El Segundo

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

That display was Rancid....it was Pedestrian, it was laboured and it was of doltish proportions.

There is no sharpness, quick thinking, urgency, intensity or intelligence in this team......This team is beginning to scare me.

Ashley Young, aside, no one showed any signs of professionalism, that should be representative of our club.

I have to be honest here.....I never expected to see, some of the things, I am witnessing, from our Manager.

I don't know where we go from here......but this team right now, is getting worse, not better.

my fear, was gaining ground, the longer the game went on......I have been here before, in my Villa supporting life and it dosen't end well.

I have fought hard to resist change, but I genuinely don't know what to think anymore.....We are bereft of any semblance of hope.

 

We've been trying to tell you...

6 hours ago, Shomin Geki said:

Now Stevie G isn't an idiot

Nice summary but I think you were a lot closer with the crayons for brains analogy last time.

1 minute ago, Villa_Vids said:

Leeds have been stronger at Elland Road, that was my point.

Same. I want us to beat them too. Watkins' finishing was one of the reasons we didn't. Gerrard can't take the cop for players not doing their job when he has set up a system that requires them to be reliable and score. 

Bur he can and should take the blame for not taking Watkins off and giving Archer a chance.

9 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

Watford? 

Some clubs get it wrong time after time, but most eventually find  a manager who can improve them.  Do you think Watford would be any better off if they hadn't sacked any of the managers that were failing them?   I doubt it.

1 hour ago, Villa_Vids said:

We can't just sack our way to success. Not sustainable.

What a ridiculous statement.  That's pretty much what every successful club has done and will continue to do.  City sacked Mancini to get Pep in, and sacked Pellegrini before that and sacked Hughes before that.  Liverpool sacked Hodgson to get Klopp in.  West Ham sacked Pelegrini to get Moyes in,  Arsenal sacked Emery to get Arteta.  All improved with the new guys. If it hadn't, they would have sacked them until they found someone who could improve them.     

Saying a new manager might fail as a reason for sticking with Gerrard is ridiculous.

A new manager might fail, but he might succeed, especially if Purslow and co do their jobs properly.   Gerrard is an actual failure, with no sign of that changing.  There's little or no upside in persisting with him in case he suddenly finds some ability from somewhere after failing miserably to do so for a year.   

35 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Do you go to games? Perhaps if you don't like it you should give your ticket to someone who would be more grateful? Just a thought.

Other  have said returned season tickets are not selling - probably not easy to even give them away as who wants to go and watch  dour, boring and incompetent football being served up? 

I've had to learn jobs but I've never had the privilege of being gifted a very senior and important position,  paid 6 million a year for it , and being allowed to learn as I go along.  Because it would be nonsensical for any organisation to do that, especially in a results based business with hundreds of millions at stake.    Difficult to have empathy for someone in such a privileged position.

You can blame the players as much as you want but Gerrard has had two windows and supposedly unlimited backing to bring in players who should be able to play how he wants them to.  Then look at Watkins v Leeds.  They guy is a great athlete and works his sock off but his technique and touch are appalling, and he lacks composure.  Yet  even after wasting multiple chances, Gerrard left him on, with Archer getting splinters in his arse.  That's not Watkins' fault, it's not Archer's fault, that's purely on Gerrard not having the balls to give the kid a go when Leeds were there for the taking.  It's not Buendia's fault that a misfiring Coutinho always gets in ahead of him.  It's not Sanson's or Luiz' fault that Gerrard persists with McGinn and Ramsey even though it has been shown to be ineffective multiple times.  It's not Konsa's fault that he is expected to play or bring the ball out of defence when he quite obviously doesn't have the skills or confidence to do it, while Chambers can't get a game.    It's not the players' fault if Gerrard coaches them to play at a slow tempo, or to waste time in the first 15 minutes, or to try to keep possession for the sake of keeping possession, even if it means "progressing" from the edge of the opposition's box back to our keeper, as happened against Burnley last season.  It's not their fault we are bloody awful to watch as well as not getting results.  

If you think the squad is not good enough to achieve the stated aim of European places/top 7 then who's fault is that?   

Gerrard has had time, money and opportunities, yet results and performances are dreadful, fans are losing interest, our image in the media is awful,  and our younger players can't see a pathway into the first team. He's damaging the club on and off the pitch and the sooner he's gone, the sooner we can start to move in the right direction again..    

Everton managed to get Ancelotti when they were as much if not more of a basket case than us.  They had to throw a lot of money at him but he still signed up. But as with him, the danger if we did get someone like Poch or Tuchel is that if one of the bigger, richer CL teams comes calling they might be off like a shot.

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

That’s a shame but if you hate it that much it makes sense not to renew. Especially when there are thousands of fans that want a season ticket. 

Gerrard will soon have that season ticket waiting list whittled away to nothing if he carries on serving up the kind of shite we've been watching from his teams.  It's so bad I'm half-tempted to ask for a refund on mine.

The only time watching Villa has bored the pants off me over several games was under Bruce - until now.  Gerrard for me combines the stifling ultra caution of McLeish with the plodding,  tactics free approach of Bruce.  Not a great combination and the West Ham and Southampton games in particular were eye bleedingly bad.  Gerrard has much better quality available, so he has far less of an excuse for serving up some of the dullest football around.    

34 minutes ago, Ingram85 said:

When did Gary Neville grow a beard?

Sterling is great at getting into good positions but his control, composure, shooting and decision making have always been shite.

He got away with at City because he got so many chances.  The number of times he runs up blind alleys, and only gets  past a man because he bobbles it against the defender and then it falls for him is amazing.  Most of his shots seem to be mistimed scuffs or straight at the keeper. It drives me mad watching him.

11 minutes ago, Jareth said:

We've got Charles - but he has the potential to piss a lot of people off, and I can't see him being held in the same sort of high esteem as Liz was - they're poles apart when it comes to being the monarch. Whatever happened with the royal family, defenders of it could point to good old stable Liz, she who epitomised British spirit - Charles can't be the same sort of monarch, he's a serial shagger happy to accept suitcases of money off sheiks in exchange for honours (alledgedly). Whatever goodwill there is right now for him, will be quickly forgotten and then where is brand GB? We've run out of the old guard and the new lot are looking very shaky. 

I think you are falling into the same old trap of believing the public and media images.  The vast majority have no idea what either Liz or Charles were/are like as people.  The media in particular decide who is to be presented favourably and who is to be cast as the panto villain (and let's face it the monarchy is nothing more or less than a pantomime).  Look at how they have cast Megan Mharkle as the baddie, rather than asking if the Queen could have done more to address the racism and other abuse she and Harry claim to have experienced not only from the media but from within Royal circles as well.  Look at how they have mostly cast Diana as the wronged party and Charles as the baddie.  My ex-Brother-in-Law was a sailor on the Royal Yacht for a while and he told me some tales that don't quite fit the accepted narrative.   So Charles got a divorce,, like millions of other Britons and Commonwealth Citizens have done,  apparently so he could marry the woman he's always loved.  That makes him all the more human to me.  People claim to want a modern monarchy, more in touch with the people,  but then expect him to be judged by pointless rules that were in place nearly a hundred years ago that forced his Great Uncle to Abdicate.   Charles hasn't got a chance of being held in high esteem if the media decide he'll be their whipping boy. 

1 hour ago, imavillan said:

here we go...

did she pop round for some sugar when she'd run out, well no she didn't. did i meet her in the pub every Saturday for a game of pool, well, there's another no.

i've seen enough and read enough to see what i know.

 

 

Right yeah here we go - so as with most people giving her plaudits you appear to have  formed your opinion based on her public and media image.  And do you know for sure how much of that is  objective or truthful? Do you know if there's any horrible characteristics that have been carefully and rigorously suppressed?  I doubt it. If so how can you state  with such confidence that she was   "undoubtedly a fine fine woman" ?   I haven't the faintest idea what she was like as a person, and neither, it seems, do you.  

34 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

I’ve always been over patient with managers which goes against the grain nowadays . I’m far from happy with Gerrard but not ready to hound him out yet. 
 

Who do we replace him with ? 

It's hardly "hounding him out" if he's already had 34 games worth of "patience".   Who we replace him with isn't relevant to whether Gerrard's competent or not and anyway that's Purslow's job.  We could have said the same when sacking Smith, many did say the same about Bruce and then we got Smith.  Personally I'd have Smith back over Gerrard any day of the week, the results were no worse and the football 10 times better. 

16 minutes ago, Rugeley Villa said:

First game I’ve been to under Gerrard. Was like pulling teeth for the most part. We got the job done though against a side which were poor on the night but have showed a lot of resilience so far this season . I’m still in the Gerrard in camp at the moment . Imo the fans on here are turning against him quicker than usual because of the dislike of him from before joining the club . Give him more time. The home support haven’t gave up on him yet judged by the reactions last night .

You do know how many games he's had right?  30 odd games is not turning on him quicker than usual,  plenty of managers have been binned for far shorter periods of ineptitude. Reverting to his favoured midfield three last night after seeing how much better we looked with Luiz in the team against City smacks of him not being able to learn and adapt. If that's his approach, how is more time going to help? 

3 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Definition of a Pyrrhic victory is 

A Pyrrhic victory (/ˈpɪrɪk/ (listen) PIRR-ik) is a victory that inflicts such a devastating toll on the victor that it is tantamount to defeat. Such a victory negates any true sense of achievement or damages long-term progress.

So, kindly explain the devastating damage that was done to the team last night. 
 

Not sure all those talking of Pyrrhic victory have quite got the meaning right.

I'd say it's potentially a pyrrhic victory but it remains to be seen.  If it means Gerrard stays too long and takes us down - as some, including me,  fear he might -  that would be pretty devastating, and would clearly demonstrate damage to the long term progress of the club.  As for the rest of the definition, I certainly felt any sense of achievement last night was negated by the latest in a long-ish line of dreadful, boring , clueless performances that really do not offer much promise of an enjoyable or successful season ahead. 

In response to other posts, comparing our situation to pre-Wenger Arsenal, and Gerrard's to Ferguson's in the late 80s is ridiculous, unless you are happy with 90's style dinosaur football and happy to ignore the changes in the financial structure of the game since those days.   Ferguson's situation was a massive exception at a time when financial pressures were nowhere near what they are today, and unlikely to ever be repeated.  If we want to play like Arsenal in the late 80s and early 90s we may as well just get McLeish or Bruce back.  And just which top players is Gerrard going to get through the door by playing shite football and hovering around the lower reaches of the table? 

That old paradox where you always want your team to win but doing so unfortunately serves to extend the tenure of a Manager you'd rather see gone.   

The first twenty five minutes was dreadful by both teams - it looked they were trying for the first ever minus 2 all draw in history.   It was very like watching a Steve Bruce team, no pattern, no tempo, no intensity,  no sense of knowing what they were meant to be trying to do, and hardly any creativity.  

I like McGinn, but he isn't playing well and he  was like a runaway miniature sumo wrestler the first few minutes, just running around barging into people. 

On the plus side Coutinho looked a lot better, and Mings was immense.  Dendoncker was strange, played about 25 minutes and only saw him touch the ball once. I didn't realise how huge he is.

Looked to me as if the ref gave a foul against McGinn at the end for winning the ball with his head while colliding with a high boot?  Incredible.

At least it's a win - but somehow it didn't really feel like one.

Proof that he really isn't learning

2 minutes ago, NurembergVillan said:

Is she though?!

Good question - must be hard to fit a 12 foot tall green lizard creature into a box the size of a little old lady.

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

other than "still there"

And "Still dead"