Dean Smith

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, DCJonah said:

Cute. 

You think up that nickname all by yourself? 

I'm sure you can tell the difference between some positive ambition from fans feeling good and then those that use unrealistic expectations to moan at the manager. 

No, I got it from @barry'sboots. Do try to keep up.

Edited April 2, 2021 by briny_ear

[briny_ear]

1 hour ago, blandy said:

They've got some good players, but they absolutely are an anomaly in terms of they gain (this season) excellent results but on average have a low percentage of possession - 41% with only the struggling sides down the bottom being worse - Shelf U, Palace, Burnley, Newcastle and the Olbeyun.

here

Villa are much better, with 49.1%, like I said.

Just goes to show that stats taken out of context don’t tell the whole story?

[sheepyvillian]

6 hours ago, briny_ear said:

It must be recorded that most claims that we were going to make Europe this year came from the “Smithistas” a little earlier in the year

Bollocks,  I  said we'd win the title. Get it right.

[sheepyvillian]

All jokes and ribaldry aside, I think it's fair to say. We have a wonderful manager at the helm. And, the best news of all, he's staying right where he is. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by sheepyvillian

[TheAuthority]

Can someone define what a "Smithista" is please?

[DCJonah]

10 hours ago, briny_ear said:

No, I got it from @barry'sboots. Do try to keep up.

Sorry, there was so much top notch stuff in these recent posts, its hard to keep on top of all the gold being produced. 

Imagine feeling the need to use a nickname to mock people who like the manager of their club. Haha seriously, why not try a different hobby. Something you enjoy. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by DCJonah

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Here's an entry for Sub - Gate.

Although, probably an indication of how shite our bench is as well.

[Vive_La_Villa]

22 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Here's an entry for Sub - Gate.

Although, probably an indication of how shite our bench is as well.

Look where Leeds are the bastards. I’ve got no beef with Leeds but I hate the fact they will probably finish above us in their first season back. 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[Follyfoot]

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Look where Leeds are the bastards. I’ve got no beef with Leeds but I hate the fact they will probably finish above us in their first season back. 

Please God no

[osmark86]

12 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Look where Leeds are the bastards. I’ve got no beef with Leeds but I hate the fact they will probably finish above us in their first season back. 

Look where City are. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

2 minutes ago, osmark86 said:

Look where City are. 

Yeh surprisingly low. But to be fair they have normally finished teams off by half time so rarely need game changing subs. 

[osmark86]

6 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Yeh surprisingly low. But to be fair they have normally finished teams off by half time so rarely need game changing subs. 

Well yeah, my point is just that those stats don't really say too much. Maybe City have made more defensive subs to see games out. Either way, a big ol' hell no to Leeds finishing above us. Make it so Villa.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Yeh surprisingly low. But to be fair they have normally finished teams off by half time so rarely need game changing subs. 

Yeah the quality and efficiency of their starting Xl qualify them for anomoly as well IMO.

[barry'sboots]

16 hours ago, blandy said:

They've got some good players, but they absolutely are an anomaly in terms of they gain (this season) excellent results but on average have a low percentage of possession - 41% with only the struggling sides down the bottom being worse - Shelf U, Palace, Burnley, Newcastle and the Olbeyun.

here

Villa are much better, with 49.1%, like I said.

But possession for the sake of possession is irrelevant.  The best two games of the season, imho, were Liverpool and Arsenal (a) where we had 30% and 41%.  We were excellent and, certainly in the latter, never looked in any danger of losing.  The key there was effective use of possession - we were clinical, moving the ball quickly and being sharp up top - combined with strong defending.

We have kept the latter.  The problem is our use of possession.  There are games where we have had lots but been sloppy and never looked like scoring.  As I've said before, I don't know if this is because we trained to counter attack, were obviously good at it, but then tried to change to a possession based game and don't seem to know how to manage that?  We cannot counter attack in every game. Teams with a low block won't allow you that luxury.  Then you have to work out a different way to win and we haven't managed that yet.

It doesn't help when Jack is not playing but even before Jack was injured we were looking poor.

I will be critical of Smith and say I don't think he is able to flex tactically to get out of these situations like, say, Rodgers can.  Before I get shot down, I understand that he doesn't, yet, have the same quality of squad or experience as Rodgers BUT I still think you can try more to shake it up when you are in a bad run of form.  In the West Ham, they set up to nullify Jack and he was getting nowhere - it took us 70 minutes to switch Jack to the right hand side - where he found space - and we scored within minutes of this change. 

Like TRO, I don't want to see Smith sacked BUT I do want to see him evolve and show more tactical flex/try things and maybe get to understand his players/their abilities better.  Unlike some of those who are defending him in this stream but then recognising he will go at some point and be replaced by a top manager, I would actually say that I hope that is not the case - I genuinely like Smith and I love the way that he approaches games wanting to win.  I want him to evolve and become an elite level manager.  He has only had one and half seasons in the PL and has nowhere near the experience of a Rodgers or a Klopp and I am hoping he, like many of our players, can develop his management skills to earn a seat at that top table.   

[barry'sboots]

17 hours ago, briny_ear said:

No, I got it from @barry'sboots. Do try to keep up.

I can't take the credit ... I adapted Jose's terminology!  

And this is somewhat out of context!!

Edited April 3, 2021 by barry'sboots

[barry'sboots]

19 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Defending the best manager we've had in years from over the top criticism. Yes, what a terrible fan I must be. 

Haha I genuinely can't work out why some of you are so desperate to have a moan. 

It was the same when MON was here. There was a section of fans who could enjoy being a team challenging for the top 4. If you can't enjoy years like this, given our recent history, and have to look for every little thing that's negative then I feel sorry for you guys. What enjoyment do you get from being a villa fan. 

Pot ... kettle ... black.

Most of what I've read is not a moan, but rather a discussion on what is wrong with our team at the minute and suggestions as to how we might look to improve it.  Really odd, I know, that people would look to do this on a discussion forum!

The moans are, I'm afraid, coming in the other direction because: "it's ridiculous to discuss anything that may be perceived as negative".

[VillanousOne]

This is a discussion forum and a thread on Dean Smith, surely the point is for us to discuss everything the manager does. Praising him for the many positives and questioning or speculating on the things which could be better or might need to change. None of us see what he sees, plans or does on the training ground.

Obviously as we are suffering from a long period of really poor form that has been steadily getting worse, it's hard to not to focus on some of the negatives. If we were playing well and creating chances but losing then maybe the comments on here would be different.

Can anyone say the manager is at fault for our recent results? Well he's the manager and has to take some of the blame, but the Covid outrbreak, injuries to Grealish and Cash, plus the dreadful form of Barkley and others failing to step up in Grealish's absence seems to have destabilised the rest of the team and the confidence has gone.

But rather than look at the negatives I'd rather focus on how and when Dean will get us playing well again. With Grealish and Cash back (ching ching) plus Sanson starting to gel in midfield I really thing we should be looking up not down.

[VillaChris]

We still have top 10 stats. I mean our defensive stats are what 5th or 6th currently?

Just got to finish top half. To finish 11th or 12th now is simply underachievement based on what we've produced on the pitch.....not where we were this time in 2017 or 2018.

[sheepyvillian]

4 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Here's an entry for Sub - Gate.

Although, probably an indication of how shite our bench is as well.

' Sub - Gate ', that's class.

[VillaChris]

18 hours ago, briny_ear said:

Wow,  @TRO, is that THE Carl Chinn? Professor of Community History at Birmingham Uni? I’m a big fan of his, and also very grateful that he started the campaign to create a memorial in St Martins churchyard to the victims of the Luftwaffe bombings of August 1940, in which 5 of my ancestors died.

If you ever get back to your seat, can you tell him he has a big fan on Villatalk?

Sorry if this is a bit off topic but I hope more interesting than the dreary rantings of some of the posters very active on here today.

Yeah Carl's a big Villa fan, saw him in the lower Witton concourse once coming into the ground. Think his Dad Buck Chinn was part of Villa shareholders association and was in the press a fair bit in the Ellis out days.