Fulham boss Marco Silva believes his side were ‘dominant’ to beat Aston Villa 3-0 in what would be Steven Gerrard’s last game in charge. He was sacked within hours of the match.
Aston Villa parted company with Gerrard after the defeat in west London left the Villa Park side 17th in the table. The Birmingham natives only sit above the relegation zone on goals scored to Wolves. They boast seven strikes to their West Midlands rivals’ five in 11 games.
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The Craven Cottage affair also dealt Aston Villa their seventh defeat of the season. Gerrard had only overseen two wins and three draws for nine points this term. He now leaves Villa in a worse possession than when he replaced Dean Smith in charge in November last year.
Aston Villa had sacked Smith and appointed Gerrard after five-straight defeats left the club 16th in the table. The Villa Park team had similarly played 11 games and lost seven but had a win more for 10 points. Now, a poor start this term has seen Villa show Gerrard the door.
His tenure of 40 games, 38 in the Premier League, makes Gerrard the fifth shortest-serving manager in Aston Villa’s history. The 42-year-old got 13 wins and eight draws to 19 defeats over his 10 months at the helm. Far from the three-and-a-half-year contract he agreed to.
Silva hails his ‘dominant’ Fulham to beat Aston Villa in Gerrard’s last game in charge
Silva believes his tactics allowed Fulham to control proceedings and beat Aston Villa 3-0 in what would be Gerrard’s final fixture in charge. Harrison Reed broke the deadlock in west London before Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty and Tyrone Mings struck an own goal.
“We kept control of the game, we showed quality, it was a very good performance,” Silva said. “It was at a top, top level. We were dominant and created chances all over and, of course, we got the clean sheet and three goals.”
The travelling Aston Villa supporters booed their side off at the break and full-time after a fifth league game without scoring this season. Fans could also be heard singing ‘we want Gerrard out’ through much of a second half that saw Michael Oliver send Douglas Luiz off.
Fulham were already outplaying Aston Villa before Oliver issued Luiz’s marching orders for an off-the-ball incident with Mitrovic. The Cottagers regularly had a yard on the Villans in most areas of their performance to highlight the task Gerrard’s eventual successor has.
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