Dean Smith

[Newry_Villan]

Thanks for taking us up deano but we want to stay in this division now. Thankfully we don't make these decisions. Purslow has some thinking to do over the remainder of the weekend. 

[hippo]

5 minutes ago, Laughable Chimp said:

I think you're underestimating how much influence the manager actually has over the players. A good manager can make even poor players perform well, look at Wilder. And the reverse is also true. 

The key then, is to get a good manager. But honestly I really just think our players are just much more capable than they are showing themselves to be. They showed it earlier in the season. Something's gone wrong and i fear it won't come back with Dean.

A lot of players can have a couple of good games - consistency is what sorts the men from the boys...a couple of good games around the time of there debut with the club still on a high from last season is a poor indicator that they are 'good enough'  - I don't think they are 

...and whats the backstory to a £22m striker with 11 goals to his name ? - weve done some poor business but thats mind boggling - there has to be a non football reason for that fee 

[Genie]

Just now, hippo said:

...and whats the backstory to a £22m striker with 11 goals to his name ? - weve done some poor business but thats mind boggling - there has to be a non football reason for that fee 

It makes Carroll for £35m to Liverpool look like value.

[Made In Aston]

5 minutes ago, jacketspuds said:

Chris Hughton would probably take it, but he's another "nice bloke" who would probably do no better. It's a shame Slaven Bilic isn't available as he'd sort this shower of a team out.

For those saying they'd rather go down than replace Smith with someone like Allardyce, that doesn't sound like the mentality of someone who should have the clubs best interests at heart.

I suspect Hughton would be better than Smith at this stage. Allardyce or pulis would be a disaster as the squad doesn't have the right players to be successful with that style. Someone like benitez would be ideal, but it's unlikely to happen. 

[hippo]

1 minute ago, Genie said:

It makes Carroll for £35m to Liverpool look like value.

But Carroll had scored a fair few prior to his move. Wesley had 11 ! 

[Stevo985]

24 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

For you to call for his head. How much worse than this.

Dunno. Not sure it’s something you can quantify

i don’t find myself thinking “he needs to be sacked”

[MaVilla]

11 minutes ago, sidcow said:

He's very good at talking the modern progressive stuff like press, overload and setting traps but he's just been completely destroyed by Nigel Pearson

And what we absolutely don't play is a high press possession game. All I have seen for weeks and weeks is passing the ball side to side at the back before lumping it forward in a panic.  We are actually a kick and rush team. 

When the opposition have the ball we let the man on the ball have the run of the park and don't press anyone of the opposition who makes a run so the opposition always have time on the ball and an easy unpressured outlet. 

What we play is the complete opposite of what is preached 

And even with a player like Grealish who is miles above anyone else in the league other that those few World Class players at the really big clubs we are STILL comprehensively outplayed week in week out. 

i agree with this 100%, we weirdly seem to be done everything the exact opposite of what is preached.

[Genie]

Just now, hippo said:

But Carroll had scored a fair few prior to his move. Wesley had 11 ! 

I agree, we have massively over paid, and Wesleys goals were not even in English football.

[Keyblade]

Do we really value short term survival (not even guaranteed) over a long term strategy? Let's just cycle through outdated firefighter managers to simply keep us in the league and sign a mish mash of their own players leaving a weak unbalanced squad that eventually does drop after circling the drain for a couple of years. I feel like I've seen this story play out before, can't put my finger on where.

I forgive David O'Leary now to be honest, he was actually right on the money. If we can't give a Villa fan who got us promoted against all odds, playing the best football we've seen at Villa Park for decades time to try to turn this around, I really do despair. We really would be doing a Fulham.

[Morley_crosses_to_Withe]

How about Thomas Frank to replace Smith? 

[Eastie]

1 minute ago, Keyblade said:

Do we really value short term survival (not even guaranteed) over a long term strategy? Let's just cycle through outdated firefighter managers to simply keep us in the league and sign a mish mash of their own players leaving a weak unbalanced squad that eventually does drop after circling the drain for a couple of years. I feel like I've seen this story play out before, can't put my finger on where.

I forgive David O'Leary now to be honest, he was actually right on the money. If we can't give a Villa fan who got us promoted against all odds, playing the best football we've seen at Villa Park for decades time to try to turn this around, I really do despair. We really would be doing a Fulham.

Get rid -NOW !

[Laughable Chimp]

8 minutes ago, hippo said:

A lot of players can have a couple of good games - consistency is what sorts the men from the boys...a couple of good games around the time of there debut with the club still on a high from last season is a poor indicator that they are 'good enough'  - I don't think they are 

...and whats the backstory to a £22m striker with 11 goals to his name ? - weve done some poor business but thats mind boggling - there has to be a non football reason for that fee 

He won the young player of the year award in the Belgium league and you know, he was only 22 and young players who've proved themselves to his extent tend to commend a higher fee. Belgium league is Championship standard I believe although some might argue otherwise. He's won lots with Brugge and apparently he was being connected with other larger clubs as well. Also, his assist game with them was strong.

Purely credentials wise, it makes sense to fork that amount of money for him imo. Its a signing that you would make if your model was to go for young players and develop them into strong assets. But it implies we bought him for his potential, not his current ability with no care on how he would fit into the team. And the thing with potential is, no one knows whether a player would fulfill it.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Laughable Chimp

[Mantis]

2 minutes ago, Keyblade said:

Do we really value short term survival (not even guaranteed) over a long term strategy? Let's just cycle through outdated firefighter managers to simply keep us in the league and sign a mish mash of their own players leaving a weak unbalanced squad that eventually does drop after circling the drain for a couple of years. I feel like I've seen this story play out before, can't put my finger on where.

I forgive David O'Leary now to be honest, he was actually right on the money. If we can't give a Villa fan who got us promoted against all odds, playing the best football we've seen at Villa Park for decades time to try to turn this around, I really do despair. We really would be doing a Fulham.

I agree with you that going down the road of getting in someone like Allardyce would be silly, but Smith hasn't shown he's capable of being able to turn this around. Even our record last season was patchy.

[Dr_Pangloss]

1 minute ago, Keyblade said:

Do we really value short term survival (not even guaranteed) over a long term strategy? Let's just cycle through outdated firefighter managers to simply keep us in the league and sign a mish mash of their own players leaving a weak unbalanced squad that eventually does drop after circling the drain for a couple of years. I feel like I've seen this story play out before, can't put my finger on where.

I forgive David O'Leary now to be honest, he was actually right on the money. If we can't give a Villa fan who got us promoted against all odds, playing the best football we've seen at Villa Park for decades time to try to turn this around, I really do despair. We really would be doing a Fulham.

Get this but not convinced Smith is the one to build the long term strategy. He's not coaching the football we'd expect, no signs of that at all. He just looks out of his depth. If we were in this position and playing the right kind of football then I'd be more sympathetic to this view.

[Made In Aston]

4 minutes ago, hippo said:

A lot of players can have a couple of good games - consistency is what sorts the men from the boys...a couple of good games around the time of there debut with the club still on a high from last season is a poor indicator that they are 'good enough'  - I don't think they are 

...and whats the backstory to a £22m striker with 11 goals to his name ? - weve done some poor business but thats mind boggling - there has to be a non football reason for that fee 

Is the manager not responsible for consistency as well as the players? If he plays the same tactics and formation every week, then it's difficult to get consistency (bear with me! ) as the opponents' tactics vary every match. That means some weeks our style will play into their hands, resulting in a poor performance. 

[foreveryoung]

Just heard his interview blaming everything else, shouldn't have been a pen, Grealish was fouled, players were not good enough. I personally think the dressing room has gone, he ain't coming back from this. Even says Grealish kept playing when Targett had a hamstring injury, as good as blaming Jack for the goal. You can't start blaming your captain or main player in public, we'll be lucky to keep him for the rest of the season after that comment. I think he's done, he might have the Burnley game, if he is lucky.

Still got full respect for him getting us up from the Championship, but that was his level, his inexperience is showing in the prem.  Always said it was much to early to take the step up especially to AVFC  and it shows. Doubt he will get another job at this level.

[KentVillan]

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Allardyce wouldn't want to take over this mess.

He's just sitting at home waiting for the Real Madrid role to come up isn't he?

[Davkaus]

1 minute ago, Dr_Pangloss said:

Get this but not convinced Smith is the one to build the long term strategy. He's not coaching the football we'd expect, no signs of that at all. He just looks out of his depth. If we were in this position and playing the right kind of football then I'd be more sympathetic to this view.

Thing is, a couple of months ago he was. Now we're outplayed against the likes of Southampton, Norwich and Watford.

Is there more to it than just missing Mings and McGinn?

[jim]

17 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

And Allardyce would guarantee us not being relegated? I'd rather go down with Smith than stay up with Allardyce. At least we have a long term project and vision at the moment, Allardyce doesn't know the meaning of those words. He'd set us back even further. It would just be repeating old mistakes if we go anywhere near him.

What happens to the long term vision when we lose all our better players? Go again and yet another season in transition?

I’d much rather stay in the division and build from there rather than the blind hope if sticking with stubborn smith and his rigid tactics.

[Dr_Pangloss]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

Thing is, a couple of months ago he was. Now we're outplayed against the likes of Southampton, Norwich and Watford.

Is there more to it than just missing Mings and McGinn?

I've honestly never seen great football under Smith, not the sort we expected. He has never set us up with a high press and with lots of movement off the ball. 

Edited December 28, 2019 by Dr_Pangloss