Dean Smith

[Wainy316]

Another thing that doesn't help is how few games we draw under Smith.  Draw can provide valuable points but the last two seasons we've drawn 8 and 7 respectively and only 1 so far this season.

[CVByrne]

I think there's enough in Smiths favour to mean he'll be given the season unless it's clear his job is untenable. Loss of Jack and new players brought it, plenty of injuries and covid, two new coaches in and two out. Trying a new system with 3 at the back. Then a freak capitulation at home to Wolves lead to a loss of confidence when playing two in form opponents. 

 

[avfc1982am]

 

30 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

And we've continuously improved over those 3 years...

Not this season we haven't. In fact this year has been an anti climax to a great end to our 1st season back and 2nd season start. Bar the odd game here and there you could argue we've been poor in 2021.

[Hobsons Choice]

Honestly I think talk of sacking after one quarter of a bad season after getting us promoted and keeping us up is embarrassing. 

It's always bloody drama, drama, crisis, crisis, entitlement bloody entitlement with Villa fans. I've seen it for 20 years and it's got us absolutely f***ing nowhere. 

People have been attacking Grealish because of a lack of loyalty, and over the years demanding the loyalty of players and managers when they exhibit none in return! Because of a few losses after losing by some distance our best player one week before the new season.

We get rid of DS, and bring in some no mark who has had a good season in the French or Spanish league, or a former player with no managerial experience and we deserve everything we'll get, which is relegated. 

I say we, but if DS is sacked i'm f***ing done with Villa. All this 'our club', 'one of us' stuff. Fans are full of shit man. 

[villalad21]

10 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

I think they will look at it at the end of the season.  If we can get almost our best 4-3-3 on the pitch for the next few games I reckon we will get points and things will calm down again.  Dean is smart enough to know he has to keep improving us each season or else we will look elsewhere eventually and won't be hiding from it, but at the same time he has been written off about 4 times already and come good.

Giving him till the end of the season isn't an option if there is unrest in the dressing room and players are unhappy. 

Regardless. We will learn a lot more about the team on Friday. 

[VillanousOne]

The odd thing is - when playing 3:5:2 our midfielders were dropping deeper and we seemed to play far more confidentally from the back, actually stringing a number of passes together through the middle. We just lacked width and service with only Cash seeming to offer any form of outlet. So we can play better than just a few passes at the back then hoofing it, but against pressing teams our midfielders have to learn to come deeper.

We badly missed Luiz vs Wham and for some reason McGinn was floating in no man's land whilst no one really wants to pass to Nakamba and having Young in midfield made zero sense.

It shouldn't be that difficult to get these group of players, playing well together again.

[supermon]

7 minutes ago, Wainy316 said:

Another thing that doesn't help is how few games we draw under Smith.  Draw can provide valuable points but the last two seasons we've drawn 8 and 7 respectively and only 1 so far this season.

I was thinking this earlier, just converting some of those losses to draws would have made things less bad than it currently is, at present it's either a win or a loss.

[Enda]

3 minutes ago, villalad21 said:

Giving him till the end of the season isn't an option if there is unrest in the dressing room and players are unhappy. 

Yes, it is.

Let’s say Sanson and Mings are bad eggs. Just for example. Causing unrest.

We can sack Smith or let him rein them in. This club has tolerated bad eggs too many times.

[pas5898]

32 minutes ago, wilko154 said:

It's all well and good talking about sacking Smith, but who do we replace him with?

From a risk perspective, the club will be aware there's a chance Dean Smith will leave in the next few games, so I expect they already will be conducting due diligence on potential replacements. That doesn't mean Dean Smith will get sacked, but its preparing just in case.

They quite simply won't sack Smith unless there is a better alternative both attainable and interested, otherwise its more of a risk to let him go without a suitable replacement. Unless of course Craig Shakespeare is so highly regarded they might feel he could do a good job in the interim.

 

 

[AvonVillain]

Do we ever do well on a Friday evening?? Don't know the stats. Friday games always seem doom-laden in some quarter. Didn't Southampton lose 0 - 9 on a Friday evening!?

I'm definitely not saying that's gunna happen by the way, only that a lot of drama 'seems' to follow Friday night football about. Can't help but think this is the worst possible ground / day for us to recover some sanity.

[KentVillan]

5 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I do think a problem is the structure at the moment. Rightly or wrongly Smith doesn't seem to trust the foreign signings that have came in from abroad. Trezeguet is probably the exception

I doubt the owners are happy spending for players that won't get a look in

The thing is, you can't build a Premier League club beyond a certain level without signing foreign players who don't speak great English. It's not feasible to build a team entirely around English-speaking talent, because you pay a premium, and narrow your talent pool too much... unless you're happy to be a Burnley.

He definitely hasn't struggled with all our foreign signings - he gave Wesley, Nakamba and Samatta a fair crack, but none of them were good enough, and Trez and Douglas Luiz have been shown loads of faith by Smith.

But it's noticeable that all the rumours of disruption revolve around players like Guilbert, Engels, Sanson, Buendia, and so on. Is it just a culture clash in terms of how players behave when they're angry/frustrated, or does he struggle to build rapport with them full stop?

[The Other Mat]

1 minute ago, AvonVillain said:

Do we ever do well on a Friday evening?? Don't know the stats. Friday games always seem doom-laden in some quarter. Didn't Southampton lose 0 - 9 on a Friday evening!?

I'm definitely not saying that's gunna happen by the way, only that a lot of drama 'seems' to follow Friday night football about. Can't help but think this is the worst possible ground / day for us to recover some sanity.

No we don't.. Against Arsenal the Sky commentators were saying we'd only ever won once on a Friday night I think (could be twice my memories terrible) and that was years ago. 

[sne]

Maybe we should go all our Argentinian and get Scaloni or Sampaioli in 

[TrentVilla]

3 hours ago, birdman said:

Because he needs time to get the new players firing together? It's been a rocky road for sure but now is not the time for panic sackings. 

He is two games short of a 3rd of a season. How long do you propose given we are getting worse?

I would agree if there were one sign of positive change but there isn’t, things are getting worse and confidence is ebbing away. 

It wouldn’t be a panic decision, wait for more games to pass and us be in real trouble would be a panic.

[Dave-R]

I can't believe what I'm seeing in the media with these manager speculations as if Smiths already done for, its sad sight to see.

Sure were loosing some games but there is much to consider even after Grealish has gone.

Not sure who could even do a better job at the moment but I'd like Smith to find a winning formula. If someone was to come in they have to be better and with experience. 

I certainly do not want to see a return of Dino defensive football.

Smith I think has some time to sort it out but it didn't look good yesterday when Buendia jumped the boards and marched off. 

These players of ours did pretty darn well returning to the formation we played last season and ten men down Smith and the lads should be damn proud of themselves despite the loss. Took some balls and heart to stick it to west ham like that and we were unfortunate.

Point blank if Watkins header the possible second goal went in that game would of been very much different.

Think the West ham game we were just plain out of luck all through, you only have to look at how accurate there first two goals were, they were wonderful strikes.

The referee was the icing on the cake for how unlucky Villa were, so much wrong in the officiating. I mean how can konsa walk for a tackle like that but bowen doesn't walk for sending a villa player flying by pushing him, that's straight red for me instant without thinking on it as it's assault. If I did that to someone you'd be bet assured police would be on scene putting your hands on someone like that. The referees in this league cater to these certain clubs and the rest are fighting a loosing battle, theirs no fair play officiating involved. If bowen had of been sent off no way would they of scored more I believe and yes he should of walked.

I don't blame Smith for West ham, I blame our lads playing out from the back like that when it were obvious they shouldn't off. Martinet made a mistake but he wasn't the only one at fault, numerous time we tried to play forward balls and it cost us. 

There's some work to do but our players can't let this defeat get them down, they came out fighting 10 man in second half to me it shows there's something there, perseverance is key in what we were doing last season.

Don't play 3 at the back, let's just continue the mould of last season.

Edited November 1, 2021 by Dave-R

[Johnnyp]

3 hours ago, NurembergVillan said:

That's the big thing isn't it?

A bunch of players - Mings, Grealish, Konsa, Watkins, etc - have developed tremendously while working with Smith, but let's not discredit their natural ability.

Bruce didn't get the best out of Grealish, Smith did. And that one player having a great game was enough to win us 10 games in a row in the Championship and beat a good few teams in the Prem.  He's gone now and we've still got some good players, but it's still feeling like the football we played under Bruce - no real plan and hope one of the attackers can produce a bit of magic but without the reliability of Jack in there.

Grealish has talked since leaving about wanting to develop further as a player and how Guardiola will help him do that. A more accomplished coaching team than we currently have will get more out of our squad.

We don't suddenly have crap players. We don't suddenly have a crap manager. I do feel, though, that we've got a manager who has reached his ceiling and a group of players who are yet to reach theirs.

Walsall, Brentford and Villa. He does tend to flatline after a while, reaches his ceiling. Win percentages not miles apart.
 

 

[jim]

25 minutes ago, HKP90 said:

Honestly I think talk of sacking after one quarter of a bad season after getting us promoted and keeping us up is embarrassing. 

It's always bloody drama, drama, crisis, crisis, entitlement bloody entitlement with Villa fans. I've seen it for 20 years and it's got us absolutely f***ing nowhere. 

People have been attacking Grealish because of a lack of loyalty, and over the years demanding the loyalty of players and managers when they exhibit none in return! Because of a few losses after losing by some distance our best player one week before the new season.

We get rid of DS, and bring in some no mark who has had a good season in the French or Spanish league, or a former player with no managerial experience and we deserve everything we'll get, which is relegated. 

I say we, but if DS is sacked i'm f***ing done with Villa. All this 'our club', 'one of us' stuff. Fans are full of shit man. 

It isn't just a few games. We have been dire for most of 2021 with just over a point per game average.

We have won 7 in 29, but yeah lets stick with Smith just because.

[Zhan_Zhuang]

1 hour ago, Davkaus said:

It'd be absolute fantasy to think we're competing for the kind of managers Spurs are at the moment, we're a long way from being as attractive a proposition as they are

Which is why it is potentially a dangerous situation to be in. Do we or don't we?

I really wonder if NSWE have a contingency plan or are they hoping all will sort itself out.

In a way I can see the clamour for change, we are standing still and other teams are improving.

Still think he'll be gone if we lose Friday.

[Peter Griffin]

1 hour ago, wilko154 said:

The last thing we want to do now is sack Smith and bring someone in who is less capable of steering the ship in the right direction.

 

I agree completely with that but equally, the last thing we want to do is keep a manager if we believe he is the wrong man for the job. We can't be afraid to replace him

[avfc1982am]

18 minutes ago, Enda said:

Yes, it is.

Let’s say Sanson and Mings are bad eggs. Just for example. Causing unrest.

We can sack Smith or let him rein them in. This club has tolerated bad eggs too many times.

Lets say that they are not and that this has been brewing for a while internally. As an example. And that the manager tinkering and shift in coaching staff as unsettled the squad.

It's always the players fault when it comes to a popular manager being under the cosh. Say though if the players just don't believe in what they are being told or instructed to do? This is when fractures start to appear, similar to now imo. 

It's also okay to say let Smith rein it in but has Smith contributed by allowing players to go at each other too much. To the point ill discipline has now taken over??? Not saying this is the case but it could be.