Zatman Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 I do think the football under Gerrard has been very conservative even though not easiest fixtures. Its a bit Rafaesque 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 16 minutes ago, Mantis said: Not so sure about that. I suspect Nakamba's absence is playing a bigger part than we realise. We need that sort of player protecting the defence and we all know Luiz isn't cut out for that job. Yes we have no other ball winning midfield player. Gerrard needs a couple of transfer windows to stamp his mark on the team. He's done well so far but today showed some of the shortcomings in the side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 This should delight everyone, we've taken twelve points from Gerrard's first eight games, over a 38 game season the same kind of form would result in finishing on 57 points. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 And it wasn't exactly and easy first eight games, with us having to play Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man City, in fact I think of the eight Norwich, and Brighton were probably the only ones in which you could say we were clear favorites. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 If we're judging him so far, and on current evidence he is more Rafa and less Rodgers I think. On the pragmatic side for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 15 minutes ago, villalad21 said: If we're judging him so far, and on current evidence he is more Rafa and less Rodgers I think. On the pragmatic side for sure. Why do we need to judge him so far? He's come in to do a long term job. And he gets judged before he signs a single player. Ridiculous. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 3 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Why do we need to judge him so far? He's come in to do a long term job. And he gets judged before he signs a single player. Ridiculous. Judgement withheld then. Totally disagree he is here for the long term. Don't see that at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 1 minute ago, hippo said: Judgement withheld then. Totally disagree he is here for the long term. Don't see that at all. He's been brought in for the long term, no guarantee he stays here but I don't think our owners signed him to be here for 1 or 2 years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 30 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Why do we need to judge him so far? He's come in to do a long term job. And he gets judged before he signs a single player. Ridiculous. Long term does not exist in modern day football. He will get his players in the summer. If he kicks on and does well he will be here if he doesn't we will replace him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danceoftheshamen Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 (edited) 24 minutes ago, VillanousOne said: agree, we don't have the players to play the way Gerrard seems to want to, 'yet'. Even Dean Smith seemed determined to change our formation from something that sometimes worked and got us results to something that doesn't get us results often. But Cash and even Targett go to crossing areas today and did nothing. I know Buendia tried to feed Ings a few times including the goal but most of the time our players get passed the half way line and are clueless as what to do next. McGinn shooting on sight doesn't help and when Ollie does play he refuses to pass to anyone. I agree with this. Just would add that it has been the same pattern all season regards Targett & Cash's inability to cross / pass or shoot in the opposition half. If they could cross a ball straight we would be flying this season with the number of chances they get to do so each game. Frustrates the heck out of me every game! I await the new signings with interest and i'm almost certain a fullback or two will be high on the list. Edited January 2, 2022 by danceoftheshamen 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 1 hour ago, Zatman said: I do think the football under Gerrard has been very conservative even though not easiest fixtures. Its a bit Rafaesque I agree but after five consecutive defeats, he needed to stop the rot and steady the ship. By and large he’s done that. We do need to be more expansive though. Our final ball is largely appalling. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaFaninLondon Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 I don't think anyone is turning on the manager this early but today we shouldn't have been losing. I'd be hacked off losing to Brentford even if they had a fully fit team, but losing to them when quite a few of their team is out is unacceptable. He's now got a bit of pressure because we really need at least a point against United at home otherwise we'll be in a rut of defeats for the second time this season and that will really not be good. Aside from the manager, it's mind boggling how easy this team has been to beat this season. 11 losses in 19 games is absolutely dreadful. We've lost more than Burnley, Leeds and Newcastle which is disgraceful. If we'd turned 4 or 5 of those defeats into draws that would have been fine but our weak minded team has capitulated so easily on so many occasions. To be honest the players should all be ashamed of how they have performed this season. The fact that teams like Palace, Brentford and Brighton are above us in the table shows just how poor they have been. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Awol Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 Gerrard is under no pressure yet, he’ll be given time and money to shape his own team. The players are under pressure though, and those not coping aren’t going to be here long. The good thing about a new manager is having no allegiance to existing players. SG doesn’t care that AEG scored against West Brom, or that Trez kept us up. He will care that they’re not good enough to take us forward, and make the hard decisions to reshape the squad. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icouldtelltheworld Posted January 2, 2022 Share Posted January 2, 2022 3 hours ago, useless said: And it wasn't exactly and easy first eight games, with us having to play Liverpool, Chelsea, and Man City, in fact I think of the eight Norwich, and Brighton were probably the only ones in which you could say we were clear favorites. Good point and easy to forget. Important to keep things in context. I'd say there's no way we were favourites for the Brighton game either, every team we've played since Gerrard arrived will have targeted us as a side they can take points from. He's done a good job and I expect us to continue improving as things click into place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 38 minutes ago, icouldtelltheworld said: Good point and easy to forget. Important to keep things in context. I'd say there's no way we were favourites for the Brighton game either, every team we've played since Gerrard arrived will have targeted us as a side they can take points from. He's done a good job and I expect us to continue improving as things click into place. Of the 8 games we played we certainly should have been taking points from Brighton, Palace, Leicester, Norwich and Brentford Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 (edited) Brighton I'd say a draw was what was reasonably expected, likewise with Palace and maybe Leicester. Norwich we were clear favourites and won, and today we were probably slight favourites and lost. On the whole 4 wins from those first 8 is very solid. Edited January 3, 2022 by Mantis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 I think his after match comments were spot on ....and 10/10 for being Honest Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozvillafan Posted January 3, 2022 VT Supporter Share Posted January 3, 2022 I'm not sure what to make of his management just yet. Certainly we are less expansive and less gung-ho like we were under Smith. You could argue that has tightened us up - but we are shipping goals lately so no, not really. Conservative? Definitely. Even against Brentford, the midfield 3 were very deep and we largely played with 2 defensive players in the midfield diamond in Luiz and McGinn. For mine, we don't really have the players to suit his system. The front 3 aren't sorted (Watkins, Buendia + ?). We lack a proper DM since the loss of Nakamba and the delivery from Cash and Targett in the final 3rd is extremely poor considering they are the only players that give us width. That means a busy January transfer window or square pegs in round holes for the rest of the season - which doesn't bode well. Still, it's early days. I'd be surprised if we finished top half this season. On to the next, I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 SG seemed to have the same look on his face, during that game, to the Mayor of Hiroshima on seeing the bomb drop. Welcome Steve, you have a big job on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted January 3, 2022 Share Posted January 3, 2022 Gerrard has only had 8 games so far, and has won 4 of them. Not only is he having to work with a completely new squad, assembled by someone else, so is his backroom team. The players are also having to get used to the new manager and new system. The previous manager, who had been at the club for years, struggled to get a tune out of these players so it’s no surprise that we are seeing inconsistencies with a new manager. Gerrard needs to bring in 2 or 3 players during this window and kick on from there. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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