Former Premier League striker claims Steven Gerrard is ‘underachieving’ with Aston Villa

Former Premier League striker Darren Bent believes Steven Gerrard is underachieving with the squad he finds himself in charge of at Aston Villa.

Bent, who had a four year spell at Villa Park himself between 2011 and 2014, adds that he does believe that Gerrard is a ‘good manager’ but claims his tenure with the Villans so far has been slightly below par.

The conversation was brought up during the Talksport breakfast show with Laura Woods, Ally McCoist and Bent and it surrounded the possibility of Villa potentially being dragged into the relegation mix.

Whilst the consensus between the three was that that would not happen, the former forward did edge admit that he felt his old England teammate was underachieving.

“A little bit,” said Bent when asked the question.

“Because when he first came in the buzz was incredible and everyone was ‘Oh my goodness.’

“He is a very good manager. But...four defeats in their last five, their form has not been great, it’s been a bit hit or miss with some of the performances.

“I guess this is, you would have to say, Steven Gerrard’s first blip period in his managerial career. In Scotland at Rangers he was fantastic, it all went to plan going a whole season unbeaten – brilliant achievement.

“This is what the Premier League is, it’s completely different, it’s a lot tougher there are so many good teams, anyone can beat you on any given day so as we speak I think it’s kind of a learning curve for him right now.”

Villa will look to bring their five game winless run to an end when Norwich City visit Villa Park on Saturday.

Three points for the Villans could cement their survival once and for all whilst simultaneously all but condemn former manager Dean Smith and the Canaries to relegation.

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