The Hawk

1 hour ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

Trezeguet only cost £8.75m, he’s played 41 times for Egypt. He has also scored against Liverpool and Leicester City, I don’t know what people are expecting for £8.75m. £8.75m is nothing in today’s market, I think on the whole, he has done well and yet he is a target of abuse for fans  and he is quite good looking too (yeah, I know I say that every player but it’s true in my opinion) 

Agree with you Gaz. 
He hasn’t been great, but the abuse he gets needs to be tempered and put in perspective.

Purslows comments no more than a month ago:

”“He’s a great fella and superb at the job. The owners and I felt in December that it was really important that you all know that Dean is very central to our long-term vision.

“He’s somebody who understands we’ve got to build the club from the bottom up. He’s got the values and so the board made the decision to extend his contract.

“Football is a funny old game but we shared your view that because his contract wasn’t long enough we decided to address that.”
 

I just can’t see how you would then fire someone so quickly. It’s not like we were safe from relegation when he signed the new deal. The board would have discussed the possibility of what they would do if we were relegated and yet they still offered him a long term contract. If they do fire him, I can only think that something (other than results) has seriously gone awry behind the scenes (players head butting others for example...)

2 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Haven’t we lost 5 games in a row? 

So that means he’s “lost the dressing room” does it? 

This whole “playing for the manager” idea is such a classic cliche. No player is out on the pitch during a game thinking “got to win this for Dean (or any other manager)”. What they are really referring to are squad dynamics and confidence which influence the players/teams displays.

Is confidence low? Absolutely. Poor results and the predicament we are in can do that.

Is Smith to blame for this? Partially. Trying to motivate a team that’s getting beaten week in week out is a very tough task. 

Where we have seriously faltered though is in our recruiting department. Our squad dynamics are terrible. Look at the different nationalities and native languages spoken in our starting line up last night. That can make it tricky to gel players quickly. Given that we had to assemble an entire squad preseason, we didn’t do a great job in ensuring that our players could mix easily. Guilbert even came out and said he can barely communicate around the club and has no friends outside his family. Is this Smiths fault? Partially. Could it have simply been unlucky? Maybe.
There are teams that have done this way better than we have. Wolves for example buying players from Portugal and having two core groups within the side. 

Whatever the case, the players don’t seem to be able to really play for each other more than anything and that’s the real problem. Not whether they “play for the manager”.  
 

How so many people can confidently make comments like “Smith has lost the dressing room” without any knowledge of the inner goings-on whatsoever is beyond me.

5 minutes ago, cbr600rr said:

enough is enough.. terry till end of season 

I really think that would make no difference to us whatsoever. 

13 minutes ago, Kiwivillan said:

Should've played same lineup as 1st leg SF where Hause had most clearances and won loads in the air. That and starting Hourihane after shambles cup final appearance says Smith doesn't learn and is throwing shit at the wall and hoping something sticks so finally I'm out

Yep and I bet if that didn’t work you’d be the first to yell “how could he change the formation that did so well against city in the final”. 
 

That being said, we can agree on hourihane. Absolute cat.

5 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

This may be true, but Smith organises the set-up and players. He may not have the personnel at the right quality, but does Wilder have it at Sheffield? Does Dyche at Burnley? How much have they been backed in recruitment and where are they in the table? 

 

If he doesn't have the quality of personnel he craves to play his open football and not concede a shed load of goals, he should stop playing it and adapt his game. He clearly can't do this. 

 

It's very easy to blame the personnel but we're Aston Villa, not Real Madrid. Smith is never going to have a team of superstars to be able to play like them. He has to adapt to the league like Dyche, Wilder and Howe have done, and every week he is proving he cannot do that. We're a feckin shambles under him and it should be obvious to everyone. 

3 managers who have had a long time at the helm at each of their clubs and a heap of stability to put in place those solid structures. 
 

Im sure Smith is aware of the option to play defensively, however our progressive owners, board and Smith are trying to bypass the defensive “survivalist” mentality and style of play of lower prem clubs in favour of a Leicester-type model. It’s a gamble that hasn’t paid off this time around, but given enough time with a better core group of players that haven’t been thrown together at the beginning of a season, I’m confident that it’s the better approach in the long run.

1 minute ago, dudevillaisnice said:

Ok it may not be PL quality but has he helped the situation? championship teams can’t defend set pieces for example? I think to void him of any fault and just blame recruitment is wrong. 

Fair call. Our set piece defending is well below par and needs sorting out, something that our coaching department as a whole needs to look at which I’m sure they are trying to. They’re not morons and would obviously be aware it’s an issue. 

Id also argue that of all the things a manager can instantly fix, defending set pieces is not one of them. It’s not rocket science, follow your man and put your body on the line. When people say “Smith can’t even get the basics right”, the “basics” should be something that the professional players can do without needing to be coached.

Just now, VillaFaninLondon said:

Why do you still back him? Can you not see what is happening on the pitch every single week?

Absolutely I can. It’s rubbish. Our squad is genuinely not premier league quality. Not even Fergie could sort it out. 

People are so quick to forget where this man has taken us and the challenge he has had to face this year putting an entire squad together. It hasn’t worked out, but hiring and firing managers and constantly starting from scratch like we have for the last 10 years is clearly not the solution. 

If there’s anyone to blame, it’s our recruitment team as a whole in which Smith is only a cog. 

1 minute ago, Eastie said:

Was that a team fighting for ther ,anager and club ? No 

Certainly came out firing in the first 5 minutes, it’s almost as if Smith had them fired up...

Then the massive lack of quality kicks in, the better team starts to dominate and the confidence disappears, but that’s 100% smiths fault isn’t it. 

8 minutes ago, Eastie said:

Our only hope is a new manager bounce - get rid now , smith has  lost the dressing room 

Because you’re in the dressing room and have that inside knowledge.

Any manager would struggle with this pile of crap we currently have. It’s not about “losing the dressing room”.

2 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Getting a new manager solves nothing methinks. It's a knee jerk reaction to a much bigger problem.

We got promoted with a group of players not good enough for promotion, and that's just proven by the fact we ended up in the playoffs and not direct promotion. Smith might have saved the club to some degree, but he made it almost impossible for himself, considering we lost Tammy and had to replace a bunch of deadwood. We spent a fair wedge, but we clearly failed in the recruitment department. But even if we'd recruited better we'd still need them to gel as a team. It was a tough task. It's also clearly been a massive **** signing a lot of foreigners instead of signing a few more English players ready for the league. For all the poor stuff Targett has done, he looks better to me than most of our other purchases.

I'd rather stick with Smith and give this football he's trying to implement a good run. That means years of consistent development of youth players, years or consistent recruitment where players are signed to suit this philosophy and football. It means years of developing a philosophy and style of play to run through the club. 

We all know if we get relegated and start winning matches against players on our level people will be singing his praises again. This is about thinking long term.

There's obviously big issues we have to deal with. Like defending on set pieces. How we can big that bad on it begs questions, and I'm sure Smith agrees on that. If it's just as bad next season I'm all for doing more drastic moves. Personally I don't get the point of Terry if this is what he can help us with on our defence. I'd rather have another AM. 

Personally I think we're not good enough for PL football and it shows.

1) Individual errors.

2) Inaccurate passing.

3) Inability to track down and win loose balls from any set pieces. Or retain possession from throw-ins. 

4) No urgency, no determination or aggressiveness when we are trying to attack. We just piss around. And I think it's largely to do with our players not being good enough. 

5) Set piece defending. Comical. 

6) There's very little fight and toughness in them. Just soft. Whether this is a confidence thing I don't know. 

Ultimately I think we got maybe 3 solid PL players in Mings, Grealish and Samatta. At a push McGinn. When the rest of the players are championship standard, well then it's no surprise we will get relegated. 

But there's every chance we will come back up with a more settled squad, with more experience and hopefully more prepared to play PL football. 

As for changes to the club backroom staff:

1) I'd argue we probably need to look at getting in a new defensive coach. Our defending is just laughable at times. 

2) I'd also be massively surprised if we didn't look at a new GM / head scout or whoever recommended players like Wesley, Nakamba, Engels, Trezeguet. Particularly Trez and Wes have been a catastrophy. 

 

Anyway. Season is not over. 

 

This x1000000

He’s not going anywhere.

Quite laughable some of the suggestions you lot are throwing about as replacements this late in the season. 

48 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

I really hope he stays whatever happens. But if moving on is the important bit to him, I just hope it's not Man Utd. Anyone but that club. 

Am I the only one who’s not fussed where he goes? He’s either playing for us or he isn’t. 

Whilst I think he can play at the very top, if his choice is United then I dont begrudge him that, he’s earnt the right to go where he chooses in my book.

17 minutes ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

What if we stay up?

Then we move Grealish to the bench and put O’Hare on in his place I presume Gary?

12 hours ago, ozvilla28 said:

Problem is were getting worse by the week and yesterday we weren't competitive that's the bad part. We look unorganized and all over the place his the manager the buck stops with him.You look at Sheffield United how organised they a  spend peanuts.For some reason people keep talking about promotion etc that's gone now take the romance out of the Smith situation focus on the present.Smith would be gone if he was at another club fullstop.

Right, so it’s the monetary value of transfers that dictates how organised a team is? Nothing to do with the team having years and years under the one manager to build a cohesive system? 
 

Unreal how some people keep bringing up the “we spent more than the other two promoted sides” argument without paying any respect to the fact that we needed to rebuild an entire squad whilst they did not.

11 hours ago, Blasterpocket68 said:

mate the game is for 90 minutes -  we play for one half - Yesterday spurs should have destroyed us if were honest  Reina kept us in the game.My point is were inconsistent and constantly set up very poorly as a team to defend when we dont have the ball. WE do not learn!!

The alternative is to sit back, invite pressure and try to hit the opposition on the counter with our not-so-speedy wingers. I know which id prefer. 

1 minute ago, Blasterpocket68 said:

I was pretty frustrated with the villa teams set up yesterday . I  think spurs played pretty poorly yesterday and still came away with a win . Im fed up of the way the team is organised.We cant defend so high up the pitch and allow teams to break into the space (once again on offer) WHY cant the coaching team see this. TBF Spurs on a better day would have scored 4  - 5 goals  with the space on offer.  

This happens time and time again. If the coaching staff cant see this we have a problem. Im not convinced the system is suitable for the players with have , and lack of mobility in midfield. To be honest it looks almost last chance saloon football already..

We had 55% possession against last seasons champions league finalists and could have been out of sight after 20 mins had we just been able to finish. 

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

I'd rather play with 10 men than having Drinkwater in the team.

Nah

2 hours ago, kidlewis said:

He’s massively selfish, like embarrassingly so.

he seems the sort of person who is disappointed if the team win but his game impact is little. 
 

 

What a baseless rubbish thing to say. Celebrates his teammates goals more than anyone. 

55 minutes ago, zab6359 said:

Imagine if he lives up to the hype! Straight into u23s when he gets back, maybe a first team debut sometime this season the strikers pecking order come next seaon could be!

1. Barry

2. Samagoal

3. Davis

4. Wesley

Who was the last 17 year old to be a 1st choice premier league striker?

Cant see it.

7 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

They have a coach that get them fighting like dogs in every game.

Half the time we don't look to even care. Getting outworked, not doing the basics.

And i'm sorry you don't need 3-4 years with a squad to get them riled up for a game.

You usually do unless you get really lucky with the way the players in the squad gel. 

5 hours ago, Dave-R said:

I wished I shared your optimism but I think it's going to be more like 6 wins. Its that close at the moment but ive a feeling that its time for three clubs to start trailing and the gap starts increasing.

 

If three clubs started trailing then the required amount of wins to stay up would be lower not higher...