roonst83 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 3 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: I saw a win percentage calculation earlier (not sure if accurate) Smith is apparently 5% down on Bruce. I know other factors to take into consideration but those percentages are difficult to change when Villa are so inconsistent. Slight unfair given Bruce only managed us in the Championship. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 19 minutes ago, sne said: Might as well go for the Red Bull Salzburg guy Matthias Jaissle right away. He's only 33 Can he play in midfield? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 1 minute ago, Herman22 said: Doesn't Tuchel play 5-3-2 quite a bit? And it is also Conte's preferred line up. I suppose that's the difference in knowing how to actually implement the system we are trying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightoffyour Posted November 1, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, roonst83 said: Slight unfair given Bruce only managed us in the Championship. Bit of a stretch. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 1 minute ago, Peter Griffin said: Can he play in midfield? Nah, he's only 6ft 1 so obviously not tall or tanned enough. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCU Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Genuine question, so we've lost our past 4... Spurs 2-1 Villa Villa 2-3 Wolves Arsenal 3-1 Villa Villa 1-4 West Ham What was the expectation here, realistically? 12 conceded. Spurs narrowly won. We were 2 up against Wolves and crumbled and arguably were unlucky with a couple of the goals. Arsenal are coming back into form, we were just unfortunate to be one of the opposition teams. And West Ham are flying at the moment whether we like it or not. Plus we had a man sent off at what 2-1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Just now, sne said: Nah, he's only 6ft 1 so obviously not tall or tanned enough. Sounds like we are narrowing our search down to the Crystal Palace manager 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, fightoffyour said: 2 years in the Championship for Bruce vs half a season for Smith is a bit more than a factor, it’s quite literally different leagues. 4 minutes ago, roonst83 said: Slight unfair given Bruce only managed us in the Championship. Obviously... However it's 33% this season, we are in a rut. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Just now, Peter Griffin said: Sounds like we are narrowing our search down to the Crystal Palace manager Yeah he'd fit the bill perfectly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 7 minutes ago, fightoffyour said: 2 years in the Championship for Bruce vs half a season for Smith is a bit more than a factor, it’s quite literally different leagues. Yeah, bit of an odd comparison that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, Herman22 said: Doesn't Tuchel play 5-3-2 quite a bit? Its the only system Antonio Conte plays Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom13 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Does anyone else think that Smith might struggle to inspire the players? Maybe it's just when he's in front of camera, but he never comes across as a confident guy to me. Laughing about Rice's lucky connection for his goal while first naming him 'Dec' annoyed me as well. After a performance like that you should be as firm as anything in the post match. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, MCU said: Genuine question, so we've lost our past 4... Spurs 2-1 Villa Villa 2-3 Wolves Arsenal 3-1 Villa Villa 1-4 West Ham What was the expectation here, realistically? 12 conceded. Spurs narrowly won. We were 2 up against Wolves and crumbled and arguably were unlucky with a couple of the goals. Arsenal are coming back into form, we were just unfortunate to be one of the opposition teams. And West Ham are flying at the moment whether we like it or not. Plus we had a man sent off at what 2-1? I would expect a minimum of 4 points. But it is not so much the points it is the way we are actually playing. I really don't like the 'unlucky' aspect either. It all balances out. Man U are in bad form, missed penalty, deflected goal against Wolves (by us), Konsa should have seen Red against Everton at 0-0. If we are to take into account when we are unlucky we should also take into account when we are lucky 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 (edited) I'm really annoyed how Smith constantly alludes to us not starting games with enough intensity. Well fix it then, motivate the players and address 'why' he always allow teams to get a start on us. It only points to the players not believing in him if thy aren't up for the games! Hence that win percentage, whether it's Championship or PL doesn't matter as when you start to lose it is a difficult thing to change. Edited November 1, 2021 by Zhan_Zhuang 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mykeyb Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 6 minutes ago, MCU said: Genuine question, so we've lost our past 4... Spurs 2-1 Villa Villa 2-3 Wolves Arsenal 3-1 Villa Villa 1-4 West Ham What was the expectation here, realistically? 12 conceded. Spurs narrowly won. We were 2 up against Wolves and crumbled and arguably were unlucky with a couple of the goals. Arsenal are coming back into form, we were just unfortunate to be one of the opposition teams. And West Ham are flying at the moment whether we like it or not. Plus we had a man sent off at what 2-1? What Does Dean want the players to do on the pitch?. The team lacks a clear vision, players seem unhappy, rumours of players infighting. His record without Grealish is poor. What are you seeing that makes you think he can even steady the ship let alone improve on last season which he has stated the aim is? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Tom13 said: Does anyone else think that Smith might struggle to inspire the players? Maybe it's just when he's in front of camera, but he never comes across as a confident guy to me. Laughing about Rice's lucky connection for his goal while first naming him 'Dec' annoyed me as well. After a performance like that you should be as firm as anything in the post match. I think that Smith is now dealing with something he has never experienced before in that he has many multi million pound players that are internationals and they themselves have a view on how and where they should play. With losing JT and ROK, Smith's voice needs to be much stronger and commanding. When things are not going well and different players are potentially suggesting different formations and styles etc it can be difficult for a manager. When we had JT, I am sure he said the this is the way you have to do it and there would be no pushback. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delphinho123 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I can see this turning into a long post, so TL:DR - Smith is bang in trouble. Club also to blame. His problems really started in the Summer when Grealish left (Sorry, here we go again). Every man and his dog could see the over reliance on Jack, both in the way we set up, the way the other players played and how the opposition set up against us. The modus operandi was very much - give the ball to Jack. If you're in trouble, give it to Jack. If we need to score, give it to Jack. He made every player around him better (see Targett's decline this season). He also affected the oppositions mindset. We had an identity. Jack the brand, Jack the lad, Jack the player, teams were frightened of him. Compare the West Ham game yesterday to the games against them last season. Their set up last season was to play two right backs and double up against Grealish and hope that they could stop him and then score themselves. Yesterday, they didn't have that problem so they just came with the intention of beating us and they did so with unquestionable ease. Smith has never found a way of playing without Jack. One may even argue the only reason we were promoted was because Jack came back from his injury and we went on a ten game winning streak. There was no way we were getting promoted if this didn't happen. Then, fast forward a year, he almost single handedly keeps us in the league etc. etc. So Grealish leaves and money is spent on Buendia, Bailey and Ings. Individually, all very good players. Ok, Bailey has been out injured but Smith has failed to really get anything creative out of his forward players. He's messed around with the system to the detriment of Watkins, Targett and Buendia's performance levels and he's been too stubborn to see when things aren't working - the two up top. We're a mess. The players don't seem up for it. They don't seem like they're fit enough and now there are murmurings of unrest behind the scenes. It feels as though we won't ever win a game again the way we are playing! All of this is on Smith I'm afraid. He's had three years to mould a system that works with or without Grealish and he simply hasn't been able to do it. We seem to go on good runs of form but they're massively outweighed by the really bad spells we go through. Now re-wind back to the Summer and the absolute calamity that was the Summer transfer window. Before Grealish left, our priority should have been to replace Barkley (a no.8/10), to buy a defensive midfielder and then to strengthen out on the right and buy a player to compete with Traore. It started out well, we signed Buendia and the prospect of Grealish and Buendia behind Watkins was tantalising. We then sign Bailey, a player who has just had his best season playing from the right wing, but ok, that's fine, now we have real options! We can play Grealish as a 10 with Buendia and Bailey outside of him. One might be slightly uncomfortable on the left but they're good enough to adapt. Now, if we could only strengthen the defensive midfield area to stop teams from walking through us... Then Grealish leaves, something the club didn't plan for. If they'd have expected it, they wouldn't have been so daft as to feature him in the kit launch and subsequently sell/refund thousands of shirts which outside of being really stupid, is a commercial disaster to boot. The Ings signing is something to appease the fans and is a signing based on stats. i.e. we can replace Grealish's goal involvements by signing Ings but that's not how it works. We also have Watkins, a player who excels in the 4-2-3-1 formation, a formation that's helped us to our best defensive record in years the season before and a formation that every player looks comfortable in. So why buy Ings? Straight away we have a problem fitting a £25m striker on £120k a week into a side that looks set. He's also 29yrs old, which completely breaks away from our pattern of buying 21-25yr old players with the hope they improve and their value goes up. A panic signing? Absolutely. So, at this point we have signed two right sided forwards and a striker to compete with arguably our best outfield player from the season before. But, again, this is absolutely fine if we bring in the two midfielders I mention earlier - a defensive option and a Barkley (no.10) replacement. But we don't and that ladies and gentleman, caps an appalling transfer window. We've left ourselves completely unbalanced and not addressed the problems in the side from the year before. This part is on the club as much as it is on Smith. Am I surprised as to our performance so far this season? Hell no. Look at my previous posts in the transfer threads and the Smith thread. As soon as Ings was brought in, I think I was one of the first posters to say it stinks of a panic signing (how great am I?). I consistently pointed out that if we don't bring in a new midfielder or two, there was no way we were improving on our 11th place finish and here we are in 15th/16th or wherever we are in the table now. The club, and Smith, have had a poor 6 months which goes against everything they've done previously. There is no getting away from that. From the recruitment, to Smiths tactics, to Terry/ROK leaving, it's been a mess. Smith, a man I absolutely respect and love, is a dead man walking. I don't see him getting out of this and the club isn't faultless in that. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MCU Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Just now, mykeyb said: What Does Dean want the players to do on the pitch?. The team lacks a clear vision, players seem unhappy, rumours of players infighting. His record without Grealish is poor. What are you seeing that makes you think he can even steady the ship let alone improve on last season which he has stated the aim is? Look at the bigger picture, he has steadied the ship. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 4 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: Well fix it then, motivate the players and address 'why' he always allow teams to get a start on us. And if they can't be motivated then give them a kick in the arse and sell them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
est1874 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 36 minutes ago, tomav84 said: when you're in a sticky patch every game looks tough though. a few weeks back we were eying up this period to really kick on this season i fancy us friday. there will be a reaction. saints are shite Except that they're not really, they're alright now. Ahead of us in the table currently and definitely a better side than they were last season. I like Hasenhuttl too, he's done well there with the resources at his disposal really. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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