Dean Smith

[DCJonah]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

No-one is foaming at the mouth just highlighing bieslas strengths. 

Haha

In a thread for the Aston villa manager. 

Crazy isn't it.

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

Haha this is crazy. 

The laughable thing is the little club who have decided smith is a disaster are all frothing at the mouth for a bloke who is still in the league below. Having absolutely bottled an automatic spot last year. 

It just sums up this thread brilliantly. 

I very much doubt there are many clubs talking about Smith as there next manager, unless they are in League 1. Some would be unhappy to have him back in the Championship after such a poor season in the Prem, his stock would have definitely gone down as one of the up and coming managers.

Anyway we will see the digression under Smith on the 27th of this month, there will be no arguing then.

[DCJonah]

1 minute ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

To be fair we did that regularly under Doug and it was pretty successful. Example: we sacked Little in 1998 after he'd kept us up and then taken us to 4th and 5th in the league, but we were having a woeful season and not far off the relegation places. Appointed Gregory and got to the FA Cup Final a couple of years later and even challenged for the league for a time.

 

Another example is he appointed Graham Taylor (RIP) who was popular with the fans and had done well in his first spell. It was a disaster and we nearly got relegated and he was gone after one season.

 

And those were because of bad results. Smith has not only delivered bad results but doesn't even appear to have a plan most of the time. 

Your examples are of managers having multiple seasons in charge.

Dean Smith hasn't had one. 

[Blasterpocket68]

2 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Not sure I've belittled posters. I've been against the completely over the top comments regarding the manager. 

If we go down, then as a club we failed and Smith is part of that. I could see logic for keeping him and getting rid in the summer. 

When you assess our recruitment and the state of the squad, I find it hard to lay all blame on Dean Smith. 

 

Its hard to see he didn't have any input in player recruitment during the summer  - He was regularly on TV watching / scouting  the genius Trezuget  in  Egypt   and in Belgium watching the buys of the season Wesley and the midfield dynamo Marvelous.  You cant really exclude him form the development of the squad. Its always going to be a risk what we did in the summer . He has to hold his hands up and take some of the responsibility.

However recruitment aside his inability to change or recognise basic issues and game management is really his downfall . 

Dont think all Villa fans will agree on Smith because of the promotion year, but we have discussed and  kicked this one around to deaf  to be fair . My opinion is he has been totally out of his depth this year.

[DCJonah]

Just now, foreveryoung said:

I very much doubt there are many clubs talking about Smith as there next manager, unless they are in League 1. Some would be unhappy to have him back in the Championship after such a poor season in the Prem, his stock would have definitely gone down as one of the up and coming managers.

Anyway we will see the digression under Smith on the 27th of this month, there will be no arguing then.

Not sure i disagree. What's the point though? Who cares if other clubs want him as their manager?

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

Haha

In a thread for the Aston villa manager. 

Crazy isn't it.

I dont actually mind smith as a person but its clear to me this jobs too big for him. He looks far too soft to be a success at this level. Furthermore he is very limited qnd doesnt know to hold onto leads.

Feels like we need to be 3 or 4 goals to hold onto a win

 

[DCJonah]

Just now, Blasterpocket68 said:

Its hard to see he didn't have any input in player recruitment during the summer  - He was regularly on TV watching / scouting  the genius Trezuget  in  Egypt   and in Belgium watching the buys of the season Wesley and the midfield dynamo Marvelous.  You cant really exclude him form the development of the squad. Its always going to be a risk what we did in the summer . He has to hold his hands up and take some of the responsibility.

However recruitment aside his inability to change or recognise basic issues and game management is really his downfall . 

Dont think all Villa fans will agree on Smith because of the promotion year, but we have discussed and  kicked this one around to deaf  to be fair . My opinion is he has been totally out of his depth this year.

I think that's a really fair criticism. I wouldn't disagree. I also haven't said he had no input in signing players. 

[Eastie]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

True but some have made out like its all on him. It is a Dean Smith thread, but the opinion its not all on him can still be made. 

Most including myself have also blamed Suso and purslow , it’s not all on smith but enough of it is for him to go due to performances and results , recruitment should also see Suso fired .

Hopefully purslow will also get a severe rollicking from Wes and nas .

[VillaFaninLondon]

1 minute ago, Blasterpocket68 said:

Its hard to see he didn't have any input in player recruitment during the summer  - He was regularly on TV watching / scouting  the genius Trezuget  in  Egypt   and in Belgium watching the buys of the season Wesley and the midfield dynamo Marvelous.  You cant really exclude him form the development of the squad. Its always going to be a risk what we did in the summer . He has to hold his hands up and take some of the responsibility.

However recruitment aside his inability to change or recognise basic issues and game management is really his downfall . 

Dont think all Villa fans will agree on Smith because of the promotion year, but we have discussed and  kicked this one around to deaf  to be fair . My opinion is he has been totally out of his depth this year.

My understanding is Pitarch scouted most of the players but Smith and Purslow had to be in agreement before the cheque was signed. So if Smith wasn't keen he could have turned round and said no, which I'm sure he would have done if he didn't think the player would fit.

 

So he certainly has to take some blame for the signings for sure.

[DCJonah]

Just now, Demitri_C said:

I dont actually mind smith as a person but its clear to me this jobs too big for him. He looks far too soft to be a success at this level. Furthermore he is very limited qnd doesnt know to hold onto leads.

Feels like we need to be 3 or 4 goals to hold onto a win

 

I guess this is where we differ. I don't put it all down to Smith not knowing how to hold onto a lead. 

I think a lot is down to the mental weakness and the lack of quality we have in the team. 

Look at the Engels error against Spurs or the goal that Sheffield united should have scored. We do it too often. Massive individual errors. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

4 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Your examples are of managers having multiple seasons in charge.

Dean Smith hasn't had one. 

OK, understood. As I said I'm not sure in the effectiveness of making a change now, but having seen us in the first 2 games I don't see any reason to be optimistic we'll stay up. 

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I guess this is where we differ. I don't put it all down to Smith not knowing how to hold onto a lead. 

I think a lot is down to the mental weakness and the lack of quality we have in the team. 

Look at the Engels error against Spurs or the goal that Sheffield united should have scored. We do it too often. Massive individual errors. 

We can blame the mental strength however when you have leaders like mings grealish mcginn i dont accept that. But if that was true thats where management comes into fixing this. I mean we didnt have this issue last season. 

I accept your earlier point reahrding the qualith of the squad not having enough quality but there is still enough to get far more than what we are getting.

Smith is not getting the best out of this team whatsoever.

[thabucks]

The massive individual errors cannot be legislated for to a certain degree but we have had issues for years surrounding player Weak mentality . Do we have a sports psychologist ? 

 

[DCJonah]

1 minute ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

OK, understood. As I said I'm not sure in the effectiveness of making a change now, but having seen us in the first 2 games I don't see any reason to be optimistic we'll stay up. 

I think i'm the same. While i will defend against the over the top comments and the love for a manager still in the championship, I am not confident we will stay up at all. But i've felt all year that this was going to be the case, that we are in a real fight right till the end and until that changes I won't turn against him after what he's done so far. If we were bottom and pretty much confirmed relegation at this point then that would be different. But I think, even with how bad it has been at times, that he deserves to chance to try and meet that target of survival. 

[DCJonah]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

We can blame the mental strength however when you have leaders like mings grealish mcginn i dont accept that. But if that was true thats where management comes into fixing this. I mean we didnt have this issue last season. 

I accept your earlier point reahrding the qualith of the squad not having enough quality but there is still enough to get far more than what we are getting.

Smith is not getting the best out of this team whatsoever.

Are Mings, Grealish and Mcginn great leaders? They run around a lot and are the better players in the squad but i'm not sure I see lots of leadership qualities. Mings out of all of them probably has the best but he has been very hit and miss all season. 

I think we are a soft touch. That comes from the players and the manager. We got a lot wrong in the summer. 

[useless]

This point is way too unheralded, but it's pretty bad going that we're thirty games into the season and no one not even Smith has a clue what our best team is.

[foreveryoung]

7 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Not sure i disagree. What's the point though? Who cares if other clubs want him as their manager?

I see you ignored my last sentence, since this will be a good indication of Smith's strengths. Last season 2-1, this season could be a cricket score being the digression under Smith. He will likely try and defend the whole game though, like with Sheffield and Chelsea. I mean it's not as though we are fighting relegation is it!

[VillaFaninLondon]

7 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Not sure i disagree. What's the point though? Who cares if other clubs want him as their manager?

Well because it acts as a benchmark for his achievements here. 

 

It's not abnormal though - many managers come here and their stock tends to nosedive rather than go up because no darned manager can get this club to progress. I was very surprised Bruce got a job at Newcastle, but that has more to do with Mike Ashley than Bruce himself.

 

Even MON (our last relatively successful manager) couldn't get a big job after he left us. Too many said his football wasn't good enough for a top team and he wasted millions at Villa. All of this was true of course.

[DCJonah]

3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I see you ignored my last sentence, since this will be a good indication of Smith's strengths. Last season 2-1, this season could be a cricket score being the digression under Smith. He will likely try and defend the whole game though, like with Sheffield and Chelsea. I mean it's not as though we are fighting relegation is it!

Your last sentence makes no sense. There are so many variables how on earth could you use a game 12 months apart as some sort of final judgement. 

I think we will lose to wolves, a draw would be a big result. 

[VillaFaninLondon]

19 minutes ago, useless said:

This point is way too unheralded, but it's pretty bad going that we're thirty games into the season and no one not even Smith has a clue what our best team is.

Exactly. This is the biggest concern for me - teams that chop and change very rarely do well. Sheff U, Wolves, Leicester, even Liverpool play the same team most weeks unless there are injuries. 

 

As someone else noted, at the start of the season we would not have thought Nyland, Davis, Hause, Hourihane would be anything more than subs at this stage. It just shows the lack of faith in our summer signings who were supposed to be first choice.