Dean Smith

[Eastie]

11 minutes ago, useless said:

That suggests that fans of other clubs should be laughing at the idea of us getting rid of Smith, but from what I've seen that's not the case, most have been predicting it all season in fact. More likley if it was another club we'd be questioning why a change hadn't been made already.

Exactly , most I speak to seem amazed he’s still in charge . 
watford were right to make the change , they looked dead and buried but have improved a lot with Pearson .

[MotoMkali]

4 hours ago, Eastie said:

First 2 months of the season maybe , but his form dipped hugely from October , before his injury he had been poor for several games 

He was injured playing for Scotland, he had like a minor hamstring injury. 

[Guest av1]

14 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

I think it's hard to argue he's doing a good job at the moment. We have been absolute dog shit for a long time now. 

I don't think I'd sack him though.

That's pretty much where I am aswell. 

Earlier in the thread I touched on the difference in style from his first 6/8 games to now (it actually got abandoned pretty quickly). I think for some reason he has moved away from what he knows best, is that down to pressure/ player influence? I don't know. But he looks a bit lost at the moment and I think he needs to have more strength in his conviction and get back to what he knows, and what he's good at. 

 

 

[Chicken Field]

I am both surprised and not surprised at all about how many people seem to have lost faith in Smith. The situation we are in is difficult to take, and I do understand the frustrations.

One of the more commonly used argument as to why Smith deserves the sack, is the vast amount of money wasted, therefore, for fun I directly compared our strating XI with other teams starting XI, just so we can get a better picture

 

VS Newcastle. On average, each player in the starting XI cost 3.5m more than Villa’s. This is without Danny Rose, who according to transfermarket, is worth 16m. .

This also doesn't give a picture of how much more established their team is, compared to ours.

People were upset about our lacklustre performance against Chelsea. On average, each player in their starting XI cost 16m more than ours. This is excluding homegrown players such as Christensen, Loftus-Cheek and Mount. And not counting the 64m they used on subs Pulisic and the 17m on Barkley.

On average, Sheffield United starting XI was just 3m cheaper, this is excluding Basham, Stevens who were free transfers and their best player, Dean Henderson. Sheffield United have simply just exceeded expectations. Sheffield United have also been building this team for many years now.

I think people underestimate how little 100m is when building a nearly entire starting XI today.

When comparing our starting XI, and our extreme lack of depth with other teams around us, I can not understand why people expect us to do better than we currently are. I believe if given the option, most of us would take and start majority of the starting XI available for West Ham, Bournemouth and Watford. With only a few of our players good enough to start for them.

People also underestimate in what mess we were in before the season started, we had no wingers, one striker, nearly no defenders. The rebuilt has been immense.

If we are relegated this season, we are in a much better position than we were in last time, as we will be keeping the majority of players, as they are works in progress.

Another figure people underestimate is the hidden figure of wages, and I am willing to bet that our league position is not far off from what we pay in wages compared to others.

 

I am as unhappy as the next person about our depressing position, though I cannot say I’m surprised and am having a difficult time blaming Smith for it. We have been a shitty run team for years, and it will take years of good management to get us out of it, there is no short term fix.

[Guest av1]

3 minutes ago, Chicken Field said:

I am both surprised and not surprised at all about how many people seem to have lost faith in Smith. The situation we are in is difficult to take, and I do understand the frustrations.

One of the more commonly used argument as to why Smith deserves the sack, is the vast amount of money wasted, therefore, for fun I directly compared our strating XI with other teams starting XI, just so we can get a better picture

 

VS Newcastle. On average, each player in the starting XI cost 3.5m more than Villa’s. This is without Danny Rose, who according to transfermarket, is worth 16m. .

This also doesn't give a picture of how much more established their team is, compared to ours.

People were upset about our lacklustre performance against Chelsea. On average, each player in their starting XI cost 16m more than ours. This is excluding homegrown players such as Christensen, Loftus-Cheek and Mount. And not counting the 64m they used on subs Pulisic and the 17m on Barkley.

On average, Sheffield United starting XI was just 3m cheaper, this is excluding Basham, Stevens who were free transfers and their best player, Dean Henderson. Sheffield United have simply just exceeded expectations. Sheffield United have also been building this team for many years now.

I think people underestimate how little 100m is when building a nearly entire starting XI today.

When comparing our starting XI, and our extreme lack of depth with other teams around us, I can not understand why people expect us to do better than we currently are. I believe if given the option, most of us would take and start majority of the starting XI available for West Ham, Bournemouth and Watford. With only a few of our players good enough to start for them.

People also underestimate in what mess we were in before the season started, we had no wingers, one striker, nearly no defenders. The rebuilt has been immense.

If we are relegated this season, we are in a much better position than we were in last time, as we will be keeping the majority of players, as they are works in progress.

Another figure people underestimate is the hidden figure of wages, and I am willing to bet that our league position is not far off from what we pay in wages compared to others.

 

I am as unhappy as the next person about our depressing position, though I cannot say I’m surprised and am having a difficult time blaming Smith for it. We have been a shitty run team for years, and it will take years of good management to get us out of it, there is no short term fix.

Great post pal 

[Graham t]

2 minutes ago, av1 said:

Great post pal 

Sorry, all the best players will leave if we are relegated, leaving us with yet another 'rebuilding job'. So back to square one with a wasted year in the Premiership. You couldn't make it up, only at Villa could supporters accept mediocrity as ' okay'

Regards,

VLD.

[Guest av1]

Just now, Graham t said:

Sorry, all the best players will leave if we are relegated, leaving us with yet another 'rebuilding job'. So back to square one with a wasted year in the Premiership. You couldn't make it up, only at Villa could supporters accept mediocrity as ' okay'

Regards,

VLD.

"All the best players" - As chicken field pointed out, very few are good enough for the PL. 

If we are relegated we'll probably lose 3 that would upset me. 

[Graham t]

4 minutes ago, av1 said:

"All the best players" - As chicken field pointed out, very few are good enough for the PL. 

If we are relegated we'll probably lose 3 that would upset me. 

Yes, I agree, it wouldn't leave much of a team would it?

Regards,

VLD.

[imavillan]

I am disappointed with the owners and with the trust they have put in place with Purslow. 

With Dean Smith we had the right man to lift the club from where we were dithering around in the championship to get promotion to the premiership.

He was the right man for all of the reasons we know about, Villa supporter etc giving a connection with the club to the fans. It was perfect.

We all know the owners are very very wealthy, however, if the owners are as serious as they say about taking us to the next level then Dean Smith is not the manager to take us there.

It should have been thank you Dean, promotion and job done. Here's a pay off as a thank you and good luck for the future. If not at the start of the season then at least at Christmas, but hell what do we do, give him a stonking new four year contract !!!!!

Purslow should have gone out to get a manager who could take us to that level. I don't know who, but then it's not my job is it.

All of the teams at the top have gone out and got the top managers. The clubs with new money have done it. 

Dean is a nice guy, he is not the type of manager to take us to the level we all desire.

 

[Graham t]

15 minutes ago, imavillan said:

I am disappointed with the owners and with the trust they have put in place with Purslow. 

With Dean Smith we had the right man to lift the club from where we were dithering around in the championship to get promotion to the premiership.

He was the right man for all of the reasons we know about, Villa supporter etc giving a connection with the club to the fans. It was perfect.

We all know the owners are very very wealthy, however, if the owners are as serious as they say about taking us to the next level then Dean Smith is not the manager to take us there.

It should have been thank you Dean, promotion and job done. Here's a pay off as a thank you and good luck for the future. If not at the start of the season then at least at Christmas, but hell what do we do, give him a stonking new four year contract !!!!!

Purslow should have gone out to get a manager who could take us to that level. I don't know who, but then it's not my job is it.

All of the teams at the top have gone out and got the top managers. The clubs with new money have done it. 

Dean is a nice guy, he is not the type of manager to take us to the level we all desire.

 

Unfortunately, the fact that Deano was given a new contract this year just clarifies that our 'new' owners don't know anything about football, or the running of a successful club......( nothing new there then).

Regards,

VlD

[Sulberto21]

2 hours ago, Eastie said:

Huge improvement ? We look like being back to where we started in a months time 

Pity saints didn’t think the same when they sacked Atkins who got then up 2 divisions when they fired him for poch , or Leicester when the sacked Pearson and ended up winning the league a year later .

Didn’t  we laugh at them But look where they are now . We’ve backed the wrong horse 

Both saw their managers were struggling at the time and acted quickly without sentiment and appointed better managers - the hard work of last year could all be tossed away by the board sticking faith with smith  

Quality post.

[foreveryoung]

As I see it is Smith is learning his trade with us, gaining the experience he needs to maybe 1 day become a very good coach/manager. Problem is from when we nose dived just before Christmas, Purslow should have realised this was the case and signed an experienced manager to take us forward. I'm almost certain if we signed a experienced manager then we would now be in a safe position. What Smith knows has not worked in the Premier League and unfortunately, as has been found out, there is no room to learn.

Sure Smith could turn out to be a great manager, but our club just don't have the time to wait. 

Edited June 25, 2020 by foreveryoung

[Guest av1]

2 hours ago, Graham t said:

Yes, I agree, it wouldn't leave much of a team would it?

Regards,

VLD.

It would leave us 3 short, with a decent amount of money from their sales. And that's before considering that some of the guys not good enough for the PL, would be good enough for the championship. 

If we go down the rebuild would be nowhere near the scale it was last summer. 

[jim]

37 minutes ago, av1 said:

. 

If we go down the rebuild would be nowhere near the scale it was last summer. 

Maybe not as bad but there will be a lot of gaps need filling. Grealish, McGinn and Mings would almost certainly go and be tough to replace.

I also believe Luiz, Hassan, El Ghazi will be off so that's 6 we would need to replace straight off. Question marks over Samatta, Engels and possibly Heaton would want to stay. 

[Graham t]

37 minutes ago, av1 said:

It would leave us 3 short, with a decent amount of money from their sales. And that's before considering that some of the guys not good enough for the PL, would be good enough for the championship. 

If we go down the rebuild would be nowhere near the scale it was last summer. 

Going on recent history I imagine Smith would buy another bunch of misfits and losers unfortunately. Still there is alway Wesley to to come back and save us......

Regards,

VLD.

[foreveryoung]

What about if we go down to the Championship and he gets us Promoted again, genius,or just the £100 million we spent to get us promoted.........again. Then the dilemma do we take him back to the premier League again with us??

To be honest unlike a few, if he keeps us up now, I wouldn't claim it's a great achievement, it'll be sheer luck with the garbage were turning out.

Complaining now we have to many games in a short space of time??? Yes Smith that's why we have more subs, you just need to use them, an it's not as though this team is busting a gut for you is it!!

[useless]

This thing of not sacking him if we go down because he might bring us back up and then come good like Dyche, reminds me of when people used to say we shouldn't sack managers because Man Utd didn't sack Ferguson and look what he achieved.

[sharkyvilla]

5 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

What about if we go down to the Championship and he gets us Promoted again, genius,or just the £100 million we spent to get us promoted.........again. Then the dilemma do we take him back to the premier League again with us??

To be honest unlike a few, if he keeps us up now, I wouldn't claim it's a great achievement, it'll be sheer luck with the garbage were turning out.

Complaining now we have to many games in a short space of time??? Yes Smith that's why we have more subs, you just need to use them, an it's not as though this team is busting a gut for you is it!!

Thing is we got promoted with a squad of old players going out of contract plus loans that all needed replacing at the same time, which I assume we won't have to if we go back up.  I guess we will be reinvesting the Grealish+whoever money in players who are young but expected to get better quickly so won't need replacing if we go up.

[foreveryoung]

I'd take Dyche, seems like he might be on his way out. If he can't get a bit of aggression and motivate this club, no one can.

[tezzaleed]

6 hours ago, Chicken Field said:

I am both surprised and not surprised at all about how many people seem to have lost faith in Smith. The situation we are in is difficult to take, and I do understand the frustrations.

One of the more commonly used argument as to why Smith deserves the sack, is the vast amount of money wasted, therefore, for fun I directly compared our strating XI with other teams starting XI, just so we can get a better picture

 

VS Newcastle. On average, each player in the starting XI cost 3.5m more than Villa’s. This is without Danny Rose, who according to transfermarket, is worth 16m. .

This also doesn't give a picture of how much more established their team is, compared to ours.

People were upset about our lacklustre performance against Chelsea. On average, each player in their starting XI cost 16m more than ours. This is excluding homegrown players such as Christensen, Loftus-Cheek and Mount. And not counting the 64m they used on subs Pulisic and the 17m on Barkley.

On average, Sheffield United starting XI was just 3m cheaper, this is excluding Basham, Stevens who were free transfers and their best player, Dean Henderson. Sheffield United have simply just exceeded expectations. Sheffield United have also been building this team for many years now.

I think people underestimate how little 100m is when building a nearly entire starting XI today.

When comparing our starting XI, and our extreme lack of depth with other teams around us, I can not understand why people expect us to do better than we currently are. I believe if given the option, most of us would take and start majority of the starting XI available for West Ham, Bournemouth and Watford. With only a few of our players good enough to start for them.

People also underestimate in what mess we were in before the season started, we had no wingers, one striker, nearly no defenders. The rebuilt has been immense.

If we are relegated this season, we are in a much better position than we were in last time, as we will be keeping the majority of players, as they are works in progress.

Another figure people underestimate is the hidden figure of wages, and I am willing to bet that our league position is not far off from what we pay in wages compared to others.

 

I am as unhappy as the next person about our depressing position, though I cannot say I’m surprised and am having a difficult time blaming Smith for it. We have been a shitty run team for years, and it will take years of good management to get us out of it, there is no short term fix.

Wanting Smith out has got nothing to do with how much I think he's spent.  I accept we had to spend a lot to replace a lot of dead wood and aging players, and that apart from Wesley none were particularly expensive.  I want Smith gone because he seems to be a clueless manager who can't react at the right time in games and clearly doesn't understand football.   Anyone who blames Konsa for that goal is just wrong.  both centre backs had been dragged out of position and the team had lost its shape a good ten minutes before the goal.  Any manager worth their salt would gave made changes to replace clearly tired players 5 or 10 minutes before the goal.  McGinn struggled all night again and should of come of for nakamba.  el ghazi was either dreadful or shattered.  only one person was to blame for that goal and why we didn't win that game.  Smith.  get rid.

Edited June 25, 2020 by tezzaleed