Dean Smith

[VillaChris]

38 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

For mine, he has to have the balls to drop players based on their performance after or during a game, not their name.

He dropped Trez for Traore, but Trez was good in the time he was on the pitch yesterday and good in all previous games bar Leeds (where we were all pretty bad).

He won't drop or substitute Barkley who, for mine, has been a liability in the last 2 games against Leeds and Southampton

I honestly don't think it's just about dropping players but conserving energy at times. Barkley admitted after Leicester he was playing with an injury in that game so seems odd to me we're keeping him on for the full game even in last two where he hasn't been great at all.

I look at Spurs game and they took Son off 10 minutes before end of  tightly balanced game and he's one of best counter attacking forwards in world football yet Mourinho felt it was right thing to do. Put a left back on for him aswell.

DS is still a bit too like for like for me with his changes. With the early Traore injury Trez was the easy sub to make but he could've easily put another midfielder on to stop Southampton passing round the gaps and breaking to edge of the box to get FKs. Then we have Trez ready for last half hour with us right in the game still.

First 4 games were very promising but we've slipped back into our bad old ways in last two so let's hope it's only temporary.

Players certainly felt they weren't helped out enough during the game with what they were saying at half time aswell.

[Tomaszk]

10 hours ago, jim said:

7 goals shipped in the last two home games isn’t good enough.

Not good no. 11 goals scored in four is positive.

10 hours ago, penguin said:

Potentially, but how much of our xG came once they were seeing the game out with a huge lead? Goals obviously change games.

I like xG and I think it's a good way of assessing how a side is playing in general.

You're correct here, taking it in isolation for one game isn't advisable. We deserved to lose today for that first half.

It does show I suppose they were ultra-clinical today. Three goals that were excellent strikes that you'd think we wouldn't concede most weeks.

9 hours ago, Eastie said:

3-4 flattered us in my opinion 

I agree.

3 hours ago, TRO said:

I think more worrying we haven't got the right personnel to make the right changes.

We got promoted last season, the squad isn't up to a good PL standard at all yet. Some money has been wasted but we're fortunate our generous owners have given us a chance.

3 hours ago, TRO said:

I would start by playing Watkins wide right and bring some physicality in, in the way of Davis to hold the ball up.

I would bring Elmo in at Right back and give Matty Cash a rest.

I don't think we have the midfielders to change the most critical bit ......McGinn & Luiz is not working in the last 2 games.

Watkins to the wing not a bad idea for an experiment. We could move Trez across to the left and stick Grealish deeper where he can get us going. Anyone in midfield can be dropped and replaced with Grealish, his average games are still well ahead of anyone we have.

Cash starts for me. Elmo gets roasted by any PL winger 95 times out of 100.

McGinn and Luiz will make it work, I believe in them both. Have they been that great? No. Would I want Nakamba or Hourihane or Ramsey starting at Arsenal ahead of either? No.

[paul514]

4 hours ago, birdman said:

Yes Of course, all very well fixing the situation when we've practically lost the game but the team needs to be setup right from the kick off. Can't repeat same mistakes going forward. Then there's silly things such as defensive mismatches putting Meatball on the big guy. These details are important and the players need to know what the crack is in those types of situations.

I agree which is why I have moaned about the exact same thing for the last three games.

Dean knows about it because he commented about how he changed it in the second half....

Well durrr Dean do it from the start 

[VillaCas]

This is what mid-table feels like - ups and downs, losing as many as you are winning.

We don’t yet have options, we don’t yet have a deep bench. If a few of our established players are off form we will struggle.

A lot is made of ‘fitness and physicality’ - for me this is a red herring. When we play well it’s not an issue but when we lose it’s trotted out as a key factor. In reality our fitness is on a par with the clubs around us we just don’t have sufficient quality players to cycle through

It’s still early days and the table will take a while yet to settle down - if after 15 or so games we are mid-table that will be fine, if we are in the dog fight at the bottom we should then be asking questions

[villa89]

His tactic of picking the same 11 players every week and not making substitutions will be detrimental in the long run. I can see why he is doing it as our subs bench is a joke but the injuries will pile up if players are playing that many minutes. 

[Demitri_C]

Definitely needs to mix it ul for arsenal game. We probably gonna have to drop Barkley or mcginn for arsenal.

Hourinahe or nakamba is going to need to come in aa we will be too open and arsenal are very fabgerous if you leave gaps and large amounts of space

 

[barry'sboots]

18 hours ago, Indigo said:

The reaction in the second half showed a character that loads don't think this squad have, definitely managed to come out of the game with some encouragement for next week.

I only listened to bits on the radio BUT was it a reaction or was it just Jack turning it on??  We can't just keep relying on the latter.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

6 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I only listened to bits on the radio BUT was it a reaction or was it just Jack turning it on??  We can't just keep relying on the latter.

A mixture of reasons, one also is at 4-0 up Southampton probably thought the game was won.

But we had the desire to fight back regardless.

[nepal_villan]

I get that there is a big drop-off after our first 12-13 players, but DS needs to find a way to rotate the squad a bit. His reliance on basically the same 11 players and not really trusting the bench is cause for concern.

[Delphinho123]

The balance in the midfield isn't right. To be honest, it's something Smith has struggled with since he's been here. It's like he doesn't know whether to stick or twist and in what games to do what. 
We had it in the season in the championship with the Whelan/Hourihane/Grealish situation and we're seeing it again now. 

We are too easy to play against in midfield, it's that simple. The times we have played well this season, McGinn has been outstanding, but when he isn't playing well, we don't have enough protection for the back 4. We're playing this 4-3-3 formation where both McGinn and Barkley are given license to get forward but in doing so, we're so open to being hit on the break. Teams are walking through us. 

We have the following central midfielders:
McGinn
Luiz
Nakamba
Barkley
Ramsey
Hourihane

The three highlighted in bold are the best 3 players, no doubt, but are they the best fit for winning football matches? I'm not sure. If you're asking your fullbacks to get forward and provide an overlap, if you lose the ball, you're essentially in a position where you could have Mings, Konsa and Luiz defending against 3 or four attackers. It happens a lot, especially at Villa Park. If you're insistent on playing this front 3 system of Grealish, Watkins, Trezeguet with Barkley in behind and fullbacks overlapping, I'm afraid you need two defensive midfielders in there to cover for them when we lose the ball. Luiz (who I think is slightly overrated), is decent enough but he can't resist attacks on his own without McGinn or Barkley helping. 

In the summer I would have much preferred to bring in a big, strong defensive midfielder to play alongside Luiz, allowing McGinn to get forward to play the role Barkley is now. As good of a signing Barkley was, and I do think he is a good player, I'm not sure that's the type of player we need in our current situation. 

Smith, who is notoriosuly stubborn, needs to seriously look at the balance in the middle of the pitch otherwise we will continue to concede lots of goals at home. Has he got the balls to drop Barkley? Has he got the balls to drop McGinn and play Ramsey? Like I say, sometims your best XI isn't always your best 11 players. We don't have much squad depth, but we need to figure out a way of playing with what we have. Why not try McGinn on the right of a front 3? I know, crazy right? But he has enough quality and energy to play that position and it allows us to bring in a more defensively minded player. A front 4 of McGinn, Barkley, Grealish and Watkins is fine and allows us to play two midfielders who's job it is to defend. 

Unless he changes things, we will continue to struggle in midfield and lose football matches.

 

 

[PaulC]

The players had won 4 out of the first 5 so its easy to see why he stuck with the same side. 

[danceoftheshamen]

Well the early season bubble has most definately burst as i guess we all new it would sooner or later.

So far we have got 3 points against a 10 man park the bus Sheff Utd, 3 against a poor Fulham side, a remarkable win against the Champions which was backed up by a battling win at Leicester. What has followed however is not acceptable. It's been as thought the players just took their eye off the ball completely for Leeds & Southampton although the 1st half of Leeds & 2nd of Saints were decent enough so it's effectively an off 90 minutes in the middle of those two games which have lost us 2 games in one such was the shambolicness of those two halves in which we conceded 7 goals.

The biggest issue i can see is when pressed our players have phases when they give the ball away far too easily and far too often and the way we play means this costs us dear as it's normally as our players are pushing up  and therefore left exposed & out of position.

If Dean can solve this then we'll have a good season.

[VillaCas]

Leeds we’re better than us on the day -that happens. Southampton were fortunate that Ward-Prowse hit three perfect free-kicks because in general play we were marginally the better side.

I’m certain Smith understands our issues and our reliance on the same few players. We’re on a journey, from a Championship side, to relegation battlers, to a mid table team, to hopefully better.

All these comments about needing additional defensive cover, strong defensive midfielders and options up top are not the insights you believe them to be - Smith knows this better than anyone, it will just take time to build

Patience is required,  Midtable this year and build further in the summer. At the moment we will be losing as many as we are winning - it shouldn’t come as a surprise 
 

[lapal_fan]

Ok so 2 games isn't many games, but we're seeing a pattern emerging here, and we need to make the right changes (not personnel-wise) to nip conceding so many per game.  

We've got to stop making rash tackles is probably the main thing, we don't half let the opponents go through our lines so we're always chasing our tails, trying to get back and inevitably (especially these days) opponents are getting their bodies in the way and we're committing fouls in dangerous places.  Ward-Prowse couldn't have hand picked better positions for his free kicks yesterday and most teams now have a couple of good set piece takers.  

I quite liked the way we played at the tail end of last season, it was a bit "Athletico Madrid", with it being primarily defensive, but I think we've now got the players going forward to hurt teams when they get over confident with the possession they have over us.  We've got Jack Grealish, one of the best players in the league, who can skip past challenges if there's space to go in to.  Use that.  

I think we have a decent defence now.  Why not absorb some pressure and then break?  

I don't see us as a team to play possession based football, with the required skillset to break down tough defences.  

I think Smith does give the team a chance to express themselves when the pressure is off, as in, we have 12 from 6 games, that's good compared to last year, but we know he can reign in that freedom like we did at the end of last season, when we were disciplined, hard to beat and tough. 

I understand we're doing pretty well (I think we'd all have taken 12 from 6 at the start of this year), but teams have figured us out a little - why not change it up a bit?  Keep it fresh?  Surprise teams.

I'm sure we'll be ok, and I still see us in and around 14th-10th this year, we could do even better if we remain a bit more disciplined, because I'm sure we've got goals in us.  

[est1874]

3 hours ago, villa89 said:

His tactic of picking the same 11 players every week and not making substitutions will be detrimental in the long run. I can see why he is doing it as our subs bench is a joke but the injuries will pile up if players are playing that many minutes. 

I don't mind him picking the same 11 players provided they are the best available to him and are fit to play (*caveat: it's clear that they aren't always fit, i.e. McGinn/Drinkwater last season, Barkley this season).

What annoys me more is deploying the same tactics regardless of the opposition. There's no better word for it than stupid IMO.

Edited November 2, 2020 by est1874

[VillaCas]

16 minutes ago, est1874 said:

What annoys me more is deploying the same tactics regardless of the opposition. There's no better word for it than stupid IMO.

He doesn’t 

[est1874]

5 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

He doesn’t 

Please demonstrate evidence of two distinctly different tactics he's deployed this season.

[weedman]

23 minutes ago, est1874 said:

I don't mind him picking the same 11 players provided they are the best available to him and are fit to play (*caveat: it's clear that they aren't always fit, i.e. McGinn/Drinkwater last season, Barkley this season).

What annoys me more is deploying the same tactics regardless of the opposition. There's no better word for it than stupid IMO.

 

6 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

He doesn’t 

He also can't make big tactical changes when the games are so close together, it would be counter productive to keep changing things up. You want the players as used to the "system" as possible, small tweaks here and there, sure, but big tactical changes specific to the opposition will cause so many issues.

Remember these players are people, not robots. A lot of football is intuitive and spontaneous, telling players to do things contrary to how they naturally play is asking for trouble. They need to be working on that change for a long time before it can reap any rewards, doing it on a game by game basis will just lead to a truckload of mistakes 

[PussEKatt]

The Saints goalkeeper had a REALLY good game ( especially in the first half ) if it wasnt for that we could have won that game.

On the other side of the coin,I do think we need to stop playing the same 11 every game,even if (eg Nakamba,Tarory starts and then come off later. 

[PaulC]

I honestly don't blame the manager for this defeat.