Steven Gerrard - Aston Villa Manager

[TheHowieLama]

3 minutes ago, Em City said:

They're very blunt up front. Watkins is mediocre and Ings has looked terrible.

 

Mings is a complete liability. There's the bones of a very good team there but he probably needs another transfer window or two to make his stamp.

 

Villa fans are clueless gobshites.

This is the weird one - he was playing really well the first couple months.

[dockers_strike]

12 minutes ago, Em City said:

They're very blunt up front. Watkins is mediocre and Ings has looked terrible.

 

Mings is a complete liability. There's the bones of a very good team there but he probably needs another transfer window or two to make his stamp.

 

Villa fans are clueless gobshites.

Agreed. Watkins is a good Championship striker at best. Cant believe he got selected for England recently. Mings is usually on his arse or stood watching the ball fly past him into the net. He went for one ball yesterday and nearly put it past Martinez. He looked a bit leaden footed for a couple of the goals as well.

 

If Villa can turn Coutinho's loan into a permanent deal Stevie may well build a team around him and ship out some of the other Villa crap.

[m0e]

Fuck Aston Villa.

 

Hope they get relegated next season.

[Barrington Womble]

5 hours ago, Em City said:

They're very blunt up front. Watkins is mediocre and Ings has looked terrible.

 

Mings is a complete liability. There's the bones of a very good team there but he probably needs another transfer window or two to make his stamp.

 

Villa fans are clueless gobshites.

This is why I never understood why he took the job. They're a championship team who's shitness is masked by the bottom 3, Leeds, Newcastle and Everton. They have a smaller turnover than Everton. I don't know what success looks like. People were saying top 4 when he took it, where as I thought stabalising them top half for a couple of years is a massive achievement. I don't think he'd keep his job though with two  10th place finishes. 

[No2]

13 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

This is why I never understood why he took the job. They're a championship team who's shitness is masked by the bottom 3, Leeds, Newcastle and Everton. They have a smaller turnover than Everton. I don't know what success looks like. People were saying top 4 when he took it, where as I thought stabalising them top half for a couple of years is a massive achievement. I don't think he'd keep his job though with two  10th place finishes. 

I didn't think he should have taken that job for those very reasons. They have expectations not compatible with reality and they lack patience. The main issue with taking it though was his boss, Christian Purslow is not someone you want to be working with. It showed bad judgement on Gerrards part to take the gig.

 

Take the signing of Digne for example, he's a decent player (one time best in the world left back) but they didn't need him or have any plan to get him. He became available and they threw the money down and discarded an average but reliable left back in the process. Same with Coutinho, they paid 30 odd million for Beundia 5 months before, its all make it up as you go along. Klopp knew he needed to replace Moreno, Mingolet etc but he had the patience to know he couldn't do it immediately. He had a long look and decided who he needed shot of first, Villa is the opposite of that.

 

 

[TheDrowningMan]

14 hours ago, Barrington Womble said:

This is why I never understood why he took the job. They're a championship team who's shitness is masked by the bottom 3, Leeds, Newcastle and Everton. They have a smaller turnover than Everton. I don't know what success looks like. People were saying top 4 when he took it, where as I thought stabalising them top half for a couple of years is a massive achievement. I don't think he'd keep his job though with two  10th place finishes. 

That’s the problem with taking a job at a club with ideas above their station. Keeping them ticking over isn’t considered good enough, and will eventually get you sacked, while getting sacked at a middling club like Villa is high-profile enough to ensure you won’t be considered for a top job anytime soon. 
 

If that happens, Gerrard probably needs to go and build something over the course of several years before he’ll have a realistic chance of getting to the level he clearly wants to be at.

[dockers_strike]

I dont get this why did he take the Villa job? What job should he have waited for? It would be highly unlikely united, arsenal or spurs out of the top 6 clubs would have seriously considered him as manager at this point.

 

Villa is the perfect stepping stone for him and the way some, including Villa fans, seem to think he'd have them in the top 6 overnight. They've got a decent set up and some money to spend having sold Grealish for £100m plus more from any player sales they generate.

[etho]

The Villa job was a good one to take. Midtable of team with money to spend and plenty of room for improvement. The goal would be to do what Leicester, Wolves, even West Ham this season have done at a minimum. With sound tactics and good signings should be possible. The managers at those clubs were Rodgers, Nuno Santos and Moyes...

[dockers_strike]

1 minute ago, etho said:

The Villa job was a good one to take. Midtable of team with money to spend and plenty of room for improvement. The goal would be to do what Leicester, Wolves, even West Ham this season have done at a minimum. With sound tactics and good signings should be possible. The managers at those clubs were Rodgers, Nuno Santos and Moyes...

Agree with this. It is spot on.

[No2]

8 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

I dont get this why did he take the Villa job? What job should he have waited for? It would be highly unlikely united, arsenal or spurs out of the top 6 clubs would have seriously considered him as manager at this point.

 

Villa is the perfect stepping stone for him and the way some, including Villa fans, seem to think he'd have them in the top 6 overnight. They've got a decent set up and some money to spend having sold Grealish for £100m plus more from any player sales they generate.

He's looking at 25 years in management, patience was required. He wasn't on the dole worrying about paying the mortgage,  he had a perfectly fine job. In 12/18 months the likes of Leeds, West Ham, Leicester or Wolves may be available, all better options that working under a championship manager. 

 

He's 6 months into that job, do you think he's done his prospect of managing LFC good or harm in that 6 months?

[dockers_strike]

8 minutes ago, No2 said:

He's looking at 25 years in management, patience was required. He wasn't on the dole worrying about paying the mortgage,  he had a perfectly fine job. In 12/18 months the likes of Leeds, West Ham, Leicester or Wolves may be available, all better options that working under a championship manager. 

 

He's 6 months into that job, do you think he's done his prospect of managing LFC good or harm in that 6 months?

He might not be thinking of being in management for 25 years. He might be thinking more along the lines of getting to managing a top club, challenge for the league or CL then after a run of achieving that retire.

 

And why does he have to be patient if he's up for the challenge and  thinks it was the right time to move on? Strike while the iron is hot, my old ma used to say.

 

What difference does Leeds, West Ham, Leicester or Wolves make? They arent traditionally as big as Villa.

 

He's 6 months into the Villa job and if people are asking has he done his chances of the Liverpool job good or bad, people must be crackers.

[No2]

41 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

He might not be thinking of being in management for 25 years. He might be thinking more along the lines of getting to managing a top club, challenge for the league or CL then after a run of achieving that retire.

 

And why does he have to be patient if he's up for the challenge and  thinks it was the right time to move on? Strike while the iron is hot, my old ma used to say.

 

What difference does Leeds, West Ham, Leicester or Wolves make? They arent traditionally as big as Villa.

 

He's 6 months into the Villa job and if people are asking has he done his chances of the Liverpool job good or bad, people must be crackers.

The people you work for make a huge difference, his boss called himself the Fernando Torres of finance. He knew or should have known he was working for a cunt. He will sack him after his worst bad run.

[DJLJ]

4 hours ago, No2 said:

I didn't think he should have taken that job for those very reasons. They have expectations not compatible with reality and they lack patience. The main issue with taking it though was his boss, Christian Purslow is not someone you want to be working with. It showed bad judgement on Gerrards part to take the gig.

 

Take the signing of Digne for example, he's a decent player (one time best in the world left back) but they didn't need him or have any plan to get him. He became available and they threw the money down and discarded an average but reliable left back in the process. Same with Coutinho, they paid 30 odd million for Beundia 5 months before, its all make it up as you go along. Klopp knew he needed to replace Moreno, Mingolet etc but he had the patience to know he couldn't do it immediately. He had a long look and decided who he needed shot of first, Villa is the opposite of that.

 

 

I agree with the Digne example, but don't agree with the Coutinho one. For a club like Villa, Coutinho becoming available and willing to sign on a loan contract is something of a dream come true, no matter who they bought before or for what money. He is heads and shoulders better than anything they have already. A bit similar to the signing of Eriksen for Brentford. Almost a no-brainer to sign, no matter who they signed before. Both I would consider to be very good signings for these kinds of clubs/managers.

[dockers_strike]

8 minutes ago, No2 said:

The people you work for make a huge difference, his boss called himself the Fernando Torres of finance. He knew or should have known he was working for a cunt. He will sack him after his worst bad run.

Maybe he will get sacked by them. But that fate awaits many managers and would happen at Leicester, Wolves, West Ham and Leeds etc if results dont go the right way. Therefore being patient for the right job hardly ever comes about.

 

Confident people always believe they'll do a better job that the previous fella.

 

 

[No2]

33 minutes ago, DJLJ said:

I agree with the Digne example, but don't agree with the Coutinho one. For a club like Villa, Coutinho becoming available and willing to sign on a loan contract is something of a dream come true, no matter who they bought before or for what money. He is heads and shoulders better than anything they have already. A bit similar to the signing of Eriksen for Brentford. Almost a no-brainer to sign, no matter who they signed before. Both I would consider to be very good signings for these kinds of clubs/managers.

Fair enough on Coutinho but they had just bought 3 forwards in the summer. It shows a club with no plan, a pound land Man Utd.

[Paulie Dangerously]

On 10/04/2022 at 16:46, m0e said:

Fuck Aston Villa.

 

Hope they get relegated next season.

Repped. Hate them. 

[3 Stacks]

5 hours ago, No2 said:

I didn't think he should have taken that job for those very reasons. They have expectations not compatible with reality and they lack patience. The main issue with taking it though was his boss, Christian Purslow is not someone you want to be working with. It showed bad judgement on Gerrards part to take the gig.

 

Take the signing of Digne for example, he's a decent player (one time best in the world left back) but they didn't need him or have any plan to get him. He became available and they threw the money down and discarded an average but reliable left back in the process. Same with Coutinho, they paid 30 odd million for Beundia 5 months before, its all make it up as you go along. Klopp knew he needed to replace Moreno, Mingolet etc but he had the patience to know he couldn't do it immediately. He had a long look and decided who he needed shot of first, Villa is the opposite of that.

 

 

I think this is spot on and especially the opportunistic recruitment part. They're spraying money around without much rhyme or reason, besides the fact the players themselves are individually decent. I don't think there's much of a plan at Villa in general and also tactically, I can't say I've recognized much of what Gerrard is trying to do.

 

To me, it just looks like a case of then being quite rich/willing to spend and then Gerrard uses is influence to get good players to come, but it all seems pretty surface level.

[gkmacca]

I don't think there's anything superficial about Gerrard's approach. He's brought in specialist coaches for the defence, midfield and attack, and he's got a clear ambition for how he wants the whole team to play. What is undeniable is that, so far, it's not working. How much of that is down to him and how much to the current squad will not really be clear until the start of the next season.

[Barrington Womble]

On 11/04/2022 at 10:29, No2 said:

I didn't think he should have taken that job for those very reasons. They have expectations not compatible with reality and they lack patience. The main issue with taking it though was his boss, Christian Purslow is not someone you want to be working with. It showed bad judgement on Gerrards part to take the gig.

 

Take the signing of Digne for example, he's a decent player (one time best in the world left back) but they didn't need him or have any plan to get him. He became available and they threw the money down and discarded an average but reliable left back in the process. Same with Coutinho, they paid 30 odd million for Beundia 5 months before, its all make it up as you go along. Klopp knew he needed to replace Moreno, Mingolet etc but he had the patience to know he couldn't do it immediately. He had a long look and decided who he needed shot of first, Villa is the opposite of that.

 

 

I think I might have typed this reply yesterday - I have just found it open on my laptop!

 

I can understand why Gerrard got coutinho. It's a loan, relatively low risk and he knows him pretty well. Potentially he is there to help Beundia get to a new level - I would imagine Coutinho is pretty professional and Gerrard is hoping he can point the way for many of the squad. I agree with you about Digne and even more so because of his age. And you're right about Purslow too - which is odd when you look at his background, you think he would be careful with money. Even having said all that though, I just don't know how he wins there. Even if Purslow was the perfect football administrator, it's a challenge to expect Villa to be knocking on the door of top 4. Their budget must be less than the likes of West Ham and Everton. 

On 11/04/2022 at 11:14, TheDrowningMan said:

That’s the problem with taking a job at a club with ideas above their station. Keeping them ticking over isn’t considered good enough, and will eventually get you sacked, while getting sacked at a middling club like Villa is high-profile enough to ensure you won’t be considered for a top job anytime soon. 
 

If that happens, Gerrard probably needs to go and build something over the course of several years before he’ll have a realistic chance of getting to the level he clearly wants to be at.

I think that is true of all clubs! Which is why I think it is a pretty impossible task to take on one of these lower mid table teams. I understand he thought he couldn't stay at Rangers forever, but I think he would have been better served going to a good club in a league that is a step up on the Scottish league. He could have continued his European education and if his aspiration is to manage Liverpool (which it seems it is), he needs to master the art of managing a team at the top of the league and the challenges that brings. I don't see how floating around 8-10th in the premier league helps prepare him for LFC. I would say he is further away from being Liverpool manager now than he was when he was at Rangers. 

[Joey8FrogsLegs]

He should only take jobs that arent very difficult. That way he’ll prove he’s qualified to take the Liverpool job after Klopp. Cunning plan.

 

[etho]

I think Jurgen Klopp would get villa in the top 4 with the budget they have, at the very least.

Given how inept the 'big' clubs outside of the top three have been, I don't think that at least challenging for the top 4 would be an unreasonable minimum barometer of success and aptitude to demonstrate before Steven Gerrard could even be considered for the job of managing us. 

[dockers_strike]

 

46 minutes ago, etho said:

I think Jurgen Klopp would get villa in the top 4 with the budget they have, at the very least.

Given how inept the 'big' clubs outside of the top three have been, I don't think that at least challenging for the top 4 would be an unreasonable minimum barometer of success and aptitude to demonstrate before Steven Gerrard could even be considered for the job of managing us. 

Ive no doubt he would. I doubt, like Stevie, even Jurgen would get Villa in the top 4 after a single transfer window.

 

It really beats me why some people have such a downer on Gerrard the manager. They seem to have the hump over the thought he may one day be Liverpool manager. To read some comments, you'd be forgiven thinking some would rather have someone like Nagelsmann, Ten Hag or A N Other etc.

[Aventus]

1 hour ago, Joey8FrogsLegs said:

He should only take jobs that arent very difficult. That way he’ll prove he’s qualified to take the Liverpool job after Klopp. Cunning plan.

 

Obviously there's no point in having easy jobs because that doesn't prove anything, but it's not unreasonable to think he should be at a club with moderate resources which he can use to build a team with an identity. 

 

In fact he'd be better off at a club down the bottom end, at least that way there's something to achieve by fighting to stay up against the odds, what could villa reasonably expect really? Taking them from finishing 12th to finishing 8th? Barely worth a pat on the back that one. 

[Code]

3 hours ago, etho said:

I think Jurgen Klopp would get villa in the top 4 with the budget they have, at the very least.

Given how inept the 'big' clubs outside of the top three have been, I don't think that at least challenging for the top 4 would be an unreasonable minimum barometer of success and aptitude to demonstrate before Steven Gerrard could even be considered for the job of managing us. 

How many years and transfer windows?

 

This is how it looked like when Klopp took charge of us, and how we finished the first season.

 

And how it looked like when Gerrard took charge of Villa and where they are now. 
 

 

 

 

[Jairzinho]

They could quite easily finish 9th this season which would obviously represent some improvement. Next step would be getting them into that next group which wouldn't take much doing either considering how shit they all are.

 

Really not sure what people were expecting Gerrard to be able to do this soon there, nor what other job he was supposed to wait for. Their fans might be bellends, but it's a proper football club which seemingly is quite ambitious now as well.