Steven Gerrard says Norwich City boss Dean Smith left him with plenty to work with at Aston Villa.
Gerrard replaced Smith after he lost that same amount of games as the Villa head coach before the start of the November international break, but the former Rangers boss claims Smith "built a lot of good things" for him and his backroom staff to work with.
"I think when a local guy in Dean, who's done a really strong job and built a lot of good things, left the club, there were a lot of supporters who had mixed feelings about it," he told Sky Sports.
"I really admire the support the fans gave Dean, and the job he did. The admiration and respect they did for the job he did, the support they gave me too has been fantastic.
"We've had to earn some, perhaps more, of that by coming in when we did and who we've replaced.
"It was really important we hit the ground running - we had very little time to get an identity and philosophy across to the players, but credit to them, they took it on board extremely well, and we got off to a real positive start. They've been fantastic so far.
"I had to know an awful lot about the team, thankfully I watch a lot of football, I'm interested in a lot of teams, and managers, and styles. To get a job at this level, you've got to have a real detailed catalogue of the players individually, the team, what's gone on before and where you can take it moving forward."
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