By the time the man who used to be the second most expensive footballer in history came on, it didn’t matter. In the right way, admittedly, because Aston Villa were four goals to the good. That didn’t change in a cameo of 11 touches, seven passes, three of which were misplaced.
The other four of Aston Villa’s infamous five had started and sparkled. Philippe Coutinho was the odd man out as Brentford were beaten 4-0. Leon Bailey, in surely his best performance for Villa, Danny Ings and Ollie Watkins all scored. Emi Buendia was granted the central creator’s role that could have been Coutinho’s. At least the result, Villa’s joint largest victory since the 7-2 demolition of Liverpool, meant they were no longer the division’s second-lowest scorers and he was not a substitute for a team in the relegation zone. His brief outing nonetheless extended his recent record to a lone goal and no assists in 22 games.
Coutinho is not Villa’s £142m man, of course. Indeed, his £17m transfer makes him the cheapest of their five main forwards, at least if his salary is not factored in. They have often looked an incompatible group, a quartet under Dean Smith and a quintet for Gerrard, following Coutinho’s arrival.
There has rarely been a combination or a system that suits enough without stymying others. The occasional days when it has worked before – and Coutinho was spectacularly good in Gerrard’s biggest win, a 4-0 against Southampton in which Ings and Watkins both scored – came to look false dawns.
They can be called the Grealish gang, the attackers who, apart from Watkins, were signed with the proceeds of Jack Grealish’s £100 million move to Manchester City, and a case can be made that they have finished off two Villa managers. In itself, that may present a warning to Gerrard’s successor.
If Coutinho’s decline is a hugely emblematic tale – of Barcelona’s financial mismanagement and confused footballing thinking, of Liverpool’s rise to glory, of a career waylaid by one misjudged move – he became a symbolic failure for Gerrard. The flagship signing, the fantasy player, the proof of the manager’s pulling power, could become a millstone for Villa. Gerrard’s legacy includes a footballer who might be deemed a project ripe for rejuvenation or written off as a has-been.
What Coutinho is, and what Gerrard was, is a sign of ambition. If clubs of Villa’s stature ought to have it, and if they entered decline when they lost it part way through Randy Lerner’s ownership, ambition has to be allied with strategy and with a sense of realism. Links with Thomas Tuchel as a putative replacement for Gerrard always sounded far-fetched. Interest in Mauricio Pochettino, another who may not relish a relegation battle, was apparently and predictably rebuffed. If Ruben Amorim, the wunderkind of Portuguese management, is lured, it would be a coup. If not, Villa require an attainable target.
It remains to be seen if Gerrard’s squad attracts or alienates potential candidates. There was a short-termism to the signings of Lucas Digne, Diego Carlos, Ings and Coutinho, all at least 29, and yet Gerrard left Villa in 17th. Villa have paid out around £400m in fees since promotion in 2019, albeit partly offset by Grealish’s sale, but in the past 18 months, the team has rarely looked the sum of its expensive parts.
One school of thought is that the players are not as good as their price tags and reputations suggest and if Tyrone Mings’ unfortunate habit of blundering indicated Gerrard’s analysis of the deposed captain as a player was correct, if not his handling of the situation. Another is that the manager is more culpable and there is untapped potential in this squad; find the chemistry to turn individuals into a unit and there is scope for improvement. The caretaker Aaron Danks’ immediate switch to add width in attack was richly rewarded against Brentford, but it remains to be seen if the enigmatic Bailey’s devastating display shows he can return to the form that brought 15 goals in a season for Bayer Leverkusen, or will be a one-off. Either way, he is the only natural winger in the squad.
Gerrard sensed untapped potential in the club, too, though he could not release it. It is the biggest between London and the northwest, but while Villa now top the Midlands mini-league, they are only 14th in the actual standings. They have played most of the supposedly easier games, making Gerrard’s record this season worse, and their next five opponents are all in the top 10. It points to a troubled inheritance. CEO Christian Purslow claimed Villa had an initial 20-man list last year, yet Gerrard seemed the only candidate he seriously considered. If Villa are pursuing big names again, Coutinho shows that flirtations with the famous are not always happy affairs. He serves as a reminder of lofty aims but their managerial search has to be based on sounder principles. Villa have demonstrated that they can dream. Now they have to prove they can plan.
