Steven Gerrard to continue at Aston Villa 'unless told differently'
Steven Gerrard said he would continue in his role as Aston Villa manager until he is "told differently" following defeat to Fulham on Thursday night - before being sacked later that night.
The Villans went 1-0 down to Harrison Reed's strike before Douglas Luiz was sent off. Aleksandar Mitrovic doubled the home side's advantage with a penalty before Tyrone Mings rounded off a sorry night's work for the visitors with an own goal.
Villa confirmed their decision to ditch Gerrard shortly after full time, with a club statement reading: “We would like to thank Steven for his hard work and commitment and wish him well for the future.”
Before that statement, Gerrard told BBC's Match of the Day: "It was nowhere near what I wanted or expected. I picked a very similar team [to the Chelsea game] to try and build on that performance. I was excited to see if we could take it from there.
"If it wasn’t for the goalkeeper it could have been over by half-time. I got in amongst the players at half-time and expected a reaction.
"I expected a reaction in the second half but against a team like Fulham, who are well coached, it’s difficult. Inconsistency has cost us, that’s the position we find ourselves in. I took over the team in a very similar situation. We’ve tried to recruit to get us out of that situation.
"I’m a fighter – it’s in my DNA. I’ll continue to fight unless I’m told differently."
He added to Amazon Prime: "It’s tough, but I’m a man, I accept it, I understand it, I can feel their frustration, I’m frustrated with them. It was a tough night for me personally.
"We’ll see what happens, I understand the situation we’re in, I’m a fighter, I will never ever quit anything, certainly when it comes down to football or anything in life. We’ll see what happens moving forward."