Steven Gerrard said he would continue in his role as Aston Villa manager until he is "told differently" following defeat to Fulham on Thursday night - before being sacked later that night.
The Villans went 1-0 down to Harrison Reed's strike before Douglas Luiz was sent off. Aleksandar Mitrovic doubled the home side's advantage with a penalty before Tyrone Mings rounded off a sorry night's work for the visitors with an own goal.
Villa confirmed their decision to ditch Gerrard shortly after full time, with a club statement reading: “We would like to thank Steven for his hard work and commitment and wish him well for the future.”
Before that statement, Gerrard told BBC's Match of the Day: "It was nowhere near what I wanted or expected. I picked a very similar team [to the Chelsea game] to try and build on that performance. I was excited to see if we could take it from there.
"If it wasn’t for the goalkeeper it could have been over by half-time. I got in amongst the players at half-time and expected a reaction.
"I expected a reaction in the second half but against a team like Fulham, who are well coached, it’s difficult. Inconsistency has cost us, that’s the position we find ourselves in. I took over the team in a very similar situation. We’ve tried to recruit to get us out of that situation.
"I’m a fighter – it’s in my DNA. I’ll continue to fight unless I’m told differently."
He added to Amazon Prime: "It’s tough, but I’m a man, I accept it, I understand it, I can feel their frustration, I’m frustrated with them. It was a tough night for me personally.
"We’ll see what happens, I understand the situation we’re in, I’m a fighter, I will never ever quit anything, certainly when it comes down to football or anything in life. We’ll see what happens moving forward."
Source : 90min