Dean Smith

[Demitri_C]

Look if smith keeps us up (and everyone knows i have been a harsh critic of his) he should under no circumstances be sacked.

His aim was to keep us up if he does that he stays simple as that.

But he will be under the spotlight next season as we cannot have another poor season like this again

[Robtaylor200]

Big congrats to Dean for last night an amazing result truly amazing. But I am not forgetting the total drivel I have had to watch for the last 20 odd games and the fact that other results (City 4 Watford 0) seem to have been forgotten that this helped more than a little. 

We try to buy better players it stands to reason we should look at better managers and coaches. No room for sentiment 

[villalad21]

15 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Look if smith keeps us up (and everyone knows i have been a harsh critic of his) he should under no circumstances be sacked.

I agree.

Unless Poch becomes a possibility. In that scenario there is no room for sentimentality. 

Edited July 22, 2020 by villalad21

[Demitri_C]

16 minutes ago, Robtaylor200 said:

Big congrats to Dean for last night an amazing result truly amazing. But I am not forgetting the total drivel I have had to watch for the last 20 odd games and the fact that other results (City 4 Watford 0) seem to have been forgotten that this helped more than a little. 

We try to buy better players it stands to reason we should look at better managers and coaches. No room for sentiment 

It cant be denied we have been garbage and most seasons we would hav egine down with this points total. But we cant aack him if he keep us up. That will be madness.

The big test is how do we rebuild this squad and replace grealish?

My first bid in the summer if we stay in premier league would be benrama 

[PieFacE]

As much as I applaud him for the result yesterday,  job not done yet. 

[DCJonah]

6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

It cant be denied we have been garbage and most seasons we would hav egine down with this points total. But we cant aack him if he keep us up. That will be madness.

The big test is how do we rebuild this squad and replace grealish?

My first bid in the summer if we stay in premier league would be benrama 

If we beat West Ham, we will have achieved 1 pt more than the average required to stay up. 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

It was there all along, he purposely left it until the final 4 games to show it just to raise our blood pressures.

Well it was wasn't it......else it wouldn't have able to be shown.

These are the same players, who some said were not good enough...and i can understand that to be fair....and some aren't.

These are the 10 million pound players, who are not able to compete, with the expensive stars of the big boys.

is that not was being written, in contrast to my comments?

you made up that line to suit your own agenda.....who is saying, he purposely did anything.....but we did manage to get a proper performance that he was responsible for, so bully for him.

it doesn't make the comments for the 21 defeats null and void......but it does make our comments commensurate with the performances and results or the games, valid.

Edited July 22, 2020 by TRO

[Blasterpocket68]

I have been a fierce critic of Smith, but  since the restart we have defensively looked a lot stronger as a team. Im not taking anything away from the result or throwing any  ifs or buts about other teams results Smith  got a result . Its in our own hands going into the last game, whatever happens i have no doubt we will all have opinions post Sundays game  . So come on Smith engineer another great result Sunday then let  the debate begin!!! UTV  

[TRO]

17 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Smith has been helped tactically by the return of McGinn and the continued improvement of Douglas Luiz. You need intelligent players on the pitch to execute plans.

He also seems to have finally worked out how to integrate Hourihane into the team without sacrificing anything in open play. That’s massive, as it makes us a genuine set piece threat from anywhere in the final third.

The build up patterns from defence look slick now as well. Nothing too risky, but it all looks well drilled, whether it’s the flick on header from the touch line, or a midfielder dropping in to receive it short.

A bit more pace and finishing ability in the front 3 and this would be a dangerous mid-table team. A tough season and still a very, very realistic chance of relegation, but I think Smith has earnt the right to keep developing his ideas.

Good observations.

It was heartening to see us winning more aerial balls too, the confidence is returning, that result and performance will help.

Edited July 22, 2020 by TRO

[vreitti]

It seems he's finally found a starting eleven that's balanced and competitive. I'm not surprised results have followed. It should've happened a bit sooner though. If we still manage to stay up, he should be given another year. If however we fail on Sunday, he should be shown the door. 

[Stevo985]

If he keeps his up he's done his job and deserves credit.

If he doesn't then he's failed and deserves criticism.

 

But that doesn't mean that he ONLY deserves credit or criticism in either scenario.

If we stay up then great, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been absolutely shit at times this season. And the performances at the start of the season and now show that the excuse that Smith was getting everything out of his really crap players just isn't true. But that doesn't change that he'll have done a good job over all and done the main job of keeping us up.

 

If we go down then he'll have failed but that doesn't mean he's done nothing good. He'll still have got good performances out of a pretty poor squad at times and he'll still have the ability to get us back out of the championship.

 

 

I hate how black and white VT is. You don't have to be so pro or anti smith that you can't credit him or criticise him in fear of weakening your position.

At times he's been shit, at times he's been brilliant. At the moment it's the latter so let's hope he carries that into Sunday's game

[rodders0223]

I remember when we got took over and the owners gave Bruce a stay of execution. I was all for that. I felt it was the right thing to do and the right way to behave. I still do.

If Dean keeps us up he keeps his job, simple, that's how we should behave.

Would it be the right, logical decision though? I don't think it would.

[VillaCas]

Well done to Dean Smith and his coaching team for a fantastic performance last night - the culmination of months of hard work across the season and during the lockdown

A few thoughts, firstly the idea that this potential has been possible all season is to me, flawed. Its taken enormous time, patience, effort and learning to produce a performance like this. At the start of the season we had very many players new to the culture and new to the PL. We also clearly have players who are never going to be PL quality. To instill the kind of fight and spirit they showed and meld them into a unit that can turn out that kind of result shows me that Smith is exactly the sort of manager who I want at VP. 

Secondly, we have put in a number of similar perfromances where we haven't had the small slice of luck we needed to get a result - against Everton AEG couldn't convert from six inches so all is disaster, against Arsenal the ball rebound off the post into Reinas arms and everything is fantastic. Its a cliche to say that luck evens itself out over the season - its not as exact as that and i feel weve had more bad than good this year

Finally, the match thread is littered with Football Manager experts who believe that they can outthink the manager and coaching staff. It may be obvious to you that player x should be swapped for player y but it doesnt make it correct. McGinn was clearly breathing through his a*hole towards the end but it was also clear why Smith kept him on - should we have conceded the usual tired-old "Smith cant do subs" line would have been trotted out

 

PS What a magnificent footballer Jack Grealish is - the best attacking player I've seen in a Villa shirt. I really hope that we can keep him but also, for him, would love to see him fulfil his potential with brilliant players around him - is it possible both things could happen at Villa?

[HolteExile]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

Look if smith keeps us up (and everyone knows i have been a harsh critic of his) he should under no circumstances be sacked.

His aim was to keep us up if he does that he stays simple as that.

But he will be under the spotlight next season as we cannot have another poor season like this again

If he keeps us up he's probably earned the right to have another crack at it. 

But that doesn't mean he's the best possible candidate to take us on to the next phase. 

So there's the rub. 

[DCJonah]

6 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

If he keeps his up he's done his job and deserves credit.

If he doesn't then he's failed and deserves criticism.

 

But that doesn't mean that he ONLY deserves credit or criticism in either scenario.

If we stay up then great, but that doesn't mean that we haven't been absolutely shit at times this season. And the performances at the start of the season and now show that the excuse that Smith was getting everything out of his really crap players just isn't true. But that doesn't change that he'll have done a good job over all and done the main job of keeping us up.

 

If we go down then he'll have failed but that doesn't mean he's done nothing good. He'll still have got good performances out of a pretty poor squad at times and he'll still have the ability to get us back out of the championship.

 

 

I hate how black and white VT is. You don't have to be so pro or anti smith that you can't credit him or criticise him in fear of weakening your position.

At times he's been shit, at times he's been brilliant. At the moment it's the latter so let's hope he carries that into Sunday's game

For me personally, I don't think he's been shit and I don't think he's been brilliant. He's made errors and mistakes just like the players on the pitch. 

I think what we are seeing is a manager, learning and growing with this squad. I've always said 17th is the goal. I think we made his job difficult with our recruitment and injuries to key players made it even  worse, but we are sitting there with 1 game to go. 

I don't think this mini run is all down to smith. Clearly mcginn coming back and the big improvements in luiz and konza have played a big part in things. 

What I give Smith huge credit for is keeping his composure and his head throughout this difficult season. And for me, the thing that shows we should keep him is the massive improvement defensively since lockdown. 

He and his coaching staff have identified a weakness and worked hard coaching the players to be better. Thats the kind of man we need at the club. Proof for me that more time, especially in between seasons, will show that Dean can coach and improve the players we've signed. 

Its not been perfect but for me he's done enough to keep his job. He's certainly done enough to show that people calling him a disaster and claiming he should have been sacked Christmas time were way over the top. 

[Stevo985]

1 minute ago, rodders0223 said:

I remember when we got took over and the owners gave Bruce a stay of execution. I was all for that. I felt it was the right thing to do and the right way to behave. I still do.

If Dean keeps us up he keeps his job, simple, that's how we should behave.

Would it be the right, logical decision though? I don't think it would.

I don't think it is how we should behave to be honest.

I think we should always be operating with the mindset of "Will this manager take us forward?" 
If the answer is yes then he stays, whether he's done a good job so far or not.

If the board thinks Smith won't take us forward next season then he should be sacked regardless of if he keeps us up this season.

Fortunately I think he can take us forward and that won't happen. But the point is we shouldn't be acting on sentimentality and meeting targets. We should be acting on the ability of the manager to meet the NEXT targets.

[Stevo985]

2 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

For me personally, I don't think he's been shit and I don't think he's been brilliant. He's made errors and mistakes just like the players on the pitch. 

I think what we are seeing is a manager, learning and growing with this squad. I've always said 17th is the goal. I think we made his job difficult with our recruitment and injuries to key players made it even  worse, but we are sitting there with 1 game to go. 

I don't think this mini run is all down to smith. Clearly mcginn coming back and the big improvements in luiz and konza have played a big part in things. 

What I give Smith huge credit for is keeping his composure and his head throughout this difficult season. And for me, the thing that shows we should keep him is the massive improvement defensively since lockdown. 

He and his coaching staff have identified a weakness and worked hard coaching the players to be better. Thats the kind of man we need at the club. Proof for me that more time, especially in between seasons, will show that Dean can coach and improve the players we've signed. 

Its not been perfect but for me he's done enough to keep his job. He's certainly done enough to show that people calling him a disaster and claiming he should have been sacked Christmas time were way over the top. 

I think the run we're on at the moment is Brilliant. And Smith deserves huge credit for it.

At times this season we have been absolutely shit. And a lot of that is down to Smith.

 

Overall I'm happy with him, especially if he keeps us up. But let's not pretend he's done a good job all season.

[Eastie]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

It cant be denied we have been garbage and most seasons we would hav egine down with this points total. But we cant aack him if he keep us up. That will be madness.

The big test is how do we rebuild this squad and replace grealish?

My first bid in the summer if we stay in premier league would be benrama 

Depends who else may be gettable to replace him , if there is a much better manager available who would be interested then there’s no room for sentiment - if not then fair enough give him another chance but Suso must go and we need a huge improvement in recruitment .

The chance is there to spend big and get quality not quantity this time ,  players I’d hope we’d be looking are Tammy , benrahma , cantwell, tuanzebe . 

[Adbo9]

If come sunday evening weve done what none of us were expecting and were a premier league team for next season then:

 

1: Ill be amazed and eating a huge slice of humble pie

2: We need to spend massively on 4/5 quality players to ensure this doesnt happen again

 

[DCJonah]

2 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I think the run we're on at the moment is Brilliant. And Smith deserves huge credit for it.

At times this season we have been absolutely shit. And a lot of that is down to Smith.

 

Overall I'm happy with him, especially if he keeps us up. But let's not pretend he's done a good job all season.

I'm not pretending its been good. Its going in circles but I guess it comes down to expectations and peoples view of the squad as to how much you put on Smith. 

For me, 17th was the aim and this squad is incredibly weak, even more so with injuries. When Engels is letting the ball go under his leg, thats not Smith being shit, likewise with Trezeguet smashing a ball home thats not Smith being brilliant. So many fine lines all season.