Dean Smith

[USA_Villa]

Deano and AJ, make sure you kick those Blue asses tonight. Good luck boys.

[USA_Villa]

Smith 2 - 1 Noses

Job done. Well done Dean.

[Zatman]

Get this man a statue at VP. Look at the mess at the club since he was forced out.

He built such a well knit team until it was ruined by Captain Ego and his fanboyism and now the squad and fanbase are all over the place

Edited August 30, 2022 by Zatman

[Follyfoot]

32 minutes ago, Zatman said:

Get this man a statue at VP. Look at the mess at the club since he was forced out.

He built such a well knit team until it was ruined by Captain Ego and his fanboyism and now the squad and fanbase are all over the place

Really really miss him

[Tom13]

1 hour ago, Zatman said:

Get this man a statue at VP. Look at the mess at the club since he was forced out.

He built such a well knit team until it was ruined by Captain Ego and his fanboyism and now the squad and fanbase are all over the place

Tbf around the Southampton away game there was talk that he'd lost/was losing the dressing room.

Edited August 30, 2022 by Tom13

[Zatman]

Just now, Tom13 said:

Tbf around the Southampton away game there was talk that he'd lost/was losing the dressing room.

Maybe he might have but its not this bad. At minute is maybe 3/4 players unhappy and it's well known through media leaka

 

[theboyangel]

I see Smith was allowed to use Bodymoor Heath yesterday with Norwich ahead of their game with Small Heath.

Nice to have the training ground used for actual training for once

[VillaJ100]

10 hours ago, Tom13 said:

Tbf around the Southampton away game there was talk that he'd lost/was losing the dressing room.

Mentioned it elsewhere but I think said to them at half time lose this and I'm sacked and after half time they did at least put an effort in. Like they played and tried noticeably better

[tinker]

Happy for him, nice to see them get automatic promotion with Smith and Ramsey there . UTV 

[Villatillidie95]

Good to see things are starting to click for him at Norwich after a slow start where his job was under real threat by some accounts. They are still not at their best but you would expect them to be in and around the automatic promotion places, i suspect they might just miss out on atutomatics but win the play offs....still early days, but great to see him come back to his city and beat the scum in their own backyard!

[The_Steve]

With that squad they were always likely to be favourites to bounce back up like they usually do 

[stewiek2]

Villa let Norwich train at BMH before the game

https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/aston-villa-dean-smith-birmingham-24896337

[KentVillan]

It's amazing how Smith puts these runs of wins together. It's been such a noticeable feature of his management throughout his career. Big slumps and big purple patches. Which is why I think he would have turned things around last season, but hey ho.

He's clearly a competent top Championship / lower PL manager, and I don't think anyone can take that away from him. Great to see him doing well without it all being "thanks to Grealish". He's a good coach!

[a m ole]

[DJBOB]

14 hours ago, KentVillan said:

It's amazing how Smith puts these runs of wins together. It's been such a noticeable feature of his management throughout his career. Big slumps and big purple patches. Which is why I think he would have turned things around last season, but hey ho.

He's clearly a competent top Championship / lower PL manager, and I don't think anyone can take that away from him. Great to see him doing well without it all being "thanks to Grealish". He's a good coach!

For better or for worse, Deano tended to stick to his guns when it came to player combinations and passages of play. It didn't always work out and I remember many a time the fans were screaming for a lineup change, but he believes in his system and tinkers a few players in/out. Same of Norwich. Back to the good old 433 hammering away at their fullbacks and taking advantage of little overloads here and there.

Think he really needed to have more attention to detail to his opponents and be more ruthless when player combinations weren't working to get him to a higher level, but he's learning I think. Also just didn't have the draw in the transfer market that other managers might have (though who knows what he could have done with the current wage structure as it was set up). End of the day, I think he had his faults in terms of dealing with the Purslow and getting his preferred transfers in as well as some of the managerial tactical approaches, but he was not the finished product and didn't have the pedigree of learning under some of the greats, so it's always an in-progress job.

But he learned his trade with teams that were often inferior or only level against those he played (with maybe the exception of the Villa championship side) - so it's a tough gauge sometimes to think, "What could he have done with a much more superior team?"

Edited September 1, 2022 by DJBOB

[KentVillan]

5 minutes ago, DJBOB said:

For better or for worse, Deano tended to stick to his guns when it came to player combinations and passages of play. It didn't always work out and I remember many a time the fans were screaming for a lineup change, but he believes in his system and tinkers a few players in/out. Same of Norwich. Back to the good old 433 hammering away at their fullbacks and taking advantage of little overloads here and there.

Think he really needed to have more attention to detail to his opponents and be more ruthless when player combinations weren't working to get him to a higher level, but he's learning I think. Also just didn't have the draw in the transfer market that other managers might have (though who knows what he could have done with the current wage structure as it was set up). End of the day, I think he had his faults in terms of dealing with the Purslow and getting his preferred transfers in as well as some of the managerial tactical approaches, but he was not the finished product and didn't have the pedigree of learning under some of the greats, so it's always an in-progress job.

But he learned his trade with teams that were often inferior or only level against those he played (with maybe the exception of the Villa championship side) - so it's a tough gauge sometimes to think, "What could he have done with a much more superior team?"

I slightly disagree. I think he tinkers when results aren’t going his way, which is why you get the slumps. And then when he settles on something that works, with in form players, he likes to keep them in place for a run of games. That’s why he alternates between slumps and purple patches imo. Obviously he has a strong preference for 4-3-3 but that’s not all he does.

And with Villa and now Norwich in the Championship, he was / is managing superior squads.

I think his lack of draw in the transfer market is overstated. Martinez, Ings, Buendia and arguably Bailey were solid top tier signings on paper.

You’d need someone with the profile of Poch to really change who this club can attract. A famous ex-pro with no real management credentials hasn’t proven to be a huge step up (with the exception of the Coutinho signing).

Anyway, I wish him well. He made supporting this club fun again for a few years.

[DJBOB]

1 minute ago, KentVillan said:

I slightly disagree. I think he tinkers when results aren’t going his way, which is why you get the slumps. And then when he settles on something that works, with in form players, he likes to keep them in place for a run of games. That’s why he alternates between slumps and purple patches imo. Obviously he has a strong preference for 4-3-3 but that’s not all he does.

And with Villa and now Norwich in the Championship, he was / is managing superior squads.

I think his lack of draw in the transfer market is overstated. Martinez, Ings, Buendia and arguably Bailey were solid top tier signings on paper.

You’d need someone with the profile of Poch to really change who this club can attract. A famous ex-pro with no real management credentials hasn’t proven to be a huge step up (with the exception of the Coutinho signing).

Anyway, I wish him well. He made supporting this club fun again for a few years.

Yeah I forget when I look at that Norwich side on paper and think it's pretty dross but should roll the championship when I look at the other squads.

At least Norwich have some entertainment to watch until they go back up.

[Pinebro]

So happy to see him do well.

[Tomaszk]

On 30/08/2022 at 23:08, Zatman said:

Get this man a statue at VP. Look at the mess at the club since he was forced out.

He built such a well knit team until it was ruined by Captain Ego and his fanboyism and now the squad and fanbase are all over the place

If Grealish stayed, a statue of the pair of em would be getting commissioned by the end of the season.

[tinker]

Got Norwich playing really well, A Ramsey looking lively. Smith gets the most from players and builds teams that play for each other. If he can get Norwich up and keep them up then he's achieved all that can be expected.