Gerrard In or Out?

[TonyD]

Next season we won’t have the 12 points from 4 wins from the new manager bounce.
That means relegation. 

[Risso]

Next season we won’t have the 12 points from 4 wins from the new manager bounce.
That means relegation. 

Jesus Christ, have you heard yourself?

[dave.woodhall]

My concern is that everything has been ditched just so that Purslow could bring in the man he's always wanted.

[Drummond]

If you have a Conte or similar, then perhaps you consider a philosophy change. But not for someone whose experience is limited to a third rate league with two teams.

[Beard82]

My concern is that everything has been ditched just so that Purslow could bring in the man he's always wanted.

Yes

[Risso]

What's this major philosophy change? Smith mainly played 4-3-3 and we're playing 4-3-3. All managers are different and all are going to have their own style, even if it fits within certain parameters. Who else would we have got who would have played in excactly the same style as Smith, who deprived of Grealish was leading us into a relegation battle, let's not forget.

[Villan82]

We had a system based on wing play and now we are very narrow leaving multi-millions worth of talent (Traore, Bailey) completely surplus to requirements. That is a definite shift and a big one.

[Ian.]

I thought the whole reason we had the DOF set up behind the seens was so that we decide on what kind of club we want to be and recruit players and staff around that basis. The fact it now looks like we have signed a lot of players with no real thought process behind it and then appointed a manager that needs a massive squad reset is a major fuck up by Pursow and Lange.

And this is what I don't understand and will keep not understanding for a long time to come. I thought the days of annual personnel change were over; now it seems that philosophies are temporary as well.

It seems the glamour of Gerrard was too much for Purslow and the plan was shelved or spun to the owners that the plan will fit in with the new recruitment.

[Chris Smith]

We had a system based on wing play and now we are very narrow leaving multi-millions worth of talent (Traore, Bailey) completely surplus to requirements. That is a definite shift and a big one.

Yep, and requiring the fullbacks to provide the width leaving us constantly exposed in the space they vacate.

[Mister E]

This is one of the more bizarre seasons I can remember.
What the fuck went wrong?

We had a clusterfuck of a summer ...

[Beard82]

We all want what’s best for villa - whether we stay to end of a game or leave when 4-0 down.

We all want villa to be successful - whether we see it as ditching a manager, undecided, or still backing them. 

I don’t think any view on this is embarrassing on either side - boring maybe because we all have our views and they don’t often change. 

We have seen with Arsenal - how the stick route works, we have seen with Spurs how the twist route works. 

For me, I think the owners know how to achieve things with sports team that seem impossible. 

Currently there the ones I am putting my faith in. 

A lot of the impatientness and frustration comes from our continued stated aims - we told we are trying to compete with the top 8 clubs - and that’s what we are judging it against.  We’re told we’re expecting year on year improvement. 

Maybe we would have been better to be more coy about it - most of the media see us a club like Brighton or Southampton whose first aim is to stay away from regulation and get to 40 points and anything else is a bonus.  Maybe that’s what we should do

Our players need an upgrade - we all agree that - We’ll see what the summer brings - and how much that is a departure from what we have done before. 

[Beard82]

We had a system based on wing play and now we are very narrow leaving multi-millions worth of talent (Traore, Bailey) completely surplus to requirements. That is a definite shift and a big one.

Yep, and requiring the fullbacks to provide the width leaving us constantly exposed in the space they vacate.

There also appears to have been a change in transfer strategy - with us signing players at peak values that we won’t recoup - like Digne and hopefully Phil

[Clampy]

What's this major philosophy change? Smith mainly played 4-3-3 and we're playing 4-3-3. All managers are different and all are going to have their own style, even if it fits within certain parameters. Who else would we have got who would have played in excactly the same style as Smith, who deprived of Grealish was leading us into a relegation battle, let's not forget.

I think what's been referred to is the plan to bring through the youth, rather than the playing style. I might be wrong but I'm sure Gerrard has come out and said wants players who are going to do it for him now. The likes of Chuck have not had a look in at all the last few games. It does seem a bit of a waste.

[DB]

Here’s the worrying thing.

When we went in at half time not having taken any of the myriad chances we had in the previous 40 minutes did anyone NOT think that:

a. Conte would change their shape to nullify us.
b. It would work.
c. Gerrard would not make any changes for us until it was too late.

Totally and utterly predictable.

I’ll give him a chance but I am more and more worried we’ve got ourselves another ‘blunt instrument’ manager who just doesn’t seem to ‘do’ tactics beyond choosing some and sticking with them regardless of what he sees on the pitch.

Your abc is exactly what I was saying at half time.

He talks a good game but he doesn’t seem able to think on his feet. You get the impression that his half time team talk yesterday was the equivalent of “brilliant lads, more of the same” instead of expecting that they would improve and to be ready for it.

He should be allowed the summer to bring in his own players to suit how he wants us to play but I think that unless there is a clear improvement fairly quickly he’ll be gone by Christmas.

My other concern is that we risk wasting the potential of our youngsters as I get the impression of a man who is more interested in experience. I hope I’m wrong.

I said it a week ago. I have the feeling we’ll be looking for a new manager come Nov.
There has been no improvement or signs we can see what is improving. Give him a window and let’s see.

[Ads]

Why are people talking about shape? Is that what you think the difference was yesterday, shape? That a tactical tweak yesterday was what happened 2nd half? I'd be curious to know why. Neither manager impacted the game in a meaningful way 2nd half.

Conte didn't need to. The difference was, Son. He's world class. If he wore claret and blue, he'd have scored 6 yesterday. But he doesn't and we're absolutely his bunny. 3 shots, 3 goals, poor individual defending from our centre halves. Not shape, not closing lines or low blocs or gengenpress, just a player that has the highest chance conversion rate in the league, almost twice that of Salah. And he gets to play with Kane. While we have Danny "he's 5 years younger than me? No fucking way" Ings and Ollie "Gavin McCann hold my pint" Watkins.

Spurs didn't defend better than us, they gave up a raft of chances. The games simple and goals change games, there's a cliché that is appropriate.