Steven Gerrard calls on everyone at Aston Villa to match his ambitions as he aims to transform them

It was typical of Steven Gerrard that he came away from a day of high emotion asking questions of himself rather than reflecting on sentiment.

His first return to Anfield was always going to be symbolic but there was never any chance he would be caught up in the emotion; Gerrard barely acknowledged the crowd who adored him when they sang his name at the final whistle, as frustration took hold.

Villa, in his honest opinion were 'second best', but they certainly made Liverpool work and there were some standout performances, not least from Ezri Konsa, Matty Cash and the relentless John McGinn, who pestered Liverpool's midfield.

For all there were signs of encouragement, this was still a loss and it prompted Gerrard to wonder whether he had been ambitious enough in terms of the changes he had made as Villa tried to cancel out Mohamed Salah's penalty.

Ambition is a big word. It constantly swirls around Gerrard's mine, striving to be the best he can be, and it will be interesting to watch how he pulls his new club and new squad up to the levels he expects in the years to come.

'Of course I want the players and people at the club to be as ambitious as myself,' said Gerrard. 'I am not saying my ambitions are different to theirs, we have a lot of ambitious players at the club, a lot of ambitious coaches, the people above us the board and the owners are ambitious.

'But what we won't do is settle for anything except trying to improve, trying to grow. It is still really early days, but we have seen enough to believe that we can take this club forward, finish the season in a positive position and then obviously recruit and build and add to this. Take it forward.

'There is nothing wrong with being as ambitious as you can and I will never stop doing that. We have had some decent training time now, our principles and the way we want to play are over to the players now.'

'The point here is that with games against Norwich, on Tuesday, and Burnley on the horizon, this is where Gerrard wants to see Villa take a leap forward before they face Chelsea in their final game before Christmas.

'They are fixtures and opponents that we should be looking at and really fancy ourselves to go toe to toe and take maximum points in both games,' said Gerrard. 'If we do, this will be a really strong positive start for everyone connected to the club.

'It is about focusing on what is in front of you instead of getting too far ahead but we appreciate we are going to have to have a really strong Christmas to put ourselves in a good position come January.'