Rank every Villa manager post MON

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

We were in an absolute mess in the last few games under Bruce. Remember cabbage gate? Remember playing 3 right backs and an injured James Chester in the back four? Then Grealish's 3 month injury. Sometimes the table doesn't show all those things. When Smith took over I was more than happy to give him the season and expect promotion the following season.

We were massively underachieving.

Calling it a miracle finishing 5th with that squad is just total non sense imo

[Lerner's Driver]

2 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

We were massively underachieving.

Calling it a miracle finishing 5th with that squad is just total non sense imo

You are an expert on most things, so what else can you tell us about non sense?

Is it one word, two?

Do you pride yourself on never uttering it?

Does it feel good to put fellow Villa fans in their place for being wrong?

[Zatman]

It wasn't a miracle but a **** awesome job. We had no centre backs for a few weeks as Chester was hobbled, 3rd choice goalkeeper in net 

[Okonokos]

26 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

We were massively underachieving.

Calling it a miracle finishing 5th with that squad is just total non sense imo

But the squad he inherited was in a right mess. He overachieved to get us up so quickly. Purslow even said it himself. I never called it a miracle finishing 5th. Just that it was better than I expected him to do when he took over, meaning he overachieved.

[villalad21]

7 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

But the squad he inherited was in a right mess. He overachieved to get us up so quickly. Purslow even said it himself. I never called it a miracle finishing 5th. Just that it was better than I expected him to do when he took over, meaning he overachieved.

Really?

Our squad was a mess?

Our best starting eleven when he took over:

......................Nyland...................

Elmo........Axel....Chester.......Taylor

....................Hourihane.....................

................McGinn....Jack.................

Adomah..........Abraham..........El Ghazi

Is this really a mess? I mean seriously. I think it's a very decent Championship team. Apart from the goalie all are capable.

I agree Chester playing through pain wasn't ideal. But that was a decision Smith made. He could have made the decision to play Jedinak there or some CB from the U23 until January.

In January he was allowed to improve on the squad and recall some players from loans to make our squad even stronger.

Edited March 5, 2020 by villalad21

[useless]

We were actually four points off top six when Smith arrived, but we had only won one of the previous ten games. The side Smith inherited was a mess defensively, he couldn't fix that until January by recalling Steer and Elphick and signing Hause and Mings, and even then Hause wasn't match fit and we didn't sign Mings until the last day of January, then you have to take into account that Grealish and Tuanzebe both missed over two months. In late February we were eight points adrift of the play-offs and the teams in sixth and fifth place Derby and Bristol City both had a game in hand over us, to catch them we had to go on a club record winning run of ten straight wins if that's not over achieving I'm not sure what is,  in the last hundred years before us only four other teams had won ten games in a row in the second tier of English football. Even in the play-offs most had us down as second favorites against Albion, because they'd finished above us in the league and had the advantage of playing the second leg at home.

[villalad21]

2 minutes ago, useless said:

We were actually four points off top six when Smith arrived, but we had only won one of the previous ten games.

We were 2 points off i just checked.

After 11 games we sat on 15 points. Brentford 6th on 17.

[Okonokos]

4 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Really?

Our squad was a mess?

Our best starting eleven when he took over:

......................Nyland...................

Elmo........Axel....Chester.......Taylor

....................Hourihane.....................

................McGinn....Jack.................

Adomah..........Abraham..........El Ghazi

Is this really a mess? I mean seriously. I think it's a very decent Championship team. Apart from the goalie all are capable.

I agree Chester playing through pain wasn't ideal. But that was a decision Smith made. He could have made the decision to play Jedinak there or some CB from the U23 until January.

In January he was allowed to improve on the squad and recall some players from loans to make our squad even stronger.

Yes, the team he took over was in absolute disarray.

Chester was playing on one leg, we had no left back, we were playing 3 right backs in the defence, Tuanzebe and Grealish both had long term injuries, El Ghazi was poor and lacked confidence until Smith came in and made him look a different player, we had a lot of ageing players who were struggling with the workload of the Championship, we had one striker in Abraham, the atmosphere at home was toxic (CABBAGE), injuries galore, we couldn't spend much in January due to FFP and had to rely on loans, we had no quality keeper, none of us knew what our best team was, we had overpaid players like Bolasie and Kodjia who had little interest. And perhaps biggest problem of all - a squad who had been playing Bruceball.

But despite all this Smith made astute additions in January and guided us to a 10 game winning run to get us into the playoffs. He created a feel good atmosphere like I've never seen before just months after a toxic atmosphere. All in the space of a few months. Overachievement. 

[useless]

 

 

[villalad21]

Just now, Okonokos said:

Yes, the team he took over was in absolute disarray.

Chester was playing on one leg, we had no left back, we were playing 3 right backs in the defence, Tuanzebe and Grealish both had long term injuries, El Ghazi was poor and lacked confidence until Smith came in and made him look a different player, we had a lot of ageing players who were struggling with the workload of the Championship, we had one striker in Abraham, the atmosphere at home was toxic (CABBAGE), injuries galore, we couldn't spend much in January due to FFP and had to rely on loans, we had no quality keeper, none of us knew what our best team was, we had overpaid players like Bolasie and Kodjia who had little interest. And perhaps biggest problem of all - a squad who had been playing Bruceball.

But despite all this Smith made astute additions in January and guided us to a 10 game winning run to get us into the playoffs. He created a feel good atmosphere like I've never seen before just months after a toxic atmosphere. All in the space of a few months. Overachievement. 

Axel and Jack was fit when he took over. Didn't they get injured sometime during Christmas?

3 right back in the defence. Yeah i remember that, but i don't recall us doing it for very long. Maybe 2-3 games?

Either way he could have recruited some defenders from the U23 or play Jedinak there. It was his decision that he did what he did.

To the toxic atmosphere. Yes indeed it was. But i'd argue any managers that would have come in would have fixed that. You get that new fresh start when a new manager comes in. Was the same when Bruce took over from RDM

[villalad21]

3 minutes ago, useless said:

 

 

You know aftermath reflection is a wonderful concept. 

I got a bit carried away after witnessing a 10 game winning run. How criminal of me.

[Zatman]

13 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

We were 2 points off i just checked.

After 11 games we sat on 15 points. Brentford 6th on 17.

Smith 1st game was the 13th in the season, KMaC took a game 

[villalad21]

1 minute ago, Zatman said:

Smith 1st game was the 13th in the season, KMaC took a game 

Either way we were well in touching distance.

[Okonokos]

16 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Axel and Jack was fit when he took over. Didn't they get injured sometime during Christmas?

3 right back in the defence. Yeah i remember that, but i don't recall us doing it for very long. Maybe 2-3 games?

Either way he could have recruited some defenders from the U23 or play Jedinak there. It was his decision that he did what he did.

To the toxic atmosphere. Yes indeed it was. But i'd argue any managers that would have come in would have fixed that. You get that new fresh start when a new manager comes in. Was the same when Bruce took over from RDM

Yes they were fit when he took over but they still got injured during his first few months. In some ways it makes his achievement more impressive that he started his reign with our best player available and probably based his next few months of tactics around him but then lost him to injury, forcing him into a complete re-think and still managed to achieve what he did.

If he had played some U23 defenders or Jedinak in defence and still improve us that would have been a big achievement too.

And for every manager that would have turned the atmosphere around like Smith did, there are 1000 that wouldn't have. New manager syndrome is a bit of a myth actually.

I just think to take the absolute mess we were in and turn it into the best 3 months any of us have had supporting Villa for years was a massive achievement, especially considering that he was dealing with some pretty horrible personal circumstances at the same time. We didn't just go up, we did it in style. The fans fell in love with the team again for the first time in a decade. That should have taken years to achieve. He did it in months. I can't describe how big an achievement it was.

Edited March 5, 2020 by Okonokos

[villalad21]

5 minutes ago, Okonokos said:

Yes they were fit when he took over but they still got injured during his first few months. In some ways it makes his achievement more impressive that he started his reign with our best player available and probably based his next few months of tactics around him but then lost him to injury, forcing him into a complete re-think and still managed to achieve what he did.

If he had played some U23 defenders or Jedinak in defence and still improve us that would have been a big achievement too.

And for every manager that would have turned the atmosphere around like Smith did, there are 1000 that wouldn't have. New manager syndrome is a bit of a myth actually.

I just think to take the absolute mess we were in and turn it into the best 3 months any of us have had supporting Villa for years was a massive achievement, especially considering that he was dealing with some pretty horrible personal circumstances at the same time. We didn't just go up, we did it in style. The fans fell in love with the team again for the first time in a decade. That should have taken years. He did it in months. I can't describe how big an achievement it was.

But he went on a big win less spell when they were out.

Once his best players (mainly Jack) returned results started to improve which shows he didn't perform miracles and needed everyone fit in order to perform.

Not saying he didn't do good overall but his achievement is somewhat overrated imo.

Fulham went on a similar run the year before. Things like that isn't foreign in the Championship. Once you gain some momentum things like that can happen.

Edited March 5, 2020 by villalad21

[useless]

Fulham showed good form from Christmas onwards the season they were promoted, but their biggest winning run that season was actually only four games, as I said in the last hundred years only four other teams have won ten games in a row in the second tier of English football it's not that common. It was all the more of a remarkable achievement for us because we knew going into those games that we had to win them to stand any chance so the pressure was on us big time. All that's gone now though, just have to try and meet our target this season.

[kurtsimonw]

5 hours ago, villalad21 said:

We were massively underachieving.

Calling it a miracle finishing 5th with that squad is just total non sense imo

I agree it wasn't a miracle to finish 5th. I actually think missing out on the playoffs would be failure IMO.

But to get promoted can never be seen as anything but a job well done.

[Vive_La_Villa]

As if the Dean Smith thread thread wasn’t enough to criticise him. A manager thread had to be created.

4 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Things like that isn't foreign in the Championship. Once you gain some momentum things like that can happen.

You’re right. It’s happened 6 other times in the second tier of English football in the last 100 years.  It was also the first time we ever did it. The very minimum we expect from the manager! 

[TRO]

6 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

This is the part which I feel we have been missing.

absolutely sure we have.....they populate the Prem, Ndidi and the like.....I thought Nzonzi would come, which would have saved us IMO......But there must still be plyers out there powerful dominant CDM ers.....The rest of the Prem seem to find them.

[TRO]

28 minutes ago, kurtsimonw said:

I agree it wasn't a miracle to finish 5th. I actually think missing out on the playoffs would be failure IMO.

But to get promoted can never be seen as anything but a job well done.

I thought he did very well, to get us up......but I still had huge reservations about the goals against column and how easy we concede, even in that division.