Steven Gerrard

[TRO]

8 hours ago, villalad21 said:

A loss is a loss. Doesn't matter how you try to dress it up. 

OK so we just went in the total opposite direction. 

Instead of going Gung ho we played super defensive and just invited them onto us. Looking at the game plan we were never gonna get anything from the game. If we did it'd be a daylight robbery. 20 shots against. Below 40 % possession. Only 70 % pass accuracy. We registered zero shots on target. 

That wasn't a good defensive performance. It was panicky, last ditch and chaotic. Not sustainable. 

Listen. The previous games has been good and encouraging. Today was disappointing, and it has to be OK to say that without people losing their shit over it. 

Still fully behind Gerrard so don't twist my words. It's just criticism of a performance, that is it. We move on.

If you want me to be micro critical, We don't have the the ball control and fluency of passing movement to go toe to toe with the top sides, our play can seem clumsy and untidy at times and yes a bit panicky.....but these things take time to implement....a few weeks is fanciful to fix, all those things.

I agree a loss is a loss, and yes it doesn't matter how you dress it up.....but we didn't want to get mullered in one game and set back the confidence for the whole season.

Personally, I'm glad this game is out of the way, and we can concentrate on the business of winning points away from the media circus, surrounding SG's Return to Anfield.

I just took the view that when a team like Liverpool is up for it, its not as easy as it looks to just stick to your own gameplan and ignore them....I think a bit of credit has to go to them for dominating the game....In that light, I think we did ok.....if losing can ever be ok.

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

If you want me to be micro critical, We don't have the the ball control and fluency of passing movement to go toe to toe with the top sides, our play can seem clumsy and untidy at times and yes a bit panicky.....but these things take time to implement....a few weeks is fanciful to fix, all those things.

I agree a loss is a loss, and yes it doesn't matter how you dress it up.....but we didn't want to get mullered in one game and set back the confidence for the whole season.

Personally, I'm glad this game is out of the way, and we can concentrate on the business of winning points away from the media circus, surrounding SG's Return to Anfield.

I just took the view that when a team like Liverpool is up for it, its not as easy as it looks to just stick to your own gameplan and ignore them....I think a bit of credit has to go to them for dominating the game....In that light, I think we did ok.....if losing can ever be ok.

West Ham went there and caused them tons of problems. And as good as they are, West Ham ain't no world beaters.

Gave them far too much respect in my view. Zero shots on target. Didn't lay a glove on them. 

Edited December 12, 2021 by villalad21

[DCJonah]

13 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Just noticed that we've had less possession in each of the last 5 games under Gerrard than we've had in any of the previous 11 games under Smith this season. It seems as if we have become even less concerned with holding possession under Gerrard.

 

I think that's a little concerning but he needed to do something to make us difficult to beat first and foremost. I feel we've done that and I would hope our possession stats are much better over the next two games.

[TRO]

10 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

West Ham went there and caused them tons of problems. And as good as they are, West Ham ain't no world beaters.

Gave them far too much respect in my view. Zero shots on target. Didn't lay a glove on them. 

West Ham are better than us right now....particularly centre midfield.

We beat Liverpool 7-2 too..so what?.....different times, different form, different venue.

We have to be aware of where we are, before we start opening up and letting teams play through us, because thats what they will do.

Our objective, is still points to be safe.....The better football is for later.

Edited December 12, 2021 by TRO

[Zatman]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

West Ham are better than us right now....particularly centre midfield.

We beat them 7-2 too..so what?.....different times, different form, different venue.

We have to be aware of where we are, before we start opening up and letting teams play through us, because thats what they will do.

Our objective, is still points to be safe.....The better football is for later.

For somebody that always goes on about high standards under the last manager you are easily giving this one a pass. Unsurprising 

[DaveAV1]

9 minutes ago, a m ole said:

Yeah we’re definitely conceding the ball in favour of keeping defensive shape, then trying to do more, faster with the ball. I think we’ll have to get used to ‘losing the ball’ relatively often when we’re playing against the good defensive teams, especially while we grow.

The last few words, “as we grow”, hit the nail on the head. The way we set up now, basically making us hard to beat, are, I think the first phase. As this becomes more part of what the players find almost natural, we can develop into a more possession based team.
 

It’ll take time but eventually we can become tough to beat and exciting to watch. Under SG Rangers used to dominate almost smother teams, I think that’s the aim for us in the future. 

[DaveAV1]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

For somebody that always goes on about high standards under the last manager you are easily giving this one a pass. Unsurprising 

You’re missing the point. Setting standards have to start somewhere. They’ve started at making us hard to beat. He can’t just start at a desire to play good football without a plan as to go to achieve that. Hard work first. 

Edited December 12, 2021 by DaveAV1

[briny_ear]

27 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I am not saying we should be going to Anfield and beating Liverpool but no shots on target is a bit poor. We had 5 in the same game last season 

FWIW Gerrard has brought solidity to the defence but I have to say I think the quality of football has been really poor so far, we are averaging 37% possession under him. While possession isnt that key of a stat but it is very important to have the ball 

1.8 points per match since he took over compared to just over 1 point per match in 2021 before he arrived suggests he is getting something right, even if possession has been a few percentage points lower.

Edited December 12, 2021 by briny_ear

[HKP90]

10 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I think that's a little concerning but he needed to do something to make us difficult to beat first and foremost. I feel we've done that and I would hope our possession stats are much better over the next two games.

I’m not concerned. If we win games I couldn’t give a toss at the moment. We have not got the players for tiki taka, or posession based football really. If anything that gives me more confidence in Gerrard as a manager, as it shows that in the short term has adapted to the players at his disposal at the expense of his preferred style.

If we’re still playing like that in a year then perhaps we can ask questions, but results did Smith in, and they would do SG in too. He knows this, and short term focus is on league position, as it should be.

[TRO]

25 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Just noticed that we've had less possession in each of the last 5 games under Gerrard than we've had in any of the previous 11 games under Smith this season. It seems as if we have become even less concerned with holding possession under Gerrard.

 

I think the sample size is a bit Small.....Brighton( not lost awaybefore us)-Crystal Palace( not lost at homebefore us) -Man City- Leicester- Liverpool......Not the easiest of fixtures to be be making wholesale changes.

SG has already said his long/medium term strategy is to become more possession based as a team.....so from that, I would suspect, this is just temporary to get points.

He may feel, it will take longer to get that going, so just sets us up to grab points in the short term.

I wouldn't glean too much from our style of play at present, its just designed to get points...its more pragmatic than cosmetic.

[HKP90]

20 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

West Ham went there and caused them tons of problems. And as good as they are, West Ham ain't no world beaters.

Gave them far too much respect in my view. Zero shots on target. Didn't lay a glove on them. 

West Ham are a really good side. Really good. I don’t know how you can compare us with them right now.

We play an open attacking style against the top 3 and we get either get thraped, or we get lucky not to be thraped.

We conceded possession against City, and they hammered us for 30 mins, but got nothing from our defence. It is a reasonable way to play against the top sides.

[sne]

The sample size is just as small for the negative stuff as it is for the positive stuff. Very early days yet and tons of work to be done.

Fwiw I think it's been a promising start while we still have issues to sort out. 

[VillaJay]

The possession stats for the last 5 games are probably a bit skewed when we've played 4 teams who are arguably the best possession based sides in the league.

If after the next 5 the numbers don't improve then it might be worth looking at, but of our 3 wins so far, none of them were smash and grab.

Yesterday's performance was the worst of the lot and we never looked like winning, however again the reality was that we were playing one of the best teams in world football.

[Zatman]

Just now, sne said:

The sample size is just as small for the negative stuff as it is for the positive stuff. Very early days yet and tons of work to be done.

Fwiw I think it's been a promising start while we still have issues to sort out. 

Has been a promising start. Hopefully the coaching team pick up what fans are seeing and work on it. Main thing is we beat the teams we are expecting to beat 

[Mic09]

I like this style of football. Tight, full back dependant, solid midfield. 

So what we have less possession. We also concede less and score more. 

It's what you do with the ball, and without the ball we look much better too. We stopped arguably the best team in the country from scoring in open play, that surely means something! 

[Rolta]

8 minutes ago, Mic09 said:

I like this style of football. Tight, full back dependant, solid midfield. 

So what we have less possession. We also concede less and score more. 

It's what you do with the ball, and without the ball we look much better too. We stopped arguably the best team in the country from scoring in open play, that surely means something! 

We look like we can create chances (except for yesterday). We could easily have drawn with City and got more goals against Leicester. We played some really nice football the likes of which has been rare this season. These are early days, but we are doing positive things with the ball (obvs less so yesterday) as well as looking more solid—as you say.

But because yesterday we had no shots and a few obvious posters have severe cases of recency bias, I'm sure a lot of that will go forgotten for a few days.

Edited December 12, 2021 by Rolta

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, HKP90 said:

West Ham are a really good side. Really good. I don’t know how you can compare us with them right now.

We play an open attacking style against the top 3 and we get either get thraped, or we get lucky not to be thraped.

We conceded possession against City, and they hammered us for 30 mins, but got nothing from our defence. It is a reasonable way to play against the top sides.

That's funny because many people on here said west ham would fall off this season and that they overachieved last season. 

[VillaChris]

Loving his interviews so far, already demanding 6 points from Norwich and Burnley.

Compare his approach so far to what Steve Bruce did here in terms of constantly downplaying expectations. Incredible Bruce was captain of title winning club when you look at his general mindset as a manager not just here but elsewhere.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

At least one thing we can say is.

The myth that certain folks just " Didn't like Deano " should be dead .

They are actually consistent with their discontent, regardless of who the Manager is, so fair play I guess.

[Tomaszk]

27 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

At least one thing we can say is.

The myth that certain folks just " Didn't like Deano " should be dead .

They are actually consistent with their discontent, regardless of who the Manager is, so fair play I guess.

Mmm, no, I'm comfortable still holding that opinion. 

Let's not worry about clear wind-ups at all though. Their opinions don't count.