Dean Smith

[DaveAV1]

12 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

If you look through the history of some my posts you will see I am very critical of Dean Smith as up until now he has stuck religiously to a system which unfortunately we don't have the players for and his Brentford and Walsall teams pressed high and dominated the ball. Also when we got promoted I thought we should bring in Marcelo Gallardo but that’s a personal preference as I believe he is going to be successful. 

Had we played the same 4-3-3 and with the high full backs we have played all season our GD would have taken a hit. We would have conceded a-lot more than the 3/4 chances they had. 

So why didn't this happen? Because Dean Smith decided to change his tactics. Of course they had a few chances but we had good chances too. El-Ghazi , El-Mohamady clean through only to totally muck up his cross. 

We stifled their players so we actually limited them because of our formation and we pressed them much better than we have done. Norwich like cutting teams up with threaded passes through the middle and in between the lines ( against Liverpool they should have won). And then he tactically bought on Hourihane which was a tactical move and in the interim 15-20 minutes we dominated them. So credit where credit is due. 

Criticism is justified when we lose but credit is also justified when we win, especially as Dean Smith changed formation and also allowed Jack the freedom to play wherever he wanted today.  

Also Dean Smith definitely isn’t the Messiah. We need reinforcements and Smith needs to be more flexible but a-lot of credit is due to him today as he changed things for the betterment of the team.  

Spot on. Everyone is concerned and Dean definitely has a lot to learn, but when he gets things right he deserves some praise. Some people seem to have formed the opinion that they want him out and it appears that they can’t find a good word to say for the fella. It almost seems that they are more concerned with winning the argument than with Villa winning games. 

[rodders0223]

12 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

You know what, a quote Deano made after one of our matches really really stuck in my head, because I thought....."I wonder what that really means", cant remember exactly which game but it was after 6 or 8 games in to the season maybe.

The quote was something like "the result is good because it will give the players confidence in the tactics we use, and show them we are on the right track"......or something very similar.

Now, that could mean something as basic as they are getting used to the tactics as they are all new players, but as soon as I heard it I wondered if that actually implied that the players didn't agree with the tactics, formation or whatever, after the way some of them appear to not be trying or putting their bodies on the line, I seriously wonder now whether it was actually an insight in to the players questioning the way they are asked to play? (Formation and tactics etc)

That in kind (if true), may have led to what we are seeing a bit now, such as apparently not trying or giving up?

Not saying it is or isn't, but that quote from deano really jumped out at me at the time.

I still don't know what our tactics are...other than give it to Jack.

We don't pass the ball well at all, we don't retain the ball from the back, we don't use the fullbacks, we don't overlap, we don't get crosses in or probe and pass forwards between the lines.

I do not have a CLUE what we are trying to do.

If anyone can tell me please do.

[Keyblade]

Was expecting 3 pages of praise for his inspired substitution of Hourihane for Nakamba, but I guess that only works in one direction.

[foreveryoung]

1 minute ago, DaveAV1 said:

Spot on. Everyone is concerned and Dean definitely has a lot to learn, but when he gets things right he deserves some praise. Some people seem to have formed the opinion that they want him out and it appears that they can’t find a good word to say for the fella. It almost seems that they are more concerned with winning the argument than with Villa winning games. 

I know it's a win and my goodness we needed it, but It was Norwich chap, relegation fodder, that's why we cannot jump for joy just yet. If we win against Watford, the respect will start to return, but there's a long way to go until we believe Smith is gonna be the man to take us to the dizzy heights of survival.

[MaVilla]

4 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Was expecting 3 pages of praise for his inspired substitution of Hourihane for Nakamba, but I guess that only works in one direction.

well, yeah, was a good substitution, but i think the reason you arent seeing the praise, as it doesnt paper over the very clear and obvious cracks we are seeing currently.......

[useless]

Needs to stop chopping and changing the side, it seems every week we have a different combination of midfielders and defenders playing. Playing like that would be difficult for all but the very best squads in the league, but it's even more so for us with how new most of our players are, they need a run of games to get used to their positions and to develop understandings with team mates, obviously sometimes it can't be helped, but I really do think we'd better served if he picked a first eleven and stuck with it. It's alright saying to pick players to suit certain opposition but our squad isn't good enough to do that.

[Adam2003]

1 minute ago, useless said:

they need a run of games to get used to their positions and to develop understandings with team mates

Bizarrely the people I chat to saying this (which I agree with) are also the people saying “so-and-so will never make it” after half a PL season. Not referring to you, the comment just caught my eye.

[Graham t]

37 minutes ago, Sulberto21 said:

If you look through the history of some my posts you will see I am very critical of Dean Smith as up until now he has stuck religiously to a system which unfortunately we don't have the players for and his Brentford and Walsall teams pressed high and dominated the ball. Also when we got promoted I thought we should bring in Marcelo Gallardo but that’s a personal preference as I believe he is going to be successful. 

Had we played the same 4-3-3 and with the high full backs we have played all season our GD would have taken a hit. We would have conceded a-lot more than the 3/4 chances they had. 

So why didn't this happen? Because Dean Smith decided to change his tactics. Of course they had a few chances but we had good chances too. El-Ghazi , El-Mohamady clean through only to totally muck up his cross. 

We stifled their players so we actually limited them because of our formation and we pressed them much better than we have done. Norwich like cutting teams up with threaded passes through the middle and in between the lines ( against Liverpool they should have won). And then he tactically bought on Hourihane which was a tactical move and in the interim 15-20 minutes we dominated them. So credit where credit is due. 

Criticism is justified when we lose but credit is also justified when we win, especially as Dean Smith changed formation and also allowed Jack the freedom to play wherever he wanted today.  

Also Dean Smith definitely isn’t the Messiah. We need reinforcements and Smith needs to be more flexible but a-lot of credit is due to him today as he changed things for the betterment of the team.  

Some good points raised and a thoroughly fair assessment of the game today. But......it was only Norwich.......His faith in Wesley will get him sacked and my team relegated .

[abdulaziz1]

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

The only difference from the Southampton game was Heaton had an absolute worldie and we won.

Although we can be happy we won. Relying on Heaton keeping up performances like this isn't realistic nor a sustainable strategy.

Play like this and we'll go down, 100 %.

Nakamba is miles off the pace. Targett is a poor left back. Centre back pairing is changing every week. Wesley spends more time in  midfield than being in striker areas.

We aren't organized and defensively a mess. It's so easy creating chances against us.

To sum it up we're all over the place at the moment and something needs to change.

Form goes and come, we need to grind results. Newcastle were awful most of the times, yet they are in a comfortable place at the moment. 

[Fairy In Boots]

Great win today but I’m still concerned that we’re still struggling to defend set pieces. 

 

[DeepDish]

The thing I will praise DS for today, is how he obviously has instructed the CBs to play tighter and closer to each other. I have noticed that our CBs have played too far away from eachother in several matches, making it easy for good strikers to get clean against our keeper. Now they played closer together and he also pulled the full backs more towards the centre. Very important change for us.

Edited December 26, 2019 by DeepDish

[Blasterpocket68]

what DS also needs to do is instruct them to not all chase the player with the ball . School boy stuff today shocking! Should have been 1-0 Norwich albeit a really poor pass into Puki all alone in the box. We have individuals who can defend but we do not defend as a team!

[Blasterpocket68]

5 hours ago, Sulberto21 said:

Im not the biggest Smith fan, but he got the tactics spot on today. Our defensive midfield did the job of getting stuck in. He made the full backs narrow so they couldn’t play through us. 
 

El-Ghazi has got to play on the left though as he is much better from this side. 

I would disagree , Norwich walked all around our midfield today for the majority of the game,  passing with ease, no pressing no fight or desire again .  the wide midfielders strolling back on numerous counter attacks  The 2 CB played well as well and  the keeper but Norwich were robbed TBH. It was basically DS tactics  get the ball to Jack as much as possible he might create something for us. The points are vital but were only kidding ourselves if we think a win against Norwich papers over our massive cracks....  

[jacketspuds]

3 hours ago, Keyblade said:

Was expecting 3 pages of praise for his inspired substitution of Hourihane for Nakamba, but I guess that only works in one direction.

I'm very much in support of Smith, but there will be no praise for being brave enough to bring on Hourihane for Nakamba when we are playing Norwich at home. Especially when Nakamba was having his shittest game for Villa so far.

However, playing Konsa ahead of Engels was a very good decision.

Let's hope that we bring in the required reinforcements in Jan so that we actually have a team that doesn't pick itself. Namely around the front 3.

[Dave-R]

3 hours ago, foreveryoung said:

I know it's a win and my goodness we needed it, but It was Norwich chap, relegation fodder, that's why we cannot jump for joy just yet. If we win against Watford, the respect will start to return, but there's a long way to go until we believe Smith is gonna be the man to take us to the dizzy heights of survival.

At this level you dont disrespect the opposition, they are not fodder, they are fighting just like us and they are worthy because they are in the top flight. I am surprised at how much we as a fan base have not learned since the championship and one thing is respect towards our opponents. If it's one thing we should be doing is realising that we are one of the 20, be it top, middle or bottom were all fighting for status, fame, glory as a club or fan you can't knock that or say the bottom are not capable of it because they are. At anytime we can come crawling back from some pretty bad defeats, so to can the others were fighting relegation with.

I just think that the other clubs deserve our much needed respect as we should get from them. Yes game time is different were at war with another side, hearts beating, minds go crazy but when the 90 mins are done that's when we as a fan base should be saying thankyou.

As for Smith, with a thrown together side, i think all its going to take is some new signings, but they wilk cost, if the Owners can afford it then so be it. We however had to buy a big supply of players that were our own, so it's pretty darn hard to fight in the top flight with a taped together squad, not impossible, but severly hard on the brink of impossible. If anyone has the knowledge to see this through and make us more top flight legit, it will be Smith, even if it takes a second running with him in the premier.

Yes I'm counting on him to bring us back up, the squad we have will surely be more than capable of doing just that.

[brummybloke]

Next game he needs to tinker.

If he is trying to sure up the defence then maybe continue with Elmo at right back BUT put fred on in right midfield.

Swap el ghazi to the left.

That way our midfield is stronger with more energy and fight and we still have a player who will track back, tackle but also burst forwards in fred while Elmo can stay further back or put quick 1st time deeper crosses in.

This leaves the middle of CH JG DL

There is enough energy and skill in there to try and get back to how we were playing and enough people who can fight for the ball.

We NEED CH set pieces, it frees up JG to hover around the outside of the box for any clearances, we need the energy tackling and never say die of FRED, he can can forwards fast, and is not a liability tracking back.

El ghazi looks better on the left coming back inside.

 

It's not ideal but trez and el ghazi at the same time is normally a walk through for teams as both give the ball away too much and neither can head or tackle.

 

I would even be tempted to have hause as the defensive midfielder and put engels back with konsa but that's too much messing around.

 

[Danishlad]

5 minutes ago, brummybloke said:

Next game he needs to tinker.

If he is trying to sure up the defence then maybe continue with Elmo at right back BUT put fred on in right midfield.

Swap el ghazi to the left.

That way our midfield is stronger with more energy and fight and we still have a player who will track back, tackle but also burst forwards in fred while Elmo can stay further back or put quick 1st time deeper crosses in.

This leaves the middle of CH JG DL

There is enough energy and skill in there to try and get back to how we were playing and enough people who can fight for the ball.

We NEED CH set pieces, it frees up JG to hover around the outside of the box for any clearances, we need the energy tackling and never say die of FRED, he can can forwards fast, and is not a liability tracking back.

El ghazi looks better on the left coming back inside.

 

It's not ideal but trez and el ghazi at the same time is normally a walk through for teams as both give the ball away too much and neither can head or tackle.

 

I would even be tempted to have hause as the defensive midfielder and put engels back with konsa but that's too much messing around.

 

Well, it is all about opinions, but if the team sheet had a right back , and a defender in midfield, he would lose the players and his job. 

[brummybloke]

11 minutes ago, Danishlad said:

Well, it is all about opinions, but if the team sheet had a right back , and a defender in midfield, he would lose the players and his job. 

Well hes played wes as a forward all season and is still in a job ? 

Fred has played in the french league in midfield so it's not like it's a new position to him

[Tomaszk]

He seemed downbeat after the game to me. Can't think of a time he's dismissed the performance before and said we just need the win. He probably has, just can't remember.

He's not necessarily wrong, but he's a principled chap who has his way of playing, which we veered away from today. I don't think he's comfortable with it.

He didn't seem sold on the 4231 that I think we have to stick with and work at. We're just too open without it. We were open with it! But it was a very slightly tighter side than usual IMO.

We need some signings desperately. Both wingers and the striker can be improved on without spending trillions.

Edited December 27, 2019 by Tomaszk

[DaveAV1]

12 hours ago, rodders0223 said:

I still don't know what our tactics are...other than give it to Jack.

We don't pass the ball well at all, we don't retain the ball from the back, we don't use the fullbacks, we don't overlap, we don't get crosses in or probe and pass forwards between the lines.

I do not have a CLUE what we are trying to do.

If anyone can tell me please do.

Whilst it is a slight over simplification, the basic tactic of getting it to Jack does form the basis of almost everything we do. But when you have a player that is so very much better than anyone else on the pitch, particularly creatively, any other tactic would surely be remiss? 

The only way that basic tactic could or in fact should change is by adding more capable players to the team. If we had a decent winger and/or striker I’m sure we’d be able to use those options more.