Steven Gerrard

[TomC]

53 minutes ago, KMitch said:

Besides that, he has proven to not being any better than Deano as far as tactics and game management goes.

A Rangers fan warned us about this much earlier in the thread...see below...

 

 

On 13/11/2021 at 10:43, Weechops said:

SG wasn't tested greatly up here. What I would say is that there is no plan B. His coaching team are incapable of change during a game. 

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

Yep we are pissed off with the weak performance today, the loss of a two goal lead against Leeds and the results of the last couple of months…I’m not sure we are the ones with the wrong reaction.

The last couple months?

Weren't we something like 7th in the form table up to a couple games ago?

After a run which included the top 4?

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

18 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Even sacking him and replacing him with Conte at enormous cost hasn’t exactly produced a sea change.

Because these things might need more patience than fans ( myself.included at times ) are willing to accept, and the league is tougher than we would like to admit?

There are pretty much no " given " points for ANY team in the league anymore, unless you are the likes of City and Liverpool.

I've seen a couple of posters across social media point out that Leeds also looked lethargic and pretty tripe against Everton. Not looking for excuses , but I wonder if that had anything to do with today?

It was a bizarre performance, everything looked off.

I still have a gripe with him for not being proactive enough, and making what I feel were the wrong changes though.

Edited February 13, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Xela]

1 hour ago, R.Bear said:

I genuinely can’t tell if people are serious or  on a windup. A large part of our fan base always embarrass themselves after a loss but the reaction today has been something else.

The forum gets more extreme by the month. I am genuinely baffled by the lack of patience and anger in some of the posts tonight. It was never like this when we were crap in the Championship under Bruce or playing dismal eye bleedingly bad football under Lambert. The level of entitlement in some posts now is extreme. I don't understand how we've got to this?

Gerrard has been in charge for 12 games and people are writing him off. 12 games, 17 points - over a season that is 54 points. It's an improvement on our early season form under Smith. I can't understand people questioning the manager so soon into his tenure. The real judgement begins next season for me. 

Peace out everyone  Remember, its just a game and not worth getting upset over.

[Thug]

3 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

All i hear is that we need new this, new that to make the system work. Maybe its the system?

This is exactly the point.

you shouldn’t have a ‘system’ and reg tk squeeze people into it.

You should see what you have and work the best system for it.

 

[GingerCollins29]

9 minutes ago, Thug said:

This is exactly the point.

you shouldn’t have a ‘system’ and reg tk squeeze people into it.

You should see what you have and work the best system for it.

 

Definitely for this season, then identify who in the current squad has the ability yo play that system and focus your transfer window around them in the summer

[GingerCollins29]

11 minutes ago, Xela said:

The forum gets more extreme by the month. I am genuinely baffled by the lack of patience and anger in some of the posts tonight. It was never like this when we were crap in the Championship under Bruce or playing dismal eye bleedingly bad football under Lambert. The level of entitlement in some posts now is extreme. I don't understand how we've got to this?

Gerrard has been in charge for 12 games and people are writing him off. 12 games, 17 points - over a season that is 54 points. It's an improvement on our early season form under Smith. I can't understand people questioning the manager so soon into his tenure. The real judgement begins next season for me. 

Peace out everyone  Remember, its just a game and not worth getting upset over.

54 points in a season is worse than last year

[briny_ear]

22 minutes ago, Thug said:

This is exactly the point.

you shouldn’t have a ‘system’ and reg tk squeeze people into it.

You should see what you have and work the best system for it.

 

Trouble is, suppose you look at what you’ve got and can’t find a system that they could work in?

[Xela]

7 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

54 points in a season is worse than last year

So? 

Progress isn't always delivered in a straight line upwards - last season was good, we had an immense talent playing for us, who carried us most of the time. He sadly went and he's been very tough to replace. 

Gerrard's form this season is better than Smith's from earlier this season and 1 point worse on a very good season last year. Plus Gerrard has only had 12 games so far. Room for improvement no doubt but we're not the mess that some people are trying to portray us as. 

[The Fun Factory]

40 minutes ago, Xela said:

The forum gets more extreme by the month. I am genuinely baffled by the lack of patience and anger in some of the posts tonight. It was never like this when we were crap in the Championship under Bruce or playing dismal eye bleedingly bad football under Lambert. The level of entitlement in some posts now is extreme. I don't understand how we've got to this?

Gerrard has been in charge for 12 games and people are writing him off. 12 games, 17 points - over a season that is 54 points. It's an improvement on our early season form under Smith. I can't understand people questioning the manager so soon into his tenure. The real judgement begins next season for me. 

Peace out everyone  Remember, its just a game and not worth getting upset over.

Well its expectation isn't it? We have 2 billionaire owners and since they have taken over it has been a steady uphill rise. This season was always going to be a challenge after he-shall-not-be-named was sold and we had to completely change how the team played. And then we have sacked the manager and brought in a replacement who has signed 3 new players. The club has partly brought it on itself by clearly mentioning European qualification was the aim this year. After all of the upheaval in the summer another mid table finish was the more likely.

 

Edited February 14, 2022 by The Fun Factory

[Thug]

34 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Trouble is, suppose you look at what you’ve got and can’t find a system that they could work in?

Point taken.

But, you look at cash, and you see the guy can defend, but he can’t cross.

Having him up by the corner flag adds less to the attack than the damage it does to the defence.

[Tomaszk]

2 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Individuals aren't the problem though - we have a system, we've brought in players that fit that system, and that system isn't working. That's the worry.

Glad others are seeing it so I know I'm not losing my marbles.

We've struggled to get the ball out a lot. If anything we've actually got worse.

If we don't improve a lot, it's pure negligence to allow more expensive players to be bought for a system that's shown minimal evidence of working.

Edited February 14, 2022 by Tomaszk

[Keyblade]

It's not very great right now, but I'll reserve judgement on his tenure until he's had a preseason and a summer window of more of his signings under his belt.

Its actually kind of funny how his tenure so far is mirroring Smith's start to our season. Consistently good early performances even if the results weren't matching (Chelsea x2 for Smith, City/Liverpool for Gerrard), great performances against United, scrappy wins against Everton, then performances start becoming inexplicably flat. Feels like something deeper is wrong with this squad, and I hope Gerrard gets time to get to the root of it, just like I wanted Smith to have the same.

[eholm]

7 hours ago, hippo said:

I'm sure they will tweak the formation.

But what coaching/formation/tactics produces our own players bumping into each other as often as they do.?

I think Gerrard’s set up is a very complex one with players constantly having to move into positions that are unnatural to them e.g. our 8s moving into the FB positions. This results in a lot of positional movements to process so maybe the lack of coordination we saw yesterday is due to this. Granted the collisions were when we were in possession but I still think the players are trying to process a lot of tactical info during the game and errors result. 

Part of me thinks our poor set up is still due to a lack of familiarity and that it will takes time to improve.....the other part of me thinks the system is too open for the PL and so needs changing. 

[Demitri_C]

7 hours ago, Zatman said:

Are you actually comparing how Smith got the job? What division did Smith get the Villa job and what division did he leave Villa in?

Im merely  pointing out that why did smith get it who has won nothing in the game get the job,  while a poster said gerrard only one silverware in scotland.

Its ridiculous. Gerrard got the job because the board felt he is the right man just like how they felt smith was the right man.

Smith had no promotions before us in the championship and look how that worked out. It was the right appointment and i have faith given time Gerrard will be a success too

[WallisFrizz]

I have no problem with Gerrard’s appointment, I like him and he has my support. It’s becoming clear that he has a lot to learn though. I wouldn’t mind our set up and play being very predictable if we were very good at what we do but we’re not and at the moment he doesn’t seem to have the answers for that. He also knew how much the Leeds game had taken out of the players physically, had the advantage of watching how Leeds capitulated against Everton and still picked almost the exact same side despite the Leeds performance not being exemplary.

The other thing I am slightly questioning (because I have no idea how the players really view things, I can only speculate) is his man management…the Targett situation being the obvious one. He was clearly a popular player, player POTS last year underperforming this season didn’t suit Gerrards style and just like that he’s shown the door. Yes they will say he wanted to leave but maybe those not playing need to be valued. I wonder how Sanson and Ings are feeling at the moment. It’s one thing Gerrard asking players to run through brick walls for him but that’s a big ask if it’s been made clear that you’re not one of the favourites and on the list to be shipped out asap.

Yesterday was a very bad day at the office but not just for the players. 

[Delphinho123]

We had a very poor Summer window and as a club, we’re paying the price. 

A good January window will help in the long term I’m sure, but the season was always set up for failure. It has been compounded even more by the fact we recruited players for a set system and Gerrard has come in and changed that system making some players redundant.

There needs to be a serious amount of work done in the Summer with this squad and we need to be ruthless. Luiz will leave, and I’m not arsed if we accept offers for McGinn and Watkins. On top of all the money we receive, we probably need to invest 100m on top of that. We need two midfielders, a striker and a centre half as a minimum. 

[sparrow1988]

7 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Because these things might need more patience than fans ( myself.included at times ) are willing to accept, and the league is tougher than we would like to admit?

There are pretty much no " given " points for ANY team in the league anymore, unless you are the likes of City and Liverpool.

I've seen a couple of posters across social media point out that Leeds also looked lethargic and pretty tripe against Everton. Not looking for excuses , but I wonder if that had anything to do with today?

It was a bizarre performance, everything looked off.

I still have a gripe with him for not being proactive enough, and making what I feel were the wrong changes though.

In fairness, how could you be anything else after that game in midweek?

[Jbvilla909]

7 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Because these things might need more patience than fans ( myself.included at times ) are willing to accept, and the league is tougher than we would like to admit?

There are pretty much no " given " points for ANY team in the league anymore, unless you are the likes of City and Liverpool.

I've seen a couple of posters across social media point out that Leeds also looked lethargic and pretty tripe against Everton. Not looking for excuses , but I wonder if that had anything to do with today?

It was a bizarre performance, everything looked off.

I still have a gripe with him for not being proactive enough, and making what I feel were the wrong changes though.

That's why I was surprised he went with the same starting eleven. 

Needed fresh legs imo, although I don't think that was the only reason.

Be interesting to see who he drops for the Watford game...

[Made In Aston]

I wasn't convinced about Gerrard before his appointment and he has yet to do anything to change that view. That said, midtable teams with nothing to play for are notorious for losing to one's who have. Given our position, it is inevitable that performances won't be right up there.