Gerrard In or Out?

[paul_e]

I meant when we play v West Ham, Wolves and Leicester rather than the general run of form.

We had a poor record v West Ham under DS so was hoping we'd get in their faces more under Gerrard. Instead we lost there pretty meekly when Burnley got a 1-1 in similar circumstances (playing them straight after euro game).

Wolves we were poor for first hour. They lost two games either side of playing us so not like they're in incredible form.

Notice I haven't included Arsenal or Spurs losses in this as I don't think there's any prospect of challenging either next season but again Arsenal at home up to 75th minute was as passive a performance as you can get.

I think we're just too easy to nullify with our style. Perhaps the new DM will solve everything but think we'll run into more roadblocks next season in final third.

Fair, didn't read it that way.

[Villan82]

Some folks aren't so good at maths.

27 points from 21 games is better than 10 points from 11 games. And, of course, we had a bad end to 2020-21 season..

[Brazilian Villain]

Some folks aren't so good at maths.

27 points from 21 games is better than 10 points from 11 games. And, of course, we had a bad end to 2020-21 season..

Clearly!

[olaftab]

Some folks aren't so good at maths.

27 points from 21 games is better than 10 points from 11 games. And, of course, we had a bad end to 2020-21 season..

It's a useless comparison. There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points and TBH  27 from 21 is nothing home to write about.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Some folks aren't so good at maths.

27 points from 21 games is better than 10 points from 11 games. And, of course, we had a bad end to 2020-21 season..

From memory I thought we took 10 points from 6 games at the end of last season including beating spuds away and chelski at home.

[olaftab]

For me we've just gone back to being boring. Flat. Turgid. Whatever.

I guess that's a consequence of us settling back into premier league mid table after a decade away but I'm not even looking forward to watching our games for first time in a few years given the journey we were previously on.

I think the reservations about style of play and formation have been very justified in last two months whenever we play a top half team.

A DM will help but not convinced it will solve everything as there's so many question marks in final third for us and don't think one transfer window solves everything.

And Leicester were what?

Not bothered about Leicester. They can be as s**t as they like.

[Risso]

There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points

Other than the fact that we were getting battered in every single game and teams were wiping the floor with us.

[Lastfootstamper]

Some folks aren't so good at maths.

27 points from 21 games is better than 10 points from 11 games. And, of course, we had a bad end to 2020-21 season..

From memory I thought we took 10 points from 6 games at the end of last season including beating spuds away and chelski at home.

Well yeah, but you can't include those cos, well, that'd make things look better. Smith out.

[olaftab]

There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points

Other than the fact that we were getting battered in every single game and teams were wiping the floor with us.

Ah NO not really. Other than the West Ham home match we more or less were reasonably competitive in most matches

[Risso]

There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points

Other than the fact that we were getting battered in every single game and teams were wiping the floor with us.

Ah NO not really. Other than the West Ham home match we more or less were reasonably competitive in most matches

Arsenal could have scored 8 or 9. It was the worst half of football in years. Southampton wasn’t much better.

[Sexual Ealing]

There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points

Other than the fact that we were getting battered in every single game and teams were wiping the floor with us.

Unlike now?!

For the record, I'm not pining for Smith. I like the guy, and I'm grateful for what he did for us, but he took us a long way; probably as far as he could have. If he was a miracle-worker he'd have done better at Norwich.

My issue is replacing him with a novice whose main experience has been playing second fiddle to Neil Lennon in a pub league.

[olaftab]

There is nothing to suggest that in his next 10 games Smith would have not picked up 17 points

Other than the fact that we were getting battered in every single game and teams were wiping the floor with us.

Ah NO not really. Other than the West Ham home match we more or less were reasonably competitive in most matches

Arsenal could have scored 8 or 9. It was the worst half of football in years. Southampton wasn’t much better.

So could have rather than “teams were wiping the floor with us”.  I think we could have scored 9 at OT and 27 against Brentford at home.

[wince]

Is there a shake it all about option? Must admit being a villa fan is like being a sadomasochist. But I suspect even the sadomasochist gets some pleasure from the torture.

[Allan C]

If Villa were just playing well, everyone - even those who were not convinced originally - would be right behind him. As it is there are genuine question marks currently. People are allowed to scrutinise the team and manager.

I disagree with this. I support Villa, I don’t necessarily support Gerrard.

[Beard82]

I thought we did ok yesterday - I thought he had a plan and it worked.  To some degree it looks like he is learning

I worry by how few of the players Gerrard seems to rate / trust (he uses the same players over and again), and rarely uses subs in any meaningful way

Our current form is 27 points from 21.  Dean has 24 from 21 - so we are tracking roughly the same for the last just over a season - i.e. lower middle half.

Hopefully a few key upgrades will help.  I cant see a complete overhaul as I cant see there are many we can sale, and I cant see us spending more than 100m - 150m, so I would see 5 or so the max coming in.

However we cut it, I think this last 12 months has done some damange in the short and medium term to our plan.  I think if we dont see us kick on next season it will be curtains for much of the current management structure.

All the clubs that have finished above us last season, have all got better or have plans in place - and newcastle have overtaken us as the "up and coming club"