Steven Gerrard is currently struggling as Aston Villa boss, but named Southampton’s Ralph Hasenhuttl and Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta as examples to follow who have overcome such difficulties.
The Gunners have endured a couple of slumps under the reign of Arteta, with the press quickly moving to claim that his job had come under pressure when things got tough, but the club moved to stick by the Spaniard, and that looks to be paying in dividends at present.
We currently sit pretty at the top of the table, thanks to five wins from our opening six matches this term, but Villa boss Gerrard isn’t enjoying such success as his side have picked up just seven points from seven thus far.
‘It is the most demanding league in the world, in the bottom, the middle and at the top. It was the same when I played,’ Gerrard told Sky Sports (via the Metro).
‘It’s not always going to be the perfect journey and you’ve got to perform when the heat is on, when it’s tough. You’ve got to roll your sleeves up more and put yourself forward even more.
‘A lot of managers have shown that sometimes you’ve got to have tough periods, setbacks, and show that you can cope in them moments. Show that you can come through them, build on them.
‘You’ve got to be patient and try and get to the stage where the building process continues.
‘There’s a lot of examples of that – Ralph [Hasenhuttl] is one.
‘You’re looking at Mikel Arteta, obviously flying high now at the top of the Premier League now. I bet if you spoke to him, it wasn’t all about ups and fantastic times and enjoying it all.
‘But what he did do in the tough moments, he stepped forward.
‘I think that’s what we have to do as managers in these situations is show your players and supporters and internal staff that you’re all-in and ready for the demands, responsibilities and pressures and you’re going to try to perform to get your team through them.’
It seems a little crazy that our manager is being used as an example to others after such a small time in management, but he deserves it.
Things got really tough and he stuck by his guns and his philosophy and it really looks to have paid off thus far.
How far he can take us remains to be seen, but we are enjoying the journey monetheless.
Patrick
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It also helps when the standards and expectations change, and you don’t worry about getting sacked.
Wenger was let go when he failed to finish top 4, Emery finished 5th and was let go when he lost a dressing room of players he didn’t bring in.
A lot of patience was shown to Arteta after he lost out on any European football, and hopefully he can improve on our final table position this year.
Missing out on top 4 again is sackable offense this year. Time, funds, control, everything has been given to Arteta so now he must show he is the manager to lead The Arsenal.
Durand with great respect, this clear falsehood that AW was let go simply for missing top four should stop being so lazily and falsely peddled, esp by some fans who have never seen any mistakes he made.
Of course all managers make mistkes but it is surely the directionof travel which makes managers either backed or sacked. AW had two full decades behind him before first missing top four and that was a magnificent achievement, I CAN EASILY AGREE.
However, for several seasons prior he was clearly overseeing a stale and laissez faire team mentality, where standards of quality and of poor player input were tolerated and never outlawed.
In Cconsequence the team and club were openly and obvioulsy DRIFTING.
By contrast, MA from his very start insisted on 100% effort AND on one for all, all for one, team mentality by EVERY PLAYER.
When certain players proved unwilling and/or incapable of providing that 100% they were got rid of.
In direct consequence of this decisive and long overdue(at the club) action, our team is making startling and extremely noticeable progress.
That is one reason, among others, why MA has been well backed, by owners, board room and non personal agenda ridden fans.
I think this as a plea to Villa management.
You are spot on!I was going to post a similar comment.👍