Steven Gerrard has never experienced a six-game losing streak in his 17-year career as a player, but it's exactly the one he had to prevent in his first game as Aston Villa manager.
The former Liverpool and England captain came to the club confidently after Five consecutive defeats to Villa, whose last defeat — a 1-0 defeat at Southampton on 5 November — led Villa to sack Dean Smith and sign a three-and-a-half-year contract with Gerrard.
Gerrard took over a talented but badly flawed team. The 41-year-old will bring in players to reinforce the squad during the Winter Window in January, but before that he has to lead the squad against Brighton, then Crystal Palace, Manchester City, Leicester City and Liverpool.
The Anfield trip on December 11 will make Gerrard's heart beat a little faster, and Villa's performance in the games before that could determine his first season.
After conceding just 46 goals last season, Villa have conceded 20 goals in 11 games this season.
Switching between three and four defenders has unnerved the players, conceding 13 goals in the last five games alone. Gerrard will study the footage of these games and will most likely choose a fixed defensive system at the beginning. At Rangers, he prefers to use four-backs.
Right-back Marty Cash and centre-back Ezry Consa were successful under Gerald, who significantly improved rangers defence after taking over in 2018. Rangers played 26 games in the Soviet Premier League last season with zero goals conceded and conceded only 13 goals defensively.
Gerrard was one of the great leaders of English football in his days of playing and should recognize these qualities of Tyrone Mins, and his voice needs to be heard even more in the quiet dressing room.
Villa used their record £100 million transfer proceeds from Manchester City to sign three attacking players – Emiliano Buendia, Danny Ense and Leon Pele.
Before the hamstring injury, Ince scored three goals in nine games, Buendia was tepid and Pele spent more time in the treatment room than on the pitch.
Ens, who was close to Gerrard during his time at Liverpool, is confident he's back to his best, while Gerrard's next use of Pele and Buendia is a matter of concern.
If he decides to use his favourite 4-3-3 stand at Rangers, Ings is likely to play in the middle with Ollie Watkins on the left, leaving Villa's two big forwards with only one position to compete for.
One of the many underrated qualities of former manager Dean Smith is his ability to successfully work with different types of roles at the club.
He has developed a close relationship with CEO Christian Perthlow and has worked effectively with two sporting directors with very different personalities, García Pittarch and John Lange.
Lange and his data analysts played a huge role in determining a possible player signing, and Smith was involved in the process. Gerrard will be supported in January and if he gets off to a smooth start, the club will surely heed his advice on signings.
Gerrard's idea was to bring his key team members at Rangers to Villa, embarrassing the situation for Villa first-team coach Aaron Danks and set-piece expert Austin McPhee, while goalkeeper coach Neil Cutler was a staff member left over from Smith's time.
At different times of the season, Watkins, Pele, Ince, Douglas Luiz, Bertrand Traore, John McKinn and Mattta Jet have all been absent, while Smith had only two non-goalkeepers on the bench in his last game.
Some injuries — like McKinn's facial injury to Everton in September — are inevitable, but Gerald takes a closer look to determine where he can improve. It remains to be seen whether he attempts to take Rangers team doctor Mark Waller to Villa Park.
Gerrard worked with Dr Waller at Liverpool and brought him to Rangers in 2018. Waller used to work at Villa with former Liverpool manager Gerald Hollier. He had the full trust of Gerald.
Smith has good relationships with key members of the team and has built a "core team" of captains Mance, McGinn, Watkins, goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez and veteran Ash Liyan.
Gerald needed the concerted efforts of these key figures, especially in his first few weeks in charge. However, there is no doubt that he will ask the players to come up with a high standard of performance.
In the first 11 games of the season, only Tottenham have run less distance on the pitch than Villa. The numbers are expected to rise sharply under Gerrard, as players will do their best to impress their new boss.