Now Neil nails it

“You ask any team in the Premier League if they could have Coutinho, Buendia and players like that in their squad, they would be all over it; Watkins and Ings up front.

“There’s enough there so I’ve almost got a problem when people say ‘we need more creativity’. I think part of a manager’s job is to coach that top end of the pitch and how you create chances and exploit the opposition.

“It’s tough as a manager because you’ve got to stick to your philosophies. If you come away from it, the players will look at you and think ‘Maybe you haven’t got a clue, maybe you’re too stubborn to change it when it needs doing’.

“There’s questions to be asked. Obviously with the playing career that he’s [Gerrard's] had, he’s probably getting more time than other people probably would.”

“It’s the money that’s been spent for me. When you spend that sort of money in any business, forget football, and you don’t get a return on it in any shape or form then you’ve got to start looking at it and go, ‘What are we doing as a business?’

“I know one or two games can turn that around but I know that Villa’s owners’ plan was five years for Europe when they came in. That’s not really achievable for any football club when you’re buying them in the Championship but that is what they’re looking for so I can definitely say the pressure will be coming down on him.

“It’s the argument people have had about Man United: ‘What’s your plan, what’s your model, what are you trying to do?’ I think you look at Villa, Gerrard’s said I want to bring winners in but Potter doesn’t bring any winners in; Leicester don’t necessarily bring any winners in.

“Villa can’t buy their way to success. You have to have a model from your sporting director all the way down through your football club and I think at the minute, if Villa don’t find that quickly, those fans will definitely turn, I know that.”

Neil Taylor