Gerrard In or Out?

[sinbad]

Gerrard joined Villa 11th November 2021, Eddie Howe joined Newcastle Untied on 8th November. If, in some parallel universe, they had gone to the opposite clubs, what might their respective positions look like now?
I guess Coutinho might have gone to NUFC, but Buendia could well have grown even more into the influential form he'd been finding. Digne might not have come, and Targett would have stayed.
Would Villa be better organised than they are now? Players playing in a system that suited them better?

[eamonn]

Howe things could have been different.

[Risso]

Would Villa be better organised than they are now? Players playing in a system that suited them better?

What system was that then?

[chrisw1]

Would Villa be better organised than they are now? Players playing in a system that suited them better?

What system was that then?

Not two up top.  And not two No 10's.  Only Sherwood had the mastery to bamboozle the opposition with two No 10's, not even Pep is brave enough to try it.

[Drummond]

Would Villa be better organised than they are now? Players playing in a system that suited them better?

Not two up top.  And not two No 10's.  Only Sherwood had the mastery to bamboozle the opposition with two No 10's, not even Pep is brave enough to try it.

What system was that then?

I think he means would Eddie Howe's system be better than Gerrard's. Evidence suggests it would be given the results, but who knows.

[Neil Hawkes]

Just as a matter of interest - how much money have the Geordies spent on their squad, in comparison to ours?

[N'ZMAV]

Just as a matter of interest - how much money have the Geordies spent on their squad, in comparison to ours?

it might be similar. They spent more on Joelinton than we've ever spent on anyone

[Nunkin1965]

There are plenty of Smith/Gerrard comparisons being mentioned .
If things seem similar is it important to give Gerrard the same amount of time to manage the team?

[Beard82]

There are plenty of Smith/Gerrard comparisons being mentioned .
If things seem similar is it important to give Gerrard the same amount of time to manage the team?

If he shows year on year improvement like smith did, he can be here til he retires

[PaulWinch again]

Well to be fair Dean showed year on year improvement until he didn’t. His last 11 months in the job were poor. I liked him, but he was given time to turn it around and he hadn’t shown any indication he was going to.
Gerrard has had a patchy start, but he should be afforded some time to prove himself - that’s not an endless amount of time, but it’s far too soon to consider a change now.

[ChicagoLion]

The Greasy will he won’t he debacle last summer really fucked us up.
He made ordinary players look better and play better. We went into this season under prepared and half baked.
We didn’t have a plan B on the pitch when Greasy wasn’t playing and we didn’t have a plan B to replace him.
Smith paid the price and nothing we have done since despite spending a £130mil + the Coutinho loan fee has arrested the situation,  they waisted the Greasy money .
We are still a PL team struggling without that once in a generation player.
How all of this can be blamed on Gerrard I don’t know, the post Greasy Villa is a huge challenge and would tax managers with far more experience than Gerrard.
The blame should be aimed at those responsible for the preparation for the new season and the transfers that were made.

[paul_e]

The Greasy will he won’t he debacle last summer really fucked us up.
He made ordinary players look better and play better. We went into this season under prepared and half baked.
We didn’t have a plan B on the pitch when Greasy wasn’t playing and we didn’t have a plan B to replace him.
Smith paid the price and nothing we have done since despite spending a £130mil + the Coutinho loan fee has arrested the situation,  they waisted the Greasy money .
We are still a PL team struggling without that once in a generation player.
How all of this can be blamed on Gerrard I don’t know, the post Greasy Villa is a huge challenge and would tax managers with far more experience than Gerrard.
The blame should be aimed at those responsible for the preparation for the new season and the transfers that were made.

There's a bunch of stuff in there that's irrelevant but the top and bottom lines are the key to the mess we've seen this season and the number of people to blame is huge. I don't think it's accurate or fair to claim that the rest of the squad is ordinary without him or that the signings we made last summer and January are a waste.


Bailey, for example, arrived injured and has never really recovered to get to the level needed in this league. He desperately needs a proper summer this year to get back on track, Digne is quality but has been really unlucky with injurues since he signed and Buendia has shown his quality but we need to work out how to make the best use of him.


Ings I have more concerns with but even then I think if we can get the midfield right and the fullbacks doing what Gerrard wants he can be an asset in this squad, but he needs a goal right now as his confidence is shot.

[KevinGage]

Mings, McGinn, Martinez, Buendia, Luiz, Cash and Watkins have shown themselves to be competent at this level of football - competent enough to earn international recognition for highly ranked international teams during their time with us. Bailey made waves in a league as strong as the Bundesliga and Konsa looked like he could make the transition to either the England or Portugal set up with ease.

SG has since added Digne and Coutinho to an already solid squad.

But we have to suddenly ignore all that and concede he has been given a duff hand in some way - and needs a total rebuild to make us competitive.

Sorry, don't buy it.

[Steve67]

Well, the owners are going to have to back him because those 22,000 season tickets aren’t going to sell themselves.  Those people will not purchase tickets to watch the current bag of shit. Will make for an interesting transfer window.

[Sexual Ealing]

Mings, McGinn, Martinez, Buendia, Luiz, Cash and Watkins have shown themselves to be competent at this level of football - competent enough to earn international recognition for highly ranked international teams during their time with us. Bailey made waves in a league as strong as the Bundesliga and Konsa looked like he could make the transition to either the England or Portugal set up with ease.

SG has since added Digne and Coutinho to an already solid squad.

But we have to suddenly ignore all that and concede he has been given a duff hand in some way - and needs a total rebuild to make us competitive.

Sorry, don't buy it.

I agree with KevinGage.