Dean Smith

[the_eristic]

Not enough skill/experience/tactical nous/whatever from manager and players combined, and topped off with not enough luck. We've looked bad plenty of times, but we looked done and dusted as a team after the VAR call, just nothing left. Getting the feeling we have to make a change just to make a change at this point.

[Dave-R]

2 hours ago, Adam2003 said:

Offer Grealish player-manager

I would actually be down for that.

[villianusa]

4 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

I would actually be down for that.

He is performing as bad as Smith at present, sadly.

[Tomaszk]

I agree with him that the players didn't give up.

Outplayed, god yes. Didn't give up though.

Reina 1-0. Not a pen for 2-0. We had a great opening before 3-0 but Davis and Samatta cocked it up ball up the other end Vardy doesn't **** about, 4-0 we're stretched right out and Guilbert can't stop Barnes run.

Do I think Dean Smith will play a proper team and formation that doesn't mean teams walk though us? Nope. I'm afraid not.

We might beat the likes of Newcastle and West Ham, but anyone who tries to go forward will get a lot of chances v us and it's Dean's fault.

[Dave-R]

1 minute ago, villianusa said:

He is performing as bad as Smith at present, sadly.

Has played bad in past couple of games, if the team was was playing better then he would be able to move and get freedom. Just like Samatta really as certain players can not function properly due to the rest on the day.

Admit Jack was shut out of last night's game proper, could of been Down to the weather also, he didn't see much of the ball did he.

[danceoftheshamen]

For me the incessant public tapping up of Grealish through the media by Man U seems to have affected him. He's been a shadow the last few games.

[ozvilla28]

Same continues weekly unorganized, errors,no plan no improvement in any of these.These a basics a manager should impose on his team at minimum.Our exuse is there not his players they may not be ,but he can't even achieve the above .Now we look like we a lacking fight.

I hear all this he got us promotion etc what's that got to do with it look at the present out of his depth should have been gone weeks ago.

Edited March 10, 2020 by ozvilla28

[ozvilla28]

3 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Anyone thinking we'll get a Sam figure in is in for disappointment.

I'd be stunned if they sack Smith.

Why is that through ?.Promotion and villaboy there not his players etc load of rubbish.We have looked like a team relegated last 6 weeks for me and there was time for a change.His not doing the basics right owners should wakeup.

[Villarocker]

I'm a fan of Dean Smith but sadly it has become absolutely clear that he is not learning. 

Every game he waits and waits until the second goal before making a change. What did he see in that first half performance to give him hope that the same eleven players, in the same formation, would change that game second half? At least one change should have been made at half time. 

When we played them at Villa Park Ricardo - their right back - was MOTM. That's because Grealish doesn't have the discipline or desire to track him back and stay out wide. It was the same last night. Albrighton and Ricardo gave Targett a rough time. Smith has been trying to get our full backs up the pitch to support but you need two v two to have a chance of that, not one v two! It also stops Grealish having as much of the ball and it kills us. 

I also think Grealish may have become frustrated at being played out wide. He's not affecting the games like he was. Maybe he has given Man Utd an answer already? 

Another failure on Smith's part is dropping Nyland. I was not a fan of his after last season's debacle but he played well when called upon this season and it was harsh to drop him for a 37 year old loanee who'll be back to Roma in the summer. 

Last night, it felt for me that the players are not playing for him and that is the most worrying thing. I was up for him getting next season if we do go down, which looks inevitable. But, if he's lost the dressing room, there's no way he can stay. 

 

[jacketspuds]

Would Smith still be the best person to get us back up to the PL without Grealish, Mings and McGinn?

[Fairy In Boots]

3 hours ago, danceoftheshamen said:

For me the incessant public tapping up of Grealish through the media by Man U seems to have affected him. He's been a shadow the last few games.

It’s not just through the media, it’s genuinely happening 150k p/w 5 year deal Southgate told him he needs to play for a top team to play for England. 

[Fairy In Boots]

He’s lost them, digging them out in public, not picking on form. 

[Demitri_C]

3 hours ago, villianusa said:

I honestly don't see what he is doing week to week in training. You would expect to see some gains in some areas, but the same issues are continuing game after game. Some of the issues are below:

1. We cannot defend set pieces

2. Teams are tearing us apart in wide areas

3. We play too high a line, and teams are playing off the shoulder of the last defender and we are getting beaten fro pace

4. Our center midfielders are offering the defense very little protection

5. El Ghazi is the only wide player who is offering any pace and crosses into productive areas

6. Grealish is constantly played out of position to force in another center midfielder, so he becomes very ineffective and the balance of the team is off

7. Samatta is often isolated when he wins the ball, and along with Grealish he has to come so deep to collect the ball that he isn't being productive in front of goal

8. We cannot not seem to keep up an tempo in the game, and we often sit back and allow teams to come at us. This often allows teams to score after the pressure forces individual errors

9. Grealish is being hustled and kicked out of games and Smith hasn't identified another way to attack to allow Grealish some freedom of the park

10. Players are not doing the basics within their position, and it is leading to some very embarrassing and costly errors

I could keep going on, but it's very depressing. I can see him doing a job if we get relegated, but his words of late shows me he is feeling the pressure and his lack of ability to inspire the players make me wonder if he is the man for the job. The team doesn't seem to know what it doing, and the players very rarely show much fight when we go behind. 

Night All!

A brilliant observation and that’s exactly how I see this. The squad isn’t that bad it’s just they are coached and managed so poorly.

even grealish has looked dreadful recently.

i am shocked they haven’t sacked him yet. We can still stay up with a experienced appointment 

 

[cbr600rr]

enough is enough.. terry till end of season 

[Uncle Albert]

Enough is enough, smith and his coaching staff along with the majority of the players are a utter shambles, smith is incapable of learning from his mistakes which have beem apparent from the very start of his reign, grealish ,mings and tammy papered over his failings in the championship, this year he is getting well and truly shown up, its time to go

[The Hawk]

5 minutes ago, cbr600rr said:

enough is enough.. terry till end of season 

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

[cbr600rr]

6 minutes ago, The Hawk said:

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

could it be any worse? yes its the same players who can not play basic football but smith is out of depth , might get a reaction from players. thats all. if smith keeps his job,, its over. 

[Fairy In Boots]

9 minutes ago, The Hawk said:

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

Players love JT, players don’t like Smith he’s lost them

[cbr600rr]

terry. worth a roll of the dice.. proven winner.. smith is not .

[Delphinho123]

The board need to decide whether our current failings are due to the players they signed in the summer or Dean Smiths inability to coach them. 

For me, it’s both and a change needs to be made now. I don’t think there is a single poster left on Villatalk now that can honestly say our summer business was anything but a complete shambles. Some of the players we’ve signed will genuinely struggle in the Championship and whilst we can all hide behind ‘they only cost an average of 10m, each, what do you expect?’, my counter argument would be that we’ve assembled a squad of players for a vast amount of money who have no hope of getting us back to the PL. This notion that we did well in the summer considering we only had X amount to spend to build a squad is going to look mightily stupid when the likes of Wesley, Trezeguet, Engels and Nakamba are being played off the park by Charlton players that cost 300k and a tin of beans. 

Onto Smith. He has been given a duff hand. Every manager in the world would struggle to get a tune out of some of the players we’ve signed at this level but that doesn’t excuse his inability to recognise where our problems lie. The defending of set pieces is utterly embarrassing. Comical. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe how bad it is. He has absolutely no idea who to play in central midfield and no idea how to stop teams walking through us. He plays Grealish out of position every match, randomly drops  players who have played well in previous matches and is clueless as to which formation suits our ‘style of play’. A special mention also needs to be made for his in game management which borders on gross misconduct. Why can’t we make a substitution before 60 minutes? Why can’t he change the system before we’re 2-0 down every week? Why can’t he see when things aren’t working and proactively change it up? 

Everything is broken and it’s now as bad as it was when we went down a few years back. Smith needs to go but the club from the top down should be embarrassed by the squad they’ve assembled for the money they’ve spent.

There are no positives at present. We are truly awful.