BG_Villa_Fan

This is objectively wrong - everyone is being blamed - from the other coaches to Purslow and Lange. As they should. We don't know what Lange's and Purslow's exact roles and responsibilities are. This is why the criticism towards them is more vague. It still exists though, make no mistake. On the other hand, we know what Gerrard's exact responsibilities are and even blind men can see he's failing miserably. And not just that - he's causing long term damage while he's here - with every day on the job.

While you're not wrong, the club should never put themselves in such a position. All signings and outgoings should be done with the approval of the manager. If he's not in the position to do so then surely it's untenable. I'm afraid they will actually back him still and we'd lose some good players that could actually be used by a new, more competent, manager.

Dendnker. He'd be this year's Drinkwater. I refuse to believe we're that inept.

Guys don't pile up on the players. They're all fed up and incredibly short on confidence, just like we are. Yes Emi made mistakes tonight. I'm sure he'll own up to it, unlike a certain excuse for a manager.

We've been watching this for a while now.

Time for the mods to do what some bookies do and move his thread to other football already.

Sacking him now would be mercy. For us, for him and especially for the players. We shouldn't blame any of the lads even if they've been very poor. They all see what we see. Moreover, they must see all of the issues way clearer than we could and they know.

I remember when we went to Arsenal and played them off the park. Feels like it was a decade ago.

By now it's obvious that the team's 'management' is beyond personnel or formations. He could be given the Man City squad and he'll still be clueless about how to get them to play winning football. We have much deeper problems than quality of individuals and how narrow we're set up.

And this is only offensively. Now let's do defensively: --------------------------Martinez--------------------------- Cash-------------Konsa---------Mings--------Digne -McGinn----------------Kamara--------------Ramsey ------------------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------------- ---------Bailey------Watkins------Buendia---------- Don't see what could go wrong tbh.

Deano beating SHA per par. Love to see it.

Yeah my point was more about having the top signings early and almost everyone healthy for the whole pre-season, etc. In terms of the actual friendlies I only saw 2 and they were just as bad as it's been for a long time.

That Bournemouth game, after a good pre-season and a generally optimistic vibe, showed us everything we needed to know. Sure, it's odd, even fickle, to be so definitive after a single game but it was the amalgamation of everything we feared was wrong. It was enough, we've seen clueless and know how it looks. We know he won't be able to turn it around. I hate we sacked Deano for this. We even changed our whole transfers and wages policy and we'll just end up with the next bomb squad, only this time they'll be making much more than usually and will be that much more difficult to move.

I’m convinced it’s his narrow formation that is the main problem, or one of them anyway. He has the central midfielders covering for the wing backs all the time, which leaves the center of the field too open and allows teams to go through it effortlessly. Just watch a random game, say Totenham and Wolves, and observe how they cover the pitch so much better - no huge empty spaces anywhere, players always available for a pass, moving together, not just staying around while a few players who overload the side where the ball is like we do. We’re always a good long pass away from having opponents go1 on 1 or even 2 on 1 against our defence and non existing midfield. This puts everyone in an uncomfortable position and makes them look worse than they are. Of course defenders would make more mistakes when the central midfield is so open in front of them. Of course the wing backs will be left vulnerable when a midfielder doesn’t track back and so on. The whole system puts everyone in a position to fail and they do, naturally. I suppose he tries to play in a similar way that the Mane-Salah-Firmino Liverpool did but that team had so much more tactical nous it’s like we’re watching different sports. And all of the above only (slightly) covers the defensive issues. The offensive lack of creativity is not dissimilar - players not knowing where to be, not having enough space to take advantage, etc. Gerrard is trying to play a system that is quite difficult, that requires better players and most importantly - that is too tactically demanding for his abilities as a manager. It’s not inherently bad but it’s also inappropriate for our team in many ways and ultimately results in the team being worse than the sum of the parts. Our players are better than this but they’re constantly put in a position to fail. Realistically, we don’t have the ability to attract the kind of players, who are tactically and positionally good enough to play this way as a team. Take each individual of our players and they could probably fit on a team playing this way, but you need all 11 to do so at the same time and we’re a long way from getting there.

Would have been if we were finishing 6th. As it is we’re nowhere near.

Wait until Las Vegas Villans is created.

It's weird Gerrard is so dead set on sending Bertie away. He's exactly the type of maverick player who could come up with a moment of brilliance and win points that the manager's 'system' wouldn't otherwise be able to. Bruce, for all of his faults, realized this and would give freedom to offensive players like him for that exact reason. Anyway, wish him luck, perhaps next manager will give him a chance when he's back from his loan.

The wonders of having a manager with a clear idea of how they want to play against the particular opposition and players understanding basic playing patterns like channeling everything down the flanks and easily defending the countless useless crosses. Parker wiped the floor with Gerrard and won them 3 points, probably their easiest game of the season as well.

We had the right man for where we are, but we thought we were better than him and sacked him. Smith had a couple more years at the Villa and should have been replaced only by a significant upgrade, say a Poch or similar. It's bad karma what they did to him.

It's not a tactic - it's a formation, we're playing roughly similarly positioned players, only worse. Tactics are much more than this though - they're patterns of movement on and off the ball, players covering some space when another makes a run, players getting to a specific position when someone else gets somewhere, etc. etc. We do none of this, no one moves, everyone stands and waits expecting the ball to find them. Which has obviously resulted in a ton of useless crosses going nowhere. This isn't even the bare bones of a thought out tactical approach, it's simply the result of 11 players not knowing how to play together. This is why I don't think any changes in the first 11, formation or even bringing in more expensive players would change much.

No tactical nous, no shape or identity, 11 players on the pitch not knowing what to do and waiting for a moment of magic from someone, throwing players under the bus, sulking when the going gets tough, snapping at the media. Only fan criticism left to complete the Bruce bingo.

Which is the last Villa team you remember that regularly dominated the middle?

I’ve been a Villa fan for more than 25 years. In that time I don’t remember a Villa team able to control the midfield. Been countless of players and managers. I don’t expect Gerrard of all would be able to achieve this.

Survive the transfer deadline and he’ll outlast the manager who’s dropped him. Is what I expect must be on his mind.

It’s not about the players and it’s not about the formation either.