Steven Gerrard

[Mark Albrighton]

45 minutes ago, TRO said:

performances without wins is what is pointless.

Performances are subjective, results are fact.

It’s not completely without merit, but it’s also not the be all and end all.

There’s about 3% difference between Ron Saunders and Dean Smith. Is that a fair reflection to your mind? 

Generally the “good” managers (who have solely managed Villa in the top flight) have around 40-45% win ratio. If Gerrard is doing that (or hopefully better) by the end of this season, end of next season, then that’s good going.

Points per game is a better indicator. If Villa had managed a draw at Anfield, that would have been a very good result that Gerrard would rightly be praised for it. However it would count for diddly squat under the win ratio stat.

[dubbs]

3 hours ago, mjmooney said:

One day, Steven Gerrard's Villa will lose five games on the trot. 

Yes but if 2 of those are again PSG and Barcelona its a completely different scenario.

[nick76]

34 minutes ago, VillaJ100 said:

What was the tattoo needle made from adamantium?! 

The only thing that is strong enough is Gerrard’s hairline

[Tomaszk]

3 hours ago, TRO said:

performances without wins is what is pointless.

I disagree.

The squad and Gerrard will have taken plenty from the two defeats so far.

3 hours ago, TRO said:

Performances are subjective, results are fact.

So?

Win percentage is an awful stat to use as any sort of KPI.

[MotoMkali]

9 hours ago, mjmooney said:

One day, Steven Gerrard's Villa will lose five games on the trot. 

Only after we've walked the league and sat out the rest of the games in protest to the shit refereeing. 

[Mazrim]

9 hours ago, mjmooney said:

One day, Steven Gerrard's Villa will lose five games on the trot. 

I reckon not.

[ciggiesnbeer]

My guess is if Gerrard loses 5 in a row within the next year or so he wont be fired.

I believe the 5 games in a row for Deano just confirmed  a change the board had been considering for sometime.

So far they have been proven right imho. Gerrard feels like an upgrade.

Logically that makes no sense ,Deano is a far more experienced coach and emotionally it feels sucky to say it because I love Dean Smith, but its what my eyes see watching the team play. 

Edited December 17, 2021 by ciggiesnbeer

[TheLegendOfLeonBailey31]

50 minutes ago, ciggiesnbeer said:

My guess is if Gerrard loses 5 in a row within the next year or so he wont be fired.

I believe the 5 games in a row for Deano just confirmed  a change the board had been considering for sometime.

So far they have been proven right imho. Gerrard feels like an upgrade.

Logically that makes no sense ,Deano is a far more experienced coach and emotionally it feels sucky to say it because I love Dean Smith, but its what my eyes see watching the team play. 

The way I look at it is Gerard has been a coach on the field as a player since he was like 20 years old, being coached/molded/taught by top managers and playing with top talent....  that's so unbelievably valuable, and he clearly has continued his passion into coaching and the man is all in.  I was not for sacking Deano and I wasn't all that thrilled that SG was who we were rumored to be interested in, but **** me is he outstanding.  He's won me over, and he did it after 1 game, just hearing him talk, it's just different.  Everything about the club is different just because he's steering the ship.  I can't wait to see what comes next.

[punkiller1981]

5 hours ago, TheLegendOfLeonBailey31 said:

The way I look at it is Gerard has been a coach on the field as a player since he was like 20 years old, being coached/molded/taught by top managers and playing with top talent....  that's so unbelievably valuable, and he clearly has continued his passion into coaching and the man is all in.  I was not for sacking Deano and I wasn't all that thrilled that SG was who we were rumored to be interested in, but **** me is he outstanding.  He's won me over, and he did it after 1 game, just hearing him talk, it's just different.  Everything about the club is different just because he's steering the ship.  I can't wait to see what comes next.

I’m in this camp, wasn’t overwhelmed by the SG talk mainly I think because of the league he was managing in. I have to say the moment he walked through the door the calm, no nonsense, steely determined to win mindset shows what he is about to me and that’s the business of winning and being successful. 
 

it’s difficult to not be impressed with the set up and the results so far. 4 wins 6 with the 2 defeats to the top 2 in the league I think speaks volumes. As much as I love Deano I couldn’t see that happening and now I just see this new level of professionalism in the group clearly instilled already by Gerrard and GMac. I’m really excited to see the progression in a year or even 6 months given the sharp upping in levels in 6 weeks 

[peterw]

I'm naturally pessimistic so that's my starting point.

So far the best football we have played all season has been under Dean Smith. On anther day we would have scored 3 at Chelsea by half-time, would have comfortably seen out the Wolves win, and Southamption ending with at least a draw. Not being a Smith apologist but we could easily be sitting in the top 6 right now.

For me, there is the usual new manager bounce, and although we have ben tighter I think that can also be explained by the new manager bounce and that we have some very good players that should not have been losing 5 on the bounce. For all the good defending at Liverpool I personally was disappointed to see how we set out. Teams have scored against Liverpool this season and we did not set out to. Gerrard struck me then, as he did against Man City, as wanting to park the bus against the big guns and trying to nick a goal here and there. 

You could argue that because of the way we played previously we were too open and it is why we lost 5 and conceded too many. But that doesn't tell the full story and is without context.

Are we tighter? Yes. Does Mings look better? Yes. Are we defending than at any time under Smith? No. Are we creating good chances in every game? No, but we are creating enough in games to win.

I think we still look soft and vulnerable. I think that the new full-back thing isn't a thing because we were playing like that under Smith. Nakamba was playing under Smith. Ramsey was playing under Smith. So, for me what I'm seeing is the players responding to a new voice but not that the new manager has brought anything that isn't already there. The 2 defeats that have been mentioned above and not seeing it under Smith - we lost 2-1 at Anfield last season with a last minute winner against us, after taking the lead, and Trezeguet hitting a post at 1-1 when we were pushing before his injury. That was wholely better than this season's effort. And Man City? we lost by exactly the same score except we took the lead.

I'm not in the jury's in or out camp as Gerrard is our manager and I'll support him every step of the way. Smith is old news nw, thanks for the memories, the hard work, and the great coaching, but gone you are. But neither do I attribute any great efforts from Gerrard into changing our style, how we play, and players used into beating the teams we would have wanted/expected to have beaten with all things being equal, anyway.

[jimmygreaves]

We looked very good under Smith, a competitive side. Strong performances against Chelsea, a very rare win at Old Trafford.

Everything seemed to dramatically shift after the last 10 mins of the Wolves game. We seemed to be a completely different proposition. Confidence gone, the players looked like strangers. The Arsenal game was one of the poorest performances I can remember.

Something happened after that Wolves match.

Gerrard has got the squad on side very quickly. He interviews well. The team do seem to be very motivated and committed now. Let's hope this continues.

[TRO]

13 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

I disagree.

The squad and Gerrard will have taken plenty from the two defeats so far.

So?

Win percentage is an awful stat to use as any sort of KPI.

I disagree.

and I am not suggesting SG won't take anything from performances, and I am not suggesting they are pointless in isolation...only without wins/results.

What I am saying is on a consistent basis, performances without wins are pointless.

Performances are vanity....results are sanity.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, jimmygreaves said:

We looked very good under Smith, a competitive side. Strong performances against Chelsea, a very rare win at Old Trafford.

Everything seemed to dramatically shift after the last 10 mins of the Wolves game. We seemed to be a completely different proposition. Confidence gone, the players looked like strangers. The Arsenal game was one of the poorest performances I can remember.

Something happened after that Wolves match.

Gerrard has got the squad on side very quickly. He interviews well. The team do seem to be very motivated and committed now. Let's hope this continues.

I think you make a good point....but for me, there was still something bubbling under the surface all year....our results during 2021 were poor.

we was inconsistent..win one, draw one, lose one.......well it seemed like that with0ut checking.

[Delphinho123]

I'd argue our results have been better than our performances...(If that makes sense?!).

There has been a lot to like about what Gerrard and Beale have implemented, none more so than how harder we are to play through. Teams simply aren't waltzing through the middle of the park against us and peppering Martinez' goal. They identified that straight away. I also like the narrow 10's formation where the full backs are expected to offer a lot going forward. Cash has excelled. 

We do need to be better in possession though. This will come, but at the moment we need to start doing what we did to Norwich against better teams. We were also superb in the second half against Leicester. 

The future is bright. If we get the next couple of signings spot on then we can challenge for top 8 next season. 

[Indigo]

21 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

I'd argue our results have been better than our performances...(If that makes sense?!).

I think it's almost 50/50 in the sense that in most games so far there hasn't been a consistent performance where one half matches the other. Palace and Norwich the first halves were great and we looked well on course to win only to come out a bit stodgy for the second, and against Leicester and City the second half showings were almost night and day from the first. Brighton and Liverpool were much of a muchness I suppose, but sustaining that standard of performance over a longer period of games is a priority for them as well I'm guessing. As you say though I do like that we're looking a lot less vulnerable in those moments where the balance of play is in the other team's favour. 

[Peter Griffin]

3 hours ago, jimmygreaves said:

We looked very good under Smith, a competitive side. Strong performances against Chelsea, a very rare win at Old Trafford.

Everything seemed to dramatically shift after the last 10 mins of the Wolves game. We seemed to be a completely different proposition. Confidence gone, the players looked like strangers. The Arsenal game was one of the poorest performances I can remember.

Something happened after that Wolves match.

Gerrard has got the squad on side very quickly. He interviews well. The team do seem to be very motivated and committed now. Let's hope this continues.

I think u need to have another look at the games we played since the start of the year. We have been really poor all year, it is not something new that just appeared. The new thing that appeared is that we went from being very poor to being dog muck that couldn't get a point from a game.

[tomav84]

is there a press conference does anyone know or have i missed it?

[YouUnastanFren]

Just now, tomav84 said:

is there a press conference does anyone know or have i missed it?

1pm

[Laughable Chimp]

Under Smith this season:

Goals scored per game-1.3

Goals conceded per game-1.8

Expected goals scored per game-1.1

Expected goals conceded per game-1.5

Average possession per game- 47%

 

Under Gerrard this season:

Goals scored per game-1.5

Goals conceded per game-0.8

Expected goals scored per game-1.0

Expected goals conceded per game-1.1

Average possession per game- 39%

 

[MarkLillis]

I think that it is clear Dean Smith had assembled a lot of good players and staff around him at VP.

The set up at Bodymoor Heath is also very good.

This was an open goal for SG.

Dean Smith can consider himself very unlucky i don't know how he let it slip but he did. I would have backed him to come back from it too like on the other occasions he rectified a loss of form.

However the owners want consistent improvement and slipping back once a season and having to find your way back is not this.

 

Edited December 17, 2021 by MarkLillis