hippo Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 2 minutes ago, macandally said: And how long were they in the championship? You mean keep changing until we stumble on the right blend. Again, you have been against Smith since the start so I feel your view is prejudiced what I meant was leeds changed manager mid season. it didnt work so they swiftly got rid. ....thats what happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GENTLEMAN Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 18 minutes ago, TRO said: I think you are right. Good players....but good players without the ball are questionable. We have to go back to basics, and tighten up.... they are too much of a luxury right now as much as I like both. It seems this has been being said for soooo long now though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hippo Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 3 hours ago, Eastie said: Maybe the players don’t respect him ? Maybe they look as his achievements as a player and just don’t listen to him ? I wonder DS is teaching JT how to organise a defence....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 3 minutes ago, TRO said: Terry, Johnstone, Snodgrass...all strong Characters and in charge of their own game. Agreed and you can add Jedinak (who was solid as a defensive midfielder and useful for set pieces) and Grabban as a regular goalscorer to the list above. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 7 minutes ago, hippo said: The bollocking was given at HT ...when were 2-0 up. and the pitch craft was poo...that why we were heading for a defeat and we got exactly that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post DaveAV1 Posted January 12, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted January 12, 2019 I think the board recognise that the club needs a total reboot. They have made massive changes to personnel and philosophy off the pitch and decided that we need to completely change the way in which we operate. To implement theses changes at the sharp end they have chosen Dean Smith, offering him a massive job in both terms of the size and expectations of the club and the sheer amount of change that is required. In doing so they have taken a big risk, as are all important appointments. I don’t think that they rushed this appointment or didn’t carry out proper due diligence and neither do I think they did it without a proper plan. I also believe that within this plan they realised all would not be plain sailing and that there would be lots of ups and downs. They are experienced businessmen, they will know that Rome wasn’t built in a day. They have surrounded themselves with proper football people, who along with Smith and the coaching staff, I’m sure will have recognised that this squad is made up of ageing, comfortable players who are largely at the end of their contracts/careers. As the type of team we are trying to create is a high pressing, high energy, attacking team, the squad we currently have is in the main, not fit for purpose. So I’m pretty sure there will be understanding and support from the owners, and results like this, whilst being painful won’t come as a shock. This attitude that the squad should be good enough to beat xxx is as illogical as it is arrogant. Many of the opposition players will see a fixture against us as one of the highlights of the season and will be super motivated, which our players quite obviously aren’t. They won’t just lay down and get beat because they are “only” Wigan or whoever. We need players who are as motivated to pull on a Villa shirt as those are who face it. Until we fill our team with players who have this passionate attitude, regardless of how talented they are we will get nowhere. Today I have heard Smith being written off after 15 or 16 games and 12 days of transfer window, a new goal keeper after 2 games and a centre back after 20 minutes. All this after 10 years of possibly the most neglect management this fabulous football club has ever suffered in all it's glorious history. Anyone who thinks this is going to be a quick fix is going to be very disappointed. Smith isn’t the finished article, he will make mistakes. However he will grow with the club, we will win and lose as a team and become stronger for it. Knee jerk reactions and thinking we can fix this with a cheque book are what has got us where we are now. Sure I’d love us to get promoted, then win the league and a cabinet full of trophies. That may happen, but only with time and patience, which we actually must embrace and not just pay lip service to. We have to both endure and enjoy the journey and then perhaps we may see the fruits of our collective effort. Sorry for the ramble lads. UTV. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRO Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, GENTLEMAN said: It seems this has been being said for soooo long now though. but not acted upon. so we have to keep saying it.....until the penny drops. Edited January 12, 2019 by TRO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeAVFC Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 I like Smith but can't even begin to work out what he was trying to achieve with those subs today. Absolutely bat shit crazy management! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brumstopdogs Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 DS deserves a pre season, but at the same time if he keep making subs like he did today it's hard for me to get behind him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 He didn't see that coming, after the first half? Did he miss the 25 minutes at the end of the first half that Wigan had us stuck in our own half? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 Smith had us playing some great football. The best I’ve seen us play for years. I’m at a loss how bad we are at the moment. This has been going on for the last how many games now? We seem to be getting worse. I still believe on paper our attacking line up is play off material. It’s just the keeper and defence where we are so weak. The problem is, we look blunt as **** going forward at the moment, which is a massive problem, as we can’t defend for shit. I’m getting vibes off here, that people are already starting to question Dean Smith. The bloke needs time, but I will admit, I can’t get my head around why we are so bad at the moment. One thing I will say is that, if he don’t get a hold of things here, this job will chew him up and spit him out. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 11 minutes ago, villalad21 said: DS deserves a pre season, but at the same time if he keep making subs like he did today it's hard for me to get behind him. I never understand this preseaon nonsense that gets trotted out to excuse players and managers. What do people think happens in pre season that can't be done at any other time of the year??? Serious questions for Smith now and he needs to find an answer. He can't rely on grealish to carry the team. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markavfc40 Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 35 minutes ago, TRO said: Lack of effort in football is the ultimate sin and it should be rooted out....when you say it isn't just down to personnel, I think a huge part of it is. I don't profess to know the answer to our woes, but the dramatic shift in performances and results is worrying. I agree a lack of effort is unforgivable and regardless of ability or the managers tactics a lack of effort is always on the player. Would us putting more of a shift in today have got us a result though I am not so sure as our issues run deeper than that. Whilst since the WBA we no longer show the same intensity, no longer press as high up the pitch, no longer close teams down which can all be in some way be put down to putting a shift in when in possession we are failing to look after the ball, look clueless and often slow and pondered playing the ball side ways and backwards. We are also leaving gaping holes in wide areas, our fullbacks playing way too narrow and a lack of tracking back from our wide midfielders. This day and night in terms of our performances started the second we lost Grealish and whilst it all can't be put down to his loss I think he is a big reason. He sets the whole tempo of the way we play. Him being in the team means the opposition sit deeper as they are wary of what he can do, when he has the ball he attracts two players and when he picks up the ball deep he will drive forward with it and everybody feeds of him and his movement. He basically makes us tick and it is not until he isn't in the team that you realise how much he does. The money we have spent though and in fairness the players we have relative to a lot of the teams we face at this level should mean we are able to cope without him but we are failing miserably. We have to ensure going into next season we aren't as reliant as we have been the last two seasons on two or three players performing otherwise the whole thing crumbles. Last season it was Jack, John Terry and maybe Snodgrass. This season it is Jack and Tammy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 My worry about Smith was always that he wouldn’t be up to the job. (Not sure who is though.) I was very impressed with his early results, especially the Middlesbrough game and convinced myself I was completely wrong. However it’s now looking a lot more dicey for him. I’m now learning that he needs time, needs a preseason and needs to buy his own players. We hear this about every new manager and they all seem to fail in the end. What I’m seeing is him losing influence over the way his team plays. He needs to get that back quickly because a manager who can’t affect the way his squad is playing is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 11 minutes ago, briny_ear said: I was very impressed with his early results, especially the Middlesbrough game and convinced myself I was completely wrong. Yea the honeymoon period was a great time, but we're back home and back to work now, it's time he shows what he is made of as a coach. It's very common to have that new manager effect but it wears out eventually. At the moment DS is ticking every wrong box to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LxYoungAVFC Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 1 hour ago, wilko154 said: Smith has now been hit hard by the instant change in fortunes when he took over. We went from playing desperately abject football under Bruce to bossing games with energetic, high pressing, possession based football. It's now becoming clear that it was a new manager bounce as well as the overhaul in tactics that helped produce those perfomance's. Tuanzebe and Grealish obviously helped immensely. We've now fallen back into the performances we were being subjected to under Bruce and suddenly people are getting on Smith's back. We have to remember this is still Bruce's squad, a depleted squad from last season. We have some very good players, but they are mixed in with some past it players, some individually good players, and some very average/poor players. Unfortunately we have more of the latter than the former. We have to get behind Smith and give him the chance to implement his style of football and bring in the players to help him do this. It's not going to happen overnight and it most likely won't happen this season. Promotion was an outside chance this season, and whilst it's disappointing that we will lose players like Grealish and Abraham, the long term goal of Aston Villa rebuilt and playing football to be proud of is the overall goal. I don't remember us ever bossing any games. We just scored more goals than the other team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 At the end of the day we have no other option than to back Smith and hope that it works, but it looks like this will take 2 seasons at least. If it doesn't and he leaves I fail to see how Villa will look that attractive to any other manager given that the parachute payments will be gone and the fact that even a promising young local manager could not turn it around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 4 minutes ago, LxYoungAVFC said: I don't remember us ever bossing any games. We just scored more goals than the other team. We bossed Derby and especially Boro. But those are the 2 standout games in my memory. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rugeley Villa Posted January 12, 2019 Share Posted January 12, 2019 We should have been out of sight with half hour to go against the baggies too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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