Steven Gerrard

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

10 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Gerrards been a solid appointment.  Steered us clear from relegation zone and now pushing for top 10.

Its noway perfect still alot of room to improve but i think we are heading in right direction 

I'll take " Solid " for now if i'm honest.

It's the foundation which is important, if we remember where we are coming from

I'm sure we will analyse again and then if we need to push on i'm sure the owners will.

So dar we will have: Barely survived | Solid Mid Table | Solid Mid Table .

Top 8 has to be the aim next season?

[nick76]

Considering how many creative/flair players we have he makes us quite boring to watch

Edited May 15, 2022 by nick76

[MWARLEY2]

6 minutes ago, hippo said:

I've said a few times we look best under Stevie G when our energy levels are high...either  

In the first 15-20 minutes of games 

Or chasing a game from a losing position. 

It's concerning for me that we have no method of controlling again or out witting an opponent. 

Exactly that.  We seem to lack the one thing that a modern upwardly mobile football team always has. Control.of a game. We want to get the ball forward so quickly at times. But then cannot keep it ..

[IrishVilla10]

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I'll take " Solid " for now if i'm honest.

It's the foundation which is important, if we remember where we are coming from

I'm sure we will analyse again and then if we need to push on i'm sure the owners will.

So dar we will have: Barely survived | Solid Mid Table | Solid Mid Table .

Top 8 has to be the aim next season?

Absolutely

[Guest av1]

4 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I'll take " Solid " for now if i'm honest.

 

For the last couple of years I’ve read on here that Jack was the only reason we stayed up. And now whilst it looks like we could replicate last seasons league position the same posters are saying it’s been an awful season. 
 

Sometimes folk just can’t make their minds up. 

[foreveryoung]

if Brentford finish above us, I shall see it as a poor season. Gerrard should too!!

[abdomlahor]

what happened to the football we were playing in his first few games? the high tempo one touch passing game through the middle? all we seem to do these days is hoof it down the channel to ollie.

[nick76]

1 minute ago, abdomlahor said:

what happened to the football we were playing in his first few games? the high tempo one touch passing game through the middle? all we seem to do these days is hoof it down the channel to ollie.

Yeah as I mentioned before, this is hard to watch these days.

[picicata]

12 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I'll take " Solid " for now if i'm honest.

It's the foundation which is important, if we remember where we are coming from

I'm sure we will analyse again and then if we need to push on i'm sure the owners will.

So dar we will have: Barely survived | Solid Mid Table | Solid Mid Table .

Top 8 has to be the aim next season?

This.

My worry is that we're not playing anything that's making me go 'oh, that's what we're aiming for!' 

We seem without direction at the moment.

[gwi1890]

20 minutes ago, hippo said:

I've said a few times we look best under Stevie G when our energy levels are high...either  

In the first 15-20 minutes of games 

Or chasing a game from a losing position. 

It's concerning for me that we have no method of controlling again or out witting an opponent. 

That sounds awfully like a Dean Smith team.

[Guest av1]

Just now, gwi1890 said:

That sounds awfully like a Dean Smith team.

And the common denominator is the shit midfield. 

[sharkyvilla]

2 minutes ago, abdomlahor said:

what happened to the football we were playing in his first few games? the high tempo one touch passing game through the middle? all we seem to do these days is hoof it down the channel to ollie.

I think we had to become a bit more solid as the tactics weren't sustainable for a long period of time.  It took so much out of the full backs and with the central midfielders going wide the opposition quickly learnt how to just destroy us in midfield.  

[WHY]

Not really sure what fans expect given he inherited most of the squad. Regarding the squad it simply isn’t that good. We are in about the right position for the squad we have. Let’s see what time summer brings!

[DaveAV1]

35 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well August 6 isn't far away.

Then we will be able judge.

Ok so a manager who since he has been here has achieved the 8th best results in the league, who the board have sufficient faith in to probably invest millions of pounds in over the next few weeks and you think the first day of the new season will be judgement day? Yeah ok. Perhaps you think you’re in a parallel universe where we’ve swapped NSWE for the Watford board. 

[DCJonah]

3 minutes ago, WHY said:

Not really sure what fans expect given he inherited most of the squad. Regarding the squad it simply isn’t that good. We are in about the right position for the squad we have. Let’s see what time summer brings!

League position wise? Probably can't expect much more. 

Personally I was hoping to see something that made me think, yes it was absolutely worth not giving Smith anymore time and this is the man to get us into that top 8 position. I've seen bits here and there but I've also seen a lot to make me think next year might be a struggle again. 

I know his points since coming in are top half but I'm not sure how much that means. It's like when people carry on form or statistics from a few games one season and then into the next. There are so many variables at play. 

I would also say he's working with the strongest squad we've had since MON. Our strength in depth at times, compared to the last two years, is unreal. 

Ultimately we will see what it looks like over next season. I'm absolutely in the Gerrard in camp and I'm excited to see the kind of talent we sign in the summer. I hope he's not just a name who can attract players though. 

I think there's way more positives than negatives but it hasn't blown me away at this point. 

[nick76]

6 minutes ago, WHY said:

Not really sure what fans expect given he inherited most of the squad. Regarding the squad it simply isn’t that good. We are in about the right position for the squad we have. Let’s see what time summer brings!

Not sure I agree.  

This squad, first half of last season could turn it on.  

Smith got sacked because he failed to continue that but for a significant amount of time we could play good football and take points.  That first half of season we were really good.

Yes Grealish left but we brought in Ings, Bailey, Buendia, Digne and Coutinho…that’s not too shabby!

This squad isn’t great but it was a young squad, not a squad on their last legs and have done it before.  Yes, Gerrard needs more time but I’m not having this is a poor squad.  

Smith couldn’t continue that tune he got out of them and got fired for it but aside from a few flashes neither has Gerrard.

[Zatman]

48 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Gerrards been a solid appointment.  Steered us clear from relegation zone and now pushing for top 10.

Its noway perfect still alot of room to improve but i think we are heading in right direction 

Is 11 points against the top 10 really solid? 

[The_Steve]

2 hours ago, Xela said:

I'll judge him next season. He'll be here then so all the people hoping/wishing we change managers this summer are going to disappointed. 

Lets see how we start next season. 

 

100% this

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, WHY said:

I must have been watching a different team to you first half of the season mate. Yes we bought players in but without replacing the positions that were needed. We have needed a DM for 3 seasons now and didn’t actually buy anyone to replace Grealish on the left. The squad might have a bit more quality but it’s not balanced.

We didn’t have a DM when we played so well for that half a season and I can’t believe the reason we look so poor sometimes is because we haven’t got an inside left forward.

The balanced squad I get, but we didn’t have a balanced squad 18 months ago when we were flying.  It just seems a convenient excuse which while has some merit, also papers over some of the other cracks.

We need to be getting more out of the players we have got because most of them will be here next season and first XI players.  Yes we will have a summer spree but even at the extreme we are only likely to have 5 new starters and most likely 3.  That will make a huge difference but we also need to get out better performances from the rest….the current players.

[Mantis]

47 minutes ago, av1 said:

And the common denominator is the shit midfield. 

Indeed. Since summer 2019 we've improved massively up front, in attacking midfield, fullback and goalkeeper. At CB and CM we almost have the same core of players we did when we narrowly avoided relegation.