Dean Smith

[hippo]

31 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I think the problems Smith has are deeper than simply losing 3 games in a row and I don't believe that fans are turning because of the results. The talk about us being a mid table team and that these things happen and all teams will get turned sound like reasons to justify the poor results and ignore what is happening on the pitch.

Imo, the reason people are questioning Smith's role as Gaffer is because the way we are playing football and his apparent inability to fix the issues. We do not have a style of football and our player don't appear to know what they are meant to be doing. Smith is unable to get Ollie and Ings to work together yet he persists and he is unable to get 3 CBs to work, yet he persists. This in turn, is starting to reflect in individual performances and we are looking really bad. 

We just don't look like a team and this is 100% down to Smith, it is not a transition period and it is not due to injuries. It is his responsibility to get us playing as a team and at the moment he is not succeeding. 

It isn't 100% down to Smith. As by his own admission he doesn't choose the players purchased.

I doubt he would have chosen to invest all that money Ings knowing that he either played Ings Watkins to be effective. Or leave either one of last stars on the bench or bench a major summer signing.

[Peter Griffin]

Just now, hippo said:

It isn't 100% down to Smith. As by his own admission he doesn't choose the players purchased.

I doubt he would have chosen to invest all that money Ings knowing that he either played Ings Watkins to be effective. Or leave either one of last stars on the bench or bench a major summer signing.

Getting the team style and getting the players to play as a team is absolutely 100% up to Smith. This is one of the key parts of his job. 

Further, it doesn't matter what influence he has on player purchase, even if he has no influence he still needs to be able to work with the players he is given. However, he has said that he has a veto on players brought in and he works with Lange to get the right players. Trying to blame the recruitment for our lack of style and inability to play as a team is just an excuse imo and trying to defend Smith through bias as opposed to being objective

[tomav84]

20 minutes ago, hippo said:

It isn't 100% down to Smith. As by his own admission he doesn't choose the players purchased.

I doubt he would have chosen to invest all that money Ings knowing that he either played Ings Watkins to be effective. Or leave either one of last stars on the bench or bench a major summer signing.

never seen him say this. would greatly appreciate it if you found this quote. everything i've seen is smith referring to a recruitment team, consisting of himself, purslow, and the DoF

everyone was happy to see ings come in. we've wanted 2 up top for a while, as i'm sure dean has too, we've just had no one good enough until ings came in. no one was to know they wouldn't be effective

[DCJonah]

27 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Genuine question. Not sure what this refers to, what teams?

Like any team that finishes in the 8th-12th positions year on year. 

[hippo]

21 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

Getting the team style and getting the players to play as a team is absolutely 100% up to Smith. This is one of the key parts of his job. 

Further, it doesn't matter what influence he has on player purchase, even if he has no influence he still needs to be able to work with the players he is given. However, he has said that he has a veto on players brought in and he works with Lange to get the right players. Trying to blame the recruitment for our lack of style and inability to play as a team is just an excuse imo and trying to defend Smith through bias as opposed to being objective

I'm not defending Smith. Imo he is living on his legacy. But replacing DS and continuing with the off field shit show called a a recruitment policy will most likely make matters worse.

[KentVillan]

3 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

never seen him say this. would greatly appreciate it if you found this quote. everything i've seen is smith referring to a recruitment team, consisting of himself, purslow, and the DoF

everyone was happy to see ings come in. we've wanted 2 up top for a while, as i'm sure dean has too, we've just had no one good enough until ings came in. no one was to know they wouldn't be effective

What makes you say that? Seems to me more like we picked up Ings because he was available at a good price, and now Smith and Shakespeare are trying to work out how to accommodate our best players.

[Peter Griffin]

2 minutes ago, hippo said:

I'm not defending Smith. Imo he is living on his legacy. But replacing DS and continuing with the off field shit show called a a recruitment policy will most likely make matters worse.

The recruitment policy was clearly explained to us. I am paraphrasing but Deano said he says the positions that he wants a player for, Lange comes up with a list of players and Dean can add suggestions to this list. Lange then does due diligence to see if the player is the right fit for Villa i.e. aligned with strategy and attitude etc. Then they agree what players to prioritise on the list and to try and get the best they can. Deano also said he has a veto and doesn't have to take a player he doesn't want. That doesn't sound like s shit show to me

[hippo]

6 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

never seen him say this. would greatly appreciate it if you found this quote. everything i've seen is smith referring to a recruitment team, consisting of himself, purslow, and the DoF

everyone was happy to see ings come in. we've wanted 2 up top for a while, as i'm sure dean has too, we've just had no one good enough until ings came in. no one was to know they wouldn't be effective

He pretty much such said it in his first ever window. He was asked about recruits in the Jan window. He said he wasn't involved and that was left to Susso. (I doubt he is totally out of the loop tbf) he said the part of the job he enjoys is being on the training pitch with the players.

I think there was the initial glee of the Ings purchase. But quickly on here some thought Watkins would go wide - others thought one be on the bench. Not many saw a Ings/Watkins CF combo.

[PaulC]

2 hours ago, KentVillan said:

We lost most of those games by 1 or 2 goals. Brighton are probably going to lose 6-0 here (famous last words…).

My point was more, these highly rated managers around Smith will all also have nightmare games and spells of bad form. And trust me, Brighton will get thrashed by a mid/lower table team at some point this season.

League football works like that. You have little runs of form, and little spells where everything looks shite. And then a bit of luck goes your way and everyone starts to believe again.

People on VT read way too much into a handful of games and construct these grand narratives about lost dressing rooms and out of depth coaches.

Like I said earlier, not defending Smith’s recent performances, but far too early to be debating his future at the club.

I don't think they will. they are a decent side who keep the ball much better than we do. we should be better than what we are!

[Peter Griffin]

8 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Like any team that finishes in the 8th-12th positions year on year. 

I am not trying to be difficult but I don't know what you are trying to say

[Peter Griffin]

1 minute ago, hippo said:

He pretty much such said it in his first ever window. He was asked about recruits in the Jan window. He said he wasn't involved and that was left to Susso. (I doubt he is totally out of the loop tbf) he said the part of the job he enjoys is being on the training pitch with the players.

I think there was the initial glee of the Ings purchase. But quickly on here some thought Watkins would go wide - others thought one be on the bench. Not many saw a Ings/Watkins CF combo.

I never saw that. Everything I have seen on recruitment and Dean is that he is fully involved in the process

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

The recruitment policy was clearly explained to us. I am paraphrasing but Deano said he says the positions that he wants a player for, Lange comes up with a list of players and Dean can add suggestions to this list. Lange then does due diligence to see if the player is the right fit for Villa i.e. aligned with strategy and attitude etc. Then they agree what players to prioritise on the list and to try and get the best they can. Deano also said he has a veto and doesn't have to take a player he doesn't want. That doesn't sound like s shit show to me

Well young/ AT/ Ings doesn't smack of coherent thinking to me. Nor does the departure of 2 coaching staff after our best season for 10 years .

[DCJonah]

3 minutes ago, Peter Griffin said:

I am not trying to be difficult but I don't know what you are trying to say

There seems to be this narrative being pushed that we are an unusual midtable side. I'm pointing out that we aren't. 

We are like the vast majority of teams who finish in those positions. 

However, I'll add that we're currently heading down away from that and need to rectify it. 

 

[KentVillan]

Just now, PaulC said:

I don't think they will. they are a decent side who keep the ball much better than we do. we should be better than what we are!

Over a 38-game season they won't get spanked by a lower team? Come on. Just have a look at the results of any full Premier League season.

West Ham last year finished 6th, got beaten twice by Newcastle. Leicester finished 5th and lost to Leeds, Arsenal, Newcastle and Everton.

Football doesn't follow neat rules of Team A is better than Team B is better than Team C, so Team A beats Team B beats Team C.

[hippo]

1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said:

I never saw that. Everything I have seen on recruitment and Dean is that he is fully involved in the process

If he is why is he head coach not manager ?

He can't be fully involved. I'm sure no players are imposed on DS - but Smith's forte is the training ground. He has alluded to that many times.

[M_Afro]

7 minutes ago, hippo said:

He pretty much such said it in his first ever window. He was asked about recruits in the Jan window. He said he wasn't involved and that was left to Susso. (I doubt he is totally out of the loop tbf) he said the part of the job he enjoys is being on the training pitch with the players.

I think there was the initial glee of the Ings purchase. But quickly on here some thought Watkins would go wide - others thought one be on the bench. Not many saw a Ings/Watkins CF combo.

He said that about the actual negotiations which is the way it should be. He is fully involved in the process of selecting the players that we target. The DOF and sometimes Purslow then handle the negotiation. 

[PaulC]

4 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Over a 38-game season they won't get spanked by a lower team? Come on. Just have a look at the results of any full Premier League season.

West Ham last year finished 6th, got beaten twice by Newcastle. Leicester finished 5th and lost to Leeds, Arsenal, Newcastle and Everton.

Football doesn't follow neat rules of Team A is better than Team B is better than Team C, so Team A beats Team B beats Team C.

Didn't happen last season. The two biggest defeats were 4-2 Everton and 3-0 Leicester, other than that most games were close. 

[avfc1982am]

20 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

never seen him say this. would greatly appreciate it if you found this quote. everything i've seen is smith referring to a recruitment team, consisting of himself, purslow, and the DoF

everyone was happy to see ings come in. we've wanted 2 up top for a while, as i'm sure dean has too, we've just had no one good enough until ings came in. no one was to know they wouldn't be effective

Speak for yourself, I've never wanted to see 2 up top. It's no good having 2 strikers if what's behind them aren't creating. Everyone wanted CF cover and to replace KD and Wesley but I haven't seen many people say they wanted the 352 as our primary formation.

[KentVillan]

4 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Didn't happen last season. The two biggest defeats were 4-2 Everton and 3-0 Leicester, other than that most games were close. 

So it did happen?

[PaulC]

2 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

So it did happen?

You wrote mid or lower mid table teams. Everton were top when they beat them 4-2 and Leicester in the top 3 I think. Maybe they will but do you think we will finish above Brighton the way we are playing?. I think we have a better squad than them but Brighton have identity and we dont and maybe that will come. I hope so!