Dean Smith

[Dave-R]

3 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You don't think Bowen and Benrahma are much  better than Anwar and Trez?

You can't be serious.

Yeah I'd do a swap in half a heartbeat..

 

I think that's our problem, Ghazi and Trez are just not good enough for this league. They can't service, rarely score, they get caught out way to much for where we are and want to be.

I'd bloody sell in the summer despite Ghazi and Trez here and there will grab a few goals, we need more than just that.

Edited March 12, 2021 by Dave-R

[Tomaszk]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

I don't dislike Smith at all, I'm just a realist and don't see him as the messiah some do. 

I'd have replaced Smith in the summer when we miraculously stayed up.

Not sure we'd have had a much better season with any new man coming in. This has been an excellent season.

Interested to see how the end of the season pans out. We are going to carry on spending and if the players deliver that every week until the end of the season Smith will be on shaky ground. Grealish and Mings and others will be playing for a place in the Euros so I expect performances will lift.

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

Bowen and Benrahma are not much better than what we have, Moyes just gets 110% out of them, if not he don't play them. 

Can't help you if you think the chuckle brothers are on a similar level to those two. Or any of their other three wingers on the bench.

If I could guarantee you Moyes, would you sack Smith tomorrow? Are you not concerned about his bad time at Sociedad and Sunderland?

Zero interest in David Moyes here.

[WooJung]

55 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

I genuinely don't get all the concern and anger. We aren't going down. For the first time in over a decade we can just relax without our season being on the line going into the end of the season. That's huge IMO. 

We're a midtable team and our owners are going to invest again in the summer. This is all part of our journey back to the big time. Its going to take more than 2 seasons. 

 

Because we are inches away from European places, even the top 4, and we are wasting points against teams in the bottom 6. 

9 points out of a possible 24 against Newcastle, Burnley, Brighton and Sheffield united. 

Yes, the season is going well above our expectations, but we showed what we are capable of and we are not living up to the standard we set up. 

And on top of that we went from one of the most entertaining teams to watch to one of the least. 

[Tomaszk]

6 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You don't think Bowen and Benrahma are much  better than Anwar and Trez?

You can't be serious.

Of course he does, just another stick to beat Smith.

[Laughable Chimp]

1 minute ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You don't think Bowen and Benrahma are much  better than Anwar and Trez?

You can't be serious.

Well, whoscored isn't everything. But both Bowen and Benrahma have lower ratings for West Ham this season than El Ghazi and Trez have had for us this season.

Not that I'd go and watch a West Ham game to play for myself, but I have the feeling that if you popped into their forum, you'd see them being similarly frustrated with those two as we are with Trez and El Ghazi.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side, I think its easy to overidealize players for other teams when you don't see them playing every week. Especially with regards to wingers who we seem to expect to be good every week and keep pining for one to be. When in reality, the vast majority of wingers are very inconsistent.

[PaulC]

Just watched his post match interview said it was an Ugly game and not a lot of rhythm in the league at the moment and a lot of teams are struggling. Very honest and very true.

[foreveryoung]

8 minutes ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

You don't think Bowen and Benrahma are much  better than Anwar and Trez?

You can't be serious.

Not saying they are better than these 2, although West Ham dont have a Grealish either.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

8 minutes ago, gwi1890 said:

The fact that West Ham can rotate between 6 quality forward players says it all really 

 

8 minutes ago, Dave-R said:

Yeah I'd do a swap in half a heartbeat..

Bare in mind, they aren't even guaranteed started there either, and would be an instant upgrade on what we have.

The ' better squad ' debate shouldn't even be a debate IMO.

Yes, some of Deanos decisions over the season have frustrated me, but there are a number of games where you realize the squad isn't good enough.

Drano can't do anything about certain players not being able to consistently do certain basics.

Again, this needs to be the summer where some of our ' favorites ' become bench players, barely make the squad, or go altogether.

I'm not even sure if Deano could have foreseen the likes of McGinn being so poor for such an extended period.

Deserves at least another season and the windows IMO.

Edited March 12, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

9 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Not saying they are better than these 2, although West Ham dont have a Grealish either.

If Sheffield United had Grealish, they would still be shit.

I'd actually rather have a consistent squad/ team of 7s and 8's, than a team of 4's and 5's plus one 9 - 10 ( Grealish etc )

The overall higher quality of squad will win the war, every time.

They have an overall better squad than us, so even if they did have a ' Grealish ', they would just be even better than they are currently.

If they had an ' injury ' to a Grealish, they would still be better than us.

 

Edited March 12, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Zatman]

41 minutes ago, foreveryoung said:

Still average players, Lingard probably being the best, but Moyes is getting the best out of them, dare I say, our players are far from showing there best at the moment.

How many years sdis it take for West Ham to buy them

[Villan_of_oz]

1 hour ago, villa4europe said:

Will probably say that Lowe is leaving Germany in the summer or that allegri is available, at least Poch has a job so we can put that to bed 

I criticise Smith's decisions from time to time, and I think fairly too. However to be calling for him to be sacked at this moment is nothing short of stupidity.

[nick76]

48 minutes ago, PaulC said:

Just watched his post match interview said it was an Ugly game and not a lot of rhythm in the league at the moment and a lot of teams are struggling. Very honest and very true.

Yeah I'm glad he said what we all saw and didnt try to massage it.  Obviously will always try to put a bit of polish on it but if he's saying that on camera you know it will be worse in private and saying what we are all saying.  I'd be worried if he thought that was a good or average performance.

[nick76]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

I think then in reality we have to admit Grealish has been carrying us, an without him, we are just a bunch of average players, with, dare I say it, a average manager.

Dont agree.  Our defence is solid and one of the best around.  Grealish is a superstar obviously.  Watkins is potentially a really great player.  That's 7 players of 11.

Now the rest you can have a discussion about.  

 

Luiz only 2 months ago people were worried that Man City would want him back and pay the 35m clause and maybe sell him onto......Arsenal or whoever.  He's in poor form at the moment but surely that hasnt gone completely?

Sanson was 30m player in the summer but we've only just him so needs time and we got him at a snip of 14m, who knows what he can do.

 

We dont have a great squad but we have a strong core of first 11 who on their day have given quality teams a hiding.  We know we have holes in the first 11, we know our squad depth is weak but we knew that at the start of the season.  I have highlighted what I think are 7 better than average players and potential of a few others.  We arent average and we were all salivating about them a few months ago when we had done half a season.  We are now going through poor form, our superstar is out and we dont have the squad depth to make changes or freshen it up.

[will87]

Weren't West Ham a club in crisis in the Summer, with players openly questioning the clubs transfer dealings? I know they were a lot of people's tips to go down on this forum.

Now they're a club full of quality players that we couldn't hope to get close to. No Villa fan would have taken Lingard over Barkley at the start of the season.

 

[tom_avfc]

3 minutes ago, nick76 said:

Dont agree.  Our defence is solid and one of the best around.  Grealish is a superstar obviously.  Watkins is potentially a really great player.  That's 7 players of 11.

Now the rest you can have a discussion about.  

 

Luiz only 2 months ago people were worried that Man City would want him back and pay the 35m clause and maybe sell him onto......Arsenal or whoever.  He's in poor form at the moment but surely that hasnt gone completely?

Sanson was 30m player in the summer but we've only just him so needs time and we got him at a snip of 14m, who knows what he can do.

 

We dont have a great squad but we have a strong core of first 11 who on their day have given quality teams a hiding.  We know we have holes in the first 11, we know our squad depth is weak but we knew that at the start of the season.  I have highlighted what I think are 7 better than average players and potential of a few others.  We arent average and we were all salivating about them a few months ago when we had done half a season.  We are now going through poor form, our superstar is out and we dont have the squad depth to make changes or freshen it up.

I completely agree with this but would add that whilst we have those 7 players our first team is very good. If we could play our first eleven every match we’d be a very good top half side.

The moment we get an injury we are weakened dramatically because the squad players are average Championship level players at best.

This is probably why Smith stuck with the starting eleven for as long as he did. The trouble is in any season, let alone this one with the compacted fixture list, you’re always going to have to use your squad.

Until we’ve got a squad with options ( and the Behnrahma and Bowen example from West Ham’s bench is a good one) I find it hard to lay too much blame at Smith’s door.

I would question Ramsey starting as he seems to be a better option for 20 minutes at the end of games at the moment but other than that there’s not a great deal that we can do to change it up.

It is what it is and we’re still probably a couple of good transfer windows away from having a squad that will compete for European places.

[villa4europe]

27 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I criticise Smith's decisions from time to time, and I think fairly too. However to be calling for him to be sacked at this moment is nothing short of stupidity.

Trust in the process, everything our owners have done so far says this is a long long term thing, we done all this with the academy, we've made tweaks and we've got better, it'll take years and then we'll start fighting with the bullshit that is the PL... We've been here before we know how it works, we're not wolves fans virgins having a flirt and then shocked how the quarterback treats us at prom 

Everything so far is right, stay the course take our time... Rule the world... Or at least get 6th

[TRO]

1 hour ago, foreveryoung said:

Not saying they are better than these 2, although West Ham dont have a Grealish either.

West Ham have balance, they are a team.

Who would sign Dawson?...we wouldn't, but it fits and he shows the attributes they want.....they have a midfield that can dominate the ball and win it back.....they have good crossers of the ball and they can dominate in the air.

They are not a Man City.....but they have the qualities of a resolute and competitive team, without the aristocratic individuals....they have square pegs in square holes etc.

[maqroll]

1 hour ago, Dave-R said:

Yeah I'd do a swap in half a heartbeat..

 

I think that's our problem, Ghazi and Trez are just not good enough for this league. They can't service, rarely score, they get caught out way to much for where we are and want to be.

I'd bloody sell in the summer despite Ghazi and Trez here and there will grab a few goals, we need more than just that.

Trez rate of return is poor but AEG has 6 goals and an assist in just 9 starts. He's joint second on the team in goals with Jack. 

[Dave-R]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

 

Bare in mind, they aren't even guaranteed started there either, and would be an instant upgrade on what we have.

The ' better squad ' debate shouldn't even be a debate IMO.

Yes, some of Deanos decisions over the season have frustrated me, but there are a number of games where you realize the squad isn't good enough.

Drano can't do anything about certain players not being able to consistently do certain basics.

Again, this needs to be the summer where some of our ' favorites ' become bench players, barely make the squad, or go altogether.

I'm not even sure if Deano could have foreseen the likes of McGinn being so poor for such an extended period.

Deserves at least another season and the windows IMO.

Yeah I agree, some favs must become subs and some players not cutting it at a decent rate through the season must be sold for the good of the club.

There is a sizeable list I reckon of players who would be sold, maybe around six or more, then there are a few of our best who I also reckon would move to subs. We need to remove the ceiling that we have hit on signings and replace it with a new one. We need to start bringing in the same signings as the big clubs do, the same type that are world beaters and pure quality. This Covid although it's crap and we've lost alot of people which is unfortunate could in fact yield some very good deals for us so long as we take advantage of other clubs who are forced to sell but don't necessarily want to, if we do not someone else will take advantage.

[Dave-R]

34 minutes ago, maqroll said:

Trez rate of return is poor but AEG has 6 goals and an assist in just 9 starts. He's joint second on the team in goals with Jack. 

Right now I would chalk those goals off for someone, just one player who could service from the flanks properly and give Watkins proper service all season long.

So that's why I say we can't keep a player based on him alone getting goals and one assist, we need more from a player on the Wing.