DakotaVilla

6 hours ago, TheAuthority said:

Absolutely this. It was old school and Gabby thrived in that for 3 seasons. Then he stuck around and imbibed the club with that attitude because thats how he thought it should be. 

Garde tried to bin him off but ultimately the club was rotten from top to bottom and I'm convinced Gabby was a huge part of the dressing room poison that we heard about for years.

He was an utter disgrace. Far more guilty that Delph, Barry and others. 

We wouldn’t have stayed up without Trez. We’ve moved on but I’ll always have soft spot for him due to his work ethic and hope he has the best possible career after he leaves us. 

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

After 8 months surely the police would have cleared him if thats the case

They did a long time ago when  they released him without bail. 

For the millionth time.

The other bloke has had his bail extended. Again. Bissouma was released with no bail ages ago and so he will remain “under investigation” until the case is closed but it’s quite obvious there is no or very little evidence against him. 

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

I dont think he is as good a football negotiator as he is a business negotiator. In fairness its not what he is trained for but I think its a weakness of his, not to say he cant improve

I think the Ings deal we probably could have got cheaper, also Digne as he wasnt getting in the Everton team. Coutinho he did well but Barca were happy to get anything they could for him

 

Benitez was sacked 3 days after we signed Digne. If we’d have haggled for less he would not be here. Purslow should be commended for the predatory approach taken during a short window of opportunity to secure a huge upgrade on what we had before for a relatively minimal outlay for a French international. 

Good signing for Everton on a free for where they are. A good miss for us considering where we want to be. 

I’ll make a prediction that there won’t be a single genuine post next season wishing that targett was still here. I also predict that Newcastle fans will have a different view when they start seeing every opposing team focus on him as the weak link in their defence next season. 

He doesn’t fit into our system so it’s a hard no I think.

A much better use of resources for the future would be to get Carney extended. 

Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs should be streets ahead of anyone else.

Arsenal and Man Utd should also improve.

We should be aiming to compete with West Ham (hopefully they lose an important player), Leicester and maybe Newcastle depending on what business they do for 7th and hopefully one of the big clubs has a season to forget. 

The reality is very few managers are actually tactical geniuses. Most have a style and stick to it. 

I think it’s very refreshing that Gerrard is clearly so secure in himself that he’s happy to set a vision, surround himself with elite support and to empower them to step up and own different areas.

Thats exactly how you build a successful team outside of football. 

What a strange discussion regarding a player that cruelly had his career taken away from him through absolutely no fault of his own. 

7th and a good cup run would be huge progress and would set us up very nicely to  attract more elite players for the following season 

5 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Gerrard has inherited a lot of good signings from Smith, so a bit weird to talk about him "spending less".

Martinez, Cash, Konsa, Mings, Luiz, Buendia and possibly Ings + Watkins are all players you'd imagine featuring for a while in Gerrard's plans assuming nobody else comes in for them.

With the additions of Coutinho, Chambers, Carlos, Kamara, Digne (plus 1 or 2 more?) and with the talented youth generation of Ramsey, Chukwuemeka, etc coming of age, Gerrard will have a much stronger squad than Smith ever had, regardless of Grealish.

So the expectation next season should be a finish that reflects the relative strength of that squad.

Clearly we aren't going to finish above Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs. Arsenal and Man Utd are a bit less predictable, but even in a bad season for them the player quality usually shows through.

It's below that top 6 where Gerrard has now put together a squad where the players should be thinking they can realistically finish above West Ham, Leicester, Brighton, Wolves, etc. if they play to their potential.

I'd be delighted with a 7th place finish or better, meaning some form of European qualification. Fine with 8th or 9th. 10th or below and you start to wonder.

That’s a far more realistic and fair expectation with hopefully a good cup run thrown in for good measure.

Other comments about Gerrard spending lots is false. So far he’s spent 70m and that’s equivalent to what we spent on targett, traore, trezeguet, jota, ghazi, samatta, guilbert, Kalinic. 
 

4 hours ago, Zatman said:

Copa America winning goalkeeper, Europa League winning centre back, Champions League winning number 10, think the 4th most expensive player ever. 40 cap French full back and the hottest free agent in European football for a start

Damn why should we have expectations after this spend

Funnily enough the one person not to give Gerrard a free pass is Gerrard himself which makes his defenders look pretty bad

So. Just for avoidance of doubt and based on your logic. If Gerrard spends less money than smith he gets a lower points target than 55 in your ridiculous and crazy arbitrary world? Or will you still hold him to champions league qualification which is basically what 70 points is?

1 minute ago, macandally said:

Let’s be honest, jury is still out, he is being backed so expectations rightly will be higher next season.

I am intrigued to see whether he will continue with the same system with Critchley on board or whether he will change/tweak it.

Good managers get the best out of what they have, my biggest gripe from last year was his inability to massage his system to suit his squad.

You can’t squeeze a pearl out of a turd no matter how hard you try my friend. 
 

Gerrard is not here to achieve mid table. He  came to get Europe and beyond and he basically said the squad is not good enough and showed that to the owners very clearly. it’s obvious to me that’s why the owners are backing him. But we have to challenge this notion he’s spending excessively. There is not a single transfer so far that has not been value for money. 

Smith has spent far more than Gerrard so far re transfer fees so please quantify that statement. Gerrard has actually spent relatively little in capital outlay. 

Also, id be really interested in how you expect Gerrard to achieve more points than Tottenham considering they got less than 70 points last season despite the huge difference in spending over the last 5 years? 

For avoidance of doubt only the top 3 got more than 70 points last season. Ridiculous. 
 

So in one breath you’re saying 55 points is really hard and then saying 70 is easy because it’s Steven Gerrard? The man must have done something bad to you when you were kids. 

Just now, Zatman said:

55 points is a low bar. 

Whats the point of a conversation when suggest this guff

Considering Gerrard is being lauded by some for finishing 9th in a PPG table when hereally finished 14th.55 points in a real season is a low bar

Fine. Name your stake. I’ll bet you that Gerrard beats smiths points target this year. Shut up or put up. 

The CEO took a hunch on someone that he knows extremely well, someone who knows the league extremely well (unlike the other names mentioned) and has basically pretty much never failed at anything in his life. 
 

This manager has also brought in the highest calibre of players that quite frankly we’ve probably ever seen in the modern era … And he’s only just got started. 
 

Yes, it might go to shit but the upside is huge…and based on Gerrard’s career to date more likely to happen than not. 

It’s very likely that this is the most we’ll ever get for him and the upside of a loan is realistically very small. 
 

Quite frankly I’d be shocked if it’s anything other than a sale and it may be dragged out ala Mings to get the best possible deal. 

If we break the transfer fee it will definitely be for the striker or Maybe Phillips if we miss out on bissouma 

If the rumours of 175k a week are correct then that works out at 9.1 m per year so 45.5 over 5 years. Add signing on fee etc and let’s call it a cool 50m.

People are talking about Phillips going for 60m+ with wages on top. Kamara seems like an absolute steal considering the lack of initial capital outlay. 

Sell him and try and ship out Ghazi and Hause as a job lot. 15m for Davis or 20m for the lot with a 5m bonus if they stay up. 

I guess Norwich would be interested as well which would help to drive the fee up.