Steven Gerrard

[AvonVillain]

1 minute ago, lexicon said:

Isn't that what people are doing? We didn't get a shot on target yesterday. 

...at home over 90+ minutes against a team who'd played Thursday evening. Criticism is as merited as it expected.

[CVByrne]

tbf the stat about shots was wrong. Watkins shot was on target and took a deflection onto the post

[AntrimBlack]

26 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

The interviewer was repeating everything he said to be fair. Which would annoy anyone. Gerrard was assertive not abusive. It ended with a handshake and smile. It was a benign interaction really. Who has he thrown under the bus? If the players down tools from some relatively soft criticism than they are not the type we need to move forward. 

People are waiting to jump on Gerrard for anything. Give him a break. FFS. Just judge him on performances and results, if he fails then he is gone and your wishes come true.

This is the sort of thing I object to. I want Gerrard to be successful because that means that Aston Villa are successful. But we are perfectly entitled to judge him on performances and results.

If you have an opinion, you are free to voice it, but this sort of remark is not helpful.

[lexicon]

2 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

tbf the stat about shots was wrong. Watkins shot was on target and took a deflection onto the post

Isn't that a blocked shot?

[Indigo]

I don't doubt that there are certain players that can and will be upgraded upon, but I think it's a bit cheap to be digging them out when it isn't as though yesterday was some one-off occurrence where it was clear that it was solely down to them not doing what he wanted. He played a system where we've previously struggled to have any form of control of games or ability to play out from the back with and stuck with one or two out of form players in the process.

I massively rate this Araenal team and think they've gone largely underrated because of how relatively poor they've been in the last couple of seasons, but to have a colossal struggle getting out of our own half against them at home until they decided to sit in speaks more to getting tactically undone to me than it does certain individuals failing to pull their weight. 

[Villa_Vids]

26 minutes ago, AntrimBlack said:

This is the sort of thing I object to. I want Gerrard to be successful because that means that Aston Villa are successful. But we are perfectly entitled to judge him on performances and results.

If you have an opinion, you are free to voice it, but this sort of remark is not helpful.

Duly noted. I retract it. I overstepped the mark. 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by Villa_Vids

[VillaParkAvenue]

10 minutes ago, Indigo said:

I don't doubt that there are certain players that can and will be upgraded upon, but I think it's a bit cheap to be digging them out when it isn't as though yesterday was some one-off occurrence where it was clear that it was solely down to them not doing what he wanted. He played a system where we've previously struggled to have any form of control of games or ability to play out from the back with and stuck with one or two out of form players in the process.

I massively rate this Araenal team and think they've gone largely underrated because of how relatively poor they've been in the last couple of seasons, but to have a colossal struggle getting out of our own half against them at home until they decided to sit in speaks more to getting tactically undone to me than it does certain individuals failing to pull their weight. 

I’m happy as long as Arsenal continue with Ramsdale. He ensures they’ll never challenge for the title.

[VillanousOne]

1 hour ago, Tom13 said:

I'll tell you this, if he continues getting ultra defensive when anyone questions him, and continues throwing players under the bus, he'll lose the dressing room sooner than you'd think.

someone can probably just show him where it is, or draw him a map to get back there

[nick76]

52 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

someone can probably just show him where it is, or draw him a map to get back there

I think there are also signs on the doors to help people.

[Demitri_C]

I know its early days, but i seriously cannot see him leaving ua for liverpool. His style of play i dont think will go down well there. Plop woll look at a bigger and more established name. 

Unless of course gerarrd does a absolutely remarkable job here. 

[hippo]

3 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I know its early days, but i seriously cannot see him leaving ua for liverpool. His style of play i dont think will go down well there. Plop woll look at a bigger and more established name. 

Unless of course gerarrd does a absolutely remarkable job here. 

Not sure myself. I think anything approaching decent here the clamour from Anfield will prove too much.

[USA_Villa]

8 hours ago, Demitri_C said:

How are you not seeing a upgrade? We were 16th before he came and in top half?

I've seen an upgrade in personnel with Coutinho and Digne. What I'm not seeing is an upgrade in tactics. Substitutions still seem baffling, and playing one upfront and allowing Arsenal to walk to the half way line for 80 minutes was dumbfounding. 

We beat poorer teams because we have better players. 

 

[lexicon]

23 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

I know its early days, but i seriously cannot see him leaving ua for liverpool. His style of play i dont think will go down well there. Plop woll look at a bigger and more established name. 

Unless of course gerarrd does a absolutely remarkable job here. 

He's got a very long way to go as a manager before that day might come. 

What's weird is that he's managed 212 games yet he feels really inexperienced still. 

[AvonVillain]

57 minutes ago, lexicon said:

What's weird is that he's managed 212 games yet he feels really inexperienced still. 

Think it's the difference between managing in Scotland and one of the toughest leagues in the world. If he fails here, and there's little evidence so far that he won't be yet another manager chewed up and reputationally destroyed at Villa, it's difficult to see where Gerrard turns next unless it's further down the leagues, which is probably what he should have opted for after Rangers.

[lexicon]

8 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Think it's the difference between managing in Scotland and one of the toughest leagues in the world. If he fails here, and there's little evidence so far that he won't be yet another manager chewed up and reputationally destroyed at Villa, it's difficult to see where Gerrard turns next unless it's further down the leagues, which is probably what he should have opted for after Rangers.

He's got enough of a name to get a lower prem job, I'd imagine. Look at Lampard - he somehow managed to get the Everton gig. 

[AvonVillain]

8 minutes ago, lexicon said:

He's got enough of a name to get a lower prem job, I'd imagine. Look at Lampard - he somehow managed to get the Everton gig. 

Lampard, arguably, did a very good job at Chelsea though at least initially in difficult circumstances, and did a brilliant job at Derby. What's sort of frustrating is that it seems Gerrard got the Villa job by name alone. Would we really have poached an inexperienced manager from Rangers in the same circumstances if it wasn't for this? Seems unlikely. At least Leicester with Rogers and even Villa when employing Martin O'Neill had CVs of note to consider which included success in Scotland.

The more you think about it the more it seems like total madness. REALLY hope it works, obvs, not least because I'm tiring of the constant cycle of rubbish and the increasingly rare moments of joy despite being one of the richest clubs in world football.

[AntrimBlack]

3 hours ago, Villa_Vids said:

Duly noted. I retract it. I overstepped the mark. 

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 hours ago, USA_Villa said:

 We beat poorer teams because we have better players. 

 

So now, the system change, tactics and subs had nothing to with the wins?

What about the poorer teams we lost to? 

We simply won because we have better players. It appears we've never needed a manager after all.

We just need to buy players better than the other teams, and let them get on with it 

 

Edited March 20, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[nick76]

23 minutes ago, AvonVillain said:

Lampard, arguably, did a very good job at Chelsea though at least initially in difficult circumstances, and did a brilliant job at Derby. What's sort of frustrating is that it seems Gerrard got the Villa job by name alone. Would we really have poached an inexperienced manager from Rangers in the same circumstances if it wasn't for this? Seems unlikely. At least Leicester with Rogers and even Villa when employing Martin O'Neill had CVs of note to consider which included success in Scotland.

The more you think about it the more it seems like total madness. REALLY hope it works, obvs, not least because I'm tiring of the constant cycle of rubbish and the increasingly rare moments of joy despite being one of the richest clubs in world football.

I didn’t want Gerrard for all the points you mention and many more.  

I’m on the Gerrard train now because he’s our manager and I always dream big when it’s the Villa.  

For me, it’s too early to say he is an upgrade, the same or worse.  

It’s also too early to say whether he’s going to be a success or failure.

I don’t see any of his personality at all in the team but again it’s too early and we’ll see next season.

My fears during his appointment haven’t faded in the slightest.

I get the 8th position in terms of points since he took over, which is great but what I’m seeing on the pitch is Jekyll and Hyde stuff.  I don’t see Gerrard’s words, interviews etc translating on the pitch even when we win.  The wins have been great, stylish and convincing but our other games have just been poor.  It just feels like Dean Smith performances, I don’t see the difference and yes I understand the 8th position thing but there can be arguments why that is.

I think it well too early to see whether Gerrard is or will be a success or failure, and whether my original fears were justified.  I want to see his personality in the team, at the moment i feel like it’s Smith’s team and performances with somebody standing in for him on the side of the pitch.

Gerrard needs more time, his own players and stamp his identity on this team.  At the moment I am surprised we aren’t seeing more of his mentality in the players or the play.

[VillanousOne]

I don't know if Gerrard will be the answer for us, he certainly wasn't my choice to follow Dean. But at the same time I can see some positives since he joined and a lot of negatives and things that don't make sense. The jekyl and hyde nature of our performances just matches our position in the table, mid table teams are inconsistent and you are dealing with clubs that have been spending 20-80 mil every transfer window above you. Our investment has been high but we spent a lot of time in the Championship whilst other clubs pumped huge amounts of investment into their squads.

One observation is that the only way we ever seemed to get wins over the teams above us with Dean, was fairly low possession, high pace counter attacking football. But it often meant we lost a lot of games against teams you would think we should be beating.

With Coutinho signed I get why Steve wants better possession and us to pass and move better and it feels like half of the team are on board, but half just aren't suited to it. The midfield as many have pointed out remains our weakest and most unbalanced area of the squad.

As much as we've moved away from wingers, we still have over 50 mils worth of wide players in Bailey and Traore (even Buendia could play a wide role). Cash and Digne don't suit the wing back roles and neither does Young.

Steve either accepts he does not yet have the players he needs to play the way he wants and puts that right in the summer and instead tries to get the best out of the players he does have and trial different elevens and tactics. Or he keeps flogging the same dead horse in the vain hope the players might learn and be able to play the system he wants to deploy. Telling us the players haven't been good enough then picking the same eleven is utterly baffling.

If he remains stubborn and defiant and it keeps bringing out gutless performances where we get steam rolled easily, he won't last the season.

Edited March 20, 2022 by VillanousOne