What Steven Gerrard told Ollie Watkins after striker was targeted by Aston Villa trolls

Steven Gerrard has called on Ollie Watkins to "put the shutters down" and block out the social media trolls as he bids to get back amongst the goals at Aston Villa.

Watkins, 26, is without a goal in his last six matches and, after his below-par performance against Newcastle, came in for some fierce criticism from Villa supporters.

The striker was told to "sort your footballing out and leave from here" by an online troll this past week, with Watkins replying via Instagram: "You know nothing, keep quiet."

This week, Gerrard has held a one-to-one with Watkins at Bodymoor Heath, and said of his out-of-form forward: "I speak to Ollie, not just Ollie, all the players on a daily basis. I had a chat with Ollie this week, a one-to-one, but not on the back of anything in particular.

"I do that with all the players. I spoke to Ashley Young one-to-one this week, I spoke to John McGinn, Tyrone Mings, I have spoken to many players one-to-one.

"I managed to catch Ollie and we had a good, positive chat.

"For me, it is very important when players are not in the best of form that they don't overthink it or over-worry or concern themselves.

"It is my job to support them and help them get back to where they want to get to. That is what we will do with Ollie.

"He is a fantastic player and a big talent. It wasn’t so long ago people were saying he should be back in the England squad as he was scoring goals and looking a threat but, at times as a player, you have to reset yourself.

"You have to keep working hard and put the shutters down in terms of the outside noise because that is not important and focus on what the staff and myself are asking him to do.

"I am very confident Ollie will bounce back pretty quickly."

When asked to elaborate on