‘Coutinho knows’ – Whelan lambasts Aston Villa stars after confirmed news
Noel Whelan has insisted the Aston Villa players must take a “portion of the blame” for Steven Gerrard’s sacking after he bore the “brunt” of their bad form.
The former Leeds striker, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, rejected suggestions that the 42-year-old was “out of his depth” in his first Premier League job.
Aston Villa confirmed the sacking of Gerrard in the immediate aftermath of their 3-0 loss away at Fulham on Thursday (20 October).
The Midlands giants won just two of their opening 11 league games of the season under his stewardship and sit 17th in the table.
Whelan singled out Philippe Coutinho, Ollie Watkins, and Danny Ings as players who failed to “step up” for the ex-midfielder.
When asked if Aston Villa was too big of a step up from Rangers for Gerrard, he told Football Insider’s Ewan Kingsbury: “I don’t think he was out of his depth.
“The players have to take a very large portion of the responsibility here.
“Gerrard put his trust in the players. As an ex-player, you know that you’ve got to take a big part of the responsibility and the blame for these managers getting the sack. They will know they haven’t done enough.
“If you could sack players, sometimes you would. But it’s the manager that has to take the brunt of it because he is leading the squad.
“You can’t tell me that Coutinho has stepped up. You can’t tell me the forward line, Watkins and Ings, have stepped up.
“Everyone has a portion of the blame.”
In other news, Kieran Maguire claims Aston Villa have just banked £16m “free-money” windfall.