Steven Gerrard

[BOF]

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

[Woody1000]

1 minute ago, BOF said:

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

I would say that Brighton is also understandable as they usually have a lot of the ball in most matches, if we are still averaging less than 40% possession in 3 months time then it will be a cause for a little concern.

[Delphinho123]

3 minutes ago, BOF said:

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

Something I've been trying to convey to several people over the last few days. Those percentages aren't sustainable if we actually want to improve. I agree that it's fine giving the opposition the ball to knock around at the back aimlessly, that's absolutely fine, but against Palace, it was attack versus defence for large portions of the game and that isn't us 'controlling' the game. 

As a team, we aren't good enough in possession, it's our biggest downfall and that isn't Gerrards fault. The players aren't good enough in that regard. We will get better at it and I know it's an unpopular opinion at the moment, but the first step in getting more of the ball is replacing Nakamba with Luiz at the base of the three. Nakamba is great at what he does but it's almost an admission that you're not going to have a lot of the ball from the start. We need to control games more and Luiz is one of our only players who doesn't s*** himself in difficult situations. 

What Gerrard has done is fantastic. He has come in and instantly made us harder to beat using a narrower front three and not allowing teams to cut right through the middle of us. You have to applaud that and it's resulted in us gaining 6 points which we wouldn't have got under Smith. The next step now is to start controlling games more and dictating the tempo more.

[Philosopher]

2 minutes ago, BOF said:

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

I'd say the Brighton percentage is also understandable. They are a possession based outfit. Palace are also heading that way. I also think with Nakamba and Mcginn in midfield your not going to be able to dominate possession against any side half decent on the ball.

Gerrard knows this and has set us up to be a counter attacking team. This suit us and him at the minute, as he has been preoccupied with team shape and defensive strength.  And the players we have and the style employed before Gerrard took over lean more to that style.

[BOF]

13 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Something I've been trying to convey to several people over the last few days. Those percentages aren't sustainable if we actually want to improve. I agree that it's fine giving the opposition the ball to knock around at the back aimlessly, that's absolutely fine, but against Palace, it was attack versus defence for large portions of the game and that isn't us 'controlling' the game. 

As a team, we aren't good enough in possession, it's our biggest downfall and that isn't Gerrards fault. The players aren't good enough in that regard. We will get better at it and I know it's an unpopular opinion at the moment, but the first step in getting more of the ball is replacing Nakamba with Luiz at the base of the three. Nakamba is great at what he does but it's almost an admission that you're not going to have a lot of the ball from the start. We need to control games more and Luiz is one of our only players who doesn't s*** himself in difficult situations. 

What Gerrard has done is fantastic. He has come in and instantly made us harder to beat using a narrower front three and not allowing teams to cut right through the middle of us. You have to applaud that and it's resulted in us gaining 6 points which we wouldn't have got under Smith. The next step now is to start controlling games more and dictating the tempo more.

I think as Woody and Philosopher have pointed out, the opposition have to be take into account to some degree. And yes, the fact Gerrard is only in the door too. I expect we will get better. I only mentioned it as a statistical curiosity. Although I doubt the stats will get much, if any better against Leicester and Liverpool next, and then we have ... Dean Smith up after that, where yes I expect a lot more of the ball.

[Mantis]

I'm not worried about the possession stats so far. 3 games is a very small sample size and you have to take into account the context too. Brighton are very adept with the ball and that was also Gerrard's first game, so confidence was quite low as we were coming off the back of 5 straight defeats. In the Palace game we scored very early which meant we were happy to let them have the ball and try and hit them on the counter, and City is City.

It's pretty clear that Gerrard wants us to eventually be a possession based team - we're already trying to play it out from the back a lot more. I think he's just being pragmatic while he integrates this new system.

[AntrimBlack]

Don't know what anyone else thinks, but I thought that was an unusually interesting post match interview.

[mjmooney]

4 hours ago, QldVilla said:

I can’t remember looking forward to our next game since Gregory.

Deano's ten straight wins did nothing for you, then? 

[Jbvilla909]

Continues to impress

[KentVillan]

2 hours ago, BOF said:

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

I think when we do get possession, though, we look much more progressive with the ball. You can see they've been training the transitions, and looking to cut through teams quickly when there's a turnover.

My other strong feeling is that all of Gerrard's success has come since Ings got benched in the first game. Great player, but square peg in a round hole... and look how much better Watkins has been since he could play through the middle. Everything just looks so much more balanced now.

[PussEKatt]

2 hours ago, BOF said:

Just an observation and a curiosity, and probably not indicative of his normal style, but Gerrard's 3 league games for us this season have each been our lowest ball possession percentages.  Using Sky's possession stats they've been, in game order 37%, 36.7% and last night 36%, although the latter is understandable given the opposition.

Dont forget that with that low amount of possession we have scored 5 goals and conceeded only 2 .That statistic needs to be taken into account as well but I also agree with the other posts that our possession,our game etc etc will get better as SG has more time with the squad.

[Woody1000]

14 minutes ago, PussEKatt said:

Dont forget that with that low amount of possession we have scored 5 goals and conceeded only 2 .That statistic needs to be taken into account as well but I also agree with the other posts that our possession,our game etc etc will get better as SG has more time with the squad.

We’ve conceded 3, but your point still stands.

In fairness I don’t think BOF was using it to dig out SG, just an interesting observation.

Im pleased with how we are improving the usefulness of the possession we do have, as impressive as it looks to be having 65% possession most weeks, when you look at the Brighton game a couple of weeks ago they didn’t really do much with their ‘dominance’.

[HKP90]

1 hour ago, AntrimBlack said:

Don't know what anyone else thinks, but I thought that was an unusually interesting post match interview.

Indeed. One of the most interesting things for me was that he looked so much more confident and assertive in the interview. It is even more clear to me now how nervous he was just after his appointment. He seems to have settled down now, and he talked a lot of sense I thought. Especially liked how he dealt with Chuk's horror miss. With all this talk of strictness and abstinence I thought it was good how SG cut him some slack and mentioned how he believed in his ability. It would have been exactly what I would have wanted to hear if I had missed that chance to put us level.   

[Chindie]

In fairness or most successful top flight experience in recent memory, under O'Neill, saw us also have terrible possession stats more often than not IIRC. It's not a long term plan, but short term it might pull a few extra wins from a squad that maybe just can't do the possession game that well.

[IrishVilla10]

 

[The Fun Factory]

48 minutes ago, Chindie said:

In fairness or most successful top flight experience in recent memory, under O'Neill, saw us also have terrible possession stats more often than not IIRC. It's not a long term plan, but short term it might pull a few extra wins from a squad that maybe just can't do the possession game that well.

And usually when we have had a lot of the ball, we have had no idea how to use it.

Different topic but what is that Villa badge Gerrard is wearing on his jacket?

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, IrishVilla10 said:

 

Imagine when he gets a full pre season

[hippo]

4 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Something I've been trying to convey to several people over the last few days. Those percentages aren't sustainable if we actually want to improve. I agree that it's fine giving the opposition the ball to knock around at the back aimlessly, that's absolutely fine, but against Palace, it was attack versus defence for large portions of the game and that isn't us 'controlling' the game. 

As a team, we aren't good enough in possession, it's our biggest downfall and that isn't Gerrards fault. The players aren't good enough in that regard. We will get better at it and I know it's an unpopular opinion at the moment, but the first step in getting more of the ball is replacing Nakamba with Luiz at the base of the three. Nakamba is great at what he does but it's almost an admission that you're not going to have a lot of the ball from the start. We need to control games more and Luiz is one of our only players who doesn't s*** himself in difficult situations. 

What Gerrard has done is fantastic. He has come in and instantly made us harder to beat using a narrower front three and not allowing teams to cut right through the middle of us. You have to applaud that and it's resulted in us gaining 6 points which we wouldn't have got under Smith. The next step now is to start controlling games more and dictating the tempo more.

I've noticed that often your possession stats rocket when you are behind - makes sense as you chase the game.

Ok last night we went behind - but it was against a super elite team. Personally I'm surprised how high our possession stats were last night. Our best chances came from Breaks at pace - whilst city played all the possession stats.

It grieves me to say it - but sterling was God like especially in the first half.

[Delphinho123]

21 minutes ago, hippo said:

I've noticed that often your possession stats rocket when you are behind - makes sense as you chase the game.

Ok last night we went behind - but it was against a super elite team. Personally I'm surprised how high our possession stats were last night. Our best chances came from Breaks at pace - whilst city played all the possession stats.

It grieves me to say it - but sterling was God like especially in the first half.

Him and Mahrez were superb all game. As was Bernardo Silva.

Just makes you realise just how good they are and how far away we are from them. Grealish may well be the best player to ever play for our club and nearly everything good we did as a team went through him. They have about 5 versions of him....and Grealish. Mahrez, De Bruyne, Sterling, Foden, Silva, Jesus - These are all phenomenal players. 

[KentVillan]

Possession does matter, but the possession % stat is very misleading.

What matters is a combination of:

• Possession
• Territory (in your own defensive 3rd, middle 3rd or final 3rd?)
• How many opposition players are behind the ball

The reason teams target the transitions is that final point. If you win the ball and then move it quickly up the pitch, you catch the other team before they can get men behind the ball. That kind of possession is worth so much more than when you slowly advance it up the pitch with 10 defenders lined up in front of you.

That's why you need CBs and CMs who can pick out passes through the lines. Every time you play the ball through the lines, you've suddenly taken 3 or 4 defenders out of the game.

What Gerrard has noticeably changed is that although we're conceding possession more easily, we're actually getting more men behind the ball (in a tighter shape) when we're out of possession, and when we do get possession, we're looking to drive up the pitch as quickly as possible. We're also trying to harass and counter press in numbers to win possession high up the pitch.

It's very similar to the Klopp philosophy, but obviously we don't have as much ability, and aren't executing it as well. But I think we actually have a very good squad for this style of play - lots of number 8s we can rotate, some hardworking wingers, and Watkins is perfect for this system.