Dean Smith

[weedman]

3 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

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10 hours ago, Junxs said:

But did you not think that would happen at Villa anyway? there were whispers we were looking for a sporting director before Bruce was even sacked, and obviously he was going to have his assistants as no manager / head coach in the world doesnt. Despite this some people were making out that he wasn't that important at Brentford, yes he was a cog but he was the most important cog, some people were giving him little to no credit for the work he did at Brentford.

Absolutely I did, I think I even said in the summer when Bruce was kept on it was clearly a short term measure while they identified the right people for the right roles and brought them in. Which was absolutely the right thing to do. 

I think people would have been wrong to suggest he wasn't important at Brentford, but due to the team of people around him he wasn't AS important for Brentford as Bruce was to us, for example (not comparing quality of course, merely job roles). Bruce was basically in charge of everything, from training to coaches to scouts etc. Smith is in charge of training and matchdays. Of course its an important role, you could easily argue the most important role (although poor planning and transfer dealings over a decade are what leave us in our current mess, rather than necessarily poor coaching), but it's not the only role.

Let's not forget the "dinosaur", "old school" managers hire coaches to coach players, and they take the rest. It's an outdated approach in the modern game, in my opinion, but by hiring Smith we have to have people in place to do the additional, non training and non matchday work that a traditional manager would do, that Steve Bruce did for us, and it's football in 2018, its not as simple as "get any old sporting director to sign players". Its easy to say most clubs operate this way anyway, but we didn't, that was the point. 

3 hours ago, srsmithusa said:

I may not have fairly represented you, but I accurately represented many.   The fact is they were completely wrong, while you were merely substantively wrong.  He still doesn’t have a system in which his small little cog can be effective, but we are playing much better football.  Clearly he’s capable far beyond the limitations you were intimating.  He may not be the next Pep.   But he’s not as limited as you inaccurately feared.   

Again, "small little cog" is not the same as "very important cog", which is what I actually said. There's really no need to adjust what I said to make your point more valid, it's a fine point.

And again, he's a good coach, for sure, and I've certainly noticed what most people have in the difference in our play, but as I said above there is more to being a manager than coaching, and a club needs someone to perform that role. We did not have that earlier in the season, we seem to now, and perhaps the club taking some time and appointing the right people will be worth it in the end

Edited November 5, 2018 by weedman
Double quote, no idea how to remove it!

[Zatman]

2 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Why are you confused....everything I've said IS factual.  Hourihane is another one, he hasn't got the passing skills or power to operate tgat deep....O'Hare is perfect for that role and Bree is perfect for the RB slot. Move Hutton back to LB and move Taylor out ASAP. A front 3 if Kodjia (centre) Abraham (wide left) and Bolasie (wide right)....job done!

you want O'Hare to play in front of defence even though thats not his position and has never started a game for VIlla. Never mind Abraham is a left winger

and you call it factual 

[Farlz]

Tammy Abraham on the wing 

[Farlz]

O'Hare in front of the defence as well? 

Now I know that's a wind up 

[Guest av1]

2 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Why are you confused....everything I've said IS factual.   

Apart from your following sentence of:

2 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Hourihane is another one, he hasn't got the passing skills or power to operate tgat deep....O'Hare is perfect for that role 

You have either never seen O'hare play, you are confusing him with someone else, or you're just on the wind up. 

O'hare is absolutely not suited to play as a deep lying midfielder. 

[mikeyp102]

3 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Is Smith falling into the same trap as Bruce.  Playing Kodjia on the wing is a waste of a shirt!  Especially so as Abraham has publicly stated that his preferred position is wide left.  At this rate it won't be too long before Jedi is back as a CB, Axel will be RB and Hutton LB.  Why the hell cant Smith see this?  Another 2 years of chaos beckons if Smith cant sort this out.  Bree and O'Hare still can't make the bench! It seems that Smith is just a Bruce 'clone',. Cant see us getting more than 2 points from the next 4 games.  Its a waste of time changing managers/ciaches if they are both focused on operating in largely the same way!!

Ive never seen comments from Tammy that he wants to play wide left, could you show me these?

He has never played Jedinak, yet you are creating a fantasy where he’s is back at cb

From watching the u23 game yesterday Bree isn’t good enough for the first team yet (and this is coming from someone who previously wanted him to play)

The style of play for me is already completely different to that of Bruce

2 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Why are you confused....everything I've said IS factual.  Hourihane is another one, he hasn't got the passing skills or power to operate tgat deep....O'Hare is perfect for that role and Bree is perfect for the RB slot. Move Hutton back to LB and move Taylor out ASAP. A front 3 if Kodjia (centre) Abraham (wide left) and Bolasie (wide right)....job done!

No everything you have said is personal choice not factual.. where are these facts you talk about?

From the little I’ve seen of O’Hare he couldn’t be further from a deep lying play maker.. it doesn’t appear to me that passing is his main attribute, he is a harrower, looks for movement off the ball, beats a man.. he is not and will never be a dlp 

Front three like that job done.. that easy is it? Bolasie hasn’t been fit enough to play 90 minutes, plus it doesn’t look as if he will help the team in anyway other than when he is the ball. At the moment he is best as an impact sub. 

[Kiwivillan]

4 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Why are you confused....everything I've said IS factual.  Hourihane is another one, he hasn't got the passing skills or power to operate tgat deep....O'Hare is perfect for that role and Bree is perfect for the RB slot. Move Hutton back to LB and move Taylor out ASAP. A front 3 if Kodjia (centre) Abraham (wide left) and Bolasie (wide right)....job done!

I agree Kodjia out wide is foolish. Not sure he even warrants place in the 11 with formation we're playing. Taylor had probably his best half in a Villa shirt second half against Bolton though very suspect defence first half. Hutton had a nightmare against Norwich and maybe we bought a pup in Bree. I've not seen anything since he joined that says he should walk into RB spot.

Also Bolasie tricks were a delight to watch but tracking back on defence he was completely half-arsed. Perhaps that is a factor of him getting cameo appearances 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Kiwivillan

[Stevo985]

11 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Is Smith falling into the same trap as Bruce.  Playing Kodjia on the wing is a waste of a shirt!  Especially so as Abraham has publicly stated that his preferred position is wide left.  At this rate it won't be too long before Jedi is back as a CB, Axel will be RB and Hutton LB.  Why the hell cant Smith see this?  Another 2 years of chaos beckons if Smith cant sort this out.  Bree and O'Hare still can't make the bench! It seems that Smith is just a Bruce 'clone',. Cant see us getting more than 2 points from the next 4 games.  Its a waste of time changing managers/ciaches if they are both focused on operating in largely the same way!!

Calm down.

It might be a case that professional football managers know their players better than us fans do.

If some of Smith's decisions match Bruce's it might be that unfortunately we're wrong on a couple of things.

[Demitri_C]

As much as I am happy with Smith, looks like jonkavic might be getting sacked soon. I would have loved him managing us.

[Vive_La_Villa]

I love the opinion of hindsight fans. So he decides to switch Abraham and Kodija next game. They both have a shocker for whatever reason. 

Reaction is why the hell is Abraham playing on the left. It’s Steve Bruce all over again. 

I personally do not think Smith wants to Kodija play on the left. He just has no alternative. But I do think he wants us to keep the ball a lot, press and make an attacking front 3 rather than it being Kodija on the wing.  He also wants the front 3 to keep switching. 

Our wingers should be the full backs. 

Most of the top teams play this system. Our players are still learning it and it will take time. 

Edited November 6, 2018 by Vive_La_Villa

[Jareth]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

As much as I am happy with Smith, looks like jonkavic might be getting sacked soon. I would have loved him managing us.

It's a worry I think if we do get promoted. Seems only Wolves have bucked this trend. Maybe we'll be ok given the resources behind us. I'll worry about that after the promotion party though. 

[Stevo985]

18 minutes ago, Jareth said:

It's a worry I think if we do get promoted. Seems only Wolves have bucked this trend. Maybe we'll be ok given the resources behind us. I'll worry about that after the promotion party though. 

That's been the problem for decades though, hasn't it?

When you go up, it's quite hard to stay up.

 

If the new owners are as good as we think they are, I think we'll be ok.

[AvfcRigo82]

14 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Especially so as Abraham has publicly stated that his preferred position is wide left.  At this rate it won't be too long before Jedi is back as a CB, Axel will be RB and Hutton LB.  Why the hell cant Smith see this?  

Axel can also play anywhere along the back four apparantly and Steve Bruce says Hi.

[Dave-R]

16 hours ago, sparrow1988 said:

See Brentford vs Aston Villa in any fixture since November 2016 then you will see how this would pan out.

Yeah that would be rite us being the brentford v bruce aston villa which I'm hoping becomes his sheffield Wednesday.

I live in Sheffield as well and I am so going to let rip on any Wednesday fan if they have bruce, deffo going to that game.

We owe both sheffield teams anyway. The stick I got wearing my villa shirt in Sheffield at the time of our losses under bruce, I was like yeah so what your all still irrelevant and could put both Wednesday and utd together and still couldn't be as big as villa

Will be so much fun to watch I think us v a bruce team, pumped for that.

All it needs is bruce to say yes to Wednesday and it's on. Do wonder though if Bruce will actually change and train his players, change tactics as it should be obvious by now to him where he went wrong. Don't think it would bother Dean though, should imagine he would love that fixture as much as the players and will have a cheeky grin on his face saying hope your ready bruce again.

Edited November 6, 2018 by Dave-R

[Stephen_Evans]

4 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Our wingers should be the full backs. 

Here's hoping for the Dean Smith interpretation of this phrase rather than the Steve Bruce version!  I understand and support what you are saying by the way.

[wilko154]

Agree with the above, I think in the second half of the season and certainly next season we will begin to see this.

We currently don't have the full backs, or the DM to do this.

 

               GK

          CB     CB 

RWB       DM        LWB

    CM              CM

             CAM

         ST     ST

 

This would involve the DM working with the CM as a deep lying playmaker. The CM's pulling wide when needed. One of the strikers being in the Scott Hogan ilk with the other more of a physical presence Tammy, Kodjia, Davis.

        

[Dr_Pangloss]

17 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Is Smith falling into the same trap as Bruce.  Playing Kodjia on the wing is a waste of a shirt!  Especially so as Abraham has publicly stated that his preferred position is wide left.  At this rate it won't be too long before Jedi is back as a CB, Axel will be RB and Hutton LB.  Why the hell cant Smith see this?  Another 2 years of chaos beckons if Smith cant sort this out.  Bree and O'Hare still can't make the bench! It seems that Smith is just a Bruce 'clone',. Cant see us getting more than 2 points from the next 4 games.  Its a waste of time changing managers/ciaches if they are both focused on operating in largely the same way!!

I'd imagine it's because Kodjia is the best of a bad bunch in that position and that he'll at least carry some sort of goal threat on the occasions that he does get into the box. I wouldn't worry too much about at and I'd expect it to change in Jan or on the off chance that El Ghazi is able to force his way into the first team.

[AndyM3000]

The best option is to have Tammy play up front with proper wingers and Kodjia coming off the bench in some capacity. I don't think Smith will ever play them up front together from the start of the game as it damages the possession football he wants to play.

In the back of his mind he's probably thinking this season is going to be somewhat of a write off. Next season Tammy isn't going to be here and Kodjia will be so he's got a job on his hands just to keep them both happy. 

[terrytini]

18 hours ago, westholmevillan said:

Why are you confused....everything I've said IS factual.  Hourihane is another one, he hasn't got the passing skills or power to operate tgat deep....O'Hare is perfect for that role and Bree is perfect for the RB slot. Move Hutton back to LB and move Taylor out ASAP. A front 3 if Kodjia (centre) Abraham (wide left) and Bolasie (wide right)....job done!

However much you want your opinions to be facts, they never will be.

And however much your concerns for the future might be based in your opinions, they aren’t factual either.

Finally, however much you rate certain players as being best for certain positions, that also remains your opinion, and nothing more.

As for those opinions, I think they are by turn unnecessarily shrill, misguided, and premature.

But that’s just my opinion, not a set of facts.

[romavillan]

7 hours ago, Stevo985 said:

Calm down.

It might be a case that professional football managers know their players better than us fans do.

If some of Smith's decisions match Bruce's it might be that unfortunately we're wrong on a couple of things.

And Smith has said he doesn't want to change too much too soon.