Dean Smith

[MaVilla]

6 minutes ago, av1 said:

This place is hilarious sometimes. Take a look around all the player threads, everyone agrees that both full backs are awful, that John McGinn is the only midfielder we have and both wingers are useless. 

Some of those very same posters come into this thread and claim that Smith is rubbish because this squad is easily good enough to finish top 6. 

Stop applying logic friend, you will confuse people

[hippo]

1 hour ago, Fazilla said:

Comparing the team that played in the playoff final with the team that played today we have lost Johnson, Terry, Grealish,  Snodgrass  and Grabban.  Give Smith time to bring in his own men and then judge him.  Over the last few years we have changed managers regularly and look where it has got us.

not saying you're wrong - but of the managers we have dispensed with - who would you have kept on longer ? 

[macandally]

31 minutes ago, av1 said:

No, the idiots that have been moaning since his appointment will turn and Villa Park will be a much better place without them. 

To be fair, there is about four people on here sharpening the knives for Smith and they haven’t really wanted him from the start.  Trouble is they post four times as many times as those who understand the scale of the problem Smith has to overcome!

[hippo]

1 hour ago, macandally said:

Because this team is not good enough to go up!  

So options are throw a number of our prospects in front of a howling mass at Villa Park or get them out of the club where they can gain experience without the pressure.  Options are play players out of position or play them in their positions and hope they step up.

To play Smiths brand of football we need fit, strong and quick players with a football brain.  I will leave you to work out how many of those we currently had at the club?  For me, there is a realisation amongst some of those Bruce bought in that they will not be getting new contracts next year and will be moved on.  We are now dependent upon their professionalism as some are too old for a three year contract elsewhere.  Some like Elphick have that, others do not and are not fit to wear the shirt.

Either way, we have to see out this season to rebuild this club.  I believe Smith is the right man to do this, I also understand some have no patience whatsoever so will be on here bleating every time we drop points between now and the end of the season.  That lack of patience is exactly why we are in the shit we are currently in, Stick with the plan, have the courage of our convictions.

Can you give examples of our lack of patience ? - I cant think of manager in recent times that we have jumped the gun on firing.

you stay stick to the plan - what is it ? - if we are below half way come october/november do we stick with the plan (which I assume means Smith)  

Personally I think step 1 of the plan should be getting the very best manager you can ...Smith currently is winning 1 game in 5 ......and had 0 wins in 5 with a different set of players at brentford before he left.......my main fear is if we stick with him ..then look to change manager mid season next year, we are recruiting managers when all the best ones are taken.

 

 

[Villarocker]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Reading managed to do the same thing 2 seasons ago and then were in a relegation battle a year later with the same manager and players. Explain that genius?

take a few decent players out a team and it turns to shit.

Leeds only signed one new player going into this season and now they're title contenders. His point is valid! 

[MaVilla]

Yeah, i dont see the point of saying DS shouldnt be here.

Critique ofc, but really i dont think he can be properly assessed until mid/end of next season, after he has got his own players in, had a couple of windows to sort the issues out, and offload the dead wood.

I really think the task on his hands aint small, but i think he has as good a chance as any considering our constraints in the near future.

With the current signings, Kalinic, Hause, Mings, Guilbert, Carroll, i think thats a good start (assuming we actually sign Mings etc), another 5-6 players in the summer and things will look very different.

Its fairly obvious i think that the U23s have been sent out to blood them to see if they are ready for next season, i think/hope that we could have a rather interesting team for the start of next year, thats when i think we can remotely judge the impact DS is having.

 

Im not comparing DS to Klopp etc, but if you look at Klopp, Liverpool werent too good when he joined, they leaked goals like a sieve, and have taken a couple of years to get his system, and get the right players in, now they are a mighty team.

Same with Guardiola etc, it took him a couple of seasons to get things lined up etc.

As i say, im not comparing DS to them, but, its the same principle, you cant change a culture overnight, or get all the right types of players you need overnight, these things take time.

Whether he succeeds is a different question, but regardless of whether DS does or doesnt, we wont know if the project is a failure/or success for at least 12 months, probably 2 years. (definitely the end of the 2019/20 season at earliest),

 

Obviously we want to see improvements in style, and we did see that for a while when Grealish was in the team, recently we have gone off the boil, but i think you can see in those games how DS wanted us to play when we had the right players to play it, so lets not lose our s*** yet, this DS project is in its infancy, and we need to give him time.

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by MaVilla

[DaveAV1]

1 minute ago, hippo said:

Can you give examples of our lack of patience ? - I cant think of manager in recent times that we have jumped the gun on firing.

you stay stick to the plan - what is it ? - if we are below half way come october/november do we stick with the plan (which I assume means Smith)  

Personally I think step 1 of the plan should be getting the very best manager you can ...Smith currently is winning 1 game in 5 ......and had 0 wins in 5 with a different set of players at brentford before he left.......my main fear is if we stick with him ..then look to change manager mid season next year, we are recruiting managers when all the best ones are taken.

 

 

Since you asked, I think you’ve given a fine example of lack of patience right here. 

[hippo]

12 minutes ago, macandally said:

To be fair, there is about four people on here sharpening the knives for Smith and they haven’t really wanted him from the start.  Trouble is they post four times as many times as those who understand the scale of the problem Smith has to overcome!

Not sure checking his manager ratings in the match thread - last time i looked it was

Very good :-

good -1

poor - 20

very poor - 20

If you only winning 1 in 5 - you ain't going be top of the pops 

 

 

 

[hippo]

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

Since you asked, I think you’ve given a fine example of lack of patience right here. 

your point was lack of patience got us into this mess - I was asking for examples where the club hasn't been patient.

(what I post on here - has no impact of the decisions the club makes)

[privateer]

4 hours ago, screwdriver said:

I just wasted 45mins of my precious weekend watching that pile of atrocity. I had stuff to do. I put down my makita to watch that. Not drunk at all

Is that like a Poundland Hitachi?

[macandally]

29 minutes ago, hippo said:

Not sure checking his manager ratings in the match thread - last time i looked it was

Very good :-

good -1

poor - 20

very poor - 20

If you only winning 1 in 5 - you ain't going be top of the pops 

 

 

 

As I said, four times as much!

[foreveryoung]

You can say the team is shite, but when Smith came here we were playing positive attacking football, an winning. Fans were saying "told you so, the team is one of the best in the League". But we've lost Grealish I now hear.  If Smith has to adjust to defensive hoofball without one player, he is very limited in tactical nous, an who's fault is that.

Edited February 2, 2019 by foreveryoung

[Davkaus]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

If Smith has to adjust to defensive hoofball without one player, he is very limited in tactical nous, an who's fault is that.

Or maybe Grealish was carrying us and it just shows how shite the rest of the midfield is.

[terrytini]

I’ve little appetite for posting these days but I thought I would just pop in to say this.

Whilst I share the disappointment that there has been a drop in performances after a decent start, i think it’s worth pointing out ( although I’m sure I’ll be told it’s not !)  that Smith has had 18 League games from which we’ve got 28 Points.

In the same period Leeds, a decent benchmark ?,  have accrued 34 Points. 

We were leading Leeds 2-0, and they won late on. 

Whilst im aware of the “ if my granny had nuts ..” etc line, it’s the case that had we Won just that 1 game, against Leeds, our record under Smith would match them.....it’d be 31 Points each.

Now, if you want to be pessimistic, you can pick holes in that. But if you want something to feel positive about, it shoukd help !

Long way to go !

Edited February 2, 2019 by terrytini

[Merson08]

I hope DS can do well at Villa but its hard to see currently. His track record is of turning a profit on players and not about play offs.

This team should do better. We are better than a tough 2 1 win against bottom of the league and a 0 0 draw against someone floating above relegation. Next season we will be without a +20 goal season player.

Our form is really poor and becoming bottom 5 side based on last 5 or even 10 games.

I hope it all changes when Grealish is back but this seems a deeper issue than 1 man. Winning breeds confidence our confidence has now gone.

 

[sidcow]

I have to say his persistence with Adomah, El Ghazi, Whelan and Hourihane is starting to worry me. 

 "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." 

Something needs to change. 

 

[roonst83]

32 minutes ago, sidcow said:

I have to say his persistence with Adomah, El Ghazi, Whelan and Hourihane is starting to worry me. 

 "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." 

Something needs to change. 

 

Whilst I agree with the fact that those players listed are mostly poor there’s not many other better options available at the moment.

[TRO]

7 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

It’s similar to Farke at Norwich. They could have sacked him in the summer but stuck with him so he could bring his own players in and have a preseason. 

If he had been our manager and ended the season the way Norwich did last season many fans would have been calling for his head. 

We need to be patient I’m afraid.

I don't think we have a great deal of choice.

[Tomaszk]

I love Smith, he's great. I agree with 99% of everything he says. Seen better football since he's been here than I've seen since roughly 2008.

Need to see more progress that the last few performances though.

Summer is going to be a big rebuild and players are more or less going to be brought in for the head coach. Have we got the right coaching team in place? Would love for Smith to be the man. Can he do it with the amount of utter cowards in the club at the moment? It'll be tough.

I'd love to see an alternative formation from Smith between now and the end of the season. If the 4-3-3 isn't working, our plan is....the same but with different personnel. 

Why is Neil Taylor still making squads? Why is Albert Adomah starting? Why is Conor Hourihane allowed to coast through games?

What the hell will we look like without Grealish and McGinn? Terrifying.

[weedman]

Just now, roonst83 said:

Whilst I agree with the fact that those players listed are mostly poor there’s not many other better options available at the moment.

Our wingers in general are terrible. Adomah looked average at first, then unbelievable for a bit, back to average and now barely looks like a footballer, El Ghazi is equally as bad, but at least occasionally bundles his way into a shooting position and seems to have a decent shot on him, Green is constantly injured and when he's not is just a typical young winger, full of energy and enthusiasm but blows more cold than hot, Kodjia isn't a winger. 

I'd be tempted to do away with them for now and go 3-5-2, it would mean Taylor as wing back which is frightening (although I think he's been better the last few games), or possibly Green there, and a choice between Hutton, Elmo or Adomah as RWB which is even more frightening, but it would pack us in the middle. 2 strikers (Abraham and Kodjia/David) while keeping our 3 CM (McGinn, Grealish and Hourihane/Carroll/Whelan) and 3 central defenders (Mings, Elphick, Chester) which should solidify us and force us to attack more through the middle where we're stronger. If we do go wide it should mean that there's plenty of space there so even our limited options should be capable of at least making a cross (that doesn't drift out for a goal kick/throw in or hit the first man occasionally with any luck)

I like 433 as a formation generally, but it simply doesn't work when the full backs and wingers are as bad as ours are. All our attacks go through them and 9 times out of 10 they screw it up