Dean Smith

[Zatman]

10 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said:

If you want to be optimist at least Smith has made us well organised and hard to beat even though we have not been playing well for about 4 months, and we have collected nearly 10 more points than last year. Doesn't do much to Saturday's last minute goal though. Its a shame though that we have lost our fluid attacking style we had for the first half of the season. How much you can blame the tactics or individual players form and injuries is up to you.

Our poor form started after we returned from the covid break and have played 15 times since then, we are 13th in the form table during our shit run and still picked up more points than we did in the entire 2015/16 season

[MrBlack]

1 hour ago, Mark Albrighton said:

This is another thing that ALL supporters think, that their club is the one that bucks the trend and will give a winless team three points, or allows a striker who hasn’t scored in 10 games to get a hat trick.

I bet Liverpool supporters were thinking “Well Villa haven’t scored 7 in a single game for decades. Of course we wait until  we’re reigning champions turn up and break that run and embarrass ourselves...”

I bet Leeds supporters were bemoaning the fact they bucked the trend and let a Grealish-less Villa take three points “Oh well of course it’s got to be us that let’s them do that...”

I bet Fulham supporters were equally thrilled to hear that Tezeguet got his first and possibly only goals of the season against them. “Typically generous of us” I suspect they were saying. “Nice of us to help him break his duck.”

I could go on.

These kind of things DO happen to Villa, but they happen to pretty much every club, more regularly than you think, people are only aware of Villa’s unwanted facts because you’re probably not interested in other clubs doing likewise. Go on other clubs forum if you don’t think so.

Very true.  It actually feels to me like we've been doing a lot less of the gifting these days.  Certainly used to feel like you could guarantee whoever hasn't scored for months would score against us,  but given how good our defence has been this season the Liverpool result felt like an exception.

Admittedly a very disappointing one, that is the latest example in a recent run of poor form,  but to look at the season as a whole we've been the ones setting our own records, rather than helping others set theirs.

[HeyAnty]

9 hours ago, osmark86 said:

Or 0pts from our last one game which would see us relegated as the worst PL team in history.

Or 44pts after 30 games which is....good.

Well thought  it was a good period to use.  Ie form from start of year.  Pundits generally use it at times.

Edited April 12, 2021 by HeyAnty

[Vive_La_Villa]

Having time to reflect I thought we were actually the better team second half. We looked just as likely to nick it then lose it. If Barkley hadn’t turned to shit we could have made one of those counter attacks count.  

[osmark86]

12 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Well thought  it was a good period to use.  Ie form from start of year.  Pundits generally use it at times.

It is, I was just messing about ;). It's good to pick out a period to see form. To then use it to calculate a total over the season is a bit useless though since form is rarely ever static over a season.

[nick76]

48 minutes ago, HeyAnty said:

Well thought  it was a good period to use.  Ie form from start of year.  Pundits generally use it at times.

To be fair, pundits are pundits because they can’t hack doing the real job.  Roy Keane failed manager, Gary Neville failed manager...I could go on. With these analyses they use what fits their agenda.

We know we have been playing really poorly lately but as osmark86 showed jokingly is the variance in what you choose.  Also 5 wins in our last 15 games since we shutdown the training facility while not great is during our poor form so not as bad as perception would show.  But no wins in March looks really bad but 50% win rate in April looks good.  It’s all depends on agenda the person wants to convey.

Edited April 12, 2021 by nick76

[Raver50032]

2 hours ago, nick76 said:

plethora 

 

 

[MrSmirch]

Best season in years, young squad, great owners, best players tied down, only a small transfer window needed but some people want the manager gone, 10 new signings and complete change top to bottom?

 

 

 

[Vive_La_Villa]

Let’s be honest, it’s been relegation form since Covid restart.  Thankfully we had a great first half of the season. So much work still to be done for Smith and co.

[foreveryoung]

37 minutes ago, MrSmirch said:

Best season in years, young squad, great owners, best players tied down, only a small transfer window needed but some people want the manager gone, 10 new signings and complete change top to bottom?

 

 

 

I'm not sure anyone has said they want him gone. Few want to see him do better at this stage, but defo not gone.

[KentVillan]

24 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Let’s be honest, it’s been relegation form since Covid restart.  Thankfully we had a great first half of the season. So much work still to be done for Smith and co.

It hasn't, though. Relegation form is bottom 3, and we haven't been bottom 3 on form at any point.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/formtabelle/wettbewerb/GB1?saison_id=2020&min=20&max=31

Quote

#	club			W	D	L	Goals	+/-	Pts
1		Man City	12	10	0	2	28:7	21	30
2		Chelsea	12	7	4	1	17:8	9	25
3		Man Utd	12	6	5	1	25:9	16	23
4		West Ham	12	7	2	3	24:17	7	23
5		Leeds	12	6	1	5	16:15	1	19
6		Arsenal	12	5	3	4	20:16	4	18
7		Leicester	12	5	3	4	20:16	4	18
8		Liverpool	12	6	0	6	16:15	1	18
9		Wolves	12	4	4	4	10:12	-2	16
10		Brighton	11	4	3	4	11:9	2	15
11		Aston Villa	12	4	3	5	12:13	-1	15

You can play around with the start / end gameweeks here. There are a bunch of teams consistently below us - Southampton, Sheff Utd, West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle.

Our form is basically mid table. What we've seen is a dip from Europe form early in the season to mid-table form later in the season post Covid / Grealish injury.

And people are acting on here like it's a catastrophe, when it's basically in line with our expectations last summer. 

Edited April 12, 2021 by KentVillan

[thabucks]

Can see both viewpoints - those 100 % behind Smith regardless and then others who hold reservations about his ability long term and open to a change. I’m sort of in both camps as you cannot fault the job he has done. That said I do believe he has reached  his ceiling and to continue us to progress further upwardly he needs replacing long term. When that will be is up to Lange, Purslow & co and trust their judgment (unless it’s that scouse clearing in the woods). 

Edited April 12, 2021 by thabucks

[Demitri_C]

What are these non sense links lining Gerrard to villa?

There is no chance we are sacking smith. And of we did why woukd we go for gerarrd?

 

[ozvillafan]

Given Trez may be out for a while - what are the chances of Smith changing the formation to accommodate a second forward in Kenan Davis?

Buckleys? Or none?

[tomav84]

4 minutes ago, thabucks said:

Can see both viewpoints - 100 % behind Smith regardless and then others who hold reservations about his ability long term and open to a change. I’m sort of in both camps as you cannot fault the job he has done. That said I do believe he has reached  his ceiling and to continue us to progress further upwardly he needs replacing long term. When that will be is up to Lange, Purslow & co and trust their judgment (unless it’s that scouse clearing in the woods). 

pretty much my thoughts. the last 9 games, which is about 1/4 of a season so a fair sample size, have made me think that he is tactically limited.

i want him to take us to the next level...i really do. how amazing would it be to have an AVFC fan in the dugout whilst the champions league music plays? but my gut feeling is that if/when that happens, it won't be deano that gets us there.

if we spend big again in the summer and hit a run of form similar to recently, then i fear for him.

[Vive_La_Villa]

55 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

It hasn't, though. Relegation form is bottom 3, and we haven't been bottom 3 on form at any point.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/formtabelle/wettbewerb/GB1?saison_id=2020&min=20&max=31

You can play around with the start / end gameweeks here. There are a bunch of teams consistently below us - Southampton, Sheff Utd, West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle.

Our form is basically mid table. What we've seen is a dip from Europe form early in the season to mid-table form later in the season post Covid / Grealish injury.

And people are acting on here like it's a catastrophe, when it's basically in line with our expectations last summer. 

Fair enough. Felt like relegation form. Shows how shit some teams are. 

[KentVillan]

1 minute ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Fair enough. Felt like relegation form. Shows how shit some teams are. 

Yeah in fairness I was surprised when I checked how "good" our recent form was. But I guess we have a few draws and the wins against Southampton, Arsenal, Leeds and Fulham.

What I think Smith has really fixed this season (possibly Shakespeare's influence, possibly Martinez's stellar form) is that we often pick up points against the run of play because of our solid defence. That's an important base we can build on with a bit more attacking talent.

[nick76]

6 hours ago, villalad21 said:

What bugs me is we don't seem to have a style of play or a system. 

I have no idea what we are trying to do. We are lacking an identity.

You are too funny!

The complaints on here is that Smith is too inflexible on his 433 system and then you say that...it’s like you don’t watch Villa or read other people’s comments on here.

[HeyAnty]

1 hour ago, ozvillafan said:

Given Trez may be out for a while - what are the chances of Smith changing the formation to accommodate a second forward in Kenan Davis?

Buckleys? Or none?

I don’t see why he wouldn’t.  We aren’t getting relegated and we aren’t getting into Europe.

[MaVilla]

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

It hasn't, though. Relegation form is bottom 3, and we haven't been bottom 3 on form at any point.

https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/premier-league/formtabelle/wettbewerb/GB1?saison_id=2020&min=20&max=31

You can play around with the start / end gameweeks here. There are a bunch of teams consistently below us - Southampton, Sheff Utd, West Brom, Fulham, Newcastle.

Our form is basically mid table. What we've seen is a dip from Europe form early in the season to mid-table form later in the season post Covid / Grealish injury.

And people are acting on here like it's a catastrophe, when it's basically in line with our expectations last summer. 

 

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Fair enough. Felt like relegation form. Shows how shit some teams are. 

 

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

Yeah in fairness I was surprised when I checked how "good" our recent form was. But I guess we have a few draws and the wins against Southampton, Arsenal, Leeds and Fulham.

What I think Smith has really fixed this season (possibly Shakespeare's influence, possibly Martinez's stellar form) is that we often pick up points against the run of play because of our solid defence. That's an important base we can build on with a bit more attacking talent.

 

unless im doing something wrong, those points tallies for/between X or Y matches dont add up.

For example, if you look at our actual results over say....the last X games, then do the same on that selection table, the figures dont match!

for example:

Transfermarkt vs Actual:

Last 15 games - TMkt 16 points VS Actual - 18 points

Last 17 games - Tmkt 22 points VS Actual - 19 points (19 points over the last 17 games would actually put us 15th on that table - assuming other teams are correct)

 

I wonder if its aligning the results as per the original schedule (pre covid and game cancellations), rather than the actual live result order??

Dunno, but it doesnt add up from what i can see, and it makes our recent 15-17 game form look better than it is (overall it reflects fine (ie: whole season table), but not when you try to break it down)

Edited April 12, 2021 by MaVilla