Steven Gerrard

[OutByEaster?]

5 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a minimum of 14 points, even potentially 18pts from those games (27pts on offer).

For me, anything over 15 points will be acceptable.

I worry for Gerrard a bit on this basis - more than fifteen points is essentially losing to Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City (possibly the three best club sides in the world today) and then winning at least five of the other six games and not losing any of them. If he does that he's an absolute genius.

I think if people are expecting us to get fifteen points from the those games, then Gerrard might find himself under unnecessary pressure by Christmas.

I think it also stresses just how important the game against Brighton is - if he wins it, it'll buy him some grace through the tough run between that one and Norwich.

 

[alreadyexists]

43 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here's the challenge. We know we've got a squad that has some gaps and players that haven't quite settled into a scheme, with some injury and sickness issues on top. Gerrard will have to work very hard on getting to the January window to fix the first of those problems and try to put some pattern into the side.

Our fixtures before Christmas are:

• Brighton (h)
• Crystal Palace (a)
• Man City (h)
• Leicester (h)
• Liverpool (a)
• Norwich (a)
• Burnley (h)
• Chelsea (h)
• Leeds (a)

Nine games and many of them very tough.

How many points from that would keep you happy?

I think we're going to need to be very patient here - it's not impossible that he might lose his first five.

 

Hmm… a tricky one. I’m going to say 11 points - 3 wins and 2 draws.

[KentVillan]

9 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a minimum of 14 points, even potentially 18pts from those games (27pts on offer).

For me, anything over 15 points will be acceptable.

I think as @romavillansays, this is very optimistic. Doable, but as a minimum expectation? That would need some serious issues resolving in record quick time.

[maqroll]

45 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here's the challenge. We know we've got a squad that has some gaps and players that haven't quite settled into a scheme, with some injury and sickness issues on top. Gerrard will have to work very hard on getting to the January window to fix the first of those problems and try to put some pattern into the side.

Our fixtures before Christmas are:

• Brighton (h)
• Crystal Palace (a)
• Man City (h)
• Leicester (h)
• Liverpool (a)
• Norwich (a)
• Burnley (h)
• Chelsea (h)
• Leeds (a)

Nine games and many of them very tough.

How many points from that would keep you happy?

I think we're going to need to be very patient here - it's not impossible that he might lose his first five.

 

I think we can get a result from Brighton and Leicester. 

[romavillan]

21 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So would I.

I reckon we'll get between eight and ten.

I think we need to limp through to January and fire up the chequebook.

 

Yep, we arguably need a GK, LB, RB and a number 6 pretty sharpish. 10 points from those games and getting some consistent performances out of them would be a great start.

[IrishVilla10]

43 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here's the challenge. We know we've got a squad that has some gaps and players that haven't quite settled into a scheme, with some injury and sickness issues on top. Gerrard will have to work very hard on getting to the January window to fix the first of those problems and try to put some pattern into the side.

Our fixtures before Christmas are:

• Brighton (h)
• Crystal Palace (a)
• Man City (h)
• Leicester (h)
• Liverpool (a)
• Norwich (a)
• Burnley (h)
• Chelsea (h)
• Leeds (a)

Nine games and many of them very tough.

How many points from that would keep you happy?

I think we're going to need to be very patient here - it's not impossible that he might lose his first five.

 

I think the first two are winnable. Players looking to impress, new manager bounce etc. We’re lucky the international break will give some time for the new coaches to have a proper look at some of the players. City no chance. Leicester haven’t had the best start to their season either, could manage a draw. Liverpool loss. Norwich Burnley both winnable games. Chelsea loss and Leeds draw. I think we could come away with 9 or 10 points there.  I think we’ll win one of Brighton and palace, and by the time we play Norwich and Burnley the team should be more settled into whatever the coaches are asking of them

[romavillan]

6 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

I worry for Gerrard a bit on this basis - more than fifteen points is essentially losing to Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City (possibly the three best club sides in the world today) and then winning at least five of the other six games and not losing any of them. If he does that he's an absolute genius.

I think if people are expecting us to get fifteen points from the those games, then Gerrard might find himself under unnecessary pressure by Christmas.

I think it also stresses just how important the game against Brighton is - if he wins it, it'll buy him some grace through the tough run between that one and Norwich.

 

If that's the yardstick that most fans in the ground have we are up shit creek, if the Gerrard gamble fails we're in trouble. If the fans turn on him before Xmas then it's really not going to help...

[The Fun Factory]

1 minute ago, romavillan said:

If that's the yardstick that most fans in the ground have we are up shit creek, if the Gerrard gamble fails we're in trouble. If the fans turn on him before Xmas then it's really not going to help...

As long we are not in the relegation zone or very close to it by Christmas I think most people would be ok with that. If we are solid mid table come January with some reinforcements for a second half push that would be ok. Perhaps not what people wanted at the stat of the season but I think we need to lower expectations a bit this season with so much upheaval.   A cup run would be nice. We have barely won a FA Cup game since 2015.

[newhavenhibby]

I think over the last couple of weeks you have seen in the Premier League you cannot guarantee anything, with Burnley getting a point at Chelsea and Palace winning at Man City. From reading this thread, fans already have an expectation of how many points will be good, so SG certainly will have to hit the ground running, assess and sort the side very quickly. I'm sure he will have a good look at the squad up till xmas and then see if he will be given enough finance to strengthen the side in the areas he sees as weak.

[hippo]

17 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Apart from it being repeated over and over, how do we know/why do people think that Beale is 'the brains of the operation'?

Because he's one of Stevie's assistants. And Stevie played for Liverpool.

[IrishVilla10]

19 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a minimum of 14 points, even potentially 18pts from those games (27pts on offer).

For me, anything over 15 points will be acceptable.

I think that’s very unrealistic. 18 points from those games you would have to beat, Brighton, palace, Leicester, Burnley, Norwich and Leeds. Of course you can get a result against anyone but we’re miles off Liverpool city and Chelsea. With the form we’ve been in and the terrible performances to expect that so soon is setting yourself up for disappointment 

[nick76]

36 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I decided I will reluctantly back him but I still feel this was a terrible managerial choice and sometimes the grass is not always greener

for me it was the “Smith Out” posters would often say it’s not their job to choose the next manager and while I get that, the consequences of doing that and not looking at where we go means the grass isn’t always greener.  We now have a massive risk which could go extremely well but also extremely bad.  Some will always say we were heading for extremely bad under Smith which I obviously don’t agree with.  

I’m trying to start to believe in what has happened in the last week, I’m struggling and I guess like somebody above, I’m just going to wait and see.  Gerrard will get my 100% support during games, I really hope he can do something special but I’m very nervous.

[OutByEaster?]

1 minute ago, The Fun Factory said:

As long we are not in the relegation zone or very close to it by Christmas I think most people would be ok with that.

I don't think we'll be in the relegation zone at Christmas, but I don't think we'll be too far away from it - the fixtures we have and the squad we have means that I think we'll be in the bottom five or six come January. That's why we'll need patience - this manager is going to need time.

 

[Tom13]

1 hour ago, OutByEaster? said:

And possibly not a bad thing - a manager under pressure relying on the players that he trusts to put in performances isn't necessarily the wrong way to go about things.

 

What about when they're not putting in performances and hindering like the team? Like McGinn does quite often?

[IrishVilla10]

21 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Apart from it being repeated over and over, how do we know/why do people think that Beale is 'the brains of the operation'?

Gerrard said something along the lines of it would take him 20 years to get to the level of knowledge or coaching of Beale. So he just lets him do his thing basically. 

[rubberman]

58 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

So here's the challenge. We know we've got a squad that has some gaps and players that haven't quite settled into a scheme, with some injury and sickness issues on top. Gerrard will have to work very hard on getting to the January window to fix the first of those problems and try to put some pattern into the side.

Our fixtures before Christmas are:

• Brighton (h)
• Crystal Palace (a)
• Man City (h)
• Leicester (h)
• Liverpool (a)
• Norwich (a)
• Burnley (h)
• Chelsea (h)
• Leeds (a)

Nine games and many of them very tough.

How many points from that would keep you happy?

I think we're going to need to be very patient here - it's not impossible that he might lose his first five.

 

Minimum 9 - have to be picking up a point a game, and if we can't do Brighton, Burnley and Norwich then we really are deep in the do-do.

11/12 would be par I reckon.

14+ and I'd be very happy with the way things were going.

[nick76]

25 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

I don't think it's too unrealistic to expect a minimum of 14 points, even potentially 18pts from those games (27pts on offer).

For me, anything over 15 points will be acceptable.

You do have a high opinion of Gerrard’s magic even so quickly!

[PaulC]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

for me it was the “Smith Out” posters would often say it’s not their job to choose the next manager and while I get that, the consequences of doing that and not looking at where we go means the grass isn’t always greener.  We now have a massive risk which could go extremely well but also extremely bad.  Some will always say we were heading for extremely bad under Smith which I obviously don’t agree with.  

I’m trying to start to believe in what has happened in the last week, I’m struggling and I guess like somebody above, I’m just going to wait and see.  Gerrard will get my 100% support during games, I really hope he can do something special but I’m very nervous.

Surely Nick it cant be any worse that what it was. Theres going to be some improvement!

[IrishVilla10]

1 minute ago, Tom13 said:

What about when they're not putting in performances and hindering like the team? Like McGinn does quite often?

It’s not for lack of trying. Let’s see how McGinn gets on under this new team. They’ll obviously be aware of his qualities for Scotland so I hope they use him similarly. 

[GazRFC]

2 hours ago, Jas10 said:

Would you be confident of him making our midfielders comfortable on the ball, improve our passing game and ball retention? Composure in possession?

Were they creating chances with relative ease, in play. Incisive passes, through balls?

Did he ever resort to hoofball and did the quality of football ever deteriorate much? How did he manage any slumps in form or poor runs (can’t imagine there were many, and short lived if they were. Due to quality of opposition)?

He certainly seems to have done well in Europe, that’s encouraging. Especially because the standard of opposition in the PL is going to be a huge challenge.

I just can’t get away from the fact that he never won a cup competition there and only has 1 league title to show for it… despite the impressive achievement of halting Celtic’s dominance…

 

Never once have we played hoofball mate. The reason his old firm record is so good is that he ensures the midfield battle is won consistently so yes I can 100% see you him improving the midfield