est1874 Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 1 minute ago, nick76 said: I’m not alarmed but we certainly haven’t had an excellent preseason. It's been solid IMO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Keyblade Posted July 30, 2022 Popular Post Share Posted July 30, 2022 We haven't got any injuries, we've won every game bar one which we drew. Got good minutes in everyone's legs. As far as preseasons go, it's been a pretty good one. A far cry from last season's debacle. 19 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 I think its been a good pre- season. Given the level of opposition weve played against to come out undefeated is not bad at all. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 23 minutes ago, Keyblade said: We haven't got any injuries, we've won every game bar one which we drew. Got good minutes in everyone's legs. As far as preseasons go, it's been a pretty good one. A far cry from last season's debacle. Thats a good point. Last year was a mess and I think played a huge part in our poor start to the season. Pretty much everything has gone the way Gerrard would have wanted. He's a man who said this is a no excuse culture and this summer just adds to that. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ciggiesnbeer Posted July 30, 2022 Share Posted July 30, 2022 Excellent pre season. Gerrard has done a very good job so far. For me the midfield still feels a little "off" for whatever reason. I have no idea which player needs to be changed or if we just need to have an established midfield and let them grow. Our forward options could use some tweaking or rotation I just know I want to see Bailey & Buendia & Coutinho on the pitch. Very happy. Roll on the league! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 2 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said: Excellent pre season. Gerrard has done a very good job so far. For me the midfield still feels a little "off" for whatever reason. I have no idea which player needs to be changed or if we just need to have an established midfield and let them grow. Our forward options could use some tweaking or rotation I just know I want to see Bailey & Buendia & Coutinho on the pitch. Very happy. Roll on the league! Which part? The style of football has been shocking and Rennes and Brisbane Roar looked good against us 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A'Villan Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 2 hours ago, Zatman said: Which part? The style of football has been shocking and Rennes and Brisbane Roar looked good against us Rennes aren't a bad side. For the moments i tuned in we were the dominant team. That was while things were 1-1, and I see we went on to win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WallisFrizz Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 4 hours ago, Zatman said: Which part? The style of football has been shocking and Rennes and Brisbane Roar looked good against us Rennes looked decent because they finished 4th in Ligue 1 last season, so probably equivalent of a mid table prem side. We beat them and spent the last 25 mins with most of our second string on. Brisbane Roar did not look good against us, they looked like a team who set up to defend doggedly and gave it a go on the counter every so often. Pre season was decent and Gerrard has definitely got them much sharper going into the start of the season than we were last year. The fact that we don’t create enough clear cut chances is a worry as we don’t look clinical enough when we get them. I’m still fairly optimistic for a good season, and by good I mean top half and a cup run. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eholm Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 (edited) I’m normally quite optimistic but I have to admit I’m disappointed at the moment. As it stands we look ponderous, poor in possession, passing is poor and we do not create chances. Also, we are so, so predictable Our midfield is still not right and so will still fail to control games. I can’t see what this much-fabled pre-season has produced in regards to progression from last season. I would love to be proved wrong and that all this is just the players still being in self preservation mode…..if not I just cannot see how we will get anywhere near top 7 and will do well to get top half. Edited July 31, 2022 by eholm 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DCJonah Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 7 hours ago, ciggiesnbeer said: Excellent pre season. Gerrard has done a very good job so far. For me the midfield still feels a little "off" for whatever reason. I have no idea which player needs to be changed or if we just need to have an established midfield and let them grow. Our forward options could use some tweaking or rotation I just know I want to see Bailey & Buendia & Coutinho on the pitch. Very happy. Roll on the league! I agree with a lot but the part in bold. He's done OK. Finishing 14th is not a very good job IMO. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 17 minutes ago, nick76 said: I’m trying to be open that i could be wrong, something that is rare on this site these days. People fix on one position and defend it to the hilts. I’m concerned at what I’m seeing but i’m open to it not being an issue and the positives will out do the negatives next season. I want Gerrard to succeed because I want Villa to succeed. People come back at me saying we were undefeated in preseason….great! But if we were struggling they would’ve then said results in preseason don’t matter. The same with scoring and conceding that it’s a net positive result, well I hope it would be when playing the likes of Walsall, Brisbane Roar, a poor Leeds team and Rennes. Thankfully we had a bit more of a test against Man U, first half problems, second half good. Now we are going into competitive games, the level will rise and I’m hoping the positives are enhanced like many believe they will and not the frailties that many of us are concerned about. I’m hoping to be wrong, I’m hoping that what I’m seeing is wrong or just preseason niggles. So I’m very open to being positive as the season progresses and I will happily come back and say I don’t know what I was worried about. Judging anything on preseason results is fraught with danger. It’s not really a great indicator for the season. I can’t be bothered to search back over the seasons, if it’s even particularly possible to go back far. However I seem to remember plenty of preseasons when we’ve done well only to come crashing down once the season starts and exactly the opposite for plenty too. Managers are still experimenting and building squads so it’s very much up in the air behind the scenes. I doubt many Liverpool fans enjoyed loosing 4-0 to Man U and I’m sure plenty of Man U fans were changing out of their Man City shirts and digging out their old Man U tops but the managers will take a more sanguine view. Even once the season starts we’re told not to get carried away with a win or too down with a defeat, bur inevitably people will, to some extent, it’s human nature. We all still have nightmares about 2015/16 and that started quite well, ironically against the same opposition we face next week. Ultimately only time will tell. But what makes this place a more or less no go area, for a lot of VT followers, is the sense of guns being constantly loaded by some posters if everything isn’t absolutely perfect. Everyone is perfectly in their right to say exactly how they feel, of course, but some people have a default setting to be hyper critical of the manager, or club, or certain players. Others default to being supportive, i probably fall into that category, but surely that should be everyone’s default setting to some extent? Inevitably the latter group get called happy clappers and become more defensive. The former group shout about their right to be critical and become even more critical. In the end the toxicity levels rise and we’re just left with a handful of of posters shouting back and forth from the extreme ends of entrenched positions. It often really isn’t a fun place to be. This isn’t a dig at you Nick. As I’m sure you’re aware we often don’t agree with each other’s posts but I do actually like quite a few of your posts and notice that you like quite a few of mine, nowhere near enough mind, The right to express individual views, within certain perimeters, is both fundamental and of course the whole point of forums. However doing it without vitriol or without the deliberate intent to get a reactionary response would, I think, for most posters anyway, make this place more enjoyable. The world is often a tricky place to negotiate, this place shouldn’t be hard to visit for anyone, regardless of opinion. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Preseason has been good in terms of results but not great in terms of overall performance. I agree that it's not something to really judge any manager on, given its purpose is largely about fitness and trying different things out. Bournemouth is what really matters. The concerns I have are not judgements and until we play competitively, they remain largely hypothetical. I noticed that his initial selection of players against the two good sides we played (Man Utd and Rennes) weren't the right ones - both were vastly improved after the break. So the good is that he and his coaching team can react and make good changes, the bad is that the agreed upon first selection was wrong. Both initial selections picked the guy who is now our captain, McGinn, and also the gaffer's personal friend, Coutinho. We looked better with McGinn off the pitch and Buendia looks a better option than Coutinho IMO, yet it looks like those two are first names on the team sheet. Until we see the team an hour before kick off next Saturday, we're not going to know more, so it's hypothetical at this point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LondonLax Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 We have had a much better and more settled preseason than last year so that’s something at least. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lexicon Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 1 hour ago, LondonLax said: We have had a much better and more settled preseason than last year so that’s something at least. True - the hope is that we'll be able to go into our first game firing on all cylinders and get a good start to the season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 One positive has been an improvement in our resolve and determination to get back into games. Back from 2-0 down against ManUre to draw and again yesterday, coming from behind to win the game. in recent years we’ve just rolled over and allowed our tummies to be tickled 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted July 31, 2022 Share Posted July 31, 2022 Gonna be a big year for Leon if he keeps himself fit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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