VillaFaninLondon

Buendia's been hit and miss under Gerrard but did show some promising signs before he was benched. Bailey hasn't done anything of note since September/October but we all know there is a player in there somewhere. I actually wouldn't be opposed to trying out Bailey and Buendia either side of Coutinho with a double pivot of Nakamba + Luiz/McGinn/Ramsey but he'd definitely have to rein in the FBs attacking if he was going to make that work.

I want all Villa managers to succeed too, there is no agenda against Gerrard, but I don't think the antipathy towards him is misplaced. We should be getting better under his stewardship not worse - yes most of these are not his players but managers at other clubs who have gone in this season do not seem to be having the same issues. I am intrigued to see what happens over the last 7 games. We can pretty much write off Liverpool and City, but the other 5 games are winnable. Leicester is the hardest of them but I will be absolutely livid if we roll over and give away more poor goals. I want to see something change either in the formation/personnel or tactically (or both) that makes us both more defensively sound and consequently harder to beat, whilst freeing up our attack. If it means playing in a way that was similar to when he first took charge so be it. If I see no evidence that he can adapt to get better results in these last few games then I really don't see the point in giving him a massive sum of money in the summer and would rather we look for someone new to give those funds to.

To answer some points: If not bad then average at best, Newcastle were rock bottom with Norwich for half the season and it's a scandal they're above us, Palace bought half a new team last summer, Brentford got promoted through the playoffs. If we finish below any of them this season something has gone horribly wrong Newcastle's team that beat Leicester yesterday on paper was barely better than anything Bruce had - Wood in for Wilson (injured) is a downgrade, Targett has improved them but was our backup LB and not performing when he did play, Burn was Brighton's third best CB. Only Guimaraes has vastly improved the quality of their team. Tripper made a huge difference when he came in but he's been out for months Of course you'll deserve to lose a game if you gift the opposition goals, like we seem to do every week, we're the most generous team in the league when giving soft goals away, but our XG was higher than Spurs and the scoreline was ridiculous Managers who lose every week or every other week will be under fire, it's part and parcel of a football manager, the one thing I was expecting Gerrard to do was make us harder to beat than under Smith, that clearly hasn't happened as he's lost 11 of the 21 games he's managed You mention Ancelotti - Everton were miles better last season than this, in contention for Europe and even top 4 until the last few weeks of last season, so not sure what your argument is - he was a top manager and both Rafa and Lampard have been huge downgrades I know you're desperate for Gerrard to succeed, but we have to think very carefully about giving him unconditional backing regardless of results and performances. He's performed no better than our last manager and many of us at that time knew something needed to change. Of course we can't just keep changing manager every 6 months but that's why we should have gone all out for a proven one at the time instead of taking a massive punt on Gerrard.

In fairness I did mention that the form of 2021 was a key factor too. Would he have lost his job if we'd lost 5 in a row but our form in the calendar year had been good and consistent? I'm not sure, maybe not, but I think 5 defeats in a row looks bad on any manager's CV especially for a team that says it wants to be knocking on the door of the top 7.

Tried to avoid all things Villa the last 2 weeks, now realise why I did, everything still very negative and the Spurs result was embarrassing even though we never in a million years deserved to lose 4-0 (if at all). Any more defeats like that though and Gerrard's popularity will continue to wane like it has the past 3 months. I feel of the last 7 games this season if Gerrard doesn’t win at least 3 of them against the likes of Norwich, Burnley and Palace then we should be looking for a new manager come the summer. I really think any more poor results and confidence will start to be lost in him because we haven’t progressed at all under him in nearly 6 months. When Smith left we were 15th and largely considered to be underperforming, Gerrard has been here nearly 6 months and we are…..15th. We sacked Smith because the owners/Purslow didn’t like losing 5 games in a row, having teams put 4 past us on our own patch, averaging a point a game in the calendar year….but that’s exactly what we’re doing under Gerrard too in 2022. Take away those 12 points from his opening 6 games (when I genuinely believe those results were a consequence of a new manager bounce and managers having not figured his style out yet), we’ve taken 14 points from 14 games in 2022 as well as losing a cup game. I’m sorry but that is no better than Smith and unless we’re employing double standards then I don’t understand why we would show any more patience to Gerrard. I say this with no exaggeration, this season feels almost as disappointing as the one where we went down. Of course not as humiliating, but to counter that we had poor ownership, the club as a whole was rotten, and generally a poor squad that season (even though our summer 2015 dealings were in hindsight actually quite good given the vast majority of those signings have gone on to have very good careers). Despite losing Grealish last summer, and even despite not signing a CM which we really should have done, I did not expect us to be anywhere near as bad as we have been this season. An optimist would have said 7th or 8th at the start of the season, a pessimist 11th or 12th, but I don’t think anyone would think we’d be 15th and below some pretty bad teams (Brentford, Palace, Brighton, Newcastle). I also can’t believe Wolves are so far ahead of us, it’s embarrassing, we finished 10 points ahead of them last season and their owners pulled back on investing 2 years ago. So is it the players or the manager? Well I definitely think our players are mentally weak and absolutely spineless, but I don’t think Gerrard’s management is helping them. I don’t think anyone has performed better than they were under Smith since Gerrard came in with the possible exception of Ramsey and maybe Cash going forward. This squad is not a 15th placed squad at all, it should be several places higher, and in terms of underachievement this season only Everton could say they have performed worse than us compared to what was expected of them. And Everton are an absolute shambles. I haven’t watched the last 3 games but I’ll reluctantly tune in at the weekend against Leicester. Gerrard needs to get at least a point and stop this horrible rot or surely they will have to start questioning if they made a mistake appointing him. He was always a risky appointment, we appointed a rookie with no experience of top-level football except in a league that is no better than League 1, we should have gone all out to bring a high-profile manager in and then maybe this season would not have been such a sh*t show.

So Palace beating Arsenal comfortably with Jordan Ayew and Mateta in their starting lineup while we barely laid a glove on them. God I hate football these days.

Everyone blaming the players and not Gerrard need only look at what Conte has done at Spurs. Players like Davies, Doherty, Sessegnon and Dier who the fans wanted sold before Conte arrived because they weren't contributing anything are now playing well and regulars in the team because Conte is an actual coach and can make average players greater than what they are. Of course if we lose again (which would be 4 straight defeats in a row and the sort of form that sort Smith sacked) people will once again say the players aren't good enough and Gerrard's hands are tied. It's a difficult game regardless but I just want to see some kind of plan executed to try to win the game. Sit deep and counter quickly and be ruthless with our finishing is the only way I can see us winning but Gerrard will most likely try to play football again with really slow buildup play and the same narrow formation which will be our downfall. We definitely can't allow them to press and counter because they are masters at it and we really don't want Son or Kane running into space in the final third. It will certainly help if our players don't gift Tottenham any cheap goals like they tend to do most weeks to most teams in this league. The Wolves performance and result worried me and another defeat here will be even more painful. Just don't look forward to any games these days.

Bissouma won't be going for 35-40m he only has one year left on his contract.

I'm sorry but this bit is just plain wrong. The wingers are not all the same - Bailey is quick and direct, Buendia is a hard worker who likes to get on the ball and play it in behind, Coutinho is a magician with a great shot on him, Traore is an unpredictable maverick. They all have different attributes, it's just that most of the time 3 out of the 4 are on the bench because Gerrard doesn't want or know how to use them together so he just relies on having Coutinho there on his own to make something happen. I agree on the CM but that's where his lack of flexibility comes in - 90% of the time he plays that 4-3-2-1 formation with no width whatsoever apart from the FBs and you simply cannot play that system with our midfield as it won't work. When he's played 4-1-2-1-2 we have had better results but again we have very little width using that formation either apart from the FBs. Let's look at who has performed since Gerrard has come in based on their previous season's performances or their performances at international level - only Cash and Ramsey have really performed above what we expected since he came in and most of them have underperformed (they were under Smith too but that's why he was sacked) - Buendia still hasn't really delivered on a consistent basis, Bailey is still in the doldrums, Ings hasn't hit his Southampton form, Watkins has been nowhere near last season, McGinn, Luiz, Mings, Konsa, even Martinez all below what they were last season since Gerrard came in. Anyway what you seem to be saying is it doesn't matter what the results are for the rest of the season, these aren't his players, doesn't matter if we slip further down the table and keep losing each week because Gerrard can't do anything about it apparently. With that philosophy makes you wonder why we even have a manager in the first place then.

I agree about the lack of balance and no ball winner in midfield but also think you're letting Gerrard off the hook too easily. He plays the same way each week with the FBs expected to provide the width and leaving the CMs exposed and players like McGinn and Ramsey having to cover the FBs when it is clear they are not strong at this. He could change his formation and shape but chooses not to. We have very good wide players like Bailey who was being asked to play the no 10 role yesterday because Gerrard stubbornly wants to play the same formation he played in Scotland every game. Also, he decided to bring in Digne and Coutinho which were great signings on paper, but ignored bringing in a DM. January is obviously a tough time to buy but if we were so desperate for a player of this type he should have made it a priority in January, he didn't. In fact he said that he was very happy with what he had when the window slammed shut in January so this is all on him I'm afraid.

I really don't see what we have gained by bringing in Gerrard on his huge salary. When we sacked Smith we should have actually gone all out for a top manager like Ten Hag but instead Purslow took on a rookie just because he was a big-name player and decided to pay him an extortionate salary. It was pretty brainless if we're being honest like so many managerial appointments we have made over the years. Gerrard doesn't show any tactical flexibility, he stubbornly sticks to his formation of playing two no 10s despite it being ineffective after every gameweek. He tries to outplay teams above us in the league, when it would be more effective to play counter attack and use the pace of Bailey and Watkins. We did that under Smith and won 8 games against the top 10 last season. This season we have won 2 against the top 10 and Gerrard was only in charge for one of them. The one thing bringing in Gerrard did was allow us to bring in players like Coutinho and Digne, but fat lot of good that's done for us. Since they've signed we've lost more than we've won including to mediocre teams like Watford and Newcastle and teams like Wolves and West Ham who we should be looking to at least draw with if Gerrard wants to show he can take us where we want to go. We can give Gerrard more money to fix our issues this summer but I don't think he's good enough to take us into Europe. I may be wrong, but even if he does manage it it will be at huge expense to the club if we're going to go out and spend 60m on players like Phillips. We've already invested an awful lot of the owners' money into the squad with nothing to show for it. People are still saying we have no right to be competing with teams like Wolves, well this is net spend over the last 10 years: https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12535322/transfers-man-utd-top-man-city-psg-barcelona-and-arsenal-for-net-spend-over-decade This includes several years of us spending no money whatsoever under Lerner and then a few years in the Champ where apart from the first summer we weren't allowed to spend any money. We've still massively outspend Wolves in that period, as well as a higher net spend than Tottenham, Leicester, West Ham and even Chelsea and Liverpool. Yet all of those teams have a lot more to show for it, we haven't even finished in the top 10 in the last 10 years whereas Leicester, Liverpool and Chelsea have all won the league and Spurs, Wolves and West Ham have played in Europe. Even bloody Palace and the Barcodes have finished in the top 10 in the last 10 years. I'm pretty sure Gerrard will be heavily backed in the summer but after every gameweek he just doesn't show enough for me. I think he's a cheque book manager who will spend a lot of money here and we may or may not finish in Europe. I am not sure it is a stable route to go down at all and we could heaven forbid end up like Everton who are in one almighty mess and there will be huge ramifications for them if they go down just like there were for us when we finished rock bottom in 2016.

Difference today was one team despite missing their 2 best players are well coached and can execute a game plan. The other is a collection of overhyped individuals who are poorly coached by a manager who cannot change tactics to suit each opponent. Pride of the Midlands my arse. We're an expensive, overhyped team with no clue or direction and that's why we've lost so many games. I really do worry we're going down the Everton route because we spend so much money and bring in big name players but constantly underperform on the pitch. When all you want is the season to end as soon as possible it sort of tells its own story.

Knew it was a seriously risky appointment when we gave him the job and it's looking more and more a poor decision after every passing week. Gerrard did absolutely nothing to deserve this job. Managing Rangers in a poor league with only one serious challenger is no barometer to success and even it was he still only won one trophy in three seasons despite spending more than any other Rangers manager in the last 20 years. We have a woeful track record of appointing managers and Gerrard looks like being another in a long line of failures. I really question our board if they give him a huge kitty in the summer because even though he might bring some high-profile players here I really don't think he has shown anywhere near enough tactical awareness as a manager to justify being heavily backed. What an absolutely pointless and rubbish season, can't end soon enough.

Definitely more than Wolves. But people keep telling me we have no right to be beating them or finishing above them. Some on here p*as me right off.

They finished 13th last season and 10 points behind us. Without neves and Jimenez. No he’s talking shit and making excuses.

Oh booger off.

Absolutely pathetic. This is what happens when you appoint a nobody manager offthe back of his playing career. Wolves have a worse team on paper but a better manager who knows how to get the best out of his players. Gerrard and Purslow please just f*** off.

Think we all feel like that following this club.

It appalling. I wanted Smith gone but I really don’t know what Gerrard brings other than the ability to attract big names.

I swear you and Gerrard have a thing going on.

Don’t really know what Gerrard does as a manager. Most weeks we look rubbish and on a rare occasion put in a good performance. It’s a joke. These players seem to always perform better with their national teams so it’s clearly a Villa problem and a coaching problem.

6 points from last 6 is pretty poor if you consider 4 of those 6 teams were in bottom half. Losses to Spam and Arse are understandable but losses to Palace and Leeds at home weren't great. Then again we've only won twice against teams currently in top half (Leicester and ManU) which compares unfavourably to last season when we won about 10 games against the top 10. If it ends a draw I'd be content for sure, though I think with your 2 best players missing I'd hope we could get all 3. Really depends which team turns up because we were absolutely woeful first half against Arsenal.

We're actually favourites to beat Wolves tomorrow despite them being 10 points ahead of us which tells us something. I suspect this is down to Jimenez and Neves being out and the recent form of Wolves which is very poor, although our good form was knocked back after 2 consecutive defeats. We need to be finishing at least 10th this season to show progress, even if our points tally regresses from last season which is likely. I can handle us finishing below Leicester to some extent but would be pretty p*ssed off if we finished below any of Brighton, Southampton, Palace or the Barcodes. I think our motivation for the rest of the season needs to be to try to catch Wolves as unlikely as that is and beating them tomorrow gives us a chance especially as we have a very winnable game in hand on them.

I think currently the following would be considered very likely or definites to go: Martinez (Argentina) Coutinho (Brazil) - if he stays beyond summer Mings (England) McGinn (Scotland) - if they beat Ukraine in June or Ukraine don't take part Cash (Poland) Digne (France) Then these are maybes and probably reliant on injuries and/or upsurge in form IMO: Watkins, Ramsey (England) Buendia (Argentina) Luiz (Brazil) So as many as 10 may go but I'm thinking it's more likely 7 or 8 (although that doesn't include anyone we may buy this summer, e.g. Phillips). Still a good number and for some very good sides, if England f up then anyone of France, Brazil or Argentina will be worth backing with the Villa players in the squad. Back on topic, really pleased for Cash. Been one of our better players this season when many have failed to turn up and shows it was worth switching from England to Poland given he's likely to be a starter for them, even if they do struggle to get out of their group.

Yeah I think he'll break Grealish's transfer given his age and how good he is already. His ceiling is ridiculously high, would start him at the World Cup alongside Rice. Think he'd fit at Plop but they don't tend to spend that sort of money on players, so he may end up at one of the super rich clubs but who knows.