Dean Smith

[AvfcRigo82]

15 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Potter I expect will be England manager at some point in his career 

I was talking of Villa, not England.  

[AvfcRigo82]

17 minutes ago, hippo said:

Wait and See.

You think Stevie G will be Villa manager?

I highly doubt it.

[villanmac]

The attacking players are just shit, simple.

In the first halves of the last 9 games we've had 3 shots on target, total. That's a pretty good guide to how anaemic you are as things tend to be tighter more cagey in the first half of games and we can't create f**k all.

I'd normally have ago at Smith but i genuinely think the attacking players bar Grealish and Watkins are woeful. Even Watkins is actually pretty shit with the ball at his feet. It's painful watching Trezeguet run into players, El Ghazi just shoot from anywhere, Traore play a flaky pass/flick straight to the opposition, Mcginn mis-control and kick the ball out of touch. On top of the technical ability, the lack of strength of them all makes every action always feel 60/40, 70/30 in favour of the opposition. It feels like a fight to just retain the ball when they get into the opposition's half.

That's the kind of players they are though and they just haven't been exposed because we have Grealish who a) is a world beater and b) demands the ball, carries the ball and takes more attacking responsibility than any other player in the league. It takes the responsibility away from them. I say this all the time and get stats thrown in my face about the 4 assists or 5 goals Traore and El Ghazi have got but their all-round game is not premier league level. They are two examples of players who couldn't get those numbers if they had to go up the pitch and cover the kind of ground most premier league players have to imo.

I don't think there is much else Smith or anyone can get out of these players. 

In a way its kind of encouraging because it shows how good the back 5, Grealish and Watkins have been and that gets you up to 7 players. A good summer to address the attack would see us get to West Ham's level next year.

 

Edited April 11, 2021 by villanmac

[Delphinho123]

7 minutes ago, villanmac said:

The attacking players are just shit, simple.

In the first halves of the last 9 games we've had 3 shots on target, total. That's a pretty good guide to how anaemic you are as things tend to be tighter more cagey in the first half of games and we can't create f**k all.

I'd normally have ago at Smith but i genuinely think the attacking players bar Grealish and Watkins are woeful. Even Watkins is actually pretty shit with the ball at his feet. It's painful watching Trezeguet run into players, El Ghazi just shoot from anywhere, Traore play a flaky pass/flick straight to the opposition, Mcginn mis-control and kick the ball out of touch. On top of the technical ability, the lack of strength of them all makes every action always feel 60/40, 70/30 in favour of the opposition. It feels like a fight to just retain the ball when they get into the opposition's half.

That's the kind of players they are though and they just haven't been exposed because we have Grealish who a) is a world beater and b) demands the ball, carries the ball and takes more attacking responsibility than any other player in the league. It takes the responsibility away from them. I say this all the time and get stats thrown in my face about the 4 assists or 5 goals Traore and El Ghazi have got but their all-round game is not premier league level. They are two examples of players who couldn't get those numbers if they had to go up the pitch and cover the kind of ground most premier league players have to imo.

I don't think there is much else Smith or anyone can get out of these players. 

In a way its kind of encouraging because it shows how good the back 5, Grealish and Watkins have been and that gets you up to 7 players. A good summer to address the attack would see us get to West Ham's level next year.

 

Spot on, mate. 

3/4 players added to the first team in the attacking areas in the Summer and next season will be fun.

We’ve got the base of a solid squad now, we just need those final missing pieces to add to the starting XI. 

[AntrimBlack]

He will obviously get the rest of this season, but next season could be make or break for him. I think the reckoning will come at the end of 20/21 season.

At this stage none of us know if he can take us to where our owners will want to be, and much as we all love Smith, the owners will not hesitate if they think he needs replaced.

I can see both good and bad in Smith, but he has done what has been required of him so far, and can learn, as he is still inexperienced at the level he is now at.

His performance to date has also to be viewed in the context of having very good owners.

It is also notable that our best transfers this season Smith must surely have had a major input into; Watkins and Konza.

 

[Sulberto21]

If we start getting to the Quarters, Semis and hopefully finals of the cup competitions I think the argument against Dean Smith will get weaker.

Only gripe is we've become too easy to shoot against earlier in the season we were so effing hard to get at because the distances between the lines were alot tighter and we moved forwards and back as a team. We've got too.much distance between the lines for the last 13/14 games and we need to.sort this out going in to next season.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Sulberto21

[hippo]

28 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

You think Stevie G will be Villa manager?

I highly doubt it.

Well there's rumours already. I think he and potter would be in the frame should we make a change in the next 12 months or so.

 

[hippo]

47 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Potter I expect will be England manager at some point in his career 

Yes I agree with that.

[M_Afro]

35 minutes ago, paul514 said:

Why is there even a discussion that they may get rid? He has delivered all his targets 3 years in a row. It’s not going to happen.

I don’t think we have met the targets though. In year 1 he exceeded target. Purslow said that we got promoted a year ahead of schedule. Tick for Smith.

Year 2 Purslow said that we expected to finish higher than 17th. Target not delivered.

Year 3 is in the balance. I suspect that we were hopeful of a top 10 finish. That looks highly unlikely on current form. If we slide as far as 12th or 13th then based upon what Purslow said about Year 2, I suspect that Dean will have failed to meet expectations again.

It’s also not just about league finish though. You can be falsely placed. Performance is a better measure in my view. Our performances were excellent up until Christmas but since then, they have been poor. We pick up points because we have a brilliant goalkeeper and a very good back 4 in front of him. That aside our general play has been rubbish.

Barring an absolute disaster between now and the end of the season, I think Dean deserves a final chance next season. But he needs to show significant improvement in team performance, particularly when Jack is absent. If he does not, then I will be amazed if he is still here at Christmas. Let’s hope he gets it right because he is a top top bloke.

[Sulberto21]

1 minute ago, hippo said:

Well there's rumours already. I think he and potter would be in the frame should we make a change in the next 12 months or so.

 

I think that's a bad move if they do that. Although Potter is a very good coach wouldn't mind him deciding management isn't for him and him join our coaching staff!.

[hippo]

1 minute ago, M_Afro said:

I don’t think we have met the targets though. In year 1 he exceeded target. Purslow said that we got promoted a year ahead of schedule. Tick for Smith.

Year 2 Purslow said that we expected to finish higher than 17th. Target not delivered.

Year 3 is in the balance. I suspect that we were hopeful of a top 10 finish. That looks highly unlikely on current form. If we slide as far as 12th or 13th then based upon what Purslow said about Year 2, I suspect that Dean will have failed to meet expectations again.

It’s also not just about league finish though. You can be falsely placed. Performance is a better measure in my view. Our performances were excellent up until Christmas but since then, they have been poor. We pick up points because we have a brilliant goalkeeper and a very good back 4 in front of him. That aside our general play has been rubbish.

Barring an absolute disaster between now and the end of the season, I think Dean deserves a final chance next season. But he needs to show significant improvement in team performance, particularly when Jack is absent. If he does not, then I will be amazed if he is still here at Christmas. Let’s hope he gets it right because he is a top top bloke.

Agree.

But one win 8. Is disastrous form. Barring a Grealish return how many wins do you see from the last 8.?

Not saying he will go - but the question might be asked more loudly should he only win 1 or worse 0 of the remaining games.

 

[AvfcRigo82]

7 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

I think that's a bad move if they do that. Although Potter is a very good coach wouldn't mind him deciding management isn't for him and him join our coaching staff!.

I wouldn't be against that.

I do admire him and the route he has taken to get into management in the first place.

[nick76]

1 hour ago, paul514 said:

Why is there even a discussion that they may get rid? He has delivered all his targets 3 years in a row. It’s not going to happen.

just a few people got too excited early in the season

[M_Afro]

12 minutes ago, hippo said:

Agree.

But one win 8. Is disastrous form. Barring a Grealish return how many wins do you see from the last 8.?

Not saying he will go - but the question might be asked more loudly should he only win 1 or worse 0 of the remaining games.

 

Without Jack I would be amazed if we win more than 2. I wouldn’t be all that surprised if we didn’t win any. With him we could get 3 or 4 more wins. I just want to see some consistency of performance to be honest. Some nice patterns to our play. A clear plan. Anything that shows we are on the right path.

[nick76]

15 minutes ago, hippo said:

Agree.

But one win 8. Is disastrous form. Barring a Grealish return how many wins do you see from the last 8.?

Not saying he will go - but the question might be asked more loudly should he only win 1 or worse 0 of the remaining games.

 

but it's not 1 win in 8, we have 2 wins in our last 7 games and 8 points in 7 games which isnt great I admit but it's not 1 win in 8 is it. 

[AvfcRigo82]

26 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well there's rumours already. I think he and potter would be in the frame should we make a change in the next 12 months or so.

 

Let there be rumours.

There will no doubt be a number of names in the frame for the Villa job the day it comes available.

I can safely bet that half of the names that also get mentioned will equally get a raised eyebrow.

[foreveryoung]

1 hour ago, Tommo_b said:

Potter I expect will be England manager at some point in his career 

Ha! You big up Smith like he is the second coming, but say Potter will be England manager at some point no mention of Smith, I mean he is that good yeah?

[sharkyvilla]

26 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I don’t think we have met the targets though. In year 1 he exceeded target. Purslow said that we got promoted a year ahead of schedule. Tick for Smith.

Year 2 Purslow said that we expected to finish higher than 17th. Target not delivered.

Year 3 is in the balance. I suspect that we were hopeful of a top 10 finish. That looks highly unlikely on current form. If we slide as far as 12th or 13th then based upon what Purslow said about Year 2, I suspect that Dean will have failed to meet expectations again.

It’s also not just about league finish though. You can be falsely placed. Performance is a better measure in my view. Our performances were excellent up until Christmas but since then, they have been poor. We pick up points because we have a brilliant goalkeeper and a very good back 4 in front of him. That aside our general play has been rubbish.

Barring an absolute disaster between now and the end of the season, I think Dean deserves a final chance next season. But he needs to show significant improvement in team performance, particularly when Jack is absent. If he does not, then I will be amazed if he is still here at Christmas. Let’s hope he gets it right because he is a top top bloke.

I don't think what happens between now and the end of the season really matters that much.  I'm pretty sure the board will have seen how good the first XI is from our form up until the new year and trust Dean with the next step of the building process.  Our poor form has been because of lack of depth and not being able to balance attack and defence without Jack.  I guess Barkley was seen as a key component in providing that at the start of the season but he has shit the bed on his footballing career. 

I also don't see how building a very good defence and winning points that way can be used to bash Dean either.  It wasn't long ago that people were saying he has never been able to build a defence in his managerial career.  Now he has done so for not much more than the likes of the top 4 will spend on just one defender.  Of course our targets will shift again next season and if we don't meet them then naturally the board will have a decision to make.  Everything I've heard from the club about it taking a few transfer windows to get us where we want to be makes sense and we seem to be developing at the kind of rate I'd expect, if not slightly ahead of schedule.  They seem to be able to look at the medium and long term rather than just looking at recent results and performances.

[a m ole]

Swapping Smith for Gerrard would be an absolute catastrophe.

The rumours are also clearly entirely fabricated.

[Tommo_b]

6 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Ha! You big up Smith like he is the second coming, but say Potter will be England manager at some point no mention of Smith, I mean he is that good yeah?

Hardly bigging him up is it, just pointing out the unrealistic expectations amongst the fan base. 
 

Potter over Smith for the England job as I feel his face would fit the FA more then Smiths.