The next manager of Aston Villa

[Jareth]

Just now, meregreen said:

If they’re small, they’re irrelevant.

Shakira would disagree

[avfc1982am]

6 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

That's not true. It's only a very small group granted, but there have been people calling for him to he sacked since he got the job.

Where Jonah? A few Alf Garnett word on social media and forums? Nobody in the ground on matchday turned on Smith. Very few on here have either without recognising something needs to change. That's not hardcore

[IrishVilla10]

9 minutes ago, mikeyjavfc said:

Don't know much about Steevy G or Rangers but I like the following:

- Restored a great institution from laughing stock to league winners. Villa parallels.

- Invincible season - speaks for itself. Simple amazing really to achieve such sustained performance levels in any league.

- Handled a 'lively' fanbase under massive pressure. Villa will be the same.

- Demands high performance and commitment levels from players. For too long now we have had poor running stats and don't seem to work as hard as other teams. Hard work should be standard.

- Seems a bit of a bastard...in a good way. Off the back of the ever affable Dean Smith I think a more demanding ruthless coach not afraid to drop the big names will be an asset. For too long this season it felt like the formation was dictated by shoehorning big money signings into the squad and keeping players happy. Hopefully a hard nosed man with no prior relationships with the players can make an objective team selection.

-Likes a 4-3-3 / 4-2-3-1. Our squad is already geared up for this formation so it will help in the short term performance.     

- European experience. If Europe is the aim then it'll pay to have a manager that knows the logistics.

Would have liked more experience and experience in the English leagues but he still has some decent attributes.

 

If he does get appointed this is what we have to look at, great post mate 

[Eastie]

36 minutes ago, TheEgo said:

supposedly way less than 7m, yet we've not eve had talks if you believe those that actually know. Not saying he won't come, but far from DONE as made out by some on here

If you believe that we’ve not even had talks with gerrard then more fool you - do you really expect the club to go public until all parties are happy - it will be revealed soon enough 

[nick76]

7 minutes ago, penguin said:

Obviously depends on their opinion of Gerrard but I’d assume everyone who was “Smith out” was for the reason of getting a better manager in, not just somebody who isn’t Smith.

I was sad to see him go and thought he should have been given till Christmas especially given Jack leaving and injuries etc. I thought he’d built enough credit in the bank for that. Was optimistic to see Favre/Potter in the initial shortlists but sacking Smith to roll the dice with Gerrard is madness to me.

 

Yep, I never wanted Smith to go but thought if he did go and least they would show ambition but if Gerrard is true, I just don’t know what they are thinking.

[KMitch]

1 minute ago, Eastie said:

If you believe that we’ve not even had talks with gerrard then more fool you - do you really expect the club to go public until all parties are happy - it will be revealed soon enough 

I really want Eastie to be trolling us all with this Gerrard nonsense and he knows who we're really after...

[Eastie]

1 minute ago, avfc1982am said:

Where Jonah? A few Alf Garnett word on social media and forums? Nobody in the ground on matchday turned on Smith. Very few on here have either without recognising something needs to change. That's not hardcore

I’ve seen no one calling for smiths head from day one - yes he had criticism at times and rightly so but he was given praise too when deserving of it - Gerrard same as any manager will be judged on performances and results . 

[Peter Griffin]

22 minutes ago, Lord Willard said:

Only if the right man is available though right?

There was never a doubt we will not replace Smith once he was sacked. When we appoint a new manager it will because it is deemed he is the right man. It would be very weak management by Purslow if he believed Smith was not the right man and didn't sack him

[Peter Griffin]

Just now, Eastie said:

Gerrard same as any manager will be judged on performances and results . 

Hopefully

[nick76]

15 minutes ago, Mister_a said:

The thing is that Football doesn't work like that. We don't know who the next manager is going to be.

DS was given time to build an identity that culminated with us leaking goals left right and centre (13 in our last 4? or something similar), with no discernible pattern of play, and lumping on 4 strikers in his last match in charge. I can't see how more time would have made a difference. I understand injuries and bedding in new players etc etc, but that's all part of the managers remit, and it didn't work out. That's football.

DS always has long winless runs, i think that is fairly undeniable from Walsall to Brentford to us. The PL has 38 games a season, the Championship has 46. Long winless runs translate badly in the PL, as you have less room for manoeuvre, and a long run of bad results ends up with CEO's and owners getting very nervous as you sink down the table. 

It's a shame it didn't work, because the vast majority of us wanted him to succeed, but it didn't.

Thanks for the response.

I agree it doesn’t work like that but imagine you had foresight would you have traded Smith for Gerrard?

[PieFacE]

 

[nick76]

5 minutes ago, meregreen said:

If they’re small, they’re irrelevant.

But very loud on this forum (like me, I guess, on the other side)

[meregreen]

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

Thanks for the response.

I agree it doesn’t work like that but imagine you had foresight would you have traded Smith for Gerrard?

Hate to say it…but yep.

[alreadyexists]

30 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Seeing the Rangers fans worrying about losing their manager made me think how we haven't had that concern here since Graham Taylor part 1.

Also, if Gerrard were to leave us for Liverpool to replace Klopp then you'd have to assume he'd be leaving us in a better position. 

Yeah, I don’t get the argument about him leaving. That’s like not singing a player because they might get signed by Man City… if they did then they’d be doing so because of their performance for us. We don’t have to like it, but it is just the way football works.

[Eastie]

2 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

 

The interesting thing here is it seems very much purslow chasing his man , wasn’t Lange supposed to be the man in that role or is his remit only involving player incomings ? 

Edited November 10, 2021 by Eastie

[Steero113]

1 minute ago, nick76 said:

 but imagine you had foresight would you have traded Smith for Gerrard?

If I had the gift of foresight then Luc Nilis would have sat out that Ipswich game and I would have put Bet 365 out of business. 

[nick76]

28 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Good question. I would have been ok with it. 

Thanks, I’m surprised but ok

[Eastie]

Just now, alreadyexists said:

Yeah, I don’t get the argument about him leaving. That’s like not singing a player because they might get signed by Man City… if they did then they’d be doing so because of their performance for us. We don’t have to like it, but it is just the way football works.

I’ve been watching villa 45 years and luckily in That  time never seen a manager poached by a bigger club 

[MrSmirch]

Ernesto Valverde is still available. 

[OutByEaster?]

11 minutes ago, striker said:

‘A shed load of money spent in January’ on the right players I would add to that.

In my opinion Smith lost his job due to failing to strengthen the obvious weakness in Villa’s team which is midfield. Whatever permutations used there with the players available in those positions, was never going to be good enough to sustain a push for top half or indeed a place in Europe.

Moreover, throughout Smith’s reign Villa had a soft spine. Watkins isn’t a lone striker. He’s not clinical nor technicality gifted enough to be that. He would have been far better employed as a wide forward cutting in from the left!

Villa’s CBs are too nice. Yes they can play out of defence but it was no surprise to me Villa constantly conceding from dead ball situations this season. Neither Mings or Konsa have the physicality to deal with balls into the Villa box. Villa need at least one rugged hard CB in there who can deal with that.

I’d also agree with the poster you are debating with that Target is yet another weakness in the Villa defence. Target is desperately short of pace to deal with the type of forward or indeed wingbacks plying their trade in the Premiership now. He has been exposed time and time again against pace!

I’d also question whether Cash is defensively sound enough? I would suggest he would be much better played as a wide midfielder.

To bring my post on topic. If Gerrard is to be the next Villa manager I am in no doubt that he will immediately strengthen midfield in January and possibly buy a replacement for Target. You might also see players shifted to positions better suited to them to create better balance in the side. I would further suggest that over the next 2-3 transfer windows players like Luiz, Sanson, Target, Trez, El Gaz, Davis, Marvelous, Hause, and Young will be phased out or sold..

Gerrard by all accounts doesn’t suffer fools and slackers gladly and will make Villa much tougher opposition to play against!

I'd agree with some of that, even if I don't share the views on the individuals - particularly Targett. Memories are short it would seem, he was last season's player of the season, he was defensively excellent and he hasn't got significantly slower in the last six months. He's had a bad patch of form, but there seem to be a lot keen to throw the baby out with the bathwater. You also seem to have accidentally put our best midfielder in the list of players that need to go - but that's opinions I guess.

There's a very interesting problem brewing for the new manager about where "par" is for this squad, what our expectations should be, what Purslow's expectations should be and what the right level of achievement with these players should be - that setting of expectation is going to be the making or breaking of the new man.

Possibly my biggest concern under that is that since the summer there's been very little talk from Mr Purslow on the hard work to come in building a squad and a lot more talk on the good squad we've built - it's a work in progress for me, a nice house without a roof - but I'm not sure if that's the message that's going back to the owners, or if it's more that with the right manager what we have can achieve our aims. If that's the message from Mr Purslow, I think he's wrong.

The new manager is going to need patience and support - I think he's also going to need to get the best out of the good players that we have and he's going to need to work hard on setting the right level of expectation.