Steven Gerrard

[gurru991]

The Premier League is in my mind the toughest league in the world. Managers don't walk in to the Premier & boss it from the gitgo very often. Gerrard will need some time & a couple of windows to make his mark or fail if that is the case.  Give him a chance & see what he can do. !!

For me his weak spot is his subs, he will need to improve on that quickly but I do see the makings of a top man in him !!

 

[VillaParkAvenue]

5 hours ago, tinker said:

Let's see how Gerrard deals with defeat and players who aren't used to winning. It's going to be interesting couple of weeks

This is really the key thing, imo. It’s almost a new world to him, this slightly underdog position. Will we see more of him sulking in his seat, or will he actually step forward?

Lampard is in a similar position at Everton and it’s not looking promising in his case. After Everton’s latest shit game, Lampard already seemed to want to distance himself from the whole situation, maybe to protect his own successful personal brand: ”I just walked into this…” Not a good attitude.

Gerrard and Lampard both must learn to deal with this kind of difficult and sometimes unglamorous situations, where things don’t just instantly change for the better. Until they’ve done that, they won’t have a chance of success in the long run.

[maqroll]

I'm trying to take a wider view to this situation. As long as we don't completely collapse and get relegated, the remaining games should be used to keep trying to implement the style Gerrard wants to play, even if it means we lose every 2nd or 3rd game. If some of the players can't adapt, they should be moved on in the summer. Like it or not, Gerrard will be the manager next season. We've got to give him the time to build the team he wants. Fingers crossed it works out. 

 

[Demitri_C]

Gerrards making mistakes without question but i do feel alot of the players are also to blame mainly the cms. Mcginn looks so good fof scotland and so poor for us.

Luiz having to play in a position he is not good at. 

For me i think try play mcginn in holding role and play luiz/sanson in the role mcginn plays. 

Edited February 23, 2022 by Demitri_C

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

Gerrards making mistakes without question but i do feel alot of the players are also to blame mainly the cms. Mcginn looks so good fof scotland and so poor for us.

Luiz having to play in a position he is not good at. 

For me i think try play mcginn in holding role and play luiz/sanson in the role mcginn plays. 

Isnt that not actually Gerrards fault?

[hippo]

7 hours ago, gurru991 said:

The Premier League is in my mind the toughest league in the world. Managers don't walk in to the Premier & boss it from the gitgo very often. Gerrard will need some time & a couple of windows to make his mark or fail if that is the case.  Give him a chance & see what he can do. !!

For me his weak spot is his subs, he will need to improve on that quickly but I do see the makings of a top man in him !!

 

That's some weak spot.

Sure he needs time. But does he need time to organise a squad sufficiently to beat Watford at home ?

 

[Zatman]

3 hours ago, maqroll said:

I'm trying to take a wider view to this situation. As long as we don't completely collapse and get relegated, the remaining games should be used to keep trying to implement the style Gerrard wants to play, even if it means we lose every 2nd or 3rd game. If some of the players can't adapt, they should be moved on in the summer. Like it or not, Gerrard will be the manager next season. We've got to give him the time to build the team he wants. Fingers crossed it works out. 

 

What if the manager cant adapt? 3 years of hard work down the drain. 

[Made In Aston]

2 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

Mcginn looks so good fof scotland and so poor for us.

Most of those international friendlies and qualifiers are against poor opposition. I don't remember him doing much in the Euros. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

8 hours ago, gurru991 said:

For me his weak spot is his subs, he will need to improve on that quickly but I do see the makings of a top man in him !!

 

My biggest wind up and gripe with most of our managers ffs

They always start proactively, then fall into the same trap.

Either no subs, subs when it's too late, or shit subs.

[CVByrne]

The worst thing Gerrard can do right now is change the formation and way he wants us to play. We've won games and had good results with the formation so far under him. Leeds game has impacted the players confidence, like Wolves did earlier in the season. 

We went hammer and tongs with Leeds and the sloppy goal before halftime was killer. We then came up against two teams who planned to let us have the ball, try nick a goal from a set piece or counter attack. They came to play compact and block the midfield forcing us to attack from wide. 

We had xG of 1.2 which is the first time we've had xG above 1 and failed to score under Gerrard. I feel we need to work out how to score against teams who pack the midfield and gift us the ball and space out wide. I feel if the midfield is blocked we need to work our best crossers of the ball in wide positions.

We will always concede in transition with the players we have got in midfield. The system is set up to score goals and we need a really switched on defensive midfielder who is an elite passer of the ball to solve this. So we just accept we will concede as that is what a 5 5 split attack v defence is going to do. 

It's the lack of goals due to CFs being out of form. A glaring weakness from wide right in the attacking threat of Cash. We also have nobody big to be running into the box to score headers from crosses. Coutinhio, Ings, Buendia were the players to target when Cash crosses. We will be gifted wide spaces in most games now. We need to work players like Coutinho and Buendia onto the ball in these wide areas as they can beat a defender and then play a pass. If midfield is blocked then positional rotation from full back, right mid and 10 should get Buendia into a position to run at the defence from wide. 

Our set piece delivery has been poor which has meant none of the training ground corners are coming off as every ball is won by defending team. We've had 16 Corners in last two games and posed no threat from them due to poor delivery in the main. 

 

[TRO]

On 21/02/2022 at 18:20, allani said:

OK great.  You win.  Let's settle for playing well for a third of a season.  Let me just repeat - we LOST more game in 2021 than any other PL side.  A period which includes the bounce we got with Gerrard taking over.  So if you genuinely believe that we didn't have issues before so be it.  But if 2 different systems under 2 different managers are not working, maybe the system really isn't the main issue.

I think where the confusion comes in, is that the quality of our players is better, but the mix of attributes is not.....this creates a kind of paradox.

SG right now, is trying to fix one problem and is inadvertently creating another.

The system, SG has right now, is a problem, but the players playing in it are too.

Its not one thing ,thats wrong.......you are right, many of our issues, were evident in a different system under Dean Smith, months ago.

Look, none of us have a monopoly on whats wrong and how to put it right.....but my suspicion, for some time now,the squad has been imbalanced....I was staggered, when we failed to address it in  January.

Coutinho and Digne are an upgrade in Quality, no doubt.....but they do not address the imbalance of defensive vs Offensive personnel....it could be argued that while Digne is an upgrade in quality on Targett, its a downgrade in terms of defensive duties.

The best way, I can sum is all up, is by saying " we are too easy to play against" now that covers a multitude of sins, but I believe it to be right.

Edited February 23, 2022 by TRO

[Laughable Chimp]

53 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

My biggest wind up and gripe with most of our managers ffs

They always start proactively, then fall into the same trap.

Either no subs, subs when it's too late, or shit subs.

The Rangers fans warned us about his subs too. I think its just true of all managers tbh. Not that every manager is bad at subs, just that every fanbase thinks their manager is more or less bad at making subs. Especially when said team is on bad form.

Edited February 23, 2022 by Laughable Chimp

[TRO]

5 hours ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

This is really the key thing, imo. It’s almost a new world to him, this slightly underdog position. Will we see more of him sulking in his seat, or will he actually step forward?

Lampard is in a similar position at Everton and it’s not looking promising in his case. After Everton’s latest shit game, Lampard already seemed to want to distance himself from the whole situation, maybe to protect his own successful personal brand: ”I just walked into this…” Not a good attitude.

Gerrard and Lampard both must learn to deal with this kind of difficult and sometimes unglamorous situations, where things don’t just instantly change for the better. Until they’ve done that, they won’t have a chance of success in the long run.

I think you make a valid point.....They are all used to success and winning games.

However, SG did inject life in to a club that had hit the doldrums, so I am sure here, he knows whats wrong.....I know its a cliche, but it does take time....I think the initial bounce has given us false hope, we have to get back to the basics, to arrest this.

 

[TRO]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

My biggest wind up and gripe with most of our managers ffs

They always start proactively, then fall into the same trap.

Either no subs, subs when it's too late, or shit subs.

If ,like I think, we have too many players the same or similar,particualrly in midfield,  its unlikely the subs will make much difference in terms of tactics......sure a new face might change a form for off form player, but that is all.

In my mind, he simply does'nt have the diversity of player in the squad, to change much....hence his catch 22 scenario.

Which brings me on to recruitment.....Dean and now SG have failed to bring in players, who have a natural nose for stopping the opposition.....now I don't know the "warts 'n all" of the recruitment strategy, but I am starting to wonder why.

Our recruitment team have between now and the summer to work on bring in some players, who can give us better balance.....its no good ,keep coming up with high quality, but wrong type, players, it smacks of Oh "they were just available"

Edited February 23, 2022 by TRO

[TRO]

5 hours ago, maqroll said:

I'm trying to take a wider view to this situation. As long as we don't completely collapse and get relegated, the remaining games should be used to keep trying to implement the style Gerrard wants to play, even if it means we lose every 2nd or 3rd game. If some of the players can't adapt, they should be moved on in the summer. Like it or not, Gerrard will be the manager next season. We've got to give him the time to build the team he wants. Fingers crossed it works out. 

 

I accept that.....but as other fans have commented......why is it we can't do some of the basics, like cross a ball in the the middle of the box for a runner, its often over hit?......why are some first touches, way off?.......why do we allow runners to go unchecked?

why are we so easily relieved of the ball?........is that systems?

Its basic stuff.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, hippo said:

That's some weak spot.

Sure he needs time. But does he need time to organise a squad sufficiently to beat Watford at home ?

 

Its an easy cop out to blame managers after a defeat, its the common go to......and an easier cop out to blame him after 3 months, after taking over a squad that had won so few,

In the last calendar year 2021....we have played 42 games, won 15 - drawn 6 - lost 21.

That is under 2 managers, not much more than 40 points expected at that rate.

Whatever the conclusions, folk come to.....this is not an easy job to fix, and IMO money alone, will not fix it.

There are other clubs like Everton having similar issues, after spending huge sums of money....its a tough gig, at the minute.

[lexicon]

3 minutes ago, TRO said:

Its an easy cop out to blame managers after a defeat, its the common go to......and an easier cop out to blame him after 3 months, after taking over a squad that had won so few,

In the last calendar year 2021....we have played 42 games, won 15 - drawn 6 - lost 21.

That is under 2 managers, not much more than 40 points expected at that rate.

Whatever the conclusions, folk come to.....this is not an easy job to fix, and IMO money alone, will not fix it.

There are other clubs like Everton having similar issues, after spending huge sums of money....its a tough gig, at the minute.

While it might be easy to blame a manager or be a tough gig, would you say that the last two performances were acceptable in terms of tactics and system? I certainly wouldn't. 

The more time he's had with the players, the worse they've become. That's a failure of management. 

I don't remember you being so defensive of Smith when he was under fire. 

[TRO]

13 hours ago, lexicon said:

While it might be easy to blame a manager or be a tough gig, would you say that the last two performances were acceptable in terms of tactics and system? I certainly wouldn't. 

The more time he's had with the players, the worse they've become. That's a failure of management. 

I don't remember you being so defensive of Smith when he was under fire. 

Dean Smith had 3 years to fix it.

equally, I don't remember you being so doubtful of SG during his good start.

I think SG is still coming to terms with what he has got in terms of character and style....He  is just waking up to the soft underbelly.

He can't take no responsibilty, that would be folly, but in mooching around with the system, for solutions,  he has made it worse.

However, I see somethings that I struggle to blame on the system or tactics.....as ONE example, Dignes decision to stand off Sarr for their goal.....was piss poor IMO.....

I am not saying you are wrong by the way, this midfield is vulnerable and to play wing backs to me is just adding to the vulnerability.....but the players do things poorly, regularly that are hard to blame on anyone but themselves.

 

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by TRO

[Zatman]

17 minutes ago, TRO said:

Its an easy cop out to blame managers after a defeat, its the common go to......and an easier cop out to blame him after 3 months, after taking over a squad that had won so few,

In the last calendar year 2021....we have played 42 games, won 15 - drawn 6 - lost 21.

That is under 2 managers, not much more than 40 points expected at that rate.

Whatever the conclusions, folk come to.....this is not an easy job to fix, and IMO money alone, will not fix it.

There are other clubs like Everton having similar issues, after spending huge sums of money....its a tough gig, at the minute.

Always quick to blame Smith for a loss but not Bruce or Gerrard 

Just impressed by the big names and not the actual coaching and management

[The Fun Factory]

If he follows most Villa managers he will seemingly age about 5 years in the next 6 months, and develop a thousand yard stare.