Dean Smith

[Guest av1]

5 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Interesting comment. When you’re such an attacking team you will always leave space for the opposition to exploit. I’m sure the team will continue to work on a better balance. 

I think a really energetic defensive midfielder that can track back with pace would help in this area. Was Ryan Woods that kind of player?

Maybe Smith is also looking at that position in Jan.

 

2 minutes ago, mikeyp102 said:

 I’m bot criticising as loving the football, genueinly didn’t see Brentford outside of our games against them so don’t know if they had more balance. There is that fine line and top sides get that balance right, I hope that smith can get that. 

Both valid points, but points i feel can only be answered once Smith has signed 3/4 defenders. 

Our lot are simply awful. 

Look at Pep at City (and I'm not comparing them as managers before anyone jumps on me), as soon as he walked through the door at City he started to implement his style, even though he didn't have the defence to suit it. He knew the style was the most important thing. 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Just watched goals replays, and Grabban was actually offside.

[terrytini]

8 minutes ago, av1 said:

Agreed. Like tens of thousands of other fans I dedicate a lot of time and an awful lot of money into following our club, and for that investment I like, from time to time to walk out of Villa Park with a smile on my face. 

I have enjoyed every single game under Smith. Even after defeat at Norwich I was happy with the fact that we tried to win. 

100% agree.

It had got to the stage I stopped going away after Blackburn. Now I can’t wait for Saturday.

 

[KMitch]

Deano is doing a phenomenal job so far.  13 points in 7 games against 6 top half teams & Bolton while averaging over 2 goals scored a game is a massive improvement over how we were playing under Bruce.  We're 3 points off the playoffs and 9 points off 1st, with ~60% of the season to play still.  If we keep this same pace, we'll have a great chance to catch Norwich without even changing anything in January.  If we pick up a new keeper and defensive midfielder who can complement McGinn's energy and tenacity, we are definitely title favorites.

As disappointing as it was to not come away from that game with all 3 points today, it was definitely one of the most entertaining games I've seen in years.  Give me 5-5 games over 1-0 Bruceball specials any day.

[Vive_La_Villa]

4 minutes ago, av1 said:

 

Both valid points, but points i feel can only be answered once Smith has signed 3/4 defenders. 

Our lot are simply awful. 

Look at Pep at City (and I'm not comparing them as managers before anyone jumps on me), as soon as he walked through the door at City he started to implement his style, even though he didn't have the defence to suit it. He knew the style was the most important thing. 

Agree. I said from the start I didn’t want to judge him until he had 2 transfer windows.

One of the reasons I felt that way is I thought we’d struggle to play his style with the players we had.

 Turns out we’ve been a lot better than expected from the off so given us a little bit of hope for what we can achieve this season. 

[KitKat]

Quote

But conceding goals had not previously been something visitors Forest were known for - Aitor Karanka's men arrived at Villa Park on a run of three consecutive clean sheets.

From the BBC.

If you looked at those stats in isolation you'd expect us to have won the game 99 times out of 100.

 

To say nothing else of Dean Smith so far, I am actually looking forward to our games now. I expect he will be backed in January without him needing to go crazy - a bit more quality defensively and we'll be alright.

[Mantis]

Clearly there are big issues with the defence (although some of them are not his fault - e.g. Nyland being garbage) but you can see the improvements under him already, especially with our mentality.

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, hippo said:

As manager or Head Coach he is accountable for results...Period

Of course he is, but that means accountability for results over an extended period, not just one-off freak matches like this. Alex Ferguson once lost 6-3 to Southampton. It happens. No need to worry about one game in isolation. (Man Utd won the Premier League that year.)

If you don't think this was a freak result, look at the match stats - nearly 4 times as many shots on goal, twice as many shots on target, twice as much possession.

I rewatched all 5 goals we conceded and with lots of pausing and replaying, this is who I think was to blame for each one:

1. Goal 1 (Grabban): Looks like very poor defending, but it starts with an individual mistake by Hourihane in the middle of the park with a lunge which takes out Chester and creates a slightly fortunate 4 on 3 for Forest. Grabban makes a smart run into the gap left by Axel, who is forced to sprint out to the left and meet Carvalho, who is driving forward with the ball. Neil Taylor is too deep here, and makes it too easy for Grabban to stay onside in the undefended pocket behind Axel. Responsibility: Manager should take some responsibility for this one - defenders should be drilled in dealing with this kind of transition, Hourihane should know to foul Grabban to stop him following the break (would have been a straightforward 3 on 3 with all defenders goal side), and offside trap needs coordinating (including when defence is out of shape). This stuff all takes time to teach, though, and you need intelligent players.
2. Goal 2 (Carvalho): Hourihane has let his man go again, but I think it's mainly Axel's fault - his body is facing the wrong way, and he doesn't step when Chester does. Carvalho finds space through combination of Hourihane not tracking his runner, and Axel focusing too much on Grabban (who would be miles offside if Axel had stepped). It's then a very good finish by Carvalho. Responsibility: again, manager shoulders some blame here - the players seem to panic when the opposition break quickly through the middle, and we don't seem to have a well-drilled offside trap, with different players doing different things. But Axel is a very young, inexperienced player, and he will make these kinds of mistakes.
3. Goal 3 (Cash): Third goal is a superb pass by Lolly and a very well taken finish, but Alan Hutton should have dealt with it - he had nobody else to worry about but the runner. This is an individual mistake, perhaps the consequence of a 33-year-old playing 2 matches in 4 days. Responsibility: Alan Hutton. Can't really blame manager here, unless you want us to play a much more negative style of football, with the midfielders sitting much deeper.
4. Goal 4 (Lolley): This is just a wonder goal. You can't do anything about these. Responsibility: nobody.
5. Goal 5 (Grabban): Another lovely pass by Lolley, but the defensive shape is fine here. It's just an absolute howler from the keeper. Responsibility: Nyland.

Edit: should point out that Forest had 8 shots on goal, and 5 shots on target - every single shot on target went in. This is not normal.

Clearly our defence is too leaky, and DS takes some of the blame, especially for the first 2 goals. But goals 3, 4, and 5 are down to Lolley being on fire, and a couple of individual mistakes from players that DS has inherited, and can't easily rotate.

I also think DS has made a conscious, sensible decision for us to try and blast teams away with our attacking talent, and accept that we're going to be exposed at the back occasionally. We don't have the squad for grinding out 1-0s every week.

So yes, DS takes some responsibility, but it's not as simple as you say.

P.S. I'm not attacking the manager or the players (except maybe Nyland, who is well out of his depth). Playing a Wednesday evening game after a Sunday derby must be mentally and physically exhausting. The game moves at such a fast pace at this level, and a lot of the mistakes were only obvious to me after I'd replayed the goals several times and paused all the key moments.

Edited November 29, 2018 by KentVillan

[terrytini]

Smith has been here for 7 games.

5 of those against top 10 sides......3 of those 5 Away from home.

Over those 7 games only 2 sides have more Points than us - (the 2 we lost to, Norwich, who have 19, and QPR who have 14).

Only 1 side has a better Goal difference (Norwich).

Weve conceded 10 in that period, as have Derby, West Brom, Sheffield United, Swansea and Bolton. 7 other sides have conceded more. Leeds and Forest have conceded 8.

Only 1 side, Norwich, can better our tally of 16 scored ( they’ve scored 17).

I’ve said before, and will say again, our defence is nowhere near as bad as some make out. And what matters is the balance between goals conceded and scored....the two best defences over those 7 games are Boro and Stoke, conceding 9 between them....but they’ve only scored 14 between them.

We are 3rd in the table since Smith arrived. Those losing sleep over our defence....? It ain’t that bad, and it doesn’t matter anyway.

And that's without mentioning the entertainment factor.

 

[bannedfromHandV]

He had two primary remits, to be successful and to be entertaining.

He's nailed the second one. 

[Villarocker]

That defence needs change. Tuanxebe was as bad as anyone in that back four when the goals went in tonight and, for me, he's been our best defender this season. 

However, they do lack any kind of cover from midfield. 

[Villarocker]

42 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Of course he is, but that means accountability for results over an extended period, not just one-off freak matches like this. Alex Ferguson once lost 6-3 to Southampton. It happens. No need to worry about one game in isolation. (Man Utd won the Premier League that year.)

If you don't think this was a freak result, look at the match stats - nearly 4 times as many shots on goal, twice as many shots on target, twice as much possession.

I rewatched all 5 goals we conceded and with lots of pausing and replaying, this is who I think was to blame for each one:

1. Goal 1 (Grabban): Looks like very poor defending, but it starts with an individual mistake by Hourihane in the middle of the park with a lunge which takes out Chester and creates a slightly fortunate 4 on 3 for Forest. Grabban makes a smart run into the gap left by Axel, who is forced to sprint out to the left and meet Carvalho, who is driving forward with the ball. Neil Taylor is too deep here, and makes it too easy for Grabban to stay onside in the undefended pocket behind Axel. Responsibility: Manager should take some responsibility for this one - defenders should be drilled in dealing with this kind of transition, Hourihane should know to foul Grabban to stop him following the break (would have been a straightforward 3 on 3 with all defenders goal side), and offside trap needs coordinating (including when defence is out of shape). This stuff all takes time to teach, though, and you need intelligent players.
2. Goal 2 (Carvalho): Hourihane has let his man go again, but I think it's mainly Axel's fault - his body is facing the wrong way, and he doesn't step when Chester does. Carvalho finds space through combination of Hourihane not tracking his runner, and Axel focusing too much on Grabban (who would be miles offside if Axel had stepped). It's then a very good finish by Carvalho. Responsibility: again, manager shoulders some blame here - the players seem to panic when the opposition break quickly through the middle, and we don't seem to have a well-drilled offside trap, with different players doing different things. But Axel is a very young, inexperienced player, and he will make these kinds of mistakes.
3. Goal 3 (Cash): Third goal is a superb pass by Lolly and a very well taken finish, but Alan Hutton should have dealt with it - he had nobody else to worry about but the runner. This is an individual mistake, perhaps the consequence of a 33-year-old playing 2 matches in 4 days. Responsibility: Alan Hutton. Can't really blame manager here, unless you want us to play a much more negative style of football, with the midfielders sitting much deeper.
4. Goal 4 (Lolley): This is just a wonder goal. You can't do anything about these. Responsibility: nobody.
5. Goal 5 (Grabban): Another lovely pass by Lolley, but the defensive shape is fine here. It's just an absolute howler from the keeper. Responsibility: Nyland.

Edit: should point out that Forest had 8 shots on goal, and 5 shots on target - every single shot on target went in. This is not normal.

Clearly our defence is too leaky, and DS takes some of the blame, especially for the first 2 goals. But goals 3, 4, and 5 are down to Lolley being on fire, and a couple of individual mistakes from players that DS has inherited, and can't easily rotate.

I also think DS has made a conscious, sensible decision for us to try and blast teams away with our attacking talent, and accept that we're going to be exposed at the back occasionally. We don't have the squad for grinding out 1-0s every week.

So yes, DS takes some responsibility, but it's not as simple as you say.

P.S. I'm not attacking the manager or the players (except maybe Nyland, who is well out of his depth). Playing a Wednesday evening game after a Sunday derby must be mentally and physically exhausting. The game moves at such a fast pace at this level, and a lot of the mistakes were only obvious to me after I'd replayed the goals several times and paused all the key moments.

Basically, if Bruce had signed Lolley we'd have won 10-0 tonight. Bruce out! 

[Dave-R]

1 hour ago, villarocker said:

Basically, if Bruce had signed Lolley we'd have won 10-0 tonight. Bruce out! 

Should of signed Grabban, it was only a matter of time before any of those players we couldn't keep last season came back to bite us in the butt- Bruce out..

If Grabban was offside for one of his goals and we had a couple of goals disallowed, the referee and linesmen yet again have done it to us. Its one thing letting 5 past but when the officials seem to be working against you, its very tough to deal with.

I sware some of those officials need the sack in the championship, the EFL needs to shake them up as they're ridiculously bad and it's like they're out for us. If it's not Grealish and not booking there team for bad fouls, its being to lenient on there side and booking our players straight away, to add onto that its not catching offsides, then disallowing goals, one would think there is a conspiracy going on here.

If Grabban was offside,why on earth wasn't there a replay and final decision, not one linesman picked it up, very bad and more than mad over it.

That said though our defence is bad, can't wait till January till we reinforce that and hopefully goalkeeper..

Edited November 29, 2018 by Dave-R

[Kiwivillan]

Can someone explain Hourihane positioning for Lolley goal? He's practically standing on Axel and Carvalho's toes 

[punkiller1981]

I feel certain smith will have eyes on a new keeper in January and the plenty of reports of Tom Heaton coming in which I think would be great. What I can’t get my head around is Bruce ever thinking that nyland would be good enough and that Moria was a good use of a loan. Really wtf it just makes me happy now that we have someone sensible in charge now what irritates me is we didn’t do it sooner. 

[mikeyp102]

4 hours ago, Dave-R said:

Should of signed Grabban, it was only a matter of time before any of those players we couldn't keep last season came back to bite us in the butt- Bruce out..

If Grabban was offside for one of his goals and we had a couple of goals disallowed, the referee and linesmen yet again have done it to us. Its one thing letting 5 past but when the officials seem to be working against you, its very tough to deal with.

I sware some of those officials need the sack in the championship, the EFL needs to shake them up as they're ridiculously bad and it's like they're out for us. If it's not Grealish and not booking there team for bad fouls, its being to lenient on there side and booking our players straight away, to add onto that its not catching offsides, then disallowing goals, one would think there is a conspiracy going on here.

If Grabban was offside,why on earth wasn't there a replay and final decision, not one linesman picked it up, very bad and more than mad over it.

That said though our defence is bad, can't wait till January till we reinforce that and hopefully goalkeeper..

The standard of officiating in the league is appalling, but yesterday I have no qualms with the ref. Let’s not forget we had a penalty and someone sent off against us. 

The two disallowed were clearly the correct decisions.

As for Grabban being offside, it happens occasionally, there is no VAR in English league football so how could they possibly replay and review it? 

[A'Villan]

I missed their first two goals whilst trying to find a stream so can't comment on them. I can comment on the 3rd, 4th and 5th though.

First I'd like to point out that both teams knocked it around the pitch with skill and neither side were fearful of playing that killer pass despite the risk of a turnover of possession and with that the threat of a transition going the other way. The tempo was high and both side on the front foot, neither team relented from that throughout. That's exactly how we came to see 10 goals, which brings me to their 3rd goal. A perfectly weighted and placed pass from Lolley is met by a well timed run and composure to finish.

Their 4th goal was a result of a player high on confidence with the skill to execute enjoying a bit too much space to run in and have a ping. I don't think anyone was expecting that effort let alone for it to come off in the way it did. While I consider it preventable I think Lolley earned himself plaudits for a number of moments in this game and this was certainly one of them. Credit to him.

Their 5th was the straw that broke the camels back for me in regards to any patience I was willing to afford Nyland. I was nervous for us as soon as Grabban took possession and Nyland must've been too because I don't understand how he let that ball in between him and the near post.

Aside from that, I thought our defense was actually pretty good. Tuanzebe in particular. The way we played on the ball meant that at times some last-ditch defending was required to prevent a transition from turning deadly and I thought we did a good job of that.

I love how everyone is trying to take the game on and be a threat on the ball under Smith. We should of walked away with 3 points here. Abraham's header should have gone in either side of Pantillimon and McGinn's spectacular two-touch pirouette and effort from outside of the box was possibly the highlight of the night for me, if you thought Lolley's goal was good imagine if McGinn's had gone in. Even Taylor was running into space if Forest allowed him an opening, despite an obvious hesitation probably due to knowing his limits with the ball at his feet, even Taylor can be effective going forward by playing to the principles setup by Smith. Example of taking the game on under Smith's instruction was epitomised by Hutton's goal against Birmingham.

I'm disappointed with the Forest result for a few reasons. I thought we deserved to win, despite Forest being a quality side who turned up on the day, I thought we were better over 90 minutes. We miss out on valuable points and allow a rival to maintain their points lead. I don't know and am reluctant to try and predict where the points will come from between now and the first week of January, so everything we can get will be a big boost.

Overall though very pleased with what I'm seeing under Smith. We play it out from the back with confidence against the best of them and back ourselves to win the 50/50's and play with a bit of zeal which forces a contest and everyone on the pitch to be sharp. I'm just about done talking about our approach under Bruce, but the white flag of surrender and lack of ingenuity that characterised his tenure really has been removed by Smith already. I can only wonder how far Smith may take us at this point.

[A'Villan]

1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

He was crap all night as usual. Nice assist though. 

Once again loads of people saying he was shit yet you respond to my comment. 

Want my number? Don’t be shy. 

lol You're clearly not (shy)!

If I'm honest I had noticed you as a standout critic, possibly due to your call it as you see it posts which can be blunt in critiquing players.

But I can only speak for myself, and in regards to Taylor I thought while obviously limited he was effective this morning.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

His post match interviews are very refreshing. Always striving for more and better. Makes me feel a lot better after draws/defeats. Give this guy time, he will be one of the best managers we'll ever have. He didnt need to win me over, I knew what we were getting. And he isn't disappointing one little bit.

[Vive_La_Villa]

45 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

I missed their first two goals whilst trying to find a stream so can't comment on them. I can comment on the 3rd, 4th and 5th though.

First I'd like to point out that both teams knocked it around the pitch with skill and neither side were fearful of playing that killer pass despite the risk of a turnover of possession and with that the threat of a transition going the other way. The tempo was high and both side on the front foot, neither team relented from that throughout. That's exactly how we came to see 10 goals, which brings me to their 3rd goal. A perfectly weighted and placed pass from Lolley is met by a well timed run and composure to finish.

Their 4th goal was a result of a player high on confidence with the skill to execute enjoying a bit too much space to run in and have a ping. I don't think anyone was expecting that effort let alone for it to come off in the way it did. While I consider it preventable I think Lolley earned himself plaudits for a number of moments in this game and this was certainly one of them. Credit to him.

Their 5th was the straw that broke the camels back for me in regards to any patience I was willing to afford Nyland. I was nervous for us as soon as Grabban took possession and Nyland must've been too because I don't understand how he let that ball in between him and the near post.

Aside from that, I thought our defense was actually pretty good. Tuanzebe in particular. The way we played on the ball meant that at times some last-ditch defending was required to prevent a transition from turning deadly and I thought we did a good job of that.

I love how everyone is trying to take the game on and be a threat on the ball under Smith. We should of walked away with 3 points here. Abraham's header should have gone in either side of Pantillimon and McGinn's spectacular two-touch pirouette and effort from outside of the box was possibly the highlight of the night for me, if you thought Lolley's goal was good imagine if McGinn's had gone in. Even Taylor was running into space if Forest allowed him an opening, despite an obvious hesitation probably due to knowing his limits with the ball at his feet, even Taylor can be effective going forward by playing to the principles setup by Smith. Example of taking the game on under Smith's instruction was epitomised by Hutton's goal against Birmingham.

I'm disappointed with the Forest result for a few reasons. I thought we deserved to win, despite Forest being a quality side who turned up on the day, I thought we were better over 90 minutes. We miss out on valuable points and allow a rival to maintain their points lead. I don't know and am reluctant to try and predict where the points will come from between now and the first week of January, so everything we can get will be a big boost.

Overall though very pleased with what I'm seeing under Smith. We play it out from the back with confidence against the best of them and back ourselves to win the 50/50's and play with a bit of zeal which forces a contest and everyone on the pitch to be sharp. I'm just about done talking about our approach under Bruce, but the white flag of surrender and lack of ingenuity that characterised his tenure really has been removed by Smith already. I can only wonder how far Smith may take us at this point.

First 3 goals were all very similar in that the midfield didn’t track runners from midfield. An energetic defensively minded midfielder would have probably helped prevent the 2nd and 3rd. 

I thought their first was offside but replays don’t seem to show another angle so hard to tell.