Players should be blamed, not Gerrard - Martinez

goalkeeper

has claimed that the team's poor start to the Premier League has given him sleepless nights and that the players are responsible for the results, not Steven Gerrard.

Villa were beaten 2-1 by Arsenal on Wednesday to record their fourth defeat in five league games and leave them second bottom of the table. Their next match will be against last season's Premier League champions

, who are unbeaten in their last 13 games, and the Argentinian goalkeeper claimed that the morale of the team is very low after the defeat at the Emirates.

He told

: 

"Even when we win and I concede I can't sleep - but I couldn't sleep on Wednesday [after Arsenal], I went to bed at 6.30(am) and I woke up at 7.15(am). I struggle with defeats, I struggle when I concede goals but that's me - I move on and after I'll be out training.

"I love this club, I've said it from day one I love this club. I love being here, I didn't want to go anywhere and I owe the fans for always having my back so I want to repay them. When I see kids with my shirt in the ground and they chant my name it makes me want to stay and I fell in love with this club, and that's why I can't sleep.

He added: 

"Obviously if you don't care I would just sleep straight after the game but I really care about this club and I want to take this club to Europe - obviously it's a bad start but I think I can still do it.

"Everyone will be low. It's normal, it's part of football, you should be angry, you should be disappointed for not getting anything from the games, but that's what I like about my team. They all care about this club. It's not like they don't care, no one will be laughing, no one will be smiling. They will go out and train, and that's something I love about these players - it only takes one big win, one big performance to turn things around."

Asked about Gerrard's responsibility, Martinez said: 

"The gaffer gives us a game plan every single week and we as players need to deliver. When we make mistakes or individual errors, the manager doesn't play. He gives us the game plan tactically but us as players we need to deliver, we know what to do from now is nothing to do with the manager.

"Sometimes we concede within 15 minutes, sometimes we concede straight after we score like against Palace or the other day [at Arsenal] and it's like jumping into an ice bath. It takes a while to recover from that, and for us as a team it really affects us. That's something that we need to change, but the game plan is there.

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