VillaCas

I’m not sure anyone claimed he has “no” input on transfers, but how much is deemed meaningful? We signed 15 players and for most of those we will have had 4 or 5 names in the frame for each position. So 40 or 50 players to keep track of - that job is done by the Scouting team under the direction of DOfF In this instance Smith saw Trez play in ACON against RSA. He may have had a great game, He may have looked decent against lesser players. He may have been highly recommended by the scouting team. We needed players, the alternatives may have been worse, the alternative may have been no-one. If you wish to be harsh on Smith you could claim that he should be able to assess a players ability to perform in the PL from one single game against random opposition - Personally I’m happy to rely on the DofF to take the vast majority of the responsibility for recruitment Additionally, I don’t think that Trez is as much of a disaster as many here - I would hope that he wouldn’t be first choice next season but he is a good squad player, he works hard enough and I’d be ok with him coming on for 20 mins to help close a game out

Well done to Dean Smith and his coaching team for a fantastic performance last night - the culmination of months of hard work across the season and during the lockdown A few thoughts, firstly the idea that this potential has been possible all season is to me, flawed. Its taken enormous time, patience, effort and learning to produce a performance like this. At the start of the season we had very many players new to the culture and new to the PL. We also clearly have players who are never going to be PL quality. To instill the kind of fight and spirit they showed and meld them into a unit that can turn out that kind of result shows me that Smith is exactly the sort of manager who I want at VP. Secondly, we have put in a number of similar perfromances where we haven't had the small slice of luck we needed to get a result - against Everton AEG couldn't convert from six inches so all is disaster, against Arsenal the ball rebound off the post into Reinas arms and everything is fantastic. Its a cliche to say that luck evens itself out over the season - its not as exact as that and i feel weve had more bad than good this year Finally, the match thread is littered with Football Manager experts who believe that they can outthink the manager and coaching staff. It may be obvious to you that player x should be swapped for player y but it doesnt make it correct. McGinn was clearly breathing through his a*hole towards the end but it was also clear why Smith kept him on - should we have conceded the usual tired-old "Smith cant do subs" line would have been trotted out PS What a magnificent footballer Jack Grealish is - the best attacking player I've seen in a Villa shirt. I really hope that we can keep him but also, for him, would love to see him fulfil his potential with brilliant players around him - is it possible both things could happen at Villa?

Great performances across the board Brilliant from Smith and his team

Good shape and good effort so far Arsenal have not really woken up yet Please hold on Villa!!

Brilliant

What is this??

The seasons not over yet

I agree. We were too open at the start and seem more organised. It was always going to be difficult and many here have expectations that couldn’t be met with the current squad Smith is a better manager now than when he arrived but If a real top class coach was available, great. if not, it would be a be a backward step to bring in someone who is similar and who doesn’t know the players

The situation at Arsenal and at Villa are worlds apart and of course the biggest part of that is the playing squad You are right that very many factors have been going wrong for the last ten years - it will be slow, stuttering progress to put them right

Can’t be too specific unfortunately but heard through the grapevine that Smith highly rated Maupay but that Purslow/Suso felt that Brentford were holding us to ransom - I don’t get much inside info at all but this one was mentioned in passing

There are no circumstances where Smith turns someone down without reference to the DofF I heard Smith was extremely keen on Maupay but Brentford priced him out of our range ( eventually accepting less than they asked of us from Brighton) - the decision on what we would pay sat with Pursliw and Suso not Smith

Purslow and Suso wouldn’t pay what Brentford wanted - Smith is sticking with the party line. What else could he have said

The issue with Bruce was that he underperformed with the squad he had. They were 14th when he was sacked and it was clear that they could do much better. Smith took the same squad to promotion. The issue now is the the squad is weak and the big issue is recruitment. It is right that the person, Suso, whose whole job is recruitment should carry the overwhelming share of responsibility for this

My understanding was he desperately wanted Maupay but Villa wouldn’t pay the price wanted (not Smiths decision). Nakamba and Trez were Suso signings - At most he will have seen one game of Nakamba and Trezeguet against random opposition and I’m sure they looked gangbusters against Malawi and Chad. I imagine he will have more of a say this summer not less

There could be a few people surprised / disappointed

‘Improvement’ is not binary. Don’t concede a goal and you’ve ‘improved’, concede a goal and you’ve ‘not improved’ We played well in the Everton game and most independent observers I’ve spoken to thought we were comfortably the better team. There are huge amounts of luck in football - If El Ghazi put the second in from six inches or Konsa gets to the clearance 1/100 sec sooner the whole narrative changes.

I think running with Smith is very much a risk but it is a risk that I am willing to take for a while - if ten games into next season it’s not working that’s when I’d pull the trigger I expected this season to be a struggle and it’s turned out almost exactly as frustrating as I imagined Some think our squad is good enough to achieve mid-table, I don’t and as you know, I would have been very happy with 17th There is constant debate about whose fault the poor squad is - there have been mistakes but I think it’s mainly that we couldnt do everything we wanted in the summer and effectively we’re mid-way through the rebuild

As we've discussed many times TRO, it's all down to expectations - from MON onwards we have been in ten years of gradual decline; decline in ownership, decline in managers, decline in playing squad, decline in reputation and decline in league position. We've had a number of false dawns, but I hope that the arrivals of our latest owners we can turn the tide. We've had roughly a season and a half of this reboot and I feel that as a club we are progressing. Is it steady, constant, relentless progress - absolutely not! but I never expected that. It's taken ten years of decline for us to end up where we did, I imagine that it will now take another few years to get us back to where we would like to be with plenty of hurdles and set backs along the way The expectation, as much as I understand it when Smith took over a 14th place team, was that he would bed himself in during his first half season, strengthen in the summer and make a push for promotion this year. Due to a record-breaking winning run we won a surprise promotion. It was clear that the squad needed a massive overhaul, but FFP and/or a limit on the funds available did not permit the kind of experienced/PL ready players most would have wished for Have mistakes been made - Yes, lots; The transfer policy is to buy players who will improve and have a good sell-on value, thats well and good but doesnt give you the immiedate tools that you need for a relegation battle; The 'ban' on loan players is a mistake in my eyes; Is the Dof F the right man for us? Some of his signings look suspect; Smith, in my opinion, was not pragmatic enough at the start of the season and then swapped to being too pragmatic. All of these issues wash into each other and we as outsiders can only take an uneducated guess how much is the strategy, how much the players, the DofF and the manager. My opinion is that the club and Smith will have learnt enormously this year. I expect that the summer window will address the calls for a little more experience and strength in the squad. I would do what I believe the club will do and keep Smith - he will have learnt a lot this season about the job, the club and his squad. Only if a real top class manager was available would I consider changing PS I don't think all our best players are getting worse - Heaton and McGinn have been injured, Mings, Hause, Hourihane, Nakamba all look about the same. Luis, Targett and Konsa look to be improving. Trez, AEG, Samatta and Davis were poor at the start of the season and are still poor now. Jack is the only player who looks worse than the first half of the season - personally I think he is trying to do too much himself PPS - Your ps is grasping at straws! In the scheme of things I can't be bothered to argue whether 25 apperances each constitute 'regular'

Heaton First Choice, Steer Second Choice, Nyland Third Choice, Reina Fourth Choice

Gordon is a youth product but they paid a million for Branthwaite

Peak Villa

I literally can’t stand this

McGinn back to some kind of form

Trying so so hard. Some players struggling with basic skills. We need a slice of luck. It couldn’t be clearer that it’s personnel issues not managerial issues that are the problem

McGinn looking promising