Gerrard In or Out?

[gpbarr]

I think the Leicester game will be a good barometer
He will have had two weeks to plan.  Set pieces, formations etc. 

Like before the Wolves game - and we came out flat as a pancake and looked awful.

The only thing the Leicester game will show us is more proof he isn't up to the job.
 

[Ads]

I'll send my tickets back then. How will we get on against Norwich just so I can factor in what to do?

[gpbarr]

Setting aside all the silliness about this debate, the bigger issue for me is not really about Gerrard per se, its about the philosophy of the club that seems to have gone out of the window this season. Thats what I don't understand.

Who nows whether Gerrard will turn out to be what we all hope he will be (given he is here now) - the problem is he wants to buy players that fit his style of football (a Xmas tree 433), which right or wrong, is very different from the approach under Smith - which means the investments the owners made in personnel a year ago now make no sense - under Gerrard, its unlikely there is any future for Bailey or Traore for example (they are traditional wingers), Buendia competes with Coutinho so there is only going to be one winner there (which we have seen already with his selections), Watkins likely has no future (Ings fits the Gerrard mould more traditionally).

Swapping managers every year is bad enough (and we have seen far too much of that), swapping styles is cray because it takes time to adjust and money to swap personnel.

This summer wont be building upon previous, it will be adjusting to fit a new way. If it were my money (thank god it isn't), that would worry me and lead me to Purslow's door to ask some pretty robust questions about whats going on.       

[Clark W Griswold]

Without getting too deeply into the in/out debate, why should Gerrard's name neccesarily attract top players? Are footballers really so shallow that they will turn down the chance of trophes and Europe just because another club's manager was a good player?

We've signed the world's 4th most expensive player because of the manager.

Who WAS the most expensive player but did nothing at Barca or Bayern and probably had very little choice to play regular football at a decent level other than joining us and will only stick with us if he thinks it might harm his chances of making the Brazilian WC squad if he went somewhere else.

Scored 1 in 3 and won the league and Euopean Cup. That's an interesting definition of nothing as people jump through contrived hoops to denigrate. We have the world's 4th most expensive player on our books, a Brazilian international of the flair kind, the sort we dreamed of in 2006 in the post-Ellis world. He's here because of the manager. An uncomfortable truth it seems.

I think the point with Coutinho is that he and Gerrard know each other personally, probably old mates in fact. Not so sure Gerrard is likely to attract top players he doesn't know on the strength of his name if we're still bumbling around outside the top half or even euro places. He may well have more 'mates' and contacts amonst the top players than Deano had and a fair few other managers though.
If Coutinho was doing the business at Barca we'd have had no chance anyway of course. That's not to say i'm not happy with him being here even just on loan and i hope we sign him as i think at his best he's better than Grealish, but i'm not convinced we will.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

The problem as I see it is that it looks like Dirk Kuyt has retired and is dedicated to selling a ‘DK’ branded clothing range in his native Holland.

I hope that there is a plan B that Steven has in mind to stop us being crap. Vladimir Smicer might be able to find his shin pads again. Although it might be difficult to capture his attention with this project as he has his heart set on becoming a member of the European Parliament.

As Phil Collins once sang ‘that’s just the way it is.’

[Beard82]

Setting aside all the silliness about this debate, the bigger issue for me is not really about Gerrard per se, its about the philosophy of the club that seems to have gone out of the window this season. Thats what I don't understand.

Who nows whether Gerrard will turn out to be what we all hope he will be (given he is here now) - the problem is he wants to buy players that fit his style of football (a Xmas tree 433), which right or wrong, is very different from the approach under Smith - which means the investments the owners made in personnel a year ago now make no sense - under Gerrard, its unlikely there is any future for Bailey or Traore for example (they are traditional wingers), Buendia competes with Coutinho so there is only going to be one winner there (which we have seen already with his selections), Watkins likely has no future (Ings fits the Gerrard mould more traditionally).

Swapping managers every year is bad enough (and we have seen far too much of that), swapping styles is cray because it takes time to adjust and money to swap personnel.

This summer wont be building upon previous, it will be adjusting to fit a new way. If it were my money (thank god it isn't), that would worry me and lead me to Purslow's door to ask some pretty robust questions about whats going on.       

Yes I think this is why I feel uncomfortable.  There is a lot to like about Gerrard and he is clearly working very hard and could well become a good manager - but it a big gamble changing direction on his advice - as it’s a double gamble - the formation may or may not work and he may or may not be a good manager

[LeeB]

Setting aside all the silliness about this debate, the bigger issue for me is not really about Gerrard per se, its about the philosophy of the club that seems to have gone out of the window this season. Thats what I don't understand.

Who nows whether Gerrard will turn out to be what we all hope he will be (given he is here now) - the problem is he wants to buy players that fit his style of football (a Xmas tree 433), which right or wrong, is very different from the approach under Smith - which means the investments the owners made in personnel a year ago now make no sense - under Gerrard, its unlikely there is any future for Bailey or Traore for example (they are traditional wingers), Buendia competes with Coutinho so there is only going to be one winner there (which we have seen already with his selections), Watkins likely has no future (Ings fits the Gerrard mould more traditionally).

Swapping managers every year is bad enough (and we have seen far too much of that), swapping styles is cray because it takes time to adjust and money to swap personnel.

This summer wont be building upon previous, it will be adjusting to fit a new way. If it were my money (thank god it isn't), that would worry me and lead me to Purslow's door to ask some pretty robust questions about whats going on.       

These are my concerns also.

[Clark W Griswold]

The problem as I see it is that it looks like Dirk Kuyt has retired and is dedicated to selling a ‘DK’ branded clothing range in his native Holland.

I hope that there is a plan B that Steven has in mind to stop us being crap. Vladimir Smicer might be able to find his shin pads again. Although it might be difficult to capture his attention with this project as he has his heart set on becoming a member of the European Parliament.

As Phil Collins once sang ‘that’s just the way it is.’

Whilst that is a shame I wasn’t thinking those two particularly, my dream would be for him to persuade Emile Heskey to come back for a second go.

[markeeeebeeee2005]

Clark if you’re a man for resurrections. I’ll raise your Emile Heskey with Stewart Downing.

[Brazilian Villain]

The problem as I see it is that it looks like Dirk Kuyt has retired and is dedicated to selling a ‘DK’ branded clothing range in his native Holland.

I'm surprised Donna Karan hasn't had something to say about that.

[N'ZMAV]

Doner Kebab.

[N'ZMAV]

I'll send my tickets back then. How will we get on against Norwich just so I can factor in what to do?

Dean Smith is the greatest manager of all time according to a few on here. So, going off that, I think it'll be 13-0 to Norwich.

[Sexual Ealing]

I'll send my tickets back then. How will we get on against Norwich just so I can factor in what to do?

Dean Smith is the greatest manager of all time according to a few on here. So, going off that, I think it'll be 13-0 to Norwich.

Which few?

[N'ZMAV]

I'll send my tickets back then. How will we get on against Norwich just so I can factor in what to do?

Dean Smith is the greatest manager of all time according to a few on here. So, going off that, I think it'll be 13-0 to Norwich.

Which few?

guess

[algy]

It’s like banning ketchup - surely it’s absolutely irrelevant but yet it happens.  Conte and Gerrard both seem to have had a look at the sauce list in the canteen and decided it was part of the problem

And who can blame them? Dreadful stuff.

I agree - in a world where brown sauce exists, ketchup is an entirely pointless condiment. There's not a single situation where it's the most appropriate sauce.