M_Afro Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Villastine said: We finished 11th last season and sold the best player we have had in a generation. Given the investment, the owners shouldn't be looking for more than the same. Fans expectation is another matter. DS should not be under pressure after 10 games We did lose Grealish but the manager was given £100m to make the team better without him. We are much worse. Lost 60% of our matches so far. Any manager comes under pressure after that especially as there are absolutely no signs of progress. He is gone now it’s just a matter of timing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 4 minutes ago, Villastine said: We finished 11th last season and sold the best player we have had in a generation. Given the investment, the owners shouldn't be looking for more than the same. Fans expectation is another matter. DS should not be under pressure after 10 games I know what you’re saying. Hey I’m a Dean Smith guy so please don’t think I’m sticking the knife in, but the record over the calendar year is not impressive reading. I don’t want him sacked, but it’s getting tougher by the week to defend him if I’m being honest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Afro Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 26 minutes ago, Zatman said: Grealish played the Burnley game and was a sub in the Palace game I did say he was a sub in 2 of the games but he was nowhere near match fit. I may have got the Burnley timing wrong but I am pretty sure the stats are correct but I will check later when I get chance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briny_ear Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 1 hour ago, regular_john said: Still the man for the job in my opinion. If we had won four on the spin, we wouldn't all be beside ourselves assuming we would challenge for the league and be playing CL football next year. I hope that we would take a realistic stance and not get carried away. The same should be true now. Yes, it sucks to lose four on the spin but that doesn't mean it should be panic stations. Smith has done a great job since the moment he walked in. He is undoubtedly the best manager we've had in more than a decade and has, in my opinion, earned some patience. Keep the faith. UTV. I think it’s the manner of losing more than the fact of it that has got people worried. If we had lost four hard-fought matches in a row (think Brentford), fair enough, all of the excuses would have value - injuries, illness, new players bedding in etc., and you would back them to turn it round Bur we have really seen four very bad capitulations where the team seems increasingly demotivated and disjointed. I think these matches have produced some of the worst football I have seen since Smith took over. And it seems to be getting worse. The atmosphere amongst the squad yesterday was weirdly unhappy. Of course it may still turn round - think how Arsenal are performing now compared with August when it all looked up for Arteta and their squad looked clueless. But we need to see some urgent signs that turnaround will happen or I really do think the owners may consider whether a change of manager is needed. The next three matches are against comparatively weaker but tough teams, If we can battle our way to a couple of wins in those, everyone will be a lot happier. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
M_Afro Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 42 minutes ago, hippo said: That makes the assumption that it is as easy to transition from a loosing side to a winning side. In reality it's my harder to stop the rot. Teams are scoring against us for fun. I really don't see us halting that anytime soon His only answer to stopping the rot previously was the return of Grealish from injury or a global pandemic. One of those is not going to happen again and hopefully the other one won’t either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 8 minutes ago, HanoiVillan said: People keep saying this, but it's a realistic possibility. There aren't many worse teams in the division. That's my worry. I'm looking at the table right now and I don't see many poor teams. Probably one of the strongest Premier leagues there's ever been. Newcastle, Norwich, possibly Watford. That's pretty much it. Rest of the teams are well on par or better than us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mic09 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I think that a big problem with today's football is sacking managers based on a streak of poor performances. The only way we can achieve some success is to build a solid foundation and a system where players know what to do and are effective in their roles. We can play like we did against Chelsea (that was a loos but a really good game), Man Utd or Everton. So Smith has shown, most recently, that he can do it. But, we also lost to Watford or Wolves in a really bad fashion. I think we shouldn't sack Smith (even if we lose to Southampton) BUT questions have to be asked at the board level: 1) Have we signed the right players? Buendia looks like a miss so far, and Ings doesn't work well with Watkins. Bailey seems like a good player. Other than that, we are the same side that struggled back end of last season. 2) Does Smith know what to do tactics wise? Is it a case of Smith having to fix those problems? Or is Smith incapable of producing stability and consistency? If the latter is the case, maybe it's not unwise to look at alternative managers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted November 1, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 1, 2021 4 minutes ago, villalad21 said: That's my worry. I'm looking at the table right now and I don't see many poor teams. Probably one of the strongest Premier leagues there's ever been. Newcastle, Norwich, possibly Watford. That's pretty much it. Rest of the teams are well on par or better than us. burnley, southampton and leeds might have scraped a few wins lately but they're still poor sides don't write brentford off for a relegation battle either Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sne Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said: Arent there no upcoming managers in Europe? Like your Poch’s or even that new Wolves guy. Why’s it always it could be Lampard or Gerrard? Might as well go for the Red Bull Salzburg guy Matthias Jaissle right away. He's only 33 but they seem to have a knack for finding guys who go on to do great things. Both with managers and players. Honestly think Smith's days might be numbered sadly. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomav84 Posted November 1, 2021 VT Supporter Share Posted November 1, 2021 when you're in a sticky patch every game looks tough though. a few weeks back we were eying up this period to really kick on this season i fancy us friday. there will be a reaction. saints are shite Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woody1000 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Just now, tomav84 said: when you're in a sticky patch every game looks tough though. a few weeks back we were eying up this period to really kick on this season i fancy us friday. there will be a reaction. saints are shite We’ve been hoping for this since the Wolves game unfortunately. There has to be or I think Dean is doomed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villalad21 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, tomav84 said: when you're in a sticky patch every game looks tough though. a few weeks back we were eying up this period to really kick on this season i fancy us friday. there will be a reaction. saints are shite Taking their star man. Their fans will be bang up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeyAnty Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 People are saying ‘I hope Smith turns it around’. What is turning it around? Winning 3 games in a row? Sadly it isn’t for me. We will be back discussing the same stuff in February. Going to 5-3-2 is a system where the Manager is lost for ideas. Its why you would never see a top manager do it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Losing Terry and O'Kelly hasn't helped. The pre season was a mess with the Grealish saga. And he hasn't had chance to pick his best XI yet. We are still only 4 points from the top half and I don't think its time to panic just yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said: Arent there no upcoming managers in Europe? Like your Poch’s or even that new Wolves guy. Why’s it always it could be Lampard or Gerrard? I think the problem with that is, if they were up and coming we would not know about them. I don't think many people heard of Poch before he joined Saints and just about everyone and all media were highly critical of Saints for sacking Aitkins and appointing him. We need to have a good scouting team to find the right manager if we are to replace Dean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zhan_Zhuang Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I saw a win percentage calculation earlier (not sure if accurate) Smith is apparently 5% down on Bruce. I know other factors to take into consideration but those percentages are difficult to change when Villa are so inconsistent. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post fightoffyour Posted November 1, 2021 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted November 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said: I saw a win percentage calculation earlier (not sure if accurate) Smith is apparently 5% down on Bruce. I know other factors to take into consideration but those percentages are difficult to change when Villa are so inconsistent. 2 years in the Championship for Bruce vs half a season for Smith is a bit more than a factor, it’s quite literally different leagues. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 You could argue that Smith has only had a balanced side for 1 season in the time he has been here. He inherited a unbalanced side after Bruce, then he had to buy half a new team in the first summer back. Last summer we got the recruitment right, and this summer the jury is still out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter Griffin Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 19 minutes ago, Mic09 said: I think that a big problem with today's football is sacking managers based on a streak of poor performances. The only way we can achieve some success is to build a solid foundation and a system where players know what to do and are effective in their roles. I agree that a problem is that managers are sacked too quickly and I also agree with how to achieve success. My problem is that I just don't see that happening at Villa, and it is not just in the last 4 games I don't see it, it is a worryingly long time Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Herman22 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 10 minutes ago, HeyAnty said: People are saying ‘I hope Smith turns it around’. What is turning it around? Winning 3 games in a row? Sadly it isn’t for me. We will be back discussing the same stuff in February. Going to 5-3-2 is a system where the Manager is lost for ideas. Its why you would never see a top manager do it. Doesn't Tuchel play 5-3-2 quite a bit? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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