Steven Gerrard

[chomer]

Amazing to think he has been the manager for over half our league wins this season...what an impact.

Edited December 15, 2021 by chomer

[PieFacE]

Incredibly impressive. 

[bannedfromHandV]

That first half was almost totally dominant, sure it was against poor opposition but still, we did to Norwich what City did to us a few weeks back. 

[AV82]

This bloke is top drawer.

[The_Steve]

19 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

 

The more he speaks the more I love him. 

[El Zen]

Couldn’t have asked for more from a new manager. This feels very right. 

Gerrard is clearly football smart, he seems to have a clear (and positive!) philosophy and he seems to command the respect required to make the players perform at the top of their games. We look like a much better team than we did when he took over. I don’t think it’s all down to new manager bounce and luck - we’re onto a good thing here. Hell, I find myself even not hating that Scouse accent of his. 

Edited December 14, 2021 by El Zen

[JPJCB]

The big difference is the discipline and everyone knowing their roles and what they need to do. We’ve become remarkably consistent under gerrard very quickly because there’s a very clear gameplan the players know each game

[DJ_Villain]

9 minutes ago, The_Steve said:

The more he speaks the more I love him. 

That last line:

"I wont settle for anything less than pushing this team up as far as we can"

What a guy...

[ciggiesnbeer]

18 minutes ago, chomer said:

Amazing to think he has been the manager over half our league wins this season...what an impact.

[messi11]

Best manager we've had since Dean Smith in my opinion 

[Keyblade]

4 hours ago, R.Bear said:

Remember the "give Smith more time" brigade? They seem to have disappeared 

Gerrard has won every game except narrow losses to two of the best sides in the world. He literally could not have done a better job so far.

Superb appointment and perfectly timed.

Yeah I wonder what could have transpired for this to happen. A great mystery.

[Keyblade]

My favourite part of the Gerrard era so far is how we are out of possession. We are a proper difficult team to break down and it's because he seems to put emphasis in our shape and movement when we don't have the ball. It was a real shortcoming of the Smith era. He seemed almost more focused on playing the perfect attacking football to get the ball in the net. It's why we often looked so easy to play through, even at our swashbuckling best.

[Spoony]

6 hours ago, tomav84 said:

yes many of us felt that the villa supporter who took us up, kept us up, and basically gave us our villa back had enough credit in the bank to stay on a bit longer. even more were sceptical as to whether gerrard was the right man to take over and was seen by many as no better than smith. go back a few dozen pages to when he was first linked. he was a largely unpopular appointment

the board rolled the dice, its worked out better than most could have possibly imagined and everyone concerned gets great credit

but there's no need to gloat like there was some small 'brigade' that thought smith should've stayed. a large number were rightly nervous about the appointment; but SG is doing a cracking job. long may it continue.

Came to post pretty much this but you said it so well yourself. 

[Villarocker]

I was talking with a guy I work with recently. His mate plays for Villa and he told my mate that Gerrard has been a breath of fresh air since coming into the club and the players are loving it. 

[sne]

Lots of positives so far along with the results.

I really like that we are hitting the passes with a bit more pace and that the movement without ball seems more focused and with more purpose. Both these things leads to players having more options when on the ball. No players standing on their heels watching, they are actively moving and looking for the ball.

Bit OTT perhaps but it's almost as big an improvement as we saw when Smith took over from Bruce in this regard. 

[Phil Silvers]

38 minutes ago, sne said:

Lots of positives so far along with the results.

I really like that we are hitting the passes with a bit more pace and that the movement without ball seems more focused and with more purpose. Both these things leads to players having more options when on the ball. No players standing on their heels watching, they are actively moving and looking for the ball.

Bit OTT perhaps but it's almost as big an improvement as we saw when Smith took over from Bruce in this regard. 

Had Dean worked on this he'd probably still be here. Such an obvious part of our play that he was unable to see. The new guys had picked up on it and improved it in no time,, the lads will only get better too.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Our ball retention and winning the second ball have improved massively. The crisp & fast passing we do now is really pleasing to see. We also seem a more physical team winning more individual duels.

The improvement is even more impressive given the injury crisis Gerrard has had to manage.

 

Edited December 15, 2021 by ciggiesnbeer

[MWARLEY2]

There is a genuine link between what we watch in the training sessions that pravda put up and what we are watching in games. The short quick passing and movement is there to see. 

[Jareth]

We should have won that - and we did - usually we come away regretting the draw or losing to a soft goal, it feels different now at Villa and that is due to SG. Even went for a wee on 65 mins and didn't worry we would concede.

[MentalM]

18 minutes ago, Jareth said:

We should have won that - and we did - usually we come away regretting the draw or losing to a soft goal, it feels different now at Villa and that is due to SG. Even went for a wee on 65 mins and didn't worry we would concede.

How can you be a Villa fan and not worry we would concede? Teach me these dark arts, I am scarred