Dean Smith

[Risso]

1 hour ago, useless said:

Leeds have averaged less points per game than we have, and have a worse goal difference by ten goals. Of all teams to be envious of they're not the ones. They've had a couple of good results, but they're just as likely to to then go and get beat in easier games.

They've also spent nothing like the amount we have under Smith, and have Patrick Bamford up front.

[Zatman]

We have one less point than we had at this stage in 2009/10 when we finished 6th

Edited April 22, 2021 by Zatman

[KenjiOgiwara]

Never cease to amaze me the fetish people have about talking of unimportant clubs like Newcastle and Leeds. Just weird.

For what it's worth people were saying the same stuff about Sheffield United last season. Your focus should be how we can improve, and rather be impressed that some other clubs are able to do half decent despite their obvious flaws in quality.

I really couldn't give a shit about other teams and how they are doing, but I guess it's a benefit of being foreign. I do however care about how absolute shite we are without Grealish and it baffled me why that's not the focus of the discussion.

Deano is a top man and has taken us leaps and bounds in a short while, but he really needs to do better without Grealish, cause I genuinly think we come across as a relegation outfit without him.

[useless]

Eighteen points from the final seven games will be a satisfactory return and give us some momentum going into next season.

[tomav84]

7 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Never cease to amaze me the fetish people have about talking of unimportant clubs like Newcastle and Leeds. Just weird.

For what it's worth people were saying the same stuff about Sheffield United last season. Your focus should be how we can improve, and rather be impressed that some other clubs are able to do half decent despite their obvious flaws in quality.

I really couldn't give a shit about other teams and how they are doing, but I guess it's a benefit of being foreign. I do however care about how absolute shite we are without Grealish and it baffled me why that's not the focus of the discussion.

Deano is a top man and has taken us leaps and bounds in a short while, but he really needs to do better without Grealish, cause I genuinly think we come across as a relegation outfit without him.

newcastle i don't get, agreed

leeds however we have been subjected to a season long barrage of arsekissery from the media, and even supposed villa fans on here so it would be nice to finish above them. they're not our rivals, but it would just be nice to get one over them. besides, now europe is no longer a possibility, you look for little victories just to make the rest of the season in some way interesting.

the recent form has been argued quite extensively on here too, to be fair. if we have a similar run of form next season (with or without jack), presumably after spending another truckload of money in the summer,  i think deano is in trouble and i doubt he'd survive it

[blandy]

50 minutes ago, nick76 said:

It’s bizarre!  Leeds are just another team in the league but the constant referring to a team that has been in the wilderness for ages with a one trick coach whose having a good season is bizarre.  

Good on them for having a good season, see how they do second season.  I couldn’t give a toss but we keep having to have comparison conversations because one person is obsessed with them and talks as if they are a top four team or more and we that we consider them rivals.

It is strange to concentrate on one club, I agree.

They'll be fine next year, probably do better if they spend in the summer. They've got a good manager and some good players and if crowds can go back, they'll have good support.

In terms of the league, as we've seen there are clubs like Liverpool and Manchester clubs and Chelsea who are miles ahead, in terms of spending power and such like and then there's the other clubs, of which Leeds, Villa, Everton, Leicester, West Ham, Wolves  and so on have the possibility to try and get near the top. Some are more advanced than others with their plans to do that -Villa and Leeds are working their own ways of doing that - both have good managers, but with different backgrounds and experience and having built on weak starting points. I mean Leeds had been scuffling around for a couple of decades not being any good and they've been excellently revived.

Dean Smith has taken Villa back up from a lower mid table position in the Championship, then lost a huge chunk of the squad when we went up and has started a process of re-building from both the U-23s and youth team, and from spending on mainly younger British players with some imports. So far it's going OK.

When we went down we were getting thrashed every game by the top clubs, now we draw or lose by the odd goal and get the occasional win. We're better coached and have a better squad, but being honest there's only a small core of really good players (by PL standards). But we're getting there. The continuity of management is a key part of that. It's not and never was going to be all steps forward, it's all two steps forward, one step back, then go again, having learnt a bit. Chasing or wanting instant success is futile and self defeating. After a decade or more of chopping and changing every couple of years or less, surely we've learnt that? Leeds will be the same in that regard. Same with Wolves. Just because they lost a key player for a large part of the season, and didn't do as well, you wouldn't sack the manager there. Fans can be our own worst enemy constantly comparing our club (any fans) with another. We've got a good manager, good owners, good ground and facilities,  good support, a mid table squad and a togetherness. Build on that, don't obsess about Leeds or Wolves, or West Ham or Spurs or whoever is my kind of way of looking at it.

[useless]

People want to finish above Leeds because doing so will mean we will finish higher in the table than we would if we didn't finish above them.

I'm sure Arsenal fans want to finish above Everton who are just above them in the league, that doesn't mean that Arsenal fans are obssed with Everton, they just happen to be close competitors this season so it's natural that they will want to better them.

At Christmas we were eight points ahead of Leeds with a game in hand, that's another reason to want to finish above them, similar with Arsenal and Wolves, it would be disappointing to finish below these teams after we were in such an advantageous position.

[OxfordVillan]

25 minutes ago, Risso said:

They've also spent nothing like the amount we have under Smith, and have Patrick Bamford up front.

I’m not sure why it goes under the radar with many people, but Leeds spent almost £100m last summer..... and they didn’t have almost an entire new 1st team to replace. 

[blandy]

15 minutes ago, OxfordVillan said:

I’m not sure why it goes under the radar with many people, but Leeds spent almost £100m last summer

And sadly that has been the necessity for wanting to stay up for  a few years now. hopefully the corollafungus and depleted revenues will put a stop to that kind of madness for all clubs.

[Demitri_C]

2 hours ago, useless said:

Leeds were lucky against Man City, Walker, Dias, Gündoğan, Mahrez, and Foden were all rested, still a good win for them, but we faced the much stronger team, and they had a lot of luck in that game. They've won against teams that we've failed to beat, and we've won against teams that they've failed to beat, that's the nature of the game. Last night's match didn't tell us anything we didn't already know.

Sterling de bruyne and aguero didnt play either. And city had a player sent off. Im not a fan of leeds but you cabt dismiss that win. It was inpressive3.

They showed charchter.  We should we were cowards yet again and didnt want to take the game to them

[TRO]

9 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

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

depends what you mean by better, we was on the ropes all through the game, possession wise we was totally outplayed....sure the goals against was less,

The final result was no less inevitable for me than the drubbing you cling to for improvement comparison.....yes I too, would sooner lose by the odd goal than 5....but its sheer cosmetic.

The flaws in our game were much the same in both games.

Edited April 22, 2021 by TRO

[blandy]

This is the Dean Smith thread, not the How Leeds played against Man. City thread. Please stay broadly on topic, Villans.

[useless]

Smith's going nowhere, only if this form continues for the rest of this season and well into next season, in other words if we're looking like relegation candidates come Christmas time. Next season consolidating ourselves as a midtable team will be a job well done.

[dubbs]

Let's see what pans out during the summer.  I'd say the board won't have many major concerns about DS at the moment given where we were 12 and 24 months ago. Yes of course we'd all like to do better than we have done recently but go back to the start of the season and see if you recall where you thought we'd be now and I bet a lot would have thought just above relegation places or lower mid table. Its not all doom and gloom at VP!

[Tomaszk]

5 minutes ago, useless said:

Smith's going nowhere, only if this form continues for the rest of this season and well into next season, in other words if we're looking like relegation candidates come Christmas time. Next season consolidating ourselves as a midtable team will be a job well done.

I think I agree and that suits no one, so it's probably the wrong move.

Smith's stock will be much lower and we'll be fighting relegation.

Hope they realise that.

I'd love a season review in May because this year has gone against what Smith has always said - that his teams get stronger as the year goes on.

Aside from Watkins & Konsa, every single player has been well below par since the covid break...which makes sense when you think about it.

[useless]

Last season Leicester finished the season very poorly, from Christmas their form was close to relegation form, and a lot of their fans were calling for Rodgers to be sacked, others were predicting that their form would continue into this season and he'd be sacked before Christmas, but look at them flying now. Can't be too hasty in judging Smith, he will remain head honcho going into next season no matter what.

[nick76]

11 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

I think I agree and that suits no one, so it's probably the wrong move.

Smith's stock will be much lower and we'll be fighting relegation.

Hope they realise that.

I'd love a season review in May because this year has gone against what Smith has always said - that his teams get stronger as the year goes on.

Aside from Watkins & Konsa, every single player has been well below par since the covid break...which makes sense when you think about it.

I’ve read this a couple of times and I’m still confused what you want.  

First I thought you wanted Smith gone by the first line, then review suggests you are on the fence and then the last line I think suggests it’s covids fault.

 I’m not agreeing or disagreeing just trying to understand where you stand, sorry if I’m being dumb.

[nick76]

13 minutes ago, useless said:

Last season Leicester finished the season very poorly, from Christmas their form was close to relegation form, and a lot of their fans were calling for Rodgers to be sacked, others were predicting that their form would continue into this season and he'd be sacked before Christmas, but look at them flying now. Can't be too hasty in judging Smith, he will remain head honcho going into next season no matter what.

And so he should.  

Clubs that continually change managers generally don’t advance and are mostly in turmoil.  

Managers are getting viewed over shorter and shorter periods, it used to be every two years managers got replaced now we are viewing 3.5 months since our covid training ground shutdown.

We have come a long way in 2.5 years under Smith.  Yes we are in an incredibly poor period but we’ve been through similar period only a year ago and turned it around.  The guy should have a lot of credit in the bank for what he’s done and not a reactionary action when he and the team are going through a tough time.  It’s not as if big names are doing any better...Ancelotti, Mourinho etc...jeez Moyes is currently above them and none of you would’ve took him over those two before he got the West Ham job.

Smith tends to take one big step back after two steps forward but he does eventually take two steps forward.  Nobody should want upheaval of everything we’ve done now.  We know constant change has issues and we know getting a bigger manager doesn’t always get any better results.  On a season by season basis we are advancing, I hope we have a bit more patience......

[TRO]

2 hours ago, tomav84 said:

think it's more important we finish above wolves. be nice to say we're kings of the midlands again.

with their run in, we need to start picking up points

Not exactly intent on stretching your expectations are you.

Imagine Ron Saunders back then saying.....I just want to be "Kings of the Midlands"

 

Edited April 22, 2021 by TRO

[Tomaszk]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

I’ve read this a couple of times and I’m still confused what you want.  

First I thought you wanted Smith gone by the first line, then review suggests you are on the fence and then the last line I think suggests it’s covids fault.

 I’m not agreeing or disagreeing just trying to understand where you stand, sorry if I’m being dumb.

First of all, I want us to start looking like a football team. That's #1 priority.

The poster said Smith is definitely staying and he'll only leave if we're in a relegation battle next Christmas. I think that's likely, but also the wrong move for everyone. 

I'd be interested in a season review with some real answers. What's happened with Jack for example?

We won't get any answers on covid I don't think. Players values will take a hit across the board if there's suddenly a risk they're suffering long-term affects of a condition that's wrecked the world. Both Villa and the players don't want that. I'm just interested as that's clearly the exact point our season went from brilliant to a shambles.

It's the players form that has gone off a cliff. I very much doubt Smith changed everything behind the scenes and we suddenly can't pass a ball. However it's easier to replace a head coach than it is about 7 first team players.