NSmith22

John Moss is VAR today

Suso and a lesser degree Purslow/Smith. I want continuity for once at the manager position. Suso needs to be replaced full stop and our recruitment team needs to be evaluated as well.

I take your point on Pearson but Moyes has been an abject failure for 5+ years. West Ham never should’ve been in the position they are and that has more to do with mentality than anything. They coasted through the season and used their quality at the last possible moment to gain safety.

This. I think we should all be directing our outrage at the board if he keeps his job. Fans seem to forget that being the manager is a full time job and Smith has a personal life with a family as well. Bottom line, Suso’s main duty was an appalling failure.

One thing also, we can’t lose sight of the fact that there are at least 2 other people that have a heavy hand in transfers/deals. Once again, the GM’s in America don’t skate by as easily as sporting director’s do in Europe. I want nothing to do with Suso after this season has ended.

Agreed and a testament to their recruitment year on year to get it right. Maybe we should be looking at their hierarchy for those same roles.

They also had £40+million in sales

I understood getting on the backs of Lambert and Garde when Lerner was the owner. But with our current ownership I don’t get why I’m seeing the exact same overreactions. We haven’t had any type of stability with legit financial backing for 10 years. It’s already been stated ad nauseum that we came up a year early so keep that in mind and let’s give Dean 10 games next season as I’m betting that’s what the ownership is doing.

This is the realization I hope most of us take. Show the ownership we have faith in them to completely rebuild. We could be Wigan at the moment the way football goes. Give them 3 seasons and see where we are. I’ll take 2 years in the Championship if it means 10 years of comfortable finishes in the PL with 1 or 2 top 6 finishes and some runs in the cups/Europa.

Not keen to push him out the door but he was pedestrian today, there’s no denying it.

What is their best? Davis had a golden opportunity off that pass from Jack in the first half and he touched it with a cinderblock for a foot to Allison. We were always going to get few chances on goal and we absolutely bottled the 3-4 we had. I’m pretty confident Trez, Samatta, and Wesley were not his choices. Our attacking options, at the moment, wouldn’t make it into the Top 4 in the Championship. We were setup well and matched Liverpool for 70 minutes. Can’t see a way to lay the blame on Smith today.

In fairness, he seems like an intelligent guy. But I still stand by the fact that we need to aim higher for our key positions as the past 10 years of decisions hasn’t made any marked difference in propelling us higher.

Yep we were down a man on the wing all season long. Forced it down Jack’s side and teams caught on. I truly believe if we had a serviceable winger opposite Jack we would be firmly out of the relegation zone.

I’d like to see both healthy and played together. Smith never got that opportunity.

It was also rumored that many of those “Smith signings” were 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices. If we had Webster, Phillips, Benhrama, and Maupay we’d likely be sitting where Sheffield are. Phillips fills the role of both Nakamba and Luiz. Maupay covers Wesley and Samatta. Webster covers Konsa and Engels. Benhrama covers Trezeguet and Jota. We needed to fill a squad but we could have gone for potential and cheap for the bench instead of spreading £10-£15 million signings across 3-4 positions. That’s rolling the dice with injuries but it’s better than completely wasting transfer funds.

In his time at the club they were mostly League 1 with a promotion to the Championship two seasons ago and now sit 23rd. In the US, the GM handles player recruitment and in almost all cases that person has been in an upper management role within another team that shares the same league. NFL teams don’t hire GM’s from the CFL and NBA teams don’t hire GMs from the D league. Recruitment at Villa, from management to the first team, has been small time for the last 10 years. It starts at the top and trickles down. If I’m the owners, I’m looking at hiring a CEO, Sporting Director, and Head of Recruitment from clubs that are consistently in the Top 6. Who is Liverpool’s assistant sporting director if that position even exists? Or Chelsea’s assistant head of recruitment? Those are the people I would be going for.

In all honesty, I don’t have the slightest clue or insight into Barnsley or Hackney. But this just screams of small time. Once again, who was Hackney scouting for Barnsley before he came to Villa. Frees and League Two players?

I’m sure this has been mentioned but how often does La Liga dip into the English market? The answer is rarely if ever. Becks, Bale...? Has Suso ever been involved in a UK based signing for his previous spanish clubs? His knowledge of the leagues and transfer market was likely minimal before he came to Villa and we gave him the keys to the car.

Now that his job has been confirmed safe I want clarity on Suso. I don’t think him and Smith can co-exist at the club if we’re going to be successful next season, regardless of the league. Recruitment has done us in this season there’s no denying it.

I do buy this opinion and lean a bit this way too. They have already stated we were a year early in the owners minds so it does seem as though they’ll give dean at least a run of games into next season even if it’s the championship. I am firmly in the camp that our downfall is solely due to transfers. I don’t see a lack of effort on the field only a lack of talent.

That’s the worst part, he’s such a likeable guy and desperately wants to succeed. The issue for us has been recruitment for years. We consistently get it wrong with our signings and that falls on Smith as well.

Not saying he needs to go but if there was ever a moment of desperation from the ownership to stay up this will be it. If it happens they’ll go with JT who will have zero pressure. Wouldn’t mind it to be honest.

Really can’t complain with how we’ve been setup. We’ve been dying for a change in tactics and we got in 2 up top with Jack roaming freely. Only complaint I have is this insistence that we whip in dead balls to Hause repeatedly. He could’ve had multiple goals/assists last game and he himself has no idea where the ball is going after it leaves his head. Need to look for Mings or Davis on those set pieces.

Coming back to remind everyone that Nyland is NOT the answer. Good for one mind numbing gaffe a game.

Preach. The resounding opinion was if we finished 17th the season would be considered a success. Topped off with a cup final appearance where we looked pretty damn good.