Irish Daily Star - Fanatic

Wayne’s wish to see this one Roo

- ■■James NURSEY ■ Championsh­ip Round-up

STEVEN GERRARD will step up his plans for a summer shake-up at Aston Villa after his side’s latest “painful” loss.

Villa crashed to the biggest defeat of Gerrard’s reign in a 4-0 thumping at home to Tottenham.

The Villa boss rued having to wait until April 23 for Villa to put their display right away at Leicester.

“It’s horrible,” said Gerrard (pictured). “It’s going to be tough, it’s going to hurt for a while, which is not what you want in this position. “You want a game straight away.

Reality

“Defensivel­y, it was very painful. There’s enough food for thought already. We know where we are, we know the reality. There’s a gap to the teams above us — certainly to the top six.

“We gave everything we could for a certain amount of time and I thought we looked outstandin­g, so that’s a real positive for me.

“But from a defensive point of view, second-half, it’s not good enough — individual­ly or collective­ly. Without naming names, we’ve got a lot to learn.”

WAYNE Rooney insists he wants to stay on as manager even if Derby go down. That looks inevitable after his team of kids were left nine points from safety with five games left. Two goals from Joel Piroe left Rooney realistic, but keen to continue.

He will meet with Derby’s prospectiv­e new owner, Chris Kirchner, this week.

“I know he wants me here as manager,” said Rooney. I have been at this club for a couple of years and enjoyed it in a strange way.”

Scott McKenna, meanwhile, headed Nottingham Forest’s second in their 2-0 win at home to Birmingham

The result put Forest third, just six points behind Bournemout­h in second spot.

The Cherries were held 0-0

 ?? ?? SEVEN UP: Son fires past Emi Martinez for Tottenham’s third
RISING SON: Spurs players mob hattrick hero Son and (below) Aston Villa’s Danny Ings tries his luck at Villa Park
SEVEN UP: Son fires past Emi Martinez for Tottenham’s third RISING SON: Spurs players mob hattrick hero Son and (below) Aston Villa’s Danny Ings tries his luck at Villa Park
 ?? ?? SWAN UP: Swansea’s Joel Piroe celebrates
SWAN UP: Swansea’s Joel Piroe celebrates

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Ireland