hippo

2 minutes ago, AV82 said:

More of the same from Villa, completely ineffective at breaking a low block. Traore and Bailey both need hooking at HT and we need to use the second half to see if Plan B works.... instead we'll throw on 10 new players and look just as disjointed as we did in the first half I imagine.

Theres still 2 weeks left of the pre season.  

1 hour ago, tomsky_11 said:

I mean, we did. There was plenty said about how Gerrard set up at Rangers, which was likely what he'd implement here. There was literally even a coaching video of Beale breaking down various elements of his tactical preferences. Within the first 15 mins of the first game you could already see plenty of these elements put in place (granted we probably saw more on the defence side early on, but that's understandable, and I think Gerrard even said as much, that the number one priorty was defence.)

The attacking switch from 2 to 1 up front is a minor tweak in the wider set up. Fundamentally we're still looking to form a front 5 in attack in either scenario with the wing backs and attacking mid(s). Again plenty written about this set up across football in recent years.

I mean we literally did improve from the start of the season we'd had. 9th for points, 8th for goals conceded, 7th for goals scored (especially impressive given our much maligned on here strike force) since Gerrard arrived. Cash is probably the stand out in terms of individuals improving, but given how fundamental his role is in the system, I'd place a lot of weight on this. Ramsey put in some great performances and I'd argue we saw a vastly improved Buendia as well, even if in limited appearances. Both Ings and Watkins offensive output improved as well as the season went on. Hard to argue the January signings didn't raise the level of quality in the squad either.

The results were ok. 9th in form was fine for last season when results became less important than continuing to implement the style that Gerrard wanted, to ultimately find out who worked in it and who didn't, in preparation for this summer and the upcoming season.

And I'd argue ignoring the results you could absolutely the improvement in performances. There were very few games where we didn't look the better side for a reasonable portion. Arsenal at home is the only one I can think of where it never felt we were in it. Watford and Newcastle also felt disappointing perhaps given the opposition but tbf to Newcastle they were obviously on a high and managed that game very well, and even so we had plenty of chances in both that we should have done better with. Every other defeat or draw under Gerrard felt like the result could have easily gone another way.

Much has been made of the results against the top 7 being poor with just the one draw from 9 such games under Gerrard. But I can't remember the last time our performances have been as consistently good against the top teams, where we've looked on top for large spells or held our own for so long. All but two were swung by one goal. The two that weren't were Chelsea, which was lost because of individuals errors after we'd dominated the first half, and Spurs, where we really should've been clear by half time. The margins were tight enough that it wouldn't take a big improvement or a bit more luck for these kind of games to start swinging our way.

I think one of those signings is absolutely fundamental to the entire set up working more effectively. We've created plenty in the way of goal scoring opportunities and scored plenty of goals under Gerrard. On numerous occassions though (Spurs being a particularly stark example) we've been vunerable due to the lack of the right player in the '6' role throwing off both the midfield and the defence. Kamara from what I can tell seems almost perfectly suited to this role and fixing this issue, making us much more defensively solid, especially on the counter, as well as seeing better ball retention in midfield. Carlos, as well as looking like a big defensive improvement, also seems well suited to how we want to play in possession. Even a small improvement from 8th in goals conceded should see us looking to climb the table. Keep scoring at the rate we were under Gerrard last season as well and we are absolutely pushing at the top 7.

All about opinions.

But I'm obviously not seeing the same as yourself.

IMO Gerrard struggled to implement his favoured system. 

Hopefully with the addition of Critchley we have appealing style of play that players and supporters can buy into.

I think he should go on Love island

42 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

Wouldn't be surprised if they start moving away from physical season tickets and just have it on the Villa app. The commonwealth games has not sent tickets out- either you print at home or store them electronically.  Perhaps offer a £5-10 discount for not requesting a physical card in the future.

Feck no !!!

My heart sinks everytime someone says 

"You need to download the app" 

15 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

IMO they improved as a team last season. As did a number of key individuals. Felt to me more tactically clear and effective than late Smith had done and certain players got it and made great strides in the system.

Where it was less effective seemed to me for the most part much more down to certain individuals clearly unsuited to the roles they were asked to perform rather than major failings of the setup itself. IMO we've already fixed the biggest of these problem areas and we are clearly still looking for more players with this system in mind before the window closes.

Hmmmm 

We've only really signed 2 players who can expect to be first team regulars. Welcome though they are without increased team cohesion and play I think there impact may not be as great as some expect.

What's the UK time for this match ?

So we're all agreed on 7th then ?

Or could we possibly squeeze 6th ????

3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I think 7th to 11th will be a lottery of sorts, at the end of the season you'll probably be able to throw a hankie over the teams competing for those spots.

 

I used to work with a bloke called John Hankie 

4 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

7th would likely require us to finished above the likes of West Ham, Leicester, Wolves, Brighton, Newcastle, Palace. None of those are so far ahead of us that 7th should be "hilariously optimistic". Especially given Gerrard (with his tactical setup and all) had us tracking 9th in his time last season.

If 9th the baseline straight out of last season (which for me it is), and we already look to have fixed the biggest personnel issue holding back Gerrard's tactical setup last season, I don't see why 7th isn't achievable. Add to that we appear to have also improved with Carlos a back line that was 8th best in the league in terms of goals conceded under Gerrard. None of the other teams listed above appear to have improved as much yet this window.

It's been said elsewhere the squad is decent. The telling factor is how they perform as a team.

Certainly as a collection of footballers there is a lot of talent there.

5 minutes ago, tomsky_11 said:

So 9th under Gerrard then?

I said 10th myself. But yeah 9th is in that ballpark.

4 minutes ago, Dale said:

Anything below Top ten should see manager relieved of his duties. The huge expansion of the wage bill and improvement of personnel in key areas means that Top 8 is really minimum expectation. 

I think it will take something pretty drastic for the club to abandon project Stevie G.

Then of course there is bringing in someone to get better than 10th place.

10th or thereabouts is reasonable imo.

25 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

I could see Ings being sold this summer if we bring in another striker. There's no way he's here to be third choice at this stage in his career.

Who is going to pay the fee and salary of Ings ?

I think he will stay.

8 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Really? 

#irony

1 minute ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Kamara, Carlos, Digne settled and coutinho full pre seasoning 

I don't buy into pre season training making everything good. Not just at villa football in general. 

Sure teams may shuffle up or down a few minor placings - but overall I think we will pick up from where we left of last season.

Sure a couple of very useful looking additions - but other clubs will have done the same.

Can't we cut all this bllx' out and just let the editor bof the daily mail choose our next PM ?

3 minutes ago, Woody1000 said:

Why do you keep harping on about the 3 weeks in January, it’s not the same thing and you know it!

To do a 4-5 week preseason off the back of a decent holiday and a rest is a completely different proposition to having 3 weeks in January, midseason.

Well we will soon find out.

On 17/07/2022 at 19:48, Villatillidie95 said:

i''m not sure what happened last season, it appeared to me he had a crisis of confidence/loss of faith in his abilities, but before that season and add Charlton and Brentford he was quite good at passing for a defender. Expect him to start the season on the bench as Carlos will partner Mings and Chambers is probably better than him at this moment in time.

I don't think he was fully fit at times last season.

Hopefully we see the best of him next season.

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

5th?

Really?

 

A full pre season with the players mind. Those 4 weeks on training pitch will make us world beaters. So different from the 3 week break last winter.

3 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

We have to push on, the owners have spunked a good wad of cash for both Smith and now Gerrard and had faith in both.

I am hoping for anything from 5th to 9th as a great season.

I'm really not seeing why things should be radically different next season.

Aside from the Critchley factor which is an unknown.

6 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Well there you have it, we don't have to guess anymore.

The pressure is on themselves.

The good thing is that, hopefully, it's a rocket up the arse to let them know that standards can't drop throughout the season at any time.

Yeah a rocket up the arse should get us 7th.

26 minutes ago, ender4 said:

Yep, to finish 7th you normally need to win 19 games, so 50% of all games will be a win, and then some draws on top as well. 

(Only West Ham have managed 7th with only 16 wins in the last 10 years)

Yep - the point I was making was not many on VT think we will finish 7th

12 minutes ago, KMitch said:

TBH, this is the least excited I've been about the Villa since the Lerner days and I'm extremely apathetic with regards to the upcoming season.  I'm anticipating another boring mid-table finish with a lot of Jekkyl and Hyde performances.  I'm fully aware this is me being an ungrateful, entitled, armchair fan considering that we were on the brink of administration just a few short years ago and we just signed flippin' Coutinho in May, but I've never seen a team with this much star power on paper look so toothless and mentally weak.  I'm still hoping Gerrard can turn things around, but I'm not convinced. 

I think the fact that hardly anyone on here is predicting higher than 7th speaks volumes.

Points tally and league position aside - I just want to see some decent football - large parts of last season were so tepid.

Id be concerned if we don't beat Bournemouth - or at least avoid defeat. Under Stevie G we have thrived on these sort of fixtures. I know opening  day after promotion - but surely we have too much for Bournemouth.

If we finish 15th - Stevie G will only have had 1.75 seasons in the prem. It would seem like we appointed a rookie then gave him the boot just as was getting more experienced. . 

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

If he gets 15th next season he’s gone and rightly so.

As for who do we get in I’m sure there will be options then.  His coaching calibre is the big question anyway? If he gets 15th he’s not doing what he’s brought into do so there will be higher calibre.  If this teams is cohesive and clicks, there is no way they should be 15th

I disagree - I still think there is a reasonable chance he keeps his job.

But the real issue (and concern of mine) is that Purslow and co really need to up there game in recruiting managers