Steven Gerrard admits Aston Villa have much to learn after sobering Tottenham defeat

Son Heung-min netted a hat-trick as a rampant Spurs inflicted Villa’s fourth defeat on the spin and their heaviest loss of the season.

Gerrard acknowledged the quality of Son, Harry Kane and Dejan Kulusevski, admitting the Tottenham trio had ‘destroyed’ his team in the second half. But he refused to dismiss Villa’s performance as simply a bad day at the office, after another match where lax defending contributed to their downfall.

He said: “From a defensive point of view, in the second half, it was not good enough individually or collectively. Without naming names, we have a lot to learn. Their world class players destroyed us in the second half.

“The easy way out is to say it was a bad day at the office. We have to look at why. How and why opposition individuals are allowed touches in our box with no-one laying a glove on them.

“We will analyse it with more detail than just saying it was a bad day at the office. That is the easy way out. I don’t want to do that. Defensively, we have some issues.”

Gerrard, who once again hinted at a considerable summer shake-up, took heart from a first-half performance he rated as the best of his reign to date.

Villa dominated after Son had fired Spurs into a third minute lead and might have put the game to bed themselves before the break but for poor finishing and an inspired performance from visiting keeper Hugo Lloris.

That allowed Tottenham to wrestle control in the second period with Son completing his treble after Kulusevski had extended the lead. Villa have now taken just four points from a possible 42 against teams in the Premier League’s top eight. Gerrard said: “If the same things keep rearing their head, in my position, you maybe have to do something different or wait for the opportunity to bring something different in.

“Individually and collectively we are learning every single day win, lose or draw. At this level we can’t keep giving teams goals which can be avoided. We know where we are, we know the reality. There is a gap to the teams above us, certainly the top six. We gave everything we could on Saturday for a certain amount of time and I thought we were outstanding in the first half. That is a real positive.”