Dean Smith

[Tomaszk]

If he had a crystal ball and knew Albion would sit everyone and their dog behind the ball he would have started Hourihane. Whelan was the correct selection. 

[Xela]

League table from when Dean Smith took over. 

By a twist of fate, if that was the final league table, the semi finals would be exactly the same, save for Villa having home advantage in the second leg. 

 

 

Po	Team	P		W	D	L	GF	GA		W	D	L	GF	GA		GD	Pts
1	Norwich City	34		12	4	1	44	26		10	6	1	34	16		36	76
2	Sheffield United	34		11	3	3	31	11		7	7	3	26	17		29	64
3	Aston Villa	34		9	5	3	38	26		8	5	4	24	15		21	61
4	Leeds United	34		11	2	4	28	17		8	1	8	23	24		10	60
5	Derby County	34		10	5	2	31	14		5	6	6	23	27		13	56
6	West Bromwich Albion	34		7	7	3	33	24		9	1	7	23	21		11	56

Edited May 12, 2019 by Xela

[PaulC]

22 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

If he had a crystal ball and knew Albion would sit everyone and their dog behind the ball he would have started Hourihane. Whelan was the correct selection. 

Yes to a certain extent it was Whelan's mistake that led to West Brom parking the bus. Not blaming Whelan or saying it was the wrong decision to pick him. 

[TRO]

On 09/05/2019 at 07:27, Vive_La_Villa said:

I have to agree with @villalad21 for once.

We did have an identity under Bruce. Any player that came in knew they had to get behind the ball and try and play on the counter. 

We had become known as being very hard to beat.

 Unfortunately It was generally very boring to watch and if we went behind there was no plan b.

Now that is what I call, putting things in the correct context.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

I still don't think Dean has the players to play that Nimble quick footed game he presided over at Brentford( we are getting there, but not quite yet).....that is not saying we are a bad team or anything other than a good team.....I just think we need some additions that give us a bit more variety in our play.....I think our outstanding players are carrying us a tad.....I don't think we are quite as rounded as Norwich or Sheff Utd.

a good young DM and a tricky winger would go down just nice as well as replacing/signing the loan players.

I think this relates to the work on the flanks in the main, we are not elusive enough IMO in those area's .....a bit rigid and predictable....El Ghazi has his moments but its still a bit hit and miss for me.. Taylor is a bit of a nervous disposition at times and this culminates him loosing ball control in tight situations.....He looks like a player I would like to play against.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

1 hour ago, PaulC said:

Yes to a certain extent it was Whelan's mistake that led to West Brom parking the bus. Not blaming Whelan or saying it was the wrong decision to pick him. 

I think they were going to do that Anyway, it just exasperated it.....There plan was to stop Jack and John.

The thing I observed was that because they were committed to closing our players down.....Our lads had no room for a stumble or a miskick or a bit of miscontrol.....Whelan was at Fault, but Jack playing with his back to play, partially invited the close down, so was pressured in to moving the ball back to whelan, he was being closed by Gayle and a completely innocuous situation, turned on its head.....Gayle showed good pace & composure on the ball and bingo.

I also noticed them fumble a few times....but Importantly for them,we had no one in attendance to capitalise, like they did.

I think our pithering play, played in to their hands.....We need to be much quicker in thought and play on Tuesday Night.

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, Tomaszk said:

If he had a crystal ball and knew Albion would sit everyone and their dog behind the ball he would have started Hourihane. Whelan was the correct selection. 

Hopefully Smith will learn from this.

It was clear from West Brom's press conference before the game what they were gonna do. Smith made a big mistake thankfully we got away with it

[TRO]

Next season will be very interesting indeed for me.

I have no idea what league we will be in.....but I think we need to be very prudent in what type of players we bring in, particularly, if we want to go up Automatically, should we be in the Championship.

I think we have some excellent players playing for us and others who are not quite good enough. We have players like Jack, who we are never going to improve on, its as good as it gets there....but he needs more better players around him.

We are weaker in certain area's that knocks the edge off us.....kinda makes us 4th or 5th as opposed to Auto.

I think Dean will identify and fix that.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TRO

[thunderball]

13 minutes ago, TRO said:

I still don't think Dean has the players to play that Nimble quick footed game he presided over at Brentford( we are getting there, but not quite yet).....that is not saying we are a bad team or anything other than a good team.....I just think we need some additions that give us a bit more variety in our play.....I think our outstanding players are carrying us a tad.....I don't think we are quite as rounded as Norwich or Sheff Utd.

a good young DM and a tricky winger would go down just nice as well as replacing/signing the loan players.

I think this relates to the work on the flanks in the main, we are not elusive enough IMO in those area's .....a bit rigid and predictable....El Ghazi has his moments but its still a bit hit and miss for me.. Taylor is a bit of a nervous disposition at times and this culminates him loosing ball control in tight situations.....He looks like a player I would like to play against.

My position exactly: nearly but not quite due to personnel. Smith has a way of playing that demands good technical discipline, fitness and hunger.

Jack has it and has matured enormously this season; McGinn has most of it but is like Milner - drive and energy with the ability to score a goal; Hourihane has come on in this last quarter of the season, he now rarely goes missing like he used to and the last two games he was a driving force and very busy always wanting the ball and looking for the pass. Lansbury should also be in this mould but we haven’t seen enough.

I feel our wide men are not offering enough, despite improving and promise. I would love to see a couple more options in the middle wide: speed and direct, or trickery just to give us options. I think Smith would play 4-3-3 if he had two more dangerous players in the way Sterling is, offering width, speed, energy and goal threat, they would compliment Abraham or Davis.I think Maupay could play this role. But these are the expensive players everyone wants.

Re Taylor, he showed his short comings yesterday, how I longed for Amavi yesterday.

 

[villalad21]

Just now, TRO said:

Next season will be very interesting indeed for me.

I have no idea what league we will be in.....but I think we need to be very prudent in what type of players we bring in, particularly, if we want to go up Automatically, should we be in the Championship.

I think we have some excellent players playing for us and others who are not quite good enough.

Worst case scenario at least we won't have to deal with a class coach like Bielsa anymore.

[thunderball]

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Hopefully Smith will learn from this.

It was clear from West Brom's press conference before the game what they were gonna do. Smith made a big mistake thankfully we got away with it

WBA have to attack us on Tuesday, that means it will be much more like the last 20 minutes where the game is more expansive with more gaps. I would like to see Hourihane and Green start and exploit the gaps, if we score then bring on Whelan and Albert in the last 20 minutes if we really have to.

Attack, Attack, attack suits us best both home and away in this league, the PL might be different but we have generally superior personnel or at lest the match of most opponents.

[TRO]

7 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Worst case scenario at least we won't have to deal with a class coach like Bielsa anymore.

Biesla don't frighten me....would I swap with Dean?....NO

Have you listened carefully to what Klopp has said recently.....On many, many occasions, He has baulked at Tactics and Managers and emphasised " Its all about the boys".....Listen to him talk from the heart.....He has made them that way sure, but they are the ones that do it.

Dean Smith has also touched on it with " We made mistakes, but they just know how to win"

Look no one is foolish enough to suggest Managers and coaches play no part.....but they are not the ones that choose to fire in a blunder buster like Conor, it's his decision ...or play a ball in to him like Jack,did.....decision making is so important and only the players out there can do that.

If we get the right players in ALL the positions next season, we will go up automatically.....That's assuming we don't go up this term.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TRO

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

Our most blatant weak points are our flanks.

I genuinely feel if we had a quality left back, and another quality winger on the opposite side to El Ghazi we would blow alot of teams away.

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Our most blatant weak points are our flanks.

I genuinely feel if we had a quality left back, and another quality winger on the opposite side to El Ghazi we would blow alot of teams away.

If we had another winger like El Ghazi on the other side we would be an incredibly dangerous team. 

[PaulC]

5 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Our most blatant weak points are our flanks.

I genuinely feel if we had a quality left back, and another quality winger on the opposite side to El Ghazi we would blow alot of teams away.

I know its a different level but when you watch the two Liverpool fullbacks, theres a massive difference in quality. 

[KHV]

6 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Worst case scenario at least we won't have to deal with a class coach like Bielsa anymore.

A class coach that has won nothing outside Argentina and nothing since 1998

[Keyblade]

4 hours ago, DCJonah said:

If we had another winger like El Ghazi on the other side we would be an incredibly dangerous team. 

This is why I can't wait for the summer. Our team is gonna be sweet next season regardless of which league we're in.

[TRO]

6 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Our most blatant weak points are our flanks.

I genuinely feel if we had a quality left back, and another quality winger on the opposite side to El Ghazi we would blow alot of teams away.

absolutely spot on.

Edited May 12, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

37 minutes ago, PaulC said:

I know its a different level but when you watch the two Liverpool fullbacks, theres a massive difference in quality. 

They are incredible......as is the 2 boys at Norwich Lewis and Aarons ( I think)

[Vive_La_Villa]

7 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Hopefully Smith will learn from this.

It was clear from West Brom's press conference before the game what they were gonna do. Smith made a big mistake thankfully we got away with it

This is what really pisses me off about some fans. It’s a squad game and you pick what you think is the best team. Yes in hindsight it may have been the wrong choice and he should have changed it sooner but to label the selection of one player over another as a ‘big mistake’ is just way over the top and bordering ridiculous.  

It’s clear you are never going to be happy with Smith and it’s becoming really tiring to read.

Just get behind the manager for a least two more games FFS.

Edited May 12, 2019 by Vive_La_Villa