James for the Whites’ second goal before his weak clearance allowed Diego Llorente to slam home the third.

However, Gerrard was keen to stress that isn’t someone who will point fingers at his players and expects a positive reaction from them at St James’ Park.

In his pre-match press conference on Friday, he told Birmingham Live: “In the debrief this morning I've made a point to them that I'm not someone who finger-points or blames - it's more about how we can get better collectively because, inevitably, that will get us where we want to get to.

"Finger-pointing and people shifting the blame onto people is not the way forward in this day and age. It's about being honest, open, taking accountability; if your DNA was around the goal, it's about acknowledging that, why did it happen and where we can improve moving forward."

The fixture congestion in the Premier League caused by the number of postponements in December and January has worsened the selection headaches for each of the 20 managers.

Gerrard referred to the time between the games against Leeds and Newcastle as he fielded a question about how he was planning to prepare for the trip to Tyneside.

“Our recovery will be key to our performance against Newcastle. The rest of the players