Reivax_Villa

We haven’t had a top class manager for ten years. I’m gobsmacked that people think that Dean Smith will take us forward.

Since then we have continually regressed as a footballing side.

We know that a top class manager can do wonders with a team that is not as talented as others.

The owners have invested £150 million in transfers alone, we haven’t even mentioned the cash injections over the past two years or the new training facility.
 

He will be gone if we are relegated, there are no ifs and buts.

I like Dean Smith but he is not a top quality coach or tactician.  If the owners have looked at Leeds & Wolves they will know that a top manager is more important than the players.

I genuinely hope that if we are relegated that they use their financial power to entice a top level Manager and sell this project to him.

Our team showed some spirit against Everton last night. Dean Smith did well to prepare us for yesterday’s game but it was not enough.

We do not have time or resources to help develop a manager that we appointed in 2018.

We have conceded 66 goals so far this season

and conceded the 2nd highest amount of goals in the championship last season. Granted he took charge on the 10th of October but we conceded 5 goals against Nottingham Forest and lost 0-3 against Wigan.

His tactics have been poor and his bark has not been bigger than his bite for recruiting the players that he wanted.

We need to become ruthless towards under achieving players and management. 
 

I find it funny that people use Southampton not sacking  manager Ralph Hasenhüttl as an example. He is a top level tactician and coach that was considered as a coup. Southampton are still a premier league club because they tend to hire top quality managers Pochettino, Koeman and any other manager that under performs is sacked.

Purslow should have sacked Dean Smith before the winter transfer window but instead he offered him a long term contract.

Keeping Dean Smith at this club after we are relegated is small club mentality. With the amount of resources and finances put into this club we should have a process in place after this season has finished in terms sporting director and a manager that can improve the squad drastically. 
 

I am also against the narrative that Dean Smith is an attacking coach because the stats would prove otherwise.

Ideally we should be looking to recruit premier league quality players that can win promotion and transition into the premier league

For a player in his position, he has terrible dribbling ability, ball control and first touch.

Yes he finds himself at the end of crosses but he is a poor player. 
 

Director of football is not going to have enough time to critically assess the squad and management, unless we are in talks with one already and this is being done behind the scenes.

If only we had a good DOF to scrutinise the playing staff and coaching team we would be in better shape next season.. 

 

23 minutes ago, hippo said:

Seriously ?- i would be absolutely staggered if anyone comes in for him - just looks like an average CB to me.

He is very effective as a defender and attacker from set pieces.  
Only mistake he made was the slip but besides that he has the components to be a top 10 premier league defender.

He is Premier League quality.

we will do well to keep him this summer

Players let Smith down today.

Lacking quality 

Trez is a terrible dribbler 

31 minutes ago, Mjvilla said:

I thought exactly the same.

No praise, no well done. No talk of how well we fought. No talk of how we looked good, particularly after going in front and the confidence boost that came along with it. No talk of the clear team spirit. No talk of a team that shows no signs of not playing for the manager. 

A really positive result and nothing. 

Now, I know it's 1 result. I know it's 1 game

But the signs were there in the Liverpool game. The first half hour of man utd before that awful penalty. For me anyway. Since restart we have looked decent in my opinion, no mention of that either. 

I'm sure if we lose Thursday, the vultures will be back.

That one game was part of his objective not a goal.

im not getting carried away until after a victory from this game and a Watford lost.

Lets see what happens.

p.s the players did turn out for him on Sunday.

A much better performance. 3 more games to go

Next Seasons Championship is going to be very tough.

There are some good teams down there..

8 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

Grealish was absolutely the catalyst for our success and I think he is exceptional ( I hate the criticism he gets - it looks to me that he is trying almost too hard). But yes I think we can be successful without him next year ( dependant on a much better window than this year )

Look, I understand that I’m much more patient than many (most) - I looked at the squad in the summer and thought we would have a real job on our hands to stay up? I didn’t think that Smith had a strong hand to play

We are almost certain to go down now. I would rather wait and see if Smith has gained knowledge as a manager and of his players and give him the first ten(?) games. I’d rather do that than roll the dice again and bring in Chris Hughton or similar 

 

 

Yeah I understand your point.  You have made some good points tbf.

10 games in the championship are critical especially if we want to gain automatic promotion against the likes of Norwich, Brentford,Fulham,Bournemouth ect.

We need to hit the ground running.

6 minutes ago, VillaCas said:

Last season he took over a disjointed outfit in 14th place and turned them round with a record-breaking run including some of the best football seen at VP for years and culminating with a brilliant cup final victory

This season in the toughest league in the world we are arguably (without Abraham and Axel) worse than last season, but certainly no better, we have struggled.

At times Smith has struggled to and I hope and expect he is wiser for it. He has already proved he can perform in the Championship and should he bring us straight back up I believe he will be a better manager next time round

We have performed almost exactly as I thought we would after witnessing the transfer window last summer 

Valid points made.

The question mark is the winning run last season.

He struggled until Grealish came back into the side and throughout the run Grealish literally dragged us through to the play offs.

Without Grealish next season, do you still think that he can get this club promoted again?

2 minutes ago, Spoony said:

Lambert got the most out of a crap squad at Norwich and did amazingly well. Smith built an incredible team at Brentford out of virtually nothing. Bruce (notwithstanding the fact everyone seems to quite unfairly hate him) has done great things at clubs with virtually no resources.

There’s just something about the Villa model that doesn’t work. We have too much money and too high expectations for managers like them to have success here. The only option I think for us is to hire a world class manager and throw cash at everything. Problem with that is what world class manager would want to be at Villa? Until that person is available and wants to join the Villa shitshow, stick with Smith

Smith didn’t build the team at Brentford

It’s evident that we all opposing views in terms of manager quality.

FAO Smith In fans 

Out of curiosity.. what qualities have you seen from Dean Smith that gives you confidence moving forward?

This is coming from a footballing perspective alone I.e tactics, game management, cohesion, playing style ect.

Not only does have a system but the players are working the socks off for him. 
 

This proves the theory of hard work and attitude over talent. We have talented players but they are not giving 100%.

1 hour ago, Genie said:

Sack Smith, bring in Sam. 
Controversial for some I know, he’ll get us organised and competing at the top end of the table from the start.

Score goals, concede less, win games, get promoted.

Stay with Sam for at least first year in the premier league. He’ll make us competitive.

Year 3 potentially look for a manager to build on the work of Sam and push us up into the top half.

Wouldn’t mind him.

He is a very effective manager, all he would need is assistance in finding some good players around the lower leagues.

We would have a system and he would be bloody good at it too.

One thing that I’m unsure of is he promotion of youth players into the first team.

We just need to be effective regardless of the type of football we play.

Would Villa fans be proud of this top of grit football?

I wouldn’t mind it if was effective.

Purslow for appointing Suso, he has a poor reputation with previous managers.

Suso for recruiting poorly.

DS for his decision making and inability to motivate the players.

On paper he should become a good manager due to his experience with top class coaches however that means nothing, far too many times we have seen a top class player become a poor manager.

He is our appointment not DS, which may mean if he doesn’t take the Bristol job it’s because he will be considered for the manager role here.

My qualm with JT is that he cannot detach himself from Chelsea. What happens if he leads us to the premier league and we play Chelsea?

Showing a lack of sympathy does not mean showing a lack of respect.

DS has not fulfilled his objectives for the season which has been costly, Therefore he should lose his job. Simple.