Dean Smith

[Tomaszk]

Sounds like they're joking there to me?

[Zatman]

Arent they associated with the club or have good connections as Taylor and Petrov has been on recently. Think one of them was ITK about Tammy joining as well

[PieFacE]

1 hour ago, Dave-R said:

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:

 

They're joking. Hence the "I would love to have Dean Smith on the podcast" afterwards. 

Have they said it anywhere else?

Edited November 19, 2019 by PieFacE

[Dave-R]

5 hours ago, PieFacE said:

They're joking. Hence the "I would love to have Dean Smith on the podcast" afterwards. 

Have they said it anywhere else?

Near the end they do say that next week, there's big news and it's an exciting week tom says. Dan also mentions it's going to be a tough one and it's  going to be hard, and bes  not all that excited about it, but all that could mean anything I spose.

With what you said maybe your right, I'd guess I got my hopes up of Smith being on there and heard it wrong, it would of been sweet.

 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Dave-R

[PieFacE]

30 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Near the end they do say that next week, there's big news and it's an exciting week tom says. Dan also mentions it's going to be a tough one and it's  going to be hard, and bes  ot all that excited wbout it, but all that could mean anything I spose.

With what you said maybe your right, I'd guess I got my hopes up of Smith being on there and heard it wrong, it would of been sweet.

 

I hope you're right mate! Would make for an excellent podcast!

[AVFCDAN]

I do fear for Dean if we lose against Newcastle. Every chance we will lose 6 on the bounce if we don't beat them.

Edited November 20, 2019 by AVFCDAN

[TRO]

On 17/11/2019 at 20:28, VillanousOne said:

It is strange that we still have a completely unbalanced midfield at this stage in the season, I know it was always going to take time to get the best out of a relatively new team in a division most have never competed in. But Nakamba is the only midfielder who seems to play a fairly well defined ball winning midfielder role, McGinn, Grealish, Connor, Luiz all seem to play different shades of the same role. Only other difference is Grealish keeps possession and the rest seem incredibly good at losing it, oh and Connor can take a decent set piece and score goals.

We rely hugely on our wingers to defend which is also a bit odd, especially when time and time again players like El Ghazi cost us goals when they lose their man. Not sure any other club expects their wingers to also double up as wing backs. 

I am not totally down on Dean though, I like the free flowing attacking football and I think the team like playing for him, his attitude is infectious. But we need to grow a spine if we want to stay in this league.

I think that is the issue.....I hope we don't get the " The most attractive playing team to go down", award.

 a bit more workman like hard nosed approach to secure points, won't upset me or a more machiavellian approach to seeing a game through.

I want the points not platitudes.

Edited November 20, 2019 by TRO

[A'Villan]

17 hours ago, TRO said:

I think that is the issue.....I hope we don't get the " The most attractive playing team to go down", award.

 a bit more workman like hard nosed approach to secure points, won't upset me or a more machiavellian approach to seeing a game through.

I want the points not platitudes.

Our spine will solidify the more experienced we become at playing to our strengths, limiting exploitation of our weaknesses and nullifying the threat posed by any given opponent.

We've come close to taking points of both finalists from last year's Champions League. Aside from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, we've only lost to teams in European placing.

There's going to be growing pains, without a doubt. We've replaced 40% of our squad from last season, as opposed to the average 5-10% among other PL sides.

Not to mention sides whose personnel have been together longer and are further developed as a team, are also more experienced and familiar with the division and those in it.

In my opinion we're doing okay considering how fresh and new the standards and competition is for us.

[TRO]

6 hours ago, A'Villan said:

Our spine will solidify the more experienced we become at playing to our strengths, limiting exploitation of our weaknesses and nullifying the threat posed by any given opponent.

We've come close to taking points of both finalists from last year's Champions League. Aside from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, we've only lost to teams in European placing.

There's going to be growing pains, without a doubt. We've replaced 40% of our squad from last season, as opposed to the average 5-10% among other PL sides.

Not to mention sides whose personnel have been together longer and are further developed as a team, are also more experienced and familiar with the division and those in it.

In my opinion we're doing okay considering how fresh and new the standards and competition is for us.

To be fair....I think we all suspect that, but mitigation won't keep us in this league.

Other Teams that have come up, playing attractive football have recognised that they have to add an ingredient to their play, to survive.....in many cases they are displaying the desire to accrue points.

You could well be right, that we develop.....but we said that about the french influx a few seasons ago and only now vertout is admitting he was not up to speed with the physical demands of the league....it might take longer than we've got.

We have 26 games to add something to our game....The manager has already admitted "we are leaving points out there,on the pitch, after games"......He knows, I hope he can instill something in to them.

I understand all the challenges, but we have to fight more for points.....or more accurately, some players need to fight more for points.

[A'Villan]

40 minutes ago, TRO said:

To be fair....I think we all suspect that, but mitigation won't keep us in this league.

Other Teams that have come up, playing attractive football have recognised that they have to add an ingredient to their play, to survive.....in many cases they are displaying the desire to accrue points.

You could well be right, that we develop.....but we said that about the french influx a few seasons ago and only now vertout is admitting he was not up to speed with the physical demands of the league....it might take longer than we've got.

We have 26 games to add something to our game....The manager has already admitted "we are leaving points out there,on the pitch, after games"......He knows, I hope he can instill something in to them.

I understand all the challenges, but we have to fight more for points.....or more accurately, some players need to fight more for points.

I disagree, mitigation is fundamental to our survival, and also any success we may enjoy.

Until we are able to play with fluency and congruence in whatever the strategy and tactics that we employ are, we're going to see mistakes.

We're still very much in the development stage, to achieve our desired outcomes we must understand where we are in the process and respect that.

There are going to be trade-offs no matter the approach we take, it's about assessing and identifying what gives us optimal chances for success.

We can demand our players compete and put points on the board 'til the cows come home. That doesn't change the practicalities the team will experience.

We are not a well honed outfit yet, and so identifying our assets and liabilities is crucial. As is analysing how we go about competing against any given opponent.

Wolves after appointing Nuno, had a preseason and transfer window, they recruited excellently and had a whole season to reap the rewards of their strategy.

Villa after appointing Smith, were in a precarious and dubious position in regards to promotion, against the odds, after some sound recruitment, we too reaped the rewards.

The major difference, is that Wolves retained the players they recruited and then added quality. There was continuity in their development and that's allowed them to thrive.

For us on the other hand, the side that was promoted had less than half the playing time together than Wolves, and upon promotion saw basically half it's personnel replaced.

That's fairly significant.

We might of spent more money than Wolves did in their return to the top flight, but money is just paper. Traded as a reflection of perceived value.

[Laughable Chimp]

9 hours ago, A'Villan said:

 

We've come close to taking points of both finalists from last year's Champions League. Aside from Bournemouth and Crystal Palace, we've only lost to teams in European placing.

 

Is it really that impressive when both Champions League finaliss were not anywhere near their absolute best when they faced us? And in Tottenham's case, they aren't even doing well in the league, and many other teams have put on more impressive showings against said Champions League finalist to the point they actually won the match.

You could do this kind of analysis for any team really, if you just want to look at the bright sides. What about the bad sides? The fact that we've faced 4 different teams who've gotten a red card at some point during the match and yet lost 2 of these, drew one and won one and only just barely too. The fact that we've conceded more goals in the final minutes of a game more than any other team in the league,. The fact that we're the only team in the bottom 10 aside from Tottenham who've actually failed to gain any points from any teams in European placing.

Like I said, its very easy to just look on the bright sides and paint a better picture of us that we actually are. At the end of the day though, we're 17th for a reason. 

Edited November 21, 2019 by Laughable Chimp

[A'Villan]

8 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

Is it really that impressive when both Champions League finaliss were not anywhere near their absolute best when they faced us? And in Tottenham's case, they aren't even doing well in the league, and many other teams have put on more impressive showings against said Champions League finalist to the point they actually won the match.

You could do this kind of analysis for any team really, if you just want to look at the bright sides. What about the bad sides? The fact that we've faced 4 different teams who've gotten a red card at some point during the match and yet lost 2 of these, drew one and won one and only just barely too. The fact that we've conceded more goals in the final minutes of a game more than any other team in the league,. The fact that we're the only team in the bottom 10 aside from Tottenham who've actually failed to gain any points from any teams in European placing.

Like I said, its very easy to just look on the bright sides and paint a better picture of us that we actually are. At the end of the day though, we're 17th for a reason. 

You're telling me that I'm only taking into account a limited perspective through only looking at one facet of a whole, whilst only quoting and addressing one line from my post.

That's a bit ironic, I think anyway.

The reason I am choosing to highlight positives is because we have what I consider to be a potentially class side. I want to recognise that.

I am also highlighting that we are in a difficult position because we have had less opportunity to invest the most valuable resource there is, time.

Edited November 21, 2019 by A'Villan

[Laughable Chimp]

11 minutes ago, A'Villan said:

You're telling me that I'm only taking into account a limited perspective through only looking at one facet of a whole, whilst only quoting and addressing one line from my post.

I was merely responding to that one line of argument in particular implying the quality of our performances, which is the only point you made iimplying the quality of our performances. I don't have any disagreements with the rest of your points and your conclusion, which is essentially that we'll get better and we're doing okay relatively considering how much of our squad was replaced.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Laughable Chimp

[TRO]

1 hour ago, A'Villan said:

I disagree, mitigation is fundamental to our survival, and also any success we may enjoy.

Until we are able to play with fluency and congruence in whatever the strategy and tactics that we employ are, we're going to see mistakes.

We're still very much in the development stage, to achieve our desired outcomes we must understand where we are in the process and respect that.

There are going to be trade-offs no matter the approach we take, it's about assessing and identifying what gives us optimal chances for success.

We can demand our players compete and put points on the board 'til the cows come home. That doesn't change the practicalities the team will experience.

We are not a well honed outfit yet, and so identifying our assets and liabilities is crucial. As is analysing how we go about competing against any given opponent.

Wolves after appointing Nuno, had a preseason and transfer window, they recruited excellently and had a whole season to reap the rewards of their strategy.

Villa after appointing Smith, were in a precarious and dubious position in regards to promotion, against the odds, after some sound recruitment, we too reaped the rewards.

The major difference, is that Wolves retained the players they recruited and then added quality. There was continuity in their development and that's allowed them to thrive.

For us on the other hand, the side that was promoted had less than half the playing time together than Wolves, and upon promotion saw basically half it's personnel replaced.

That's fairly significant.

We might of spent more money than Wolves did in their return to the top flight, but money is just paper. Traded as a reflection of perceived value.

mitigation can be used as a reason, in which case you would be right.....or conversely it can be used as an excuse, in which case you would be wrong.

I am demanding nothing....I am merely pointing out what I think is not quite right....I too can be wrong., but I obviously don't think I am.

I am not arguing with all that you write.....what I am pointing out is fundamental issues.....basic,basic stuff, not far reaching development stuff.....That's Intrinsic drive and Belief and a willingness to make it so hard for the opposition, we have done it in some games, but many we haven't.

e.g...Concentration in games,which the manager himself has offered as his observation at the end of matches, ....without going in to them all......there is a plethora of issues under the heading of application.

We knew it was going to be tough.....we have to get tough with ourselves and apply that on the pitch.....that 38th game will be with us before we know it, its no good saying, we should have done this or done that, it will be time up.

The tragedy for me is.....I think this team is good enough, technically......They just need to know they are too and play like every game is a cup final......and don't give the opposition a "flea to breed off".....stifle them.

Every fan I talk to says " We are too open".....now if we can see it?

Edited November 21, 2019 by TRO

[useless]

Surprised at people turning against Smith I dread to think what the reaction might be if we fail to beat Newcastle, yes we've had some disappointing results and need to improve in some aspects, but overall we're doing okay, and Smith has performed miracles to get us to this point.

[A'Villan]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

mitigation can be used as a reason, in which case you would be right.....or conversely it can be used as an excuse, in which case you would be wrong.

I am demanding nothing....I am merely pointing out what I think is not quite right....I too can be wrong., but I obviously don't think I am.

I am not arguing with all that you write.....what I am pointing out is fundamental issues.....basic,basic stuff, not far reaching development stuff.....That's Intrinsic drive and Belief and a willingness to make it so hard for the opposition, we have done it in some games, but many we haven't.

e.g...Concentration in games,which the manager himself has offered as his observation at the end of matches, ....without going in to them all......there is a plethora of issues under the heading of application.

We knew it was going to be tough.....we have to get tough with ourselves and apply that on the pitch.....that 38th game will be with us before we know it, its no good saying, we should have done this or done that, it will be time up.

The tragedy for me is.....I think this team is good enough, technically......They just need to know they are too and play like every game is a cup final......and don't give the opposition a "flea to breed off".....stifle them.

Every fan I talk to says " We are too open".....now if we can see it?

Like I said, there are trade-offs involved with every approach. Too open you say? We are also the 7th highest scoring team in the league.

Although we are relegation candidates if you go by goals conceded, we are also only 3 goals worse off than the top half for goals conceded.

I would agree that when we commit men forward, as we do, we have not yet developed a reliable way of dealing with transitions in play when it comes back at us.

I also have seen us be lackadaisical in our efforts to prevent opposition build up play from gathering momentum, in this league that can be punished within moments.

I've also seen some naivety on an individual level where we've tried something that is just not on, in an area that is just not on, and there's been consequences.

Funnily enough, what you point out was the criticism from many when Smith first arrived, and results went undeservedly against us. The focus seemed to be solely on the result.

I agree wholeheartedly every match should be played to the best of our ability, and that there is an urgency to finding our feet if we want to run with this league another season.

As for doing the fundamentals and basics with an application worthy of PL status, I see your point, and again I agree, it's critical to our success in this league.

But, you can have eleven fundamentally solid players who might as well of boozed up pregame because they are all over the place, loose as a goose, when it comes to wavelength.

It's not an excuse it's just part of our situation that we have had less time together to strategise and integrate appropriate tactics, as well as understand the competition we face.

It's really on Smith to ensure that the players are so well prepared for a fixture that when the next one comes, when he says jump, they say, "how high?"

[Tomaszk]

Something that's perked me up a bit...

According to this fantasy football chart, we've had the hardest fixtures in the league so far. It's obviously weighted so Liverpool have more "easy" games than us, because they're better than hs.

What's nice is though, we've got results in almost all games we "should" have. When you add in the fact we threw away points at Arsenal (maybe Liverpool as well), and we're robbed of a point at Palace, I'm feeling quite positive.

The Wolves performance was such a kick in the shaft, it knocked me back. Going by this though, Newcastle should be right up our street... Anything other than a win is a bad result I'm afraid.

[Dave-R]

I'm concerned that if we lose to Bruce's side you will have those saying we should of kept hold of bruce. We should be taking advantage of Newcastle, up until there last game there run has been poor and there gameplay hasn't been anything like ours has.

The players, our players have to want to go out there and destroy the opposition, it doesn't come easy especially in this league so they have to want it each and every game. They either go out there and do this and bring results in or there career will take a turn for the worse next season. We will be in the championship again if they are not careful and they will be worth significantly less, pretty much starting life over having to prove themselves as something more than just a championship side, it's not something I want for them.

They have no choice to figure this out and it 26 games right? we will be either one league lower or in the premier. We need to just survive, don't care how we do it we just need to do it and they have what it takes. We havnt the time for any silly mistakes no more, weve been having something go wrong each game pretty much for what ever reason its been happening and its costing us. Get the mistakes shut out and we see a Villa team start winning more and pulling points in, holding back is whats also contributing to out screw ups. You only had to look at when Ghazi didn't mark his man far post and he came in for what should of been sorted out instead a nightmare header turned goal. 

I hope this bit of a break has really put the serious in our players, we now need some results to make life a little bit easier in this league.

[Dr_Pangloss]

12 hours ago, useless said:

Surprised at people turning against Smith I dread to think what the reaction might be if we fail to beat Newcastle, yes we've had some disappointing results and need to improve in some aspects, but overall we're doing okay, and Smith has performed miracles to get us to this point.

It's honestly going to be a turning point type game IMO.

If we lose, well that's a sign that things really aren't going 'okay'. A draw, well, not very good but can soon be forgotten about. Ultimately a defeat would just be very bad for Smith. It will turn quite a few on him and will undermine the recruitment strategy in the summer as well. Big game.

[Dr_Pangloss]

3 hours ago, Dave-R said:

I'm concerned that if we lose to Bruce's side you will have those saying we should of kept hold of bruce. We should be taking advantage of Newcastle, up until there last game there run has been poor and there gameplay hasn't been anything like ours has.

The players, our players have to want to go out there and destroy the opposition, it doesn't come easy especially in this league so they have to want it each and every game. They either go out there and do this and bring results in or there career will take a turn for the worse next season. We will be in the championship again if they are not careful and they will be worth significantly less, pretty much starting life over having to prove themselves as something more than just a championship side, it's not something I want for them.

They have no choice to figure this out and it 26 games right? we will be either one league lower or in the premier. We need to just survive, don't care how we do it we just need to do it and they have what it takes. We havnt the time for any silly mistakes no more, weve been having something go wrong each game pretty much for what ever reason its been happening and its costing us. Get the mistakes shut out and we see a Villa team start winning more and pulling points in, holding back is whats also contributing to out screw ups. You only had to look at when Ghazi didn't mark his man far post and he came in for what should of been sorted out instead a nightmare header turned goal. 

I hope this bit of a break has really put the serious in our players, we now need some results to make life a little bit easier in this league.

It would be a very small number of idiots to be honest. Bruce did not deliver here, end of story.