Popular Post TRO Posted April 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2021 (edited) I think most fans have no issues with Dean Staying, quite frankly, him going has not even entered my head. However, we do have issues and he has to fix them, and its not just Jack coming back either, albeit that would make a big difference. We have many players who are not performing to the required standards in this league, he has to deal with that....there is no getting away from it. There is a reason why, some folk are over reacting and in our performances and results, lies the clues....its just as bad as under reacting and folks saying, its all ok....right now its not, all ok. Edited April 12, 2021 by TRO 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 20 minutes ago, Paul33 said: So many pages about our manager and speculation that is based on what exactly ? Some tin pot clickbait websites that have no credibility ? Steven Gerrard inbound ? Based on a season of success in a tinpot league ? Dean Smith is going absolutely nowhere but Villa Park. He is part of the long term plans at the club and will be here for many seasons to come and if anybody doubts that, I'll take any wager you want to make. Progress this season has been very good and that progress will continue next season so strap yourselves in, stop whinging about the last few games and start thinking long term and beyond the end of your noses because we are going places ..... trust me ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post AV82 Posted April 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2021 On 10/04/2021 at 22:21, foreveryoung said: This Champions is bull*****. We beat them 7-2 at home, they have been poor this season, losing to Brighton and Fulham, not winning at home for 6 games before us. They are not the team of last season not even close. They were there for the taking today, like Tottenham and we rolled over and had our bellies ticked once again. We beat Fulham and they beat Liverpool so we should be crowned champions by your dumb logic. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 3 minutes ago, AV82 said: We beat Fulham and they beat Liverpool so we should be crowned champions by your dumb logic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post OutByEaster? Posted April 12, 2021 Moderator Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2021 24 minutes ago, TRO said: However, we do have issues and he has to fix them, and its not just Jack coming back either, albeit that would make a big difference. We have many players who are not performing to the required standards in this league, he has to deal with that....there is no getting away from it. I agree with the sentiment of this post, I think you're sort of right - but I'd put it like this. Quote However, there are still areas where we need to continue our improvement, and that's not just Jack coming back, although that will make a big difference. We have areas where we'll need to keep buying better players and keep improving and he'll need to make sure that happens. Now we're saying pretty much the same thing there - and I think we agree on it - but language makes a massive difference to this: 26 minutes ago, TRO said: There is a reason why, some folk are over reacting and in our performances and results, lies the clues....its just as bad as under reacting and folks saying, its all ok....right now its not, all ok. I think we, all of us, give away the emotion behind our opinions in our language, so that even where you and I would broadly agree on the stuff above, there are people who will see one as an horrendous over reaction and one as a head in the clouds ignorance. Anyway, I agree, we're not the finished article yet and there are areas where we need to keep working to improve. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 1 hour ago, Paul33 said: So many pages about our manager and speculation that is based on what exactly ? Some tin pot clickbait websites that have no credibility ? Steven Gerrard inbound ? Based on a season of success in a tinpot league ? Dean Smith is going absolutely nowhere but Villa Park. He is part of the long term plans at the club and will be here for many seasons to come and if anybody doubts that, I'll take any wager you want to make. Progress this season has been very good and that progress will continue next season so strap yourselves in, stop whinging about the last few games and start thinking long term and beyond the end of your noses because we are going places ..... trust me ! So do you have any concerns about our current form or lack of plan b when jacks not available? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 2 hours ago, TRO said: We can all call on stats.....but,you only have to watch the games to know, something is amiss....Too many fans know this too. You simply cannot do some of the things we are doing and expect to win games.....sure, we win a few, but you can't expect to. Yeah but people say our form is relegation form which is a factual question with a correct answer. If you’re unhappy with the way we’re playing at the moment that’s fair enough, but there’s no way we’re one of the 3 worst teams in the league, and we haven’t been at any point. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post KentVillan Posted April 12, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 12, 2021 My favourite comment in this thread was someone saying you can’t say Smith has improved us season on season for 3 seasons because this season isn’t over yet. We already have more points than we did last season! With another 24 points left to play for! Sorry to use stats again, but Smith has clearly improved us every season, while integrating loads of new players into the starting lineup each summer. That has to count for something. I also would love to see us playing better football, scoring better goals, fighting more for possession in the middle of the park, and not being so reliant on Grealish. These are all fair criticisms of our recent performances. But the idea the project has stalled is just wrong, it’s completely wrong. That’s not me “under reacting” to bad results, it’s just a fact. 10 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 My favourite comment in this thread is someone claiming to not be "under reacting" to bad results, whilst "under reacting" to bad results. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KentVillan Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 Just now, VillanousOne said: My favourite comment in this thread is someone claiming to not be "under reacting" to bad results, whilst "under reacting" to bad results. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillanousOne Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 (edited) for the record, we have improved this season under Dean (as we have every season he has been manager) and I believe we will continue to improve next season under Dean. But that doesn't stop me and other people being disappointed in current results and form and pointing out some of the problems. Not seen any people who want Dean sacked (maybe there has been but on the whole I think it's a minority) and deep down we don't see what he does in training to justify the decisions he makes that we don't understand. We got a taste of Top 6 football but a Top 10 finish would still be a massive improvement. Our form is dreadful though and we have a lot of tough games left, I don't know how the majority fans or the owners would feel if this form continued to the end of the season. I personally still wouldn't sack Dean but there are a lot of things that need sorting out in the summer. Edited April 12, 2021 by VillanousOne 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
osmark86 Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 26 minutes ago, VillanousOne said: for the record, we have improved this season under Dean (as we have every season he has been manager) and I believe we will continue to improve next season under Dean. But that doesn't stop me and other people being disappointed in current results and form and pointing out some of the problems. Not seen any people who want Dean sacked (maybe there has been but on the whole I think it's a minority) and deep down we don't see what he does in training to justify the decisions he makes that we don't understand. We got a taste of Top 6 football but a Top 10 finish would still be a massive improvement. Our form is dreadful though and we have a lot of tough games left, I don't know how the majority fans or the owners would feel if this form continued to the end of the season. I personally still wouldn't sack Dean but there are a lot of things that need sorting out in the summer. Ofc there are things that will need sorting out come the summer. We're a midtable team with higher ambitions. New recruitment to improve on what we have will be needed. Do we trust Dean et al to see what needs improving? I haven't heard a lot of post-match interviews to indicate otherwise. I think Dean wants to be play fluid attacking football from a solid backline and prefers the 433 formation. With our current squad we don't have enough quality to consistently execute on this. Maybe he thinks the more we persist with it the better we will adapt to it even though our form bounces. He has shown it can work wonders too as shown by our performances earlier in the season. I think we'll see a summer of more talent coming in to give us better options to suit this style. Then we will see if we're able to push on. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 4 hours ago, TRO said: I think the sort of things that are wrong, Dean has the ability to fix them. It doesn't take the worlds best managers to fix us.....its doable for Dean. Dean Smith, is not going anywhere.....Dean Smith just needs to address the issues, being spelled out on this site and it might take alternative playing personnel to do it.....but he must sign the right players. as an example......Its no good signing a full back, when we need a striker or its no good signng another attacking midfielder, when he need a commanding General.....its getting the round pegs in the round holes and the square pegs in the square holes. That is not beyond, Dean Smith.....our problems are not Rocket Science. I don't think it's quite as easy as you're laying out here. Everyone is trying to make it work. Only one team can win the league, three will go down even if there's 20 good sides in the league. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vive_La_Villa Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 I think you start having problems as a team when you stop creating chances. It’s why earlier in the season I didn’t mind so much when we lost games like Brighton and West Ham because when you know you create that many chances in each game the results will eventually come. For a while now we’ve been relying on our solid defence keeping the opposition out and nicking a goal. When that becomes the trend it doesn’t become so enjoyable to watch and a little worrying. I think it’s why teams such as Leeds and to an extent (please don’t shoot me down) Brighton were probably not as worried during periods of bad form as in the games they were dropping points they were still creating a lot of chances. I hate the fact our creativity has totally dried up. So desperate for Jack to return. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tomaszk Posted April 12, 2021 Share Posted April 12, 2021 6 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said: I think you start having problems as a team when you stop creating chances. It’s why earlier in the season I didn’t mind so much when we lost games like Brighton and West Ham because when you know you create that many chances in each game the results will eventually come. For a while now we’ve been relying on our solid defence keeping the opposition out and nicking a goal. When that becomes the trend it doesn’t become so enjoyable to watch and a little worrying. I think it’s why teams such as Leeds and to an extent (please don’t shoot me down) Brighton were probably not as worried during periods of bad form as in the games they were dropping points they were still creating a lot of chances. I hate the fact our creativity has totally dried up. So desperate for Jack to return. There's no hiding from the fact we've been crap for a fair old time now. We seem to be able to get one end of the pitch right and not the other. If the balance is found consistently, my word what a side we'll be. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 (edited) On 12/04/2021 at 01:25, TRO said: I think our form is the issue, not the season. I think the argument to sack the manager has holes in it.....and yes it would be stupid to contemplate it.....but here's the thing. We are 16th in the form League after 6 games We are behind WBA in that form league,who are going down. If the games are being watched with any discerning eye, there are many area's of Concern.....are we just drifting/sleep walking to the end of the season, because we are safe. We have won 1 in 6 games. So, I have heard the manager make references to these poor performances, so its not our imagination.... what I haven't heard is any suggestions of how to remedy it....or how to deal with the errors....we need a motivation vaccination. Now, The manager is responsible for our play, through the good times and the bad times, what I am not seeing at present, is any sign of some of our weaknesses, being remedied....I see the same concerns, match in match out lately, with no redress...that is concerning. The simple remedy, which I’m sure Dean and the rest of the coaching and recruitment staff are fully aware of, is to increase the quality of the squad. We have become very jaded and high energy was the basis of out early season success. Many of our better players have played the majority of games and the options on the bench just aren’t there this season. Klopp and Pepe never shut up about players being tired and playing too many games. Just look at their squads compared to ours. I’m not suggesting for a minute that Dean Smith is a perfect manager that doesn’t make mistakes. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t see himself that way either but at the end of the day we have an average squad that is probably a below average squad when you take Jack out of it. To criticise what he says in public is frankly daft. Would you suggest he says stuff like, the players are all knackered but I have to keep playing them because the rest of the players aren’t very good? Or perhaps me and the rest of the coaches have told player x not to do that until we’re blue in the face but he’s clearly an idiot and we’re dumping him at the end of the season? The club, the team and the manager are all a work in progress and over a reasonable amount of time we are progressing. If after every dozen games or so we decide that we need to make a change as fundamental as changing the head coach, we would rightly be viewed as a complete basket case of a club, which for once in a long time we’re not. With the army of data and other analysts the club employs and with a co-owner that is very publicly supportive of such a set up, there’s absolutely no way that we aren’t fully aware of all the faults and failings of the first team including the head coach. However don’t expect those faults and failings or indeed the strengths to be discussed publicly. Edited April 13, 2021 by DaveAV1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villa4europe Posted April 13, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted April 13, 2021 Personally I think we're on the beach and have been for a long time, our great start to the season has caused our shit end to the season - along with corona and Jack's injury - it's impossible to tell what corona actually did to us but all our poor form seemingly starts with it yet is largely ignored and it shouldn't be Its disappointing but many clubs do it, you can moan that we had a chance of Europe but that's your own unrealistic expectation that they're falling short of We are going to finish where most of us predicted pre season but the manner in which we're doing it is leaving people unhappy This season he's fixed the defence, next season he needs to fix the attack, we're a huge work in progress, we had a scrape survival squad last year and scraped survival, we have a mid table squad this year and are finishing mid table, I'll judge him on getting in to the top half / europe when he has a top half / europe squad, we blatantly don't right now 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveAV1 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 16 hours ago, TRO said: Dave....just one point to consider, some players have not played every game, Hause, Jack, Nakamba, Ramsey, Sanson, Barkley, Cash, we are not in any cups or in Europe.....so I don't see how the fatigue argument has any legs. I’m fully aware that some players haven’t played all the games. I’m aware that we have played less games than some of the other teams, but in general those teams that are in Europe or who have progressed further in the domestic cups have much higher quality squads than we have. I’m not arguing that the players are out on their feet, but they are quite definitely jaded compared with the first half of the season. The defence picks itself every week, there is nobody pushing any of them for a place. Ollie Watkins has absolutely no adequate cover. It’s only in our weakest area of the pitch, midfield that we have any decision making to do as to team selection and apart from Jack. The exercise in midfield is to select the least bad combination. Your list of players that haven’t played every game includes Jack and Matt Cash. Are you suggesting that they have been rested? Ramsey is a development player and Sanson is now injured and only joined us in January, so to include him in a list of players that hasn’t played every game is rather silly. Barkley hasn’t played every game because he’s rubbish, nothing to do with adequate quality to allow rotation. If you think that our squad is anything like strong enough over a whole season to be a top 6/7 squad then I’d have to disagree. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
foreveryoung Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 8 hours ago, Tomaszk said: There's no hiding from the fact we've been crap for a fair old time now. We seem to be able to get one end of the pitch right and not the other. If the balance is found consistently, my word what a side we'll be. This defensive improvement could be under question also. I mean, have we improved that much, the shots are still getting past the defence, it's just Martinez saving them all, his stats for saved goals are up there with the bottom 3-4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mole86 Posted April 13, 2021 Share Posted April 13, 2021 56 minutes ago, foreveryoung said: This defensive improvement could be under question also. I mean, have we improved that much, the shots are still getting past the defence, it's just Martinez saving them all, his stats for saved goals are up there with the bottom 3-4 The 14 clean sheets would suggest the defence has improved 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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