Steven Gerrard justifies team selection after Aston Villa 'come together' to stop Man City

Steven Gerrard believes Aston Villa were denied a 'legitimate goal' in the draw with Man City, but the Villans boss was pleased with the character shown by his struggling side.

Erling Haaland became just the second player in Premier League history to reach 10 goals in his first six appearances, but City failed to make their dominance count as Leon Bailey got an essential draw for Villa.

Haaland shoved home Kevin De Bruyne's perfect cross early in the second half and the pair played Villa at times, only for City to be taken aback by Bailey's bubbly strike.

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It ended a three-game losing streak for Gerrard under pressure, whose side held on in the first half to concede only five minutes after the restart at Villa Park.

Gerrard felt his team deserved a point after showing his spirit to stop Pep Guardiola's side.

He said on Sky Sports: "We got together today. They put an incredible amount of effort and application into the game.

"They followed the instructions for the majority of the game - City are always going to have moments, with the quality of opening you up sometimes and we had to ride our luck.

"That's what we wanted from the game and that's the game plan we gave the boys and they executed it, well done to them."

On his selection tactics, Gerrard added: "Sometimes you have to put more legs in the team, sacrifice some technical levels when you face City, you have to take some space.

"You need to have people on your team who, when you win the ball, can run forward with power and speed.

"Emi Buendia and Phil Coutinho are different types of players, so we went with Jacob Ramsey, Bailey and Ollie Watkins because we thought we might find some interest in areas where we had the opportunity. to introduce us.

"That's why we removed some technical players, we wanted to be a bit more pragmatic and organized, to take a bit more space behind us because of Haaland and other players."< /p>

Gerrard continued: "To concede a goal when we did it against City, you have to give the players credit because they didn't sink, they didn't go down and feel sorry for themselves.

"I was really happy with the body language and the response.

"We had our rewards and maybe we would have scored a second goal as well. I saw a legitimate goal, but I'm obviously biased.

"Why not wait and then let the others check if it's a foul? But he (the referee) was desperate at the whistle."

After a series of difficult results, Gerrard hopes his team can now continue.

Aston Villa saves a point to buy embattled Steven Gerrard some lifeline

"It was a question of team, courage and unity," said the Villa boss. "The message for the players is - listen to the reaction of the fans. It doesn't matter if I'm proud, it matters if the fans are proud and they certainly were today."

Gerrard added, "It's not about pointing fingers, it's about the best I can do? Do I have to sacrifice little things that I want to see in the big picture to see them short term?

"Sometimes you have to take the good stuff out of your team and put blood and thunder, fight and passion into it - and I think we saw that in abundance today. It helped us that no one outside has given us a glimmer of hope.

"There won't be a pat on the back (for me). It's a big draw, but it's a draw and I've got a lot of work to do to get this team back in the game. the ranking."