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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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2 hours ago, TRO said:

I do think our players are playing too far apart.......you watch opposing teams and they pick up little bit and pieces off each other and create opportunities i.e Norwich, where Pukki picks up a lost ball off his team mate and scored.....that's what movement does, we are not linking or moving enough off the ball.......Spurs picking up balls off our defenders legs.....We score some great goals, but we need the little bread and butter stuff you get from smart thinking and moving.

Agreed. This has been an issue for years imo.

Edited by osmark86
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2 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Even when the lad gets praise it feels almost begrudgingly.

Heh, I'm sorry it seemed like that. If anything, I thought it was higher praise, acknowledging that I'd previously had a low opinion of him but he'd won me over, rather than it just being business as usual, but I could see how you'd read it like that. 

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2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

It almost makes it harder for us than any promoted team just because of our name, stadium and big support.

After all the money we spent as well every team are gonna play like it's a world cup final against us.

The Football Ramble made this point (not the world cup final bit, that's a bit ott)

Their point was that Bournemouth are still this team that fly under the radar. Because they don't have much of a history and aren't a recognised name people still see a fixture against Bournemoth and think it's a relatively easy game. But Bournemouth are a decent side.

Yet teams will come up against Villa (and to a lesser extent Norwich and Sheff Utd) and it's automatically a bigger game because we're a more recognisable name in the game.

 

Now I'm sure teams are professional enough these days that that doesn't have a huge effect. But It probably is a factor

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3 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

The Football Ramble made this point (not the world cup final bit, that's a bit ott)

Their point was that Bournemouth are still this team that fly under the radar. Because they don't have much of a history and aren't a recognised name people still see a fixture against Bournemoth and think it's a relatively easy game. But Bournemouth are a decent side.

Yet teams will come up against Villa (and to a lesser extent Norwich and Sheff Utd) and it's automatically a bigger game because we're a more recognisable name in the game.

 

Now I'm sure teams are professional enough these days that that doesn't have a huge effect. But It probably is a factor

I understand the point people are trying to make, and a few weeks ago probably would have agreed, but seeing some of the comments by pundits, media etc, it could have been Doncaster who was promoted (no disrespect). While their is respect for the club, 3 years out of the league and the comments have been it will be tough for Villa to survive, we spent money we'll do a Fulham, even Purslow was having to explain the clubs position on Sky Sports and very little respect has been shown. Even a couple of self professed pundits have said, if you don't remember who Villa are...? Are you kidding?? And I don't believe the players nor coaches would buy into this a bigger game analogy. It's eleven players against eleven players.

We are a newly promoted club and we have to earn the respect of opposition teams and fans all over again. For 70 min we held Spurs and if we had a little more smarts we walk away with a point, we dropped 3 points against Bournemouth due to errors. I look at it as we dropped 4 points due to errors from our own players and IMO that's how the coaching staff are looking at the performances so far as well.

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5 hours ago, TRO said:

I do think our players are playing too far apart.......you watch opposing teams and they pick up little bit and pieces off each other and create opportunities i.e Norwich, where Pukki picks up a lost ball off his team mate and scored.....that's what movement does, we are not linking or moving enough off the ball.......Spurs picking up balls off our defenders legs.....We score some great goals, but we need the little bread and butter stuff you get from smart thinking and moving.

His Brentford side didn't seem to have that problem. I've noticed it too, and it's certainly an issue with our play. 

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1 hour ago, Stevo985 said:

The Football Ramble made this point (not the world cup final bit, that's a bit ott)

Their point was that Bournemouth are still this team that fly under the radar. Because they don't have much of a history and aren't a recognised name people still see a fixture against Bournemoth and think it's a relatively easy game. But Bournemouth are a decent side.

Yet teams will come up against Villa (and to a lesser extent Norwich and Sheff Utd) and it's automatically a bigger game because we're a more recognisable name in the game.

 

Now I'm sure teams are professional enough these days that that doesn't have a huge effect. But It probably is a factor

I was actually thinking this earlier when the bookies had Man U to beat Wolves away from home as quite big favourites, i thought if the Man U team had the wolves starting eleven and vice versa would this still be the same? Do they price up these things because of the names of the clubs? 

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20 minutes ago, Hobbit Feet said:

I was actually thinking this earlier when the bookies had Man U to beat Wolves away from home as quite big favourites, i thought if the Man U team had the wolves starting eleven and vice versa would this still be the same? Do they price up these things because of the names of the clubs? 

Bookies price things up based on how people bet.

United would be favourites because far more people would be betting on them than on Wolves, but for the same reason. Because it's Man Utd

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4 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Bookies price things up based on how people bet.

United would be favourites because far more people would be betting on them than on Wolves, but for the same reason. Because it's Man Utd

This is correct, a lot of people don't understand how gambling works.... I bet Australia are a lot shorter in the ashes with Aussie bookies than they are with English bookies. 

Edited by Villan_of_oz
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30 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

Bookies price things up based on how people bet.

United would be favourites because far more people would be betting on them than on Wolves, but for the same reason. Because it's Man Utd

They adjust based on how people are betting, but they have to set an initial price, which they do based on their own prediction models.

Man Utd finished 11 points ahead of Wolves last season, won their opening game 4-0, and despite being a joke of a club with a terrible manager, are still favourites to win most games they play.

5 hours ago, villalad21 said:

It almost makes it harder for us than any promoted team just because of our name, stadium and big support.

After all the money we spent as well every team are gonna play like it's a world cup final against us.

It's a nice thought, but I doubt many of them give a shit. The fact is that we lost to Spurs because they have a far superior squad, then more than matched Bournemouth, which on another day could have been a draw or a win. Our points total will start to look healthier soon.

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6 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

Tbh, I've never noticed in any of your posts the digging out of one of our players. 

I believe you're above such nonsense. 

I try to be fair, but realistic at the same time......but its a team game.

In our finest hours.....The team ethic was the most prominent factor for me......when we lifted the coveted trophy against possibly the best assembled team in Europe.....It was the team ethic, not individuals that got us through.

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1 hour ago, VillaCas said:

After all the overblown excitment of the transfer window where many were looking forward to top ten or higher finishes, we are down to earth with a bang - the top teams (Spurs), even on a bad day will wear you down and the middling teams (Bournemouth) have discovered the killer touch and organised resistance that is required to win points

At the moment we are in adjustment mode - mistakes that are inconsequential in the Championship, U23 or Belgian Leagues are critical in the PL - Against Bournemouth we did not start with the concentration required and only really got going 15 mins in when it was too late.

I beleive that Elmo and Taylor are playing because DS and Terry realise that you can't change everything at once - Heaton, Engels, Luiz, Trez, Wesley are all finding their feet with a new club, the rest are getting used to the speed and athleticism of the PL - Only Mings, SJM and perhaps Engels seem to have settled quickly

I didnt buy into the hype during pre-season - we (seem to have) bought some solid players and they gelled well against limited (Leipzeg apart) opposition but the cauldron of the PL is a different matter entirely. £130m (?) spread over a dozen players only buys "solid" not "spectacular". 

We obviously do not have unlimited resources BUT another winger and another striker (or even just one wide forward) woud have made all the difference. Our bench does not give many forward options - imagine how differnet it would have been if we had Maupay and Benhrama to bring on (or start). AEG and Jota look like bit part players so far. We've not seen Nakamba but we have cover in midfiled so I'd have prefered to spend that money on a forward option instead

The players have the ability to get much better. Jack in particular is too good a footballer not to take lessons from the first couple of matches and adjust his game - at the moment I think he is trying too hard and as players around him adjust and improve he will go from strength to strength - we do need to get better quickly though. If we continue on for a while without a win, the nervousness and frustration could find players going backwards not forwards

For me it will all stand or fall on Wesley - lets hope the scouting team have got it right and he delivers what is expected. He's trying hard I think but I've been unwhelmed with what Ive seen so far. Not many occasions where you can think "wow hes going to be a player". If Smith can't get a tune out of him then its going to be a very long hard season

I trust Smith to get things right and find a way of playing that produces results but I'll be very happy this term to finish 17th - I'm expecting a long and frustrating season, we need to manage expectations and guard against being overly critical

 

Agree 100%.

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4 hours ago, Zatman said:

For all the criticism of the new signings blending in. 2 of the 3 major mistakes costing goals so far was from players with the mythical Premier League experience in Jack and Heaton

I don't think the new signings blending in has been an issue because of how Smith has managed it. He's only immediately introduced players who we didn't really have a choice in introducing (Heaton, Engels, Wesley, Trezeguet)

He could quite easily have started the spurs game with something like

--------------------Heaton

Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett

------------Luiz, McGinn, Grealish

Trezeguet--------------------El Ghazi

--------------------Wesley

 

I bet having that many new players straight away would have been an issue.

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23 hours ago, villalad21 said:

It almost makes it harder for us than any promoted team just because of our name, stadium and big support.

After all the money we spent as well every team are gonna play like it's a world cup final against us.

I don’t share that view. You could be right, of course, who knows? But I can’t see established Premier League teams viewing us that way. 

Where I do think it impacts is that any team lifts itself ( or should do) at any ground where there is a good atmosphere, and that atmosphere will always be one of the first things they try to quell.

Hence that start against Bournemouth being so costly.....adrenaline was sucked out of the ground inside 10 minutes.

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44 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I don't think the new signings blending in has been an issue because of how Smith has managed it. He's only immediately introduced players who we didn't really have a choice in introducing (Heaton, Engels, Wesley, Trezeguet)

He could quite easily have started the spurs game with something like

--------------------Heaton

Guilbert, Engels, Mings, Targett

------------Luiz, McGinn, Grealish

Trezeguet--------------------El Ghazi

--------------------Wesley

 

I bet having that many new players straight away would have been an issue.

I think he is blending the side in a pre planned way, and I think he’s making a good job of it. 

If anything he’s entitled to feel a little bit hard done by that Jack and El Ghazi, who would’ve been part of his “ bankers”, have been a bit under par.

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19 hours ago, sheepyvillian said:

His Brentford side didn't seem to have that problem. I've noticed it too, and it's certainly an issue with our play. 

Because he’d coached them for more than 5 minutes would be my guess as to why 🙂

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