Steven Gerrard was heartened by Aston Villa’s performance in Saturday’s Premier League loss against Tottenham Hotspur.
The final scoreline was harsh on the home side, who produced some of their best football of the season during a dominant first half display.
However, Spurs showed their clinical side to score four of five shots on target, leaving Gerrard to reflect on an afternoon of mixed emotions.
He said: “The story of the game is pretty obvious. First half, we were outstanding across the board.
“We conceded a poor goal from a long, straight ball that we haven’t dealt with, but that aside, we were totally dominating Spurs, we created the best chances, we played the better football and we were the more aggressive team.
“The first 45 minutes - their goal aside - was exactly what we were looking for. If we do that consistently, we will win football matches.
“Second half, we asked them to maintain that level because we couldn’t have been any prouder of them at half-time even though we were trailing. We believed if we could maintain that level we’d get back into the game.
“But in the second half, they made it about our backline and we haven’t defended well enough. Good players punish you at this level and that’s what happened.”
The defeat was a fourth on the spin for Villa, who moved down to 12th in the table following Saturday’s games.
Gerrard is determined to turn things around and despite the score against Tottenham, he could see positives to take.
“I’m hurting from the scoreline; I’m hurting that it’s four defeats on the spin now, but I can’t be any prouder of the first 45 minutes because we were outstanding,” he said.
“Across the board, I think that’s the best we’ve played.”
