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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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42 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

This to me, stinks of a camp 37 post. 

Thats the camp where people expect Smith to be able to play a different brand of football with the useless, overpaid squad he inherited and without his best player. 

Or is that camp 42? I forget. 

That is what the people demanding Smith to be manger said he'd do,  but have now moved the goal posts because it hasn't happened so now are calling the squad rubbish. Again you are clearly in the Smith can't do anything wrong camp.

Oh and we aren't going up this season so we won't have our best player next season, neither will we have our top scorer and it's highly unlikely McGinn will still be with us.  So using your logic it's going to be a whole lot worse next season.

Edited by Stuartc445
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6 hours ago, Sam3773 said:

The first 19 games of our last two managers:

Smith: P:19 - W:7 - D:8 - L:4 - PTS: 29

Bruce: P:19 - W:7 - D:5 - L:7 - PTS: 26

Just for interest, how were the first 19 games under arguably our best manager for years:

O'Neill: P:19 - W:5 - D:10 - L:4 - PTS: 25

What about other high flyers? How were their first 19 at the clubs they're managing? 

Farke: P:19 - W:6 - D:6 - L:7 - PTS: 24

Jokanovic: P:19 - W:5 - D:6 - L:8 - PTS: 21

Add in to the mix, because you can, the 'excuses' of a widely injured squad with no settling, the complete lack of a defensive set up when he joined, operating under tight FFP restrictions in January, our best player out for most of that time and a chocolate goalkeeper, and he hasn't done too bad. 

But no. We're Aston Villa Football Club and unless our manager hits the ground with 19 W's under his belt, it's bedsheets out at dawn.

Thanks for that, that is really interesting reading. 

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7 minutes ago, Stuartc445 said:

That is what the people demanding Smith to be manger said he'd do,  but have now moved the goal posts because it hasn't happened so now are calling the squad rubbish. Again you are clearly in the Smith can't do anything wrong camp.

Oh and we aren't going up this season so we won't have our best player next season, neither will we have our top scorer and it's highly unlikely McGinn will still be with us.  So using your logic it's going to be a whole lot worse next season.

Now, that just isn’t true is it. Most people ‘demanding’ (as you put it?!) Smith to be appointed as manager were well aware we had an atrocious squad built on the weakest Villa defence in 20 years. We’re just not stupid and understand he won’t be able to play a certain brand of football without being given time to bring players that are capable of that.

Give him a summer transfer window, Stuart. You might be surprised 😀

Edited by Delphinho123
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My main problem with Smith is how long he lets the crap continue. Far too late with changes, I can't believe the same XI trotted out for second half the other night. I think he also needs to bin off the playing out from the back. The amount of times we turn over possession fannying about playing hospital passes to each other is ridiculous. It's quite obvious we are not capable of doing it, quite alarming he wanted to try with Jedinak in the team as you don't have to be any kind of tactical genius to know passing is not and never has been his strong point. 

God only knows what he was thinking

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4 hours ago, M_Afro said:

I think it is a fair comparison to be honest. At Championship level we are very similar to Man U at Premiership level. We are the biggest, best supported and most successful club in the championship with the highest of expectations from our fans. I also honestly believe that we have a squad of players capable of competing with anybody. We showed this against Derby, Middlesbrough and West Brom.

It is the job of the manager to get the best out of the players at his disposal. I do not believe that Smith is close to doing that, excepting the early matches. I hear lots of fans criticising the attitude of the players and yet surely it is the role of the manager to deal with that and eradicate any issues. 

I genuinely did not want Smith because my feeling is that managing AVFC is an entirely different prospect to anything he has done previously. That does not mean he cannot be successful but the risks associated with the appointment are large. I also hope that he proves me wrong but thus far I feel that my fears are proving to be correct. I do not buy into the opinion that he must be given time. If, by the end of the season, things have not improved, then I would get rid of him and show a bit more ambition with the next appointment. I really wanted Brendon Rogers and I really believe he, or someone of similar quality, is attainable if we show enough ambition.

If you take Farke as an example.....he had a low profile start to his career at Norwich.

He bought prudently in the summer.....mainly free transfers, took the financial pressure away from the club and built a talented football team with a fighting spirit..all square pegs in square holes......all battle.

We need to buy prudently and be reasonably sure of what we are getting. We have a history of players losing the form that we signed them on with........its like buying a shiney car, with rust under the bonnet.

successive managers have identified that in many cases we have been releasing better players than what we have bought.....but we still keep doing it.

Money is not the answer, talent spotting is.

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15 minutes ago, Delphinho123 said:

Now, that just isn’t true is it. Most people ‘demanding’ (as you put it?!) Smith to be appointed as manager were well aware we had an atrocious squad built on the weakest Villa defence in 20 years. We’re just not stupid and understand he won’t be able to play a certain brand of football without being given time to bring players that are capable of that.

Give him a summer transfer window, Stuart. You might be surprised 😀

Stop trying the rewrite history.

As i have pointed out I am giving him the same time i gave Bruce, i'll give him next season but he is making it a struggle.  But just because i'm giving him that time doesn't mean i won't criticise him when we have won 1 game in 12 and the one we won was because the opposition was terrible.

Edited by Stuartc445
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5 minutes ago, TRO said:

One of the problems Dean has, is that managers like Monk is getting a tune out of his lot with arguably inferior players.

Yep but a stated he has had a pre season with them while Smith hasn't 

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17 minutes ago, Stuartc445 said:

That is what the people demanding Smith to be manger said he'd do,  but have now moved the goal posts because it hasn't happened so now are calling the squad rubbish. Again you are clearly in the Smith can't do anything wrong camp.

Oh and we aren't going up this season so we won't have our best player next season, neither will we have our top scorer and it's highly unlikely McGinn will still be with us.  So using your logic it's going to be a whole lot worse next season.

I think you make a good point.....many were claiming the players were good enough under Bruce, and he was the problem.......so which is it now?

Monk could equally claim that his players were steve Cotterills.

I have no idea if Dean will turn this around, I initially thought he would, but this turgid stuff is clearly not a one off. I am not advocating anything other than he needs to be given a summer to get it right, but beyond that, i think we will just be procrastinating once again.

Football can so easily change and confidence is such an unquantifiable thing.....but for me it don't look good at present.

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2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yep but a stated he has had a pre season with them while Smith hasn't 

you can have as many Pre Seasons as you want if the players are crap they will still be crap after pre season,  Remember the squad Monk has has been together for ages and have had season after season of last day relegation survival but this season they'll probably finish above us.

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1 minute ago, Demitri_C said:

Yep but a stated he has had a pre season with them while Smith hasn't 

Smiths pre season will be really difficult. 14 of this squad are out of contract or will be leaving after a loan spell.

Another 7 will only have 1 year left and I can guarantee nobody will be getting contracts like their 1st ones. 

 

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6 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yep but a stated he has had a pre season with them while Smith hasn't 

Thats equally a fair comment.....I am sure he will be given that.

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1 minute ago, Stuartc445 said:

I just hope that the last 15 minutes vs Sheffield Untied is the turning point

I will be very surprised if it is, looking at the body language of many of our players, but will equally be exceedingly happy if it is.

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23 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Yep but a stated he has had a pre season with them while Smith hasn't 

No more excuses next season then i fully expect from everyone on here?

We have more than good enough players to win comfortable agains the likes of Wigan and Reading without Grealish and Axel, so tired of these lame excuses every week.

Edited by villalad21
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The way I look at it is in the short term we are probably ' there or thereabouts' to where we would have been under Bruce at this stage of the season. I think we underestimate the loss of Snoddy , Terry, Grabban , Johnstone from the team that finished 4th. 

The major difference is Smith is trying to play the brand of football most fans want us to whereas Bruce had was never going to do that..ever. Variations on hoofball, nicking the odd goal , parking the bus at one-nil up,  putting an arm around players and puttin wor boots on is what he is about.

At least now we are trying to impelent a style of play and a brand of football.  It's not working yet although we've seen signs of it in some spells. Losing two players to injury that best suit Smith's system has clearly put a spanner in the works and we are having to put players on the pitch that are never going to fit the system because we've got no other option until the summer.      

Look on the bright side, things could be a lot worse..ask a Stoke fan..or a Sunderland fan. We were dropping like a stone when Bruce arrived....remember how long we went without an away win ? 15 months was it ?

This season we could have gone bust, been managed by Thierry Henry ( a toxic disaster by all accounts ), have Xia running us or still have Bruce at the helm. I know which I'd rather - Smith is clearly a man with a plan that he can't fully implement right now and I look forward to when we see his own team .

When so much changes at a club you always get inconsistency but we aren't getting battered every week and sometimes we do get it right so I will accept mid table this season as I did with Bruce after the RDM debacle but I have a lot more faith in the people running the club now and the stucture behind the head coach. I actually want us to work towards the Dean Smith playing style and am excited to what next season will bring. Between now and then I expect more ups & downs and crazy scores.    

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Just re-watched the post match interview with Smith,

When he's asked if that (last 10 mins) could be a turning point after a slight pause during which he didn't look very certain he just said " Well "i" think so". It seemed to me to be as though he knew there were issues with the players regards that although i could be reading too much into it maybe?

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6 minutes ago, Spoony said:

I’m really worried. I desperately want him to do well as the constant instability with our management and squad isn’t doing us any favours. But the rate at which we concede is just something I’ve never seen. 

I am convinced it's down to the ridiculous number of changes we keep having back there. Every time we get a decent partnership it changes mainly through injury. You simply cannot have that and expect to not ship goals. We need a settled back four before that will change and of course improvements at LB & RB

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