Steven Gerrard

[Made In Aston]

15 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Very valid concern.

Likes of Digne will have very little resell value too.

If we go with this older players, short term success approach and it doesn't work it definitely got shades of MON about it.

We have signed a 29 year old loanee and might be signing a 28 year old permanently. It's only 2 players and far too early to say if it is going to be the norm going forward. Looking at the squad we could do with a couple of experienced  'here and now' players so isn't a problem. If the bulk of our signings start to follow this mould then I think you will have legitimate cause for concern (as will everyone else). 

What I would say is that Purslow has made comment before that the owners want villa to be self sustainable, so a strategy of buying lots of expensive players with no resale value doesn't fit the plan. That suggests we won't be going down that route. 

Edited January 11, 2022 by Made In Aston

[romavillan]

2 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

After three years of Dean Smith I was still totally unclear as to what he was trying to achieve. What’s worse, is that the players also did not seem to know.

A few weeks of Gerrard and not only can you see what Gerrard is trying to achieve, you can also see the team slowly developing to meet his requirements and we are also buying players that will enhance that further. We have been unlucky in each of our last two matches, neither of which we deserved to lose. Some of our play last night was really lovely.

What he has achieved in a matter of weeks is not only impressive but really exciting. Just think back to how bad we were against Arsenal, Southampton and West Ham. We are levels above that already.

Harsh, Smith had us playing some of the best football I've ever seen us play at times. This season he never got to play his first XI for more than one or two games on the bounce and by the end I'll agree the players didn't really seem on board any more. I'd say O'Kelly's departure was a much bigger thing than it's been made out to be.

Gerrard's team, with Beale have had an immediate impact. The 4-3-2-1 looks good and will suit Coutinho too, we looked much better off the ball immediatly but there's been some brain farts and bad mistakes of late that undermines that a bit.

We had put a good squad together, instilled a decent football philosophy all before Gerrard got he, he said as much himself saying Smith had done a brilliant job before him etc. 

Smith was amazing for us, Gerrard has started well so let's hope he can continue the upwards arc since NSWE took over. 

[PaulC]

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Funny you would say at a time where we've just lost 3 games in a row.

If we lose on Saturday that will be 4.

Losing quickly becomes a habit and we need to find a way to stop the rot we are now currently in.

The fact that we still concede such easy and poor goals doesn't exactly bode well.

Yes but its still the same squad so some that losing mentality must still be there.  Gerrard won't settle for that 

[Made In Aston]

3 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Harsh, Smith had us playing some of the best football I've ever seen us play at times. This season he never got to play his first XI for more than one or two games on the bounce and by the end I'll agree the players didn't really seem on board any more. I'd say O'Kelly's departure was a much bigger thing than it's been made out to be.

Gerrard's team, with Beale have had an immediate impact. The 4-3-2-1 looks good and will suit Coutinho too, we looked much better off the ball immediatly but there's been some brain farts and bad mistakes of late that undermines that a bit.

We had put a good squad together, instilled a decent football philosophy all before Gerrard got he, he said as much himself saying Smith had done a brilliant job before him etc. 

Smith was amazing for us, Gerrard has started well so let's hope he can continue the upwards arc since NSWE took over. 

Smith had his time then lost his way. We ended up playing aimless long balls, which is a far cry from the 'total football' he was known for in the early days. Gerrard likes his team to pass and move quickly and press hard, but who is to say he won't regress in a few years. 

[GrassyNoel]

34 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Harsh, Smith had us playing some of the best football I've ever seen us play at times. This season he never got to play his first XI for more than one or two games on the bounce and by the end I'll agree the players didn't really seem on board any more. I'd say O'Kelly's departure was a much bigger thing than it's been made out to be.

Gerrard's team, with Beale have had an immediate impact. The 4-3-2-1 looks good and will suit Coutinho too, we looked much better off the ball immediatly but there's been some brain farts and bad mistakes of late that undermines that a bit.

We had put a good squad together, instilled a decent football philosophy all before Gerrard got he, he said as much himself saying Smith had done a brilliant job before him etc. 

Smith was amazing for us, Gerrard has started well so let's hope he can continue the upwards arc since NSWE took over. 

An episode of Generals on YouTube alluded to ROK saying the players had stopped listening to him, and that quickly led to his decision to leave. There's bound to be a tonne more to that whole drama than we'll likely ever get to hear, but that bit alone for me was very telling. There may well have been issues behind the scenes that no amount of coaching skill was ever going to fix, from ROK, Smith or Shakespeare. Maybe some bad apples in the seemingly decent bunch we have there? If so, I cannot see the current regime tolerating it for long.

[romavillan]

6 minutes ago, GrassyNoel said:

An episode of Generals on YouTube alluded to ROK saying the players had stopped listening to him, and that quickly led to his decision to leave. There's bound to be a tonne more to that whole drama than we'll likely ever get to hear, but that bit alone for me was very telling. There may well have been issues behind the scenes that no amount of coaching skill was ever going to fix, from ROK, Smith or Shakespeare. Maybe some bad apples in the seemingly decent bunch we have there? If so, I cannot see the current regime tolerating it for long.

That's interesting, if that's true then it would have caused problems between Smith and the players too. If that's the case then you can see why it all petered out.  

[hippo]

59 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

We have signed a 29 year old loanee and might be signing a 28 year old permanently. It's only 2 players and far too early to say if it is going to be the norm going forward. Looking at the squad we could do with a couple of experienced  'here and now' players so isn't a problem. If the bulk of our signings start to follow this mould then I think you will have legitimate cause for concern (as will everyone else). 

What I would say is that Purslow has made comment before that the owners want villa to be self sustainable, so a strategy of buying lots of expensive players with no resale value doesn't fit the plan. That suggests we won't be going down that route. 

I think we have abandoned that though. We brought in Ings and Young  Digne and potentially Coutinho Joining in the summer.

Gerarrds record of promoting Rangers youth isn't great either.

Edited January 11, 2022 by hippo

[IrishVilla10]

12 hours ago, Rightdm00 said:

The amount of responsibility this system puts on the fullbacks is insane. Without them covering endline to endline we have zero width. You can see why we recalled KKH and in plans to make Digne one of our highest earners.  

 

If United were on form last night we’d have been 3-0 down in the first half

[Mantis]

Lots of talk about if we lose on Saturday it'll be "4 defeats in a row" but I don't think that really tells the full story. We played ok against Chelsea, dominated United yesterday and got done over by VAR again and while we were poor against Brentford, even then we dominated for large spells of the game and should've got something. Not exactly the same as just rolling over, which is basically what we did in Smith's final games.

So far under Gerrard we've almost always performed quite well.

Edited January 11, 2022 by Mantis

[Made In Aston]

14 minutes ago, hippo said:

Gerarrds record of promoting Rangers youth isn't great either.

Have you seen the quality of the Rangers youth system?! It's very thin due to their financial issues. Part of Gerrard's remit here is to integrate a regular stream of youth players into the first team, as Purslow has previously stated. 

[Zatman]

7 minutes ago, Made In Aston said:

Have you seen the quality of the Rangers youth system?! It's very thin due to their financial issues. Part of Gerrard's remit here is to integrate a regular stream of youth players into the first team, as Purslow has previously stated. 

Just sold a kid for 12 million though Gerrard rarely played him

[Zatman]

40 minutes ago, GrassyNoel said:

An episode of Generals on YouTube alluded to ROK saying the players had stopped listening to him, and that quickly led to his decision to leave. There's bound to be a tonne more to that whole drama than we'll likely ever get to hear, but that bit alone for me was very telling. There may well have been issues behind the scenes that no amount of coaching skill was ever going to fix, from ROK, Smith or Shakespeare. Maybe some bad apples in the seemingly decent bunch we have there? If so, I cannot see the current regime tolerating it for long.

Its a natural thing, players have short attentions and 3/4 years is when they usually get tired. Nothing on the players but sometimes fresh ideas are needed

Better managers than Smith like  Conte rarely stay more than 3 years as they know players get bored. Similar happened Poch at Spurs

[villalad21]

7 minutes ago, Mantis said:

Lots of talk about if we lose on Saturday it'll be "4 defeats in a row" but I don't think that really tells the full story. We played ok against Chelsea, dominated United yesterday and got done over by VAR again and while we were poor against Brentford, even then we dominated for large spells of the game and should've got something. Not exactly the same as just rolling over, which is basically what we did in Smith's final games.

So far under Gerrard we've almost always performed quite well.

It isn't about playing well, it's about winning games, showing a winning mentality, and see out games.

This is exactly what we said under Smith after "playing well" against Chelsea.

Reality is if you keep losing your confidence will start to drop, and those good performances you are referring to will slowly start to turn into bad performances.

That's why I've said we badly need a win right now or we could easily end up in another rot.

[hippo]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Just sold a kid for 12 million though Gerrard rarely played him

If Carslberg did come back posts !

[VillaChris]

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

It isn't about playing well, it's about winning games, showing a winning mentality, and see out games.

This is exactly what we said under Smith after "playing well" against Chelsea.

Reality is if you keep losing your confidence will start to drop, and those good performances you are referring to will slowly start to turn into bad performances.

That's why I've said we badly need a win right now or we could easily end up in another rot.

We've shown that loads of times already under Gerrard. Look at the Leicester game, saw last 15 minutes out comfortably. Indeed Palace away is tricky and we were 1 up for large parts of that.

At this stage those are teams to compare us against compared to the ones we've lost to (bar Brentford and I'd be hugely disappointed if we finish below them)>

We'll be o.k.

[AntrimBlack]

31 minutes ago, hippo said:

I think we have abandoned that though. We brought in Ings and Young  Digne and potentially Coutinho Joining in the summer.

Gerarrds record of promoting Rangers youth isn't great either.

Watching the last few matches, I think we do need some experienced players.

[AV82]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

After three years of Dean Smith I was still totally unclear as to what he was trying to achieve. What’s worse, is that the players also did not seem to know.

A few weeks of Gerrard and not only can you see what Gerrard is trying to achieve, you can also see the team slowly developing to meet his requirements and we are also buying players that will enhance that further. We have been unlucky in each of our last two matches, neither of which we deserved to lose. Some of our play last night was really lovely.

What he has achieved in a matter of weeks is not only impressive but really exciting. Just think back to how bad we were against Arsenal, Southampton and West Ham. We are levels above that already.

Great post. 

[Made In Aston]

12 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Just sold a kid for 12 million though Gerrard rarely played him

Nor has Bronckhorst. This is mainly down to James Tavenier being ahead of him at the moment. 

[Rolta]

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

It isn't about playing well, it's about winning games, showing a winning mentality, and see out games.

This is exactly what we said under Smith after "playing well" against Chelsea.

Reality is if you keep losing your confidence will start to drop, and those good performances you are referring to will slowly start to turn into bad performances.

That's why I've said we badly need a win right now or we could easily end up in another rot.

I feel I've seen you make these posts for years. It always seems a bit hysterical and soooo negative. We've often gone on to win games and do well off and on after your pessimistic statements. And you fit phrases around your position as if they're some higher logic, but really we've played some of the best teams in the league, and been performing well. Sure but we lost to Brentford too. 

My main point is, I'm surprised how you don't see how negative you can be sometimes. You're entitled to your opinion, but just also consider other facts that might make you question your position a little (the quality of opponents, our lack of a bit of luck). We have been playing a lot better and we have had some really good results with Gerrard.

But yes if we lose forever the players will get sad. No shit. But there's no suggestion at all that's what's going to happen though. 

[Zatman]

7 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

Watching the last few matches, I think we do need some experienced players.

Except Ramsey our team is quite experienced though and even then he is approaching his 50th careeer game