Dean Smith

[TRO]

On 21/03/2019 at 08:13, Mazrim said:

When Jack came back from injury and our form picked up significantly I thought it was just down to Jack. But in hindsight, that's too simplistic.

It does a disservice to the likes of Mings, Hause, McGinn, El Ghazi and more, who have all delivered.

So I think that while Jack is our best and most crucial player, its not a one man show. Not at all. The way I see it is that Villa are very finely balanced in our current guise and it doesnt take much to throw it out.

Jack makes everybody more effective but he's not the one heading balls clear time after time or chasing down the ball like a terrier. Credit must go to the manager, and perhaps a bit of fortune in hitting the right balance at the right time.

Its not all about Jack. But we can't get promoted without him this season. You could argue the same with Mings, Abraham, McGinn etc to a lesser extent.

I think you are so right.

winning headers and tackles....will still have a big say with us going up.

fortunately we have a pair of centre backs who can deal with that admirably.

[kieranavfc]

2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

That's 10 wins out of 14 with Jack in the team for Dean now.

31 goals scored

10 conceded (half of them in one freak game with Forest)

Teams played:

Swansea, Norwich, QPR, Bolton, Derby x2, SHA x2, Forest x2, Boro x2, West Brom and Blackburn

In other words, 10 of the 14 games were against promotion rivals.

It's bloody impressive. There's no way Di Matteo or Bruce could have got this kind of form out of us and playing the brilliant football we do which goes to show that Smith's coaching is really working wonders. Not bad for for a mere replaceable cog in the infamous Brentford setup.

And of those 4 games we didn't win, 2 we drew to late equalisers in games we should have won, and the defeats were in Smith's first week or so in charge and we weren't even outplayed. 

[Keyblade]

9 minutes ago, kieranavfc said:

And of those 4 games we didn't win, 2 we drew to late equalisers in games we should have won, and the defeats were in Smith's first week or so in charge and we weren't even outplayed. 

Yeah we deserved to get something from those 2 games, especially the QPR one. That was the game where we first showed genuine signs of the team that we were becoming. It all clicked in the following game against Derby.

[CosmicVillan]

11 hours ago, sidcow said:

So is anyone going to put up some stats showing how Smith is basically no better than Bruce?

 

Saquib Kebab House have stated Smith is 16 kebabs, 2 bottles of chilli sauce and cabbage down on his predecessor at the same point last season

[Zatman]

3 hours ago, DCJonah said:

Imagine being such a steve bruce fan, that your team win 5 in a row and you want to give him credit for it. 

Wow. What a way to live life. 

Jos Luhakay deserves a lot of credit for the improvement in defensive work for Sheffield Wednesday in recent weeks

[Zatman]

Some of the movement yesterday was spectacular. Often in recent years a Villa team would be a bunch of statues

[romavillan]

22 hours ago, Zatman said:

Some of the movement yesterday was spectacular. Often in recent years a Villa team would be a bunch of statues

On and off the ball we finally look like an actual team.

[lapal_fan]

On 31/03/2019 at 23:48, Zatman said:

Some of the movement yesterday was spectacular. Often in recent years a Villa team would be a bunch of statues

 

13 hours ago, romavillan said:

On and off the ball we finally look like an actual team.

My absolute biggest criticism of Villa over the years is off the ball (even from throw ins ffs) we are so awful.  Strikers with their back to goal, wanting it into feet, wingers facing their full backs, asking for it to feet, CMs facing the defenders, asking for it to feet.. drives me absolutely berserk. 

I don't get chance to watch us much at the moment, but I'm glad you've both pointed out that it looks like an area we are trying to improve - that's a huge sigh of relief!  

[Vive_La_Villa]

I just watched the first half again. Green, Grealish, Mcginn and Abraham’s one touch link up play was fantastic. Others were good too but those 4 really stood out. 

We play like that every week we will destroy any team. I didn’t think we’d see the affects of Smiths coaching until next season. To see it come at a time when we can still go up is great to see. 

Edited April 2, 2019 by Vive_La_Villa

[MarkLillis]

Whichever way you look at it,Dean Smiths results with a (more or less) full squad available are more than enough for a top six finish.

There are 7 games to go and it looks like the turnaround in form is here to stay.

Does anyone think his persistence with playing a style suited to Jack Grealish.....even though he wasn’t on the pitch,has helped the team click now that he is back?

[romavillan]

2 hours ago, lapal_fan said:

 

My absolute biggest criticism of Villa over the years is off the ball (even from throw ins ffs) we are so awful.  Strikers with their back to goal, wanting it into feet, wingers facing their full backs, asking for it to feet, CMs facing the defenders, asking for it to feet.. drives me absolutely berserk. 

I don't get chance to watch us much at the moment, but I'm glad you've both pointed out that it looks like an area we are trying to improve - that's a huge sigh of relief!  

Off the ball we were superb mostly against Blackburn, there were oodles of occasions when we either forced a mistake to get the ball or they had to go backwards and start again from lack of options and we could press further up the pitch. There was no easy way through us at all. In possession our movement at times was amazing, player on teh ball always had one or two easy options and we pulled them out of shape and made space really well. 

The total polar opposite of what we've been watching for a very, very long time!  

[Zatman]

22 minutes ago, romavillan said:

Off the ball we were superb mostly against Blackburn, there were oodles of occasions when we either forced a mistake to get the ball or they had to go backwards and start again from lack of options and we could press further up the pitch. There was no easy way through us at all. In possession our movement at times was amazing, player on teh ball always had one or two easy options and we pulled them out of shape and made space really well. 

The total polar opposite of what we've been watching for a very, very long time!  

I think it helps the personnel also that is playing. Jack, Tammy, El Ghazi have footballing brains to move into positions and so does Green to an extent. McGinn I dont think knows how to be still 

[Vive_La_Villa]

15 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I think it helps the personnel also that is playing. Jack, Tammy, El Ghazi have footballing brains to move into positions and so does Green to an extent. McGinn I dont think knows how to be still 

It does but you even had Whelan, Taylor and Elmo putting in sharp first time passes and always looking to pass and move. 

It's different coaching to the previous management where I couldn’t ever quite understand how we were trying to play. Players used to be so static. 

But to be fair a lot of work must have been done under Bruce too keep us solid. We didn’t used to concede much.

[KentVillan]

5 hours ago, MarkLillis said:

Whichever way you look at it,Dean Smiths results with a (more or less) full squad available are more than enough for a top six finish.

There are 7 games to go and it looks like the turnaround in form is here to stay.

Does anyone think his persistence with playing a style suited to Jack Grealish.....even though he wasn’t on the pitch,has helped the team click now that he is back?

Hadn't thought about it like that really, but it's a very good point. Sometimes, what gets you the best results in the short term holds you back in the long term, and vice versa.

To caveat that a bit, there was a period when DS was starting to second guess himself (remember when we tried Jedinak as DM, Kodjia out wide, Hourihane as a deep lying playmaker?) and it looked like he was scrabbling around for a solution.

But in the main he has stuck to his central philosophy, which is to control possession in the opposition half, with high full backs and wingers. In possession, we often end up with something that looks like a 3-4-3, as Whelan drops into defence, CBs split, both full backs push high like wingbacks, and wingers are free to come inside.

This style has been a feature of the DS reign, but when Grealish was injured we turned over possession too quickly in the middle of the park to make it work. We were also getting severely punished for losing possession because of some of the defensive personnel, and DS has sorted that out as well. So as others have said, it's not just Jack's return, but a few different things coming together at once.

I'd also give DS a bit of credit for making Glenn Whelan the cornerstone of the midfield. That wasn't an obvious choice, but it's worked.

Edited April 2, 2019 by KentVillan

[Dave-R]

I'm more than confident in Smith to get the job done, we win 5 out of the 7 games that should more than guarentee playoffs. Then it's two more games to get through.

All those still having doubts on Smith, I do hope that we get promotion, it will finally shut those doubters up properly. I just don't understand some fans, were winning games yet people are still doubting Smith, what for?? There is absolutely no reason not to throw your full support into the Coach, so far he's been fantastic.

He hasn't lost many that's for sure, I just don't get some people, they are never happy. Those who are doubting the bloke will be shouting for his dismissal if we dont go up come summer, instead of giving him a proper season.

Win, lose or draw Smith has my backing for the foreseeable future so long as there are signs were are moving forward as a club and as a team. I won't doubt the man, he has my patience and time is what I will give Smith. I do not see anyone else doing a better job if Smith did move on and I have no one that comes to mind that could do better, I think we're very lucky to have him.

[KentVillan]

34 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

I'm more than confident in Smith to get the job done, we win 5 out of the 7 games that should more than guarentee playoffs. Then it's two more games to get through.

All those still having doubts on Smith, I do hope that we get promotion, it will finally shut those doubters up properly. I just don't understand some fans, were winning games yet people are still doubting Smith, what for?? There is absolutely no reason not to throw your full support into the Coach, so far he's been fantastic.

He hasn't lost many that's for sure, I just don't get some people, they are never happy. Those who are doubting the bloke will be shouting for his dismissal if we dont go up come summer, instead of giving him a proper season.

Win, lose or draw Smith has my backing for the foreseeable future so long as there are signs were are moving forward as a club and as a team. I won't doubt the man, he has my patience and time is what I will give Smith. I do not see anyone else doing a better job if Smith did move on and I have no one that comes to mind that could do better, I think we're very lucky to have him.

To be fair, it's a tiny minority of posters on here who have a quasi-religious belief that DS was a deputy cleaning lady at Brentford and doesn't belong anywhere near a big club like Villa.

Vast majority of fans are on board from what I've seen at games, and even during the bad spell it was more the players than DS himself who were getting the brunt of the abuse.

My take has always been that he deserves at least one summer transfer window and pre-season with the players, preferably two... hopefully a lot more.

[Jareth]

19 hours ago, Zatman said:

McGinn I dont think knows how to be still 

Apparently as a kid he was useless at musical statues

[Mazrim]

2 hours ago, Jareth said:

Apparently as a kid he was useless at musical statues

Yeah, and pass the parcel. He'd get it, spray a wonderful 40 yard diagonal and then have mums shouting at him.

[villalad21]

15 hours ago, Dave-R said:

people are still doubting Smith, what for??

Losing 3-0 against Wigan, drawing against Reading. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it was.

Some fans doesn't have a short term memory. But to be fair Smith is on the right track to win me over, but i still have my doubts.

A question i ask my self is what happens if Grealish get's injured? Can Smith find a way to win football games without him?

[Mark Albrighton]

9 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Losing 3-0 against Wigan, drawing against Reading. 2 wins in 12 or whatever it was.

Some fans doesn't have a short term memory. But to be fair Smith is on the right track to win me over, but i still have my doubts.

A question i ask my self is what happens if Grealish get's injured? Can Smith find a way to win football games without him?

When we were on that bad run, you seemed to conveniently forget his opening 8-10 games in charge.