Steven Gerrard has slammed his Aston Villa players for not being 'braver' after they failed to stop Kieran Trippier scoring a decisive free-kick for Newcastle United.
The England international popped up with the only goal of the game in the 35th minute as Newcastle moved four points clear of the relegation zone following a 1-0 win at St James' Park.
Villa have their own set-piece coach in Austin MacPhee and the visitors were well-briefed on Trippier, who scored a stunning free-kick for Newcastle against Everton just a few days beforehand.
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However, although Villa had five men in the wall - John McGinn even laid on the floor behind his team-mates - Trippier still managed to blast Newcastle in front from the edge of the area after his powerful effort took a deflection off Emi Buendia's knee.
Gerrard was certainly not happy with his side's defending for the goal, and their overall performance, and the Villa boss remarked after the game that 'you can't wait until half-time for a manager to come into a dressing room and really get in and amongst you to get the level raised'.
"Well, look, I think we've got to be braver first and foremost," Gerrard told Sky Sports. "You've got to want to stop the ball going in your goal.
"It's not the time now for me to be digging anyone out or pointing fingers, but I don't think Newcastle have had to play great to get a result against us. That's a concern for me.
"That's something we're going to have to improve on very quickly and we've got to be careful we don't think we're just OK in the middle of this league because you can be dragged down very quickly. We've got lots of work to do."
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