Aston Villa Women’s interim manager Shaun Goater has urged his players to embrace a “must-win” attitude and play with confidence if they are to turn their season around.

Struggling Villa are ninth in the Barclays Women’s Super League standings, just one point above the relegation zone, with one win from nine matches. Goater is well aware of the task at hand and says his team need results immediately to avoid taking the plunge.

“We need to get results. This is our time. Everyone wants time, but in this situation here, we need to get results immediately,” Goater told reporters ahead of tomorrow’s home fixture against West Ham United at Villa Park.

“It’s a must-win because of where we are in the table. As a club, the aspirations are to be higher up and we’ve not had the start of the season we would have liked. We use the term 'must-win' and it is because we are better than we are. Therefore, we need to show that, play with confidence and start to get results.”

West Ham are eighth in the standings, two points above Villa, and head into the contest in excellent goalscoring form, having scored 14 goals in their previous four outings.

“They will test us, so we need to be solid and strong,” Goater said. “We need to be organised, compact, so that we’re not giving away silly opportunities. Likewise, we need to be creative, on the front foot, calm and composed in the final third, and also ruthless.

“We need to take the opportunities. In games, we have been getting opportunities, but we need to take them. Against Charlton [in midweek], it was good to see that we got so many opportunities and we were able to take some of them.”

The former Manchester City and Bermuda striker was promoted to the top job on a temporary basis on Wednesday, when head coach Robert de Pauw was sacked after allegedly making unprofessional remarks to players, including comments about their appearance.

Villa announced that the Dutchman had departed with immediate effect after just six months at the helm. His exit came three days after the Villans were trounced 4-0 by Arsenal at the Emirates last Sunday, their fifth loss of the season.

Goater said De Pauw’s departure caught him by surprise.

“We are in a business of football where sometimes these things happen. On the day and when things unfolded, yes, I was surprised,” he added. “At the same time, the staff all got together and we made sure the players were right. That has been our intention ever since.

“I don’t know if a change [of manager] was needed, I just think in both boxes it needs to change. The responsibility is now on the players. They know that and understand that. All eyes are on them. The belief is in the players and we look forward to this game so we can start to perhaps get some momentum and start winning.”

Goater, who netted 103 goals in 211 appearances for City between 1998 and 2003, boasts previous coaching experience after serving on the academy coaching staff at City as part of an initiative geared towards increasing the number of Black, Asian and ethnic minority coaches working full-time in professional football after successfully applying through the Premier League’s Coach Inclusion and Diversity Scheme.

The Uefa A licence holder served on City’s academy coaching staff in a varied role for three years, working across all the academy age groups from the foundation phase up to the professional development phase. He also served as an assistant to City Women’s boss Gareth Taylor from April 2023 until June this year, before joining Premier League rivals Villa as an assistant coach in August.