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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Leicester seem to be pretty consistent. As well as West Ham.

I don't think their squads are vastly superior to our.

Moyes has managed to find consistency. You know what West Ham you're going to get most weeks. Can't say the same about Villa.

Do you? They put 4 past Leicester and Newcastle, but then twice blew a lead at home to Palace, and a few weeks later lost at home to newly promoted Brentford.

You slated Smith for our draw against Brentford (despite our weakened side), so losing to them is surely a disasterous performance by Moyes?

 

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3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Smith isn't solely responsible for player recruitment.

Suso and now Lange is. 

No doubt Smith has played the main role in the Championship market and I credit him for that. Cash, Watkins and Konsa are great additions. 

But point is everything is set up for the manager and players to flourish. I actually think the managerial position is very easily replaceable. 

Tactical set up against Watford and Spurs is an example to why he still isn't there yet as a manager. He is still making mistakes. 

And you've followed the game for far longer than I and should know how key consistency is. And we've never really had it under Smith. 

Went from 2 wins in 13 to 10 wins in a row in the championship. 

Went from a team in the course to comfortably finish top half last season to collapse and barely averaging above a point per game second half of the season. 

Smith is a manager that has given us moments but way too inconsistent to make me believe we can finish in Europe which ultimately is what the owners and fans want. 

I am still unconvinced of Smith. I think he is a culture builder but for me he isn't a winner. I hope I am wrong as that would obviously benefit the Villa. 

but the best team managers in all sports are the ones who build the best cultures

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I’m actually struggling to understand what and how Solskjaer trying to build there whereas I can see the culture Smith is building throughout the club I don’t really see that in Solskjaers team, recruitment or style.

Edited by blandy
removed OT aspect
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35 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Dean Smith appointed when 14th. Not convinced with this appointment (fair enough).

promotion in first season. - still not convinced

Kept team up following a complete squad overhaul and a keeper injury crisis. plus a league cup final - still not convinced

11th place finish including wins over Liverpool, Arsenal x 2, Chelsea and Spurs - still not convinced.

Started the season with a win at Old Trafford for the first time in a decade - still not convinced. 
 

I think it’s safe to say anybody that is still not convinced by now will never be convinced. So it’s a pointless debate.

It's absolutely pointless because there's nothing to debate anymore. It's just the same critical posters trying to start a debate or want a balanced view, because they've been proved wrong on multiple occasions and can't back track at this point. 

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11 hours ago, catanzaro said:

but the best team managers in all sports are the ones who build the best cultures

Yes, that is absolutely correct but the best team managers do more than just build the best culture. Coaching & tactics and also key factors. All of the best managers have the attributes to do each of these. Time will tell if Smith can develop into one of the best managers. He does show elements of all the necessary skills but he is still learning 

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8 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

we've lost another youth coach, feels like Dean has lost at least three members of his coaching staff and apart from MacPhee we've not replaced any of them?

I'm not worried about it, people come and go and bringing in people like MacPhee recently shows we keep improving the staff when it is needed and available.

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31 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

we've lost another youth coach, feels like Dean has lost at least three members of his coaching staff and apart from MacPhee we've not replaced any of them?

What the others have said plus all the coaches and youth players we've taken from the baggies, I think we are stronger all through the coaching set up then we have been for decades.

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Smith has done a decent job on the whole considering where we were but comparing him to previous Villa managers is pointless because we've had so many mediocre ones. Because of our ability to appoint sh*t coaches shouldn't mean we put Smith on some kind of pedestal.

Plus going on about where we were 3 years ago, 5 years ago or even 10 years ago is irrelevant and ignores all the non-managerial factors that have taken us from where we were then and now. New owners have had a huge impact considering the 2 charlatans we had before these ones. 

I think Smith has built a great orgnisation at Villa and he's built up a very good backroom staff. I think he's also brought a really harmonious feel to the squad which we've lacked for a long time. I'm still not sure why Lange hasn't unearthed many gems in his scouting mission, but I'm hopeful that will come. 

Where Smith is lacking is tactically and in his decision making. Our biggest strength currently is our wingers yet he doesn't play any (injuries haven't helped in that regard either I admit). But he comes across very stubborn his approach and tends to stick at something even if it isn't working or affecting our style of play. 

We are roughly where I'd expect us to be given the strength of the squad. I feel last season we should have finished a bit higher. And I feel the season before that we were very lucky to stay up and would have gone down if not for COVID and the failings of Bournemouth and Watford.

So in terms of results he hasn't impressed me all that highly. I like him as a guy and he has built a very solid foundation for us. I think that's a fair argument.

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8 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Tactically he destroyed Jurgen Klopp last season and has given Tuchel a run for his money 3 times in the last 5 months. He also beat the Spurs, Arsenal and United coaches in recent times plus Ancelotti, Bielsa and Rafa

Fair but Bielsa, Wilder, Hassenhuttl, Moyes, etc all got the better of him last season too.

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37 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Plus going on about where we were 3 years ago, 5 years ago or even 10 years ago is irrelevant and ignores all the non-managerial factors that have taken us from where we were then and now. New owners have had a huge impact considering the 2 charlatans we had before these ones. 

Just don't get this, people talk about hat Smith has done since he got here as a way of explaining why they rate him to people who constantly say he's not good enough. It's not like anyone is dragging up ancient history or anything.

 

38 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

Where Smith is lacking is tactically and in his decision making. Our biggest strength currently is our wingers yet he doesn't play any (injuries haven't helped in that regard either I admit). But he comes across very stubborn his approach and tends to stick at something even if it isn't working or affecting our style of play. 

I think the polar opposite of this, we've played several different formations successfully. Before we had one decent first eleven and the shape pretty much picked itself based on those players. No we have options and we've played 4-3-3, 3-5-2 and others so far this season. I have no idea why you would think Smith is lacking tactically, he is one of the the most tactically astute British coaches in football today.

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1 hour ago, romavillan said:

Just don't get this, people talk about hat Smith has done since he got here as a way of explaining why they rate him to people who constantly say he's not good enough. It's not like anyone is dragging up ancient history or anything.

 

I think the polar opposite of this, we've played several different formations successfully. Before we had one decent first eleven and the shape pretty much picked itself based on those players. No we have options and we've played 4-3-3, 3-5-2 and others so far this season. I have no idea why you would think Smith is lacking tactically, he is one of the the most tactically astute British coaches in football today.

Why are Potter, Gerrard, Rodgers all considered better than him then? It’s not a conspiracy against Villa I can tell you that.

Smith has done a decent job as I said but still has weaknesses - the good thing is he’s young enough to fix them and not stuck in his ways and I do think there is an element of underrating him outside of Villa, but then I don’t get hyperbole like “he is one of the most tactically astute British coaches in football today”. 

There is an element of our support that will never back him, I get that (I don’t put myself in that category by the way), but there are the ones who defend him at every turn and believe he can do no wrong. The worst thing is the latter don’t like it when you criticise and can’t accept an opposing point of view so then determine to call everyone out that makes a constructive criticism of the manager. Which is wrong in my view.

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