Steven Gerrard

[Peter Griffin]

28 minutes ago, Pongo's Socks said:

Just watched the Newcastle presser. Me and the missus came up with a drinking game we're going to play next week based on Gerrards favourite sayings.

'Listen'  one sip

'For sure'  two sips

'Moving forward'  three sips

'That's none of my business'  four sips

Then the Holy grail 'Yeeeeaaaahhh course'

NECK IT!

 

I can think of some forfeits that may be a little more fun than those ones

 

'Listen' your top

'For sure' your bra

...

But I think u can keep the last one 

'Yeeeeaaaahhh course'.  NECK IT!

[Zatman]

25 minutes ago, Xela said:

Excuses for what though? There are a number of other teams that are very strong as well, a few of them are much better than us. I guess it depends on what success will look like? Are we expecting top 4? Europe? Its difficult to judge what will be considered good. Its a very tough league now. 

Top 8 next season will be the realistic goal

[Pongo's Socks]

31 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I can think of some forfeits that may be a little more fun than those ones

 

'Listen' your top

'For sure' your bra

...

But I think u can keep the last one 

'Yeeeeaaaahhh course'.  NECK IT!

I'll let her get a few more gins down her then suggest it I'm blaming you if she chins me

[VillaParkAvenue]

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

Top 8 next season will be the realistic goal

But 8th is the ultimate failure, just outside even qualifying for the european farmer’s cup. Has to be top 7.

[MaVilla]

3 hours ago, Zatman said:

Top 8 next season will be the realistic goal

 

9 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

But 8th is the ultimate failure, just outside even qualifying for the european farmer’s cup. Has to be top 7.

 

my own opinion of course, but i think Gerrard's aim/goal will be to get us in to Europe by then end of the second full season with us, so by the end of 23/24 (ofc any sooner would be a bonus).

I think next season is about improving the squad/first team, attracting better and better players, getting the playing style right, and finishing as high as possible, ie: comfortably top 10, but higher if possible.

The following year, i think he will 100% want to be genuinely in a fight for the European places.

 

Edited February 11, 2022 by MaVilla

[Zatman]

9 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

 

 

my own opinion of course, but i think Gerrard's aim/goal will be to get us in to Europe by then end of the second full season with us, so by the end of 23/24 (ofc any sooner would be a bonus).

I think next season is about improving the squad/first team, attracting better and better players, getting the playing style right, and finishing as high as possible, ie: comfortably top 10, but higher if possible.

The following year, i think he will 100% want to be genuinely in a fight for the European places.

 

Yeah I dont think it was the aim for this season or last either though a lot of people were disappointed we didnt make Europe last season

[nick76]

13 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

 

 

my own opinion of course, but i think Gerrard's aim/goal will be to get us in to Europe by then end of the second full season with us, so by the end of 23/24 (ofc any sooner would be a bonus).

I think next season is about improving the squad/first team, attracting better and better players, getting the playing style right, and finishing as high as possible, ie: comfortably top 10, but higher if possible.

The following year, i think he will 100% want to be genuinely in a fight for the European places.

 

I think the board will be expecting European place finish next season 100%, they may even lightly asked for it this season but knew it would be a stretch but I can’t imagine they’d be happy not getting European place next season.  I think they would see that as failure based on comments being made and actions taken from Purslows comment about missing out last season on European place to sacking Smith this season, they want more now and two more seasons (this and next season) of 8th or lower imo will be deemed a failure.

[Tomaszk]

14 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

He will be but people are only defending him because he is entitled to some time. If this time next year we’re still seeing the same issues I’ll be the first to be criticising him mate. 

Same as Smith, I'll largely judge on performances not results - because that's what will lead to real success.

Couldn't believe how quickly he picked us up and ground out those early wins after the form we were in at the end of Smith. Really top stuff. But it was backs to the wall scrapping them out. We needed points, and he got them without fuss, great.

Since then, when we've tried to open up and attack, I think performances have been below average to be honest. We look like we can't stop sides from getting in behind us and I can't see it getting better in this narrow formation. You know, the one we're going to play every single game.

The only way to stop it is to control the game with the ball, and we'll find that very difficult with Mings, Konsa, McGinn, Ramsey in the middle of the pitch. Even then, I think there's simply too much work put on various players in the system.

I want this to work. Again, I enjoyed his press conference. Similar to Smith he doesn't get too high or low after results which is a great trait as much as it's annoying at the time just after a result!

We must must must make sure we're going with the right plan here if we're going to be buying 3+ starting players in the summer. We need foundations as well as first-team reinforcements. The noises round Gerrard's direction here have been a wee bit instant gratification heavy IMO.

It would go down like a lead balloon but if we don't improve performance wise as the season comes to and end, I wouldn't be letting anyone splash out over £100m and lumbering the club with over £75m of wages to pay out.

Love his attitude, love his manner, love the fact he has a distinct plan...but is it the right one for us? For PL success? I hope so! Because Jesus wept it looks like he's going to be mightily backed.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Tomaszk

[Vive_La_Villa]

4 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Same as Smith, I'll largely judge on performances not results - because that's what will lead to real success.

Couldn't believe how quickly he picked us up and ground out those early wins after the form we were in at the end of Smith. Really top stuff. But it was backs to the wall scrapping them out. We needed points, and he got them without fuss, great.

Since then, when we've tried to open up and attack, I think performances have been below average to be honest. We look like we can't stop sides from getting in behind us and I can't see it getting better in this narrow formation. You know, the one we're going to play every single game.

The only way to stop it is to control the game with the ball, and we'll find that very difficult with Mings, Konsa, McGinn, Ramsey in the middle of the pitch. Even then, I think there's simply too much work put on various players in the system.

I want this to work. Again, I enjoyed his press conference. Similar to Smith he doesn't get too high or low after results which is a great trait as much as it's annoying at the time just after a result!

We must must must make sure we're going with the right plan here if we're going to be buying 3+ starting players in the summer. We need foundations as well as first-team reinforcements. The noises round Gerrard's direction here have been a wee bit instant gratification heavy IMO.

It would go down like a lead balloon but if we don't improve performance wise as the season comes to and end, I wouldn't be letting anyone splash out over £100m and lumbering the club with over £75m of wages to pay out.

Love his attitude, love his manner, love the fact he has a distinct plan...but is it the right one for us? For PL success? I hope so! Because Jesus wept it looks like he's going to be mightily backed.

I’m not for a second saying he is on Klopp levels but I remember the criticism he got when he first took over Liverpool due to the inconsistencies of his system. It took time and change of certain players. I’m hoping we see something similar.

[Tomaszk]

17 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I’m not for a second saying he is on Klopp levels but I remember the criticism he got when he first took over Liverpool due to the inconsistencies of his system. It took time and change of certain players. I’m hoping we see something similar.

That's the hope yes.

Klopp had a much bigger body of work to indicate he would get it working of course.

There can't be many managers...ever (?) with less than five years in the job who have/will been backed to the extent Gerrard is going to be.

Edited February 12, 2022 by Tomaszk

[Tayls]

What we thinking then? Have we got enough about us to get to 35/40 points with 16 games remaining? I’d hope so. We do need to be careful though because there is still a possibility that we can sucked into the relegation scrap. I think playing like we did the other day against Leeds is quite dangerous, we could have easily lost that game despite scoring 3 goals - there are clear vulnerabilities in this team that need to be resolved. Stevie has definitely got some work to do in order to turn us into a truly difficult to beat side. 

Edited February 12, 2022 by Tayls

[tezzaleed]

I know we're lucky to have Gerrard and I fully expect to have a measure of success but does anyone else get frustrated with our lack of width under Gerrard.  granted buendia and coutinho are starting to play through teams but there is no room for the likes of Bailey in a Gerrard team.

[ender4]

11 hours ago, Zatman said:

Yeah I dont think it was the aim for this season or last either though a lot of people were disappointed we didnt make Europe last season

TBH, if Grealish hadn’t been injured for the second half of the season, we had a decent chance to have scraped into 7th.

[Xela]

55 minutes ago, Tayls said:

What we thinking then? Have we got enough about us to get to 35/40 points with 16 games remaining? 

Of course. We've got 27 now. 

I think we'll finish on low 50's

 

[Xela]

37 minutes ago, tezzaleed said:

I know we're lucky to have Gerrard and I fully expect to have a measure of success but does anyone else get frustrated with our lack of width under Gerrard.  granted buendia and coutinho are starting to play through teams but there is no room for the likes of Bailey in a Gerrard team.

Its too early to judge as we haven't got any fit wide players yet, with Traore and Bailey out. 

[foreveryoung]

7 minutes ago, ender4 said:

TBH, if Grealish hadn’t been injured for the second half of the season, we had a decent chance to have scraped into 7th.

Was going to say this, we really wasn't far off, Grealish being injured really held us back.

Back on topic, I'm still a little unsure on Gerrard, although one thing I have noticed with him being manager, its really starting to show a few of our players just don't have the quality for the system he wants to play, or to make it to the next level. Targett was one of the first to feel the wrath.

[VillaParkAvenue]

56 minutes ago, Tayls said:

What we thinking then? Have we got enough about us to get to 35/40 points with 16 games remaining? I’d hope so.

I’d definitely hope so, we’re at 27 points now so 35 is just 8 points away?

Another target could be to get 56 points and improve on last season. We’d need another 29 with 16 games left, roughly 1.8 pts per game. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

My only real worry about Gerrard is his relation to Purslow.
 

At most clubs the manager wants to invest and sign new players, while the board and ceo are more wary and tell the manager to work with the tools he has. There’s some sort of balance between those interests.

At Villa now there’s the unusual situation where the ceo adores the manager, and wants to give him everything he can point at. If Gerrard’s playing system doesn’t work, he can just go to Purslow and ask for new players to fill it with.

I hope, and actually believe, Gerrard is smart enough to see this. For his own reputation, it wouldn’t look good to spend a fortune and only deliver mediocre results (and the owners of Liverpool wouldn’t be impressed with that either).

[VillaJ100]

Guys I said the same when people were talking about 5 game win streaks, we'll be hard pushed to get 1.8ppg. We'll finish on around 50 points I reckon. 

[MaVilla]

8 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

Guys I said the same when people were talking about 5 game win streaks, we'll be hard pushed to get 1.8ppg. We'll finish on around 50 points I reckon. 

Ye gotta say i agree, i think we will end up on somewhere between 46 and 50 points.