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Report: What Tyrone Mings was seen doing before kick-off against Bournemouth on Saturday
Aston Villa defender Tyrone Mings was left on the bench in their opening day defeat to Bournemouth on Saturday.
The England international was stripped of the captaincy by manager Steven Gerrard during pre-season, with midfielder John McGinn handed the armband.
Mings was seen ‘raising a smile’ while chatting to staff from his former club.
He then stood alongside his replacement during the warm-up to the game before making his way to the bench, although Gerrard didn’t require the 29-year-old at any point during the match.
His actions before the game showed that he still is staying professional, and his mood didn’t visibly appear to have been impacted after finding out he was on the bench.
Gerrard has explained he’s happy with Mings despite taking the captaincy away from the centre-back, although it will be interesting to see if he brings the defender back into the starting line-up straight away after a worrying defeat.
That’s the opinion of former Villa great Paul McGrath, who thinks Gerrard can’t afford to keep Mings out of the team any longer.
What Mings was seen doing at Bournemouth
It’s rare to see a manager take the captaincy away from a player when he’s seemingly still happy to have him at the club.
Last season, Mikel Arteta took the captaincy away from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before the forward was sold to Barcelona, but there was clearly tension building up within the squad.
However, this appears to be a much more amicable situation, with Gerrard wanting to keep Mings out of the spotlight in order for him to concentrate on his own performances.
Mings didn’t have the best season at Villa last year, and lost his place in the England squad as a result, something he wouldn’t have wanted to happen so close to a World Cup.
However, the decision to take away the armband and subsequently drop him from the side has had the opposite effect, putting more pressure on the defender and Gerrard going forward.
It’s a credit to Mings then, that he looked so relaxed and was able to stand with McGinn going into Saturday’s match, but he’ll be hoping for a change of fortunes soon.