Steven Gerrard wants his Aston Villa squad to find their edge and grit again ahead of two clashes with Manchester United in six days.
Liverpool legend Gerrard made a great start to life as Villa boss after leaving Rangers to take over from the sacked Dean Smith.
He won four of his first six games with his only defeats coming to Liverpool and Chelsea, but Villa have since lost their last two matches.
A narrow, hard-fought loss to Premier League title-chasing Chelsea is no shame, but they then lost late on to newly-promoted Brentford last time out which has come as a body blow, especially in the manner the winner was conceded.
Now Villa will have to face United twice next week, first-up in an FA Cup third-round clash on Monday at Old Trafford before the venues are switched around for a Premier League fixture the following Saturday.
Gerrard is now hoping that his team can put the setbacks of the defeats behind them and get back to their best for the doubleheader.
"I’m excited about that and always have been," he said when asked about the prospect of facing his former rivals twice in quick succession.
"I just hope my players feel the same way. They are two great fixtures, an opportunity in the Cup and an opportunity in the league.
“We need to respond. We need to react and find some of the grit we had in the earlier fixtures because it seems to have been missing in the last two.
“Grit is the word. We showed a lot of grit in the opening games and a lot of fight.
“The second goal (against Brentford) was a catalogue of errors and there is no grit or fight in there. No-one was showing the right aggression.”
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