Dean Smith

[Davkaus]

Signing Tuanzebe as anything more than a backup player would probably be a fairly crushing blow for my confidence in the ambitions of the club. I don't think he's good enough for us as a mid table club. If we aspire to become better, that is not the kind of signing we should be making. 

Edited October 22, 2021 by Davkaus

[ozvillafan]

It's not a 3-5-2 if the wide players in that formation are usually in a back 4. That's more naturally a 5-3-2....

... with players out of position

 

 

[Blasterpocket68]

19 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

We've used it for like, 5 games? 6? It worked for the first 3 of those, even if I think the United result flattered us. 

It should have been changed for today, I cannot begin to understand why he stuck with it after the debacle of last weekend. But I don't think we need to reinvent history. 

Treason . But it’s the plain Frustrating F****** ing truth 

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, HeyAnty said:

Also i have it from a fairly reliable source that ROK has been a major lose, more so than JT.  He was major behind the scenes 

That makes sense to me

[dont_do_it_doug.]

4 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Philogene-Bidace seems to be benefitting from Villa backup player syndrome at the moment. The longer it's been since people saw them play, the better a player seems to get. 

Doubtful, I had to scroll to page 3 to find his thread. I haven't seen him mentioned on twitter, or heard his name at all in weeks. I'm not anointing him the saviour, just calling bollocks on the idea that we haven't had the players to fit a system with wingers. 

[danceoftheshamen]

Didn't watch tonight (thankfully by the sounds of it) but not suprised at all as losing that game last week took some doing and showed a really fragile new side to this team.

For me we need another couple of windows to repair the damage caused by Grealish going as the ones brought in were actually intended to build a team around grealish not to replace him from where i was standing but it has been spun to look as though they were the actual replacements i guess so it looked like we'd spent the money to stop us being ripped off with clubs knowing we had 100m burning a hole? 

Hence we are unbalanced in my opinion. Targett is now exposed horrendously as being clueless in the creative aspect and we have nobody natural on that side to fill the gaping wound Grealish left. We have some who can cover there but it's so easy for teams now to leave our "wingbacks" and cover everyone else and we are struggling to create. I forsee a relegation scrap unless this is sorted pronto.

We have now lost to Arsenal, Wolves, Watford, Spurs & Chelsea and drawn with Brentford at home. Only two of those you would have expected to likely get zero points from. Yes we won at Old Trafford which makes up for one of those losses but that still puts us way behind our expected points haul for me.

We have now completely thrown away the Old Trafford win and some.

Really poor from Dean this and i sadly am really now questioning if he's the right guy now Terry has left as we look a shambles currently. Did anyone see the pathetic wall against Wolves for their winner?

I really think Terry leaving was a big big loss now as defensively we have lost it.

[M_Afro]

1 minute ago, HeyAnty said:

I posted the above this morning and i stand by it.  Don’t be surprised if he goes after tonight.

Also i have it from a fairly reliable source that ROK has been a major lose, more so than JT.  He was major behind the scenes 

He deserves to go after that first half. I am an ex rugby playing middle aged football lover with zero coaching experience but even I could tell that we were going to be in trouble as soon as I saw the two team line ups. That was ratified within 5 minutes of kick off. For some reason Deano did nothing about it until the game was well over. Even then he didn’t make the right changes. Lovely man. Great Villan. Bang average manager.

He will be gone before the end of November and he deserves to. Thanks for the memories Dean but we need much better 

[TrentVilla]

 

I have for months now largely sat on my hands when it comes to Smith and this thread, I've deliberately not read it let alone contribute because I just couldn't face it. I can't sit on my hands any longer, not that anyone is out there waiting to hear my thoughts I'm sure but if you are in the slightest bit interested then I hope you are sitting comfortably because I've a fair bit to say and frankly, if you are one that subscribes to the "we've not be able to pick our best side" line of defence you won't like it so feel free to skip it.

I've stayed quite for a number of reasons but primarily because above all else I wanted things to work out with Smith. I really like the guy, he is clearly a really nice bloke and who wouldn't want a fan of their team to lead their team to success. I mean that is the dream isn't it, it is Roy of the Rovers stuff it really is. But....

Truth is for months I've been concerned about the performance of the team and the performance of Smith which has throughout his tenure been closely indexed to the availability of Jack Grealish.

Now I'm not about to try and apportion all that Smith has achieved to the availability of Grealish, to do so would be as ludicrous as Arteta's claims about Bruce, I don't know about anyone else but I think he should have been drugged tested after that. The truth is Smith has throughout his tenure improved the team and pushed us forward and played no small part in pushing Grealish himself to new levels. Smith was ever bit as central to Jack's success as Jack was to Smith's and frankly neither have faired as well without the other.

But it is an unavoidable, undoubtable truth that when Grealish was absence Villa and by extension Smith struggled. I was true in the Championship, it was true the year we just stayed up and it was true last season where we came out of the blocks like Leon Bailey if he had Ben Johnson as his chemist (kids you'll need to look that one up) and finished the season like Bill Bailey on Strictly.

Now don't get me wrong, almost any side would be weaker for losing Grealish, not just because of his individual brilliance but because of how dominate he is in terms of controlling the flow of a team. This is particularly true of a side at our stage of rehabilitation following years of neglect and inept management.

Yet our form from January to the summer was alarming at best, we went off a cliff and Smith just couldn't it seemed find a way to balance the side or create chances without him. Warning signs were there for all to see given the likelihood of bids for Jack and the fact we had seen it before the previous two seasons.

So this summer, without or without Jack we had to do something about it in terms of player acquisition. Once we knew he was going then the pressure was on Smith to show he could rebuild the team and emerge from the slight cloud of doubt about his own role in our rise. He hasn't done it.

I said in the summer I didn't really understand our recruitment, we signed good players but I couldn't really see how we intended to use them. I also felt we improved the squad without necessarily improving the team.

People constantly point at injuries and sure we've had a few. People say we've not had our best team out and that may or may not be true, I'm still not sure what our best team is right now. But all teams have injuries, we aren't alone in that and we benefited from injuries when we faced Everton.

Injuries though do not explain or justify our performances this season, they don't justify the scramble to try and find a formation that works, they don't justify the decision Smith has made. They don't justify our inability to defend set pieces, our inability to create chances, our inability to defend or keep basic errors from our game.

Yes we won at Old Trafford and yes we were great for 20 mins against Everton when Bailey lit up Villa Park but aside from that I'd argue we've been largely poor.

That first half tonight was terrible, utterly utterly terrible and I think Smith is in huge trouble now. Our run of games between now and Christmas could well see him go, I honestly think that. I'm not calling for him to go, because I like the guy, I want to be wrong ultimately but this isn't a blip, this isn't a patch of bad form.

Smith is struggling in the absence of Jack and has been for 10 months, I feel the writing is one the wall sooner or later and I can't defend him.

I could easily go on and on but frankly I'm gutted not at the performance but that we are heading to what I think is an inevitable conclusion.

 

 

[dont_do_it_doug.]

6 minutes ago, nick76 said:

To be fair most teams rely on a player or two.  Look at the difference VVD has made to Liverpool for example…Liverpool weren’t brilliant, VVD got injured, they fell away and he’s back they are brilliant.  Salah is phenomenal without doubt but Liverpool we’re a less formidable team without VVD.  Man U look lost without Fernandes when he doesn’t play is another example.

That's kinda rewriting history a bit. Liverpool didn't just lose VVD, they lost ALL their centre halves. Obviously, losing a player of VVD's quality is going to be a blow, but eventually they recovered before his return. Man United are a terrible example of anything, their manager is a competition winner. 

Besides, Bailey just isn't as good as Jack Grealish, no matter how much people wish it. So what, we just accept that we have to go backwards and there is no other way until we replace him with a player of similar quality?

[villa4europe]

4 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

AEG is a left forward who has been available all season. Buendia is a right forward who has been available almost all season. Add to that Bailey, Traore and Bidace who have all been available for quite a few games and you will see that we will always have been able to field a decent team in that formation. The problem is his insistence that Axel and Ings have to play. It is killing us.

Buendia missed the Chelsea game thanks to international duty which is when we made the change in formation, he's been fit but not in form, you could question form being his fitness based on his pre season injury

Traore and Bailey have been battling injuries all season hence why neither have them have started a game yet, there's a misunderstanding between fit enough for the bench and fit enough to start

El Ghazi is better than 5 at the back but he's good enough, the stubbornness is believing that Watkins and ings is better than el ghazi

Bidace I dunno why he's not had some minutes 

At full stength we won't play 5-3-2

[useless]

15 minutes ago, useless said:

Now we've got the Arsenal game out of the way, the most important thing is how we react in the games coming up against easier opposition.

I think we will win the next four

[wilko154]

5 minutes ago, danceoftheshamen said:

Didn't watch tonight (thankfully by the sounds of it) but not suprised at all as losing that game last week took some doing and showed a really fragile new side to this team.

For me we need another couple of windows to repair the damage caused by Grealish going as the ones brought in were actually intended to build a team around grealish not to replace him from where i was standing but it has been spun to look as though they were the actual replacements i guess so it looked like we'd spent the money to stop us being ripped off with clubs knowing we had 100m burning a hole? 

Hence we are unbalanced in my opinion. Targett is now exposed horrendously as being clueless in the creative aspect and we have nobody natural on that side to fill the gaping wound Grealish left. We have some who can cover there but it's so easy for teams now to leave our "wingbacks" and cover everyone else and we are struggling to create. I forsee a relegation scrap unless this is sorted pronto.

We have now lost to Arsenal, Wolves, Watford, Spurs & Chelsea and drawn with Brentford at home. Only two of those you would have expected to likely get zero points from. Yes we won at Old Trafford which makes up for one of those losses but that still puts us way behind our expected points haul for me.

We have now completely thrown away the Old Trafford win and some.

Really poor from Dean this and i sadly am really now questioning if he's the right guy now Terry has left as we look a shambles currently. Did anyone see the pathetic wall against Wolves for their winner?

I really think Terry leaving was a big big loss now as defensively we have lost it.

So you’ve commented on a game after not watching it? How can you draw a conclusion from a game you haven’t watched?

[villa4europe]

14 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Not really, he started Jacob Ramsey vs Wolves away. 

Started chuk vs someone this season too

Like I said I'm not sure why he hasn't tried him, he would have been the best viable option for the last month imo el ghazi left PB right 

Whether or not on paper that's better... Joy of hindsight says it won't have been worse 

[Davkaus]

2 minutes ago, villa4europe said:

Buendia missed the Chelsea game thanks to international duty which is when we made the change in formation, he's been fit but not in form, you could question form being his fitness based on his pre season injury

On top of that, he had to come off because he was gassed against Wolves after what, 70 minutes?

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

That's kinda rewriting history a bit. Liverpool didn't just lose VVD, they lost ALL their centre halves. Obviously, losing a player of VVD's quality is going to be a blow, but eventually they recovered before his return. Man United are a terrible example of anything, their manager is a competition winner. 

Besides, Bailey just isn't as good as Jack Grealish, no matter how much people wish it. So what, we just accept that we have to go backwards and there is no other way until we replace him with a player of similar quality?

So what do all the teams who have finished above us without Jack Grealish do?

sorry, Jack is a good player, but I feel we overblow just HOW good he is.

I've said multiple times, If Jack Grealish ( ONE PLAYER ) who is not prime Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, or Cristiano Ronaldo, is better than the combined attacking elements you have signed, there are bigger questions which need to be asked.

ONE of them might not be " As good as Jack Grealish ", but the sum total of them certainly are, IMO. It's about how you use them.

Multiple areas of the attacking line have been improved incrementally, and the quality drop isn't/ shouldn't be as significant when 1 of them is out.

[danceoftheshamen]

1 minute ago, wilko154 said:

So you’ve commented on a game after not watching it? How can you draw a conclusion from a game you haven’t watched?

Where did i comment on tonights game specifically? I made more reference to the Wolves game but am refering mainly to the season as a whole. Only reason i did not watch is i do a radio show on Fridays so unable? Not sure why the angst??

[dont_do_it_doug.]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

So what do all the teams who have finished above us without Jack Grealish do?

sorry, Jack is a good player, but I feel we overblow just HOW good he is.

I've said multiple times, If Jack Grealish ( ONE PLAYER ) who is not prime Lionel Messi, Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, or Cristiano Ronaldo, is better than the combined attacking elements you have signed, there are bigger questions which need to be asked.

ONE of them might not be " As good as Jack Grealish ", but the sum total of them certainly are, IMO. It's about how you use them.

Multiple areas of the attacking line have been improved incrementally, and the quality drop isn't/ shouldn't be as significant when 1 of them is out.

Hard to tell if you're agreeing with me or not based on the tone, but yeah. Exactly. 

[M_Afro]

I’m even more annoyed after hearing his post match interview and pretty certain that we are stuck with a starting 11 that shoe horns Ollie and Ings into it. Smith is done here. Let’s get it done and move on. 

[useless]

3 minutes ago, useless said:

I think we will win the next four

Well we'll need to, if not Smith really could be in trouble as there's some tough games after that and that relegation thread could be coming back in style. Need to get back to basics, 433 with Buendia and Bailey out wide and three specialist midfielders.

[avfc1982am]

I think he's passing the buck here.