Steven Gerrard

[Demitri_C]

One things for sure i dont think liverpool will be in a rush to appoint gerrard if klopp leaves ina  few years. He isnt experienced enough for a job that size right now.

[VillaParkAvenue]

15 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Average but most importantly weak and fragile.

Thata what is holding us back big time

It’s about collective memory, most of them aren’t throwing games away playing for their national teams. Villa have lost after conceding late before so in similar situations players will think ”oh no it’s happening again”.

Not sure how to fix something like that. Leeds are the opposite — they are crap, but have a recent history of scoring late goals so their players will believe it can be done.

[Tomaszk]

10 minutes ago, jim said:

Not inconsistent at all. The Championship team was underperforming under Bruce and was better than 95% of the teams in the league.

Our current squad is probably around 9th in the Premier League which is exactly the position we would be in games played under Gerrard. If we had a team on par with City, Liverpool you’d have a point but we don’t.

This season...

Smith's only 11 games: 10 points

Gerrard's last 11 games: 9 points

Two rotten patches of relegation form right there. Whatever manager serves those up deserves serious questions being asked. I hope Gerrard is looking at why we've gone off a cliff as well as signing off on transfers.

Of course, we got 55 points last year, so it can't just be the players. Unless the manager we sacked had them playing out of their skin and beyond their means? Perhaps.

Looking forward to next year. Gerrard always said he's not interested in excuses, and I think he'll have the tools to be comfortable top 10 with a run at Europe.

Great start to the window if Kamara signs up. They are the sort of players that will take us forward.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

59 minutes ago, Villa_Vids said:

Agreed. He is selling the NSWE vision better imo. 

This is the part of the equation some fans won't like, but it's simply the truth.

I've said that even if he fails for being " shite ", we'll have a better squad and higher profile,.stronger platform for " insert flavour of the month manager here " to proceed with.

Football is now a business, you have to be thinking along multiple facets on the path to " growth ".

It's the same reason you might see Eddie Ten Haag eventually leave, Newcastle,  regardless of how well he does, to be replaced by a generic continental " Name "

In one sense you could say, at least we seem to try and keep a " British " spine?

Edited May 22, 2022 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[villa89]

Needs to sort out our lack of fight. We fold so easily and are a really soft team to play against. Any adversity and we collapse like a house of cards. 

Edited May 22, 2022 by villa89

[Mantis]

46 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

This season...

Smith's only 11 games: 10 points

Gerrard's last 11 games: 9 points

Two rotten patches of relegation form right there. Whatever manager serves those up deserves serious questions being asked. I hope Gerrard is looking at why we've gone off a cliff as well as signing off on transfers.

Of course, we got 55 points last year, so it can't just be the players. Unless the manager we sacked had them playing out of their skin and beyond their means? Perhaps.

Looking forward to next year. Gerrard always said he's not interested in excuses, and I think he'll have the tools to be comfortable top 10 with a run at Europe.

Great start to the window if Kamara signs up. They are the sort of players that will take us forward.

If I'm not mistaken our form since Gerrard was appointed has been about 9th/10th? Also that last 11 games stat doesn't tell the full picture because we won three in a row prior to that.

[icouldtelltheworld]

The 9th in the form table since he arrived stat is arguably (IMO) skewed by the winning run when he first arrived. Since the turn of the year, we are 15th in the form table, having taken 23 points from 20 games. That is basically the form that eventually got Smith sacked.

In 2022, our league form has been worse than Burnley's and we've taken just one point more than Leeds. This is despite bringing in Digne, Chambers and Coutinho. He really needs to hit the ground running next season, or we could well be looking at another wasted year.

Seems he's going to be backed in the transfer window, so there should be no excuses next year - I expect much better than we've seen of late

[Tomaszk]

5 minutes ago, Mantis said:

If I'm not mistaken our form since Gerrard was appointed has been about 9th/10th?

It's something like that yeah. Could even be 8th!

5 minutes ago, Mantis said:

Also that last 11 games stat doesn't tell the full picture because we won three in a row prior to that.

So?

Smith won the two games before that run as well, beating Chelsea and Tottenham at the end of last season. Who cares?

We sacked a manager for a rotten run of form this season and haven't sacked another one for an even worse run. Just stating a fact.

There's some top proven managers around, currently not working, who would do an incredible job here with the funds available. We've gone for a gamble of an appointment, (on what basis I don't know) and the season has ended horrifically. It's a worry. I'm excited, but it's still a worry.

[Villa_Vids]

20 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

This is the part of the equation some fans won't like, but it's simply the truth.

I've said that even if he fails for being " shite ", we'll have a better squad and higher profile,.stronger platform for " insert flavour of the month manager here " to proceed with.

Football is now a business, you have to be thinking along multiple facets on the path to " growth ".

It's the same reason you might see Eddie Ten Haag eventually leave, Newcastle,  regardless of how well he does, to be replaced by a generic continental " Name "

In one sense you could say, at least we seem to try and keep a " British " spine?

I agree with a lot of that. I think you have to accept that is the way of modern football too. Certainly if you want to move forward. I think we are becoming a club that is thinking bigger. Gerrard is a young, up &coming coach who has a massive profile in the game. Fortunately, we have hugely ambitious owners with a grand project. It is a good match from a recruitment point of view. 

[ozvilla28]

1 hour ago, Paulie said:

Love Deano.  
 

Players and talent win.  Managers job is to be able to recruit as well.  We would not be signing Coutinho, Kamara, Digne level players with Smith here… if Jack stayed maybe it would be a different story, but the writing was on the wall when Jack left and Dean was unable to get the Ward Prowse and ESR deals over the line.

Say what you want about Stevie but he’s got us shopping in a different talent bracket now.  Whether he’s able to get results is one thing, but now we will have players that a top manager will want to manage.  Gerrard is moving us up in profile.

That's true without a doubt  , but results tell the story ultimately for our owners and fans profile is one thing we're in it to be successful. Been backed and will again this summer no excuses through with this squad teams above us spend quarter of $$$ and finished higher.

[Vive_La_Villa]

If we sign Kamara you have to admit the project must be very appealing and Gerrard is a big part of that. Surely that must give the doubters some comfort?

Managers will come and go, I mean how many have Chelsea had over the years? But if you have a squad full of top players it sure makes the next managers job easier.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Vive_La_Villa

[abdulaziz1]

Just now, Tomaszk said:

What's your point?

I meant that the issue with DS wasn’t his 11 games, nor we can say he got 55 points the previous season. With Gerrard it’s totally different. Yes there was inconsistency but there was glimpses on what can be done. With Smith, we didn’t see anything that would suggest he can do anything without Jack Grealish. Wether it was on the Championship or PL. There are some doubts with SG decisions but generally more good points to build on.

[Mantis]

37 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

It's something like that yeah. Could even be 8th!

So?

Smith won the two games before that run as well, beating Chelsea and Tottenham at the end of last season. Who cares?

We sacked a manager for a rotten run of form this season and haven't sacked another one for an even worse run. Just stating a fact.

There's some top proven managers around, currently not working, who would do an incredible job here with the funds available. We've gone for a gamble of an appointment, (on what basis I don't know) and the season has ended horrifically. It's a worry. I'm excited, but it's still a worry.

We sacked Smith because his form in 2021 as a whole was relegation form. If our form since Gerrard took over had been around there then you may have a point, but it hasn't been near.

[KMitch]

6 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

I meant that the issue with DS wasn’t his 11 games, nor we can say he got 55 points the previous season. With Gerrard it’s totally different. Yes there was inconsistency but there was glimpses on what can be done. With Smith, we didn’t see anything that would suggest he can do anything without Jack Grealish. Wether it was on the Championship or PL. There are some doubts with SG decisions but generally more good points to build on.

Sorry, but that's BS...  Under Smith, we tried to play possession, 433 football and would oftentimes take points off of the top teams but would underperform against those around us in the table. The first 11 games of the season were a bit different with a very shortened preseason, significant injuries/fitness issues with a lot of key members of the first team, and the late loss of Grealish set us up for a rough start.  Unfortunately for him, the board decided to go another direction and Smith was let go, but I'm sick and tired of the narrative that Smith couldn't do anything without Grealish.

I just want a vision/style of play solidified this summer...  Win, Lose, or Draw you knew exactly who and what we were under Smith.  Too many times the players themselves looked lost under Gerrard this season.  Too many times we chopped/changed the formation and style of play, and when we somehow stumbled upon one which seemed to be working, he ripped it up and went another way again.  I'm praying this summer the squad gets on the same page and we don't capitulate this fall.

[Tomaszk]

18 minutes ago, abdulaziz1 said:

I meant that the issue with DS wasn’t his 11 games, nor we can say he got 55 points the previous season. With Gerrard it’s totally different. Yes there was inconsistency but there was glimpses on what can be done. With Smith, we didn’t see anything that would suggest he can do anything without Jack Grealish. Wether it was on the Championship or PL. There are some doubts with SG decisions but generally more good points to build on.

I think we'll have to disagree on that one.

However, I wasn't against the dismissal of Smith though, getting a definite upgrade and moving forward as a club seemed sensible. We didn't get that.

Hope to see us improve and meet/exceed expectations next year.

16 minutes ago, Mantis said:

We sacked Smith because his form in 2021 as a whole was relegation form. If our form since Gerrard took over had been around there then you may have a point, but it hasn't been near.

Smith Jan-May 2021: 29 pts in 24 games - 1.2 pts a game

Gerrard Jan-May 2022: 23 pts In 20 games - 1.15 pts a game

Both garbage ends to the season. Just like under Smith the warning signs are there now.

I really don't want to be sacking another manager because this form carries on.

UTV

[Mantis]

2 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I think we'll have to disagree on that one.

However, I wasn't against the dismissal of Smith though, getting a definite upgrade and moving forward as a club seemed sensible. We didn't get that.

Hope to see us improve and meet/exceed expectations next year.

Smith Jan-May 2021: 29 pts in 24 games - 1.2 pts a game

Gerrard Jan-May 2022: 23 pts In 20 games - 1.15 pts a game

Both garbage ends to the season. Just like under Smith the warning signs are there now.

I really don't want to be sacking another manager because this form carries on.

UTV

I think it's too early to say whether Gerrard is an upgrade or not.

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, Mantis said:

I think it's too early to say whether Gerrard is an upgrade or not.

It wouldn't be too early if we had Marco Rose or Mauricio Pochettino.

They are better skilled and more proven managers than Smith and Gerrard.

It's the gambling I'm concerned by.

[Tom13]

2 hours ago, Davkaus said:

A post mortem of today is the natural talking point, but it's irrelevant, in truth. It's dropping points to shit like Watford that trashed our season, not losing to the champions

Our record against the top sides is pathetic. Not just Liverpool and City.

[TheStagMan]

8 minutes ago, Mantis said:

I think it's too early to say whether Gerrard is an upgrade or not.

Exactly, and this was my complaint about sacking Smith - if we were going to do that after he had the deck massively stacked against him at the start of the season (losing Grealish, them being forced to find a way to include Ings and Tuanzebe and effectively changing our shape competely) then I wanted us to bring in a proven top manager. 

Gerrard is not that. He has proven that this season. I genuinely believe that Smith would have gotten us at least the same or better league position given the same funding - but that is by the by now.

Gerrard has a massive job to do this summer - he needs to work out who is worthy of staying at this great club and what reinforcements are needed. Then Gerrard needs to prove he is worthy of managing us next season. I hope he does, I really do because another season of shite like this is no good for anyone.

 

He has a lot of work to do to prove he is good enough. Let's hope he does.

[Mantis]

4 minutes ago, TheStagMan said:

Exactly, and this was my complaint about sacking Smith - if we were going to do that after he had the deck massively stacked against him at the start of the season (losing Grealish, them being forced to find a way to include Ings and Tuanzebe and effectively changing our shape competely) then I wanted us to bring in a proven top manager. 

Gerrard is not that. He has proven that this season. I genuinely believe that Smith would have gotten us at least the same or better league position given the same funding - but that is by the by now.

Gerrard has a massive job to do this summer - he needs to work out who is worthy of staying at this great club and what reinforcements are needed. Then Gerrard needs to prove he is worthy of managing us next season. I hope he does, I really do because another season of shite like this is no good for anyone.

 

He has a lot of work to do to prove he is good enough. Let's hope he does.

I think the problem with Smith was that we genuinely looked like sliding into a proper relegation fight under him, which in fairness Gerrard kept us clear from. Not a high bar admittedly and expectations will be a lot higher next season, but if you'd have offered me that back in November, I would have gladly taken it.