JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 7 minutes ago, Sam-AVFC said: Yeah, I think when the manager is talking about the club publicly they tend to not include the deals Twitter ITKs say are definitely already done and waiting for vague reasons. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wezbid Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 4 or 5 deals is still a good amount. Martinez, Rashica, Traore still leaves room for a CM and another striker or defender. I like it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JAMAICAN-VILLAN Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 1 minute ago, Wezbid said: 4 or 5 deals is still a good amount. Martinez, Rashica, Traore still leaves room for a CM and another striker or defender. I like it. It's like they have decided to rip up Susos plan to shreds. lol Although was it Purslow who spoke of "One side to stay up, one side to solidify, then another to push on"? Or was that Wyness days? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ferguson1 Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 Yeah, no, love him. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wezbid Posted September 15, 2020 Share Posted September 15, 2020 10 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: It's like they have decided to rip up Susos plan to shreds. lol Although was it Purslow who spoke of "One side to stay up, one side to solidify, then another to push on"? Or was that Wyness days? I'm hoping Purslow, so much has happened in such a short time that I forget what's what sometimes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villan-scott Posted September 15, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 15, 2020 1 hour ago, Aston_Villan4 said: From the Guardian article on Jacks new deal. What do y’all think Deano is implying here? “We’re planning this season around Jack as one of our core players, along with John McGinn, who’s like having a new signing now that he’s back at full speed, Tyrone Mings and Douglas Luiz, who finished the season fantastically,” said Smith. “If we could bring in another four or five quality players that only makes the squad better. That ups the training levels and match levels. Jack Grealish will look a better player with better players.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/15/jack-grealish-signs-new-five-year-aston-villa-contract @Okonokos here’s the quote @JAMAICAN-VILLAN referred to in the Rashica thread. I was wondering too. I imagine it’s the 3 we know about Martinez, Traore and Rashica, then hopefully 2 more. A striker and midfielder. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 13 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said: It's like they have decided to rip up Susos plan to shreds. lol Although was it Purslow who spoke of "One side to stay up, one side to solidify, then another to push on"? Or was that Wyness days? Wasnt that Xia quote? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiwivillan Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 3 minutes ago, Zatman said: Wasnt that Xia quote? Where are the emojis? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HKP90 Posted September 16, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 16, 2020 19 hours ago, PussEKatt said: The second season is ALWAYS harder than the first because now our/your players are known and you dont take anyone by suprise as every team has already played you twice. Even we’ll have not seen up to four of the starting eleven play yet, so not sure that follows after another season of signing a few players. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Farlz Posted September 16, 2020 Popular Post Share Posted September 16, 2020 Quote Dean Smith did his job exceptionally well last season, his first in the Premier League in a managerial career that began at Walsall in 2011. Almost everything that could go wrong for Aston Villa did so – including key injuries and chronic individual mistakes in a rapidly assembled squad – but Smith kept morale high and made shrewd use of the pandemic-enforced suspension to repair what had been the top-flight’s leakiest defence and, ultimately, pull clear of the drop. “At times there was just a candle flickering but we managed to get some electricity and heat things up a bit,” says Smith of the late-season power surge. “We only faced three shots on target in the last four games, which was an incredible team effort.” Villa’s ambitions for this season, and beyond, are much bigger and Smith is certainly not talking them down. “Historically Villa footballers have won the top trophy before, the European Cup in 1982,” he says. “I’m not saying I’m going to lead the team to that but that has to be the aim: to plan, over the next five or six years, to try to be challenging in Europe and things like that. You see the progress that Wolverhampton Wanderers have made over the last three years and that’s been fantastic to see as a fellow Midlander. You can’t help but admire what they’ve done. So a club as historically esteemed as ourselves should be aiming at that level as well. That’s what our owners will be aiming at and that’s what we have to aim at as coaching and playing staff.” The billionaire owners, Wes Edens and Nassef Sawiris, have helped bankroll the record purchase of the striker Ollie Watkins this month for a fee that could reach £33m, the £16m acquisition of the defender Matty Cash and the arrival of the goalkeeper Emiliano Martínez from Arsenal for about £20m. The Lyon forward Bertrand Traoré is close to joining for about £19m and there may be another addition or two. “Our mantra [for recruitment] this season was quality over quantity,” says Smith. “Last season was quantity because we needed to get 12 or 13 players in.” The club evidently believed the £130m forked out last season after Smith guided the team out of the Championship could have been spent better, because as soon as the campaign ended the sporting director, Jesús García “Suso” Pitarch, was let go. He has been replaced by Johan Lange and a head of football recruitment, Rob Mackenzie, was hired. Rumours suggested Suso had brought in players whom Smith had not wanted. It would be easy, maybe even politic, for Smith to let those rumours flourish but he has too much integrity for that. “Whatever was speculated before, I was in full agreement with the players brought in with Suso and I will be with Johan as well,” he says. “I felt for Suso last season because it was such a big turnover and I thought we did a fantastic job doing what we did. You’ll never hear a bad word about Suso from me. I really enjoyed working with him. The club decided to go in a different direction and Johan has come in. “My role [in recruitment] is pretty much the same. As soon as Johan came into the club we sat down and profiled the positions we needed and then it’s a case of me adding some names I liked in those positions. Then it’s down to the recruitment department, headed by Rob and with Johan’s input, to come up with players that (a) fit the profile, (b) fit the personalty profile and (c) are actionable. They come up with a list and I sit down with the coaches and decide the best ones.” Smith hopes the “quality over quantity” mantra, plus his coaching, will enable him to field a more consistent lineup. “Last season we probably only had a handful of players who you could say were guaranteed starters, your A+ players. The team changed around quite a bit. The idea was always to build that small core of players into a bigger one in the second season so you can have nine or 10 players who you look at and say: ‘He must be doing something poorly if he’s not starting a game.’ You look at Liverpool and other top teams, that’s what they have, a real core of eight-nine players who are playing week in, week out because of their quality.” Smith identifies the core players from last season as Tyrone Mings, John McGinn, Douglas Luiz and, of course, Jack Grealish, who this week signed a new five-year contract. Smith and Grealish, Villa fans since childhood, enjoy a close relationship. The manager says Grealish is the best player he has worked with; Grealish says Smith gets the best out of him and is “like a father figure”. Smith was delighted to see Grealish make his England debut last week, especially as it has provided a stimulus that should serve Villa even more. “He fully deserved that cap and he learned a lot from the trip. He said he went there and got his head down and worked but learned a lot from rubbing shoulders with top players like Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling. It was great for him to see the level he has to continue to reach and become consistent at. “Jack has previously credited a change in his attitude to when JT [John Terry] came into this club as a player. He saw how professional JT was and learned from that and he’ll have learned even more again from the England camp. One of the first things he did [after the England trip] was come to me and say: ‘Gaffer, can we have a four-week schedule so we can plan. I saw some of the other lads had that and it would be great for us.’ He’s never asked me for that before, we only give two weeks. It’s great that he wants to keep getting better.” That reflects a positive kind of pressure that Smith encourages at Villa. “We’re very fortunate to have the owners that we do. They’ve invested an awful lot of money already and now it is going to be down to the strategy of the people they have employed. It’s not just about the finances they have because we want to make it a sustainable football club. We signed an awful lot of players with potential last season and they have to go on and fulfil their potential. “Once they start fulfilling their potential, then the world can be your oyster because players get to a level where they are pushing each other. Because if they’re not, then they want to go to clubs that are competing in Europe. That’s where we as a club have to push ourselves to make sure their hunger is being fed. “Last season we felt we would have been better than six or seven teams but with the injuries that we had, staying up was a success. Now we have to do better. We won’t be happy just hanging on this season. We’re about growing, trying to become a better team and better players.” https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/16/dean-smith-aston-villa-challenging-in-europe-has-to-be-the-aim-jack-grealish Good interview with Dean 2 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rightdm00 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 21 hours ago, villalad21 said: Is he saying Trez and El Ghazi is shit? Why does he need to say it when it's quite obvious. Everyone on this forum agrees, we need quality wingers, badly. Just look at the Rashica thread. Nothing but the skinniest of rumors and that thread is well on its way to 300 pages . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 I think other teams' fans are going to start taking Dean Smith more seriously next season. A lot of people wrongly thought that he did a bad job with huge financial resources, but don't understand how thinly those resources were spread, and how little time he had to work with the players. The players really seem to like him - and most importantly, the *good* players seem to really like him. Jack wouldn't be staying at Villa if he thought Smith was holding his career back. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Interesting. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 He really is such a bloody top man. Huge credit to him for not throwing Suso, and the system, under the bus. He easily could have now the personnel have been revamped so heavily. Imagine some other managers in this position. As usual, it would be total self-preservation. I would have replaced him the week after we stayed up personally. Incredibly harsh, but these owners mean business and I have doubts over too many things. He performed successive miracles and has comfortably been the best manager in 10 years. It's not that I think he can't do more, I was wondering if he could do it as soon as I reckon these owners will think he should. The backing is quite frightening but he'll still need time to bed signings in. In theory, we should be laughing in terms of relegation IMO. With a player as good as Jack, you only need average players round him and he'll yank you up the league. We had far too many poor ones last season. All the best Deano. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dudevillaisnice Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 Yeah agree, not sure 17th is acceptable again this season. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 (edited) He has probably earned the right of getting another season. At the same time Southampton and Leicester were ruthless with their managers after "just surviving" They are now top 10 clubs. Edited September 16, 2020 by villalad21 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sulberto21 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 1 hour ago, Tomaszk said: He really is such a bloody top man. Huge credit to him for not throwing Suso, and the system, under the bus. He easily could have now the personnel have been revamped so heavily. Imagine some other managers in this position. As usual, it would be total self-preservation. I would have replaced him the week after we stayed up personally. Incredibly harsh, but these owners mean business and I have doubts over too many things. He performed successive miracles and has comfortably been the best manager in 10 years. It's not that I think he can't do more, I was wondering if he could do it as soon as I reckon these owners will think he should. The backing is quite frightening but he'll still need time to bed signings in. In theory, we should be laughing in terms of relegation IMO. With a player as good as Jack, you only need average players round him and he'll yank you up the league. We had far too many poor ones last season. All the best Deano. Top post I said I would have pulled the trigger after promotion again for the reasons you have stated. However I am being won over by him. I sincerely hope he brings a trophy or two back to Villa Park. Dare I dream of seeing my club winning the league title one day with a Villa fan manager and Villa fan captain? UTV Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrSmirch Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 1 hour ago, villalad21 said: He has probably earned the right of getting another season. At the same time Southampton and Leicester were ruthless with their managers after "just surviving" They are now top 10 clubs. I’ll be surprised if we finish higher than 15th. I can see us getting **** by injuries again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Follyfoot Posted September 16, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted September 16, 2020 10 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said: Top post I said I would have pulled the trigger after promotion again for the reasons you have stated. However I am being won over by him. I sincerely hope he brings a trophy or two back to Villa Park. Dare I dream of seeing my club winning the league title one day with a Villa fan manager and Villa fan captain? UTV We dream the same dream, however in my version I am better looking, have a much larger penis and have to beat the totty off with a shitty stick 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pez1974 Posted September 16, 2020 Share Posted September 16, 2020 2 hours ago, Tomaszk said: He really is such a bloody top man. Huge credit to him for not throwing Suso, and the system, under the bus. He easily could have now the personnel have been revamped so heavily. Imagine some other managers in this position. As usual, it would be total self-preservation. I would have replaced him the week after we stayed up personally. Incredibly harsh, but these owners mean business and I have doubts over too many things. He performed successive miracles and has comfortably been the best manager in 10 years. It's not that I think he can't do more, I was wondering if he could do it as soon as I reckon these owners will think he should. The backing is quite frightening but he'll still need time to bed signings in. In theory, we should be laughing in terms of relegation IMO. With a player as good as Jack, you only need average players round him and he'll yank you up the league. We had far too many poor ones last season. All the best Deano. Spot on. Re: getting rid of him - I don't think we as fans realise just how popular he is. Not just in that 'boss' way, but players really seem to like him, rate him and want to work for him. Especially Jack, which is very important. He's confident enough to allow Terry to be appointed; he's also happy to have Shakespeare come in - an ex-manager who could be seen as a threat to him, but he knows it will improve the coaching, therefore the squad and team, and therefore make his own position more secure. I am more confident in him now than at any point previously. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts