Dean Smith

[Philosopher]

Seems to me we haven't fully developed the mentality we need to succeed in this division. Switching off is still an issue, particularly when we don't have a big established side to get the lads blood boiling. For me this is at least partially a management issue.

Smith got his team selection slightly wrong in picking Hourihane, set pieces was always going to be difficult to exploit against a huge West ham team, and Conor was very average otherwise. I said it in the pre match thread we had to keep West ham out of our defensive third and not give away set pieces and they scored from a set piece in 2 minutes, and always looked dangerous from them.

For all our domination we only created 5 decent chances, one was our goal, one was the penalty and one was the disallowed goal. So take away the disallowed goal, and the one we did score and that leaves 3. The penalty should have been scored. However the Trezguet chance was awkward as the ball was slightly behind him which is always a tricky one to direct. I would say analysing the chances we should have got a draw. Looking at the dominance we should have battered them.  For me with Conor and Trez in the other 2 of 3 creative positions that leaves you relying on Jack to create from open play. 

Smith was too slow with his subs. It was clear Trez was having a stinker and Conor simply wasn't dynamic enough or creative enough. He could have changed things ⁸at least 10 minutes earlier than he did.

This isn't the first time his tactics have cost us. However his tactics were also behind fine wins against Liverpool, Leicester, and Arsenal.

Smith is not the problem I agree. But he is human and makes mistakes. I'm still not convinced he is the man to break us into the champions league. However he is building nicely and has fostered a progressive, nurturing, and hard working environment at the club, which will undoubtedly provide a strong foundation for Aston Villa in the next few years.

I want him to succeed and lead us to glory and he deserves the chance to. Done good he has so far. I'm not sold on his ability to do that though. Only time will tell.

[villalad21]

Can we just scrap zonal marking please?

I'm old fashioned. Just put your tallest and strongest defenders on their tallest and strongest defenders. 

If Ogbonna still wins his duel and scores with Mings marking him it's easier for me to live with and accept.

Edited December 1, 2020 by villalad21

[hippo]

I have to be honest he has never inspired confidence for me. That said I will hold up my hand and say his record so far is beyond reproach. From mid table championship - to mid table prem - and giving some of the best teams a run for there money on a good day. Had he done that with another club - and was then touted our as manager - it would be big thumbs up from most of us.

Predictably more and more questions will be asked if we slide rapidly down the table - especially with the staff on the roster - we have lots of quality in the squad and results should reflect that.

[sharkyvilla]

9 hours ago, MrSmirch said:

Over the last 4 gameweeks, Aston Villa has the highest xG (expected goals) in the league and the 5th best xGC (expected goals conceded) only behind CHE, MUN, MCI and TOT...
 

 

That's interesting, I'm not really that much of a fan of expected goals but it does give an indication that Dean has done a pretty good job of setting us up, it's mainly down to individual errors and bad luck on the pitch that let us down.  

[hippo]

1 minute ago, sharkyvilla said:

That's interesting, I'm not really that much of a fan of expected goals but it does give an indication that Dean has done a pretty good job of setting us up, it's mainly down to individual errors and bad luck on the pitch that let us down.  

If individual errors keep happening they can't keep being used as an excuse. Its the managers job to put systems and tactics in place to limit such individual errors. The coach can't get a free ride from persistent individual errors - If he does - why is he there ? 

[Dale]

Play that match 100 more times we'd win 80 times... 20 time a draw

[villalad21]

Just now, hippo said:

If individual errors keep happening they can't keep being used as an excuse. Its the managers job to put systems and tactics in place to limit such individual errors. The coach can't get a free ride from persistent individual errors - If he does - why is he there ? 

You can be unlucky in a one off game but it has now happened 4 games in 5 and i'm starting to think it's no fluke.

We aren't defending properly. 

Whatever they worked on post lock down has totally gone.

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Dale said:

Play that match 100 more times we'd win 80 times... 20 time a draw

Lets hope your right - as we have comparable fixtures coming up - an 80% win rate would do very nicely 

[PaulC]

Its seems unfair that we are here discussing Smith's tactics 

11 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

You can be unlucky in a one off game but it has now happened 4 games in 5 and i'm starting to think it's no fluke.

We aren't defending properly. 

Whatever they worked on post lock down has totally gone.

Have you ever played Poker, thats the way luck goes sometimes. I think we have been unlucky in several games this season. Only Leeds outplayed us. Yesterday was the worst case of bad luck imo. Yes we could have defended the goals better but we played really well. Keep playing like that we will win a lot more than loose. 

[hippo]

1 minute ago, PaulC said:

Its seems unfair that we are here discussing Smith's tactics 

Have you ever played Poker, thats the way luck goes sometimes. I think we have been unlucky in several games this season. Only Leeds outplayed us. Yesterday was the worst case of bad luck imo. Yes we could have defended the goals better but we played really well. Keep playing like that we will win a lot more than loose. 

You mean the good parts of our game only though ? - miss penalties, gilt edge chances, concede straight from kick off - we lose more than we win IMO.

[villalad21]

3 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Its seems unfair that we are here discussing Smith's tactics 

Have you ever played Poker, thats the way luck goes sometimes. I think we have been unlucky in several games this season. Only Leeds outplayed us. Yesterday was the worst case of bad luck imo. Yes we could have defended the goals better but we played really well. Keep playing like that we will win a lot more than loose. 

But schoolboy errors has nothing to do with luck.

McGinn marking the oppositon tallest and strongest defenders is nothing new.

When these things are not being adressed we will keep being "unlucky" i promise you.

Post lockdown we created a solid foundation to build on. Sadly we seem to have teared it apart.

[DCJonah]

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

But schoolboy errors has nothing to do with luck.

McGinn marking the oppositon tallest and strongest defenders is nothing new.

When these things are not being adressed we will keep being "unlucky" i promise you.

Post lockdown we created a solid foundation to build on. Sadly we seem to have teared it apart.

10th in the league and stuff like this. We've hardly teared it down have we. 

[villalad21]

Just now, DCJonah said:

10th in the league and stuff like this. We've hardly teared it down have we. 

And 2 points clear of 15th

The way we are going and defending (4 losses out of 5) it's a very short road to bottom half of the table.

[PussEKatt]

Looks like to me that we can beat the best but lose to the rest,you know what that means ?

We are in relegation trouble.If we are only going to win 10 games this season and lose the other 14 we are in big trouble.

[Sam-AVFC]

3 hours ago, mykeyb said:

Trez can score wonder goals and miss sitters which is why he will probably be moved on next summer.

Has he ever scored a wonder goal?!

[Dave-R]

3 hours ago, mykeyb said:

Trez can score wonder goals and miss sitters which is why he will probably be moved on next summer.

Ghazi will be sold before Trez will be, there are loads of players before Trez who will be moved on, a whole fringe squad to get rid of overtime which will take seasons.

At most Trez would move to bench next summer and the bench made fresh. New players will come in and be added to the first eleven and those who lose there first eleven place will move to subs bench.

[DCJonah]

23 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

And 2 points clear of 15th

The way we are going and defending (4 losses out of 5) it's a very short road to bottom half of the table.

I'll be amazed if we continue playing like this and picking up low points. 

I'm not worried in the slightest. Why pick 15th? We are 9 pts clear of relegation with a game in hand. 

[villalad21]

Just now, DCJonah said:

I'll be amazed if we continue playing like this and picking up low points. 

I'm not worried in the slightest. Why pick 15th? We are 9 pts clear of relegation with a game in hand. 

I'm hugely worried if we keep defending like we've seen against Leeds, Brighton, West Ham.

Southampton goals conceded were a bit flukey. I'll give you that, but the reason they got freekicks from dangerous areas in the first place is because we allowed them to dominate the first 20 minutes.

[DCJonah]

1 minute ago, villalad21 said:

I'm hugely worried if we keep defending like we've seen against Leeds, Brighton, West Ham.

Southampton goals conceded were a bit flukey. I'll give you that, but the reason they got freekicks from dangerous areas in the first place is because we allowed them to dominate the first 20 minutes.

Of course you're hugely worried. You've convinced yourself that Smith will fail every season so far. 

[Dave-R]

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Excuses.

We were given a pen earlier which i didn't thought was a pen and we missed.

Can only blame ourselves for that.

It's all about the pen..

So the pen you thought wasn't a pen, was the first pen, which wasn't the pen, which was the pen we missed, but we should of scored from the pen, then the pen after that first pen which should of been a pen but VAR didn't give the pen, totally screwed us out of the pen where everyone's going bonkers over which pen was a pen and which pen wasn't a pen.

Cant wait for the Newcastle game, hopefully we get a win so things are less penalty crackers around here, its harsh on us but nothing we can do about it now.