Steven Gerrard

[Davkaus]

One wonders why we bothered loaning Coutinho for 6 months if this squad is so irredeemable this is the best we can do.

[hippo]

13 minutes ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

I’m quite sure Gerrard will never manage Liverpool. Not even if he finishes 6th with Villa and does well in Europa League.

The way Liverpool are run, I’m sure they will go after the best coach in world football when Klopp leaves. Ideally they’ll want another visionary. They won’t give the job to a club legend on sentimental grounds, especially not one basing his own philosophy largely on Klopp’s.

I disagree. The push for Stevie G is a story the media are desperate to write.

Liverpool have a buffer in than they can survive an average season - they still get the desired headlines from the legend of Stevie G - and they would fund him many millions for the story to run.

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

One wonders why we bothered loaning Coutinho for 6 months if this squad is so irredeemable this is the best we can do.

Well according to Purslow at the time the Jan spending was so that we could

" look forward to a strong second half of the season" 

 

[Tom13]

On 09/04/2022 at 20:47, lexicon said:

Bit boring hearing about the players all the time. Good and well-run teams are often better than the sum of their parts - Gerrard doesn't seem to be able to elevate us whatsoever and the players aren't even that bad.

Annoying how we have Buendia, Bailey, Traore, Ings, Watkins, Coutinho and Chuk as attacking talent, and Gerrard only gives three of them proper minutes, and it's not even clicking with them most of the time.

Add to that Sanson being left out, despite looking a very technical and skilful player, and it's all a bit frustrating.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

10 hours ago, hippo said:

I can't believe a guy recruited on a £4m a year salary can get a free pass and say there is absolutely nothing he can do about the balance without £100m in the transfer market......when that's done it will be something else.

Sometimes I'm close to agreeing with one of your posts re: Gerrard, then you mess it up by doing something like this at the end, to make me remember you're agenda. Lol

You keep making up figures to suit your narrative.

Also, if we are technical, say if he did get 100 mill, " then it will be something else ". We improved, but then needed to improve another area to bring the levels up even further. To be fair, that's how all progressive and ambitious clubs improve lol.

Just like how Liverpool were a " good team " , but still needed more to go up another level, so signed a keeper for 80 mill etc

Man City signed a player they didn't really need for 100 mill to try and bridge the finest of margins.

Look how much money the likes of West Ham and Everton have spent?

All those clubs are ahead of us, we are mostly unbalanced ( Both in position and quality )due to jumping up a level from the Championship relatively quickly. I hope you realise how many of our " key players " are players from the Championship?

There is not one club which doesn't always always feel like they can improve.

[VillaParkAvenue]

6 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well according to Purslow at the time the Jan spending was so that we could

" look forward to a strong second half of the season" 

 

The possibility of Europe was basically gone, but Coutinho was supposed to give us a respectable league finish and make recruiting easier going forward.

[hippo]

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Sometimes I'm close to agreeing with one of your posts re: Gerrard, then you mess it up by doing something like this at the end, to make me remember you're agenda. Lol

You keep making up figures to suit your narrative.

Also, if we are technical, say if he did get 100 mill, " then it will be something else ". We improved, but then needed to improve another area to bring the levels up even further. To be fair, that's how all progressive and ambitious clubs improve lol.

Just like how Liverpool were a " good team " , but still needed more to go up another level, so signed a keeper for 80 mill etc

Man City signed a player they didn't really need for 100 mill to try and bridge the finest of margins.

There is not one club which doesn't always always feel like they can improve.

Agree.

But can you spot the difference between when Liverpool and Man City spent big on players ? 

The bloke entrusted with the buying and selling was a guy at the top of his game. - not one still getting to grips with top flight football management.

[og1874]

8 minutes ago, hippo said:

Agree.

But can you spot the difference between when Liverpool and Man City spent big on players ? 

The bloke entrusted with the buying and selling was a guy at the top of his game. - not one still getting to grips with top flight football management.

And still they make a balls of some transfers, because that’s how it works in football - there are no guarantees

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

Remember some of those expensive players we bought? Well, now we need to flog several of them, almost certainly for less than we paid, so we can reshape the squad according to our lord and saviour Steven Gerrard, to play a style of football almost no clubs attempt.

Tune in next year for another squad rebuild and clearout. 

About a year ago, I believed we were a well-run machine, in which everyone, even the manager, was a replacable cog  a well-optimised machine to reach our european goal.

Right now, I think we've thrown that model away for Purslow's wet dream. "Another reacharound, Stevie"? 

It's really hard to argue this. 

To me it just adds to the idea that we were desperate to get Gerrard before other clubs got to him and our losing streak gave purslow the greenlight. 

[KAZZAM]

For a former midfielder and supposed premier league great he really has no idea how to set up the midfield. 

And I mean if that isn't ringing huge alarm bells for any Villa fan then I don't know what else would. 

[og1874]

2 minutes ago, KAZZAM said:

For a former midfielder and supposed premier league great he really has no idea how to set up the midfield. 

And I mean if that isn't ringing huge alarm bells for any Villa fan then I don't know what else would. 

I’m not actually sure we have sufficient players to set up anything but a bottom 8 standard midfield. Several very good players, but we basically have 4 sides of a box - it’s useless without the other bits

[Rightdm00]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

You keep saying this balance thing 

Even if true - is it not possible to improve the balance - even if it can't be completely resolved ?

To me Ings + Watkins doesn't look a balance.

Sanson could bring DM tackling to the midfield 

We could use some midfielders for width - thus letting the full backs concentrate on defending.

We've got a highly promising DM in ibregham.

I can't believe a guy recruited on a £4m a year salary can get a free pass and say there is absolutely nothing he can do about the balance without £100m in the transfer market......when that's done it will be something else.

 

 

 

 

Every squad outside the Top 6 is unbalanced.  Just get it done Steven no more excuses. 

[Zatman]

4 hours ago, Jareth said:

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. 

**** me thats scary. We brought in a coach that cant improve players but needs to buy players to improve us

[Tomaszk]

On 09/04/2022 at 23:52, nick76 said:

This is me.  If we were going to replace Smith, for me, it had to be for a quality manager, an “upgrade” if you will.  To lose a connection that we had with the club, a guy in Smith who along with the owners had helped us to be brought back from the brink and back playing football back in the PL, it had to be for an “upgrade”.  To then get a rookie manager with a playing name was underwhelming but we’ve backed him but it’s been hard going.  

Just feel a disconnect with the club at the moment, losing Jack, chucking away Smith, the problems getting to and from games re transport, the performances Gerrard is giving us, 14 points from 14 games, the price hike for next seasons tickets especially the concession tickets.  The other stuff goes away mentally if we see more with the team and results.  I wished we had either kept Smith or gone for a top manager.  Gerrard gets my support but it’s like walking through thick mud at the moment following the Villa.  I’ve certainly had worse times over the last forty years for sure but in a time with rich owners, great infrastructure and what seems an optimistic future, hiring Gerrard, a rookie manager makes very little sense and a questioning Purslows future.

Great post.

Not been this disinterested since Bruce. Disconnect is the perfect word. And the future is largely bright!

The club feels very separate from the fans right now, you can feel it in the atmosphere. Covid didn't help. A load of new heroes appeared and made their mark without any fans there.

I want it to work with Gerrard I really do, but why are we bothering to gamble? Well... we know the CEO worships the ground he walks on and that brings its own set of problems.

Aside from anti-Dean Smith peculiars who refused to enjoy themselves for three years of fun, I don't know anyone properly behind Gerrard. As in, thinks he's definitely the man to go with and we couldn't get better immediately.

We are going to get better next season because we're going to spend £200m+... but we can't get much worse without being in the relegation scrap.

We're giving a go-kart engineer a go at a Formula E engine and hoping he'll turn it into an F1 car. 

[Tomaszk]

11 hours ago, DCJonah said:

I agree with this. But if we need to continue to rebuild the squad, why did we need Gerrard? 

A lot of the argument for removing Smith, was that this squad was capable of getting Europe or at least top half finish.

Why didn't we rebuild the squad with Smith? What's so special about Gerrard? He really hasn't done anything amazing since coming here. If it's just about spending more millions on top players then what does Gerrard bring to the table as a manager? 

He was a good player. That's it.

It's bewitched the CEO and a few fans (mostly the ones who were upset Dean Smith was a brilliant manager for us because they told their mates he wasn't good enough).

[Zatman]

Just now, Tomaszk said:

He was a good player. That's it.

It's bewitched the CEO and a few fans (mostly the ones who were upset Dean Smith was a brilliant manager for us because they told their mates he wasn't good enough).

Pretty much this. Would people be as determined to think he could be good if Jamie O'Hara, Mark Noble or Karl Henry was the manager instead of ex England captain

Who was the last England captain or even player that became a successful manager? 

[VillaParkAvenue]

My expectations for Gerrard would be to visibly improve the team during the summer. Not mainly through new signings, rather by establishing a more effective way of playing. He and his staff, working with the team on the training pitch.

If he can do that I will happily take my hat off. But if we early in next season still complain about not having the players needed, that for me would prove there’s nothing more to hope for from him.

 

[Mic09]

We don't need to get rid of Gerrard.

We need a top defensive coach and a better striker.

Attacking wise, we are excellent. JJ and Coutinho are really running the show, we will break through any defence and we can create really good chances.

In my opinion, Gerrard's input is clear to see, I like the style, it's free flowing beautiful football,  but the defence needs to be more solid. 

2/3 more signings, a good defensive coach, and I would not be surprised if next year we have a season like Wolves/Man U and I'd be happy with that. 

[duke313]

1 minute ago, Mic09 said:

We don't need to get rid of Gerrard.

We need a top defensive coach and a better striker.

Attacking wise, we are excellent. JJ and Coutinho are really running the show, we will break through any defence and we can create really good chances.

In my opinion, Gerrard's input is clear to see, I like the style, it's free flowing beautiful football,  but the defence needs to be more solid. 

2/3 more signings, a good defensive coach, and I would not be surprised if next year we have a season like Wolves/Man U and I'd be happy with that. 

Someone like John Terry perhaps?  It's no coincidence our defense went to sh*t when he left.

[nick76]

1 hour ago, VillaParkAvenue said:

My expectations for Gerrard would be to visibly improve the team during the summer. Not mainly through new signings, rather by establishing a more effective way of playing. He and his staff, working with the team on the training pitch.

My hope would’ve been to already start seeing some of that after being with us for over half a season.  Preseason makes a difference but would’ve expected more by now to be honest.  Those first six games looked like something was happening in that vein but the last 15 games has been at best mixed and at worst regression.