Mantis Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, DCJonah said: Sacking Smith was the right thing to do if the owners wanted Europe. I'm just not sure how Smith having a bad spell is linked to today? Surely the whole point of replacing Smith was to improve to the next level. Today was just as bad. I think Gerrard has the potential to get us there and has shown some very positive signs in his time here. I like the guy a lot. But I don't get some of the mentions of Dean Smith around it. It's not, but some people are seemingly rewriting history and making out Smith to be better for us (in his final months) than he actually was. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimmygreaves Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 Just now, Mantis said: It's not, but some people are seemingly rewriting history and making out Smith to be better for us (in his final months) than he actually was. No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, jimmygreaves said: No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. Some are saying that, and I totally agree with that, but some are definitely making him out to be better than he was for us in 2021. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AVFCGB Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, jimmygreaves said: No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. I’m with you on this. Happy to be proven wrong but can’t see anything at the moment to be confident Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MaVilla Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said: No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. our current squad isnt good enough, for anyone short of the Lord himself to push it towards European football. Which is why i think it will be a very, very busy summer, if Gerrard wants to have a team that is actually capable of that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishVilla10 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 2 minutes ago, jimmygreaves said: No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. It’s hard to get the right man, look at Conte at spurs he’s lost three league games in a row. And look how long it took spurs to get him. Every appointment is a risk, Gerrard needs at least a full season 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, IrishVilla10 said: It’s hard to get the right man, look at Conte at spurs he’s lost three league games in a row. And look how long it took spurs to get him. Every appointment is a risk, Gerrard needs at least a full season I'm increasingly coming to the view that barring a few very special exceptions, all managers are fated to "fail" at their club within a few years, and even those who achieve some success go through some very rocky patches (see: Rogers). Just the nature of football I guess. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 (edited) For me, this is his second big test since arriving (first was the turn around which he exceeded my expectations). I am confident he is up to the job but as he said post match, he is going to have to make changes to the starting 11 based on form. Thats good, but its also fair to say he and the staff are going to also have to make better tactical changes during the game. We haven't had a 90 minute performance yet as far as I have seen. Watford is the ideal match for that. I hope we see it. Anyway he has lost one in a row since the break so I am pretty chill about it. Edited February 13, 2022 by ciggiesnbeer 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, jimmygreaves said: No they aren't.... They're suggesting the manager following Smith should be a upgrade and capable of pushing this club towards Europe. Is Gerrard that guy..... I'm not confident. Yes it is solely Gerrard's seeming anointment by Purslow before Dean had been sacked and no proper process of finding a new manager that worries me, not that they decided to pull the plug on Dean. Anyway I really hope Gerrard can change things up. I don't mind the system as such but teams in the PL are too good at analysing opposition tactics and negating them if you are too predictable, which we have been. I'm also worried about the decision to have Doug and McGinn taking set pieces when you have just signed Digne and Coutinho. That's just bizarre imo. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IrishVilla10 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 5 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said: Yes it is solely Gerrard's seeming anointment by Purslow before Dean had been sacked and no proper process of finding a new manager that worries me, not that they decided to pull the plug on Dean. Anyway I really hope Gerrard can change things up. I don't mind the system as such but teams in the PL are too good at analysing opposition tactics and negating them if you are too predictable, which we have been. I'm also worried about the decision to have Doug and McGinn taking set pieces when you have just signed Digne and Coutinho. That's just bizarre imo. Where is this coming from Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calcifer Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 So what is the answer? Chop and change the manager every 3 months like Watford? We have some quality youth to come through. My worry is that these will be fattened up and moved to the sky scum soon to be 7... So what can we do? Steve is well respected Coutinho would never have joined us if he was not the manager. We can't keep changing the manager because the players can't perform. Get rid of stevie who can we realistically hope to come here? Martinez? Rafa? Big Sam? Let's face it we are not going to be getting a quality big name coming here any time soon. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaParkAvenue Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 Can’t believe we’re still stuck in Smith vs Gerrard. It’s perfectly rational to have wanted Smith gone, and still not be convinced about Gerrard. We have Gerrard now and must obviously give him plenty of time, but I admit I would have wanted to see more positive signs on the pitch already. What we do know is that Purslow loves Gerrard. He will be backed financially and given many many chances to improve. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TomC Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 hour ago, Tayls said: 2) He’s part of a shocking defence that is leaking goals. Might be a better player from an individual perspective but, he hasn’t changed our fortunes in terms of us winning matches. To be fair to Digne, how many goals has he been at fault in the last two games? 1st goal against Leeds: attack did come down our left, but Konsa was marking the scorer and got nutmegged. 2nd goal against Leeds: cross from our right, then headed in by a player in the centre marked by both Mings and Buendia. 3rd goal against Leeds: cross from our right off short corner, McGinn failed to cut out the cross, Mings made the initial block but the rebound fell to a player in the centre who should have been marked by Konsa. Today's goal: initial attack down the middle, free kick given away by Chambers, free kick goes through wall thanks to freak deflection off Buendia. I see zero goals where Digne was at fault. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 10 minutes ago, nick76 said: Let’s forget the Smith debate because it’s deflecting from the issue we have today. We have won 1 in 7, todays performance was unbelievably awful, against Leeds it was poor apart from the magic of JJ, Coutinho and Buendia and we haven’t won at home since 5th December. We aren’t in a good place and things need to get better quickly. Yes but overall his record is still pretty good compared to what Smith had done this season. I think hes won 5 and lost 5 in 12 games. Thats mid table. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thug Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 1 minute ago, Mantis said: Today's performance was awful but no, one very bad performance and loss is not as bad as 5 losses in a row, especially when the majority of those losses were performances almost or equally bad. I mean come on. Ok. in the 7 games before Smith got sacked, he got 6 points. Everton, Man U, wolves, spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Southampton in the last 7 we have 7 points. Norwich, Chelsea, Brentford, Man U, Everton, leeds, Newcastle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 It's hard to blame Gerrard, when you could see with your own eyes today, Watkins, McGinn, Luiz didn't turn up again, maybe never will, an Ramsey was not on his A game. Didn't see Cout's do much either. bad bad day at the office. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mantis Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 4 minutes ago, Thug said: Ok. in the 7 games before Smith got sacked, he got 6 points. Everton, Man U, wolves, spurs, Arsenal, West Ham, Southampton in the last 7 we have 7 points. Norwich, Chelsea, Brentford, Man U, Everton, leeds, Newcastle This seems awfully selective. Not really sure what your point even is here? Also bear in mind we lost to an even worse Sheffield United team less than a year ago under Smith, with them playing with 10 men no less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thug Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: It's hard to blame Gerrard, when you could see with your own eyes today, Watkins, McGinn, Luiz didn't turn up again, maybe never will, an Ramsey was not on his A game. Didn't see Cout's do much either. bad bad day at the office. Absolutely wrong. It was clear things weren’t working. To persist with the system and personnel for 70 minutes is completely on the manager. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demitri_C Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 This is still a dean smith team we have to remember that. We over spent in watkins it seems. So we need to again rip it up and rebuild. Gerrard gets a summer window minimum. Need to get rid of the deadwood like aeg trez, and possibly watkins and cash. I truat gerrard will bring in better players than these Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted February 13, 2022 Share Posted February 13, 2022 12 minutes ago, PaulC said: Yes but overall his record is still pretty good compared to what Smith had done this season. I think hes won 5 and lost 5 in 12 games. Thats mid table. Yeah but after the initial honeymoon period he’s got 5 points out of the last 18 plus a defeat in the cup even though he has less injuries and the addition of quality in Coutinho and Digne. I don’t see much difference between Smith and Gerrard time this season aside from the initial few games under Gerrard, which can be argued as Gerrard influence or the manager bounce. I don’t care about Smith now and his time here is part of our past but believing this is better than earlier in the season is laughable. Gerrard is our manager now and I’m fully behind him but recent form needs to turn quick. I’m not expecting miracles or a European place run but given we did sack Smith I’m not happy at one win in seven, 5 points from 18, losing a 3-1 lead at home and thus drawing against Leeds who are struggling, not winning at home since 5th December and performances like today against a relegation fighting Newcastle. Today was pathetic! If we have another against Watford next week I’m going to lose my mind. I’m not expecting a win against, I believe we have far more talent than them so should be very hopeful for a win but I expect organisation, I expect work ethic, I expect more players to perform. If another day like today I will be very disappointed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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