Peter Griffin

I agree that it can be myopic to compare to a single team and we do have to be carful with comparisons as each club will have a different set of influencing factors. However, we all know what is a fair comparison or not. Silly to compare Villa to Chelsea, City, Liverpool, Man United as they are way ahead of us. But yes there will be anomalies. Yesterday, was a prime example. Man Utd have a squad of players far far better than the performance yesterday. Equally we should not compare ourselves to Norwich as they just are happy to yoyo and collect PL money every alternative season. However, there are a group of teams that it is fair to compare Villa to. I would say it is fair to compare us to Everton and West Ham but I am sure others will disagree. But if we drop down the league a bit do we compare ourselves to Brighton, Saints and Palace? Brentford shouldn't be on the comparison list and imo we should be miles ahead of them in the PL. The discourse on VT will not let us compare Villa to any other team if it in any way reflects poorly on Dean and we just get a long list of mitigating factors (excuses) as to why Villa can't be expected to do reach a level of performance which imo we should absolutely be delivering.

At what stage is it fair to compare us to other teams. After all, the competition we participate in is between us and the other teams. The better we do in comparison to the other teams determines who wins the better prize

I think he may have meant Walsall

The league has 20 teams in it and our finishing position relative to the other teams determines our prize money (yes I know there are different names for different portions of it) and whether we qualify for Europe, stay in Premier League or get relegated. It is really important that we consider where other teams are and how they are performing, particularly so the group of teams that we are directly competing with for league position.

Yeah, to me that sounds like the strongest midfield we have. I appreciate we haven't see Sanson play so I am making some assumptions but I think Sanson looks a good player. I also fell like Smith will play those 3 in the middle when he feels they are all fit. But if we are to play that it will mean Smith playing 4 at the back. I am assuming that following the showing at Arsenal that Smith has learned his lesson and we will start 433. So the big question is; will Deano drop either Ings or Ollie. I hope he has the balls to do so, it would be quite telling if he doesn't

I don't see people panicking. I see people expressing concern and saying if we lose another 3 game or so that he should be sacked. That's not panic

Sorry, I wasn't having a pop at you. I read so many times that we 'could have' or we were 'unlucky' but it is very rare for people to recognise the times we were lucky in games. I was just making a point on that

But we didn't have ups and downs. We had an excellent first half and a terrible second half and were dependent on one player. If we had ups and downs throughout the season I would be much happier. Do you not recognise this as a potential problem for Villa? And yes other clubs had injuries and if a key player gets injured it will hurt a team, but the team should still play as a team and not completely fall apart

DCJonah, bobzy, Villa4Europe, Do none of you see an issue with the lack of team cohesion and the apparent reliance of Jack and Smith's inability to fix it?

What point are you making? Is this to highlight to DCJonah that I do actually like Dean Smith and would like him to stay on as manager? And overall Dean is doing really well at Villa; promotion, survival and 11th. Of course I am happy with that. However, that doesn't paper over the cracks. I had really hoped Dean would push on this season and show he can get the team playing as a team but 9 games in and it doesn't look good

That's not true though. Lots of people were questioning Smith's ability before the Man utd game. And I have to agree, if Smith was getting different results to the ones he is getting there would be fewer ()not nobody) questioning Smith.

Its funny seeing this argument yet the 350m Smith spent gets brushed aside. anyway, this is a Smith thread and not a Frank thread so I think we should stick on topic

What have you against dealing with what is happening on the pitch? I am happy we got 55 points but I am not happy it was split between an excellent half and a terrible half. I am even less happy it looks like we were dependant on one player who is no longer at the club. Do you not recognise this as a problem for Villa? Try not think that we all have an agenda, maybe try thinking that some of us actually want what is best for Aston Villa whether that is with or without Dean Smith. I would love Dean to stay as manager for the next 10 years but if he is not good enough I do not want to keep Dean Smith just because he is a nice guy, a Villa fan and has done well with us in the last few years. AVFC will always come first for me. It comes before NSWE, Purslow, Smith and every single member of staff

Yep, it was good but we had a season of two half. One half excellent and one half terrible. We can't simply ignore this and think we are a 55 point a season club. Then, if we look at it in more detail we see that when Jack was fit we were a completely different team to without Jack. Dean wasn't able to address this last season and so far this season he is showing he can't address it either

A few basic facts - They have gone from strength to strength, they are now a PL team, playing good football and in 12th place in the table - They didn't spend more money than any other team in the 19/20 season. Fulham outspent them (transfermarkt) and other clubs spent big too. Bees spent 31m, Baggies spent 20m - They have sold their best players each season at a huge profit (Benrahma, Maupay, Watkins, Konsa) All the evidence suggests that Frank is more successful at Bees than Dean. I wonder if you offered the Bees fans the opportunity to take Dean back and get rid of Frank what the responses would be

As for Smith getting another job I think he will struggle to get a PL job. He is not going to get a top 8 team so it will be a lower team looking to stay in the PL and potentially improve a bit. Other clubs will see that Dean had Jack and has spent 350m on players. These clubs do not have a 'Jack' and probably don't have 350m to spend either. I can see him getting a decent Championship club. Boro, Swansea, Cardiff or Forest type club that is trying to get into the playoffs

It is not about the 3 bad results, it is about the lack of team cohesion and the inability to fix it. This is not a problem that we have only had for 3 games, it is a problem we have had for a very long time

I don't buy into this luck aspect whatsoever. What if Man U scored their pen? if Hause goal ruled offside? Konsa's red against Everton at 0-0?

No chance of him returning to Brentford. They have gone from strength to strength since parting ways with Dean while also selling their best players. It would be a really bad decision for both parties for Dean to return to Bees

Yep, off field I am sure the numbers must work out and he is scoring goals. But next season and from a footballing perspective I am not so sure he will fit in the United team with whoever the new manager will be

Reminds me of Lescott, Micah and Gabby but just on a much bigger scale

Yeah, Conte may be a little to headstrong for them. I don't think a manager exists that would have the balls to bench Ronaldo but would be low enough maintenance for Man Utd.

I don't think they will be Ollie's plucky Redmen. More likely to be Conte's Red Devils

Just tried to put money on him and they have closed betting. Longest odds on Ole to be next sacked is SkyBet @ 1/7

PaddyPower still offering 2/1 on Ole to be the next manager to lose his job in the PL. Very generous