ender4 Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 19 minutes ago, daft said: It's getting kinda' ridiculous. Also, we have a problem that I'm not sure how any manager will solve outside a transfer window; we look quite harmless in the final third. I struggle to see where our goals will come from really. Easy. Just use the players to their best ability in a proper formation with proper tactics and coaching. It’s not hard to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: You really this that performance yesterday, shows we are going places with Gerrard. Southampton were utter tripe. I think it's a case of 'Shallow Hal' with you. You rate Gerrard, so you cannot see past his deficiencies. He looks like he's setting up tactics to save he's job already. Smash an grab I think you call it. At this point I don't think he can suss out such a tactic, he either has the confidence of the board already (which I think is the case) or he's a dead man walking based on our performances. We managed to win a really poor game yesterday, which in all honesty I don't think will factor largely in the boards decision. Either they've decided to get rid and just waiting for his successor to decide or they have honestly decided to give him time regardless of results and performances. I think it's the latter and he'll be here for at least the season, and as long as we aren't in a direct relegation fight he'll stay on IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
macandally Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 9 hours ago, M_Afro said: I’m not saying that it was good. It wasn’t. It was very poor but there’s loads of hyperbolic rubbish floating around and we should try and at least retain some perspective. I’m not convinced by Gerrard at all. He makes some incredibly odd decisions. We totally lack any identity. Our players constantly lack conviction and confidence. Is that not what we used to say when Dean was in charge though? I suspect that a lot of our problems stem from a player pool with incredibly weak mentality. I would happily back Mings, Bouba and Emi 1 to have the mental strength to withstand lots of things but I wouldn’t back any of the others when the chips are down. So it’s the squad? Would you trust Steve G to rebuild this squad? He went through 38 players at Rangers to get anywhere near a cup. I wouldn’t trust him to build a sand castle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 Just now, ender4 said: Easy. Just use the players to their best ability in a proper formation with proper tactics and coaching. It’s not hard to do. Ever heard of the Dunning-Kruger effect? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 Where do you think this squad should be aiming to finish in the league, @daft? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Davkaus said: Where do you think this squad should be aiming to finish in the league, @daft? If I knew I'd be a betting oracle. I have learnt over the years that sports rarely work that way. Edit: as for aiming in terms of goals for the squad, I think we should be fighting for a top half finish or ther abouts. A couple of seasons ago my hockey team had the best squad we had seen for generations. It missed out on the play-offs using 2 managers... But to be honest, I am not going to claim that I hold the truth or that you by default are wrong. You might be entirely correct, and all that is needed is new manager to unlock our offensive potential. Or the truth might like somewhere in between. We improve somewhat, but not as much as you guys predict, nor as little as I fear. I base my opinion on what I see, collate that with earlier experiences and arrive at an opinion. It might be wrong, only time will tell. Edited September 17, 2022 by daft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andym Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 On 17/09/2022 at 08:50, Tomaszk said: It is done. Even the interviews are now approaching Bruce territory He used to justify his dull, turgid, hoping to grind out enough tight wins rubbish with stuff like 'the fans want exciting attacking football, but that doesn't always work and you need to be pragmatic' at this level. Nothing to do with his idea of attacking football being to just throw in as many attacking players as he could and hope for the best, so of course it rarely worked. Maybe if Gerrard's idea of attacking football wasn't this insane 'wide players narrow to cover midfielders who are covering full backs who are being used as the main creative outlets', we may be able to strike a good balance between being creative, without compromising being solid at the back, you know, like multiple other managers in this league seem to be able to do. And as for this back to basics epiphany; well maybe if last night we'd seen a semblance of good organisation, i'd believe it was some smart design. But we had players in midfield running into each other and generally getting in each others way, when Dendoncker came on he was weirdly playing as an 8 to the right of Luiz, even though he's not very mobile, Buendia came on at right wing and within 5 minutes was for some reason near the left back position helping out Digne. Add to that we couldn't string 3 passes together, even though Soton were barely doing even a half court press, and it resulted in a disjointed mess. Soton just managed to be even worse (i don't think i've ever seen a team losing just 1-0 with 5 minutes to go with so little urgency, aimlessley knocking it around like they had the game sewn up). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
picicata Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 2 minutes ago, daft said: I think it's the latter and he'll be here for at least the season, and as long as we aren't in a direct relegation fight he'll stay on IMO. I've come to the same conclusion, I think we'll continue to bob around the area of the table we are currently in and before you know it it'll be May and the season will be over. I've thought from the beginning that Gerrard does not have the ability to get us to where the upper management have previously stated they want us to be and pretty much all evidence points to that opinion being correct. However, I'm starting to believe that as long as we stay in the league without too much trouble then Gerrard is safe. I think the club are simply happy to be in the league 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AshVilla Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) Poch e.t.c won't be available for much longer but don't worry Stevie has turned the corner and got us playing some impressive stuff so we don't need him. Edited September 17, 2022 by AshVilla Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 3 minutes ago, picicata said: I've come to the same conclusion, I think we'll continue to bob around the area of the table we are currently in and before you know it it'll be May and the season will be over. I've thought from the beginning that Gerrard does not have the ability to get us to where the upper management have previously stated they want us to be and pretty much all evidence points to that opinion being correct. However, I'm starting to believe that as long as we stay in the league without too much trouble then Gerrard is safe. I think the club are simply happy to be in the league Then Purslow is full of shit. Smith sacked for not consistently improving and then saying that top half was the minimum requirement for this season. Gerrard is fortunate to have a boss who doesn't stick to his word. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 5 minutes ago, picicata said: I've come to the same conclusion, I think we'll continue to bob around the area of the table we are currently in and before you know it it'll be May and the season will be over. I've thought from the beginning that Gerrard does not have the ability to get us to where the upper management have previously stated they want us to be and pretty much all evidence points to that opinion being correct. However, I'm starting to believe that as long as we stay in the league without too much trouble then Gerrard is safe. I think the club are simply happy to be in the league I think you are spot on with that. They might reconsider things after the season, but I think they are, if not happy, then at least content as long as we look to stay up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwi1890 Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 24 minutes ago, daft said: There is a possibility, sure, but I just think we lack the proper 'oomph' in the final third. If nothing else we'll see after SG's contract runs out. Proper “oomph” seriously? The instructions for the front three is, bunch together, don’t press get in each others way don’t stretch the opponents .only attempt crosses that can’t beat the first man. Say if we swapped our front 3 for the Fulham, Brentford or Leeds front three would we have more “oophm”?? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 He's still very much in danger of the sack - I think they will look at the totality of performance and results, but assuming we get results, the World Cup might give him added time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morley_crosses_to_Withe Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) 7 minutes ago, gwi1890 said: Proper “oomph” seriously? The instructions for the front three is, bunch together, don’t press get in each others way don’t stretch the opponents .only attempt crosses that can’t beat the first man. Say if we swapped our front 3 for the Fulham, Brentford or Leeds front three would we have more “oophm”?? Have you looked at the average position of the front three from last night? If that’s your idea of bunching together then have at it, but I’d disagree. Now I’m not saying it was good or that we were effective, but they weren’t bunched together. There was generally nothing on when we did go forward though. It was horrible. Edited September 17, 2022 by Morley_crosses_to_Withe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gwi1890 Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 3 minutes ago, Morley_crosses_to_Withe said: “Bunch Have you looked at the average position of the front three from last night? If that’s your idea of bunching together then have at it, but I’d disagree. Did we stretch the pitch? Did we drag Southampton defenders out of position? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nicho Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 1 hour ago, CVByrne said: Can't catch a break, losing his two major summer signings to long term injuries. Each win costing him one of them 3 points at Leeds and Coutinho out next please then. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GingerCollins29 Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 18 minutes ago, DCJonah said: Then Purslow is full of shit. Smith sacked for not consistently improving and then saying that top half was the minimum requirement for this season. Gerrard is fortunate to have a boss who doesn't stick to his word. It's who you know rather than what you know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daft Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 (edited) 25 minutes ago, gwi1890 said: Proper “oomph” seriously? The instructions for the front three is, bunch together, don’t press get in each others way don’t stretch the opponents .only attempt crosses that can’t beat the first man. Say if we swapped our front 3 for the Fulham, Brentford or Leeds front three would we have more “oophm”?? I agree we have patterns of play issues as well, none of what you described where evident yesterday. But we seem not only devoid of ideas, which in general can be influenced by the manager, we look somewhat devoid of ability as well. Watkins (I think it was) fluffing a free shot, Bailey's shot outside, Ings had a poor touch as well. It's like Pep says, I can help you get into the final third, but once there it's up to you. Building a successful team is a multi-part problem. Also, I love how absolut livid you guys get by reading my opinions on the matter. Edited September 17, 2022 by daft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacketspuds Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 Football is an entertainment business, which fans shell out a shitload of money to watch. The players aren’t doing the fans a favour by just turning up on the pitch and booting the ball around aimlessly hoping for something to happen. Even though we won last night, I’ve rarely heard commentators describe the winning team as awful, and I think it was said a few times against Southampton. It feels like Gerrard is slowly managing the expectation of everyone down to thinking that mid-table would be an achievement. Forgetting that he has had 30+ games, 2 transfer windows and a whole pre-season, yet we’re still crap. I’m not going to let a win against a team that put on one of the worst performances against us in years change my mind. I’m delighted for the 3 points, but this season already feels like it’ll be just another waste as we struggle for consistency, quality and actually doing something worthy of the high prices fans are charged to watch the sport. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ingram85 Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 So the board have gone from ‘top half possibly hoping for a European place’ to ‘Guess that’ll do’. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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