El-Reacho Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 If we stay up by the skin of our teeth, then I think we should go and get Rodgers. It's clear it's best for both of them for him to walk away from Leicester at the end of the season. He's not likely to win us the title and it'll probably end similar to how it's ending with Leicester but he knows how to get teams into the top 6. If we could get 3 seasons of that I'd be all over it. He would be far lower risk than SG was and is also likely to get the best out of Coutinho. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiezels Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 We’ve got to give it way more time, we’ve played one way for a really long time now. New players, new system, give it until at least the end of the season and into the next. stupid to make rash decisions now. Really stupid. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dale Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 2 minutes ago, spiezels said: stupid to make rash decisions now. Really stupid. We made one in the recruitment, doubling down on a mistake is never a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't think that Purslow can let him go yet as it looks like he has **** up rather than Gerrard. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duke313 Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 1 minute ago, Dale said: We made one in the recruitment, doubling down on a mistake is never a good idea. Unfortunately, I don't think that Purslow can let him go yet as it looks like he has **** up rather than Gerrard. Then it should be Purslow that gets the boot. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaParkAvenue Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 4 minutes ago, duke313 said: Then it should be Purslow that gets the boot. It’s hypothetical, but if Gerrard continues to struggle and Purslow keeps him in the job a lot longer than he should, Purslow should be in trouble. Even if he’s done many other things right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiezels Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Jesus wept, you want him sacked after like 9 games. Is everyone ok? Haha 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 18 minutes ago, spiezels said: We’ve got to give it way more time, we’ve played one way for a really long time now. New players, new system, give it until at least the end of the season and into the next. stupid to make rash decisions now. Really stupid. But we have to make some decisions. Even if that's that Stevie G stays on and is given £200m to rebuild the team (and that option isn't without risk) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 2 minutes ago, spiezels said: Jesus wept, you want him sacked after like 9 games. Is everyone ok? Haha Don't think many are saying that. But rightfully discussing what he needs to happen in the short term and to what extent results are allowed to drift before they become unacceptable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 2 hours ago, Zatman said: Progress is difficult but if its not working we should not accept crap. Lage, Potter changed the styles quickly and got the message across Even Rodgers and Hassnhuttl came in mid season and changed the style of play and got result Zat praising Graham Potter now to criticise Gerrard...read it all now. Big worry for me is how sustainable this style is as we've looked rubbish playing it last few weeks now teams are working it out. If Gerrard isn't flexible we are in big trouble next season imo regardless of how this one pans out. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Just now, VillaChris said: Zat praising Graham Potter now to criticise Gerrard...read it all now. Big worry for me is how sustainable this style is as we've looked rubbish playing it last few weeks now teams are working it out. If Gerrard isn't flexible we are in big trouble next season imo regardless of how this one pans out. Well its not praise just that style of play can change and work with the players you have Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 16 minutes ago, spiezels said: Jesus wept, you want him sacked after like 9 games. Is everyone ok? Haha If we barely survive relegation we'd be in much worse form than what DS got sacked. And this is after Jan window adding three on paper good experienced top level players. No idea how that's acceptable and Gerrard's position really should come under massive scrutiny. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AV82 Posted February 21, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted February 21, 2022 (edited) The holes in our game must be mended to some degree before we commit to and really roll the dice on Gerrard. If he shows tactical nous with the team we have now then yes, let's push on and bring in personnel to develop his style further. However if he can't plug simple gaps like coaching Douglas to take a yellow, or having players in positions that suit them (McGinn completely wasted covering the RB position is one example) then I'd rather we go another route at the end of the season with a different coach. The players don't turn to shit over night and on paper we have a solid team. In the remaining 12 games I'm more interested in how we react collectively to the struggles we will undoubtedly face and that should shape our decision come the summer. Edited February 21, 2022 by AV82 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvonVillain Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 1 minute ago, VillaChris said: Big worry for me is how sustainable this style is as we've looked rubbish playing it last few weeks now teams are working it out. I listened to an interesting thing on 5 Live a while back, about the reason at least one of the promoted teams can generally do so well in their first season in the PL, being down to it taking around a season for all the other teams to work out how to negate their system. This has been said a few times now, but it's the biggest concern of the lot; Gerrard's system was exposed for it's flaws after a matter of games. When Plan B seems to be throw on Ashley Young, it looks like we might have a big problem. It's heartbreaking how new-era Villa can so closely resemble old-era Villa. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaFaninLondon Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 21 hours ago, striker said: Generally agree with everything you say. Both clubs have vastly underachieved considering money spent and both clubs could find themselves in serious trouble with remaining fixtures to play. However, I do believe considering the squads around both teams Villa and Everton have enough about them to stay up if Gerrard and Lampard can get their respective teams firing. Just as a side note, I follow both teams with Villa my main point of interest now, hence why I post here. Everton lost me when Rafa was appointed! Yeah we've both spent a lot of money without really too much thinking behind any of it. Some fans still seem to think we're well run, whereas in actual fact we have owners willing to invest (great) but well run we are certainly not. Very rarely do we sell players for profit (Grealish was an exception) and we've spent an average of 100m+ for three consecutive seasons to be below midtable and quite possibly in a soon-to-be relegation battle unless we get our act together pronto. Brighton, Wolves, Leicester (despite a poor season) are well run and all were in the Championship only a few years ago like us so not like we can use the "well we're playing catchup argument" compared to them either. Fair enough. I always thought Rafa was an odd appointment given his ties to Plop, he was always on a hiding to nothing, though the form at the end was atrocious. I reckon Villa will lose you at some point too in the not too distant future given our tendency to make a cock up of everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 38 minutes ago, hippo said: Don't think many are saying that. But rightfully discussing what he needs to happen in the short term and to what extent results are allowed to drift before they become unacceptable. This. It's definitely premature to sack him but he's underperforming with what he has available to him. We can't trot out the 'it's a results business' line with Smith and not apply it to Gerrard. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
samjp26 Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Way too early to be calling for his head, however an actual defensive midfielder is clearly key to how he wants us to play. I think if we are to say "this is how we want to play", we need to target the correct players to fit the roles and actually succeed in bringing these targets into the club. Bissouma was evidently our number 1 target, Bentancur another top target, the latter went to Tottenham and the former it seems we wouldn't pay what they asked for. I completely understand not wanting to get shafted by clubs in regards to fees and such, but if we only have a select amount of targets we need to pay to bring them in, otherwise we are left in the situation we are in now which is asking players to fulfil roles that they simply can not. I have no doubt that Stevie G and his coaching staff are forward thinking with what they want to do, how they want to play etc. but as things stand we don't have the players to meet the demands and if the club aren't prepared to pay above and beyond for the players required, we should be looking at going back to the drawing board and changing the style of play. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 Comments on here are crazy, Gerrard isn't going anywhere. Talk of top eight, top ten players is all well and good, I thought it too but tell me what are those players doing week in week out? The answer is committing individual errors, giving the ball, making mistakes, penalties, fouls and sending offs (Konsa). I'm now thinking it's as much on the players as Gerrard. We are midtable at best just now because of inconsistency, we are where we are for a reason. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 (edited) On 19/02/2022 at 12:16, allani said: Agreed. Personally I think that we are in a better position than we were when Gerrard arrived - with the Coutinho and Digne signings and we seem to have a very clear system in mind. The problem is that we don't seem to have the players for that system yet. The question is are we good enough to persist with that system for this season so that the players who are in the team next year have another 3 months of getting used to it, or should the manager abandon his beliefs for now and try and find some other system that may / may not work. I am becoming more convinced that being so reliant on Luiz and McGinn in midfield will make it very difficult for any system to work well unless they suddenly both really step it up. Looking at the bench we really don't have that many options without taking a real punt and giving one of the youngsters an extended run in the team. I think this summer was always going to be a big one for Gerrard. He needs to show that he can attract the players that he wants and then get the team playing the way that he wants. He is stuck between a rock and a hard place.... He is in a hurry to do things.....but he hasn't got the personnel to progress to what he wants, to do.....that might have to be revisited in his head. It will take time, and I can't see it happening without changes in personnel. I think the calls to blame him entirely are premature, despite me seeing errors and mistakes, he is making.......We have to Remember here, this is primarily the squad that got Dean Smith the sack and John Terry decided to part company with, despite still having no reportable job. SG needs time to sort this out....no one else can who is employed at Villa.....its on him, and no one knows that more than him. Maybe the good start has been a curse in disguise, because it has papered over the deep lying cracks. I think he will get it right....but not until the summer window...we just have to try and hang on. Edited February 21, 2022 by TRO 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 6 minutes ago, TRO said: He is stuck between a rock and a hard place.... He is in a hurry to do things.....but he hasn't got the personnel to progress to what he wants, to do.....that might have to be revisited in his head. It will take time, and I can't see it happening without changes in personnel. I think the calls to blame him entirely are premature, despite me seeing errors and mistakes, he is making.......We have to Remember here, this is primarily the squad that got Dean Smith the sack and John Terry decided to part company with, despite still having no reportable job. SG needs time to sort this out....no one else can who is employed at Villa.....its on him, and no one knows that more than him. Maybe the good start has been a curse in disguise, because it has paper over the deep lying cracks. I think he will get it right....but not until the summer window...we just have to try and hang on. Calls to sack him are premature no doubt. But we are so soft - those calls might look so ridiculous come the end of next month. Whilst not easy I happen to think Brighton on Saturday could be our best chance of 3pts for a while 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted February 21, 2022 Share Posted February 21, 2022 22 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: Comments on here are crazy, Gerrard isn't going anywhere. Talk of top eight, top ten players is all well and good, I thought it too but tell me what are those players doing week in week out? The answer is committing individual errors, giving the ball, making mistakes, penalties, fouls and sending offs (Konsa). I'm now thinking it's as much on the players as Gerrard. We are midtable at best just now because of inconsistency, we are where we are for a reason. Of course he isn't.... The talk of Europe always was pie in the sky at our stage. It depends what is actually meant by "Its on the players"......many of them are still reportedly targets for better teams than ours.....but some of the things going amiss, is a result of poor play. We have been inconsistent for some time, we have to go back to the start of 2020/21 season to see more than 2 wins on the bounce....something Newcastle has just done.....so this is not new. We can all see whats wrong....how to fix it is not so clear. I could see that Watford goal coming on Saturday.....something that frustrates me the most.....I wish, I couldn't see things like that.......I was not surprised by the Leeds come back either.....The Wolves one, did surprise and anger me. I don't like this kind of football where we are vulnerable for most of the match....that is not entertaining for me, despite the odd worldie move. The problem with the players is, the level they are at, they are good at somethings and not others, the collective problem is most of them are good at the same things and not so good at the same things.....so certain things that need to be done, are not. I hope the club are all aware of this, I would be worried, if they're not. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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