Dean Smith

[Tomaszk]

5 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

Bunkum.

He drives me up the wall with his insistence on 433. I hate that he always goes back to it.

The subs you can see coming annoy me. It'll always be Trez for El Ghazi (he has very few options in general of course) or Traore on for El Ghazi around 70th min. I wanted to see Keinan yesterday.

Not being able to take a throw-in has been an issue for about ten years and he hasn't addressed it fully.

I'd have replaced him last summer after he pulled off two successive great seasons.

I think it's fair to say I was wrong when he's had us up in the top 8 for most of the season.

5 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

Chap, Smith has had Billionaire owners with investment, Bruce had a chinese guy with a couple of quid. 

Has 'Smith' (he obviously doesn't go out there and find most of our players) spent the money well? I think yes, largely.

Bruce had plenty of money, don't be silly. We had Bolasie, Snodgrass and John Terry on £70k+ a week in the Championship and looked like shit every week. He bought Hogan for £12m and lumbered us with Lansbury and Bree. He also spent some money quite well as we know. Money was there for him is the point.

5 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

Look, I am neither biggin up Bruce or disrespecting what Smith has done here, but it's a little easier to progress when you have owners who are investing 100+ million each season.

Disrespect isn't the word, but there some issue for sure. You've got some weird bee in your bonnet about him, I don't quite know why. Every loss isn't solely Dean Smith's fault I'm afraid, as much as you seem to think it is. Look at the state of our wingers. Look at the state of our striker options. Look at the state of our midfield. Look at the state of our bench most games.

I don't know what you expect, because you've been going on like 10th would be a bad season. Did you expect him to get 6/7/8th as a minimum? Because that, from finishing 17th is asking a lot.

Tottenham, Arsenal and Wolves have spent similar or more than us since Smith has been here. Spending money doesn't mean you just move forward automatically. Despite that, every time Smith has had a chance to progress...progress he has.

[nick76]

14 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Don't think Vardy is so key to Leicester this season. They seem to miss Barnes and Maddison just as much. Not sure any team miss a player as much as we miss Grealish

Have to disagree with that...Ole was on the verge of being sacked before Bruno and is now second in the league.  He’s played mostly since bought but the stats without him are in the realms of us without Grealish.  I remember an article as well about Spurs without Kane being quite dramatic and these two clubs have far more player resources than we do.  We feel it more because Grealish is ours but it’s as bad for some other clubs without their star player.

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Bunkum.

He drives me up the wall with his insistence on 433. I hate that he always goes back to it.

The subs you can see coming annoy me. It'll always be Trez for El Ghazi (he has very few options in general of course) or Traore on for El Ghazi around 70th min. I wanted to see Keinan yesterday.

Not being able to take a throw-in has been an issue for about ten years and he hasn't addressed it fully.

I'd have replaced him last summer after he pulled off two successive great seasons.

I think it's fair to say I was wrong when he's had us up in the top 8 for most of the season.

Has 'Smith' (he obviously doesn't go out there and find most of our players) spent the money well? I think yes, largely.

Bruce had plenty of money, don't be silly. We had Bolasie, Snodgrass and John Terry on £70k+ a week in the Championship and looked like shit every week. He bought Hogan for £12m and lumbered us with Lansbury and Bree. He also spent some money quite well as we know. Money was there for him is the point.

Disrespect isn't the word, but there some issue for sure. You've got some weird bee in your bonnet about him, I don't quite know why. Every loss isn't solely Dean Smith's fault I'm afraid, as much as you seem to think it is. Look at the state of our wingers. Look at the state of our striker options. Look at the state of our midfield. Look at the state of our bench most games.

I don't know what you expect, because you've been going on like 10th would be a bad season. Did you expect him to get 6/7/8th as a minimum? Because that, from finishing 17th is asking a lot.

Tottenham, Arsenal and Wolves have spent similar or more than us since Smith has been here. Spending money doesn't mean you just move forward automatically. Despite that, every time Smith has had a chance to progress...progress he has.

Great post!

[Tomaszk]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

Is Dean playing Barkley, to prove to Christian Purslow that a deal in the Summer is pants.

I understand Purslow is keen to sign Barkley.....is Dean, proving him wrong to do so.

Another thing I like about our manager...

He doesn't **** around with this 'playing games' nonsense.

He'll have put him on because he trained well and he wanted to win the game and thought Barkley could do it for us. And if Barkley hadn't played like a blind man, he had two or three great chances to do just that!

If Smith wants to do a deal for Barkley, or not do a deal, or do whatever, he will tell Purslow. And he probably won't tell the press either way. A true professional.

[foreveryoung]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Great post!

Yawn!

[Vive_La_Villa]

16 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I would say it's the manner of the loses without Grealish. A few games have looked like we ain't even trying and we're close to Bruce ball as some were saying. The entertainment has gone.

I have to admit I’ve felt like this lately with yesterday being the worst.  I’m not looking forward to the remaining games when looking at who we are yet to play.  First half of the season it felt like we would give any team a good game. It doesn’t feel that way anymore. 

I’m not blaming Smith and I’m happy with the season as a whole and understand we’re a massive work in progress.
 

But I would be happy for it just to end now.

[nick76]

17 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I would say it's the manner of the loses without Grealish. A few games have looked like we ain't even trying and we're close to Bruce ball as some were saying. The entertainment has gone.

So you lost the argument so now you are changing the parameters.

I’d argue we were playing poor before Jack got injured but that wasn’t your argument but now you are trying to fit in our poor form with the timing of Jack being injured to say we are more one man team than any other team.  Your timing on us playing poorly and Jack getting doesn’t line up to use that as an excuse.

Are we playing poorly? Yes.  

Separately, do we rely on Jack too much much like other stars at other teams?  Yes

So I agree on both of them but you trying to fit an argument together was inaccurate.  Do we play poorer with Jack out? Yes, but we were playing poorer before Jack got injured.  Our form didn’t fall off a cliff when Jack got injured, it started before then.

[HeyAnty]

Id keep smith if he teaches villa to be dangerous from corners/free kicks into the box.  

Not holding my breath though, as a team of Dwarfs would be more dangerous than we have been the past 2 years.

[foreveryoung]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

So you lost the argument so now you are changing the parameters.

I’d argue we were playing poor before Jack got injured but that wasn’t your argument but now you are trying to fit in our poor form with the timing of Jack being injured to say we are more one man team than any other team.  Your timing on us playing poorly and Jack getting doesn’t line up to use that as an excuse.

Are we playing poorly? Yes.  

Separately, do we rely on Jack too much much like other stars at other teams?  Yes

So I agree on both of them but you trying to fit an argument together was inaccurate.  Do we play poorer with Jack out? Yes, but we were playing poorer before Jack got injured.  Our form didn’t fall off a cliff when Jack got injured, it started before then.

I really don't know what your going on about now, it's just opinions mate, you have yours, I have mine, I am allowed yeah?

[KentVillan]

I just think a lot of Smith's critics among the Villa fanbase don't realise how similar the challenges are at every football club:

• all teams have a star player who negatively affects results if they aren't available (from Messi at Barca or van Dijk at Liverpool, down to Used-to-play-Semi-Pro Geoff in your Sunday League side)
• all teams have areas of the pitch where they are weak, and can be exposed by sides who are strong in that area
• all managers have preferred formations, playing styles and substitutions
• all teams (even champions) have runs of bad form

I doubt many of the "pro-Smith" people on here think he is the messiah or an all-time great manager. But we do think he has hit his targets, and we're worried that sacking him would be counterproductive when he seems to have earned the right to fight it out for at least another season, especially when he clearly still has the dressing room on side.

It seems pretty clear to me that there are several players - Grealish, Mings, Konsa, Watkins... probably a few more (McGinn, Targett, Cash?) - who would see Smith's departure as a signal to think about their next move.

We're trying to build something here, and part of what makes us different is that we have a core of homegrown players and a homegrown manager, many of whom are Villa through and through on an emotional level. I really want us to give that project the chance to succeed. I think most of our fanbase do as well. I hate this FIFAfication of football where it's all about getting the star manager so you can buy the star players who starred in a world cup 7 years ago, so they can sit on your bench injured but at least make you feel like a big club.

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I really don't know what your going on about now, it's just opinions mate, you have yours, I have mine, I am allowed yeah?

Of course, stop being childish that I’m trying to restrict your opinion.  You were having a discussion and you changed the parameters and tried to link two events that weren’t the same time and I highlighted the error in your link because I don’t want you to form an opinion on incorrect facts.  Just helping you out mate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sorry just having some late Sunday night fun!

[Zatman]

14 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Id keep smith if he teaches villa to be dangerous from corners/free kicks into the box.  

Not holding my breath though, as a team of Dwarfs would be more dangerous than we have been the past 2 years.

I know sometimes our set-pieces are really poor but Konsa should have about 5 goals in the last 10 games, even yesterday he has to do better with that header

[Vive_La_Villa]

We’re nearing that time where last season we were resigned to relegation. We just wanted the season to end so could crack on with the championship rebuild and be almost put out of our misery. But then there was a twist in the tale the last 4 games and everything changed. 

Who know, Maybe we can end the season on a high and bring back some more optimism going in to the summer. 

[VillanousOne]

On the plus side Dean has assembled one of the best defences I can remember as a Villa fan.

Watkins is also one of the best strikers we have had in decades and looks like he could easily go on to be a 20 goal a season striker for us if we get a bit more quality around him (not just Grealish).

The negatives, stubborn adherence to a 433 system which without Grealish doesn't work (even when he changed it against Fulham and got a result he still refused to change it vs Pool).

We are so poor at set pieces, Konsa is our main threat at corners and our free kicks are useless since Connor left (and yes I know he's not the answer).

Dean seems clueless as what his best midfield is, he changes it every week now and nothing changes, there are no clearly defined roles. Luiz and McGinn are clearly good players but every match I am clueless as to what role they are meant to be playing. None of our midfield score goals or take good set pieces, Nakamba, Sanson and Ramsey have come in at times but none have really had a positive impact (cept for a couple of games or cameos).

When was the last time we scored from outside the box?

All of our wingers are woefully inconsistent, that's not on Dean, nor is the failure around Barkley.

I think if Davis was going to get so little game time we should have signed another striker on loan at least to cover Wes. 

We have very little to play for in the coming games, I don't think Grealish will come back soon and if he does he will be lacking match sharpness and not make the impact we hope. Dean may as well try some of the younger players and give Davis more game time, not saying it will get us wins, but better than flogging the dead horse of rotating the same crap out of form players.

Edited April 11, 2021 by VillanousOne

[supermon]

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

I'm just curious what people think a "world class" manager would have done with the current situation of Grealish being injured and Barkley being basically wrecked.

It's an interesting thought experiment. What would Klopp be doing with this squad? What would Guardiola be doing with it? Or Ancelotti? Or Bielsa if you're that way inclined...

I guess the mark of a great manager is they spot things that other people don't spot, but I'm just intrigued by what this counterfactual is where someone is doing noticeably better than Smith. What does it look like?

I would assume they'd coach the team better and work on our weaknesses, ie misplaced passes. there are managers out there that can bring out the best in players and push them on

[VillaChris]

15 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I know sometimes our set-pieces are really poor but Konsa should have about 5 goals in the last 10 games, even yesterday he has to do better with that header

Konsa is excellent at getting on the end of stuff. Baffles me how bad nowadays Mings is at making a run from a corner and getting a header on goal.

Of course it's easier level but he was chipping in with a few goals from corners when we had that 10 match winning run in the promotion season so just disappoints me he simply dosen't look a scoring threat at this level.

[Tayls]

1 hour ago, PaulC said:

Not sure any team miss a player as much as we miss Grealish

Who’s that? 

[AvfcRigo82]

54 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Have to disagree with that...Ole was on the verge of being sacked before Bruno and is now second in the league.  He’s played mostly since bought but the stats without him are in the realms of us without Grealish.  I remember an article as well about Spurs without Kane being quite dramatic and these two clubs have far more player resources than we do.  We feel it more because Grealish is ours but it’s as bad for some other clubs without their star player.

Let me say this Nick.

Those that beat the "If other teams lost their star player" drum would also suffer.

Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham etc. All have more than one star player.

Man City have a plethora of talent and don't rely on one player, same goes for Chelsea. 

Man Utd have Fernandez, Rashford, Pogba, Martial etc.

Liverpool have Fermino, Salah, Sane, Jota etc.

Spurs have Kane, Son, Lamela, Moura, Bale etc.

What I am saying is, when one key player goes down injured in their teams they still have enough to cover and get them results which they do and don't just rely on one player in any sense like we seem to do.

They are still winning and maintaining their top 6 position whereas we look like relegation candidates.

These other teams do not just rely on one player as many seem to think.

[KentVillan]

25 minutes ago, supermon said:

I would assume they'd coach the team better and work on our weaknesses, ie misplaced passes. there are managers out there that can bring out the best in players and push them on

How do you think a new coach would improve our misplaced passes? You think he'll literally improve each player's passing technique?

[KentVillan]

9 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Let me say this Nick.

Those that beat the "If other teams lost their star player" drum would also suffer.

Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd, Liverpool, Tottenham etc. All have more than one star player.

Man City have a plethora of talent and don't rely on one player, same goes for Chelsea. 

Man Utd have Fernandez, Rashford, Pogba, Martial etc.

Liverpool have Fermino, Salah, Sane, Jota etc.

Spurs have Kane, Son, Lamela, Moura, Bale etc.

What I am saying is, when one key player goes down injured in their teams they still have enough to cover and get them results which they do and don't just rely on one player in any sense like we seem to do.

They are still winning and maintaining their top 6 position whereas we look like relegation candidates.

These other teams do not just rely on one player as many seem to think.

So what you're saying is that the established Big 6 clubs who have been investing in their squads for the last decade (at least), while we were fighting relegation or in the Championship, have more squad depth than us!?

Come on, listen to what people are saying here. Nobody thinks Smith has built this club into the new Real Madrid. But he's being held to standards that just aren't fair, intelligent or reasonable. They don't stack up with where we are in our development. People have got way ahead of themselves - largely because of his success.