Dean Smith

[TRO]

1 minute ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Personally I'm not seeing McGinn show for, demand and ultimately get on the ball as much as he was last season. Whilst he's not playing badly most of his good work has been in 'moments' rather than in a sustained, consistent and dominant manner. For me this is of course because he's at a higher level against quicker, stronger and more intelligent players and as result will have to adapt so that he's working the ball a bit quicker and crucially getting into better spaces on the pitch in order to receive the ball.

You are right.

However, i still think he is too pre occupied by other players not as commited and is covering for them, as is Jack....but thats just opinion of course.

[Dave-R]

22 minutes ago, TRO said:

I would be inclined to go 4-2-3-1....which is more or less, what you suggested.

Dean is adamant, he wants to stick to his more attacking formation.....that is a noble stance, but I just feel at present in our early stages of this league, it can be a bit inefficient in terms of controlling the play.... .if 4-3-3 is not being played correctly or players not commanding/dominating their positions, it lends itself to making it easier for the opposition to get in to the game.

I think we need to make things much harder for the opposition.

Why not a 4-3-2-1 and put Mcginn and Grealish at the front behind Wesley since they like bombing forward so much, just a suggestion though. Both John and Jack like facing that threat, they invite trouble and seem to like taking it on, to me it makes sense to let them be our attacking two behind wesley while we still have a supportive midfield behind?

[TRO]

6 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Why not a 4-3-2-1 and put Mcginn and Grealish at the front behind Wesley since they like bombing forward so much, just a suggestion though. Both John and Jack like facing that threat, they invite trouble and seem to like taking it on, to me it makes sense to let them be our attacking two behind wesley while we still have a supportive midfield behind?

Its a thought Dave.....and if we don't pick up more points, anytime soon, a tweak may have to be made.

I understand Deans stance.....I just think we may not be settled enough yet to play 4-3-3 to his liking.

What about 4-2-3-1 at home and 4-3-2-1 away.....until we establish ourselves a bit more and revisit it.

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by TRO

[Dave-R]

5 minutes ago, TRO said:

Its a thought Dave.....and if we don't pick up more points, anytime soon, a tweak may have to be made.

I understand Deans stance.....I just think we may not be settled enough yet to play 4-3-3 to his liking.

What about 4-2-3-1 at home and 4-3-2-1 away.....until we establish ourselves a bit more and revisit it.

 

I'm down with both those formations, more defensive would be great away while more attacking at home. Means the opposition has to prepare for two style of plays and in the heat of the moment on the ball that could cost opposition as its alot of info in the head at the time.

I don't mind Dean sticking by his guns as I've said in the VillaView Youtube chat part, even if we do go down the championship would dread playing our squad. Smith would take us back up I have no doubt about that. Which i think a second stint in the premier will be great for this squad. It's all about refinement and trying to perfect what you got going on and that requires patience, something our fans I think are getting used to but still lack full commitment to. I hope it doesn't come to all that but if it did I'm down with Smith trying to get us back up and that's my vote done on it.

Here's to hoping we stay up, I'm sure we will but it maybe a fight because I see it being a tight season between last and 12th, I just have that feeling.

[TRO]

We have conceded 6 goals in 4 games, so its hardly panic territory and does play in to Deans thinking that goals "for"is the main concern.....i guess dropping 9 points for the goals scored "for"and "against", is the biggest disappointment and not necessarily representative of our capability.

We have to be more hard nosed at securing points.

The 2 games ,Bournemouth and Crystal Palace are the significant ones for me, where we have to do better.I still have this innate feeling that we struggle against teams who want to mix it......we like teams to play open like Spurs and i still have hopes of securing points against teams who fancy their chances against us.

We had this problem in the championship with Leeds and Albion and other teams that got in our faces, teams like Derby, who want to play, we are comfortable too.

however, despite all that, we have to protect the centre backs better than we are doing.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by TRO

[sne]

As a expected lower half team we are bound to concede a fair number of goals, we just are.

It's us scoring enough goals I am concerned with.

I don't see many goals in this team sadly.

I predict a busy January, if not in numbers but in spending.

[mikeyp102]

1 hour ago, Dave-R said:

Why not a 4-3-2-1 and put Mcginn and Grealish at the front behind Wesley since they like bombing forward so much, just a suggestion though. Both John and Jack like facing that threat, they invite trouble and seem to like taking it on, to me it makes sense to let them be our attacking two behind wesley while we still have a supportive midfield behind?

I’d have that formation, but would have the midfield as: Hourihane, luiz and McGinn. The higher two, Grealish and Jota/ Lansbury

[KentVillan]

I think we can all see that this team lacks a bit of bite in central midfield.

Dean Smith clearly agrees, because DCM is the position he has agonised over throughout his tenure - the Hourihane / Whelan / Jedinak debate last season, and then the interest in Kalvin Phillips this summer, and then the tinkering again with Hourihane vs. Douglas at the start of this season.

This suggests that the problem isn't down to stubbornly persisting with the wrong system, but is more about Smith still trying to find the right mix of players. Either one of the current squad will step up to the plate (maybe Nakamba? Maybe Luiz grows into it? Maybe Hourihane wins back Smith's trust?) or we'll have to weather the storm until we make a better signing next summer.

IMO we can just about survive this season without fully resolving this problem. Our home form, where we can play more on the front foot, ought to be good enough to keep us up, without that protective shield in front of the back 4. The Bournemouth result was unlucky, and if we can beat mid-table teams like Everton at home on a fairly consistent basis, then we'll cross that 40 point threshold.

We can stay up with something like: 7 home wins, 4 away wins, 7 draws = 40 points. It will be a brutal watch, but it feels doable.

Teams we should be looking to beat at home (in fixture order): Bournemouth (), Everton (), West Ham (), Burnley, Brighton, Newcastle, Southampton, Norwich, Watford, Sheff Utd, Wolves, Palace. So we need 6 wins from those 10 games.

Then we can claw the odd point or away win here and there - might require some good fortune with injury crises, packed fixture schedules, refereeing decisions going our way, etc. (a point away at Palace would have been a decent result).

Unfortunately, it'll be away from home where our lack of solidity will expose us, and that will be what prevents us from having a more comfortable mid-table finish. But I'm confident the management know this, and will eventually resolve it. Just need to be patient.

I also agree that our weakness at left back is having knock-on effects on the rest of the team. But again, this might be something we need to get used to - not clear to me that Matt Targett is the answer, regardless of what we paid for him.

We just all need to get used to the idea that a "good" season for us this year, will involve a lot of bad results.

[A'Villan]

1 hour ago, KentVillan said:

We just all need to get used to the idea that a "good" season for us this year, will involve a lot of bad results.

Great breakdown of it all, makes for excellent reading.

Agree, but where I've quoted you I am personally not getting used to the idea of anything. I don't see it beyond us to improve exponentially like we did in the Championship.

I highly doubt it will be to the same degree, especially in regards to points put on the table, but it wouldn't surprise me if we're experiencing growing pains that will pass shortly.

Edited September 15, 2019 by A'Villan

[Sam-AVFC]

Interview with Sky.

https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11677/11811011/dean-smith-interview-aston-villa-manager-on-his-journey-to-the-job

[kurtsimonw]

Very poor today. 

Way too negative, way too late to react to anything. 

[villalad21]

Atrocious in game management.

[dudevillaisnice]

We lack goals, he needs to figure it out quickly

[jim]

Less talk more action Dean. 

[jacketspuds]

Can McGinn play as an attacking LB? Then we can fit Luiz, Nakamba and Grealish in to a midfield 3.

[andym]

Thought we were fine until their red, we actually created more (and had the better) chances, didnt concede too much, so set up/tactics were fine

No idea what happened after, its like everyone on the pitch lost their heads, and the coaching staff couldnt regain control

[Vive_La_Villa]

5 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Atrocious in game management.

[Zatman]

Goals are badly needed, have said for ages we be lucky to finish 15th and might be the case 

[Vive_La_Villa]

To be fair we should be 3 games unbeaten now. 

[Jareth]

I've absolutely no issue with Smith FWIW.