Steven Gerrard

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It will all come together. Have faith.

Good that you see it and Hopefully you are right. I have zero faith it will

[picicata]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It will all come together. Have faith.

Is that blind faith? 

[VillaChris]

4.5m is still 100k a week so not a bad pension fund for Roy!

Especially when it's only likely 3 months work and he'll likely have a survival bonus factored in.

Surprised Gerrard's is that low given his reputation, prising him mid season and what we spend on players. Guess he was on about 2.5m at Rangers so we just did a double your money offer to tempt him.

[Philosopher]

The tacti

4 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Nah mate I get your point, but what is the solution to that?

If they play worse from the middle, because they " like to run off the left " then they might as well play off the left?

Who then does the " striking " ?. The 10's or the CMs I guess?

The tactic last season was Ollie would drift out to the left (where the CD wouldn't want to follow), to receive the ball, Jack would be first to him to receive the ball, then Ollie would move to a centre left position, or hold the left position if Jack went down the left channel (area between LB and LCB). We aimed to overload the left to create more oppourtunities to get Jack on the ball and more support for Jack to work his magic.

We can do similar with Coutinho, but we'd essentially have the same limitation as last season. We also have two big money signings that operate on the right. I don't see why we can't get Ollie to do similar to last season only split his runs between left and right. So drift right sometimes and drift left others.

Maybe Gerrard is trying to do this, but Ollie hasn't got the hang of it yet! The other thing is Ollie was disrupted by injury and having to work on learning to play with Ings (before Gerrard arrived), so i'm pretty sure this is something to do with it. Up until recently even though he wasn't scoring many goals his performances when played on his own were typically hard working ones with good team contributions.

[string28]

The fact we seem to lost the ball so much is more of a worry and our passing is shocking at times i thought SG would of fixed this.

[VillanousOne]

4 minutes ago, string28 said:

The fact we seem to lost the ball so much is more of a worry and our passing is shocking at times i thought SG would of fixed this.

he did, our passing and ball retention was much better, but now we are somehow playing in a way that largely bypasses the midfield completely, moves the defence too far forward so we are vulnerable on the counter and leaves our forwards completely marked out of the game and isolated.

At the start he had us working hard and our passing stats were much better, but we lacked pace and cutting edge in attack, although that was down to the horrid Ings and Watkins mismatch (on some occasions). Now we don't work hard, we don't attack with pace and all the talent in midfield is bypassed and defence hung out to dry.

Aside from Nakamba he will have a fully fit squad to choose from, so the excuses have to end soon.

[VillaParkAvenue]

10 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

he did, our passing and ball retention was much better, but now we are somehow playing in a way that largely bypasses the midfield completely, moves the defence too far forward so we are vulnerable on the counter and leaves our forwards completely marked out of the game and isolated.

At the start he had us working hard and our passing stats were much better, but we lacked pace and cutting edge in attack, although that was down to the horrid Ings and Watkins mismatch (on some occasions). Now we don't work hard, we don't attack with pace and all the talent in midfield is bypassed and defence hung out to dry.

Aside from Nakamba he will have a fully fit squad to choose from, so the excuses have to end soon.

At the start, we also played mostly difficult teams which meant we had very little possession. Often just over 30 percent. We mainly sat back in a mid-low narrow block and defended for long periods.

Lately, we’ve felt the need to go forward and play ball. And the huge spaces have appeared.

[VillanousOne]

13 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

At the start, we also played mostly difficult teams which meant we had very little possession. Often just over 30 percent. We mainly sat back in a mid-low narrow block and defended for long periods.

Lately, we’ve felt the need to go forward and play ball. And the huge spaces have appeared.

True. 

I just hope now Bailey is back he tries to add some width to the attack and we finally drop Luiz or McGinn.

[Sam-AVFC]

1 hour ago, VillaChris said:

4.5m is still 100k a week so not a bad pension fund for Roy!

Especially when it's only likely 3 months work and he'll likely have a survival bonus factored in.

Surprised Gerrard's is that low given his reputation, prising him mid season and what we spend on players. Guess he was on about 2.5m at Rangers so we just did a double your money offer to tempt him.

For living past Easter?

[TRO]

10 hours ago, hippo said:

He has taken over such a squad as you say. But in Digne + Coutinho he has added £65m of talent to it. With little effect in terms of results he has also had a mini pre season (his words) to work with the players.

If it all come together between May and August then great but that looks optimistic to me.

Hippo, we had a good start and I am as surprised as anyone, its got to this....

I hope this slump, is a mini one......but I am as sure as hell surprised, in one way, but not in other ways.

I was rather hoping SG could impose his character on the team, but so far, I am wrong.....however, there are still games to play, so hopefully they play out of it.

[maqroll]

10 hours ago, Chicken Field said:

A thing that I find is happening too me, and probably most Gerrard doubters, is that we never wanted Gerrard in the first place. As petty and stupid as it seems, for a manager to be given a time to develop, he must be desired in the first place. 

This does not mean Gerrard wont be supported, but patience will run thin much quicker. Much like a lesser version of Benitez at Everton. I really wish directors and owners would consider the fans reactions to a new manager before hiring, because as much as peole like to act otherwise, it is important and effects the genera feeling, patience etc around the club. Its especially important when we are talking about a young manager who is still developing. 

 

Absolutr best case i see with gerrard, is that he leaves for liverpool, he wont even have to do a particularly good job for that too happen, look at solskjær and Lampard. Ridiculous appointment imo

I fear that if this run gets worse, it will start to get a little ugly and that just breeds instability, i.e. Man Utd.

The Brighton game is important. I think people can forgive a loss as long as the commitment is there and the performances are improved. But another crap team performance will start to sour people.

[Demitri_C]

Shows what a disaster saturdays result was. Getting battered by bloody palace and we lose at home to them.

Massive massive improvement needed against brighton. A collective look at ourselves and pick ourselves up.

[Vive_La_Villa]

9 hours ago, picicata said:

Is that blind faith? 

Probably. I remember very similar discussions in the first few months of Smiths reign after the new manager bounce. We really did look awful.

[DaveAV1]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Probably. I remember very similar discussions in the first few months of Smiths reign after the new manager bounce. We really did look awful.

That’s very true. The style of Dean was so different to Bruce that after the initial bounce the players took time to adapt. If you look at Arteta at Arsenal it’s taken him probably a year to impose the style he wanted  on the players. I lost count how many times he was nailed on to be sacked last season and at the start of this season, now they’re a different team. 
 

We don’t really know if SG can turn it around or not, but we know that these things take time. 

[hippo]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

Hippo, we had a good start and I am as surprised as anyone, its got to this....

I hope this slump, is a mini one......but I am as sure as hell surprised, in one way, but not in other ways.

I was rather hoping SG could impose his character on the team, but so far, I am wrong.....however, there are still games to play, so hopefully they play out of it.

I actually think we can beat Brighton. There slow ponderous build up should suit us and they don't score many goals.

[QldVilla]

Some seem to ignore the psychological part of a new tactic and being accepted and understood by each player.

If you want something simple, then it will be learnt quickly, something as intricate as Gerrard’s tactics take a long time to be established and each player will understand their roles at different speeds.

How Gerrard and his coaching staff deliver messages will also be a challenge as they have to learn how each player accepts information.

It may all be gobble gook to most fans but that is modern day coaching, anything worthwhile anyway.

[hippo]

8 minutes ago, QldVilla said:

Some seem to ignore the psychological part of a new tactic and being accepted and understood by each player.

If you want something simple, then it will be learnt quickly, something as intricate as Gerrard’s tactics take a long time to be established and each player will understand their roles at different speeds.

How Gerrard and his coaching staff deliver messages will also be a challenge as they have to learn how each player accepts information.

It may all be gobble gook to most fans but that is modern day coaching, anything worthwhile anyway.

Thing is the only track record of SG implementing this system successfully was in a far weaker Scottish League.

I just don't see it working - especially if SG wants a major rebuild in the summer. If that's what is required to push on I would rather an experienced coach did it - than someone with less than a full season managing in the PL

[CVByrne]

We've had issues with individual errors leading to goals and trouble breaking down teams who sit deep and block. We also lack a proper CDM so are vulnerable in transition / counter. We've our CFs out of form which isn't helping matters. 

It really isn't a time to panic. West Ham and Spurs aren't in good form right now either for example. We will probably do better against teams who want to win games rather than those wanting to nick a point or goal to win like Newcastle and Watford. 

I do feel we need to work on how we attack from the wide areas better. Crosses into the box aren't yielding anything. Also we've not been dangerous at all from the over 20 corners we've had in the last 3 games. That needs to improve as the delivery has been poor.

We did dominate possession and shots against Watford. When we made subs to try win it they hit us on the counter. Those things happen. 

[Zatman]

7 hours ago, maqroll said:

I fear that if this run gets worse, it will start to get a little ugly and that just breeds instability, i.e. Man Utd.

The Brighton game is important. I think people can forgive a loss as long as the commitment is there and the performances are improved. But another crap team performance will start to sour people.

The commitment is there from the players, its the poorly designed system thats the problem

If anybody not showing commitment its the manager sulking in his chair for the last 5 minutes of both games

[QldVilla]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

Thing is the only track record of SG implementing this system successfully was in a far weaker Scottish League.

I just don't see it working - especially if SG wants a major rebuild in the summer. If that's what is required to push on I would rather an experienced coach did it - than someone with less than a full season managing in the PL

It’s easy to diminish the Scottish league, some act like Ronald MacDonald could manage either of the big clubs and win, reality is he wouldn’t last to Xmas. People were also writing off Postecoglu at the start of the season at Celtic, there now on top of the ladder.

They all do the same coaching licenses.

Some good managers have come from the league over the years and no different from appointing a promising manager from the Championship. His playing CV is just far superior.

I wasn’t a fan of SG’s appointment, but he’s convinced me it’s worth being patient. He may not be successful in the end, but I’m going to give him the time to show it.

Some Villa Fans have a history of writing people off and labelling them far to early, whether a player or coach.