Dean Smith

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, Villarocker said:

I don't think we really gave up in any games last season. There were games where we were outclassed but that can be expected. 

2-1 down to Chelsea we gave up, barely had a shot and there were still 30 minutes left, Wolves a few days later were similar. Could perhaps argue Man. United aswell but tbf no point overdoing it at 3 down as we had Palace 3 days after and that was obviously the right call to keep some energy back as that win kickstarted the escape.

Big test for DS remains his game management. Too other last season as games were getting away from us he'd spent too long dithering whether to make a sub or change the formation and opposition would score another goal and that would be game over.

We will have a stronger bench this season if we can get 2 or even 3 more attackers in so more options for him to use.

[Johnnyp]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

To me, yes.

But apparently not to most on this site.

Bet you are fun at parties.

[bannedfromHandV]

26 minutes ago, VillaChris said:

2-1 down to Chelsea we gave up, barely had a shot and there were still 30 minutes left, Wolves a few days later were similar. Could perhaps argue Man. United aswell but tbf no point overdoing it at 3 down as we had Palace 3 days after and that was obviously the right call to keep some energy back as that win kickstarted the escape.

Big test for DS remains his game management. Too other last season as games were getting away from us he'd spent too long dithering whether to make a sub or change the formation and opposition would score another goal and that would be game over.

We will have a stronger bench this season if we can get 2 or even 3 more attackers in so more options for him to use.

We were outclassed by Chelsea throughout that game, I don’t think we gave up and in fact, Jota missed a pretty good chance late on to snatch what would have been an undeserved point. 
 

Again Wolves, we battled and tried, gave as good as we got for a while but the goal settled them down and they took control because they were/are a better team than us then/now.

 

The one we did give up in was United but that penalty award, after we’d been the better team in the opening exchanges, was truly gutting and yes, the players should have been more professional but I think they were exhibiting what everyone associated with the club was feeling at that moment in time.

[VillaChris]

35 minutes ago, bannedfromHandV said:

We were outclassed by Chelsea throughout that game, I don’t think we gave up and in fact, Jota missed a pretty good chance late on to snatch what would have been an undeserved point. 
 

Again Wolves, we battled and tried, gave as good as we got for a while but the goal settled them down and they took control because they were/are a better team than us then/now.

 

The one we did give up in was United but that penalty award, after we’d been the better team in the opening exchanges, was truly gutting and yes, the players should have been more professional but I think they were exhibiting what everyone associated with the club was feeling at that moment in time.

The Man. United one was a very clever strategic move given what we did 3 days later v Palace so I give us a pass for that one, worked out well in the long run.

It's certainly true we took the lead very much against the run of play v Chelsea but history of football has millions of results where a team has been battered and won 1-0, Steve Bruce must've done it with Newcastle 5-6 times last season, indeed they beat Chelsea 1-0 at home in January.

And a week later Chelsea went 2-1 up at West Ham with 30 minutes left and lost 3-2 so that's the sort of spirit I'm talking about that shouldn't be beyond us this season with better players and in game management.

Too often we just seem to accept we're lucky to be sharing the same pitch with some of the opposition players and meekly accept our fate. For us to get better we're going to have to start getting more points home and away v top 8 teams as we can't just rely on beating everyone in bottom half as plenty of those teams will cause us issues, we really struggled against the Southampton press home and away last season so interested to see what we do against them this season.

Edited September 14, 2020 by VillaChris

[Kiwivillan]

On 13/01/2020 at 11:07, Kiwivillan said:

DEAN SMITH TURNED ME INTO A NEWT!!!

DEAN SMITH TURNED ME INTO A NEWT... AGAIN!!!!

[AV82]

Wanted to poke my head in here and say Smith has certainly been a huge factor for Jack staying and has also definitely helped Jack realise his potential and excel on the pitch over the last 2 years. It's clear to see they have a great rapport and Smith deserves some recognition for that.

Edited September 15, 2020 by AV82

[villalad21]

14 minutes ago, AV82 said:

Wanted to poke my head in here and say Smith has certainly been a huge factor for Jack staying and has also definitely helped Jack realise his potential and excel on the pitch over the last 2 years. It's clear to see they have a great rapport and Smith deserves some recognition for that.

How so?

He stayed for the entire Bruce spell despite the dire football.

Jack loves the club and by the way he was talking in that interview it was the ambition from the owners that convinced him.

Not saying Smith wasn't a factor in his decision, but i don't think it was a major one.

Here comes the haters.

[mjmooney]

Dean Smith's Claret and Blue Army. 

That is all. 

[MrBlack]

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

How so?

He stayed for the entire Bruce spell despite the dire football.

Jack loves the club and by the way he was talking in that interview it was the ambition from the owners that convinced him.

Not saying Smith wasn't a factor in his decision, but i don't think it was a major one.

Here comes the haters.

Not hating but don't think you're giving Dean's Villa blood the credit it deserves. Even if not for what he achieved (getting us promoted, getting us to a cup final, keeping us in the league), the fact that he is a Villa fan, when Jack loves the club as much as he clearly does, will be a big factor. 

They'll talk to each other like fans talk to each other (not like they do in here, but like they do down the pub). They'll be best mates at the club. Look at Jacks post where he was hugging Dean after the season ended. There is a lot of mutual love and respect there.

That isn't to say another manager wouldn't have had the same impact on Jack, but they would have had to go an extra mile to do so, and i'm not convinced that there was many extra miles in the squad last year from the managers we would have had available to us.

On Dean, my main criticism of him is his delay in making changes when we're on the back foot. I give him grace for this given the sparcity of quality on our bench. Looks like he'll have no excuses on that front this season.

Try a little positivity,  it wont kill you.

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, MrBlack said:

Not hating but don't think you're giving Dean's Villa blood the credit it deserves. Even if not for what he achieved (getting us promoted, getting us to a cup final, keeping us in the league), the fact that he is a Villa fan, when Jack loves the club as much as he clearly does, will be a big factor. 

They'll talk to each other like fans talk to each other (not like they do in here, but like they do down the pub). They'll be best mates at the club. Look at Jacks post where he was hugging Dean after the season ended. There is a lot of mutual love and respect there.

That isn't to say another manager wouldn't have had the same impact on Jack, but they would have had to go an extra mile to do so, and i'm not convinced that there was many extra miles in the squad last year from the managers we would have had available to us.

On Dean, my main criticism of him is his delay in making changes when we're on the back foot. I give him grace for this given the sparcity of quality on our bench. Looks like he'll have no excuses on that front this season.

Try a little positivity,  it wont kill you.

Respect your views but not every Villa fan has to think the same.

It isn't a cult.

I don't believe in Dean Smith, never have. Doesn't make me any less of a Villa fan.

Nigel Pearson got Leicester promoted and kept them up the following season. Don't think any of their fans miss him right now. Don't think Southampton fans miss Nigel Adkins.

We all want what's best for the club and to me he isn't the right man to take us to the next level.

Can my view of him change if he performs better than expected this season? Yes of course. There is no agenda. But as mentioned i believe Dean Smith has taken us as far as he can and hit the ceiling.

[MarkLillis]

13 hours ago, VillaChris said:

The Man. United one was a very clever strategic move given what we did 3 days later v Palace so I give us a pass for that one, worked out well in the long run.

It's certainly true we took the lead very much against the run of play v Chelsea but history of football has millions of results where a team has been battered and won 1-0, Steve Bruce must've done it with Newcastle 5-6 times last season, indeed they beat Chelsea 1-0 at home in January.

And a week later Chelsea went 2-1 up at West Ham with 30 minutes left and lost 3-2 so that's the sort of spirit I'm talking about that shouldn't be beyond us this season with better players and in game management.

Too often we just seem to accept we're lucky to be sharing the same pitch with some of the opposition players and meekly accept our fate. For us to get better we're going to have to start getting more points home and away v top 8 teams as we can't just rely on beating everyone in bottom half as plenty of those teams will cause us issues, we really struggled against the Southampton press home and away last season so interested to see what we do against them this season.

I agree with all of this.

If we see one thing this season then please let it be a bit more fight against the top 6/8 teams

Like the Arsenal game!

[Stevo985]

32 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

How so?

He stayed for the entire Bruce spell despite the dire football.

Jack loves the club and by the way he was talking in that interview it was the ambition from the owners that convinced him.

Not saying Smith wasn't a factor in his decision, but i don't think it was a major one.

Here comes the haters.

**** me

Have a day off ffs

[Sam-AVFC]

13 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

It isn't a cult.

Then tell it to stop acting like a cu*t.

[nick76]

8 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Respect your views but not every Villa fan has to think the same.

It isn't a cult.

I don't believe in Dean Smith, never have. Doesn't make me any less of a Villa fan.

Nigel Pearson got Leicester promoted and kept them up the following season. Don't think any of their fans miss him right now. Don't think Southampton fans miss Nigel Adkins.

We all want what's best for the club and to me he isn't the right man to take us to the next level.

Can my view of him change if he performs better than expected this season? Yes of course. There is no agenda. But as mentioned i believe Dean Smith has taken us as far as he can and hit the ceiling.

I dont understand why you think that when he's never been at this stage/level before.  Last season was to stay up with a load of new players with a low average cost and now he's been given a chance with some higher value purchases potential.  If he doesnt succeed then I understand your point but if he hasnt been given a chance at the next level, how do you know he's hit the ceiling. 

History has shown he has completed all his previous challenges at Villa of getting promoted and then staying in the division.  You yourself a couple of days ago was saying he wasnt getting properly backed and 17th would be an achievement this up coming season and not Dean's fault.  So I fail to understand where you are coming from. 

He's succeeding in all the challenges put in front of him so far, every time the ceiling is raised he meets it, what am I missing?

[Vive_La_Villa]

I feel dirty saying this but I actually agree with @villalad21. I’m not convinced Smith is the manager to take us to the next level whatever that may be. However he fully deserves a shot at it. So I’m not about to spend the whole season trying to pick out his faults and totally ignore anything good! 

[romavillan]

2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I dont understand why you think that when he's never been at this stage/level before.  Last season was to stay up with a load of new players with a low average cost and now he's been given a chance with some higher value purchases potential.  If he doesnt succeed then I understand your point but if he hasnt been given a chance at the next level, how do you know he's hit the ceiling. 

History has shown he has completed all his previous challenges at Villa of getting promoted and then staying in the division.  You yourself a couple of days ago was saying he wasnt getting properly backed and 17th would be an achievement this up coming season and not Dean's fault.  So I fail to understand where you are coming from. 

He's succeeding in all the challenges put in front of him so far, every time the ceiling is raised he meets it, what am I missing?

Totally, he managed seventeenth with an ave wage of £25k (18th in the wages table, only Norwich and Sheff Utd lower), he got us promoted first time of asking. In terms of on pitch success he has essentially saved the club financially. Staying down would have meant no parachute payments and things getting very very much harder to get back to the top flight. Getting relegated would have been less of a disaster but would have meant at least 4 years before we could compete with the mid table sides in the top flight for wages, now stay up tis year, strength again next summer and then the year after we can compete on a level playing field wages wise.

I've seen nothing to suggest Smith has hit his ceiling. He's been key in keeping Jack and over the course of Jack's new contract will be key in building a Villa side around his captain. He's smart, he learns all the time and with a team maturing around a maturing Jack, he should hit his peak just when we're ready to invest in top drawer players for him to play with. 

There are going to be a lot of defeats this year, hopefully we'll progress and get 10 more points or so and be comfortable before the last few fixtures are played. People trying to put the boot in on Smith in the close season, before we've even kicked a ball regurgitating old arguments that are wearing a bit thin have a screw loose for me. Smith is class, and he's a villan! Win Win.

[Sam-AVFC]

4 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I feel dirty saying this but I actually agree with @villalad21. I’m not convinced Smith is the manager to take us to the next level whatever that may be. However he fully deserves a shot at it. So I’m not about to spend the whole season trying to pick out his faults and totally ignore anything good! 

Neither am I convinced that he'll necessarily be able to do it. That's a perfectly valid opinion. I've even had a guilty thought that if he wont it's better he **** the start of the season up so we go all out to get someone like Pochettino. I also think there is a good chance he could improve lots as a manager as he clearly reflects on his faults and seems the type to constantly try and learn. Just need to hope it's in time to keep his job.

 Your last two sentences are exactly why he gets shit from people. Literally on the day Grealish signed a new contract for a manager he clearly has a great relationship with he jumps straight in here to downplay it. Doesn't make any sense unless you're trying to be negative for the sake of it.

[Vive_La_Villa]

6 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Totally, he managed seventeenth with an ave wage of £25k (18th in the wages table, only Norwich and Sheff Utd lower), he got us promoted first time of asking. In terms of on pitch success he has essentially saved the club financially. Staying down would have meant no parachute payments and things getting very very much harder to get back to the top flight. Getting relegated would have been less of a disaster but would have meant at least 4 years before we could compete with the mid table sides in the top flight for wages, now stay up tis year, strength again next summer and then the year after we can compete on a level playing field wages wise.

I've seen nothing to suggest Smith has hit his ceiling. He's been key in keeping Jack and over the course of Jack's new contract will be key in building a Villa side around his captain. He's smart, he learns all the time and with a team maturing around a maturing Jack, he should hit his peak just when we're ready to invest in top drawer players for him to play with. 

There are going to be a lot of defeats this year, hopefully we'll progress and get 10 more points or so and be comfortable before the last few fixtures are played. People trying to put the boot in on Smith in the close season, before we've even kicked a ball regurgitating old arguments that are wearing a bit thin have a screw loose for me. Smith is class, and he's a villan! Win Win.

Yeh but Wilder did better. 

[AV82]

I was also critical of Smith's game management but when the options are Nakamba and El Ghazi off the bench I give him a pass.

[Sam-AVFC]

3 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Yeh but Wilder did better. 

Steve Coppell finished 8th with Reading their first season up. I do like Wilder, but I think this year will be a bigger test for them.