Villa quids in as Cash shows his real worth to Gerrard
STEVEN Gerrard has singled out Matty Cash for setting the standards he expects at Villa. The right-back recently penned a new, improved five-year contract amid strong transfer interest from Atletico Madrid.
Cash, 24, has been an ever-present this season and will be among the favourites to be crowned the club’s player of the year.
Despite Villa’s shortcomings, given their current 15th-place league position, Cash has enjoyed a standout year while also helping Poland reach the World Cup in Qatar.
Head coach Gerrard outlined Cash’s importance to his side and issued a direct message to those perhaps not showing the same commitment levels.
“He’s all in,” he said. “He’s been fantastic to work with. I love his energy, his character, his personality. He brings a lot to the group on a daily basis.
“In the main, he’s been extremely consistent.
“He’s been the one in the team who’s had the most difficult one-vone challenges throughout the fixtures we’ve played and, in the main, he’s handled himself extremely well.
“I joked the other week after Wolves that I thought he was still in Poland for the game but, listen, we love working with him.
“He’s very infectious, a good kid and what strikes me about him is he’s desperate to improve. He’s desperate to get better.
“He wants to be a good Premier League player. He wants to be a good international player.
“You can see that in the gym and after training doing extra work; coming up for clips and wanting to get himself as best prepared and in a position to really improve. That’s really what I like.”
As a player himself, Gerrard made it an “obsession” to get better and better, which is something Cash is on board with.
The boss, meanwhile, is in line for a big summer shake-up when the transfer window opens on June 10 with some first-team players set to make way for more experienced operators whom Gerrard can entrust to help Villa get where they need to be next season.
With his side on a hapless run of four straight defeats, Gerrard was asked about making big changes to his XI in order to stop the rot.
Ahead of the trip to Leicester this weekend, he said: “I have to get the
balance right because it doesn’t feel good at the moment.
“Certainly, I’ve made my feelings known in terms of putting ourselves in a difficult position last week (against Tottenham).
“I’ve got to get the balance right and think about it now so we can finish the season as strong as we can.
“I see it as an opportunity to finish in the top 10, which I see as a real positive because it hasn’t happened
for many, many years here.
“But, at the same time, I want to give people opportunities and to see people I haven’t seen much; people who have been injured and haven’t had opportunities to play.
“At the same time, I can only give them opportunities if they deserve them based on what we’ve seen on the training pitch so, as a manager, you pick the players you trust to get the results you need.”