Dean Smith

[Tommo_b]

10 hours ago, CosmicVillan said:

I'd snap your hand off for Baker or Clark today

If they were still here we would’ve used them as their is no alternatives, but for me I am glad they are gone as it means Smith HAS to find at least one central defender this January who I have no doubt will be a step above Baker and Clark.

[Tommo_b]

1 hour ago, Demitri_C said:

I couldn't tell you as bruce didn't give any of them a shot!

Have Davis a shot, gave green a shot, gave O’Hare a shot.

There seems to be some fantasy that we produce amazing young players, we don’t, how many can you name in the last 30 years? Yorke came to us as a kid so I guess he counts, erm Lee Hendrie? Cahill, Grealish, nope that’s all I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there must be more I’ve forgotten? Sturridge, does he count? 

[Raver50032]

20 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

Wow. People are still chucking out that old line.

No promotion means win percentage was not good enough. Regardless of how good it looks versus historical win percentages. 

Let a see how good a win percentage Smith can get with the resources at his disposal. Clearly if he doesn't get us promoted in the next two years then his win percentage will not have been good enough either.

Or maybe, just maybe there is more to it than that? Maybe things like building an identity, showing progress, showing foundations for the future, looking like we will come good will also be factors to consider. It's just that under certain previous managers, none of these things existed so win percentage was the only thing to cling on to.

I was just trolling the board... I wanted Bruce out after last season's start and never really recovered for me apart from the occasional cock tease result and run.

[weedman]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

My only argument was Chester has been shit and not having a settled partner shouldn’t be an excuse for his poor form just because he was so good last season.  He should be doing a lot better.

As for Jedinak, I don’t want to see him at centre half. I just don’t think he has been as bad as some people make out.

Also the arguments for Chester at the moment are pretty similar to the arguments for Bruce aren't they? We're trusting that he'll come good because of his experience and the fact he was good before, same as we did with Bruce. Hoping that signing better players to play alongside him will make him better, which is pretty much Bruce's tactics, maybe he just needs better training (or a pre season)? 

The same isn't happening with Jedinak because he doesn't have the experience at CB, completely ignoring the fact he's been better than Chester this season and every excuse you can find for Chester is also equally valid for Jedinak

On topic I hope Smith gets given more of a chance than Mile has, I think he will as he was the "fans choice" and I hope he will as we seem to be moving towards a proper structure at the club for the first time that I can remember. I always get excited about these new dawns before it inevitably blows up in our face so I'm going to enjoy the unknown before coming back to reality

[Vive_La_Villa]

34 minutes ago, wilko154 said:

A player doesn't go from being one of our best players for two seasons straight into being poor without reasons for it.

That’s kind of my point. It’s not just Chester it’s the whole team that’s a problem. So when Jedinak is deemed as awful at the back and a lot of our defensive problems seem to be  because he is playing there I have to disagree. He filled in there alongside Chester for several games near the end of the season and was fine. 

Our problems are much bigger than Jedinak being played out of position. 

Smith has a hell of a job on his hands lifting these players and getting more out of them. A new keeper would certainly help. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

27 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

If they were still here we would’ve used them as their is no alternatives, but for me I am glad they are gone as it means Smith HAS to find at least one central defender this January who I have no doubt will be a step above Baker and Clark.

I doubt we wanted to sell either to be honest. Clark wanted to leave and Baker had to be sold due to FFP. 

[Demitri_C]

27 minutes ago, Tommo_b said:

Have Davis a shot, gave green a shot, gave O’Hare a shot.

There seems to be some fantasy that we produce amazing young players, we don’t, how many can you name in the last 30 years? Yorke came to us as a kid so I guess he counts, erm Lee Hendrie? Cahill, Grealish, nope that’s all I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there must be more I’ve forgotten? Sturridge, does he count? 

Albrighton? Johnson at Preston looks like a decent player as well to me.

When did he give o hare a chance in the league? Green arguable. He kept chopping and changing him. Then mysteriously he disappeared towards end of last season despite him being fit.

Then shipped him off to ppl pay which I still don't get. 

[Stevo985]

12 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

The post you are quoting was in reference to comparing the immediate situations the two managers inherited. In that case, the first transfer window is the situation being compared. Bruce very definately did splurge during that window, and certainly did not have a net negative spend. 

I will agree that overall net spend for Bruce was negative (bearing in mind he sold a Premier league squad and assembled a Championship one, and one on very high wages).

I don't really know how to address this. I don't think you're disagreeing with anything I've said, you've just cherrypicked a month and pointed out Bruce spent some money.
Yeah, he did. Smith probably will too in January. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

12 hours ago, Shropshire Lad said:

I’d say the league position are similar and the deficiencies that were in midfield when Bruce took over can be compared to those that are now in the defence. And the keeper situation is similar too.

However I’d agree that broadly speaking, the squad has more quality now. There’s mess to be cleared up, but probably not as big as two years ago.

As for the general discussion on what I’d expect from Smith, I think a push for top six is realistic. I didn’t expect to see us picking up 2 points from 9 games across January and February and ultimately finishing 13th under Bruce and I don’t expect that under Smith either.

I don't agree about the midfield. We have a much better midfield now. It's probably our strongest area. Agree on the rest of your post though.

11 hours ago, flashingqwerty said:

Yeah whilst not 100% serious, the quotes were to emphasize that the respective situations are too dissimilar to really draw any fair comparison.

Though i would alsoargue Bruce inherited a more balanced (thoughstill unbalanced) squad, due to our poor defensive position

It was probably more balanced, but it was inferior in overall quality to today's squad.

10 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

At least Bruce had more than one centre half to choose from. He was also given over 20 million to spend in his first window. 

Hope Smith gets the same. 

He did, but as above we have a higher quality squad now than when Bruce took over, imo.

[AvfcRigo82]

11 hours ago, Zatman said:

I am sure Mellberg was in his last 6 months of his contract at Villa when Cahill was sold

Yep, I am sure he was.  

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

28 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said:

Yep, I am sure he was.  

Definitely seems like the type of "business" we like to do.

[Mark Albrighton]

51 minutes ago, Stevo985 said:

I don't agree about the midfield. We have a much better midfield now. It's probably our strongest area. Agree on the rest of your post though.

I was saying that Smith has inherited a poor defence and Bruce inherited a poor midfield. 

Basically it was just me saying that in addition to the poor start/league position, another similarity is that both managers took over squads with noticeable gaps in quality/personnel (defence for Smith, midfield for Bruce).

[lapal_fan]

I'm looking for/hoping for the team to become more proactive when we have the ball.  We've been so bad off the ball for a long time now.  Standing with your back to goal, looking at the guy with the ball isn't useful when there is 4 players doing it.  

Off the ball movement is something I've mentioned a few times previously, but when we're in the final 3rd, we often cannot unlock a defense.  I'd like to see some off the ball movement to try and free up space. 

That'll be a great start for me. 

Moving the ball quicker, even if just a "pointless" 1-2, it keeps you sharp, moves their players and creates space. 

Really easy I think, but it'll make a hell of a lot of difference to our play. 

[Stevo985]

28 minutes ago, Shropshire Lad said:

I was saying that Smith has inherited a poor defence and Bruce inherited a poor midfield. 

Basically it was just me saying that in addition to the poor start/league position, another similarity is that both managers took over squads with noticeable gaps in quality/personnel (defence for Smith, midfield for Bruce).

Ah ok, I see what you're saying. Apologies.

[MrDuck]

13 hours ago, Zatman said:

I am sure Mellberg was in his last 6 months of his contract at Villa when Cahill was sold

Yeah, I think Olof signed a pre-contract agreement with Juventus in January 2008, about the same time as Cahill was let go. It was Curtis Davies keeping Cahill out of the side at the time cos Mellberg was at right back, and I think Davies suffered a pretty bad injury shortly after... leaving us with Zat Knight to partner Laursen. Urgh.

In fairness to MON, Cahill said he wanted a guaranteed starting spot or he was leaving, and I don't remember the 2007/08 version of Cahill being good enough to deserve that. Then again, neither were Davies & Knight, so....

[Stephen_Evans]

3 hours ago, Tommo_b said:

Have Davis a shot, gave green a shot, gave O’Hare a shot.

There seems to be some fantasy that we produce amazing young players, we don’t, how many can you name in the last 30 years? Yorke came to us as a kid so I guess he counts, erm Lee Hendrie? Cahill, Grealish, nope that’s all I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there must be more I’ve forgotten? Sturridge, does he count? 

Gareth Barry probably deserves a mention, as he arrived at about 16 years of age.

And then in no particular order: Darius Vassell, Steve Froggatt, Tony Daley, Graham Fenton, Michael Oakes, Riccardo Scimeca, Luke Moore, Barry Bannan, Marc Albrighton, Callum Robinson, Daniel Johnson, Jonathan Hogg....there are more but I'm supposed to be working!

Whether people rate them I suppose is another debate, but in youth development terms, they definitely "made it", playing in the top two divisions of English football.

[Brentfordnylons]

On 16/10/2018 at 23:37, Johnnyp said:

Was really surprised to see Smith in an interview last week take credit for signing tarkowski. He didn't. He wasn't even at Brentford when he joined. Warburton signed him. Anyway, a moot point. Konsa was an excellent piece of business. Think he played 50 or 60 odd games for Charlton already. Still maintain though, means a he'll of a lot attracting young talent if you are a London club. 

Thought it was well known Dean only brought Sawyers and Henry,both great players to the club.We are an attractive stepping stone for young talent with potential as we can’t afford the finished article and we have a recent good track record of players moving for life changing salaries to bigger clubs.Mepham was a product from our defunct youth academy and was put into the first team early due to injuries but after playing alongside an established danish international centre back and Dean’s coaching is now a regular and an international.We are happy with the predictable Frank appointment who we are taking on board that our win rate improved on his employment which may or  may not be entirely down to him.He has an impressive track record in senior and youth level so I don’t get the negative comments from some of your fans.OKelly has only coached and managed at lower league with not much success but obviously works well with Dean with more than acceptable results for us but will have to improve if he wants to keep his job with you.Hope Dean is successful as he’s a great bloke and don’t want you coming back for Thomas Frank next year.

[Zatman]

I think its fair to say both sets of fans are  not unhappy with this move. Frank will not rip the club to shreds and knows the system plus we are happy with Smith

Complete opposite of Norwich fans on here when Lambert joined us

Edited October 18, 2018 by Zatman

[sheepyvillian]

5 hours ago, Tommo_b said:

Have Davis a shot, gave green a shot, gave O’Hare a shot.

There seems to be some fantasy that we produce amazing young players, we don’t, how many can you name in the last 30 years? Yorke came to us as a kid so I guess he counts, erm Lee Hendrie? Cahill, Grealish, nope that’s all I can think of off the top of my head, I’m sure there must be more I’ve forgotten? Sturridge, does he count? 

One glaring miss, Gareth Barry.  You could also mention Ridgewell, Luke Moore and Wiemann.

[sheepyvillian]

Sam Allardyce quoted, that of all the Championship managers, he thought Dean Smith would be the one to make the step up to the Premier. Hope you're right Sam.

[hippo]

I really hope he does well and love the fact that we have a big crowd for Saturday.

I must admit my nagging doubts are that he has only achieved mid table finishes with smaller clubs.

IMO - the weight of expectation and big club pressure eventually crushed Bruce into making some bizzare GK and CB decisions - A similar thing with Lambert who towards the end of his villa time - thought sideways passing at walking pace was the way forward - I liked Lambert but however he got to that line of thinking baffled me.

The most telling post IMO was made a while back - is Smith the next Eddie Howe, Sean Dyche or is this a step to far.

...Heres hoping its the former......UTV.