Dean Smith

[terrytini]

17 hours ago, Stratvillan said:

Im a fan of smith.

But can you be a premature prophet?

I knew ther3 was something wrong with that sentence but for some reason it didn’t click what it was

[blandy]

3 hours ago, Sam-AVFC said:

I actually agree with the analysis

Fair enough. I don't agree with it at all - I mean "some skill but not much passing ability....plays like a number 9....can't move ....absolutely destroys us.... out of position when we lose the ball.....never being available for a pass" is not remotely how I see it. Normally I'd take longer and write down a load of reasons why, but on this one our views are so different there's no point. AGree to disagree and move on, kind of thing.

 

[Sam-AVFC]

2 minutes ago, blandy said:

Fair enough. I don't agree with it at all - I mean "some skill but not much passing ability....plays like a number 9....can't move ....absolutely destroys us.... out of position when we lose the ball.....never being available for a pass" is not remotely how I see it. Normally I'd take longer and write down a load of reasons why, but on this one our views are so different there's no point. AGree to disagree and move on, kind of thing.

Ok, maybe I don't agree with all of the hyperbole

It's a harsh analysis over all, but the parts I've noticed and agree with are that he often seems to be a bit far forward and doesn't offer an option for the pass enough.

We can still agree to disagree though - I always find it's a position that saves a lot of time from being wasted!

[Laughable Chimp]

8 hours ago, Mister_a said:

You like your little stat don't you. 20+ shots per game. Tired of hearing it.

We have faced 57 shots on target against us all season.

If we have had 20+ shots against us per game (which is probably a load of made up nonsense also), then the majority are way out and off target, let everyone keep shooting from there for all i care.

Currently there are 7 teams that are worse off with shots on target against.

Incidentally we're currently 4th in the table for shots on target also, funny how you never bring that up?

http://www.footcharts.co.uk/index.cfm?task=basics_shotsontarget

Shots on target
English Premier - All - 2019/2020

Position	Team	Played	Shots on target		Shots on target per game
			For	Agst	For	Agst
15	Norwich	12	43	75	3.58	6.25
11	Tottenham	12	49	72	4.08	6.00
6	West Ham	12	59	71	4.92	5.92
9	Arsenal	12	53	64	4.42	5.33
13	Southampton	12	48	64	4.00	5.33
19	Watford	12	39	62	3.25	5.17
14	Brighton	12	43	59	3.58	4.92
4	Aston Villa	12	64	57	5.33	4.75
18	Newcastle	12	40	57	3.33	4.75
12	Bournemouth	12	48	56	4.00	4.67
10	Burnley	12	49	53	4.08	4.42
17	Crystal Palace	12	41	53	3.42	4.42
1	Man City	12	86	46	7.17	3.83
5	Man United	12	61	45	5.08	3.75
16	Wolves	12	42	45	3.50	3.75
8	Everton	12	54	44	4.50	3.67
20	Sheffield United	12	37	42	3.08	3.50
7	Leicester	12	57	40	4.75	3.33
2	Chelsea	12	80	35	6.67	2.92
3	Liverpool	12	77	30	6.42	2.50

Yes we need to tighten up defensively, especially in the last 20 mins, but can you stop going on about something that doesn't really make much difference as thought it is a major failing.

We're also 17th in terms of expected goals conceded. Shots on target by itself may not give the whole picture.

Oh and the whole, we are conceding 20+ shots per game idea is true for a lot of our games. Wolves we conceded 17 shots(including because its close). Liverpool 25 shots. Manchester City 25 shots. Brighton 20 shots. Norwich 21 shots, Arsenal 21 shots. Crystal Palace 22 shots. Tottenham 31 shots. 2 of these teams were playing with 10 men for most of the game against us mind you and they still managed 20 or more shots and its not as if we've been shutting teams out in spite of their amount of shots. I do think its definitely a factor to us conceding, just the constant pressure we are up against as the opposing team fires shot after shot at us.

Edited November 18, 2019 by Laughable Chimp

[VillanousOne]

I think when we are good under Smith we are excellent, we can sometimes player better than any Villa team I have seen since the 90s.

But we need to be able to play ugly and grind out results to stay in this division, we kind of managed it against Brighton but I think that was more luck than anything.

I expected us to get to January and be one or maybe two places outside of the relegation places, I think we can still achieve that and get even better. Doesn't mean I think Dean and the team don't need to get better, I believe we will continue to build and improve under him, also doesn't mean I don't think we have some major issues to sort out.

1) Sign a new striker
2) Sign someone who can provide back up when Grealish is injured
3) Learn to win against 10 men
4) Learn to close games out when we are winning
5) Work out a midfield system that plays to our strengths
6) Find a way of playing Wesley that isn't the lone striker role
 

Edited November 18, 2019 by VillanousOne

[MotoMkali]

5 hours ago, blandy said:

Fair enough. I don't agree with it at all - I mean "some skill but not much passing ability....plays like a number 9....can't move ....absolutely destroys us.... out of position when we lose the ball.....never being available for a pass" is not remotely how I see it. Normally I'd take longer and write down a load of reasons why, but on this one our views are so different there's no point. AGree to disagree and move on, kind of thing.

 

Look mate I just call it how I see it mcginn has what 78% passing percentage this year which is only a little bit better than Wesley's but everyone complains about his passing ability. Also the fact is mcginn just simply doesn't come short, once Jack moved into the free role mcginn sat a little deeper and for me was the main reason we beat Norwich. If you look at that game mcginn is barely involved in the goals because with him sitting deeper it does a couple of things 1) declutters the final third of the pitch which let's grealish and el ghazi drive into the empty space and force mistakes by opponents,

2) because he is a good player it forces a midfielder to sit on him once again giving more space in the final third

3) McGinn is available for the pass which in itself does a lot of things - nakamba can now pass forwards backwards left and right, our right hand side has support from a central midfielder, someone in central midfield can pick the ball up deep and beat a man creating time and space for other players.

 

And just to be clear I don't think mcginn is a bad player I just think his positioning hinders us when playing out from the back or creating a good chance in the final third instead of standing off and making runs in which forces a midfielder off of the 18 yard box and if he gets past them can drag 1 or 2 defenders out of position. This leaves a lot of space which attackers can exploit. Hell even a simpler way to view it is with Wesley's first goal against Norwich where most of our players stepped outside the box dragging the entire Norwich back line with them because they were moving the centre halves lost wesley and a good ball found him in on the 6 yard box of we all stayed crowding inside the 18 yard box that ball would have been easily cleared because the defenders would have been organised and in position. To score unless it is a moment of magic you need to destroy an opponents organisation and constant movement does that and standing on the 18 yard box makes it easy to mark you out of the game.

Again mcginn isn't the only one who does this but he does it the most often and is probably our 3rd most creative player behind grealish and el ghazi (mcginn is better than el ghazi but I think el ghazi is more likely to create a goal scoring opportunity for himself or for another) and if mcginn can't create we or at least give others a better chance to we will struggle which is what we have done against most teams except Norwich and maybe Everton after mcginn swapped sides with grealish which forced him deeper because wes tends to drift left rather than stay in the centre. 

[Mister_a]

2 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Shots on target by itself may not give the whole picture.

That was kind of my point. Pulling one bad stat and using it to beat the management over the head seems a bit pointless. Especially if there are other stats that contradict.

[blandy]

54 minutes ago, MotoMkali said:

Look mate I just call it how I see it... 

Yeah, me too. I have no beef with you, it’s all good. I mean I don’t like him on the right, I think it diminishes his influence. And Jack’s move has meant that happened more than I’d like. I do get where you’re coming from and we’re all looking at how we might do better. Me personally, I don’t see McGinn as anything other than an asset to the club and team and I don’t agree with the “problem is McGinn”. UTV 

[MotoMkali]

17 minutes ago, blandy said:

Yeah, me too. I have no beef with you, it’s all good. I mean I don’t like him on the right, I think it diminishes his influence. And Jack’s move has meant that happened more than I’d like. I do get where you’re coming from and we’re all looking at how we might do better. Me personally, I don’t see McGinn as anything other than an asset to the club and team and I don’t agree with the “problem is McGinn”. UTV 

The problem is off the ball movement and the lack thereof. Mcginn is emblematic of that problem. To me the main difference between Jack and John is off the ball movement jack is better on the ball and John is better defensively but they sort of cancel themselves out. Jack's movement creates so much space for everyone around him to thrive. Mcginn remains quite static which means it is easy to mark him which means it is easy to stay organised which means it is hard for us to score. If mcginn had half as good movement off the ball as Jack we would probably be top 6 right now. It would help us offensively because we would create more and defensively because we would have more of the ball. 

[Dave-R]

I think more than anything and as others have said we lack that aggression, we showed a fair amount in the final third of the championship season. That Leeds game showed how bad ass our players were willing to be and how much our players were willing to fight for the win if they needed too. Birmingham city showed the scrap we'd got in us, how we'd go at it and at it despite some shameful excuse of a human being attacking our player, we overcame that one. All through the playoffs we gave it our all and even over came penaltys in a wonderful way. There's a difference though between then and now, Smith at one point while Grealish were out had to of laid into the players because just as he was about to come back there was a dramatic change in each and every one of them, they all had fire except a few. That fire, passion and fight doesn't happen straight away in a team, forget the gelling for now but passion, fire and fight come over time and it may happen at anytime during a squads time together. That willingness to over come the odds no matter what is something champions are made of, our current squad has yet to figure much of team work out and spark which will light there fire may not come if they cant work this out before seasons end. Somehow, somewhere it's all in there as we've seen so much this season already, our players have to want it bad enough.

A squad put together so quickly, that they have to go out there and somehow find that link that links each and everyone of them together in a way that resembles a battle formation is not so easy done. Think of an army that is full of new recruit, it will usually always get squashed by veteran soldiers, yet we don't have that time to get them the experience. This was always an inferno we was walking into with this new squad and because of that I understand the many things that can go wrong.

If we survive fantastic, if we dont it's a shame but it's really not over, so long as we keep this squad together for a season, I'll be more than confident we will return much better and more refined. A second season would be smashing, a second stint in the prem with this bunch would be sweet because it's experience they are lacking and against the best of the best which is not good but here we are. If we end up back in the championship it really would give Wesley and many others to really find there way, they have alot of time.

We really are asking alot from this bunch of young lads, I believe they can do it even if it's just to survive.

I am also down with Smith no matter where we are next season, prem of champ I have his back on support, been the best we've had for two decades and deserves more than what some are giving him. Smith does need to look at some other formations though, we need more midfield support and unless were going to break the bank to fetch a couple of world class striker and winger in, this 4-3-3 isn't going to work, we need midfield support more so. I'd rather us play a 4-3-2-1  or 5-4-1 when were backed up and change shape throughout the match to a 4-2-3-1 or 4-1-2-1-2. So many decent formations that could suit us but sticking to just one through a game without changing shape could also be leading to our downfall in the second half in the final half hour and on. The opposition learn to exploit, you keep things the same and your enemy gets used to you. 

I'm not saying it's all the above but there could be some of that mixed with fatigue, certain individuals letting the team down ( no names), formation and bombardment of our defence, eventually one always goes in.

Lots of work to do, so little time, we as Fans can do one thing though and that's get 100% behind our lads, each and everyone of them for this campaign in the prem.

[sne]

As a newly promoted side many other teams are just better than us.

Better more experienced managers leading teams that have been built over much longer time than 2 months this summer.

Payers that are better drilled, more skillful, technical, faster, stronger more talented and experienced and that have played together longer.

There's not an aspect of our game that doesn't need improvement.

Teams move the ball faster than we are used to, they press harder and better than we are used to so it's more demanding both in attack and defense.

Lots of the the clubs also have better squads than us meaning they can but players on and maintain this level, while we, and a couple of other clubs can not.

It's perhaps a bit easier for teams that don't try and play football like we do.

Newcastle, Sheffield who try and play it simple will short term pick up more points but that's not what our squad is built for or suited to.

And in the long term those clubs are as likely to fail since you can only play the odds for so long.

We're doing as expected so far, but of course it's very disappointing the way we keep dropping points towards the end of games. Lot's of work still to be done and we'll need new signings in January.

 

[tonyh29]

Was interesting to read an interview with McGinn where he said he was being better coached than he was at Hibs , the inference i took was that Smith and Co are drilling the players on their roles and what not , so I think thats a positive.

just need to see the results , I think we can assume Everton , West Ham and Spurs aren't going to be relegation rivals  and some of the other clubs are starting to put a bit of daylight on us ..and that run of Man U , Chelsea , Leicester , Sheff U , doesn't scream easy games at me

 

[abdulaziz1]

21 minutes ago, tonyh29 said:

Was interesting to read an interview with McGinn where he said he was being better coached than he was at Hibs , the inference i took was that Smith and Co are drilling the players on their roles and what not , so I think thats a positive.

just need to see the results , I think we can assume Everton , West Ham and Spurs aren't going to be relegation rivals  and some of the other clubs are starting to put a bit of daylight on us ..and that run of Man U , Chelsea , Leicester , Sheff U , doesn't scream easy games at me

 

Won’t be worse than Citeh, Plop, Dingles. Citeh were written off, Plop we’ve done good. Dingles we were short of many players.

2 of those games without our best player. De Bruyne didn’t play for Citeh in their two losses.

[Dave-R]

Its going to be interesting on the Villa View next time, Smith is going on there from what Tom and Dan say, such a lovely guy Smith to give his time to there podcast.

Looking forward to it, Dan says it's going to be a tough podcast lol.

Edited November 19, 2019 by Dave-R

[Sam-AVFC]

8 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Us going to be interesting on the Villa View next time, Smith is going on there from what Tom and Dan say, such a lovely guy Smith to give his time to there podcast.

Looking forward to it, Dan says it's going to be a tough podcast lol.

That's pretty great. Any idea on a date? I've not actually listened to any of their stuff before, but this seems like a good chance to give it a go.

It will be nice to hear him talk about stuff he wants to rather than having to follow whatever topics Captain Jack or the shite rags decide to make it about e.g. before the Brighton game almost exclusively being asked about the Bulgaria chants.

[Dave-R]

24 minutes ago, Sam-AVFC said:

That's pretty great. Any idea on a date? I've not actually listened to any of their stuff before, but this seems like a good chance to give it a go.

It will be nice to hear him talk about stuff he wants to rather than having to follow whatever topics Captain Jack or the shite rags decide to make it about e.g. before the Brighton game almost exclusively being asked about the Bulgaria chants.

Last one was published on the 18th of november which was yesterday, sure of it. as they do it weekly. Depends on match weeks they usually are earlier in the week I think.

Think it usually Mondays looking at there previous published vids, so yeah next Monday mate.

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Dave-R

[mikeyp102]

2 hours ago, tonyh29 said:

 

just need to see the results , I think we can assume Everton , West Ham and Spurs aren't going to be relegation rivals  and some of the other clubs are starting to put a bit of daylight on us ..and that run of Man U , Chelsea , Leicester , Sheff U , doesn't scream easy games at me

 

Personally think West Ham and particularly Everton will be relegation rivals.

They aren’t easy games agreed. Hopefully we can pick up results to get through it.

————————

As for Smith, my one main gripe is his in game management, think he needs to be more proactive with his subs. We seem to leave it too late to affect outcomes.

[Tomaszk]

2 hours ago, Dave-R said:

Us going to be interesting on the Villa View next time, Smith is going on there from what Tom and Dan say, such a lovely guy Smith to give his time to there podcast.

Looking forward to it, Dan says it's going to be a tough podcast lol.

That's incredible. A current Premier League manager going on a fan podcast. 

Where have you seen that?

Some of his decisions this season I've found pretty frustrating. The same errors being repeated is even more annoying.

One thing he always shines in though is interviews. Always speaks sense and points out rights and wrongs in the side.

I just want to see him try another bleeding formation!

Edited November 19, 2019 by Tomaszk

[villalad21]

3 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

I just want to see him try another bleeding formation!

The formation isn't the issue. The fact that everyone in midfield is bombing forward except Nakamba is the issue.

We leave ourselves extremely vulnerable to counter attacks.

[Dave-R]

4 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

That's incredible. A current Premier League manager going on a fan podcast. 

Where have you seen that?

Some of his decisions this season I've found pretty frustrating. The same errors being repeated is even more annoying.

One thing he always shines in though is interviews. Always speaks sense and points out rights and wrongs in the side.

I just want to see him try another bleeding formation!

Yeah they announced it on there recent podcast yesterday, Tom was the one who first came out with it, it's exciting news.

Not sure If Dean Smith is doing a pod or podcast with them he's doing one of them for deffo though.

Always a fantastic podcast with Tom and Dan, they always have a laugh and get down to the nitty gritty all while keeping us informed of what's going on with any news.

check 28:55 of the video below:

 

Edited November 19, 2019 by Dave-R