Peter Griffin

Are u writing off Buendia already, what about Baily, you didn't mention him?

Nick, Reading through your posts. You find a reason to say why Dean isn't at fault for absolutely everything. It is clearly not the case. He is not the Messiah, he is human and he is still learning the job. It would be naive to expect him not to be at fault for some of the things that are not going right. You lose all credibility when you find an excuse for everything

Potter didn't royally **** up today. It wasn't a good result but as many of the Smith protagonists say, have some perspective. They were playing Man City. I am not saying we should sack Smith and get Potter in as manager I am just trying to be realistic and honest about what is happening to us and what other managers are doing

I really don't think JT would be in the frame. I am not sure why, just a gut feel. I think we will be very considered with our next manager whenever that time arrives and I think it may somewhat surprise us. CP got it right sacking Bruce. CP got it right in getting Smith in as manager, I would have some confidence in him to get it right with Smith's replacement.

I am not quite there myself but I understand your perspective completely

I hate this 'Must Win' BS at this stage of the season. Its crazy. There are still 87 points to play for. Some of the hysteria is anti Smith driven and some is wet pants driven. Personally, I think we have a good enough squad for 10th or above. If we don't make it that is not the end of the world but only if we are performing well. If we have an up and down season and win some good games and lose stupid games and don't show cohesion then I will be wanting Smith gone. He really needs to sort this out imo

I don't get this fixation on a midtable team and how we performed against other teams and how many times we got a battering. That is not the issue at Villa at the moment. We have no cohesion, no style and are not a team. It doesn't matter where we are in the table or who we are playing or how many we lose by. We MUST play as a team with a clear plan / style as to how we are going to play. That is the fundamental issue at Villa and that is Dean's responsibility. Dean must fix this or he will be sacked. I am not sure how long he will have to fix it, that is down to Purslow but with each loss the day of reckoning gets closer

I can understand them Young: Good for dressing room, experienced, free and could provide backup for both fullbacks and come on as a sub with 25/20 mins to go. Problem is we don't play with fullbacks Axel, we needed a backup CB in case of injury and Axel could give Hause competition for this place. But we are now playing him as a 1st 11 player due to formation Ings. We only have Ollie as a striker, we couldn't go into the season without backup but we are trying to play the two of them together ROK and JT both reported into Dean. It is a shame they have gone. If it was for personal reasons then fine, if they weren't happy that is Dean's responsibility But the process for recruiting players is the right one imo

I never saw that. Everything I have seen on recruitment and Dean is that he is fully involved in the process

I am not trying to be difficult but I don't know what you are trying to say

The recruitment policy was clearly explained to us. I am paraphrasing but Deano said he says the positions that he wants a player for, Lange comes up with a list of players and Dean can add suggestions to this list. Lange then does due diligence to see if the player is the right fit for Villa i.e. aligned with strategy and attitude etc. Then they agree what players to prioritise on the list and to try and get the best they can. Deano also said he has a veto and doesn't have to take a player he doesn't want. That doesn't sound like s shit show to me

Getting the team style and getting the players to play as a team is absolutely 100% up to Smith. This is one of the key parts of his job. Further, it doesn't matter what influence he has on player purchase, even if he has no influence he still needs to be able to work with the players he is given. However, he has said that he has a veto on players brought in and he works with Lange to get the right players. Trying to blame the recruitment for our lack of style and inability to play as a team is just an excuse imo and trying to defend Smith through bias as opposed to being objective

Genuine question. Not sure what this refers to, what teams?

Its not the results that is the concerning issue, it is the overall team performance and lack of style and ability to fix it

I think the problems Smith has are deeper than simply losing 3 games in a row and I don't believe that fans are turning because of the results. The talk about us being a mid table team and that these things happen and all teams will get turned sound like reasons to justify the poor results and ignore what is happening on the pitch. Imo, the reason people are questioning Smith's role as Gaffer is because the way we are playing football and his apparent inability to fix the issues. We do not have a style of football and our player don't appear to know what they are meant to be doing. Smith is unable to get Ollie and Ings to work together yet he persists and he is unable to get 3 CBs to work, yet he persists. This in turn, is starting to reflect in individual performances and we are looking really bad. We just don't look like a team and this is 100% down to Smith, it is not a transition period and it is not due to injuries. It is his responsibility to get us playing as a team and at the moment he is not succeeding.

It is really difficult to be a mid table manager in the PL and not get turned over occasionally. But that is because occasionally the mid table teams have to play the likes of Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea. But to make up for that mid table managers also get to play games against the likes of Watford, Brentford, Wolves and Arsenal where they shouldn't be turned over

Does anyone know what Bees or Walsall were like defensively when Deano was in charge. Did they have a reputation for being tight or a bit flaky and does anyone know what ROK actually did in training. Was he focused on any particular aspect of play?

It wouldn't be 2 games that would define whether he stays or not though. If the post is accurate then it could potentially be based on 5 straight losses. If this were to happen, and I don't believe it will, but if it did happen, it would not surprise me if Dean was sacked

Yeah, I would think the same and hope it would not turn sour. I really don't want to see Villa and Smith turn like it was with Bruce. Ideally, there will be no need for it and Smith will sort the mess out and start putting points on the table and we wont need to worry about it

The tide is turning for Dean a little and he will quickly find himself in an untenable position if he doesn't fix it. The atmosphere towards Dean is changing and it can be seen on VT and across social media and the sports media like Sky - Overall expectation from Pro Dean people is changing to things like... he will keep us up and we will be okay - Many pro Dean fans are saying they are starting to question Dean, they are still supportive but starting to question - Many fans that question Dean are now calling for his head as opposed to asking if he has reached his ceiling - Rumours now of player unrest - Neville & Carragher discussed if Dean's job is under threat (they agreed it wasn't but it was still a discussion) - General apathy from fans with selection and performances These things I list above do not prove anything about Smith, but they give a feeling as to how the fans feel about Smith and it is a worrying development. It really doesn't take much to go from where we are to protests and calls for his head. As a club I would hate to go down that route so please Dean, sort it bloody out

Who will. be the next Villa Player Manager?

He would be a tough one to attract. He refused Palace and the discourse in the media is that he does not want the Toon job

It would be rare for top managers to send out what was clearly the wrong team and system in the first place

Unfortunately not

They didn't explain anything to me. I read some ramblings trying to justify a narrative but no explanation. It is total horse shyte to say you shouldn't nor can't benchmark football managers