Steven Gerrard

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

First of all, I want to put on record I am not even thinking about Gerrard being sacked or anything like it, it hadn’t even crossed my mind.  So I don’t want anybody to put me in that bucket, I’m behind Gerrard totally.

So that aside, what we are seeing on the pitch needs to get better and fast.  The performances and results are poor over the last couple of months.

I don't think many are - even me. 

Next season we have to come out of the blocks pretty quickly IMO. 

[Zatman]

1 minute ago, hippo said:

I don't think many are - even me. 

Next season we have to come out of the blocks pretty quickly IMO. 

I do think next year we do need to be flying. It also depends how this season ends. 

If we limp like this to the end of the season the board night need to ask questions

[CVByrne]

It's interesting that Leeds had a shocking performance against an out of form Everton side too. The short turn around from that crazy game could have had an impact. I know the blowing of a 2 goal lead did mentally for us yesterday (as we've previous on being a mentally weak side). 

[PerryBarrPet]

57 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

I really hope the manager rings the changes come the Weekend. If there was one thing that irritated me sometimes about Deano it was his persistence in always playing certain individuals regardless of form.

Any successful manager has to have that ruthless streak .

Just seen a picture of SG sitting on the bench watching our feeble effort against Newcastle - if looks could kill! In another thread there’s been discussions over needIng a new spine and I agree. Much work to be done in the summer and I think Gerrard knows this.

[CVByrne]

3 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

Just seen a picture of SG sitting on the bench watching our feeble effort against Newcastle - if looks could kill! In another thread there’s been discussions over needIng a new spine and I agree. Much work to be done in the summer and I think Gerrard knows this.

He's learning exactly what cost Smith his job. How few players can really be relied upon. 

[A'Villan]

His body language at the end, for me, was enough to ask the question if it reflected what we got from the players on field performance. Uninspired, lethargic and defeated.

We've got a big job ahead of us. There's been lots of changes. We can't be hasty in expecting everything to come together instantly. I'm not saying Gerrard is, but I am saying he needs to do better than being sullen and apathetic from where I sit.

Accept we were second best. Identify where we need to improve. Stand strong. Get on with it.

I'll be keen to see the post match interview. 

 

[hippo]

21 minutes ago, PerryBarrPet said:

Just seen a picture of SG sitting on the bench watching our feeble effort against Newcastle - if looks could kill! In another thread there’s been discussions over needIng a new spine and I agree. Much work to be done in the summer and I think Gerrard knows this.

Phew ! 

[PerryBarrPet]

8 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

He's learning exactly what cost Smith his job. How few players can really be relied upon. 

We have ambitious owners plus Christian Purslow has brought Gerrard in as the best man to take us forward. This should mean there will only be one winner in the long run. Players not good enough will be shipped out and quality replacements brought in. Those good enough will stay providing they shape up otherwise they will be replaced also. 
I hope our owners are determined to see things through.

[Dale]

1 hour ago, PerryBarrPet said:

Just seen a picture of SG sitting on the bench watching our feeble effort against Newcastle - if looks could kill! In another thread there’s been discussions over needIng a new spine and I agree. Much work to be done in the summer and I think Gerrard knows this.

What do we mean by work in the summer? Splurging a load of cash at players with no resale value with nothing to prove? Or actually working out what system works with the squad we have? 

We're tactically rigid at the moment, and I think quite easy to work out.  Do we think that we'll ever show any flexibility in terms of shape and build up (relying on all width coming from full backs leaves a huge number of gaps) as midfielders cover (inadequately on the wing) leaving a lot of space available. And we've never really dominated possession, so we're perpetually exposed. 

Maybe, Gerrard is more exposed in terms of tactical weakness now he's playing week on week out against teams of a similar quality who can look at our set up and set up effectively to counter it? At Liverpool or Rangers you can get away with it as you've got the best set of players available in that league, which means other teams won't see much of the ball, here, less so! 

Edited February 14, 2022 by Dale

[IrishVilla10]

1 hour ago, nick76 said:

First of all, I want to put on record I am not even thinking about Gerrard being sacked or anything like it, it hadn’t even crossed my mind.  So I don’t want anybody to put me in that bucket, I’m behind Gerrard totally.

So that aside, what we are seeing on the pitch needs to get better and fast.  The performances and results are poor over the last couple of months.

I’ll be so confused if we don’t see a big change on Saturday. Either 2/3 changes to the players or a tweak in the system, or both. Our midfield yesterday was appalling. Gerrards made it public now that he thinks Tim Iroegbunam is ready but is happy with the current state of our midfield, if yesterday doesn’t change that I’ll be worried. Sanson should get a start, Ings should get a start. If we go into this with the same players in the same set up I’ll be questioning things. Sure, we might get a performance against a poor Watford team but the next decent squad we come up against the cracks will show again. 
 

Thinking ahead to the summer window, I’d be more impressed if we saw these coaches getting these players performing well and winning games than I will be if we have to get 3/4 30+ million upgrades in summer. There’s potential in the squad clearly and they need to find out how to utilise it. 

[Dale]

5 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

Thinking ahead to the summer window, I’d be more impressed if we saw these coaches getting these players performing well and winning games than I will be if we have to get 3/4 30+ million upgrades in summer. There’s potential in the squad clearly and they need to find out how to utilise it. 

Quite, who have we seen the best of? Buendia, Ramsey perhaps. Otherwise Gerrard is no where near par in terms of performance from the squad he has. 

[A'Villan]

Okay his post match interview is quite encouraging. 

He's said 2 or 3 played to the level we would want to see. Changes will be made. Subs didn't perform as hoped. Lots of work to do. There's more to what he's said in the interview but I urge you to hear it from him instead of from me. Good signs from a very poor outing.

Everything he said was what we need so I hope to see better in coming weeks.

[romavillan]

3 minutes ago, Dale said:

What do we mean by work in the summer? Splurging a load of cash at players with no resale value with nothing to prove? Or actually working out what system works with the squad we have? 

We're tactically rigid at the moment, and I think quite easy to work out.  Do we think that we'll ever show any flexibility in terms of shape and build up (relying on all width coming from full backs leaves a huge number of gaps) as midfielders cover (inadequately on the wing) leaving a lot of space available. And we've never really dominated possession, so we're perpetually exposed. 

When they first switched it to the Rangers formation it looked really good, with Nakamba sitting and Luiz and McGinn as the 2 8s. We played some really good football. Even after Nakamba got knobbled against United we were playing it well. It might just be a case that other teams have looked at it when it was working and found out how to stop us playing but I'm not sure it is. In terms of the quality of football we're playing we've gone backwards, more mistakes all over the pitch and now zero confidence. I thought we'd have seen the benefits of the intense training by now but they look knackered and flat instead of full of for 90 minutes.

I'm with you in that throwing cash at it on older players with no resale value would be a disaster and undo the good work over the last few years. If Gerrard can't finish the season strongly giving us a good luck at what the future holds in terms of style etc. then it begs the question as to whether it was really worth sacking Smith. A major overhaul in the summer could go majorly wrong, players need time to settle, the coaches need time to work with them etc. etc.

It's a shame we've gone badly off the boil, going to the 4--3-2-1 and having Buendia and Couotinho looked to be a really good way to play. 

[IrishVilla10]

5 minutes ago, Dale said:

Quite, who have we seen the best of? Buendia, Ramsey perhaps. Otherwise Gerrard is no where near par in terms of performance from the squad he has. 

I think it’s because we’re sacrificing a solid defence for our attacking style of play. Which is strange given how much Gerrard states we want to be solid. We don’t have the fullbacks for it. If you have Trent, robertson, cancelo, Walker and in the SPL Tavernier it’s probably a lot easier. So Mings and konsa are just constantly exposed. Mcginn yesterday just seemed to get the ball deep back right and try and lob one over their defence. Luckily JJ likes to run at players or he’d probably do the same. We need a change

[IrishVilla10]

12 minutes ago, duke313 said:

Ashley Young can play there.

I don’t want to see that either to be honest 

[PerryBarrPet]

5 minutes ago, Dale said:

What do we mean by work in the summer? Splurging a load of cash at players with no resale value with nothing to prove? Or actually working out what system works with the squad we have? 

We're tactically rigid at the moment, and I think quite easy to work out.  Do we think that we'll ever show any flexibility in terms of shape and build up (relying on all width coming from full backs leaves a huge number of gaps) as midfielders cover (inadequately on the wing) leaving a lot of space available. And we've never really dominated possession, so we're perpetually exposed. 

Maybe, Gerrard is more exposed in terms of tactical weakness now he's playing week on week out against teams of a similar quality who can look at our set up and set up effectively to counter it? At Liverpool or Rangers you can get away with it as you've got the best set of players available in that league, which means other teams won't see much of the ball, here, less so! 

What is the point of working with the squad we have when a number of them are not good enough for a top 6/8 club let alone a top four. Tinkering with formations will not mitigate for a lack of individual player quality. This is more like trying to polish a turd and we all know how pointless that is. Some time ago, before the last transfer window, in another thread we had a discussion on how many of our players would fit in a top 4 club - the answer was one - Martinez. Now we can add Coutinho and Digne with Ramsey and possibly Buendia as ones for the future but the remainder are under question. For the rest of this season we can try other formations in order to squeeze the most out of our current squad but in the longer term higher quality players must be introduced.

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

I think it’s because we’re sacrificing a solid defence for our attacking style of play. 

An attacking style of play that yielded 1 shot on target  

[Dale]

4 minutes ago, romavillan said:

When they first switched it to the Rangers formation it looked really good, with Nakamba sitting and Luiz and McGinn as the 2 8s. We played some really good football. Even after Nakamba got knobbled against United we were playing it well. It might just be a case that other teams have looked at it when it was working and found out how to stop us playing but I'm not sure it is. In terms of the quality of football we're playing we've gone backwards, more mistakes all over the pitch and now zero confidence. I thought we'd have seen the benefits of the intense training by now but they look knackered and flat instead of full of for 90 minutes.

I'm with you in that throwing cash at it on older players with no resale value would be a disaster and undo the good work over the last few years. If Gerrard can't finish the season strongly giving us a good luck at what the future holds in terms of style etc. then it begs the question as to whether it was really worth sacking Smith. A major overhaul in the summer could go majorly wrong, players need time to settle, the coaches need time to work with them etc. etc.

It's a shame we've gone badly off the boil, going to the 4--3-2-1 and having Buendia and Couotinho looked to be a really good way to play. 

I think it's about having different variations on a theme isn't it? A bit more flex in who's doing what and when, sometimes having the tens drifting out and full backs being a bit more reserved, sometimes the opposite... The patterns should be more varied than they currently are. 

[IrishVilla10]

5 minutes ago, romavillan said:
It's a shame we've gone badly off the boil, going to the 4--3-2-1 and having Buendia and Couotinho looked to be a really good way to play. 

I think it might still work if we stop forcing the width from the fullbacks. Let whoever’s either side of the midfield three get forward (JJ does this very well) and McGinn or Sanson either side. For what it’s worth I think McGinns always better moving forward and I’m surprised he’s been given the deep cover role.  Coutinho and Buendia both play narrow anyway. 

[VillaParkAvenue]

27 minutes ago, IrishVilla10 said:

 We’re a mid table team, they don’t attract top coaches. 

Wrong. Some mid-table or lower teams have top coaches. Potter at Brighton is a top coach, Bruno Lage could very well be one and Hasenhuttl is at least close to being one. And that’s only those in the league right now.

The biggest international coaching names is another story. There are maybe twenty of those who would say no to a midtable club in Premier League, but the value of appointing one of those is questionable - Ancelotti at Everton wasn’t that great.