Aston Villa 2021-22

charlenefan

Far less insightful than the other Charley
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Another football club with accountability and standards I see.
When I saw this news I was convinced our PR machine would try and spin our lack of action over Ole into some kind of shot at clubs that don't give their managers time
 

Winzaghi

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When I saw this news I was convinced our PR machine would try and spin our lack of action over Ole into some kind of shot at clubs that don't give their managers time
Don't worry, the media (for example: Gary Lineker) have taken up the mantle
 

Idxomer

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Don't worry, the media (for example: Gary Lineker) have taken up the mantle
I saw his tweet. How is the sacking of a manager who has the most defeats in the league this year a knee-jerk?

The cult of the manager is really strong in England.
 

MayosNoun

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It has to be said, clubs have acted swiftly on poor management this season.

You could argue that Bruce, Farke, Smith, Nuno and Munoz all deserved to go. Fans of each club were critical of the management team and results were poor.

It makes it even more astounding that Ole remains in a job.
 

FootballHQ

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It has to be said, clubs have acted swiftly on poor management this season.

You could argue that Bruce, Farke, Smith, Nuno and Munoz all deserved to go. Fans of each club were critical of the management team and results were poor.

It makes it even more astounding that Ole remains in a job.
Think Xisco was unlucky. Ranieri lost 3 of his first 4 and Everton was a bit of a freak win with way Everton defended so no huge improvement from Watford so far.

Others for various reasons can have no complaints. Nuno didn't have much time but he knew Spurs didn't really believe in him much so another poor form was always going to cost him.

Yes hard to believe OGS can lose 7-0 combined at home to Liverpool and Man. City and still be pretty safe. I think only thing that gets him sacked before xmas is dropping into europa again. Still a chance of that.
 

Gandalf

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Smith did a more than decent job there and until the last few weeks there had been steady and measurable progress. Considering he was trying to integrate a bunch of new players and had to contend with Bailey being injured I would have thought they would have given him at least until mid season to figure it out. The speed of this implies there was some kind of disconnect behind the scenes and maybe the board and fans at Villa were not as impressed by his tenure as the media were.
 

Klopper76

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Seems like it's going to be Gerrard who takes over. He's interested if the reports are to be believed. @FootballHQ what do you think? He's done well with Rangers.
 

FootballHQ

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Seems like it's going to be Gerrard who takes over. He's interested if the reports are to be believed. @FootballHQ what do you think? He's done well with Rangers.
Will give him a chance but simply don't know enough about style of football he plays art Rangers to know if he's going to be considerable upgrade on Dean Smith.

Also don't like we've got you away in a few weeks. I remember when Houllier took over we went up to Anfield a few weeks later and lost 3-0 and he was touching the sign and waving to the Kop and everything and he lost a big chunk of our fanbase after that so same could easily happen.

Would prefer to wait until after that game if we are appointing him but it's another 5 games and we'll be firmly in bottom 3 if we don't get a manager in during the break.
 

Gio

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Will give him a chance but simply don't know enough about style of football he plays art Rangers to know if he's going to be considerable upgrade on Dean Smith.

Also don't like we've got you away in a few weeks. I remember when Houllier took over we went up to Anfield a few weeks later and lost 3-0 and he was touching the sign and waving to the Kop and everything and he lost a big chunk of our fanbase after that so same could easily happen.

Would prefer to wait until after that game if we are appointing him but it's another 5 games and we'll be firmly in bottom 3 if we don't get a manager in during the break.
Gerrard always plays a compact 4-3-3 that keeps the ball well, is hard to break down, presses from the front, and uses the full-backs for width. Similar to Liverpool.

The rumours are certainly gathering pace. His family still living down south could be as big a driver as anything else. On one hand, I'm not sold it's the best move for his career given where Villa are right now and the trigger-happy nature of most Boards in the league. Managers down the bottom half of the league can also be typecast and he could end up being considered as part of that group. On the other hand, it's a better squad and a more stable environment than, for instance, the potential Newcastle job would have been. Where do you see the club's prospects over the next few years @FootballHQ?
 

FootballHQ

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We want to start pushing up towards top 6-8 in next 2-3 seasons.

Go back to 19/20 and we were battling West Ham to finish 16th, now look at them. And Leicester were about 13th when they sacked Puel in March 2019 with a very talented squad, now look at them.

Of course our squad is weak in parts but generally a squad with Martinez, Konsa, Luiz, McGinn, Watkins, Ings, Leon Bailey and Buendia with a few other decent players on fringes isn't a bad one at all to inherit, most of them are just lacking motivation/confidence currently. And got an interesting crop of young players making bench regularly so potential for 2-3 of them to start playing in near future.

I'm not convinced Gerrard will scale up quickly enough though for what we want regardless of what he achieved as a player. I look at Newcastle at bottom of league who were very close to getting manager who'd just won europa league but never really seems we're capable of attracting that calibre of manager no matter who the owners are.
 

saivet

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Gerrard has done very well at Rangers so would be interested to see how he does. At this stage of his career, Villa is about as good a move as he could get. It's a risk but I think Gerrard has shown enough that it's not a crazy move to make (whereas Lampard would imo).
 

Craig Ward

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I do feel for Dean Smith - he's done a great job at Villa and has a very good squad.

Ings hasn't quite hit the ground running and Bailey hasn't got going yet. They've just lacked a bit of consistency.

I wouldn't call it knee jerk but it's certainly ruthless from the board. Is Gerrard a better manager than Dean Smith? I'd say no, but a change of direction may be good. Gerrard has done well at Rangers, ousting a poor Celtic to a league win but he can't do much more in Scotland (Rangers, like Celtic will never be a threat in Europe so it's all about the league, which he's nailed)

Gerrard will either rejuvenate the squad and get them playing or do a Lampard and bomb at the standard of the premier league. Bold from Villa, could easily backfire given how good Smith was.

If Ings goes on a good run, it changes a lot for Villa regardless of who the manager is. They've got quality there
 

Pink Moon

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Villa could do better. 1/9 in trophies with the second biggest budget in the league. Hell, the St Johnstone manager has won more trophies than him in just one season with the club.
 

FootballHQ

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Brilliant performance today against inform prem team.

Going to enjoy football for next two years if this is standard of play from Gerrard.
 

Dumbstar

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Brilliant performance today against inform prem team.

Going to enjoy football for next two years if this is standard of play from Gerrard.
How was the game HQ? Did you notice a style of play or are the players all just giving 120% for the new manager bounce?
 

FootballHQ

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How was the game HQ? Did you notice a style of play or are the players all just giving 120% for the new manager bounce?
Some lovely interchanges between midfield and front 3. Ollie was doing a good impression of Firmino at his best first half, dropping deep, linking up and creating space for others to run past. Our second goal that McGinn curled in is worth watching aswell for build up.

Of course effort levels gone up as usually happens with new manager but we do have some really good players in the squad. Just need the structure that went haywire in last few weeks under Dean Smith.
 

Rhyme Animal

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Nonchalantly scoring the winner...
I think he's a good manager, I hate to say it. If that'll translate to being good enough for Liverpool when it inevitably happens is anyones guess.
Agree, he’s clearly very talented as a coach. Think Liverpool are lucky that when Klopp steps down they’ve got Gerrard tailor made to step into the hot seat.

But they’ll have to give him time to adjust to managing such a big club etc.
 

horsechoker

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Love is love, good move by Luiz


I like how the second tweet has her in a bikini as opposed to the first tweet of her in Villa kit.

Anyway, my theory on footballers potentially breeding a super footballer may soon be realised.