Dean Smith

[mjmooney]

4 minutes ago, El-Reacho said:

It’s mad that in any other industry or walk of life, Dean would’ve been headhunted by the very top by know. Yet in football the likes of Frank Lampard and Ole Solksjaer are considered good enough for the biggest jobs in football because they ‘just know how their clubs work’ which is just utter nonsense. (See AC Milan’s list of managerial failures over the last 10 years also).

Dean is ten times the manager that solksjaer is - it’s great that United are so deluded and lost in their own sense of entitlement that they can’t or won’t see it.

Again, in that BCU lecture, he made the point that even though he's a diehard Villa fan, taking the job wasn't a no-brainer. There was a lot more to it than that. 

[Brumstopdogs]

 

[Panto_Villan]

1 hour ago, macandally said:

So pray tell, given the lack of squad depth who would you have played instead of Chelsea and England International Ross Barkley?

Eventually he went with youth in JJ but that was a ballsy move in itself and you have no idea how ready he was because you my friend do not take training day in and day out.

it’s a poor stick to beat him with, Gresford was our best player, but with that comes problems, Dean has now a better squad, team and balance, including bench options.  
He couldn’t play what he didn’t have!

This isn't a great point imo. Does Barkley book a place in our team just because he once played for Chelsea and England, both of whom quickly decided he wasn't good enough? I think Barkley was a gamble worth taking but he unfortunately didn't work out, and Dean took a very long time time to drop him even though Ross was clearly not playing well at all. 

Who would I have played instead? If I'm not allowed to say Ramsay then I'd probably have played Nakamba in more matches and pushed McGinn and Luiz further forward. Hell, after seeing some of the performances Ross put in I'd have played Hourihane or Lansbury if one of those other three were injured.

As I said, I'm a fan of Dean's and I'll stick up for him when he gets stick after a few bad games. But the recent notion that he's some kind of learning savant where he sees a problem and then we never have to worry about it again due to his amazing learning ability (whereas other managers are just too stupid to be able to learn new things) is a bit silly.

He's a good manager and he should be proud of what he's achieved, and so should we. Importantly, I think he's a good match for the owners because the way he approaches building a team matches the way they want to invest in the club.

I'd say a lot of his "learning" is actually just having better players and more options available to him than he did in his earlier seasons, and more time to tweak the squad and club ethos to his liking.

I look forward to seeing where he takes the club next but I'm also not going to pretend he's never made mistakes. Anyone defending the amount of time Ross Barkley spent on the pitch last season is mad.

Edited September 26, 2021 by Panto_Villan

[Guest av1]

57 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

Can we well and truly banish the “can’t get us winning without grealish” claims now? 
 

 

I think ever since Smith came to the club there has been people playing down his achievements 

At Brentford some would have you believe that all he done was put out the bibs (the Brentford system was the real success story)

When he got us promoted, and then kept us up, it was because Jack carried us. Even towards the end of what was a fantastic season last year, there were people arguing that without Jack we’d have been relegation fodder. 
 

Outside of Villa, and even for a small majority of our own fans, I think Smith achievements are massively under rated. 

[Peter Griffin]

I rewatched the game and the performance was as good as I remembered in. Normally when I look at the game the next day I see it with of less claret & blue bias but we were really really good yesterday.

I think the thing that pleased me most about Smith's decisions yesterday was bringing on Archer for Ramsey in the 86th minute at O/T with the score 0-0. That is a big balls substitution, particularly so with an in form Nakamba sitting on the bench. That is something Bruce would never have done

Edited September 26, 2021 by Peter Griffin
Fixed a typo

[QldVilla]

8 minutes ago, av1 said:

I think ever since Smith came to the club there has been people playing down his achievements 

At Brentford some would have you believe that all he done was put out the bibs (the Brentford system was the real success story)

When he got us promoted, and then kept us up, it was because Jack carried us. Even towards the end of what was a fantastic season last year, there were people arguing that without Jack we’d have been relegation fodder. 
 

Outside of Villa, and even for a small majority of our own fans, I think Smith achievements are massively under rated. 

That’s because most people have no idea what it takes to be an elite coach and every coaches path is different. Smith’s journey was long because he hadn’t played for a big club previously and had to earn his opportunities and even then people still doubt him.

He has continued to evolve and become a better manager each season and is the perfect manager for Villa.

[fruitvilla]

2 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Is he learning lessons, or is it just a realistic fact that it takes time to build these things? 

Both?

In my forty odd years working ... I was always learning. Now that I am retired, I am a know-it-all.

[Guest av1]

On 20/09/2021 at 15:23, av1 said:

Happiness? If we ever beat UTD again I want the manager immediately Knighted, VP named the Dean Smith arena and every fan queuing up to give him a reach around before every home game. 

Hopefully the queue resembles my local patrol station 

[Talldarkandransome]

Thank you Deano

[KentVillan]

58 minutes ago, Panto_Villan said:

As I said, I'm a fan of Dean's and I'll stick up for him when he gets stick after a few bad games. But the recent notion that he's some kind of learning savant where he sees a problem and then we never have to worry about it again due to his amazing learning ability (whereas other managers are just too stupid to be able to learn new things) is a bit silly.

I'd say a lot of his "learning" is actually just having better players and more options available to him than he did in his earlier seasons, and more time to tweak the squad and club ethos to his liking.

I look forward to seeing where he takes the club next but I'm also not going to pretend he's never made mistakes. Anyone defending the amount of time Ross Barkley spent on the pitch last season is mad.

Lots of managers get investment and more options and still play the same way from year to year. Smith is definitely on a tactical evolution from season to season, much more than most of his rivals, and that seems to come from his willingness to let assistant coaches put their own ideas forward.

With a lot of coaches you get this problem after a while where they keep repeating the same mistakes. I don’t really see that with Smith. He makes mistakes, of course, but they don’t seem to be permanent long term flaws in his game.

[ferguson1]

Great to see how brave he was with his substitutions yesterday, in not wanting to accept the draw and being defensive minded. That bravery is also being instilled into the players.

 

[the_eristic]

1 hour ago, Brumstopdogs said:

 

Nightmare fuel.

[dudevillaisnice]

Great result yesterday. Really impressed by the performance though, best I’ve seen us play at OT for a while. So glad our terrible record has come to an end there.

[Adam2003]

2 hours ago, Panto_Villan said:

Does Barkley book a place in our team just because he once played for Chelsea and England, both of whom quickly decided he wasn't good enough?

He played 33 times for England over 5+ years and has played in winning FA Cup and Europa League finals for Chelsea as recently as two years ago. If you define all that as ‘quick’ decision making then you join should Boris Johnson’s covid planning team

PS this is not a defence of RB! Haha

Edited September 26, 2021 by Adam2003

[Adam2003]

1 hour ago, Peter Griffin said:

I rewatched the game and the performance was as good as I remembered in. Normally when I look at the game the next day I see it with of less claret & blue bias but we were really really good yesterday.

I think the thing that pleased me most about Smith's decisions yesterday was bringing on Archer for Ramsey in the 86th minute at O/T with the score 0-0. That is a big balls substitution, particularly so with an in form Nakamba sitting on the bench. That is something Bruce would never have done

A huge thing for our youth and other young players looking on as well to see that faith. Forget Bruce, I can’t think of any Villa manager in the last 20 years who would have brought on a teenage striker for a midfielder at 0-0 at Old Trafford with 5 mins left.

[JPJCB]

One thing I absolutely love about Smith/this team: when we’ve beaten big teams we’ve done so having genuinely deserved to win. 
 

I’m used to us beating teams in a smash and grab fashion even when we were competing for top 4 under O’Neill. The aim was to keep it tight, defend deep and nick a goal. But if you look at when we’ve played those equivalent teams under Smith we’ve gone out not just to win but to be the better team across the park. The 7-2 against Liverpool a great example. Yesterday another example (albeit more even). And for me the 3-0 victory at the emirates last year was the single best villa performance I’ve ever seen (albeit against Arsenal). Can anyone say they’ve seen us play as well against the “top” teams as we have in those three games in the last 20 years? 
 

Absolutely love the man 

[Talldarkandransome]

3 minutes ago, JPJCB said:

One thing I absolutely love about Smith/this team: when we’ve beaten big teams we’ve done so having genuinely deserved to win. 
 

I’m used to us beating teams in a smash and grab fashion even when we were competing for top 4 under O’Neill. The aim was to keep it tight, defend deep and nick a goal. But if you look at when we’ve played those equivalent teams under Smith we’ve gone out not just to win but to be the better team across the park. The 7-2 against Liverpool a great example. Yesterday another example (albeit more even). And for me the 3-0 victory at the emirates last year was the single best villa performance I’ve ever seen (albeit against Arsenal). Can anyone say they’ve seen us play as well against the “top” teams as we have in those three games in the last 20 years? 
 

Absolutely love the man 

The most pleasing thing for me, apart from the victories, is still trying to score more goals. Gone are the days we nick one and sit back for 60 mins. I look forward to seeing more top 6 scumbags get beat this season. Eventually Villa and Dean will get the plaudits they deserve. 

[Panto_Villan]

1 hour ago, Adam2003 said:

He played 33 times for England over 5+ years and has played in winning FA Cup and Europa League finals for Chelsea as recently as two years ago. If you define all that as ‘quick’ decision making then you join should Boris Johnson’s covid planning team

PS this is not a defence of RB! Haha

Fair point - in the interests of correctness, you can scrub the word "quickly" from my previous posts then

[maqroll]

3 hours ago, Peter Griffin said:

I rewatched the game and the performance was as good as I remembered in. Normally when I look at the game the next day I see it with of less claret & blue bias but we were really really good yesterday.

I think the thing that pleased me most about Smith's decisions yesterday was bringing on Archer for Ramsey in the 86th minute at O/T with the score 0-0. That is a big balls substitution, particularly so with an in form Nakamba sitting on the bench. That is something Bruce would never have done

Yes, and those kinds of bold decisions infuse the players with belief. Psychology,  innit.

[Vive_La_Villa]

3 hours ago, QldVilla said:

That’s because most people have no idea what it takes to be an elite coach and every coaches path is different. Smith’s journey was long because he hadn’t played for a big club previously and had to earn his opportunities and even then people still doubt him.

He has continued to evolve and become a better manager each season and is the perfect manager for Villa.

He was on track to get Walsall promoted to the Championship.  It’s a shame he wasn’t able to see it through. That would have been an unbelievable achievement.  They are battling relegation in league 2 now: