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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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It is all about progress and Deano has absolutely transformed this club considering where we have been for the last decade.

Does his predictability with tactics become frustrating - yes. Is it hard to fathom the regression since pre New Year - yes. Are we often devoid of any creativity - yes. However, when you really look at it:

- most premier league points after 29 games since 2009-10

- some memorable victories

- third best defence in the league

- 1 clean sheet of premier league club record

- 7 points off 4th with a game in hand

- Managed by one of us

And all of this having rebuilt an entire squad (yes some players have question marks over them and we have spent a lot of £) and having stayed up by a point on the last day of the season having looked dead certs for the drop with 4 games to go. It is fair to question him, but Deano deserves our respect and gratitude. 

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21 hours ago, nick76 said:

Anybody got issues with Smith subs and timing today?

Yes you can have many other issues with today's performance but I'm assuming nobody has issues with subs today?

troll fraud GIF

When he picked that starting XI/formation, most of us knew that, in common with most of the last 10 games, we would get an insipid performance with little creativity or goal threat and that is exactly what we got for the first 70 minutes.  The definition of madness, as often quoted, is to keep trying the same thing and expecting different results.  Exactly what we have done in recent weeks.  We all had to sit through the first 70 minutes of pure trash again and the outcome was all too predictable.  

My complaint against Smith, as you know well, is that he doesn't try anything different/he has very little tactical flex.  I have been suggesting for weeks that we need to try different things and see if we can find a spark and one of those things is that he goes two up top with KD supporting Ollie.  I said that KD may not score loads of goals but he will create space for, and help, Watkins.  You keep telling me that Smith doesn't do this because KD is just not good enough and that Smith knows this because he sees KD on the training ground all of the time and he just isn't good enough to disrupt the wonderful attacking trident that Smith sticks with game after game. 

Well if yesterday showed anything, it showed that trying new things/to find a spark can work and that KD can be part of the solution.

Of course I'm glad that we won but I'm even happier that we won by trying something different/getting a spark/using KD.  I hope that Smith sees that there are different ways to play and that, when you are in a rut/poor run of form, you need to try these things sometimes to get out of them.

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I like Dean and I can honestly say I won’t ever call for him to be sacked going forward (I think I did at times last season). He’s earned the right to remain as our manager for as long as needed to try and put the club where the owners want it to be. If they feel he is the right man then I will go with that. If they decide to go down a different path, then I will go with that also. 

What is very confusing to me at the moment is how different we are now compared to how we were before the new year. The last good game I remember seeing was the Palace game at home, where we were exceptional to watch and played the majority of the match with 10 men.

I cannot figure out how we have gone from being so tight at the back, and playing really fluid football, to now being leaky in defence and rigid going forward. The change is ridiculous, and I just can’t see why... 

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Just now, Tayls said:

I like Dean and I can honestly say I won’t ever call for him to be sacked going forward (I think I did at times last season). He’s earned the right to remain as our manager for as long as needed to try and put the club where the owners want it to be. If they feel he is the right man then I will go with that. If they decide to go down a different path, then I will go with that also. 

What is very confusing to me at the moment is how different we are now compared to how we were before the new year. The last good game I remember seeing was the Palace game at home, where we were exceptional to watch and played the majority of the match with 10 men.

I cannot figure out how we have gone from being so tight at the back, and playing really fluid football, to now being leaky in defence and rigid going forward. The change is ridiculous, and I just can’t see why... 

I think many factors. 

Short pre season meant we continued our momentum from last year but also I think that short pre season is having an effect on a lot of clubs towards the end now  

We've had a major covid outbreak. 

Injuries and key players losing form. 

A highly congested fixture list at times.

No fans. 

I think with another solid transfer window and things returning to a bit more normality next season, we will see an increase in our consistency. 

But also lack of consistency is what a midtable prem team has. Its what we are. 

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I would like to clarify. Smith can absolutely do wrong. He's not the greatest manager in the world and I have no idea if he's good enough to progress us into a top 4 club.

But when things are so good and the progression is so high, why on Earth would I be desperate to focus on and pick out every little thing I believe he might have done wrong? 

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3 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I think many factors. 

Short pre season meant we continued our momentum from last year but also I think that short pre season is having an effect on a lot of clubs towards the end now  

We've had a major covid outbreak. 

Injuries and key players losing form. 

A highly congested fixture list at times.

No fans. 

I think with another solid transfer window and things returning to a bit more normality next season, we will see an increase in our consistency. 

But also lack of consistency is what a midtable prem team has. Its what we are. 

I think that last sentence hits the nail. 

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1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

I would like to clarify this. Smith can absolutely do wrong. He's not the greatest manager in the world and I have no idea if he's good enough to progress us into a top 4 club.

But when things are so good and the progression is so high, why on Earth would I be desperate to focus on and pick out every little thing I believe he might have done wrong? 

We have been woeful for months. Criticism has been more than valid.

Last game we were awful for large parts, but it's not the time to criticize after a marvelous comeback.

Last 12 minutes yesterday is something to build from. It's just a very tricky situation as i can't see Smith changing his system, but 4-3-3 don't seem to work when Grealish is out.

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I actually think Smith has changed from being a pro-active to re-active manager.  
 

Also, Sanson gets injured at end of first half and Nakamba is on the verge of replacing him.  Made absolutely no sense whatsoever 

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1 minute ago, YouUnastanFren said:

The point was that they are a team that sets up away from home specifically to not allow many good opportunities and they have been very successful in doing so in most away games this season, especially since they sorted themselves out by the end of the first transfer window.

They didn't fall apart, they were torn apart in a way no side hosting them has done for a good while.

But the team and tactics adopted by Smith up until the changes have failed to create chances against anyone in the last 7 games. I would suggest that this is more relevant than the opposition. We couldn’t create against 10 man Sheff Utd. Fulham are certainly much improved but we have struggled against everybody since Jack was injured (and before to be honest). 
When he did change things yesterday it changed everything. It enabled us to get possession higher up the pitch and get men into the box. The wide men were able to play facing the goal rather than with their backs to it and Fulham couldn’t cope. 

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13 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Stupid neutral journalists, with their unbiased opinions. 

To be fair.

The bar post MON is f***ing low.

After Houllier, jesus christ. We've had some truly horrendous managers.

Edited by villalad21
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1 minute ago, villalad21 said:

To be fair.

The bar post MON is f***ing low.

After Houllier, jesus christ. We've had some truly horrendous managers.

Indeed. I think where we are now is certainly success for this season and I'd be very happy if we hold on to this until the end, even if at times it's been ugly along the way.

But saying he's done the best job of a Villa manager since 2010 is like praising him for being a particularly tall dwarf.

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6 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

To be fair.

The bar post MON is f***ing low.

After Houllier, jesus christ. We've had some truly horrendous managers.

So what you are saying is that we have been in shambles for 10 years but Smith has brought us back, rebuilt us and pulled us back to be respected....I think you complimented Smith without meaning to...do you feel dirty now? 😂

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6 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Indeed. I think where we are now is certainly success for this season and I'd be very happy if we hold on to this until the end, even if at times it's been ugly along the way.

But saying he's done the best job of a Villa manager since 2010 is like praising him for being a particularly tall dwarf.

I can't see Smith being our long term guy but think he will be fondly remembered as the guy who build the right foundations.

We are a really well run club from top to bottom and we are in extremely good hands.

We would be a really attractive prospect for any manager. The future is looking really bright and as much as I'm not the greatest of fan of Smith there is no question he has done a fine job.

When I take into account the money spend, club structure and the backing he's received i believe he has done a fine job, not spectacular. And that is where I and most Villa fans will disagree, and that's fine.

Edited by villalad21
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Last year the defence was shit, this year its not 

Pick your flaws from this years side but no reason why Smith and his team can't fix that this summer

This squad has been built to get mid table, it's frustrating because it's inconsistent as **** but it's achieving what it's set out to do 

 

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2 minutes ago, nick76 said:

So what you are saying is that we have been in shambles for 10 years but Smith has brought us back, rebuilt us and pulled us back to be respected....I think you complimented Smith without meaning to...do you feel dirty now? 😂

Smith is a decent manager but that maybe where we differ.

I want best in class, not just decent. And i don't believe Smith will ever become that.

I want us to go to the next level.

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There are plenty of managers as good as Smith, they just don't have the resource like we have. He is far from the level of Klopp, Ancelotti, or Guardiola, will he ever be, I very much doubt. That's why at some stage we may have to lose him.

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3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

There are plenty of managers as good as Smith, they just don't have the resource like we have. He is far from the level of Klopp, Ancelotti, or Guardiola, will he ever be, I very much doubt. That's why at some stage we may have to lose him.

Of course we will lose him at some point. This isn't Lerner with Lambert or Xia with Bruce. With the owners we now have, Smith will either be a massive success here, or all his good work will set up the next guy. 

Enjoy the ride.

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Just now, DCJonah said:

Agreed. So surely even more reason to be happy we hit the jackpot. 

We've been terrible for over a decade so you'd think people would appreciate the progress we've made in such a short time.

I'd get the criticism if we'd been an average prem team for the last 10 years. 

I don't think you will find anyone on here not appreciative of the progress we've made.

But it's about going to that next level and some of us don't feel Smith is the right man to achieve that. Not seen him have the tactical nouse required to get there.

He will get next season for sure but it will be interesting to see if he can raise above that famous "ceiling" which for instance Wolves have definitely hit under Nuno.

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