Steven Gerrard

[nick76]

10 minutes ago, TRO said:

Nick,

Analogy............Have you ever been to Twickenham, pick a pub and go to the bar.....you get 6'6 giants all terribly courteous, pushing you about, without even noticing they are doing it or that you are there, all so gentlemanly , but like in amongst a herd of Elephants.

My point is....we need a few big uns, in amongst our talent to balance things out....we are being out muscled too often.

We are quite a small team bar Mings and without fouling, find it difficult to make a mark physically.

While I agree with you, I think it’s more than that we need some nastiness in our team…not pricks but just aggressive.  

We also need players that want to win more than their individual opponent.  I watch some of our one on one battles and we are second to the ball or get pushed off easy.  Is that 6ft 6 giants? It can certainly help but doesn’t have to be…elite players like Kante show that doesn’t have to be the case but obviously we have to think of our level.

 I do agree though our team does need some more height, frame and muscle generally.

[sne]

5 minutes ago, nick76 said:

While I agree with you, I think it’s more than that we need some nastiness in our team…not pricks but just aggressive.  

We also need players that want to win more than their individual opponent.  I watch some of our one on one battles and we are second to the ball or get pushed off easy.  Is that 6ft 6 giants? It can certainly help but doesn’t have to be…elite players like Kante show that doesn’t have to be the case but obviously we have to think of our level.

 I do agree though our team does need some more height, frame and muscle generally.

We also need to set up in a way that doesn't leave massive gaps and our players exposed.

Edited April 3, 2022 by sne

[Tomaszk]

3 hours ago, og1874 said:

The squad is hideously unbalanced though - we've got too many identikit players. Even if we played a role that accommodated every player we've got, we'd still be unbalanced because of what we don't have. A lot of it comes down to last summer's recruitment, whoever the manager is, that needs to be fixed in the summer window. Spending nothing would literally result in the exact same end product next season. There are holes that need filling... desperately.

Is it?

We got 55 points last season, and this squad is better IMO.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 hours ago, TRO said:

The media pundits, don't care, so you can't expect much in depth analysis from them.

To be fair, even the female pundit on the stream I was watching said " you can't help but feel that Villa need a quality Defensive Midfielder in this side, they've got alot of attacking talent, but no stability " etc. Lol

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair, even the female pundit on the stream I was watching said " you can't help but feel that Villa need a quality Defensive Midfielder in this side, they've got alot of attacking talent, but no stability " etc. Lol

I've also heard them say we have quality, but are a very weak side. Bang on that.

[PerryBarrPet]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair, even the female pundit on the stream I was watching said " you can't help but feel that Villa need a quality Defensive Midfielder in this side, they've got alot of attacking talent, but no stability " etc. Lol

Out of the mouths of babies!

[nick76]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair, even the female pundit on the stream I was watching said " you can't help but feel that Villa need a quality Defensive Midfielder in this side, they've got alot of attacking talent, but no stability " etc. Lol

Yeah I was shocked when I heard that, a pundit that actually had some insight to us.  Far better than the usual no idea punditry.

[Villa_Vids]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Its all a bit Roy Keane at Ipswich at the moment. Right down to throwing the players under the bus

I think you are going a bit OTT. Gerrard isn't throwing any player under the bus IMO. For example, he hasn't come out and publically criticised Watkins for missing 1v1, or for the defensive mistakes in the first half. SG is striving to improve the mentality. Trying to make them braver. You can either live in denial or be honest about our performance yesterday.  I like Gerrard's honest values and ethics towards the game, but I know this doesn't make him infailable or beyond reproach.

Roy Keane - the guy hated on us for celebrating staying up on the last day.  And if his assistant manager role at Villa interfered with Ireland - he would give us up in a heartbeat. Great loyalty. Not to mention, he couldn't be arsed to do a presentation for managerial jobs in the Championship. Quit on Ireland during a World Cup too. He isn't the winner everybody thinks he is. Gerrard, in my opinion, will prove to be far more successful than him in management.

 

[Mantis]

45 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Is it?

We got 55 points last season, and this squad is better IMO.

I do wonder how much of that was due to playing behind closed doors. Mentally so many of these players are incredibly weak and fragile.

[CVByrne]

I think we need to give Ramsey Luiz Sanson a go now. McGinn loses possession too often either caught in possession or with a poor pass. With our full backs pushed forward, players so careless with the ball like McGinn shouldn't be in the team. McGinn should be a squad player going forward and Sanson needs a run. 

Gerrard totally deserves a full season and a summer window where he's backed to get his players in. The big big worry is we will fail to get the players we want because we look like a club going nowhere. Failing to land Phillips or Bissouma is terminal for Gerrard imo. Getting 3rd or 4th choice players is not improving the team to get where we want.

I also hope Gerrard rethinks the full backs. One should tuck into midfield ala Man City / Arsenal do with the other getting forward. If we have a CDM and a shuffler in our midfield 3 (Phillips and Luiz would be perfect) then a full back tucking in there to allow JJ to get forward. That's a pragmatic tweak to the system.

We could also play a 4 2 3 1 if we made that tweak as the double pivot + full back makes the  during attack 2 3 5 is how most teams attack in possession. It's just who and how to make up those.

We badly need a new CB though and I think Konsa should move on. He just doesn't fit the system or style of play despite being a great defender. 

Edited April 3, 2022 by CVByrne

[Sulberto21]

I’ve wanted Marcelo Gallardo as our manager for a very long time. However to call for Gerrard’s head after just one transfer window is madness.
He needs at least 3 more windows to get the players he wants and trusts to play his very unique formation/ system. 
we’re currently a mid table team playing inconsistently like a mid table team. 
It’s evident we’re looking for a DM and this seems key to Gerrard’s philosophy as has been shown by nakambas absence.

[DaveAV1]

The problem with our squad is, that our mentality is weak. This has been the case for years. Unless this changes we will be forever, at best, a mid table team. 
 

No team that plays us expects to lose and lots of them expect to win, regardless of the final result. We don’t scare anyone. We haven’t even got anyone with scary pace. The fact that we’re always likely to give away a goal or two, just makes us even less frightening. 
 

It’s a mindset problem and I’m pretty sure that SG and the board have recognised this. We’ve invested and increased the quality of the squad but the mentality stays the same. We’re an easy club to play for at least we have been. We paid out record wages in the championship and under our last manager we heard stories of players deciding what time they trained. This had to stop and I think that SG has stopped this sort of thing. Perhaps it’s not the change in tactics and formations that the players are struggling with, but the change in attitude. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

58 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Yeah I was shocked when I heard that, a pundit that actually had some insight to us.  Far better than the usual no idea punditry.

Although, she might have just scrolled Villatalk the night before, and rolled out the line to make it sound like she knew what she was saying haha.

[Laughable Chimp]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

To be fair, even the female pundit on the stream I was watching said " you can't help but feel that Villa need a quality Defensive Midfielder in this side, they've got alot of attacking talent, but no stability " etc. Lol

Yeah, I noticed that line. Tbh, I think she just did her own research about our team and noticed the furor perhaps on social media about us needing a DM. Then just decided that was the time to insert that line. I don't think it was entirely observational.

Even the male pundit responded to her with something along the lines of "Eh, maybe...." then went off on his own tangent. Didn't seem like he agreed

Edited April 3, 2022 by Laughable Chimp

[NeilS]

55 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Is it?

We got 55 points last season, and this squad is better IMO.

I think we are fooling ourselves if we judge everything on that season. It was an odd ball season where covid played a massive part in disrupting season preparation, and we took advantage early on with some fantastic results. I know I will get pelters for saying this, but I highly doubt we beat Liverpool 7-2 under normal circumstances. The second half of the season when teams started to get back to normal our form dropped off the cliff. Grealish lifted us above and carried a few along with him.

I think the players are mentally fragile, they lose confidence quickly and until we can bring in better quality with stronger belief we will continue to be a mid table team.
 

It is up to Lange and his team to identify traits in players that will help us improve our consistency , and I think maybe that desire and hunger has been overlooked by the scouts in the past in favour of other traits. I think this is where Gerrard will be looking to bring in players who have the character to sustain a decent run of form. I don’t think many in the squad have that in them.

[DaveAV1]

4 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Although, she might have just scrolled Villatalk the night before, and rolled out the line to make it sound like she knew what she was saying haha.

I’m not sure VT is a good source for sounding like you know what you’re talking about. 

[CVByrne]

7 minutes ago, DaveAV1 said:

The problem with our squad is, that our mentality is weak. This has been the case for years. Unless this changes we will be forever, at best, a mid table team. 
 

No team that plays us expects to lose and lots of them expect to win, regardless of the final result. We don’t scare anyone. We haven’t even got anyone with scary pace. The fact that we’re always likely to give away a goal or two, just makes us even less frightening. 
 

It’s a mindset problem and I’m pretty sure that SG and the board have recognised this. We’ve invested and increased the quality of the squad but the mentality stays the same. We’re an easy club to play for at least we have been. We paid out record wages in the championship and under our last manager we heard stories of players deciding what time they trained. This had to stop and I think that SG has stopped this sort of thing. Perhaps it’s not the change in tactics and formations that the players are struggling with, but the change in attitude. 

There are two things about this team, this core of the team that have defined us in the Premier League. The first was being unable to hold onto a lead, we always conceded late and then we got some solidity last season and managed to close out games. The biggest problem is our near complete inability to recover from any set backs. Once we concede first we almost never come back. When we've been down at half time we have never won.

Leicester scored first and we got a quick reply 2 mins later and won the game. We were at home with the new manager bounce. Then we had the come back to draw against United. While we also drew with Brentford when they scored first but we got a quick reply. This goes back to last season too, we would concede and we were beaten. There is no belief there and that is down to the character of the players, the spine of the team. Watkins, McGinn, Mings etc. So many players throw their heads to the sky when we concede first as they know we're beaten. 

Unfortunately that's now a cemented part of the culture of the club, we fans know we've lost when we concede first and it sucks the life out of the atmosphere and noise as we know there is no comeback. I don't know how that gets fixed. I feel the midfield is key to driving a team back into a game. a key CDM signing and maybe a battle hardened experienced player who is 30 or 31 who knows how to win. Knows how to get a team back into a game

[AvonVillain]

10 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

Unfortunately that's now a cemented part of the culture of the club, we fans know we've lost when we concede first and it sucks the life out of the atmosphere and noise as we know there is no comeback. I don't know how that gets fixed.

It gets fixed when we do precisely that, and win from a losing position. Nothing is 'cemented'. Agree that when we concede though, as fans, we tend to think it's all over, especially when we can go an entire game without a single shot.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

26 minutes ago, NeilS said:

I think we are fooling ourselves if we judge everything on that season. It was an odd ball season where covid played a massive part in disrupting season preparation, and we took advantage early on with some fantastic results. I know I will get pelters for saying this, but I highly doubt we beat Liverpool 7-2 under normal circumstances. The second half of the season when teams started to get back to normal our form dropped off the cliff. Grealish lifted us above and carried a few along with him.

I think the players are mentally fragile, they lose confidence quickly and until we can bring in better quality with stronger belief we will continue to be a mid table team.
 

It is up to Lange and his team to identify traits in players that will help us improve our consistency , and I think maybe that desire and hunger has been overlooked by the scouts in the past in favour of other traits. I think this is where Gerrard will be looking to bring in players who have the character to sustain a decent run of form. I don’t think many in the squad have that in them.

This also totally evades the fact that Gerrard came in already starting from behind, both points and table position wise.

Even with the terrible runs of form, and all the other mitigating circumstances, our current points average under Gerrard, over the course of a 38 game season, would have us on something like 52 points.

[DaveAV1]

6 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

There are two things about this team, this core of the team that have defined us in the Premier League. The first was being unable to hold onto a lead, we always conceded late and then we got some solidity last season and managed to close out games. The biggest problem is our near complete inability to recover from any set backs. Once we concede first we almost never come back. When we've been down at half time we have never won.

Leicester scored first and we got a quick reply 2 mins later and won the game. We were at home with the new manager bounce. Then we had the come back to draw against United. While we also drew with Brentford when they scored first but we got a quick reply. This goes back to last season too, we would concede and we were beaten. There is no belief there and that is down to the character of the players, the spine of the team. Watkins, McGinn, Mings etc. So many players throw their heads to the sky when we concede first as they know we're beaten. 

Unfortunately that's now a cemented part of the culture of the club, we fans know we've lost when we concede first and it sucks the life out of the atmosphere and noise as we know there is no comeback. I don't know how that gets fixed. I feel the midfield is key to driving a team back into a game. a key CDM signing and maybe a battle hardened experienced player who is 30 or 31 who knows how to win. Knows how to get a team back into a game

Absolutely agree. Who is the player we look to when the chips are down? There isn’t one and we could do with half a dressing room full if we really want to push on. When we’ve had a good side in the past there were always one or two who would rally the team but basically the team didn’t need much rallying. But a proper leader who could galvanise the squad would bring out the fight in the rest of them. 
 

People say we shouldn’t have let Matt Target go and I can see the argument. But to be honest he’s been poor most of the season and his first reaction to competition arriving for his place, was to want out. It’s not overly encouraging either that Newcastle appear not to want him next season either.  A squad full of players who are coasting through their careers.