Dean Smith

[briny_ear]

23 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

Would 100% rather scrape 17th with fat Sam than get relegated with Smith .

Fixed for you.

[VillaChris]

1 hour ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

People may laugh at this, but if these owners really are serious about taking us forward in the coming years then they need to start thinking big. Rafa is more realistic than Poch but why not put all our efforts into enticing Poch. Everton have just appointed Ancelotti, how on earth they managed that I don't know, we need to start showing some ambition ourselves. We were actually a relatively big club 10 years ago believe it or not. 

Everton actually did enquire for Poch a few weeks ago but were quickly turned down. Seems he's happy to take six month break and then see what comes up in the summer. The PSG, Man. United, Juventus and Bayern Munich jobs could all be available so I'd be very surprised if he dosen't end up at one of those clubs. Wasn't it also said if he joins another prem club this season he has to give back some of his pay off to Spurs?

It's a nice idea but unrealistic to me.

Marcello Gallardo was also linked a few weeks back to Everton. Now that would be a left field and intriguing move. Done a superb job at River Plate.

[Zatman]

8 minutes ago, holteend1982 said:

Why though? It's not as though we are playing good football now and just being unlucky. We've been awful to watch recently at least with fat Sam in charge we'd be awful to watch but not concede of every set play. 

 

because you know what you get with Big Sam. He had 1 window at Everton and they are saddled with big wages for Walcott. He would do the same here while bringing in Big Sam style plodders. Bring in Glenn Murray on a 3 year deal on about 50k a week.

Allardyce teams dont thrive when he leaves not because he did a great job its because he leaves the new manager with a rebuilding mess just like Everton now

[TRO]

2 hours ago, tinker said:

Smith has a proven record of over achieving, he's lost 2 games we have expected to win and you want him out ...........Pathetic attitude , think about the last 18 months.

Smith and his team need time , let's give them that time and support them , if we go down then we go down together, Smith may go,  but we're not gonna implode as a club . 

do you know what ....(I want Dean to get it to work) ......means?

Edited December 22, 2019 by TRO

[Only2McInallys]

Nothing surprises me on Villatalk.

We are playing badly with little confidence and losing games.Sack all the players except Grealish and a few others,sack the manager and the board ...that’s a good idea.

Do we stand by people that have brought us success in the past?No let’s see who doing well in the premier league at the moment...Steve Bruce is doing well with a similar team to us let’s get  him....No no he’s terrible because that’s what a lot of fans said on here last year.

Look at Burnley I hate the football they play but Dyce is good premier league manager.Burnley were relegated 4 years ago but the club stuck by him.It wouldn’t happen at Villa because some fans would insist there is somebody better ...like Remi Garde

Somebody suggested on here we should drop Mings because he is prone to errors...be careful what you wish for...

This is the time to be a true Villa fan ,when things are going badly to stick with the team and the manager.The easy option is let’s get rid of that player,that manager,etc the difficult bit is not overreacting when things get difficult.

Let’s look at Bournemouth they are on a terrible run Let’s sack Eddie Howe and all their players.

People talk about Smith having no plan b ,does pep have a plan b?

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Londonastonvilla

[Awol]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

I think he needs better versions of all the players he thought he was getting.

Alot of these are really starting to look like option C's, D's and E's.

Obviously he is being stubborn as he has belief in a system but these can't do it.

Needs tweaking asap.

Owners and board need to find a way to dig deep and help the man since by handing him a new deal they must have faith.

They need to help him, help us, or we are fighting a losing battle which will result in heartbreak all round.

Makes no difference now, but Philips instead of Nakamba, Benrahma instead of Trezeguet, Tammy instead of Wes & Webster instead of Konsa would have made us a much stronger prospect this season. That’s the difference between ‘A’s and ‘C’s & not Deano’s fault, but used right we should still have a squad that can survive the premier league. 

[TRO]

Dean has to recognise the failings at present, so far, I am not sure he has.

even on MOTD they highlight it all.....not being funny but its done for him.

[KentVillan]

29 minutes ago, jim said:

There we’re some right cocky so and so’s on here mocking the likes of Shef Utd for not spending any money. How naive they are, laughing at how shite Newcastle were and talking up mid table finishes for us. This wasn’t just a couple of people either.

Fast forward 18 games and the same people are saying it’s the players not good enough blah, blah, blah . 

I don't think that's right at all.

Most people on here were predicting a 16th / 17th place finish, which is still very much on the cards, and if it was a touch optimistic that's just the nature of football fans not wanting to predict relegation. Think the bookies had us as 4th favourites to go down at the end of the season, so not really out of step with reality was it?

Sheffield Utd barely spent any money, and Wilder has worked miracles there. I don't remember many people (if any) on here mocking them. But they were a sensible bet for relegation in August, and there was nothing "cocky" in predicting them to go down. As it happens, they've proved everyone wrong, and fair play to them.

As for Newcastle... they had a meltdown over the summer, sold two of their best players, brought in cabbage man as manager, and were among the bookies' favourites to go down. God knows how they're doing as well as they are. Remember we pasted them at Villa Park only a few weeks ago?

My take on it is that we are overly dependent on a small number of players - Mings, McGinn and (especially) Grealish - and lack options up front. If two of those key players are injured, as they were today, and if we play Grealish too predictably in that wide left role, then all the opposition have to do is double-mark him and hit us on the counter or on set pieces. They can even push their centre backs high, because our strikers don't cause enough problems, and that squeezes all the space in midfield.

Does a new manager fix that? Maybe he sets us up less predictably, which would be a good start. Grealish at number 10 is probably harder to plan for than Grealish at wide left. Maybe a new manager signs a new striker in January, but then Smith could sign a new striker and get the same benefit.

New manager could improve our set pieces, and that's the one area where I think all criticism of Smith is justified - we have been unforgivably crap at set pieces ever since he joined.

But a lot of the problems in open play are thorny problems that I can't see a new manager fixing overnight. I'm not completely opposed to us getting a new manager, but if it's a Fat Sam type I would be gutted. He will leave a **** mess behind, as @Zatman says, and he doesn't even guarantee we stay up, that's a myth.

[Tomaszk]

Well, he finally changed formation. We had a flash of 442 today, not that you could tell.

Horrendous. The midfield, as has been the case for a long time, was a total mess. There's no nous, players are running all over the place with no plan.

Smith has a lot to answer for but my word the players let him down today. Targett and El Ghazi for me in particular were an absolute disgrace. Cowards, absolute **** cowards. The worst of a load of rubbish.

The worry now for me is that the players see him as a soft touch. We haven't been playing like that all season, no way. What's happened? Why have some stopped trying?

We've lost a lot of games this season we'd have got points if we had a striker who could play football. Today we deserved nothing. The performance levels dropped so much Wes wasn't our worst player. Didn't think that was possible.

This has knocked me for six. Don't know what to think. Before today I had no confidence going to Watford, thought we needed six from Saints and Norwich. This is it. We're going to be relegated if we don't win either of the next two.

If we line up 433 with Jack on the left wing next match I'll be fuming. 4-2-3-****-1 with Jack in the middle of the pitch is the only way we're getting anything.

But it's been eye-stabbingly obvious we need an alternative formation for about 11 months now and we haven't changed, not sure I hold out much hope.

[Johnnyp]

20 minutes ago, Londonastonvilla said:

 

Look at Burnley I hate the football they play but Dyce is good premier league manager.Burnley were relegated 4 years ago but the club stuck by him.It wouldn’t happen at Villa because some fans would insist there is somebody better ...like Remi Garde

 

 

Didn't spend 140 million in their relegation season though but hey let's not mention that. Wouldn't want something as trivial as facts getting in the way of a good rant.

[maqroll]

It's become clear that there were mistakes in recruitment and it's haunting us right now. Maybe not Bomb Squad 2.0 but it's close. 

Cutthroat league requires cutthroat decisions, and getting embarrassed at home against a team in the relegation zone is unacceptable, IMO. 

Dean should deservingly be on the hot seat right now because it also looks like the players have tuned his message out.

[Villarocker]

25 minutes ago, Londonastonvilla said:

Nothing surprises me on Villatalk.

We are playing badly with little confidence and losing games.Sack all the players except Grealish and a few others,sack the manager and the board ...that’s a good idea.

Do we stand by people that have brought us success in the past?No let’s see who doing well in the premier league at the moment...Steve Bruce is doing well with a similar team to us let’s get  him....No no he’s terrible because that’s what a lot of fans said on here last year.

Look at Burnley I hate the football they play but Dyce is good premier league manager.Burnley were relegated 4 years ago but the club stuck by him.It wouldn’t happen at Villa because some fans would insist there is somebody better ...like Remi Garde

Somebody suggested on here we should drop Mings because he is prone to errors...be careful what you wish for...

This is the time to be a true Villa fan ,when things are going badly to stick with the team and the manager.The easy option is let’s get rid of that player,that manager,etc the difficult bit is not overreacting when things get difficult.

Let’s look at Bournemouth they are on a terrible run Let’s sack Eddie Howe and all their players.

People talk about Smith having no plan b ,does pep have a plan b?

 

Very sensible post. 

We will add to the squad in January and our new players will gradually settle more and more, although their confidence will suffer the more they fight relegation. 

But, some people would rather change the manager and coaching staff and hope that the changes can get better performances and results from the same group of players. 

 

[PaulC]

36 minutes ago, TRO said:

Dean has to recognise the failings at present, so far, I am not sure he has.

even on MOTD they highlight it all.....not being funny but its done for him.

Yes we cant afford to leave it too long to make a change. Eddie howe has proven he isva good manager and they are on a poor run because of an horific injury list. Smith has done nothing to deserve that loyalty.

[MikeMcKenna]

With many previous managers I have advocated giving them time and am very uncomfortable questioning  Dean Smith’s future with the Club. That said, the performances in recent matches and especially today have been appalling and DS is ultimately responsible. The team  appear clueless and frankly it is difficult to see how they will start to click. 

 

 

[holteend1982]

2 hours ago, Zatman said:

because you know what you get with Big Sam. He had 1 window at Everton and they are saddled with big wages for Walcott. He would do the same here while bringing in Big Sam style plodders. Bring in Glenn Murray on a 3 year deal on about 50k a week.

Allardyce teams dont thrive when he leaves not because he did a great job its because he leaves the new manager with a rebuilding mess just like Everton now

Fair enough. Id still rather stay up though. 

[Keyblade]

This is why I hate being in the PL and why we as fans didn't deserve to go up. After all we've been through in the Championship, to talk about sacking the manager that performed the miracle that got us here in the first place, halfway through the season after just dropping into the relegation zone...just to scrape survival (as if that's even guaranteed with anyone else) is just absurd. We really would be doing a Fulham if we went through with that. 

[DaveAV1]

7 hours ago, screwdriver said:

Grealish is the best player I've seen down there. I've seen merson Yorke mcgrath

You think that Jack Grealish is a better player than Paul McGrath? Jack is a good player, but he couldn’t lace McGrath’s drinks. 

[villalad21]

Arteta mentions passion and aggression in his Arsenal interview. The exact things we lack.

[villalad21]

2 hours ago, Keyblade said:

This is why I hate being in the PL and why we as fans didn't deserve to go up. After all we've been through in the Championship, to talk about sacking the manager that performed the miracle that got us here in the first place, halfway through the season after just dropping into the relegation zone...just to scrape survival (as if that's even guaranteed with anyone else) is just absurd. We really would be doing a Fulham if we went through with that. 

If the signs were there that Smith could turn it around i would still be behind him.

Sadly there aren't. We're getting worse every week. We're getting outfought, we can't stop conceding goals. Even when we park the bus we still concede goals. Still can't believe we were 3-0 down at home to Southampton, unbelievable.

Edited December 22, 2019 by villalad21

[Recircle]

5 hours ago, PaulC said:

Yes we cant afford to leave it too long to make a change. Eddie howe has proven he isva good manager and they are on a poor run because of an horific injury list. Smith has done nothing to deserve that loyalty.

I don't think TRO means Smith is done as a manager when he says "it's done for him", he means the analysis of what's going wrong is being done for him by the pundits on MOTD.