The boss believes his squad should be hurting after an “unacceptable” 14th-placed finish. Work to strengthen the team has already begun in earnest with the signings of Boubacar Kamara and Diego Carlos with Gerrard keen to build a stronger mentality in the group.

He explained: “I want the players to be mentally stronger throughout the full game. I want players that are obsessed to win.

“I want us to really bottle the feeling of our inconsistencies this year and be really obsessed in pre-season to become better prepared, mentally and physically.

“I want winners in the dressing room. I don’t want players that are content to finish 14th in the league and going out of cup competitions early. That’s got to hurt.

“We’ll try and set a culture and a standard here where it’s not acceptable here to be inconsistent. That’s the challenge moving forward.”

Villa dropped 19 points from winning positions this season, including the final day 3-2 defeat at Manchester City.

Gerrard added: “We’ve remained in the Premier League and finished 14th, which is not acceptable and we’re not happy with that at all.

“Hopefully, during a full campaign, we can push up towards the top half of the league and really put pressure on teams pushing for places in the top half.”