PieFacE Posted September 4, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted September 4, 2022 If we win our next 2 and move out the bottom 3 then I think he should keep his job until Christmas. But that's incredibly unlikely, if we're still in the bottom 3 after Southampton then he needs to go. It's that simple for me. I wouldn't have given him this long tbh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keyblade Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, Nigel said: If thats the case and he learns nothing then I'm fully back in the out camp. Yesterday he found a way to accommodate mcginn and Ramsey in a functional midfield. It's not ideal but at least he recognised one of the main flaws. However he can't play without either of the playmakers in most games, so something gas to give to keep the ballance. I wonder how much of it was simply down to the fact that we weren't getting forward as often and spent a lot of time behind the ball due to the nature of our opposition. There really wasn't much opportunity for our midfield too get pulled apart at we've seen so often this season because there wasn't much transition play. We were camped in our own half for most of it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 We went 2 up against Man City last game only for us run out of steam and lose 3-2 which was expected, but we performed excellent. We then go into a mew season and can't even get past Bournemouth who to be fair are totally shite. We have been here before, as silly as it sounds I think we are becoming one of Man Citys bogy teams, Leicester will be telling, but then again why are we gonna judge him on beating Leicester and Southampton, 2 very poor teams, which even not at our best, we should be beating. What about the Palace, Newcastle, West Hams. Are we still happy to lose if they have a bit of quality. It was the same last season, we beat the crap and lose to the rest. Nothings changed can't people see!! Personally I'm done with him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 He talks about this short term plan. Well Purslow said top half minimum. Will the club change the short term plan to just keep Gerrard here? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 First off was pleased with the point yesterday which was helped by the full backs defending first rather than being ridiculosuly high up the pitch most the time. But IMO Gerrard still has to go. The apparent brief is to make us a top 10 side and ideally push for the European places. The reality is we've won (I think) 3 out of the last 17 league games. We should demand/expect better than that and this is not continuous improvement or even standing still. Time to give someone else a try and let Gerrard leave with a bit of pride from yesterday's result. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) 12 minutes ago, Brumstopdogs said: First off was pleased with the point yesterday which was helped by the full backs defending first rather than being ridiculosuly high up the pitch most the time. But IMO Gerrard still has to go. The apparent brief is to make us a top 10 side and ideally push for the European places. The reality is we've won (I think) 3 out of the last 17 league games. We should demand/expect better than that and this is not continuous improvement or even standing still. Time to give someone else a try and let Gerrard leave with a bit of pride from yesterday's result. Numerous times we've played well under Gerrard in this ultra defensive shape. It's the best play for us against the likes of City and Liverpool. Definitely a positive it's available to us. The problem comes as soon as we stop sitting deep and try to 'play'. I hope and pray Purslow is still looking for a new manager. Edited September 4, 2022 by Tomaszk 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
allani Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 1 hour ago, Keyblade said: I'm with you. I don't subscribe to the notion of taking it a game at a time, I'm just trying to map out how it would play out of we were to take that route. I would love for him to drastically change our fortunes over the next couple of games but given our overall steady decline in points per game during his tenure, I feel like hope at this point is just foolish. Overall he's trending towards that 1ppg mark, which is really far from where we hope to be. This is without even getting into the performances which bar yesterday's have all been well below par. Yeah - if you are at taking it a "game at a time" it is probably already time to move on. I did think that Gerrard needed to be given a proper transfer window in order to be fully assessed. The start to this season (coupled with the last couple of months of last season) has been well below expectation. I don't think that at the start of the season the owners would have had a target number of points by the international break (working on a longer half-season / season target) but I am sure they do now (or I am sure that they should do now!). I think Gerrard has those two matches to show that he has arrested the decline that the graph above clearly demonstrates. Unless he can show an upturn in the next two games I think he will go. I also think that his position will continue to be under threat until such time as we have a consistent period of maintaining a reasonable ppg average over a decent period of time (i.e. something that demonstrates we are capable of getting close to mid-table (9th - 12th)). Unless he can get that line quickly going back on an upwards trajectory (as opposed to declining or flat-lining) he is in trouble (as are we). However, I think the Board took a similar approach with Smith, giving him time to address a similar trend over an similar period of time and when he couldn't they acted pretty quickly. I think they will do the same with Gerrard. The international break was his (unofficial) timeframe and so far he is behind where he needs to be so quick results are critical for him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmirch Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 It’s Steve Bruce all over again, capable of a surprising result but ultimately we're going nowhere. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa_Vids Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) We haven't been good enough this season, certainly not what I or others had hoped for. BUT hopefully the performance and result yesterday will act as a springboard. We have comeback against two very good teams now - that spirit encourages me. Gerrard isn't hiding to be fair, he is taking the criticism on the chin and is trying to move forward. UTV. Edited September 4, 2022 by Villa_Vids 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weedman Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 I'll tell you what, if he turns it around from here he'll finally replace Alex Ferguson as the go to for failing managers. Any time a manager is struggling people in 20 years will say "you know Steven Gerrard was only 1 game away from the sack" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tinker Posted September 4, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted September 4, 2022 4 minutes ago, weedman said: I'll tell you what, if he turns it around from here he'll finally replace Alex Ferguson as the go to for failing managers. Any time a manager is struggling people in 20 years will say "you know Steven Gerrard was only 1 game away from the sack" It's a big 'if' but you never know, sometimes a gamble pays off and all of us have to be humble enough to admit we are wrong and move on if he can build on this performance. The fans in the ground gave him that chance yesterday with an atmosphere that showed him and the team we will back them if they show fight. Will Villatalk give him that same opportunity? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) 4 minutes ago, tinker said: It's a big 'if' but you never know, sometimes a gamble pays off and all of us have to be humble enough to admit we are wrong and move on if he can build on this performance. The fans in the ground gave him that chance yesterday with an atmosphere that showed him and the team we will back them if they show fight. Will Villatalk give him that same opportunity? Same fans on VillaTalk are at the ground. When we are playing we give 100% support….outside of game time we analyse, praise and criticise. Edited September 4, 2022 by nick76 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 54 minutes ago, Tomaszk said: Numerous times we've played well under Gerrard in this ultra defensive shape. It's the best play for us against the likes of City and Liverpool. Definitely a positive it's available to us. The problem comes as soon as we stop sitting deep and try to 'play'. I hope and pray Purslow is still looking for a new manager. This. Positives yesterday and if the aim was 16th and survive I'd be super confident we can do that. But we were meant to build on Smith achieving 11th. Purslow said top half was the minimum requirement. So the concerns are still valid. Until we see a Gerrard team look like that sort of team then a good point against city doesn't wipe all that out. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 5 minutes ago, tinker said: It's a big 'if' but you never know, sometimes a gamble pays off and all of us have to be humble enough to admit we are wrong and move on if he can build on this performance. The fans in the ground gave him that chance yesterday with an atmosphere that showed him and the team we will back them if they show fight. Will Villatalk give him that same opportunity? If he genuinely turns round what's been an abysmal failure then I think virtually everyone will be right behind him. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MWARLEY2 Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 If we were creating loads of chances with his favoured formation i would understand him saying we needed to park the quality and get more power and energy on the pitch. But we are distinctly uncreative when we get everyone crowded on the left and push the full back up. Yesterday was so much better balanced. And playing that exact team ( maybe with dendoncker for McGinn)would i am sure score more goals than we do currently. ) Luiz and Kamara can pass a ball. JJ , Watkins and Bailey can run with the ball. It wasnt a tweak of a system. It was a change of a system. And the players seemed so much more comfortable within it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 I don’t think he will turn it around but the talk of him losing the players isn’t true after yesterdays performance. The players gave everything. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
david-avfc Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 (edited) 9 minutes ago, MWARLEY2 said: If we were creating loads of chances with his favoured formation i would understand him saying we needed to park the quality and get more power and energy on the pitch. But we are distinctly uncreative when we get everyone crowded on the left and push the full back up. Yesterday was so much better balanced. And playing that exact team ( maybe with dendoncker for McGinn)would i am sure score more goals than we do currently. ) Luiz and Kamara can pass a ball. JJ , Watkins and Bailey can run with the ball. It wasnt a tweak of a system. It was a change of a system. And the players seemed so much more comfortable within it. Yes we were so much more balanced yesterday. Midfielders actually playing in midfield, full backs actually playing in defence, it looked far better. It sounds like pretty basic stuff…. and to be honest it is, which is why there’s this huge question mark over Gerrard in the first place. The reason I’m not optimistic despite the great result and performance yesterday is my expectation is that we’ll revert to our previous set up in the next games and will run into the same problems as before. Maybe with a bit of confidence we’ll grab a result but I can’t see us progressing long term until that system is dead and buried. Edited September 4, 2022 by david-avfc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 15 minutes ago, DCJonah said: If he genuinely turns round what's been an abysmal failure then I think virtually everyone will be right behind him. Yup. I've wanted him out for weeks, but if he turns it around I'll gladly eat the humble piez I'm just unconvinced he's capable of it. Credit where it's due for yesterday though, I think most of us were expecting an absolute hammering. One swallow doesn't make a summer, but he's clearly getting another couple of games, so let's see what happens when we need to try and compete for the ball for 90 minutes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
est1874 Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 It will take some serious performances backed up by good results for him to 'turn this around' and thus get everyone back on side. But if he can do it, then fair play to him, he'll be a better manager than he has proven up til now. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CVByrne Posted September 4, 2022 Share Posted September 4, 2022 He needs to get a win from the next two games. We want to see performances too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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