Dean Smith

[KHV]

1 hour ago, TRO said:

I think plan A is the problem...I like Dean, but not sure he is tough enough with the players to succeed....its all a little bit too passive for me....and a little bit too grateful to be in the league....it has to change and soon.

Systems alone won't win you anything...you have to want the win bad enough.

The players have to roll their sleeves up and be ready and relishing the battle....Then apply their talent and win the game.

In that order

Not come out playing football, get a bloody nose and go in to defensive mode, because the opposition are more up for it.....have a flurry, get their temper up and get back in the game and scramble a draw......That is bollox football.

 

I also think defence is problem, the fullbacks can't defend

I also think dropping Hourihane for Luiz is an issue. I don't rate Luiz

[foreveryoung]

23 minutes ago, KHV said:

I also think defence is problem, the fullbacks can't defend

I also think dropping Hourihane for Luiz is an issue. I don't rate Luiz

Luiz is class, just gotta play him right, Smith don't know how, an neither do I, but then i'm not a manager or coach so have no idea how too, It's just I can see a player in there, same as Wes.

[villalad21]

50 minutes ago, KHV said:

I also think dropping Hourihane for Luiz is an issue. I don't rate Luiz

Problem is Smith is playing him in the "Conor" role.

Smith is so stubborn with his system. To me Luiz is a deep lying playmaker but we won't ever see him there.

[villalad21]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

think your bang on here, just didn't wanna upset anyone. Love him to bits, an got his dream job, but needs to start getting dirty.

It's the same with Farke. They are both very stubborn not willing to adapt.

Might be the downfall for both clubs.

[TRO]

2 hours ago, KHV said:

I also think defence is problem, the fullbacks can't defend

I also think dropping Hourihane for Luiz is an issue. I don't rate Luiz

I think you have a point....but defensively, i don't rate either.

other defensive issue......

so many teams score from the back post.....so many teams inc us concede at the back post.

you could score a reasonable amount of goals, just standing at the back post, its that basic.

Ray Graydon had a good season, doing just that.

why Hause is not employed to negate aerial threat at one of the posts,baffles me.

or even bring him on late to tighten up, when teams throw the kitchen sink at us.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

2 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

I think your bang on here, just didn't wanna upset anyone. Love him to bits, an got his dream job, but needs to start getting dirty. Would be up there with Wolves if we could hold on to a lead. Unfortunately this is gonna be the start of the end for him if it don't change sooner rather than later, can't see Swaris and Edens messing about if we are into the relegation zone after Christmas.

This doesn't leave the team blameless, that performance against Wolves was shocking. an improvements need to be made with or without Smith.

.

[TRO]

I think the lessons we need to learn are on show with Sheff Utd....in every one of their games, this season they have displayed a huge appetite to compete for every ball..and a desire to get something out of a game.

I worry that we won't, see things that we can add, because some think there isn't an issue.

some fans think that tactics is the answer to everything.....I am not saying its irrelevant, just saying that application, desire and a determination to win....is more important.it can  take you such a long way as Sheff Utd have proved.

and we proved in the early eighties.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Laughable Chimp said:

The thing is, I don't think it was a lack of effort or desire that cost us against Wolves. I think we got the tactics utterly wrong in that first half. The were completely and systematically shredding us every time they got the ball, even if we lacked the desire or effort we should not have fared near as badly as we did. That point where Mings and the other Villa players ran towards Dean Smith after a break in play, highlighted just how badly we were playing, and how the team knew whatever they were trying to do, it wasn't working at all and they needed the manager to tell them how to fix it.

In short, I put the blame for the Wolves match much more on Smith than the players. Yes the players screwed up during the free kick, but we would never have conceded that free kick had we not been subject to wave after wave of attack by the opposition, which I blame on Dean's tactics. This is the common theme with us conceding the goals. Yes, individual mistakes can be blamed for them, but we are often subject to immense pressure by the opposition that forces these mistakes to happen. 

I do.....I think that is exactly what it was....a few big players were out and the others didn't fancy it.....and thats how we played.

I just hope we fancy it,tomorrow night.

 

Edited November 24, 2019 by TRO

[sheepyvillian]

You just have to love the positivity. I remember someone posting in pre - season about the need for patience and support when things are not going to plan. Have faith, it will all be well come May. 

Edited November 25, 2019 by sheepyvillian

[KentVillan]

Dean Smith has only had about 3 or 4 months to work with most of these players. I think a lot of people are expecting miracles.

I've always believed that this squad will do much better in the second half of the season, as the new signings settle in properly. The only thing that endangers that is a long-term injury to Grealish.

Also, although we invested a lot in the summer, our squad is still quite thin compared with the bigger clubs. It's not like DS has loads of impact subs sitting on the bench.

People saying that DS is too wedded to his system are slightly ignoring that Chris Wilder is also very wedded to a particular system, and is getting great results from that mentality. The difference is that the Sheff Utd squad is much more settled into Wilder's system.

I'm just looking at that Sheffield Utd team for the Man Utd game and comparing with their last game in the Championship vs. Stoke. All of these players started both games:

• Basham
• O'Connell
• Stevens
• Norwood
• Fleck
• Baldock
• McGoldrick

Same comparison with Villa's last Championship (Derby) / PL (Wolves) games:

• Steer
• Mings
• McGinn
• El Ghazi

Without injuries you'd lose Steer and gain Grealish, so it would still be just 4 starters. That's a lot of new players to integrate. It's not going to happen overnight!

Now Smith could take the Tony Pulis approach of just cobbling together a solid 11 and making them "hard to beat" as some people are suggesting. And yes, it would probably help us nick the odd point in the short term.

But I think DS is taking a longer view. By sticking to the system he believes in, at some point this season all the players will click, and we will hit a very good run of form - just as Sheffield Utd are experiencing at the moment! And that run of form is what will keep us up.

Something very similar happened last season.

[It's Your Round]

We just need to keep ourselves above the bottom three going into January. We have a tough run of games after Newcastle but then an ‘easier’ run over Christmas. Sign a new striker in January and I believe the team will get better as the season goes on. We may well go on a run once they gel properly, similar to last season. Picking up points between now and then is key though, we need to not be cut adrift as it affects the mentality too much. 

[Dave-R]

10 hours ago, KHV said:

I also think defence is problem, the fullbacks can't defend

I also think dropping Hourihane for Luiz is an issue. I don't rate Luiz

Luiz is an amazing player and it's finding where to play him and how to utilize him correctly. The only way we find how to utilise him properly is by playing him and see where he fits, Smith has to take a gamble on playing him in different positions and see where he's the biggest threat. I think Luiz would be a fantastic cover player for Grealish, he has all that ability and more to be Jacks replacement and think he should be tried on the left, trouble is when Jack is back how best to utilise Luiz, sub for Jack if Jack isn't doing the business is not so crazy In my eyes.

[foreveryoung]

No one is saying get rid of Smith now, we all wanna give him time to gel the team. But I dont think we have improved since the beginning of the season, going backwards in some games, continuing to make the same mistakes and his subs are always suspect when we are running the game. 

This losing in the last 5-10 minutes has to stop especially, something he is struggling with.

[TRO]

5 hours ago, KentVillan said:

Dean Smith has only had about 3 or 4 months to work with most of these players. I think a lot of people are expecting miracles.

I've always believed that this squad will do much better in the second half of the season, as the new signings settle in properly. The only thing that endangers that is a long-term injury to Grealish.

Also, although we invested a lot in the summer, our squad is still quite thin compared with the bigger clubs. It's not like DS has loads of impact subs sitting on the bench.

People saying that DS is too wedded to his system are slightly ignoring that Chris Wilder is also very wedded to a particular system, and is getting great results from that mentality. The difference is that the Sheff Utd squad is much more settled into Wilder's system.

I'm just looking at that Sheffield Utd team for the Man Utd game and comparing with their last game in the Championship vs. Stoke. All of these players started both games:

• Basham
• O'Connell
• Stevens
• Norwood
• Fleck
• Baldock
• McGoldrick

Same comparison with Villa's last Championship (Derby) / PL (Wolves) games:

• Steer
• Mings
• McGinn
• El Ghazi

Without injuries you'd lose Steer and gain Grealish, so it would still be just 4 starters. That's a lot of new players to integrate. It's not going to happen overnight!

Now Smith could take the Tony Pulis approach of just cobbling together a solid 11 and making them "hard to beat" as some people are suggesting. And yes, it would probably help us nick the odd point in the short term.

But I think DS is taking a longer view. By sticking to the system he believes in, at some point this season all the players will click, and we will hit a very good run of form - just as Sheffield Utd are experiencing at the moment! And that run of form is what will keep us up.

Something very similar happened last season.

I sincerely hope you are right.....Its a fair comment you make, but let me just add.

Those Sheff Utd players would probably not get in our team, by their technical ability and talent alone.

What Chris Wilder has done in the main, is similar to what Ron Saunders did for us.....110% work rate and an Intensity that disrupts the opposition......Chris has also bought players, that we would think twice about as not good enough for us....He is wedded to a system that works in more ways than one...and the main ingredient is they win their duels and impose a physicality on the opposition that makes them uncomfortable.....they go after the opposition with a hunger, that's hard to not be impressed with.

I think to mention the Tony Pulis approach is missing the point and a bit disingenuous to those of us who are looking to tighten up defensively....We are all on board with Deans mantra, we just need to not be so benevolent in possession and a bit more organised and mean out of possession...."hard to beat"is not a bad thing to have levelled at you.....its an integral ingredient to stay up.

I accept that we have had major changes and that players have to adapt....but we don't know how long that takes or if we have enough time to survive.....This game is about momentum and we can ill afford to be cut adrift.....we need points. I applaud your view that it takes time, its hard to argue with that, but we have heard that line before and it hasn't materialised....so my mind is open on that.

I would also add, I am not convinced that any January signings will save us or turn it around that much......The players coming in need to come in to a team with momentum , for them to thrive. We have spent years, in expecting new recruits to bail us out and it as rarely happened.

Sheff Utd's good run of form is borne out of a huge willingness to work and work together, a huge appetite to impose themselves physically on their opponent and a desire to put them to the sword, with some slick interplay and transition thrown in, they turn up in packs as opposed to an individual player......Their players are not better than ours, they just apply themselves better as a group.

It was interesting to here Jordan Vertout commenting on learning the art of the physical side of the game when he was at Villa.....does that suggest they come from abroad ill equipped for the battle?...If so you might be right, we have to wait until they have learnt that side of the job.

I am hoping we can emulate that part of their game that Sheff Utd have grasped so well and I will sit back, relaxed.

Ps....I am only using Sheff Utd as an example....Burnley, WBA,Leeds just to pick out a few who have a streak in them.

 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2019 by TRO

[Dave-R]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

This losing in the last 5-10 minutes has to stop especially, something he is struggling with.

The right reinforcements should aid in stopping that. We not only need to be better in defence at dealing with longballs, but those crosses that seem to go through our whole defence and alot of there attackers are a problem. The biggest threat I'd say is when the opposition attacker charges towards our post and keeper goes for it, the problem lies with no one is watching for the supporting attacker running in and it gets quickly laid back towards our spot, Man city did this to us a few times and was lucky not to be done more this way.

Edited November 25, 2019 by Dave-R

[TRO]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

No one is saying get rid of Smith now, we all wanna give him time to gel the team. But I dont think we have improved since the beginning of the season, going backwards in some games, continuing to make the same mistakes and his subs are always suspect when we are running the game. 

This losing in the last 5-10 minutes has to stop especially, something he is struggling with.

I think we have improved in some things.....but others are still there.

just as one example......we don't win headed duels anywhere near enough.....our heading ability generally is low grade.

I am not trying to be negative, we do many things well.....just pointing some things for us to improve on.

I don't want us to be flirting around the bottom of the league and I don't think we have to.

Edited November 25, 2019 by TRO

[Vive_La_Villa]

We are appalling from corners. Don’t get why we are so bad. It’s probably why we tend to go short as when we swing it in nobody ever seems to be on the end of it. We must have the worst record in the league for goals from corners. I can only remember the Trez goal. 

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 hour ago, Dave-R said:

Luiz is an amazing player and it's finding where to play him and how to utilize him correctly. The only way we find how to utilise him properly is by playing him and see where he fits, Smith has to take a gamble on playing him in different positions and see where he's the biggest threat. I think Luiz would be a fantastic cover player for Grealish, he has all that ability and more to be Jacks replacement and think he should be tried on the left, trouble is when Jack is back how best to utilise Luiz, sub for Jack if Jack isn't doing the business is not so crazy In my eyes.

Jack is always doing the business. We need to be taking Mcginn off after 70 odd minutes if he has nothing left in the tank. 

[Dave-R]

7 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Jack is always doing the business. We need to be taking Mcginn off after 70 odd minutes if he has nothing left in the tank. 

Luiz an excellent sub for either John or Jack and in either there roles could wouldn't you agree? Maybe use Luiz in first half in Mcginns role, then once he looks tired bring Mcginn on in Luiz's place. Not surprised the energised bunny has nothing left in the tank after 70 mins, he totally burns himself out. Mcginn I thought was an excellent sub as well, he ran a nearly burnt out team rugged, a fully energised Mcginn is dangerous as a sub.

[villalad21]

2 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

But I dont think we have improved since the beginning of the season

That's the thing. Mainly defensively.

It's so easy to get past our midfield it's a joke. Even a 10 man Brighton cut through us like a hot knife through butter, it was so easy for them.

I want to see improvement defensively. This has been exactly the criticism the Brentford fan on here aimed at Smith at his time there.

If Smith is unable to sort us out defensively he is not the right man for the job imo.

Edited November 25, 2019 by villalad21