Former players and managers - general discussion

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Ben Woodburn has scored twice for Hearts today.

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Hope the lad can go on a bit of a run now, itā€™s been a pretty woeful move for all parties that one. Such a nice kid though and has the ability to show more than he has done so far at that level.

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Aspas brace v Barcelona

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April 21st, 2018, Georginio Gregion Emile Wijnaldum assists Danny Ings from open play.

November 6th, 2021, Georginio Gregion Emile Wijnaldum assists Mbappe from open play since his assist to Danny Ings 168 consecutive club games after.

https://youtu.be/5r45ASPzx1E?t=74

If we want to be extra idiots, for a fully planned executed assist from open play from Gini, we have to go back to May 14th, 2015, against West Ham away, when we were chasing top 4.

:joy: Good night.

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:joy:

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Might have missed a thread on this, Gerrard to Villa? I donā€™t see that as a step up and thereā€™s 0 chance of actually winning anything at Villa.

Doubt he will get an offer from a club in the Premier League who can win anythingā€¦not yet anyway. Even Rafa hasnā€™t.

He has to give it a go. Wherever he goes it will be make or break. The danger is he follows his mate Lampard into oblivion.

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Staying at Rangers and winning repeatedly would be his better bet IMHO.

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Nah, the SPL doesnā€™t get the same respect as even mid-range PL clubs, he could win everything there for years and it would barely move the needle on the size of his profile, plus itā€™s such an uncompetitive environment. Speaking from the perspective of him being a potential Klopp successor, itā€™s going to be far more revealing if he can make a decent fist of it at Villa over anything he could realistically achieve in Scotland.

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Heā€™s winning in Scotland. Thatā€™s better than the unknown of a mid table PL team. Could he do well with them? Possibly but he IS doing well now.

Put it this way, thereā€™s zero chance he goes from Rangers to the Liverpool job. Thereā€™s a fair chance he goes from Villa to Liverpool, if he does well there.

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In Scotland heā€™s learning the ropes. At Villa it would be a chance to actually prove he can do it at this level.

Iā€™ve been more impressed with Rangersā€™ performances in Europe than in the SPL.

Still think a move to Villa now would come a bit too early, mind.

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I may be in the minority here, but it seems that of late the talk is that itā€™s almost become the accepted thing amongst fans that Gerrard should be the one to take over from Klopp, and the prospect of that happening scares the bejesus out of for me a number of reasons.

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Iā€™m not necessarily in favour either (unless he absolutely kills it at Villa), but heā€™ll certainly be thinking about the prospect.

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So would you offer me 1,000,000 to 1 odds on that assertion? If so Iā€™ll send you Ā£10 now. There certainly isnā€™t a zero chance. Itā€™s not high but saying itā€™s zero is just flat wrong.

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I agree and Iā€™m equally trepidatious about the prospect of Lijnders succeeding Klopp.

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Why? Heā€™s showing potential to be a really good, thoughtful, young manager. If he does really well at Villa and possibly well at another club in between, then he could well be set up to be a the best managerial choice on merit.

This scares me a little more. Its a massive leap of faith.

I think Gerrard has already proven himself a significantly better manager than Lampard though so even a failure at Villa wouldnā€™t be terminal for his managerial career.

Lampard had the best team in the Championship, barely scraped into the playoffs and then somehow got the Chelsea where he was cruelly exposed as having no concept of tactics or strategy.

Itā€™s actually funny to look at it now. Gerrard was lambasted his whole career for lack of tactical discipline which Lampard was praised for being a cerebral and intelligent player. As managers they are the complete opposite of the narratives they were given as players. Gerrard sets his team up well and Lampard is a moron.

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