Dean Smith

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 minutes ago, PaulC said:

And Watford are beating Man U. They have Deeney we have Wesley 

They have 11 points (If they win) and we have 15.

[PaulC]

2 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

They have 11 points (If they win) and we have 15.

12 

[sharkyvilla]

5 minutes ago, PaulC said:

And Watford are beating Man U. They have Deeney we have Wesley 

Why do keepers never throw the ball in the net and defenders give away the daftest penalties against us?  Pisses me right off, that does.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

2 minutes ago, PaulC said:

12 

Yeah my bad just checked.

Two ways we can take it.

Either as proof that we can turn this around. (If those can)

Or that we are going to finish 20th.

[Eastie]

55 minutes ago, markavfc40 said:

Seems to be a danger that Smith is going to become a victim of his own success in getting us promoted so quickly. He didn't have time to do what Chris Wilder has done and build a team over a number of transfer windows and implement a system of play over a long period. In the summer we had no choice but to sign 12 new players some quite late in the window. 

The coaching staff have had little time to work with the players especially when you consider the amount of international breaks there have been. Trying to get so many players to gel, many of whom are new to the country or haven't played at this level before can't be easy. Then you add in the pressure of having to get results and play in front of such expectant supporters.

I hope when judging Smith we are taking the above into consideration but I fear many are not and we as a fan base are on the verge of making his job, and the only goal for this season of staying up, that much harder by making Villa Park a toxic place to play. I hope we all knew this season was going to be tough and now it is panning out that way whilst some of the criticism against Smith is fair lets not let that overtake the main job of us this year which is being right behind the coaches and players and helping them in their battle to keep us up.

Football is a results business and littered with managers who won promotion and were fired shortly afterwards jokanovic, Adkins , Warner for example - maybe smith will become a victim of his own success too - he certainly can not afford to lose the 3 games coming up . 

[KHV]

Just now, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Yeah my bad just checked.

Two ways we can take it.

Either as proof that we can turn this around. (If those can)

Or that we are going to finish 20th.

By the time we play Watford if they beat us we could be rock bottom

[PaulC]

3 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Yeah my bad just checked.

Two ways we can take it.

Either as proof that we can turn this around. (If those can)

Or that we are going to finish 20th.

Don’t know just the last few games we have played like the worst team in the league. How long can we afford to leave it before we take action. Now Mcginn could be out for a while

Edited December 22, 2019 by PaulC

[Davkaus]

Watching the hunger and desire Watford have to get this game, it shows the huge difference that mentality makes.

They don't have a better team than us, but Pearson has come in, fired a rocket up their arse and got them working their arses off. It can only do so much,  but it'll be enough to keep them in contention to stay up. I think we'll be 20th by the end of NYD.

[Genie]

If Dean Smith continues to pick players in poor form then we’ll stay in the rut.

[villalad21]

4 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

Watching the hunger and desire Watford have to get this game, it shows the huge difference that mentality makes.

They don't have a better team than us, but Pearson has come in, fired a rocket up their arse and got them working their arses off. It can only do so much,  but it'll be enough to keep them in contention to stay up. I think we'll be 20th by the end of NYD.

Yup. They are fighting for their lives

The ruthlessness of Watford's board may save them.

[villianusa]

Sadly, I see things have gone wrong since the late loss to Liverpool, we haven't really recovered. I see this result very, very similar to the Leicester defeat in the 15/16 season. I know that game was earlier in the season, but it kicked the stuffing out of us and we never really recovered and we know what happened that season. The mental effort we put into the game against Liverpool, the level of concentration for it all to be for nothing seems to be hurting us bad. I see few similarities to were we were under Bruce and times with Smith last season.

1. Wesley is becoming isolated on the field, and people calling for him for him to be dropped. I remember the same calls for Tammy when he was struggling and missing chances, and this was in the Championship, just look at him now. He wasn't always getting the service he needed to show off his best attributes, balls were hit long and he couldn't retain the ball long enough for the rest of the team to catch up.  He was missing somewhat simple tap in, similar to Wesley's chance yesterday. We saw more from Wesley yesterday when we went 442 and he had players around him. It won't matter who the forward is in the end, no support, no result.

2. We are becoming the Grealish show again, when Grealish was out last season we were crap, we all know the run of result and on his return, "Hail Grealish", and he helped us win promotion. This season we are relying so much on him and teams have worked us out. Double up on him and leave the other side open, because the time we transition the ball, it is so slow that they can adjust and no problem.  Unless we see a spark from Grealish, we are struggling to make anything happen. The only one who is, is Hourihane, and it usually comes from a Grealish earned free-kick.

3. Adding to point 2, players aren't looking for the ball anymore. Except Grealish were seem to be playing with fear. If players get the ball they want to get rid of it quickly, and get it back towards Jack. Because of this, we are losing the ball so many times in the final third and we aren't picking out players. Players aren't moving quick enough to support the ball, we don't move the ball quick enough around the field, so it is easy for teams to get back and defend in numbers.

To add to that I could write an whole essay and how we aren't defending crosses as a team (might do that later). 

Whatever people may want to say, Wesley isn't the problem, he is part of it. We need to address the areas above and we can turn things around because we have the quality, we have shown it at times. We need to get over the Liverpool game, and focus on teams that we can compete against and not beat ourselves up for losing against a team that may go unbeaten this season. Smith needs to change the mentality, and tinker with the system and get a result against Norwich.

Edited December 22, 2019 by villianusa

[jonjon]

3 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Always been the case for Smith's teams.

Ask any Brentford or Walsall fan and they would tell you they would be leaking goals under him.

In fact most Brentford weren't very upset to see him go.

Some were and some weren't, I was one who wasn't very happy he left us, but understood that it was always his ambition to manage Villa, good luck to him for that reason, the problem with him was his defensive shortcomings that were evident at Walsall and now with you, as you have now conceded 33 goals in 18 games, our new head coach changed all that with a different formation, that he changes according to the opposition, made some shrewd purchases including Pontus Jannson from Leeds, and after 23 games we still have only conceded 18 goals, second only to Leeds, so a vast improvement that has now put us in a good position in the table.

Most of us Bees fans couldn't understand why he paid a more money for Wesley instead of going for Maupay, who would have done a much better job for you, and cheaper, that to me was a big mistake, or is it a fact that Pitarch & Purslow have a greater say in transfers than DS?

[foreveryoung]

56 minutes ago, cheltenham_villa said:

 

Hilarious

Did you enjoy watching alex mcleish stick 11 men behind the ball?

Did you enjoy steve bruce and his 30% possession while we try and get one on the break. 

Sounds like we have very different perspectives. I dont see surviving in the premier league as an achievement, I similarly find it ridiculous that you care solely about a result. Cant wait for you to bring back Whelan and jedinak, maybe if we draw every game we can finish 14th and pat ourselves on the back.

Your losing the point chap to keep yours real. Highlighted above is what 95% of posters want this season I would think, pretty football comes second, we can build that with better players etc. Don't blind yourself by the fact we need entertaining football in our first season in the Prem, cause we just need to do anything to stay up.

If Smith does go in the not so distance future, i'll be sad, as I did know the guy when he managed Walsall, an know this job is his dream, that's why I will always say it was a little early for him. But if I'm fair, signing and continuing to play a ineffective striker would have been his demise. If we still had Tammy, I guarantee we wouldn't be in the relegation zone, but I would still question the football, as we would still be shipping in goals as this is his style as it was with Brentford.

Edited December 22, 2019 by foreveryoung

[villalad21]

Just now, jonjon said:

Some were and some weren't

Right. If he truly was this great manager most if not all fans would be gutted to see him leave.

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, villalad21 said:

Right. If he truly was this great manager most if not all fans would be gutted to see him leave.

Brentford fans were not that gutted,  it was mostly sentiment. Actually remember a Brentford fan coming on here confirming his style of play will not change.

[Guest av1]

8 minutes ago, jonjon said:

, or is it a fact that Pitarch & Purslow have a greater say in transfers than DS?

Good point. 

[Tomaszk]

8 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

If we still had Tammy, I guarantee we wouldn't be in the relegation zone, but I would still question the football, as we would still be shipping in goals as this is his style as it was with Brentford and now with us.

We don't even need Tammy.

If we had Jay Rodriguez, Troy Deeney or Jonathan Kodjia in the team we'd have more points.

Dean's done this to himself by initially signing Wes, then playing a guy who can't play football every game.

Didn't see that Southampton performance coming. We've beaten all the other poor sides without issue.

[Brumstopdogs]

27 minutes ago, KHV said:

By the time we play Watford if they beat us we could be rock bottom

Can see it happening with Deeney scoring the winner. Just to round things off nicely Jay Rodriguez will probably score in the game after too!

[foreveryoung]

22 minutes ago, villianusa said:

Sadly, I see things have gone wrong since the late loss to Liverpool, we haven't really recovered. I see this result very, very similar to the Leicester defeat in the 15/16 season. I know that game was earlier in the season, but it kicked the stuffing out of us and we never really recovered and we know what happened that season. The mental effort we put into the game against Liverpool, the level of concentration for it all to be for nothing seems to be hurting us bad. I see few similarities to were we were under Bruce and times with Smith last season.

1. Wesley is becoming isolated on the field, and people calling for him for him to be dropped. I remember the same calls for Tammy when he was struggling and missing chances, and this was in the Championship, just look at him now. He wasn't always getting the service he needed to show off his best attributes, balls were hit long and he couldn't retain the ball long enough for the rest of the team to catch up.  He was missing somewhat simple tap in, similar to Wesley's chance yesterday. We saw more from Wesley yesterday when we went 442 and he had players around him. It won't matter who the forward is in the end, no support, no result.

2. We are becoming the Grealish show again, when Grealish was out last season we were crap, we all know the run of result and on his return, "Hail Grealish", and he helped us win promotion. This season we are relying so much on him and teams have worked us out. Double up on him and leave the other side open, because the time we transition the ball, it is so slow that they can adjust and no problem.  Unless we see a spark from Grealish, we are struggling to make anything happen. The only one who is, is Hourihane, and it usually comes from a Grealish earned free-kick.

3. Adding to point 2, players aren't looking for the ball anymore. Except Grealish were seem to be playing with fear. If players get the ball they want to get rid of it quickly, and get it back towards Jack. Because of this, we are losing the ball so many times in the final third and we aren't picking out players. Players aren't moving quick enough to support the ball, we don't move the ball quick enough around the field, so it is easy for teams to get back and defend in numbers.

To add to that I could write an whole essay and how we aren't defending crosses as a team (might do that later). 

Whatever people may want to say, Wesley isn't the problem, he is part of it. We need to this the areas above and we can turn things around because we have the quality, we have shown it at times. We need to get over the Liverpool game, and focus on teams that we can compete against and not beat ourselves up for losing against a team that may go unbeaten this season. Smith needs to change the mentality, and tinker with the system and get a result against Norwich.

Top post this, about bang on what I think! I can see it in training now "get it to Jack get in to jack", not feed the striker. You can see everything centered around jack, this is lazy coaching. I really think the other players are getting a bit pissed off with it,  it seems Jack is the only one putting the effort in because he is probably the favorite.

Edited December 22, 2019 by foreveryoung

[hippo]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

It seems you are purposely trying to use this to get back to Dean not being good enough?

Why do teams have other coaches or assistant managers in the first place?

Wouldn't the thinking be that a stronger team/coaching staff, makes you better? Just like the players themselves?

Is Tom Heaton conceding goals because he is shit, or because he might need a better team around him?

With coaching staff sometimes it not even necessarily about being "better", it's about adding another dimension or specialty to your team.

As you point out he is the "Head Coach", meaning he is at the top of the hierarchy of other "coaches" at the club, not THE COACH.

Personally given the players DS has at his disposal It's very hard to say if he is good enough. At the moment I am inclined to give DS the benefit of the doubt.

I don't see re jigging the coaching staff as the answer. He had Richard  O Kelly whom he has worked with many years - so presumably he is happy with him. 

IMO the best hope for the club is DS comes through this. The people above DS have made some questionable decisions - I am not confident in them getting anyone better mid season.