Steven Gerrard

[VillaParkAvenue]

1 hour ago, rodders0223 said:

Palace pressing Arsenal to death at 3-0 up whilst Gerrard sets his stall out for a 0-0 at home.

Arsenal have been great this season but they are vulnerable to a high press. The problem for Villa is we don’t press high - it’s a strategic decision not to (and it doesn’t suit all teams to do so).

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

5 hours ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

 New managers are expected to improve the team they inherit, no matter if it’s Chelsea, Spurs or Leeds.

”I haven’t brought in my own players yet” is rarely accepted as an excuse.

But then if I point out that we improved when he first came in, it is just down to " New Manager Bounce ".

Then if I point out that he changed the system when we had a bad run and then we won 3 on the spin impressively , it's because " He needed results, so chose to not play his preferred system "

Then If I point out that statistically we have improved since he's come in, and in the table, whilst coming from 16th, it will be " But look at the players we have "

And if we finish higher than we did last year,  but on 44 - 50 points, you'll then say " but Deano got more points last season " ( Even though he had a full three years to build his team, and the current manager took over from behind ".

Then if we finish in the same.position as we did last year, you'll say that " A team with Philip **** Coutinho in it " should be finishing top 8 minimum. 

Mind you, it's the same Coutinho we wouldn't have gotten in the first place if we didn't have this Manager, and the same Coutinho people moan about being " a mate signing " when he has a poor game.

People are genuinely bizarre, anyone coming onto a Villa forum for the first time will have thought we were excellent and then got a manager in who has totally ruined everything and has been absolute shite since coming here.

Based on the posts, we should have already been in the relegation zone consistently since he took over.

Even though the facts say different. Lol

There is no winning for the bloke here, I've already stated the conclusion a multitude of times. It's obvious.

People have legit even gone as far as predicting the future of our demise almost with authority as well

Edited April 5, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[TRO]

7 hours ago, og1874 said:

I never said they did, just that I'm not sure why we use (both under Dean and Gerrard) a system that doesn't really make the most of wingers, particularly when it seems like all we bought were wingers for window after window. I don't think we have the midfield to solely rely on the full backs/wing backs for width, it drags the middle apart and makes us very easy to play through.

we haven't got the midfield to play any system...and that remains the issue.

[paul514]

27 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

But the if I point out that we improved when he first came in, it is just down to " New Manager Bounce ".

Then if I point out that he changed the system when we had a bad run and then we won 3 on the spin impressively , it's because " He needed results, so chose to not play his preferred system "

Then If I point out that statistically we have improved since he's come in, and in the table, whilst coming from 16th, it will be " But look at the players we have "

And if we finish higher than we did last year,  but on 44 - 50 points, you'll then say " but Deano got more points last season " ( Even though he had a full three years to build his team, and the current manager took over from behind ".

Then if we finish in the same.position as we did last year, you'll say that " A team with Philip **** Coutinho in it " should be finishing top 8 minimum. 

Mind you, it's the same Coutinho we wouldn't have gotten in the first place if we didn't have this Manager, and the same Coutinho people moan about being " a mate signing " when he has a poor game.

People are genuinely bizarre, anyone coming onto a Villa forum for the first time will have thought we were excellent and then got a manager in who has totally ruined everything and has been absolute shite since coming here.

Based on the posts, we should have already been in the relegation zone consistently since he took over.

Even though the facts say different. Lol

There is no winning for the bloke here, I've already stated the conclusion aultitude of times. It's obvious.

People have legit even gone as far as predicting the future of our demise almost with authority as well

The person you are replying to is right.

A new manager is supposed to improve the output of what he has got.

A modern thinking club is supposed to play a certain way in a certain formation as that is why players have been brought and in a time where you are signing the average player for 15/20 million quid and then paying them the average wage over 4 years of 12m that is a heck of a lot of money you are committing to.

You don't just go and change everything about how you play and go yea I need a whole load of new players.

[TRO]

SG must be sitting there, watching us play and thinking, in my day, I could run straight through this midfield.....he must be thinking that.

[Zatman]

7 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

There is no winning for the bloke here, I've already stated the conclusion a multitude of times. It's obvious.

Really not true, you make it sound like people want Villa to fail. Nobody trusts him and not sure what Smith 3 years keeps getting brought up. Smith earned his time. Gerrard hasnt

 Palace destroyed Arsenal last night and we didnt even try to play against them. They had Jordan Ayew, we had Phillipe Coutinho 

Of course people are going to be pissed

[Zatman]

56 minutes ago, picicata said:

Whilst you certainly need all that, as you say, I think the players are confused and probably demotivated by the system Gerrard is imposing. Playing with the 8s dropping into full back roles, high full backs, no wingers and all forwards occupying a very small area of the top of the pitch has completely thrown them all off their game. I think the players are thinking, and worrying, way too much about their positions and not allowing their natural games to flow.

To then have your manager come out and call you a bunch of losers who need replacing probably doesn't help with motivation and belief.

I do think he is quickly losing the dressing room or some players in it

[El Segundo]

I recall when we hired Gerrard some pundit who focused on Rangers said we should be prepared to see football more influenced by Benitez's pragmatic style than anything else.  I can kind of see why he said that now.  I think SG has done ok but have some concerns.  The insistence on playing out from the back even when it's obvious a team is pressing us into errors and when the players look very uncomfortable with it.  I don't think our defenders and midfielders are good enough on the ball to play that way against a good pressing team. 

When we do go forward it's often too slow and laborious, giving teams time to organise themselves behind the ball. I don't understand why we don't mix it up a bit with some fast breaks and one touch stuff.  We have players like Bailey, Ramsey  and Ollie who could thrive with that kid of approach.    

But the thing I really dislike is this absence of width.  Ok it's supposed to be provided by the full backs but then you need really top notch full backs.  Even then if the opposition decides to play two wingers high up the pitch, the full back are either pinned back (see Young v Sako) and there's no width at all, or the gaps are exploited if the midfielders don't cover - which they often don't - see the many breakaways from Wolves.  A bit of tactical flexibility would be nice.

There are other frustrating issues - a seeming lack of urgency, a frequent reluctance to play the ball forwards when there is a safer ball backwards or sideways, a lack of movement up front which has been an issue for years, giving too much respect to some teams instead of getting at them.   These are things that good coaching can and should fix.      

I'm also not sure about SG's stated desire to bring in "finished articles" as opposed to promising younger talent.  It might work to boost us into the top 6 or 7, but it might not, and then leave us with a lot of older expensive players on very high salaries if it doesn't work and /or SG moves on. 

Jury is still out on SG for me.  

      

[picicata]

30 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I do think he is quickly losing the dressing room or some players in it

I think that's the danger. If we are to stick with him then he needs six new first 11 players (one CB, three Midfielders, one number 10 and a striker) as well as a few squad additions (RB,LB and GK).

If he gets all that to enable him to play how he wants to then you'd hope what would be an almost entire new team would be right behind him. Obviously bringing in so many new players has its own dangers.

Edited April 5, 2022 by picicata

[IrishVilla10]

1 hour ago, picicata said:

Whilst you certainly need all that, as you say, I think the players are confused and probably demotivated by the system Gerrard is imposing. Playing with the 8s dropping into full back roles, high full backs, no wingers and all forwards occupying a very small area of the top of the pitch has completely thrown them all off their game. I think the players are thinking, and worrying, way too much about their positions and not allowing their natural games to flow.

To then have your manager come out and call you a bunch of losers who need replacing probably doesn't help with motivation and belief.

Normally I’m against this kind of thing, but we were having issues with these players under smith. It gets to the stage people need calling out, having a nice dressing room and environment got us nowhere so I’m at the stage if Gerrard demands players start performing or he’ll get players who will, so be it. It might blow up in our faces, but maybe he’s onto something. I don’t agree with plenty of things he’s done so far, but I still want to see how things look next season. 

[jacketspuds]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

SG must be sitting there, watching us play and thinking, in my day, I could run straight through this midfield.....he must be thinking that.

He probably still could run straight through our midfield.

[hippo]

32 minutes ago, picicata said:

I think that's the danger. If we are to stick with him then he needs six new first 11 players (one CB, three Midfielders, one number 10 and a striker) as well as a few squad additions (RB,LB and GK).

If he gets all that to enable him to play how he wants to then you'd hope what would be an almost entire new team would be right behind him. Obviously bringing in so many new players has its own dangers.

I always thing lost the dressing room is a bit over dramatic.

However my concern is that if these group of players aren't on board with what Stevie G  wants - whats to say any new incumbents will be ? 

 

[CVByrne]

I suppose we can take some positives that we've won 11 games this season and we've had some calamity errors when we've conceded many goals this season. Some of that's bad luck and some is our own doing. We've also only lost by more than one goal once under Gerrard and that's the 3-1 loss away to Chelsea.

What the bad vibes about the club are doing however. It'll impact how our summer transfer window goes. We'll struggle to sign some of the top targets now. While there is also a lot of pressure from the get go next season. If we have a bad start the boos will be as loud as they've ever been at VP.

I am thinking myself to just reassess where the club is going if we fail to see the progress on the pitch next season. 3 seasons of floating around mid table is enough for me to give up on any aspirations and just accept our place and not invest so much emotionally in every game anymore

 

Edited April 5, 2022 by CVByrne

[paul514]

6 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

I suppose we can take some positives that we've won 11 games this season and we've had some calamity errors when we've conceded many goals this season. Some of that's bad luck and some is our own doing. We've also only lost by more than one goal once under Gerrard and that's the 3-1 loss away to Chelsea.

What the bad vibes about the club are doing however. It'll impact how our summer transfer window goes. We'll struggle to sign some of the top targets now. While there is also a lot of pressure from the get go next season. If we have a bad start the boos will be as loud as they've ever been at VP.

I am thinking myself to just reassess where the club is going if we fail to see the progress on the pitch next season. 3 seasons of floating around mid table is enough for me to give up on any aspirations and just accept our place and not invest so much emotionally in every game anymore

 

Which is why I think so much energy has been lacking from the crowd this year at VP, the fans don't believe things will continually get better anymore

[Reivax_Villa]

I am caught between two sides.

I am trying to reserve my judgment until Spring next season.

But with what Gerrard is trying to build so far, I don’t like the look of it. We look far more imbalanced than we did with Dean Smith.

Coutinho has been a blessing but realistically he is a luxury player and our foundation at the moment is not as strong as we thought.

This summer and Pre Season is going to be very interesting indeed.

I just don’t want us to end up like Everton..

Edited April 5, 2022 by Reivax_Villa

[Zhan_Zhuang]

I think Gerrard calling out the players is a good thing, some of them have been dining out on Villa for years.

If the players aren't strong enough to take that criticism and improve they will go.

To be fair I want to like our players but when I see them make the same mistakes, continue to be woefully inconsistent it is difficult to stick up for them.

Gerrard has been strong enough to 'wield the axe' already with a few.

it's usual that any new manager gets some time to implement and have at least three transfer windows before truly judging them. However I feel it will be a big summer and he'll know Villa will need to start the season strong next time!

[CVByrne]

11 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Which is why I think so much energy has been lacking from the crowd this year at VP, the fans don't believe things will continually get better anymore

Yeah, the capitulation last season, then Jack leaving, then Dean sacked and now more of the same performances under Gerrard. With the investment made in this squad we should be in the top 7 yet we aren't. We are nowhere close to that

[The_Steve]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

I do think he is quickly losing the dressing room or some players in it

He really isnt - so many players speak highly of him. 
 

Those winds of discontent are those gone come the summer. 

[CVByrne]

10 minutes ago, Reivax_Villa said:

I am caught between two sides.

I am trying to reserve my judgment until Spring next season.

But with what Gerrard is trying to build so far, I don’t like the look of it. We look far more imbalanced than we did with Dean Smith.

Coutinho has been a blessing but realistically he is a luxury player and our foundation at the moment is not as strong as we thought.

This summer and Pre Season is going to be very interesting indeed.

I just don’t want us to end up like Everton..

I'm holding my judgement until I see if we can land Phillips or Bissouma. Failure to get either means we're shopping in the 3rd and 4th choice players and we're now cemented as a mid table side.

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

I think Gerrard calling out the players is a good thing, some of them have been dining out on Villa for years.

Sorry I dont buy this, some of them might not be good enough but they are not a bunch of freeloaders. The days of Gabby, McCormack are gone

Not one player I would accuse of not pulling the weight. The management team on the other hand are making the players vulnerable by playing a shit system