Paul Merson has urged Steven Gerrard to build the Aston Villa line-up around Danny Ings. The Sky Sports pundit believes the Villans boss does not know who features in his best XI.
Ings has only played a bit-part role in the Birmingham side’s recent Premier League games. After starting three of Aston Villa’s opening four fixtures, Gerrard has only utilised the 30-year-old four times for 46 minutes. The attacker also enjoyed 25 of those on Monday night.
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Gerrard only saw fit to field Ings inside the final 10 minutes against Arsenal, Southampton and Leeds United. His 25 minutes against Nottingham Forest at the start of the week were the £25m striker’s most in a single match starting against West Ham United on August 28.
Ollie Watkins has remained Gerrard’s first-choice at striker so far this season with starting roles in eight of Aston Villa’s nine fixtures. The 26-year-old only failed to open the action in the Villan’s first game of the term. He replaced Ings after 66 minutes at AFC Bournemouth.
Yet neither Ings nor Watkins has scored or laid on a single assist since August. Ings struck his only goal of the season to help Aston Villa beat Everton 2-1. Watkins assisted both of the Villans’ goals against the Toffees before finding the back of the net at Crystal Palace.
Merson has urged a ‘frustrated’ Gerrard to build the Aston Villa XI around Ings
Aston Villa host Chelsea on Sunday having only scored four goals in their six games since either Ings or Watkins found the net. Gerrard’s squad are unbeaten in their last four after two 1-1 draws, a goalless stalemate and a 1-0 win. They lost four of their first five fixtures.
Failing to fire at the top of the pitch also meant Aston Villa also entered the weekend with the second-worst offence in the top-flight. The Birmingham outfit boasted just seven goals for the season, with only Wolverhampton Wanderers scoring fewer with a mere three hits.
Merson believes Gerrard’s team selection has played a key factor in Aston Villa struggling to find consistency. He does not sense the Liverpool legend knows which players make up the Villan’s best XI. So, Merson has urged Gerrard to shape the Aston Villa line-up around Ings.
“I just don’t know [if] Steven Gerrard knows what his team is at the moment and he will be frustrated,” he told Sky Sports News (15/10, 13:58). “There’s some absolute talent there, especially Danny Ings, in my opinion. But I think you build the team around Danny Ings.
“I think you’ve got to start building a team around a player. Just go: ‘Right, this player has got to make things happen’. Whoever it may be, whoever he thinks [it should be].
“At the moment it’s not, it’s: ‘You play one week. Right, you’re not playing. Well, you come on, you play this week’. It needs to change.”
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