Gerrard In or Out?

[SoccerHQ]

14th. Two places better off than under Dean Smith. Everton and Leeds overtaken.

You’re not getting upset because other teams have played this weekend and we haven’t? Because that would be a bit weird.

Bit of a moot point as we'd have had Liverpool at home today in normal circumstances so not really a match you can expect much from in respective forms. Perhaps we'll rouse ourselves in early May when they visit but I expect not.

Newcastle need to beat either tired Leicester or Palace who've got the cup SF to go above us in next four days. Imagine thinking that would be possible in mid December.

Whichever way it's spun us being 14/15th is nowhere near good enough.

Pretty sobering when you look at our last 4 games aswell:

West Ham. Yes they're having another good season but we played them 3 days after they've jus had a taxing away game in Spain. Brentford comfortably beat them after a europa game last week.

Arsenal. Again on a good run when we played them but we had a free week while they played Liverpool. Since then they've lost to three teams who were below us in the table before beating Arsenal.

Wolves. Terrible in first half. Either side of beating us they've lost to Leeds and Newcastle.

Spurs. The only real defence as we were good first half but couldn't score. Brighton however showed today there are ways to shut off their front 3 which they did superbly.

So all in all after adding some decent players in January we haven't kicked on as expected and are way too passive/limited against any competent top 10 team. I'm not convinced spending another 100m + under this manager is going to cut it tbh next season.

[SoccerHQ]

We should stick with him But not push the boat out in the transfer Market, in this two break with no international calls he has plenty of time to improve the implementation of his playing style

That is exactly what we shouldn’t do. If we stick with him then we have to fully back him and get who he wants in. If we’re not going to do that then he should be sacked before we end up with a squad of three different managers who are a complete mish-mash.

He's already been backed in January though. Added Coutinho who we'd never have had a hope of signing under DS. Added Digne to replace Targett which produced mixed reaction but I am o.k with and also Chambers who started that defensive purple patch when we kept three straight clean sheets. Yet replaced by Konsa when he could've stayed in the team.

It's not like we'll be replacing every player this summer. Martinez and Cash signed long term deals so they'll obviously be starting every week next season as will in all likelihood McGinn and Ramsey. And I'd say Mings feels fairly secure still so with Digne and hopefully Coutinho full time I don't think they'll be as many changes as expected.

What we really need to get right especially with 5 subs is players off the bench who can make an impact and win us some points as it's all but fizzled out in that respect last three months.

[pauliewalnuts]

Whichever way it's spun us being 14/15th is nowhere near good enough.

Yep, finishing 14th or 15th would absolutely not be acceptable, nowhere near, and Gerrard would have to bear a good chunk of the blame for that.

[robbo1874]

I don’t want Gerrard out, but something just doesn’t sit right with him and I’m not sure what it is yet. I think it may be the obvious intention to bring in big name, slightly past it players at the expense of bringing our youth through. There’s no real evidence of it, but you could point to the likes of Chuk and wonder whether he’d have got more minutes under Smith. Dunno, just not sure about Gerrard.

[N'ZMAV]

I don't want him out either - things aren't great, but we're going through one of those spells that most mid-table clubs go through.
I think all managers need at least a year, maybe more to make things right. These are very much the same bunch of players that were streaky under Smith.

[Allan C]

Worrying that Arsenal have pretty much lost every game still beating us and Spurs losing today despite destroying us last week. Wolves away we were poor too. Want him to stay and do well but still have a nagging suspicion of a toxic undercurrent within the squad which has been festering since day 1 of this stop start season.

It’s not worrying at all. It just proves to me that barring the top three (two?) there’s not a great deal between any of the teams from 4th to where we are. Anyone in those positions will beat anyone on a given day.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Worrying that Arsenal have pretty much lost every game still beating us and Spurs losing today despite destroying us last week. Wolves away we were poor too. Want him to stay and do well but still have a nagging suspicion of a toxic undercurrent within the squad which has been festering since day 1 of this stop start season.

It’s not worrying at all. It just proves to me that barring the top three (two?) there’s not a great deal between any of the teams from 4th to where we are. Anyone in those positions will beat anyone on a given day.

And yet we can't beat anybody in the top 8 (let alone draw with them) on any given day, since our change of manager.

[Risso]

I don’t want Gerrard out, but something just doesn’t sit right with him and I’m not sure what it is yet. I think it may be the obvious intention to bring in big name, slightly past it players at the expense of bringing our youth through. There’s no real evidence of it, but you could point to the likes of Chuk and wonder whether he’d have got more minutes under Smith. Dunno, just not sure about Gerrard.

There's no evidence of it at all. Chuk has already got loads more games and minutes in the league under Gerrard than he did Smith, so that' a really easy one to answer. As for the obvious intention to bring in big name, slightly past it players, do you mean Ashley Young and Danny Ings? Because you can't possibly mean Coutinho who has been superb.

[Clampy]

I don’t want Gerrard out, but something just doesn’t sit right with him and I’m not sure what it is yet. I think it may be the obvious intention to bring in big name, slightly past it players at the expense of bringing our youth through. There’s no real evidence of it, but you could point to the likes of Chuk and wonder whether he’d have got more minutes under Smith. Dunno, just not sure about Gerrard.

There's no evidence of it at all. Chuk has already got loads more games and minutes in the league under Gerrard than he did Smith, so that' a really easy one to answer. As for the obvious intention to bring in big name, slightly past it players, do you mean Ashley Young and Danny Ings? Because you can't possibly mean Coutinho who has been superb.

You've said that about Chuck before and it don't sound right to me. Loads more games? I can't remember the last time he got on the pitch under Gerrard.

[Risso]

You've said that about Chuck before and it don't sound right to me. Loads more games? I can't remember the last time he got on the pitch under Gerrard.

If only there were sites where you could check league appearance data if you have the memory of a goldfish, but here you go:

Under Smith:

Brentford - 63 minutes

Under Gerrard:

Man City - 23 mins
Leicester - 12 mins
Norwich - 7 mins
Chelsea - 16 mins
Man U - 14 mins
Everton - 16 mins
Leeds - 31 mins
Newcastle - 6 mins

I don't know why he hasn't featured since, maybe it's something to do with his contract, or not looking great in training, or the fact he hasn't done a whole lot most of the time when he has come on, who knows. But he's featured in 8 of Gerrard's games, so saying that there's been a change in focus away from the youth following Smith's departurs is more made up rubbish.

[Clampy]

You've said that about Chuck before and it don't sound right to me. Loads more games? I can't remember the last time he got on the pitch under Gerrard.

If only there were sites where you could check league appearance data if you have the memory of a goldfish, but here you go:

Under Smith:

Brentford - 63 minutes

Under Gerrard:

Man City - 23 mins
Leicester - 12 mins
Norwich - 7 mins
Chelsea - 16 mins
Man U - 14 mins
Everton - 16 mins
Leeds - 31 mins
Newcastle - 6 mins

I don't know why he hasn't featured since, maybe it's something to do with his contract, or not looking great in training, or the fact he hasn't done a whole lot most of the time when he has come on, who knows. But he's featured in 8 of Gerrard's games, so saying that there's been a change in focus away from the youth following Smith's departurs is more made up rubbish.

Well, you missed out the Spurs game last season and the two League Cup games this season under Smith. That website of yours aye very good.

[Clark W Griswold]

You've said that about Chuck before and it don't sound right to me. Loads more games? I can't remember the last time he got on the pitch under Gerrard.

I don't know why he hasn't featured since, maybe it's something to do with his contract, or not looking great in training, or the fact he hasn't done a whole lot most of the time when he has come on, who knows.

It might have something to do with the fact that he looks half arsed mostly when he’s come on and he’s stalling on a new contract, kind of like he thinks he’s something special already and hasn’t got anything to prove when he gets his opportunity. Grealish was like it at one point and then eventually got the work ethic once Terry came to the club and of course in the end he turned out extremely well for us for a few years before he fucked off. But for every youngster that turns out well after a underwhelming start there are many that just disappear and we can’t afford to fuck around when we’re scrapping for points and managers are fighting for or trying to build reputations.

[Risso]

You've said that about Chuck before and it don't sound right to me. Loads more games? I can't remember the last time he got on the pitch under Gerrard.

If only there were sites where you could check league appearance data if you have the memory of a goldfish, but here you go:

Under Smith:

Brentford - 63 minutes

Under Gerrard:

Man City - 23 mins
Leicester - 12 mins
Norwich - 7 mins
Chelsea - 16 mins
Man U - 14 mins
Everton - 16 mins
Leeds - 31 mins
Newcastle - 6 mins

I don't know why he hasn't featured since, maybe it's something to do with his contract, or not looking great in training, or the fact he hasn't done a whole lot most of the time when he has come on, who knows. But he's featured in 8 of Gerrard's games, so saying that there's been a change in focus away from the youth following Smith's departurs is more made up rubbish.

Well, you missed out the Spurs game last season and the two League Cup games this season under Smith. That website of yours aye very good.

It's weird, you can remember back to posts people made 10 years ago to bring them up, but not a run of actual Villa matches a few weeks ago. And I specifically mentioned league games, as Gerrard wasn't afforded the luxury of cup games against lower league opposition in earlier rounds. One game last season doesn't change the overall argument one iota either.

[cdbearsfan]

I wish Chelsea were "lower league".

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He got injured in the warm up at Wolves.