Steven Gerrard

[TRO]

What I don't quite understand is the view that such and such a player, has no chance in Steven Gerrards system.

If a player gets a chance and tears it up.....Like a Allan St Maximin does.......every manager, would find a way of playing with said player.

Bertie and the other wingers, wasn't doing it for Dean, and he had a system that encouraged wingers.

Good players, will find a way of show casing their talents in any system.....and in such cases Managers can be encouraged to tweak.

There is no system in football, that discourages good players......Harry Kane and Son has played in so many different systems and rose above it all.

 My point is, don't blame systems, for poor play....there is much more to it than just that.

Edited May 16, 2022 by TRO

[hippo]

48 minutes ago, TRO said:

Hi Pete, you are much nicer in the flesh, than that man on VT......Good to meet you on Sunday, to think we are just 3 rows away.....

My concern is how easy we concede after going ahead......I said to the mrs on Sunday after we scored, ah well at least we should get a point.

Now that might sound a bit negative to some, but I can just see it coming......we are just not very good at stopping opponents, from getting back in to games.

 

Lol - good to meet on Sunday.

Was a weird old game Sunday. Scored against the run of play - but then looked to have weathered the palace storm.

Could have nicked it at the end but I thought a draw was a fair result.

Everyone s favourite head coach should have introduced buendia earlier if not started him imo.

I hope Connor Gallagher caught the eye of our recruitment team 

[Tomaszk]

Wonder if he's learned his lesson and will start Buendia this week?

[briny_ear]

6 hours ago, nick76 said:

I agree and it’s a fair point but I think they might have been expecting more than 22 points from the last 19 games.  We started so well those first six games, the fire, the energy, we looked confident and organised and even when we lost we gave it a good show.  I really don’t mind being midtable I think it’s just the way we have got to this point for such a long duration.  Where did those performances from the first six games go.  Yes we’ve won since and we’ll in some games but this year has underwhelmed mostly.

 I know people say I’m cherrypicking and maybe I am but the last 19 games, 22 points is a lot to grasp any optimism from isn’t it? Yes maybe I should just use from when he started but aside from that I think any other run of games up until now doesn’t look great.

 

So tenure is good ppg but form ppg over short or long period is below average to poor.  I think that’s a reasonable conclusion that nobody can hit me on? I’ve given both sides of the argument.

Obviously when you choose that specific group of games, it looks disappointing (I guess that is why they were chosen) and we would all have hoped for better. You know, I even have a sneaking suspicion that Steven Gerrard and the first team squad are disappointed with how it’s gone. But it is sort of how mid table football works. There are lots of teams scrapping to take chunks out of the other mid table teams.

Villa’s performance over those matches is at the wrong end of a tight group of ten teams who in their most recent 19 matches have gained between 22-27 points. The group consists of (in ascending order) Southampton, Villa, Burnley, Brighton, West Ham, Palace, Leicester, Brentford, Wolves and Man U.

The stand out team for improvement over that period is of course Newcastle who got 36 points from their last 19 games. I guess we all hoped Villa would achieve something like that following the start we had with Gerrard but it has proved more complicated. If you had told me we could get Eddie Howe as our manager to replace Smith, I would have bitten your arm off, although I know many of the “experts” on this site were dismissive of him when he went to Newcastle. Just shows.

However, I think we should all cheer ourselves up by remembering that the season does not consist of just those 19 matches that you are so keen to focus on. There have been another 17 with two more to go, and, although the opening 11 were a bit of a disaster, overall we have gained enough points to be around the middle of the table and to end above some of the teams mentioned above. Gerrard has had a chance to get the measure of the existing squad and I am sure it will be strengthened over the summer.

So it could be time to stop obsessively focusing on 19 specific matches, have a look at the season overall, and look ahead to better times next season. 

You know it makes sense.

[VillaFaninLondon]

The Newcastle thing is what makes this season even more of a kick up the backside. On 1 January 2022 they had 11 points from 19 games, we had 22 points from 18 games. 

 

Since that time they have taken 35 points from 18 games under Howe while we have taken 22 points from 18 games under Gerrard. Both teams significantly strengthened in January, but you could argue we both added 2 real quality players to our teams (Newcastle with Bruno and Trippier and us with Coutinho and Digne) - however, Trippier was injured since when they played us over 3 months ago and only recently returned to the squad. Therefore, the contrasting form of both sides is nothing short of a disgrace on our side given we have 1.22 points per game and they have 1.94. That's complete failure on Gerrard's part (whilst Howe of course deserves absolute praise and no wonder he's up for Manager of the Year). 

 

Some people on here defend Gerrard by saying it's the players, McGinn, Luiz etc aren't good enough. Well Newcastle beat Arsenal last night with players like Krafth, Longstaff, Joelinton, and our very own Matt Targett in the lineup, players who wouldn't be deemed good enough if they played for us. I just feel it's excuses and if Gerrard fails to beat Burnley on Thursday night it will be yet another poor result in a long list of poor results since he came in.

[Tomaszk]

10 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

My main issue is that we just won't be able to get our first, 2nd or even 3rd choices for positions.

Well Gerrard is going to have to do what most managers do and improve the current lot then.

Weird narrative around it being utterly impossible for Gerrard to succeed unless he can sign a few £40m players.

He's so so lucky to have this job and this money to spend.

If you are right and we can't get 1st/2nd/3rd choice. DO NOT SPEND THE MONEY. We cannot waste it only for us to need to sack Gerrard or him to decide he wants more players to make us look like a team.

Edited May 17, 2022 by Tomaszk

[The Fun Factory]

You have to say the football at home under Gerrard has been mostly rather dull.  I just hope that if we give him time he will develop the team.

[rodders0223]

12 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Wonder if he's learned his lesson and will start Buendia this week?

Play your most influential player every week and dont drop him after having a worldie for someone who's been playing awful for 2 months?

Is it a lesson  any manager needs to be taught?

[AntrimBlack]

Look on the bright side - Gerrard has set the bar so low it should not be difficult to push on next season.

[AntrimBlack]

A worry with Gerrard is that he seems to be waiting for the window to spend money to bring in players to improve us next season.

Any old manager could have done that. I would have liked to see him fashion a cohesive, spirited team with what he has first.

Perhaps it is too early to judge, but my initial enthusiasm on his appointment has certainly decreased and doubts have increased.

[Zero7]

I genuinely believe we would have bene in a very tight relegation battle under Smith, so for me, Gerrard has done a half decent job, not perfect but decent. We also go into next season playing in formation which he was brave to introduce, he could easily have stuck with smith's formations but he chose to implement his style, for which we should reap the rewards next season 

[Tomaszk]

Basically solely on Gerrard and Howe's performance...Villa have lost out. With a better squad, we've given away a lead of six points and are finishing where we were when Gerrard came in.

We're going to finish behind Newcastle and cannot offer the wages they can. It's a frustrating situation.

We're going to be trying for the same level of player all summer and will lose out unless the player wants to play under Steven Gerrard. Let's hope they do.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

15 minutes ago, nick76 said:

These players have done it before.  

You can say it was all because of Grealish but I remember most of the players get lauded and yes Jack was top of that but they all were praised so they have done more before.  

You then went onto say we finished 11th but that is irrelevant to your question, you asked when they’ve done it before, I gave you a long duration when they have done it before.  I never said they did it all season.

They just haven’t done it for 18 months under both managers but you asked for evidence they could do it and I answered it.  All the rest of your comment has no relevance to the question I answered and I never commented on.

Can they do it again, I don’t know and haven’t commented on but you asked if they have done it and the answer was yes

 

Nah football is a team game, I would never be naive enough to say it was " ONLY because of Grealish " , however, common sense would dictate that most teams, without their best players, get worse. Similarly to how I would never say the " only reason Deano was relatively successful is because of Grealish ". I actually used to get annoyed at the Grealish wankfest as if the other players never existed.

Also, if the drop off in quality is several levels, the fall off is even further.

Quote

You then went onto say we finished 11th but that is irrelevant to your question, you asked when they’ve done it before, I gave you a long duration when they have done it before.  I never said they did it all season.

How does this even make sense. So you're telling me that, pointing out that they " did it " with the help of one of the best players in the league ( Largely carried the team at times ) is irrelevant to an argument about performance. It directly correlates to their performance when he was out, and we don't have him now. lol

Him leaving simply further exposed how poor alot of the others actually can be.

If it makes it easier, the players who " Did it first half of last season " would/could have been even better, if we addressed the blaring deficiency in the team, regardless of who the manager is.

It's not as if this is something new people have just started saying, since SG has come in. We've been saying it for seasons!

Edited May 17, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Zatman]

9 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Well i'm sure Howe will be replaced at some point, maybe we can get him then.

You would hope that we would be aiming higher as well like we should have done in November

[Woody1000]

30 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Totally agree with this. It’s like a self-harming tendency has somehow crept into the thread. We have rich owners, they want to improve the squad and aim for European football. Why would anyone (apart for their accountants/financial advisers) want to stop them? 

Because the manager has to prove that he can make the existing players better before he is allowed to replace them with different players. What is so difficult to understand?…

[briny_ear]

1 minute ago, Woody1000 said:

Because the manager has to prove that he can make the existing players better before he is allowed to replace them with different players. What is so difficult to understand?…

Your realise that doesn’t make any sense? 

[Tomaszk]

11 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Your realise that doesn’t make any sense? 

What happens when we buy players and he can't get a tune out of them because he's playing a stupid formation?

Do we buy more in January to see if they can play in the stupid formation.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

18 hours ago, hippo said:

Lol - good to meet on Sunday.

Was a weird old game Sunday. Scored against the run of play - but then looked to have weathered the palace storm.

Could have nicked it at the end but I thought a draw was a fair result.

Everyone s favourite head coach should have introduced buendia earlier if not started him imo.

I hope Connor Gallagher caught the eye of our recruitment team 

The @TRO and @hippo meeting at VP.

Edited May 17, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

Cannot offer the wages they can. It's a frustrating situation.

Why can't we? They're as limited by ffp as we are.

Gerrard won't have to compete over financially, so much as persuading players we're on the way up, and expecting to do so quickly. It's a sales pitch he's succeeded with before, I'm sure they'll do it again this summer. 

Edited May 17, 2022 by MrBlack

[VillaParkAvenue]

Without FFP, as long as the owners were happy to spend there would be no reason not to want expensive new players. FFP does however make failed signings risky. If Villa spend big again and Gerrard still isn't successful, it's unlikely Villa will be able to go again and invest heavily under a new manager. I'd guess that's why some could be wary.

I would feel better about it all if there were more positive signs already, but personally I don't see not spending as an alternative at this point. In Gerrard we will have to trust, a little longer.