Dean Smith

[TRO]

59 minutes ago, commander said:

Exactly this!! We're a pushover and it's not acceptable. 

I don't think there is a need to elaborate.....in a nutshell.

[TRO]

14 minutes ago, Mantis said:

It was a hard game to evaluate tbh. Scoring from kick-off meant we naturally sat back and then we only had a short while at 11 v 10. Was looking like we were slowly growing into the game before Cash **** it up.

I don't but that, sorry.

It wasn't helpful, sure....but at no time did I see us growing in to the game.....All I saw, was us standing off and " shadowing " our opponents and basically, getting in their way, to get the ball, which was invariably in deep positions, so when we broke, we lost it, in and around the half way line.....rinse and repeat.

In boxing, such was we overshadowed by their dominace on the ball, the ref could have stopped the fight on an overwhelming points deficit.....it was a mismatch at times....how it was 1-2, I really don't know......Martinez?

[barry'sboots]

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

There’s not that much we can do with the poor form of our players. 

I thought that was a key part of a manager's job?? Sure players can lose form but a manager has to find a way to get it back/create a spark.  SJM, Luiz and Barkley were up there with the best three in the PL at the start of the season (Liverpool, Arsenal etc.) and yet they have probably been bottom three quality for the last dozen games??

[AvfcRigo82]

3 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I thought that was a key part of a manager's job?? Sure players can lose form but a manager has to find a way to get it back/create a spark.

It is very concerning and as @Demitri_C pointed out, our form over the last 9 or so games has been shocking.

I actually think if he has the same stats over the remainder of our games in the run in then he could very well be gone by the summer.

It's not acceptable, not with the expectations our owners will have given the investment they have put in.

[Sulberto21]

21 minutes ago, TRO said:

I don't but that, sorry.

It wasn't helpful, sure....but at no time did I see us growing in to the game.....All I saw, was us standing off and " shadowing " our opponents and basically, getting in their way, to get the ball, which was invariably in deep positions, so when we broke, we lost it, in and around the half way line.....rinse and repeat.

In boxing, such was we overshadowed by their dominace on the ball, the ref could have stopped the fight on an overwhelming points deficit.....it was a mismatch at times....how it was 1-2, I really don't know......Martinez?

And Mings and Konsa.

[Tomaszk]

City were incredible tonight. So so good. That's the team they'll probably start in the Champions League final if De Bruyne isn't fit.

Dean Smith...

The man who had Walsall playing out from the keeper in League Two. The man who had the best coached League One side Jose Mourinho had ever seen. The man who battered Aston Villa pillar to post every time we played his Brentford side... 

I do not believe Dean Smith has changed tact and wants the team to slam it long to Watkins constantly because we can't get out of out own half without someone miscontrolling it or passing straight to the other team.

Dean Smith doesn't want the team playing like this. If you think he does you're wrong.

I liked the decision to start Ramsey on the wing ahead of El Ghazi who embarrassed himself again.

McGinn and Luiz are playing with their Villa careers here. Do they know who our owners are? The sort of money they've got?! I don't know what on earth they're playing at. Go back and watch Palace on Boxing Day with 10 men - they were both so good moving the ball quickly and accurately. McGinn is still a stone overweight and Luiz is coasting, the energy has gone.

Smith brought a striker on as soon as City went down to 10. Matty Cash then totally **** us and got the stupidest second booking I can honestly remember. Incredible decision to hack someone there.

Minimal blame on Smith tonight for me. City are something to behold.

1 hour ago, M_Afro said:

Rightly or wrongly if we continue like this until the end of the season, Dean is going to come under immense pressure. I would not be surprised if he got sacked to be honest. We need some good wins and performances to change perception again.

I agree.

The points tally and performances overall are unacceptable.

He'll definitely have questions to answer. I would really like to know any effect covid has had, if any at all.

[TRO]

44 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

It is very concerning and as @Demitri_C pointed out, our form over the last 9 or so games has been shocking.

I actually think if he has the same stats over the remainder of our games in the run in then he could very well be gone by the summer.

It's not acceptable, not with the expectations our owners will have given the investment they have put in.

I do think there is a concern developing at the inevitability of the defeats....Dean himself seems unperturbed, which is another concern too.

Pep Was beside himself for thier sending off.....In contrast, Dean seemed to take it all in his stride.....I get the calm, cool, collected approach, but a bit of animation, now and again, might spark some life in to them....it all seems a bit pensive.

Edited April 22, 2021 by TRO

[TRO]

8 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

City were incredible tonight. So so good. That's the team they'll probably start in the Champions League final if De Bruyne isn't fit.

Dean Smith...

The man who had Walsall playing out from the keeper in League Two. The man who had the best coached League One side Jose Mourinho had ever seen. The man who battered Aston Villa pillar to post every time we played his Brentford side... 

I do not believe Dean Smith has changed tact and wants the team to slam it long to Watkins constantly because we can't get out of out own half without someone miscontrolling it or passing straight to the other team.

Dean Smith doesn't want the team playing like this. If you think he does you're wrong.

I liked the decision to start Ramsey on the wing ahead of El Ghazi who embarrassed himself again.

McGinn and Luiz are playing with their Villa careers here. Do they know who our owners are? The sort of money they've got?! I don't know what on earth they're playing at. Go back and watch Palace on Boxing Day with 10 men - they were both so good moving the ball quickly and accurately. McGinn is still a stone overweight and Luiz is coasting, the energy has gone.

Smith brought a striker on as soon as City went down to 10. Matty Cash then totally **** us and got the stupidest second booking I can honestly remember. Incredible decision to hack someone there.

Minimal blame on Smith tonight for me. City are something to behold.

I agree.

The points tally and performances overall are unacceptable.

He'll definitely have questions to answer. I would really like to know any effect covid has had, if any at all.

All teams are good in this league.....If you let them be.

I am in no way undermining Man City as a top footballing side, but we never laid a glove on them.....I am not even saying the result, would be different, but there is no fight in our belly's

You have to compete....we stood off and "shadowed", we have had our belly's tickled and feel proud for keeping the score down....I don't buy your first line, its a line the pundits would roll out, to keep on side of the big 6.

Edited April 22, 2021 by TRO

[barry'sboots]

4 minutes ago, TRO said:

Pep Was beside himself for thier sending off.....In contrast, Dean seemed to take it all in his stride.....I get the calm, cool, collected approach, but a bit of animation, now and again, might spark some life in to them....it all seems a bit pensive.

TBF to Smith, Cash's was a stone wall second yellow and he could have no argument - a stupid lunge by Cash.  I think he would have looked a real tool if he'd have reacted the same way that Pep did over that second yellow.

Stones' tackle on the other hand was poorly timed and was more borderline, and you could make an argument for a yellow although I think was the right decision ultimately (nice to get VAR to benefit us for once).  Pep was more irate at the sending off than at his player.

[ciggiesnbeer]

Still love the bloke but his mojo is gone right now. Man City may well have better players (and they do) but there is no excuse for them wanting it more than us (and they did).

As Alex McLeish once said something like: "You cannot guarantee you are the most skillful player , or the best player. But you can be the hardest working, that's your choice. Nobody can stop you running." 

 

[barry'sboots]

5 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Minimal blame on Smith tonight for me. City are something to behold.

I don't think anyone blames him for the result and we all recognise how good Citeh are when they are on it.

Having said that, for all their possession they did not create too much and only won, arguably, because of Emi's error?

However, our general performance and attacking threat was abject, as it has been for the last dozen or so games, and Smith has to take the responsibility for that.

Edited April 22, 2021 by barry'sboots

[TRO]

13 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

TBF to Smith, Cash's was a stone wall second yellow and he could have no argument - a stupid lunge by Cash.  I think he would have looked a real tool if he'd have reacted the same way that Pep did over that second yellow.

Stones' tackle on the other hand was poorly timed and was more borderline, and you could make an argument for a yellow although I think was the right decision ultimately (nice to get VAR to benefit us for once).  Pep was more irate at the sending off than at his player.

I beg to differ, I thought Stones was more dangerous, poorly timed or not....He caught JJ's knee at the side.....but we digress....a bit on animation would be cool, I think.

[Tomaszk]

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

All teams are good in this league.....If you let them be.

No, incorrect. Only City are that good in the world.

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

I am in no way undermining Man City as a top footballing side, but we never laid a glove on them.....I am not even saying the result, would be different, but there is no fight in our belly's

We weren't great. We've still played worse and won games this season.

7 minutes ago, TRO said:

You have to compete....we stood off and "shadowed", we have had our belly's tickled and feel proud for keeping the score down....I don't buy your first line, its a line the pundits would roll out, to keep on side of the big 6.

Some heads dropped, it's demoralising against a team that good.

I think belly tickled is a bit strong. Have you watched us in the last 10 years? We've been rather bad for most of it. This was miles ahead of the 6-1 bumming last season.

[Tomaszk]

12 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I don't think anyone blames him for the result and we all recognise how good Citeh are when they are on it.

I think most sensible people are in this camp yes.

12 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

Having said that, for all their possession they did not create too much and only one, arguably, because of Emi's error?

However, our general performance and attacking threat was abject, as it has been for the last dozen or so games, and Smith has to take the responsibility for that.

Agreed. 1-1 without an Emi blunder.

Agreed again. We were woeful trying to pass the ball even once. Painful. Lots of work to do. Some players need to have a look at themselves in the middle.

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, barry'sboots said:

I don't think anyone blames him for the result and we all recognise how good Citeh are when they are on it.

Having said that, for all their possession they did not create too much and only one, arguably, because of Emi's error?

However, our general performance and attacking threat was abject, as it has been for the last dozen or so games, and Smith has to take the responsibility for that.

I get what you are saying but they are a world class team that dominate possession against everybody but we still had 8 shots to their 13and both only had 3 on target.  It backs up your point but given their possession was72% and as you say they didn’t create much and we didn’t go out to park the bus.  I think we have to separate this game from the rest because how well City played.  Even if we played well, I doubt very much would be different.  But the wider picture our performances have been poor.

I think Smith and the players need to take responsibility for that.  Some of the players are just not stepping up and it’s not as if we have the squad to do anything about it.  Smith needs to get more out of them but some of them need to take some responsibility and look at themselves.

[TRO]

9 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

No, incorrect. Only City are that good in the world.

We weren't great. We've still played worse and won games this season.

Some heads dropped, it's demoralising against a team that good.

I think belly tickled is a bit strong. Have you watched us in the last 10 years? We've been rather bad for most of it. This was miles ahead of the 6-1 bumming last season.

I have watched us the last 60 Years.....I would expect us to be better than conceding 6....They got no more points for 6-1 than 2-1, we still lost....they did just enough, with 10 men and many competitions to play in.

What I watched tonight, I believe we could have done better, even if the score was the same...its not the result that has miffed me, it was inevitable....its the insipid way we are playing....We couldn't have had a more inspiring confidence laden start, the ineptness of our work painted the final picture.

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by TRO

[Tomaszk]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

I have watched us the last 60 Years.....I would expect us to be better than conceding 6.

What I watched tonight, I believe we could have done better, even if the score was the same...its not the result that has miffed me, it was inevitable....its the insipid way we are playing.

 

We did do better. We conceded two. One is one of the best goals scored at Villa Park this season and one was a keeper error.

I can imagine Dean Smith wasn't too happy with the performance on the ball for sure.

[TRO]

1 minute ago, Tomaszk said:

We did do better. We conceded two. One is one of the best goals scored at Villa Park this season and one was a keeper error.

I can imagine Dean Smith wasn't too happy with the performance on the ball for sure.

we lost 3 points then and we lost 3 points now....You have a weird way of seeking solace.

I would hope Dean wouldn't be happy with our performance on the ball for the second half of the season, never mind just tonight.

[Tomaszk]

2 minutes ago, TRO said:

we lost 3 points then and we lost 3 points now....You have a weird way of seeking solace.

I would hope Dean wouldn't be happy with our performance on the ball for the second half of the season, never mind just tonight.

Is it weird to watch two games and think we played better in one than the other?

[avfc1982am]

We are, and have been poor for a while. Pre Xmas we looked like a very good counter attacking unit that could punish anyone. Now we look like a team that just punish ourselves through stupidity and a lack of bollox. Slow in movement, lacking conviction in our passing, we are slowly reverting to the team we were pre lockdown. I don't want to be harsh on Smith but he seriously needs to address our current style of play, or lack of. It's okay saying the players are shit but shitter players pass better and hold the ball better than we do. It's not just the city performance, we've been toothless the last 3 months.