Rio Ferdinand sends warning to Steven Gerrard over Tyrone Mings captaincy decision

Rio Ferdinand has sent a warning to Steven Gerrard over his decision to strip Tyrone Mings of the captaincy.

Mings will have been left feeling a little concerned over his position coming into the summer amid the signing of Diego Carlos.

And it got worse when Gerrard decided to remove the defender’s captaincy, instead awarding it to John McGinn.

Mings was left out of Villa’s opening day defeat to Bournemouth, but he did return to start against Everton after a disappointing defensive performance on the south coast.

Ahead of the clash with Everton, BT Sport pundit Ferdinand spoke about the situation, warning Gerrard how things can go wrong on the back of the captaincy decision.

“It was a big call for any manager to take the captaincy away from someone who is been there for a long time and say ‘I’m going to give it to someone else’,” he said.

“But it’s also managing ther other players in the changing room now. There will be other players who will be on the edges of the squad who aren’t getting minutes, and they could become a clique.

“The changing room can become difficult to manage. The best way to avoid the clique is to win games.

“If the manager does that, if the team does that, no player will come back in and point the finger.

“As a player, he has pride, he is an England international. But he has to answer that now with a performance.”

Fellow pundit Joe Cole added about Mings: “He is a big character. He is an England character, and he has been here a long time.

“He is obviously influencial in the dressing room. It was a big call from Stevie, who maybe felt he needed a kick up the back side.

“He has got to come back intot he team this week. There is a lot of pressure on him today,

“He knows he is the story. He has to be dilligent. Villa need to be better from set-pieces, and he needs a good game today.”