Dean Smith

[HeyAnty]

3 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

With the games we have remaining we'll win 2/3. 

Im not necessarily against Smith leaving, im just pointing out he isn’t the Messiah some Villa fans think he is.  Its a case of rose tinted glasses with some and they just cant see any faults he has.

[nick76]

11 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well there were strong rumours he was on the brink - In the end the Chelsea game was postponed and the country descended into chaos with lockdowns etc.

Rumours....great! Rumours are mostly nonsense just like Gerrard linked recently. If we were going to replace Smith it wouldn’t be for Gerrard.  Rumours that Jack was into drugs, addicted to sleeping drugs and in rehab...all rubbish!

[Tayls]

The reality of this is, if we played the entire season like we have done across the past four months, I reckon we’d be in another relegation scrap... (if anyone has the math to confirm based on current form since Jan that would be awesome).  

Im still not convinced by what has gone on at the club since late December/early Jan has lead to this horrendous turn around in form. We have been pretty garbage since. Not a great footballing side at all, which is troubling. 

Edited April 11, 2021 by Tayls

[Vive_La_Villa]

I don’t want Smith replaced. I think he is showing steady progress and we’ll continue to improve under him. But if they did replace him I’d back the owners decision. They seem to know their shit.

[nick76]

2 minutes ago, Tayls said:

The reality of this is, if we played the entire season like we have done across the past four months, I reckon we’d be in another relation scrap... (if anyone has the math to confirm based on current form since Jan that would be awesome).  

Im still not convinced by what has gone on at the club since late December/early Jan has lead to this horrendous turn around in form. We have been pretty garbage since. Not a great footballing side at all, which is troubling. 

Yet basically the same team as the first half of the season that was raved about and Jack was the star but the whole team looked great.  Suggests poor form.

[Tayls]

10 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Yet basically the same team as the first half of the season that was raved about and Jack was the star but the whole team looked great.  Suggests poor form.

But, why? Poor form for four months? Not beyond the realms of possibility obviously but, why? We were going so well, looked incredible going forward, defending brilliantly... now we look like we have won a competition to take part in the premier league for a season. 

This can’t just be because we haven’t had Grealish playing. What’s happened to Barkley all of the sudden? El Ghazi has gone backwards again despite being a standout for weeks on end. Summats up. 

[Tommo_b]

31 minutes ago, Tayls said:

The reality of this is, if we played the entire season like we have done across the past four months, I reckon we’d be in another relation scrap... (if anyone has the math to confirm based on current form since Jan that would be awesome).  

Im still not convinced by what has gone on at the club since late December/early Jan has lead to this horrendous turn around in form. We have been pretty garbage since. Not a great footballing side at all, which is troubling. 

The flip side is if we played entire season how we did the first 3 months we would be league champions already. 

[nick76]

2 hours ago, Tayls said:

But, why? Poor form for four months? Not beyond the realms of possibility obviously but, why? We were going so well, looked incredible going forward, defending brilliantly... now we look like we have won a competition to take part in the premier league for a season. 

This can’t just be because we haven’t had Grealish playing. What’s happened to Barkley all of the sudden? El Ghazi has gone backwards again despite being a standout for weeks on end. Summats up. 

To be fair it’s not four months, it’s not even three months since we returned on the 20th of Jan against Man City.

I don’t know the reason but basically the same team.  I can give some potential reasons like for some reason Covid hit us hard such that after we shut down has hit us hard residually.  Our squad is small and run out of steam.  Our squad doesn’t have enough quality because of size to have options and teams are finding us out.  Jacks injury.  Ross’ injury impacted him more than we thought.  Traore is too inconsistent which his previous clubs told us.  Ollie looks tired especially with no rest because of his style of play.  Luiz is a 22 year old and like most younger players have poor form spells.  McGinn loss of form.  When Plan A doesn’t work we don’t have the players for a materially change to call Plan B.  We have lost a bit of confidence and being a young team has hit us hard.  We only have three creative players in Jack, Ross and Traore...see above...so we now don’t create chances. Smith and co learning at this level still.

So is it any of the above, all of the above or more to it....I think it’s a combination of most of the above over the last ten weeks.  We’ve still managed to win 5 of 15 games in that period despite the poor form.  Our form is incredibly poor at the moment but the meltdown by some seems to be over the top.

Edited April 11, 2021 by nick76

[Mark Albrighton]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

What about if the season was in reverse? 

If we'd started crap but now ended the season winning 7-2 at Anfield?

Just curious how you'd feel.

I’ve wondered similar. What would it be like on here if they’d hammered Brighton instead of Liverpool. Or if they’d done the double over Burnley instead of Arsenal. Or if they nicked a winner in the last minute against Newcastle instead of Leicester.

Basically if Villa had beaten the teams they were expected to, lost to the teams they had expected to lose to but they still had the same number of points, the same league position, would people feel happier? It comes across like they would.

Also, it feels like some on here have never seen a poor second half of the season before. Ignoring the regular collapses under MON, I still find myself shaking my head in disbelief thinking about January onwards during Gregory’s first season. To think what this place would have been like that season....

[foreveryoung]

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

Edited April 11, 2021 by foreveryoung

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

But Bruce did nothing and Dean has progressed us three seasons on the trot.  Honestly mate, this isn’t hard to see.  Also I said more above.  There is light and day between Bruce and Smith, if you don’t see that it’s hard to have a discussion about Smith.

[Mark Albrighton]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

If Bruce or Wilder had won promotion with Villa, kept the club up in the first season, then had them in the top ten for most of the following season, they’d also be given that time. 

Bruce failed to achieve promotion with Villa.

Wilder failed to build or consolidate on his earlier good/excellent work.

Smith has achieved something. Therefore he’s in credit. How long he stays in the good books is down to the individual. There’s still plenty of good will on my part, that I can overlook a bad run of games. If Villa spend another £80m and they’re scrabbling around the lower half of midtable (approximately) for much of next season, I’d be open to suggestion that he’s done as much as he can.

 

[Rightdm00]

5 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

Dont buy it. If Smith had us propping up the table for over half the season then he would be gone and everyone here would be happy to see him go. 

You ask why Smith gets seemingly more leeway than Bruce and it's obvious. Smith has met every marker laid out in front of him and given us some amazing performances along the way. You have to go back to the MON years to find the last time Villa have been this entertaining.  

Put it like this, if you were playing FM and you went from 17th to 10th and the chairman binned you off at the end of the season you would call the game a cheat and ask for your money back. Points at the beginning of the season count just as much as the ones we get now. Some would do would well to remember that. 

[M_Afro]

The other very obvious thing to consider when it comes to whether or not Smith gets replaced, is who is/isn’t willing and available to replace him. If the owners are presented with a great opportunity to get a clear upgrade in, then they may go for it no matter where we finish. It’s a possibility because we really are an attractive prospect again.

If on the other hand there are no better managers available then smith will stay whatever. No matter where you are in the Smith debate I’m sure most people would be happy to stick with him until a clear upgrade becomes available.

[foreveryoung]

7 minutes ago, nick76 said:

But Bruce did nothing and Dean has progressed us three seasons on the trot.  Honestly mate, this isn’t hard to see.  Also I said more above.  There is light and day between Bruce and Smith, if you don’t see that it’s hard to have a discussion about Smith.

Chap, Smith has had Billionaire owners with investment, Bruce had a chinese guy with a couple of quid. 

Look, I am neither biggin up Bruce or disrespecting what Smith has done here, but it's a little easier to progress when you have owners who are investing 100+ million each season.

[Paul33]

24 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

I'm not trying to be anti Smith at all. But when anyone pro Smith tries to justify our poor form, it's never anything to do with him,  it's the players, the opposing team etc. This is what frustrates a few on here. If it were anyone but Smith running the show, just for example Wilder, I think most would be on his back by now, questioning his abilities. We gave Bruce a torrid time at a stage literally most of the players were actually shite.

Maybe some can see the bigger picture and are not as superficial as to judge the manager or the team based on a couple of months of form. This season has seen massive improvement on last season and if we improve again next season then we are top 10. The manager has a huge part to play in that improvement.

Edited April 11, 2021 by Paul33

[nick76]

3 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Chap, Smith has had Billionaire owners with investment, Bruce had a chinese guy with a couple of quid. 

Look, I am neither biggin up Bruce or disrespecting what Smith has done here, but it's a little easier to progress when you have owners who are investing 100+ million each season.

It just seems you are looking for a negative angle at every point, which I don’t get. 

[foreveryoung]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

It just seems you are looking for a negative angle at every point, which I don’t get. 

It's just like your looking for the positive angle at every point, which I don't get.

[sharkyvilla]

4 minutes ago, nick76 said:

It just seems you are looking for a negative angle at every point, which I don’t get. 

I don't think it's new, it predates Dean from what I remember.

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

It's just like your looking for the positive angle at every point, which I don't get.

I’m just a positive person, it’s better way to live life