Dean Smith

[TRO]

10 hours ago, Mark Albrighton said:

Criticism is fine.

I think there’s things he can improve on, I said as much when Dem posed the question the other day.

But any criticism I have is tempered by how much good will he has in the bank with me. As long as the general trajectory season on season is positive, I’ve not much cause to complain.

The stuff I might call out isn’t criticism, not constructive criticism anyway. It’s people who stamp their feet and talk about £250m investment and not acknowledge that it was required. Like Dean Smith is the only manager ever to have bought players before. Or calling him a “novice” when he clearly isn’t. Or the idea that no one on here wants him gone, I think that notion has now been dispelled “stealing a living” style comments have done that.

As for it being clearer next season. It might be. It also might not be. It could well be £100m spent in the summer, and this time next year we’re 8th or 9th. Some will be happy with that and consider that sufficient progress, others won’t be. £90m or whatever it was spent last summer and 6 places higher has caused some consternation for some. I doubt a similar amount spent and a couple of league places higher will appease absolutely everyone.

I think there is more than one argument going on here and its blurring the lines.

League table is one thing, form and the contents of our play is another.....8th or 9th will be great, but we have to stop giving the ball away cheaply and stop retreating when we get pressed....Thats some of the work we need to get fixed.

There are humpteen reasons why that is and some of the reasons are personnel, I accept, we have what we have.....But the groundswell of opinion is now turning to that player, a leader with the ability to control who has a football  brain to direct the passages of play, call him an enforcer or what you like, but we need control in the middle of the park.......will we sign one?, that is a concern of mine, I am genuinely not sure what they see. Dean loves the flanks, and flirts around with wingers to his hearts content, nothing wrong with that, I love wingers too....but we need substance in the middle too.

We need a Gareth Barry.........Type, Maybe Teun Koopmeiners would fit that bill....we have to go for one of these players with determination and Gusto.

We can only comment properly, when the summer business is complete and we see where the strengthening is focused.

I want to see the content of our play improve, before I busy myself with League tables.....Scoring goals is the holy grail, its what we all get excited about, but they can mask over poor play too.....We have to get better on the ball, in looking after the ball and keeping hold of it....we have to get better at passing and not giving it away on a whim....and just as important, we have to be more astute and streetwise, without the ball and improve our positioning as a group, working together in synchronisation.

Then we can start having a crafty peep at the league table......

As an analogy......We keep looking at our Bank Balance and we haven't got a well paid  job......first things first.

Edited May 18, 2021 by TRO

[Jas10]

To digress, did anyone ever see this?

 

Edited May 18, 2021 by Jas10

[peterw]

I'm afraid its the times we're living in. 

Football managers get it from the owners because of the amount of money in the game. The slightest feeling of losing money will see a manager come under more pressure and then a manager gets sacked. The problem wth that is that until you land on one where it works out, you become victim of chasing your own tail and sack and sack again, to justify the very first time you did it. We actually think 'wow' to any top flight manager - maybe even lower down the rungs - that have survived for 3 seasons. I remember coming into the 80s West ham had something like 3  mangers since the end of WW2 (or something).  Longevity was possible without the weight of millions, or billions.

But fans have also got a lot to answer for. We live in a digital age where we demand instant reaction and gratification. Where we expect to get what we want and demand to be heard. I mean look at us, here, banging our drum because we demand a voice and think its important. People opine rather than base their opinions on facts and its what gets us into trouble in the political world (think brexit) and can allow a platform for fans to demand A B or C simply because they think they're right. 

I'm right though, I know. 

[Jas10]

4 minutes ago, TRO said:

 

We can only comment properly, when the summer business is complete and we see where the strengthening is focused.

 

Let’s do that…

Last summer’s business wasn’t too bad at all…

Edited May 18, 2021 by Jas10

[peterw]

Ultimately with Smith he has deserved the right to take us into next season professionally over emotionally. he has made mistakes undoubtedly, but the club are in a far healthier position then when he came in so as a Smith fan I would see no reason to even question him professionally. He's earned the right to be a Prem manager, to have money to spend, to coach and mould as he sees fit, because of the hours spent at Orient, Walsall, and Brentford, and now at Villa. That he's a Villa fan is a bonus not the reason I'd want him, or anyone, to keep the job. 

Edited May 18, 2021 by peterw

[Jas10]

2 minutes ago, peterw said:

Ultimately with Smith he has deserved the right to take us into next season professionally over emotionally. he has made mistakes undoubtedly, but the club are in a far healthier position then when he came in so as a Smith fan I would see no reason to even question him professionally. He's earned the right to be a Prem manager, to have money to spend, to coach and mould as he sees fit, because of the hours spent at Orient, Walsall, and Brentford, and now at Villa. That he's a Villa fan is a bonus the reason I'd want him, or anyone, to keep the job. 

 

(ran out of likes, don’t you just hate that?)

[Demitri_C]

2 minutes ago, peterw said:

Ultimately with Smith he has deserved the right to take us into next season professionally over emotionally. he has made mistakes undoubtedly, but the club are in a far healthier position then when he came in so as a Smith fan I would see no reason to even question him professionally. He's earned the right to be a Prem manager, to have money to spend, to coach and mould as he sees fit, because of the hours spent at Orient, Walsall, and Brentford, and now at Villa. That he's a Villa fan is a bonus the reason I'd want him, or anyone, to keep the job. 

Yeah i dont think he should be sacked but if he starts the season like he has 2021 then he has to go for me.

The recent form is relegation form and that would be unacceptable next season.

Hopefully it wont come to that as i would prefer smith turns it around and stays. We need stability but that only happens if snith improves this shit form we are on.

[M_Afro]

I listened to the Villa Podcast last night. They reckon we have 17 points from our last 18 games. I haven’t checked that stat but if it’s true I am genuinely shocked. It has felt bad for a while but I had no idea it was that bad. That could easily be 17 points from 20 games come the end of the season! That will certainly get some attention in the boardroom.

[Zatman]

Jurgen Klopp took 3 and a half seasons to win a trophy at Liverpool. He took over during the season we went down and won his 1st trophy the week after we got promoted

 

[Zatman]

3 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I listened to the Villa Podcast last night. They reckon we have 17 points from our last 18 games. I haven’t checked that stat but if it’s true I am genuinely shocked. It has felt bad for a while but I had no idea it was that bad. That could easily be 17 points from 20 games come the end of the season! That will certainly get some attention in the boardroom.

We have 23 points from the last 21games which is 2nd half of our season. We played City twice in that time, had a fixture pile up others didnt and we lost to United, City and Liverpool with very questionable calls

[TRO]

The frustration for me on here is only a handful of people want to talk about the contents of our play....How much time is spent analysizing the game v just the superficail line he is crap, he is crap, thay should be backed up with why?

Why does "so and so, out" always seem to dominate the debate of do we like him or not......lets talk more about what he does good or bad.

We are all discerning Villa Fans....put personalities and personal favourites to one side and talk about the games and the things we do well and the things we don't ....The things the opposition do to us with impunity, and the things we could do better to stop them.

These debates become too personal.....If Keinan is not good enough, say why, not just he is no good, say what you think he should do better, thats just an example by the way.

I am particularly at odds with central Midfield, I will say why too....whether I am right or wrong, is immaterial, but folk can at least see my reasoning, even if they disagree.

We shouldn't be afraid of folk disagreeing......you could put all the 20 league managers under the spotlight in a room and they wouldn't all agree.

 

[peterw]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Yeah i dont think he should be sacked but if he starts the season like he has 2021 then he has to go for me.

The recent form is relegation form and that would be unacceptable next season.

Hopefully it wont come to that as i would prefer smith turns it around and stays. We need stability but that only happens if snith improves this shit form we are on.

 

Really? How many games? 3, 4 , 6? Or trust that it will come good? Pull the trigger after he's signed new players? Won't that have a destabilising effect? Changing managers mid season is always risky and unless there is an upgrade in the offing, then there needs to be calm over any ensuing storm.

[TRO]

15 minutes ago, Jas10 said:

Let’s do that…

Last summer’s business wasn’t too bad at all…

One of the best, in such a long time and fingers crossed we go again.....I will go as far to say, without that summer influx, we would have been facing a battle at the bottom again.

Ollie and Emi in particular have made a massive difference to us.

something to be mindful of going in to this window.

[Demitri_C]

1 minute ago, peterw said:

 

Really? How many games? 3, 4 , 6? Or trust that it will come good? Pull the trigger after he's signed new players? Won't that have a destabilising effect? Changing managers mid season is always risky and unless there is an upgrade in the offing, then there needs to be calm over any ensuing storm.

So if we are bottom three after 10 games we shouldnt pull the trigger? Of course we should in that scenario. 

You cant keep a under performing manager in place. 

When spurs appoined poch during the season that didnt work out to bad for them did it?

 

[HKP90]

44 minutes ago, Phil Silvers said:

Most of it feels like an agenda to me, corrupt officials? Maybe.

We bought in Shakespeare to help with coaching so it has been discussed addressed by Dean/Purslow. We still see repeated mistakes though but is it coaching or is it the standard of the players who on their day are brilliant but not often enough, consistency and concentration are what the better players have and this summer this will be addressed too.

 

After a long think, I don’t think officals are corrupt, they have just coped disastrously with the implementation of VAR. 

They use it as a crutch against making decisions that they would otherwise have done. Incompetence or lack of training? Not sure.

[HKP90]

Just now, Demitri_C said:

So if we are bottom three after 10 games we shouldnt pull the trigger? Of course we should in that scenario. 

You cant keep a under performing manager in place. 

When spurs appoined poch during the season that didnt work out to bad for them did it?

 

Worked out well for them now then?

[Demitri_C]

Just now, HKP90 said:

Worked out well for them now then?

Was that poch or levy?

[Zatman]

1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

So if we are bottom three after 10 games we shouldnt pull the trigger? Of course we should in that scenario. 

You cant keep a under performing manager in place. 

When spurs appoined poch during the season that didnt work out to bad for them did it?

 

Spurs appointed Poch in the summer after Sherwood left, they hired Mourinho mid-season 

2of the 4 sackings this season have been relegated teams chasing the mythical bounce

[MaVilla]

16 minutes ago, M_Afro said:

I listened to the Villa Podcast last night. They reckon we have 17 points from our last 18 games. I haven’t checked that stat but if it’s true I am genuinely shocked. It has felt bad for a while but I had no idea it was that bad. That could easily be 17 points from 20 games come the end of the season! That will certainly get some attention in the boardroom.

We have 23 points from our last 22 games, aka 1.04 PPG, aka a 39/40 point season based on those last 22 games.

If we lose against Spurs & Chelsea, thats 2 wins in the last 14, and 6 wins in 24.

We currently have 2 wins in the last 12, and 6 wins in the last 22.

Our first 14 games were way above what we could have reasonably expected, so well done there as that early form is what has ensured our season isnt a semi dog fight, but the last 22 games have been way...way below what i think is reasonably acceptable, our last 22 games have been relegation dogfight form.

Edited May 18, 2021 by MaVilla

[Demitri_C]

Just now, Zatman said:

Spurs appointed Poch in the summer after Sherwood left, they hired Mourinho mid-season 

2of the 4 sackings this season have been relegated teams chasing the mythical bounce

There is examples of failures and successes in both cases.

Look at pearson he bought watford out of rock bottom to almost keeping them up until they stupidly sacked him.

The point in is if your in rut and your not doing well your likely to sack your manager.