Dean Smith

[Only2McInallys]

Just been watching the pre Leeds press conference and how Smith seem so thoughtful,honest and likeable.

Also how I think he is a great student of the game.Prelockdown we were a shambles defensively but he has analysed it and now we seem to be very difficult to score against.

He is the kind of manager that the longer he spends in the premier league the better he will become.

[Delphinho123]

9 hours ago, jonjon said:

Try £40 million!!! He's very highly thought of by our management, another 2 tonight and he's already top scorer in the Championship, and he looks the part, we took a year to get Peterborough to sell him for a record fee, and it's paid off, just like Ollie has for you, and with our track record he's only going to get better,  You heard it from me, just watch this space. 

Congrats mate. Another great bit of business by Brentford. Must be the most well run club in the country. 

How does Toney stack up versus say, Watkins? Attributes wise etc. 

[M_Afro]

Very impressive press conference from the manager. He really seems so calm and measured. There are obviously going to be some bumps in the road along the way but it feels as though we really are on the right path now. Well done Deano (and CP, Wes and Nas).

[tinker]

10 hours ago, chappy said:

This is excellent. What an inspirational leader!

Really shows his confidence in what he believes and how he wants the culture to be. 

He talks alot about players having the right attitude ( in this and in his pre Leeds interview) and how our recruitment is treating this as the most important part of it. I just wondering how this is assessed, do the players sit a written physiological test or is it from people who actually know the players or from questions asked in an interview. 

[TrentVilla]

Big test for Deano on Friday against a very different type of opponent and with a growing weight of expectation upon us. I’m confident, expectant almost which is dangerous but whatever the result we will keep improving I’m sure.

[MrBlack]

23 minutes ago, tinker said:

Really shows his confidence in what he believes and how he wants the culture to be. 

He talks alot about players having the right attitude ( in this and in his pre Leeds interview) and how our recruitment is treating this as the most important part of it. I just wondering how this is assessed, do the players sit a written physiological test or is it from people who actually know the players or from questions asked in an interview. 

I imagine all of the above.  Businesses use questionnaire type tools all the time to get their employees to understand what kind of team player they are  what motivates them,  what weaknesses they have... would be amazed if our new professional setup doesn't utilise something equivalent in a sporting context. Getting players to do it before signing may be a challenge though so who knows...

I get the impression references weren't a key part of our signing policy in the past... or we got them from people with a vested interest in the player moving to us. Any improvement on that front would have prevented some of the bad signings we've made.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

Very impressive press conference from the manager. He really seems so calm and measured. There are obviously going to be some bumps in the road along the way but it feels as though we really are on the right path now. Well done Deano (and CP, Wes and Nas).

There will always be "off days" or "set backs" along the way, we as fans have to be ready for that.....The current World champions and european champions are testiment to that.

[TRO]

1 hour ago, tinker said:

Really shows his confidence in what he believes and how he wants the culture to be. 

He talks alot about players having the right attitude ( in this and in his pre Leeds interview) and how our recruitment is treating this as the most important part of it. I just wondering how this is assessed, do the players sit a written physiological test or is it from people who actually know the players or from questions asked in an interview. 

Its also what the culture of the football club breeds.....Its so essential to have the senior players show example.....fortunately for us we have a good group, so the academy kids have a good chance of a template to work off.

I think Dean is very asute with this he has the antenna to spot bad attitude very quickly and I don't think he would tolerate it for very long.

I think he is bang on, to put attitude high on his agenda.

 

Edited October 22, 2020 by TRO

[villalad21]

Great chance for him to get the manager of the month award.

[TRO]

On 20/10/2020 at 18:03, blandy said:

Absolutely this.

I didn't for one moment think Steve Bruce was the right man, but nevertheless said that now he's here, he has to be given time (the 2 seasons target to get promoted). I repeated that throughout.

With Deano I did think he was the right man, and have done continually. Now there's this weird thing. I dunno if anybody else sometimes has it, but just very occasionally, extremely rarely I get this kind of calm knowing thing - it's like it's not me,  it comes from...who knows where. It happens maybe once every couple of years and can happen about anything. It's happened twice regarding football in all my years. Once a long time ago, a midweek cup game v  Arsenal, when the Holte was a terrace. We were losing 1-0 to Arsenal and thins "thing" happened. I knew with absolute calm and certainty that we would equalise and draw, There were maybe 15, 20 minutes left, max, but I knew. Not "I was confident, or I could see from the play we were putting pressure on, just the strange...calm "we will draw". Anyway, it happened again in maybe January last year. I knew we'd stay up by a point, I don't know how I knew, but it was connected to the last time we got promoted (under GT) and we stayed up by a point, last game. I think I mentioned it on here, can't remember.

Anyway, the point of exposing my wierdness is to say that with that absolute certainty, it took all my restraint not to let fly at friends etc. or on twitter or on here. The amount of times I hovered over the send key having written the words "pant-pissers" but ended up not sending... (no offence all you "pant-pissers"  ).

But anyway, if I can restrain myself, so could others and not let fly at the manager or whoever. It's OK to have doubts, it's OK to look at a situation and think it'll end badly, and it's OK to to say so and express worry and concern etc. and all that. I just don't get the rush to call for any manager to get sacked while he's taken the club forward and has only been here a short time, and in the middle of a season. If you can see an obvious mismatch - then fair enough at the end of a season, or if they're making things objectively worse, but Deano. No, he wasn't taking us backwards. Even had we gone down, if my weird knowledge turned out wrong, I'd have wanted him to stay. He's a good 'un.

 

good post Pete, but I think many of us have moments like that, I certainly do.

We all see things through our own Lens and get perceptions from the things we see.....I see so many parallels with what GT did and Ron Saunders.....but I didn't always, see it, but I am now.

We have seen many managers come and go, some have been given too much time and others not enough.....I am not a guru on such a subject, I watch games and comment on them like the rest of us......I have no idea how long it takes to turn football clubs around, so many factors come in to play and so many associated people need to be considered.....I have never been a fan who watch serial defeats and say it will all come good in the end, because invariably, I have not enough information from behind the scenes to make those judgements......as an analogy, I have always been in favour of betting on red when red keeps coming up, not bettting on black hoping it will come up.

I was in doubt at times with Dean and make no excuses for it.....having had more time to study the man, my judgement has changed, I think he will go on to do great things for us....The fact that he is one of us in terms of his passion for the club, will only make it easier, if bigger clubs than us come in for him and there is not that many on them.

I think Dean has learnt on the job and in many ways its the finest way of learning.....I had a very successful career in selling and I learnt the same way......sometimes the greatest academic brains have to come back to us to learn about experience on pragmatic solutions...and vice versa of course.

I still believe "Lockdown" was Deans watershed moment and a time he could reflect, suddenly he could distinguish the woods from the trees.....I am not privvy to his working day, but I suspect the games were coming so thick and fast, he did not have the time to study, Lockdown ,gave him that precious time.

I think a huge amount of praise too muct go to the owners for sticking by him.....that is so reassuring for me to think that these guys have so much Nous, to stand by Dean....It bodes really well for the future.

We all know there will be setbacks, but I think, we have all grown with this to know, thats all they will be.......We are on the right lines as the pheonix rises from the ashes.

Ps and as I have always mooted how important our defensibe capability is ( so pleased that the whole team has embraced it,so far) the offensive side of our game is so equally pleasing to watch....can hardly believe it.

 

[villalad21]

Although i don't rate Bruce he did stabilize the ship and gave us McGinn.

To say he only did bad stuff for our football club is ridiculous.

[TRO]

On 20/10/2020 at 22:34, KentVillan said:

One of the things I think is so key with assessing Dean Smith is listening to his assessment of games.

Whenever we've played badly (many times last season) he always seemed to have the right view of what had happened. Or if he didn't, it was mostly to protect a player from criticism.

As a lot of us said last season there were two major things holding us back:

1. Trying to integrate so many new signings into a first team. The number of new first teamers in last season's Villa squad was unprecedented in the *entire history of the Premier League*. It was always going to take ages for players like Konsa, Douglas Luiz, Trezeguet, and Targett (now all looking very useful) to find their feet.
2. The lack of quality across the squad, despite the money spent. I actually think Suso gets unfair press over this, because he had a bit of an impossible task. Purslow wanted him to sign young potential that would grow in value, and Smith needed players that would hit the ground running.

Smith's critics tended to ignore the first point, and either not accept the second point (Smith should be playing a different formation or wasn't coaching the players well enough) or say it was Smith's fault (even though he's not in charge of transfer strategy).

What we can see now is why we should have 100% stuck with Smith if we'd gone down. He's a good manager who's always trying to improve, he *does* know how to coach a defence, and technically gifted players seem to enjoy playing under him. It's telling how many of his old players at Brentford have jumped at the chance to work with him again, and there's no way we would have hung on to Jack unless he rated him.

In Deano We Trust.

Hindsight is an exact science of course.....but Bravo to you KV, for saying these things when folk like me had less faith.....I can't tell you how delighted I am, to say I was wrong.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

Big test for Deano on Friday against a very different type of opponent and with a growing weight of expectation upon us. I’m confident, expectant almost which is dangerous but whatever the result we will keep improving I’m sure.

Tough game for sure....but they all are in this league, its unforgiving.

We just have to be at it.

[TRO]

12 hours ago, Only2McInallys said:

Just been watching the pre Leeds press conference and how Smith seem so thoughtful,honest and likeable.

Also how I think he is a great student of the game.Prelockdown we were a shambles defensively but he has analysed it and now we seem to be very difficult to score against.

He is the kind of manager that the longer he spends in the premier league the better he will become.

have you got a link?

[Villarocker]

2 hours ago, TrentVilla said:

Big test for Deano on Friday against a very different type of opponent and with a growing weight of expectation upon us. I’m confident, expectant almost which is dangerous but whatever the result we will keep improving I’m sure.

For me, Friday depends on how Leeds approach us. Will they go gung-ho like they did against Wolves? If so, that should leave us some space to play in as they literally throw everyone as far forward as possible. We will have to be compact and hit them on the break if they do and hope we can stand strong against the tidal wave of attacks they throw at us. If we do, we win for sure. Or, will they go the Leicester approach of keeping it compact and tight, kick lumps out of Jack and, play on the counter attack? If they do that, we need to keep our discipline and not get into a fist-fight with them. 

I think this kind of thing defines a manager. How they react during the game to what the opponent is doing. Deano did that against Leicester because he felt they were getting through our midfield too easily. He came up with a plan that saw us beat the Champions too. 

I just hope we get a decent referee on Friday as, for sure, there will be a lot of fierce tackles in that game and no doubt they'll target Jack. 

[villalad21]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

Tough game for sure....but they all are in this league, its unforgiving.

We just have to be at it.

Leeds are different though.

They play very different to anyone else.

1st in:

- Sprints

- Tackles

- Duels won

- Distance covered

We need to match them for work rate or we'll have a bad time.

[PieFacE]

I think one thing that Smith has drilled into this team is that we need to match the work rate of any opponent, and so far it's working. 

[MrBlack]

1 minute ago, PieFacE said:

I think one thing that Smith has drilled into this team is that we need to match the work rate of any opponent, and so far it's working. 

Wolves managed it, and Leeds had Phillips in their side in that game. We've matched everyone so far. Don't see why we won't be able to hold out against a high press like we did against Liverpool, against sustained pressure like we did against Leicester,  nor cause a serious threat to a defence that has looked pretty average at best this season.

With Phillips out this game is ours for the taking, he is massive for them btoh defensviely and offensively. 

Dean will know what we need to do

[villalad21]

Just now, MrBlack said:

Wolves managed it, and Leeds had Phillips in their side in that game. We've matched everyone so far. Don't see why we won't be able to hold out against a high press like we did against Liverpool, against sustained pressure like we did against Leicester,  nor cause a serious threat to a defence that has looked pretty average at best this season.

With Phillips out this game is ours for the taking, he is massive for them btoh defensviely and offensively. 

Dean will know what we need to do

Wolves parked the bus in the first half. Fair play they managed to defend well but imo that is a very risky approach.

Curious to see how he set us up.

[useless]

Having a better workrate than the opposition doesn't guarantee anything by itself, otherwise Leeds would win every game, far from that their workrate often works to their detriment, it's no good running yourself to the ground if you've got nothing to show for it and then you tire so badly before the game is over that you let the opposition take control of the game.

We just need to do our own thing and let the ball do all the hard work.