Dean Smith

[Pimlico_Villa]

Just now, striker said:

I actually thought that more of the the U23s would have been intergrated into the first team by DS so that’s been a major disappointment for me so far concerning Dean Smith’s short reign at the Villa.

I think they'd all be better suited to his high tempo, high intensity style as well. Smith needs younger, fitter players with it all to prove. Asking the likes of Hourihane and Whelan to run and pass the ball forwards is just too difficult a task. They just will not do it. 

Alternative would be to acknowledge the fact that these players are too old to change and start playing more to their strengths. We all want to see attacking football, but if we have players that just outright refuse to run or play high intensity, then he needs to show pragmatism and tweak things tactically to appeal to player's strengths. 

Personally, I would write this season off (yes, I know we're only 5 points of POs, but in 12th place there are too many teams above us we'd need to dislodge) and blood the youth. In the long run, we need players willing to run and run and run. Give them the rest of this season and they'll be ready for next. 

I'm also sick of the youth being wrapped in cotton wool - if they are so mentally fragile at 21 then they are a waste of a squad position and shouldn't be at Villa. 

[Merson08]

1 minute ago, wilko154 said:

We were already shipping goals for fun before Bruce left.

Under Bruce we managed 1 clean sheet this season

Under Smith we have had 5 clean sheets.

 

It's not Smith that is the problem, it's the defense he has inherited from Bruce.

I wasnt an advocat of Bruce and I arent suggesting he should of stayed in a job. However Bruce kept 2 clean sheets in 14 games. Also only conceded more than 2 goals twice. 

Under smith we have kept the 5 clean sheets but conceded more than 2 goals 4 times. On average we are conceeding more goals under Smith than under Bruce. Were also scoring more than under Bruce. All of this is for nothing though cause only points mean prizes and our football is getting worse as more games are played. Playing 19th and having 0 shots on target, thats embarassing. Thats not Bruces fault, thats Dean Smiths, he would have more time from the fans if he played our ever ageing young players.

Bruce was rightly sacked, Smith deserves time, just about. Players were linked with at the moment all seem from our scouts history. Harold Makoudi is linked again, Kalinic was a player we had interest in a few years ago. Only Hause is a new name.........and he aint looking good. 

[AVFC44]

2 minutes ago, Merson08 said:

I wasnt an advocat of Bruce and I arent suggesting he should of stayed in a job. However Bruce kept 2 clean sheets in 14 games. Also only conceded more than 2 goals twice. 

Under smith we have kept the 5 clean sheets but conceded more than 2 goals 4 times. On average we are conceeding more goals under Smith than under Bruce. Were also scoring more than under Bruce. All of this is for nothing though cause only points mean prizes and our football is getting worse as more games are played. Playing 19th and having 0 shots on target, thats embarassing. Thats not Bruces fault, thats Dean Smiths, he would have more time from the fans if he played our ever ageing young players.

Bruce was rightly sacked, Smith deserves time, just about. Players were linked with at the moment all seem from our scouts history. Harold Makoudi is linked again, Kalinic was a player we had interest in a few years ago. Only Hause is a new name.........and he aint looking good. 

Based on a 30 minute appearance for a new team that he's been with for less than a week... **** me. 

[striker]

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Takes balls to gamble on youngsters when fans are expecting top 6. I think he is too much of a coward to go for it

I think you’ve hit on one of the major problems for any new manager coming into the Villa. The expectation is that high that the manager feels he has to stick with the old guard to guarantee results. However as we’ve seen that approach has failed on so many levels.

I thought Dean Smith was brought into Villa to change all that though and follow on what he was doing at Brentford?

It just seems to me at the moment that the manager doesn’t know whether to stick or twist hence his own footballing philosophy being lost in Villa expectation.

[hippo]

2 minutes ago, Pimlico_Villa said:

I think they'd all be better suited to his high tempo, high intensity style as well. Smith needs younger, fitter players with it all to prove. Asking the likes of Hourihane and Whelan to run and pass the ball forwards is just too difficult a task. They just will not do it. 

Alternative would be to acknowledge the fact that these players are too old to change and start playing more to their strengths. We all want to see attacking football, but if we have players that just outright refuse to run or play high intensity, then he needs to show pragmatism and tweak things tactically to appeal to player's strengths. 

Personally, I would write this season off (yes, I know we're only 5 points of POs, but in 12th place there are too many teams above us we'd need to dislodge) and blood the youth. In the long run, we need players willing to run and run and run. Give them the rest of this season and they'll be ready for next. 

I'm also sick of the youth being wrapped in cotton wool - if they are so mentally fragile at 21 then they are a waste of a squad position and shouldn't be at Villa. 

Well when successive managers overlook the u23's you have to wonder if they are good enough.

Who exactly would you put in the team for the game v Hull ? 

You can also play the pressing game without every players running at 90mph - thats where accurate passing comes in.

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, striker said:

I think you’ve hit on one of the major problems for any new manager coming into the Villa. The expectation is that high that the manager feels he has to stick with the old guard to guarantee results. However as we’ve seen that approach has failed on so many levels.

I thought Dean Smith was brought into Villa to change all that though and follow on what he was doing at Brentford?

It just seems to me at the moment that the manager doesn’t know whether to stick or twist hence his own footballing philosophy being lost in Villa expectation.

That expectation comes with the history of the club and will never go away.

Aston Villa is England's 5th most successful club, of course expectations will always be there, they are glued within the walls. If you cannot handle the pressure you're not fit for the club, that goes for players as well.

[Demitri_C]

The expectations from fans will be a lot lower if we went up though thats for sure.

It's actually made things worse coming down as the expectations are a lot higher now. I do think a lot of the squad struggle with this when they come. Thats why we need right charchters here. 

[Merson08]

9 minutes ago, AVFC44 said:

Based on a 30 minute appearance for a new team that he's been with for less than a week... **** me. 

We should be having players to walk into our team. Not giving them a bedding in period of 6 months.

[MaVilla]

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

That expectation comes with the history of the club and will never go away.

Aston Villa is England's 5th most successful club, of course expectations will always be there, they are glued within the walls. If you cannot handle the pressure you're not fit for the club, that goes for players as well.

I think half the problem is most of the fans have failed to notice we haven't been successful for upwards of 20 years.

We have no right to anything, and the last 3 year's have shown that clearly.

Imo we need to back the current project, because if it doesn't work, we may as well forget the next 20 years too.

[Pimlico_Villa]

4 minutes ago, hippo said:

Well when successive managers overlook the u23's you have to wonder if they are good enough.

Who exactly would you put in the team for the game v Hull ? 

You can also play the pressing game without every players running at 90mph - thats where accurate passing comes in.

I think part of the problem is that VP is an intimidating place for players who are not used to playing in front of +35K fans. I don't think it is possible to prepare a player for this, you just have to get them in there and allow them to acclimatise. The weaker ones will falter, but proper players will embrace it and thrive. 

Against Hull, the obvious would be to bring in O'Harew. I know that is an easy thing to say and the discussion been more than covered on here, but I wouldn't begrudge Grealish a move to the PL next season and he is the closest like for like. He also has obvious ability and can actually run, which so many other players find it difficult to do. I'd also recall Oscar Bog at LB, send Bolasie back and recall Green. None of these players will get us up this season, but we'll need them next season and should take advantage or our mid table mediocrity to get them up to speed. 

On the second point, I'm not just talking about pressing; I agree that that can be done efficiently without having to bust a lung. I'm actually talking more generally, including making the necessary runs that force Whelan and Hourihane to pass the ball forward into space instead of backwards or behind the player. 

[tomav84]

10 minutes ago, striker said:

I think you’ve hit on one of the major problems for any new manager coming into the Villa. The expectation is that high that the manager feels he has to stick with the old guard to guarantee results. However as we’ve seen that approach has failed on so many levels.

I thought Dean Smith was brought into Villa to change all that though and follow on what he was doing at Brentford?

It just seems to me at the moment that the manager doesn’t know whether to stick or twist hence his own footballing philosophy being lost in Villa expectation.

we had this romanticised notion that the season is over already, that we should forget about promotion, but smith would come in and sell all the shite that we have and build some wonderful young side that would challenge next season. however, a couple of great away wins vs top sides has made us believe that the season's not quite dead and that we can go up. now that we've hit a bad patch, potential replacements are being discussed on here so you see the level of expectation that's on his shoulders.

one day, maybe, the expectation will lower...however that day isnt coming any time soon. any manager needs to acknowledge that for every fan that says "lets stay down here for a few years and build a young team to smash the league" you'll have 3 or 4 saying "we're aston **** villa, get back to the premiership NOW""

[tomav84]

5 minutes ago, Pimlico_Villa said:

I think part of the problem is that VP is an intimidating place for players who are not used to playing in front of +35K fans. I don't think it is possible to prepare a player for this, you just have to get them in there and allow them to acclimatise. The weaker ones will falter, but proper players will embrace it and thrive. 

Against Hull, the obvious would be to bring in O'Harew. I know that is an easy thing to say and the discussion been more than covered on here, but I wouldn't begrudge Grealish a move to the PL next season and he is the closest like for like. He also has obvious ability and can actually run, which so many other players find it difficult to do. I'd also recall Oscar Bog at LB, send Bolasie back and recall Green. None of these players will get us up this season, but we'll need them next season and should take advantage or our mid table mediocrity to get them up to speed. 

On the second point, I'm not just talking about pressing; I agree that that can be done efficiently without having to bust a lung. I'm actually talking more generally, including making the necessary runs that force Whelan and Hourihane to pass the ball forward into space instead of backwards or behind the player. 

you've clearly watched a lot more u23 matches than i so are in a better position to comment on the likes of ohare and borg, but green? he's proven to not be cut out for this level i'm afraid

[hippo]

7 minutes ago, tomav84 said:

we had this romanticised notion that the season is over already, that we should forget about promotion, but smith would come in and sell all the shite that we have and build some wonderful young side that would challenge next season. however, a couple of great away wins vs top sides has made us believe that the season's not quite dead and that we can go up. now that we've hit a bad patch, potential replacements are being discussed on here so you see the level of expectation that's on his shoulders.

one day, maybe, the expectation will lower...however that day isnt coming any time soon. any manager needs to acknowledge that for every fan that says "lets stay down here for a few years and build a young team to smash the league" you'll have 3 or 4 saying "we're aston **** villa, get back to the premiership NOW""

We were I think only 2 or 3 points of the play offs when DS arrived  (TBF we are only 5 now). To me though there seems more problems now then when he arrived. Next season without Grealish and Abraham , well I am fearing the worst to be honest.

[praisedmambo]

5 minutes ago, hippo said:

We were I think only 2 or 3 points of the play offs when DS arrived  (TBF we are only 5 now). To me though there seems more problems now then when he arrived. Next season without Grealish and Abraham , well I am fearing the worst to be honest.

We'd won one game I think before he came. Considering our PPG even after the recent shitty Christmas/New Year games is better than under Bruce, how are there more problems now in any other place than a biased mind? A mind from someone who keeps repeating the same things he said even before Smith had played a game, who keeps saying he thinks Smith needs time and yet never stops basically implying he's the wrong man. You had your mind made up before and do seem biased, which makes these posts predictable.

Edited January 14, 2019 by praisedmambo

[sne]

Full back situation has not yet been addressed.

Until it is it doesn't really matter what else Smith does or tries to do, we will continue to ship goals for fun while at the same time be handicapped in possession.

[Brentfordnylons]

48 minutes ago, Merson08 said:

Your right. You tell me what he preferred though winning 29 of 46 games in the Championship or 12 in 38 on the Premier League or so far this season 4 wins in 22. 

The Championship is a vile league, I agree, its a pain in the ass to get out of. I just feel if we had him it would all be different. He could get us promoted and actually have real cash in his hand for players. I just feel VP is too big for DS and signings of Hause isnt great to see....we need someone to walk into our team today not in 6 months time. 

This isn't a dig at Dean Smith and our conversation is certainly for a different part of the forum than Dean Smith. 

For clubs like us the championship is a fantastic league and the shame is it’s full of so called massive clubs fans  who think they are above it rather than enjoy it.You have a superb  stadium and an impressive history and I’m sure in the near future you will be back in the PL hopefully with Dean Smith in charge who if given time will show what an excellent manager he is.You should take leaf out of our book and buy some potential rather than the so called finished article it’s cheaper and you’ll find they show  far more effort than the high price big time Charlie’s.Being a small club we have to sell these players who meet their potential but you being the size of club you are can avoid this.I watched us beat Stoke Saturday rather easily and looking at their line up and the fact they spent near 50 mill on players pre season we shouldn’t be able to live with them but the attitude and desire from their players was clear to see players who have all earned fortunes and are just going through the motions.I note some of the flack DS is getting on here and the fact he never got us to the playoffs or Walsall promoted but you can’t compare these clubs to yours had he been able to keep hold of our better players I’m sure we would at least had made the playoffs over his time with us.He needs time to get some new players in and get them playing the way he wants which is entertaining and will be successful as 3 seasons finishing in the top ten is that for us..But keep away from our players 

[hippo]

14 minutes ago, praisedmambo said:

We'd won one game I think before he came. Considering our PPG even after the recent shitty Christmas/New Year games is better than under Bruce, how are there more problems now in any other place than a biased mind? A mind from someone who keeps repeating the same things he said even before Smith had played a game, who keeps saying he thinks Smith needs time and yet never stops basically implying he's the wrong man. You had your mind made up before and do seem biased, which makes these posts predictable.

.....and I am all on my own on this aren't I ? 

[Genie]

16 hours ago, TRO said:

Or allowing the manager to exert his authority, by saying i ain't putting up with that.

is that not a crucial point.?... in our existence.

We are picking the best team in our heads.....they are ****.

That doesn't make any sense at all. All it would do is make us more likely to lose and also ruin our next generation.

[Stevo985]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

Difference is Benitez actualy knows how to attack as well.

Bruce have no tactical nouse what so ever. With Bruce it's aimless hoofing and crossing hoping for the best.

Have you watched Newcastle recently?

Said it while Bruce was here. Whilst I completely agree that Benitez is a great manager, if we appointed him and people expected us to transform into this free flowing attacking football then they would probably be disappointed. Especially when we got to the Prem assuming he got us promoted.

It's a moot point though. We have a manager. And even if we didn't, there's no way Benitez would come here.

Edited January 14, 2019 by Stevo985

[villalad21]

1 minute ago, Stevo985 said:

Have you watched Newcastle recently?

Have you checked their squad?

Their owner is not allowing him to spend a pound, the man's been doing miracles for 3 years.