Steven Gerrard

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, Dale said:

I think he hired him based on been a fan of him and his character at Liverpool, thinking it would carry through to being a top coach. More based on personal admiration than friendship. 

To be fair, i'm more open to accepting that this probably played a part, when you put it this way, more than some of the hyperbole.

However, it all comes back down to it being WAY too early to decide if it will be a success or total failure.

I would say the scenario is probably similar between Coutinho and SG.

[DCJonah]

10 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

And you'd know that how? Did we feature on a CNN report?

Good one.

It would be easier to name the managers we've had where the fans didn't turn on them. History shows what normally happens here. 

They inherited the Xia, Bruce mess but really our owners have only really known supportive times with Smith. 

If we don't see improvements and progress I'll be surprised if the fans don't turn. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by DCJonah

[Sam-AVFC]

13 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Think the notion that purslow hired his mate is bloody stupid. 

Why would anyone hire their mate just to have to sack them if it goes wrong. 

This thread makes me want to pull my hair out. 

We need two manager threads, one for all the negative posters and one for the rest. 

Do the people who relentlessly moan about others relentlessly moaning count as negative or "the rest"?

[DCJonah]

15 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Think the notion that purslow hired his mate is bloody stupid. 

Why would anyone hire their mate just to have to sack them if it goes wrong. 

This thread makes me want to pull my hair out. 

We need two manager threads, one for all the negative posters and one for the rest. 

He didn't hire him because he's just his mate. 

I think Purslow believes Gerrard is the next big thing in management, and Smith losing 5 games in a row gave him the perfect opportunity to snatch him up before another club did. I've no doubt Purslow thinks Gerrard is the man to take us back into Europe. 

[Rightdm00]

Any high pressing, high tempo setup needs some time to be implemented. That's pretty difficult to do in the middle of the season. So a proper preseason is critical. Steven didn't get that which makes it hard to judge him fairly on our play so far. 

My issue, as many have stated on here, is the inflexibility. He seems incapable of playing any other setup. Liverpool use it well and Rangers also found success in the SPL. We are a mid-table PL side though. Don't forget Liverpool struggled defensively until they went out and bought arguably #1 CB and GK in world football. This setup requires massive quality at key positions. At Rangers, Steven had that. He is not going to get that level of quality here and that's where I begin to worry. 

What happens if this system continues to not deliver next season. Does he just persist until he is fired. This season he needs to show that he has a plan "B", otherwise giving him a large budget this summer is a massive, massive gamble. 

[El Segundo]

My worry with Gerrard and hs stated desire to bring in a few "finished articles", is that it ends up like Lerner/MON mk II where the coach is given the keys to the bank vault, spends it on a bunch of 28-29 olds, it doesn't work out, and we're left with an expensively assembled but ageing squad with little or no sell on value and not able to cut it in the top 6.   I don't think Gerrard has (yet) proved himself worthy of being trusted with a huge transfer budget in the summer and beyond.  I can't see that he's really taken us forward from where we were under Smith, and I think a really good coach would get more out of the squad we have than he has managed.   I am far from convinced that buying a few finished articles is going to fix the tactical and coaching shortcomings. Surely his job is also to coach unfinished articles to make them better.   I don't think there has been a great deal of evidence of that apart from maybe Nakamba.   

[Zatman]

4 minutes ago, El Segundo said:

My worry with Gerrard and hs stated desire to bring in a few "finished articles", is that it ends up like Lerner/MON mk II where the coach is given the keys to the bank vault, spends it on a bunch of 28-29 olds, it doesn't work out, and we're left with an expensively assembled but ageing squad with little or no sell on value and not able to cut it in the top 6.   I don't think Gerrard has (yet) proved himself worthy of being trusted with a huge transfer budget in the summer and beyond.  I can't see that he's really taken us forward from where we were under Smith, and I think a really good coach would get more out of the squad we have than he has managed.   I am far from convinced that buying a few finished articles is going to fix the tactical and coaching shortcomings. Surely his job is also to coach unfinished articles to make them better.   I don't think there has been a great deal of evidence of that apart from maybe Nakamba.   

Yep this has always been the fear from some on here 

[Zatman]

8 goals conceded in the first 10 minutea so far this season. Also on the management as this should have been addressed ages ago

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

Well I can. My problem isnt with anti-Gerrard fans. My problem is with anti-Gerrard fans before he managed a game and also Dean Smith fanboys.

Did you think Gerrard had the manager resume to be considered for the job? Exclude his playing name in your reasoning.

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, R.Bear said:

We gave Tim Sherwood the job, anyone has a better resume than that.

I don’t disagree, but that low bar doesn’t mean Gerrard gets a pass and under different owners/board.  It also shouldn’t mean in the future than any managerial appointments only have to be better than Sherwood does it.  In the position we were in as a PL team, the clubs infrastructure, the quality of youth, the squad and the rich owners….the managerial appointment, one of the key positions at the club should have better expectations than being better than Sherwood level and I would argue better than a rookie manager.  That’s not being bratty, that’s being reasonable.

[wict01]

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

I assume you have a few members in mind but I won’t ask who, but a lot of the big voices on here are season tickets holders like myself.

Yup, season ticket holder here. And in all the home games so far, I’ve really yet to see a great deal to get excited about, or to make me confident that Gerrard spending £100m this summer is miraculously going to fix all our problems.

As others have said, the real fear behind this “success now” approach is that we end up exactly where we were back in 2010/11 with Habib Beye and Steven Warnock picking up mega wages despite being **** useless. 
 

Smith was beaten with the stick of this squad being good enough for Europe, so why now is 4 wins since the turn of year deemed sufficient? At some point before this season is over, Gerrard is going to have to get something resembling a tune out of what he’s already got without just shrugging and saying “check back after I’ve spent another £100m” 

[Rustibrooks]

So I’ve slept on it and I’ve calmed down a bit after yesterday. After watching the City vs Liverpool, I can say the whole prem are miles away from these two! I can see what Gerrard wants to do with the team. I can see we don’t have the players for that style of play yet. I do also think that he should adapt to a style that suits the majority, especially if you will get rid of some of these lot. One of the problems right now is that the players have checked out for the rest of the season. Now I think it’s a mixture of them not getting used to the system/don’t feel comfortable in it. Or they know they will be getting sold so can’t be bothered to put in the effort. I do think it’s more of the latter. In my opinion. 

I’m not Gerrard out at all right now, I think he should be given the chance to get the players he wants in. It’s only fair to him, like a few have said the problems we have now are the same problems Smith had at the start of this season and at times during his Premier League tenure. 

[Jareth]

No point judging him now - he’s not there to make the best of things - he’s there to oversee an expensive rebuild - looking forward to next season but man do we need this one to end quickly. 

[PerryBarrPet]

9 minutes ago, hippo said:

Don't know. Personally I don't think players do check out. I was responding to the point raised as a reason for a dip in form.

The effort was certainly there yesterday IMO. And whilst I'm not a Stevie G fan - I don't think lack of effort from the players has been an issue during his time here.

I agree with you on our current players but I can assure you I have seen players check out in the past. Whilst lack of effort from the current squad may not be an issue their collective quality certainly is. I am not a Gerrard supporter (or critic)  because it’s far too early to say ( it took me a while to accept Ron Saunders!) but it is clear that some of our players are not “top” and never will be whoever manages them so number one is to sort the squad, number two judge the manager. Second guessing what a manager will/could/might do in the future plays no objective part in taking action now to push our club forward.

[blandy]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

big long balls, deep in to our area, just have us running to the **** house

That’s coaching, completely.  We’re not, er,  short of height, nor bereft of pace at the back. It’s almost completely down to how the team is set up. You look at how in our first season back up, when we had the national lockdown and break in the season, the manager worked on changing our defensive play, and it made a huge difference to our vulnerability.  Now Gerrard hasn’t had the luxury of a break like that, but he’s had international breaks, been able to bring players in, including 2 defenders and been here for 20+ games.

There are a multitude of ways to address that weakness, either via defending deeper, or via him having a midfielder sit deeper all the time, or via how the fullbacks play - change the system, play to the strengths of the squad. It’s stuff like that that ought to be unacceptable for a manager to fail to address over time. “The players aren’t good enough, I want new ones” and “ Tyrone might have the captaincy given to someone else” are exactly the wrong type of messages at this time.

[romavillan]

44 minutes ago, Jareth said:

he’s there to oversee an expensive rebuild

That's not how it was framed when he came in at all. Back then it was Smith was under performing with a squad that was top 8 class and Gerrard was coming in to sort that out.

[Steero113]

7 hours ago, TRO said:

big long balls, deep in to our area

[PerryBarrPet]

5 minutes ago, romavillan said:

That's not how it was framed when he came in at all. Back then it was Smith was under performing with a squad that was top 8 class and Gerrard was coming in to sort that out.

Where did you get this? The squad under Smith was not performing but, for me, the reason for change was that Smith was not the right man to take the club forward long term. Top 8 claims were no more than wishful thinking expressed by some fans being stoked up by opportunistic journalists. This squad is not, nor ever has been, top 8 quality. The challenge now is “the big leap forward” - very difficult and very risky but if we don’t try nothing will change.

[Made In Aston]

28 minutes ago, romavillan said:

That's not how it was framed when he came in at all. Back then it was Smith was under performing with a squad that was top 8 class and Gerrard was coming in to sort that out.

Gerrard seems now to have convinced the hierarchy that an expensive rebuild is required. I'm not convinced and feels like he is just making excuses to paper the cracks over his tactical naivety.

Presently it is because he 'doesn't have the players', poor form at the start of next season will be down to 'the players needing time to gel' then the next poor run of form will be due to still not having the right players, and so on until he gets sacked. He will make out we are a work in progress whenever we underperforme to give himself some time. The reality is he may just not be a very good manager. 

Edited April 10, 2022 by Made In Aston

[tinker]

8 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

This squad is not, nor ever has been, top 8 quality. The challenge now is “the big leap forward” - very difficult and very risky but if we don’t try nothing will change.

While I agree in principle, not top 8 quality,  this team has looked capable of beating the top 6 teams and did so on a few occasions last season. The drop in form was  understandable given we lost arguably the best player we have in 20 years.

But we have replaced him with more quality in the final third Bailey and Coutinho in Smith's system would be affective, more affective than Grealish and Bert and Trez were last season, maybe ? Add to that Ings and Buendia and it's a vast improvement in attacking options.

We have  Sansom who's not been given a real chance either and to top it all we are praying for Nakamba to come back save us! We have made stupid errors that have cost us goals and now we are bringing Nakamba back to solve it! It's not the Nakamba I have watched over the last few seasons because he had more than a few errors in his game. Has Gerrard seen him play previous to him coming in?