27. Steven Gerrard, Aston VillaWe genuinely thought he was going to be good because he was good at Rangers. We’re mainly disappointed in ourselves for falling for it. A lesson learned. The big problem, as well as just the general ropeyness, was that no matter how much he insisted otherwise, Gerrard clearly viewed Villa as a means to an end and loaded the squad with short-termist oldsters and left quite a mess for Unai Emery to sort out. To make matters even worse for Gerrard, Emery has promptly gone and done precisely that. It’s a double whammy.
5. Unai Emery, Aston VillaWe don’t want to be pricks about this (we do) but the alarming thing about comparing Unai Emery’s Aston Villa to Steven Gerrard’s Aston Villa is that it almost seems like appointing someone who is a good manager is a better plan than someone who was a good footballer? We’re pretty sure it can’t be that, but gosh it looks like it.Our prickery is aimed at us as much as anyone else because as we’ve said Gerrard had us fooled as well to our eternal shame. We honestly thought he might be good because he was good at Rangers. We will redouble our suspicions of both great former players and Scotball. Consider ourselves upbraided.Emery’s done lovely work thus far, with 16 points from his seven Premier League games with thoroughly convincing beatings of Manchester United and Spurs among his five wins already. It’s a significant upgrade on the three wins and 12 points Villa had amassed in their first 13 games.Emery has lifted Villa out of a relegation scrap and to within touching distance of the top six and done so in barely two and a half months that included a six-week break for a World Cup. Fair play.
I never felt we had control of the Leeds game. Our attacks came from counters, we were struggling against their pressing and intensity. We improved in the second half, probably because they tired themselves out a little plus their wildcard on the wing, while still causing problems, was more of a known quantity when the coaches reviewed the first half with the team in the dressing room
Quote from: eamonn on January 25, 2023, 12:55:05 PMI never felt we had control of the Leeds game. Our attacks came from counters, we were struggling against their pressing and intensity. We improved in the second half, probably because they tired themselves out a little plus their wildcard on the wing, while still causing problems, was more of a known quantity when the coaches reviewed the first half with the team in the dressing roomI was similarly unimpressed and if we hadn't got the early goal would have been very nervous at HT. Think we're got the results recently without playing particularly well which is fine but it's not sustainable going forward. Wouldn't be that surprised to see us play "better" against Leicester but only get a draw.
We're skilled at the art of falling apart.
Quote from: Brazilian Villain on January 25, 2023, 02:27:48 PMQuote from: eamonn on January 25, 2023, 12:55:05 PMI never felt we had control of the Leeds game. Our attacks came from counters, we were struggling against their pressing and intensity. We improved in the second half, probably because they tired themselves out a little plus their wildcard on the wing, while still causing problems, was more of a known quantity when the coaches reviewed the first half with the team in the dressing roomI was similarly unimpressed and if we hadn't got the early goal would have been very nervous at HT. Think we're got the results recently without playing particularly well which is fine but it's not sustainable going forward. Wouldn't be that surprised to see us play "better" against Leicester but only get a draw.Do you not think the early goal also changed the way we played (or we planning to play)? Emery doesn't strike me as the sort of manager who asks his teams to play the same way regardless of the score. I could obviously be very wrong, but I suspect scoring so early meant we actually played slightly differently, allowing them a little more of the ball in areas they couldn't hurt us, than if we'd been level throughout the half.If we hadn't scored that early goal, I suspect the style of our first half play might have been different.
Quote from: Smithy on January 25, 2023, 03:59:25 PMQuote from: Brazilian Villain on January 25, 2023, 02:27:48 PMQuote from: eamonn on January 25, 2023, 12:55:05 PMI never felt we had control of the Leeds game. Our attacks came from counters, we were struggling against their pressing and intensity. We improved in the second half, probably because they tired themselves out a little plus their wildcard on the wing, while still causing problems, was more of a known quantity when the coaches reviewed the first half with the team in the dressing roomI was similarly unimpressed and if we hadn't got the early goal would have been very nervous at HT. Think we're got the results recently without playing particularly well which is fine but it's not sustainable going forward. Wouldn't be that surprised to see us play "better" against Leicester but only get a draw.Do you not think the early goal also changed the way we played (or we planning to play)? Emery doesn't strike me as the sort of manager who asks his teams to play the same way regardless of the score. I could obviously be very wrong, but I suspect scoring so early meant we actually played slightly differently, allowing them a little more of the ball in areas they couldn't hurt us, than if we'd been level throughout the half.If we hadn't scored that early goal, I suspect the style of our first half play might have been different.
Wolves pinned us back before their early goal and after, and Leeds did it for a lot of the game at VP. I doubt Emery wanted to see so much of that.It's great that we're mostly winning at the moment but I think there's a lot of work to be done to get us playing high-tempo and pressing with confidence if we're to dominate teams ourselves and keep winning.
Quote from: eamonn on January 25, 2023, 09:00:18 PMWolves pinned us back before their early goal and after, and Leeds did it for a lot of the game at VP. I doubt Emery wanted to see so much of that.It's great that we're mostly winning at the moment but I think there's a lot of work to be done to get us playing high-tempo and pressing with confidence if we're to dominate teams ourselves and keep winning.I think we were very fortunate in both those games. Second half in both we improved a lot with Buendia switching back into the middle but there were times in first half of both those games we were getting battered. As bad as any time under Gerrard and it shouldn't have taken until half time to change things tactically either. Sometimes snap judgements can be made about new managers on a small sample size of games. The general narrative seems to be look at Villa now after getting in a proper coach but it's far too early to make any kind of conclusion.I like a lot of what Emery is doing and let's see how the recruitment goes over next few weeks. I think our performances do need to improve to maintain these decent results.