Gerrard hopes a cash splash will revive limp Villa
STEVEN GERRARD is planning a spending spree to revive Aston Villa and the club must aim to invest their money much better than last summer.
Villa claimed to have replaced Jack Grealish with three players using most of his £100million fee.
Yet none of the attacking trio Leon Bailey, Emiliano Buendia or Danny
Ings have made much impact for Villa as this stalemate underlined.
Only some dogged defending ensured
Villa ended a fourmatch losing run.
Boss Gerrard (below) said: “We were compact and very organised. We deserved a clean sheet and it is important if you can’t win at places like this, that you take something away from the game.
“We came here to win but it was important to stop the losing run.”
Striker Bailey, signed for £25m, made just his second start this year and blew the visitors’ best chance with a wild finish.
While £33m record signing Buendia was only introduced 11 minutes from time and £25m Danny Ings was an unused sub.
Gerrard added: “It was a performance in the right direction for Leon. He has had a frustrating time but he can make a difference and help get us higher up the pitch.
“When you are against a Brendan Rodgers’ team you know you are going to need players to get you from one end of the pitch to the other.
“That was the thinking behind his selection. He should have put us 1-0 up early on but I’ll forgive him because he was in the right place.
“Buendia was injured in the week but he is one we trust.
“He will keep knocking on the door because he is a little warrior.”
Leicester boss Rodgers made four changes to his line-up ahead of Thursday’s Europa Conference League semi-final against Roma.
He was satisfied with the draw, which means his side are still on track for a top-half finish.
The hosts got their biggest cheer with the return of fitagain Jamie Vardy off the bench following a knee injury.
Rodgers said:
“He brings an extra dimension to the game. He hasn’t trained a great deal and it was good to get him back out on to the field again.
“But we will have to be careful with him, he has been out for a long period.”