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11 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

101

….and I’ll raise you another 100 

9 hours ago, Zero7 said:

BLAME THE COACHES!!!!!!!!!

Yep, once again it’s the Gerrard blame game. How he has the bloody nerve to blame our new coach for wanting to move/change things on too quickly!! FFS, Steven YOU are the manager….that coach works for and is managed by you. Utter and complete absence of responsibility as expected…..but it’s ok as you then told your coach to go back to basics a bit more. **** off you self centred, arrogant prick of a Manager. YOU may want to give it the big celebration after watching that shite but WE deserve better. Please, just go. 

Complete and utter joke of a manager. Too stubborn, too arrogant. Will never learn and will never improve. Just bloody go and let us get a proper manager in. Fuming. 

Probably against popular opinion but I really think he is pretty much done at this level in regards to the physicality required. 
His legs have gone and he has no ability to chase, harry or close down as much as is needed. Technically he is still capable but it really is like playing with 10 men. We cannot carry a player like that in our team - we need all 11 to have energy. If you can play PC as a roaming 10 with zero defensive responsibility that would be fine….we are not that team. 
For me, EB every time. As Gerrard said, adrenaline alone got Phil through the first few games then he dropped off a cliff. Now after a full preseason nothing has changed. An average squad player if that - never a starter. Sorry Phil but your the right player at completely the wrong time. 

28 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

Too many people on here have fixed positions and/or closed minds so don’t expect constructive discussion. 

Respectfully disagree. In regards to SG people have made an informed opinion on his managerial ability over the course of the last 10 months and, like me, do not believe he is good enough to manage our club. To be honest even if we win the next 2 I would still want him to be sacked as I just see no way that he can ever progress us towards being a top 8 side. 
My ‘fixed position’ is based on how I perceive he has performed over a long period of time and clearly there will be many of us on here with different opinions/perceptions. There is rarely much grey in the arena of Manager opinion….it is always pretty much black and white and this is why we get very contrasting views on this subject. 
I’m not close minded, I just have a very strong opinion on our current Manager…..I guess we need to embrace ALL opinions….after all it would br bloody boring if we all thought the same

8 hours ago, R.Bear said:

Some of the criticism in here is ridiculous. Ok you may not like Gerrard's tactics, team selection, signings whatever. That's your opinion. But these digs or saying he needs to **** off etc are well over the top. This stemming from his Liverpool days. Quite frankly, some people need to grow up.

Gerrard is a good man, he's trying his absolute best. He may not be the right man or turn it around but he's giving his all to the cause. I so want to him to do well here because I like him and how he comes across in interviews. I also think the players like him too and also want to turn it around. Today was very good, I expected a heavy loss like most people. We need to push on of course but today was a step in the right direction and we couldnt ask for more TODAY.

Really?? You genuinely believe that those of us who want him gone have reached this conclusion over the last 10 months because he played for Liverpool??

Absolutely nothing to do with it……he’s a very poor Manager who is simply not good enough for us. That’s it. 

15 minutes ago, Jareth said:

That made sense - anyone could see that - we needed to stop Citeh. They also have conceded a lot compared to last season when they didn't have a dedicated CF - SG got those tactics spot on. 

Fully agree…..I wasn’t bemoaning the fact he kept our FBs back. I’m just not at all convinced that he has moved on from this tactical suicide and that next week we will see LD and AY propping up Leicester’s corner flags!!

All this talk on Sky about leaving Coutinho/Buendia out as the main tactical tweak….rubbish!! We all know the fullbacks playing as fullbacks and not wingers was the fundamental difference today. Now….the question is was this by intent or by circumstance?

Leicester will tell us everything about Gerrard’s ‘lessons learnt’. I’m still not convinced in him at all. Needs replacing asap. 

That interview with Sky puts pay to our hopes that he will move to a double pivot using LD. 
The guy is clueless and his ridiculous stubbornness to adapt his system according to the abilities of the squad let alone the demands of the league he is in, borders on stupidity. 
If he believes that it would be a sign of weakness to accept his current ‘tactics’ do not work then he should look at some other actual football managers. Pep has shown willingness to change system in game and Mourinho in his pomp would even substitute players 20 mins in to change things around and adapt accordingly. 
Changing your game plan/system, Steven, isn’t a sign of weakness…..it is what successful managers do in order to beat the opposition as and when required.  Yes, you were a fantastic player but drop the bullshit, arrogant attitude and accept you have got it wrong because at the moment you are a very poor manager and leader and realise that it will take you years to reach the level you want to, if indeed you ever can. Learn your trade in the lower leagues to see if you can improve….this club is no man’s nursery. 

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

Yeah never been so gutted to see a picture of our manager with a new signing.

Exactly the same here, mate. Every day we continue to have him as manager is another day wasted.

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

That's quite interesting that no comment from Gerrard about the signing. Think that's quite unusual. We'll see, they might add something tomorrow. 

Possibly…..but he clearly has had no conversations with SG or else the interviewer would have asked him the stock question about ‘playing for Steven Gerrard and ‘what did he say to you’ etc etc. Just a very vague generic interview with no specifics at all. We live in hope

During his ‘welcome’ interview, he wasn’t asked at all about SG, he only mentioned ‘great manager’ at the bottom of the list of things he liked about the club and no comment from SG on the announcement on the OS. 100% NOT a Gerrard signing and very clear now that it’s over for the clown…..and why the hell is he posting clips of himself playing for England on his IG on a night when we are signing at least 2 new players. I cannot see that he will still be manager by the start of next week. 

1 minute ago, useless said:

There's a lot of over the top performative doom and gloom going on at the moment, we've had a bad start to the season that's all, the club isn't a 'circus', NSWE clearly haven't given up, and our current situation is nothing like the Lerner era when he gave up, we've just signed two French internationals, a Brazilian international, two Swedish internationals as back up players, supposedly one of the best defenders from La Liga.

And we might sign more today, but if not, not sure most can have too many complaints, because can't have it both ways, if Gerrard is to be sacked as so many wish then stands to reason that the club might keep money back for the next manager in the January transfer window, it might be that today is just about bringing in a loan or two just to make sure we're not short, unless a new manager has already been identified and telling us who they want.

Squad as it is should be good enough to challenge for a top half finish, just need someone to use the players in the right way.

100% this. The lack of player investement is due to the lack of faith in SG following the poor final half of last season and the start of this. The owners had their fingers burned with the £100M investment in Bailey, Buendia and Ings only for Smith to go and the new manager not really fancy them/use a system for them. I know there are multiple other issues with this, firstly the appointment of SG in the first place. However, clearly NSWE don't want to plough another £100M in only for a new manager to come in and not 'fancy' the new recruits. In an ideal world we have a strategy whereby whatever players we sign we get a manager to utilise those players for continuty etc but that is absent at the moment. Hell of a lot to fix here but I dont blame the oweners for not wanting to get burned a 2nd time. I think they have realised now the challenge that they have. Couple of loans today to fill the squad and get the new manager through until Jan, once SG is sacked on Saturday night 

8 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

McGinn and Ramsey CAN work together - but not with a number ten in front of them.

This would work today:

------------------------------Martinez----------------------------

------------Chambers-----Konsa------Mings------------

Cash--------------Kamara---------Luiz--------------Digne

----------------Ramsey--------------------McGinn-----------

-------------------------------Watkins-----------------------------

I'm not suggesting we do it, but it's possible to make those two work in a midfield - it's trying to force in two more attacking midfielders as well that makes it hard.

 

More importantly they MUST have 2 sitters behind them if they both play. 
Realistically it has to be Ramsey OR McGinn - can’t play both. 
 

Also I don’t know what Chambers has done to deserve to be dropped for Konsa. Chambers was our best player vs WHam. 
 

Gerrard is completely clueless. 

4 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yay ramsey and mcginn again!!!

Woohoo!!

Its been such a epic successful cimbo so far

It is literally unbelievable!!! How the hell does he think that this midfield will EVER work…..is he bloody blind!!! To drop Luiz who gave us some much needed control in midfield vs WHam is a total farce. 
He is clueless and HAS to be sacked. Bangs on about constantly learning….Steven, what the **** have you learned in the last 10 months if you still think JJ and JM are our best combination of 8s?? Absolute joke. 

Just now, MaVilla said:

where is this news from?

Being reported via couple of twitter accounts, so defo not gospel but it is gaining a lot of traction. Sounds like there is something in this…..unfortunately  

3 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

where is this news from?

Loan with option to buy. 
Good to see our coherent and clear recruitment strategy is working well! Just what we need….a technical, inconsistent Brazilian who has zero physical stature and has questionable work rate. 
Well done Gerrard….just what we need. 
 

Please leave our club, sir. 

6 hours ago, AntrimBlack said:

The simple answer is often the correct answer. It is simply the manager.

Indeed. Occam’s razor. 

8 minutes ago, thabucks said:

He is a pacy versatile winger wide forward or covers left and right wing and can play centrally. He is literally exactly the type of player we need,… as well as other pressing areas. As I said earlier this doesn’t mean they are blind to what is needed 

Really?? So, not prioritising an 8 is not blind???

I’ve been very pro SG but for the life of me I cannot see any evidence at all of how he has improved us as a team…..nothing. Also, to keep playing JJ and JM as the pair of 8s is quite frankly staggering. No control, no plan, no progression. 10 months and this is where we are. Very concerned. 

3 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Really interested in why we weren't in for Nunes at that price.

I can only think we aren't looking to spend that sort of money.

Same as Guimaraes, we will not be able to get a midfielder of that level for that price. Wolves will be selling him for £75m inside two years.

Indeed. Looks like exactly the type of ‘8’ we are looking for. Mind you he did turn down WHam so the Portuguese connection at Wolves with Lange influential probably swung it. 
 

I’m beginning to think that our wage structure has been reigned in a bit following PC and BK signings and that may be what is restricting our activity. 

4 hours ago, WHY said:

We can buy all the midfielders we want but until we play with a tight 3 in the middle it won’t make any difference. We will still get overrun as we are emptying the middle of the park all the time leaving the DM isolated. Also when we are in possession the centre backs need to be further up the field. They were 20 years too deep against Bournemouth, we need to condense the space. Leaves us open to a ball over the top a bit more but nothing we shouldn’t be able to deal with. 

I agree mate, we emptied the midfield constantly and didn’t push up or impose ourselves enough……mind you I didn’t think we were THAT deep…wow!! 

1 hour ago, allani said:

Thanks for posting this.  It is a very interesting read.  I think it highlights a couple of things pretty well - (1) we really are struggling both going forwards and backwards because we don't have another midfielder alongside Kamara, (2) that due to the problems caused by not having that extra solidity in midfield we are resorting to high risk / low reward balls and (3) that our holding midfielder will get completely over-run when we don't have the ball (it is interesting that in one of the photos - McGinn and JJ have dropped back but that neither of them are anywhere near an opposition player whilst our 4 defenders are left having to mark 5 players). 

It clearly demonstrates how our midfield is massively unbalanced and a new midfielder is absolutely necessary (or as an absolute minimum that Luiz needs to start instead of either JJ or McGinn - if people really think he is good enough defensively and/or that he will be able to unpick the opposition).  And I think it explains how that lack of balance is impacting us. 

The question is whether our play is disrupted because of the lack of this additional defender or whether Gerrard really sees us playing with two attack minded CMs as the way forward.  If the latter them the article clearly points out a number of the tactical / set-up problems that highlight that Gerrard is not the answer from a managerial / coaching perspective.  I still hope that he can come good but the appointment of McGinn as captain has hugely impacted on my confidence in the manager and I am worried that he's not seeing these issues, believing that the players will ultimately work.  If that is the case then his days are numbered.

On the flip side, I think it also explains how many of our current problems could be resolved with a new signing.  Assuming that the rest of the players then use the space that this player would create to help build pressure and find the right type of space in the final third.  If the "toss the ball into the box" is a defined tactic rather than just players running out of ideas / not having options in front of the attacking players - then a new midfielder is unlikely to help in the short term.  But I do think that it shows that a relatively small change in the way we set-up the team could have a dramatic impact on our effectiveness across the pitch.

I maintain my view that another midfield signing really could make a huge difference.  The question remains whether it is the only thing required.  That is starting to look doubtful.  However, it gives me grounds for optimism that if we do sack Gerrard then a new manager could realise a significant improvement with minimal changes to personnel or "approach".

Of course we are all guilty of reading into things what we want to believe - so I'm interested to see whether others have a very different perspective after reading the article.

No bias at all from you here mate. I see and read exactly the same. It is a very, very concerning analysis……but precisely provides the narrative on what we all saw. 

I cannot work out why the consistent focus on playing long balls. I cannot work out why the persistence with 2 x attacking 8s who also cover our FBs and so will constantly vacate the CM zone leaving BK on his own and our midfield so so easy to play through especially when we play better teams. 
 

None of it makes basic footballing sense and smacks to me of a manager stubbornly refusing to adapt even when the evidence of a system/tactical failure is staring him in the face. Is it arrogance? Is it naivety? Whatever it is, he HAS to change things quickly and accept his original blueprint for a SG premier league team has failed. 
 

If he doesn’t change very quickly then there is only one outcome…..another season lingering closer to the bottom 6, no where near the fantasy of top 8 and ultimately a new Villa manager by November. 

55 minutes ago, allani said:

This is exactly the point I have been making for probably the best part of 6 months now.  McGinn and Luiz are decent / good players but I just don't think they function as a pair.  Their good points don't combine well and their weaknesses don't cancel each other out.  I honestly believe that not addressing the midfield is ultimately what cost Smith his job and I can't see how Gerrard can get us playing the way he wants us to with McGinn, Luiz, JJ or Sanson operating as 2 of the 4 midfielders.  If he doesn't recognise that then it will cost him his job as well.  And it will continue to cost managers their jobs until the issue is addressed.

If it first you don't succeed, try, try and try again but if you still aren't succeeding maybe you need to try something different. 

There are a good number of posters on here that 100% share your views on the midfield 2. This hasn’t been addressed for a couple of years now. 
 

What absolutely staggers me is that one if the best CMs in a generation can’t see this - I mean he paired JJ and JM on Sat FFS!! He says he’s looking to strengthen but hasn’t. How can he watch JJ and JM play as 8s together and genuinely believe that it works?? It hasn’t for bloody months. What does he see that a lot of us don’t? It is disgraceful that he has been here 10 months and still hasn’t sorted the area of the pitch that he so wonderfully controlled as a player. 

5 minutes ago, grobs said:

For those thinking he might get sacked in 10 games or so because dean did are crazy. The club didn’t just sign coutinho on obsurd wages for the manager to just him him off at the start of the season

So if we are bottom 6 by the WC...you genuinely don't believe that SG will be sacked? Beg to differ......