Dean Smith

[romavillan]

47 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

As long as we're there or thereabouts

got no more reactions left but that made me spit out my tea.

[romavillan]

34 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

Smith doesn't need a free pass from anyone, he's averaging 2 points per game.

IF Smith ever delivers the kind of tripe we watching before combined with teh bad spells of poor results. Then maybe he might need an excuse for something, as of right now, playing exciting football, getting good results in a hard run, averaging 2 points per game. What does he need an excuse for? Not winning every single game?

The fact he's doing it with a massively unbalanced squad that was not his doing is a different discussion, it's a fact he had nothing to do with building it thought. So rather than there being a free pass it's something else to be pleased about that he's managed to overcome these obstacles in such a short space of time.

Bruce was given a hell of a lot of rope, the least we can do is give Smith the same chances, so first season Bruce needed time, needed a transfer window, then he needed a preseason. Then second season we were told to ignore the shit football and look at results, then they went tits up, he needed a transfer window, then after us playing well and going on a good run we go back to looking like a bunch of strangers, poor results. Playoffs, try and win on the counter, fail. Then he needs another pre-season, then after a great start results wise but playing style wise atrocious the inevitable happens again and the results go off a cliff, still needs time we're told....

So you know, even though he doesn't need any free pass seeing as he's turning our season around rather than failing with the same squad, then lets give him AT LEAST the transfer window, preseason and patience that was afforded to Bruce.

[Merson08]

Actually 1.857 PPG but still not bad. 

[villalad21]

13 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Smith doesn't need a free pass from anyone, he's averaging 2 points per game.

He get's a free pass from me because none of these are his players. A couple of transfer windows in and i will start to criticize if he does things wrong.

Edited November 29, 2018 by villalad21

[Vive_La_Villa]

56 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

I think Smith got the midfield wrong yesterday if that helps?  I also think he shouldn’t be starting Nyland. 

[romavillan]

8 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

He get's a free pass from me because none of these are his players. A couple of transfer windows in and i will start to criticize if he does things wrong.

He's got to start getting things wrong first though

[skarroki]

Do rules state you have to start with a keeper? Something for Smith to consider. Going in with 11 outfield players might give us even more goals and we'd not be conceding any more than we are currently 

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, romavillan said:

He's got to start getting things wrong first though

He got the Hogan sub wrong against Norwich too. He hasn’t been perfect but has done a lot more good than bad. That’s all we can ask for. 

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

Maybe people will raise questions if Villa go on a nine game run, picking up two points like Bruce did around  Jan-Feb 2017. 

Maybe they’ll ask them if we limp to a bottom half finish after arriving saying how promotion was the aim. Like Bruce did.

Or maybe they’ll ask them if Smith brags about beating a team like Rotherham, which was the solitary win of another nine game run. Like Bruce did earlier this season.

Or maybe they’ll ask them if Villa thump the runaway leaders and then subsequently bottle it by winning one of the following five games....you get the gist.

Maybe you should save these musings for when Smith hasn’t achieved the third highest points since his arrival, when he hasn’t just presided over a Derby day win and when he hasn’t just overseen one of the most entertaining matches at Villa Park for years.

Maybe, just save them for when/if things go wrong on a regular basis. Like when Bruce was here.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Shropshire Lad

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

Well Bruce got 2 years of blind support and endless excuses and lowering of expectations.

Not sure why smith needs a free pass. He has done more than I expected from the new manager at this point. 

In fact he has done so much, it has now made a mockery of all those fans that insisted Steve Bruce needed years and needed certain players before he could be judged. 

If we had done the right thing and sacked the useless manager in the summer as we should have done then we'd be right up there. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

Well Bruce got 2 years of blind support and endless excuses and lowering of expectations.

Not sure why smith needs a free pass. He has done more than I expected from the new manager at this point. 

In fact he has done so much, it has now made a mockery of all those fans that insisted Steve Bruce needed years and needed certain players before he could be judged. 

If we had done the right thing and sacked the useless manager in the summer as we should have done then we'd be right up there. 

Whilst I agree with everything you say we never conceded 5 goals in one game under Bruce.  (Although shef United should have won by 7 or 8). 

Smith will be hurting by that stat.  it will  never happen again whilst he is in charge.

[PaddytheVillan]

Bruce came in and steadied a sinking ship. Most sensible fans can agree on that. Beyond that, he didn't achieve anything of note. An overpaid, old squad, where he banked everything, almost including the club's entire existence, on beating a team who were eminently better than us (Fulham) by trying to bore them off the park. With the amount he spent and the players he inherited (Grealish, Chester, Kodjia etc), we should have been promoted in 2nd last season, behind Wolves. Wwe should have comfortably finished ahead of Fulham and Cardiff. But he couldn't out-Cardiff Cardiff (with their defensive football and almost unbelieveable run of 1-0s) or get close to Fulham (with their positive, attacking brand of football).

I wanted him to stay over the summer because with the Xia mess I thought we'd be in a relegation battle, and once again he could steady the ship and keep us afloat for another year. But every performance this season was poor, even the handful of wins we had were fortunate.

The long and short of it is Bruce didn't have an identity for his side. He built his teams around players he got on well with and liked coaching, but his team never had style. What were we? Were we a long ball team? Probably not even that. What was the point in signing players like Lansbury, Hourihane and Hogan when they would never in a million years fit into the kind of team he played. There was a reason he would always sign Elmohamady and there was a reason Elmo would always get the most touches each match under Bruce. It's because he is a hard working, likeable, competent professional who has a good cross. But not ever one to build a system around (if you can even call it that).

Smith has come in and already we have a style. The crap defence is going to be an issue, I suspect even after January. Nyland has probably cost us 10 goals this season already solely down to individual errors, which is utterly unacceptable and frankly baffling. But for me Smith'a style is changing the culture of the team, on and off the pitch. And this is a clear long-term vision that Bruce never had - we aren't just trying to buy the league and throwing on 5 strikers when we are a goal down (which is a metaphor for Bruce's time, as well as his frequent tactic). I'm a fickle fan, no doubt I'll say things against Smith in the heat of the moment when the chips are down. But we have to back him, and back him long term. I certainly will be.

[Guest av1]

1 hour ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

After 2yrs, 4 Windows and a completely new squad people (yourself included) were defending the shit Bruce served up because he inherited a mess.

A couple of months in and Smith is getting a free pass?

Dear oh dear. 

 

[Guest av1]

22 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Whilst I agree with everything you say we never conceded 5 goals in one game under Bruce.  (Although shef United should have won by 7 or 8). 

Smith will be hurting by that stat.  it will  never happen again whilst he is in charge.

We also never scored 5 in a match. 

If you instruct 9 men to sit on the 18 yard line the team would be hard to break down, it doesn't mean you are good at organising a defence. 

[Mark Albrighton]

2 minutes ago, av1 said:

We also never scored 5 in a match. 

If you instruct 9 men to sit on the 18 yard line the team would be hard to break down, it doesn't mean you are good at organising a defence. 

Lee Johnson wishes this was true 

[Guest av1]

Just now, Shropshire Lad said:

Lee Johnson wishes this was true 

I think the pre match fireworks maybe clouded my memory of that game 

[Dr_Pangloss]

2 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

Says the number one member of the Steve Bruce fan club, comical input at times, you seem to be willing things to go badly.

Edited November 29, 2018 by Dr_Pangloss

[Vive_La_Villa]

31 minutes ago, av1 said:

I think the pre match fireworks maybe clouded my memory of that game 

As much as I enjoyed that game. If we’re honest Bristol city players were dead on their feet. The Carling cup semi final really did them over. 

[bannedfromHandV]

What I really liked about last night was how we played the same way throughout, no panicking after conceding, even at 2 down (though it didn't last for long).

We've been so reactionary for so long, long before and during Bruce's reign. 

[Thug]

2 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Will be interesting to see how long Smith continues to get this free pass from Villatalkers. 

Anything good is down to Smith, anything bad down to Bruce?

That’s a no-lose situation for him for sure.

I will know when the free pass is over when the cabbage falls from the heavens.

 

Until the coming of that omen, I’m Staying in the Smith conga line.