The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 332 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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Dean made the catastrophic mistake last night over underestimating the opposition and overestimating his own players. Worse, he put no plan in place to recover the situation. We’ve seen it time and time again with managers who for whatever reason make these hapless decisions.
I congratulate the owners for coming up with the goods for the second year running and surely now we have enough decent players to have put a few in against Stoke? Game 6 and abject failure. Wake up Dean we all want you to succeed but you’ve put the pressure on for Sunday now.
 
I don't really think Dean gives a toss about the League cup this season. After last season it is much more important to protect the first team squad for the league. The players who took the pitch last night should have been good enough to get a result, they didn't and that is down to them. They can't be banging on the managers door saying they weren't given a chance, they were and they blew it.
 
Wurzel said:
I don't really think Dean gives a toss about the League cup this season. After last season it is much more important to protect the first team squad for the league. The players who took the pitch last night should have been good enough to get a result, they didn't and that is down to them. They can't be banging on the managers door saying they weren't given a chance, they were and they blew it.
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I bet Jack does!
 
I think the very nature of the timing of the cup games have made it very difficult to go strong . Everton did and have got Richarlison and their other new signing injured so I wonder what their fans will think if they are out for a few weeks.

I want to be not bothered about getting knocked out but any Villa loss hurts me . On balance I think I would have protected Super Jack etc , but really the side we did put out must surely have been expected to beat Stoke.
 
wittonite said:
Blimey its a good job we won our first two league games, or else there would have been carnage on here.
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we absolutely needed to against a couple of the weaker sides we'll face this season.
There are no excuses anymore really and if after the usual 10 odd games we're bobbing around at the bottom there'll start to be massive pressure on him.
(same at Utd and Chelsea I'd guess but with different expectation levels)

get Poch on standby
 
BringbakMON said:
we absolutely needed to against a couple of the weaker sides we'll face this season.
There are no excuses anymore really and if after the usual 10 odd games we're bobbing around at the bottom there'll start to be massive pressure on him.
(same at Utd and Chelsea I'd guess but with different expectation levels)

get Poch on standby
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Yes we absolutlely needed to beat them, and did so.
It was these sort of games we didnt win last season, so its an improvement.
Sunday will give an interesting insight, but then again we did ok against Liverpool last season, only failing in the last few moments.
As sirdennis and one or two others have already said, the team Smith put out should have been enough to turn Stoke over.
I think it says more about the mentality of our backup players than it does about Smith.
Re Smith, he has his supporters and his detractors, all of whom are fairly entrenched in their positions, but it just seems to be a debate for another day, because easy opposition or not, we played two, won two.
 
I think that the true test of our progress in terms of the quality of the squad, and the degree to which Deano has learned from last season, will be how Villa perform against the teams around us.

Beating the strugglers at the very bottom, and losing against the very top teams clearly tell us nothing (so the Liverpool game is a free hit and then move on).

The key to the mid table comfort we all seek lies in taking enough points off Burnley, Crystal Palace, Brighton, Newcastle, Southampton etc.

I still maintain there is more to this than just squad quality. To be anywhere near effective and consistent enough to get those points we need to see this bunch of strangers formed into a coherent team who are drilled and prepped properly in the system that Dean wants to play.

I know some people don't like the comparison in part because of being a local rival and also because of a bit of sour grapes and jealousy etc, but purely from a coaching standpoint when Nuno took charge of Wolves, and even before the Mendes players started to appear, it took him the matter of about a month to 6 weeks to organise his players and get them playing his system as a team.

My main criticism of Dean last season was that he was clearly struggling to implement the system he chose (and whether it was the right system approach for the first year back and to avoid relegation). For 34 games we looked a shambles, even accounting for not having the right players brought in and them taking time to settle - they always looked utterly clueless and under prepared, like a bunch of strangers playing for the first time and not really understanding their roles. This is coaching 101 and that's why I was so scathing match after match because it wasn't improving, it was visibly getting worse which is another sign that the coach isn't competent or doing his job properly.

Now after lockdown at least we saw some pragmatism, and to his credit Dean had clearly worked with the players to be more cagey and not concede so early.

But, in a new season what I think we now need to see is more progress in making a team out of the better players he has at his disposal. Based on how long he has had and the lack of sustained progress so far you can appreciate even if you don't agree, that I remain pretty sceptical of his actual ability to do the most critical and accountable part of his job - form a team to get results at the top level.

Time will tell and hopefully as I keep repeating, that the decision from Dean to bolster his coaching support with Craig Shakespeare will bear fruit and that Craig is able to practically implement what Dean couldn't do in 18 months. I wish them both every success because sorting out the basics across the team is worth more than any number of expensive signings by themselves.
 
wittonite said:
Blimey its a good job we won our first two league games, or else there would have been carnage on here.
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And rightly so. Must wins, did win, games.

Winning is a habit at clubs (not teaching you to suck eggs, I know you know LOL) and it is not one this club has had for a very long time.

Top to bottom, you want wins, because then staff, players all levels, and the club itself, start to act with swagger.

When was the last time we acted with swagger?

This season and onward I hope.
 
I think Smith will take us to around 11th/12th this season. For me that's decent progress given the state of us last season, we barely survived after all.

I also think that there will come a point where we will have to replace him in order to push on and become a consistent top 10 (or better) side.
 
The Fear said:
And rightly so. Must wins, did win, games.

Winning is a habit at clubs (not teaching you to suck eggs, I know you know LOL) and it is not one this club has had for a very long time.

Top to bottom, you want wins, because then staff, players all levels, and the club itself, start to act with swagger.

When was the last time we acted with swagger?

This season and onward I hope.
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You are of course correct, however as much as the League Cup has given me some of my most most memorable days out as a Villa fan I dont think its Smith that doesnt respect this cup enough, ( you havent said that, others have) the damage has been done by the managers of the big clubs over the years who have devalued this competition and the FA for allowing them to get away with it.
The pressure is on Smith to secure our Premier League position, and it is his head on the block if he fails to do that and he will stand or fall by his own decisions.
 
Last night was awful. These players were in part our A team last year - and they played identically as badly as we did last year. It was like a flashback. BUT we are all hoping that our A team are now a level above this crap.

Dean last night was hugely critical of everyone and everything about that game - which is good - in the past he would have said we were unlucky/were in it most of the game etc etc. So his ambitions has moved up.

I hope this triggers a quick move to give cover to CB/LB. I think our midfield will do. And get Josh King IMO.
 
wittonite said:
You are of course correct, however as much as the League Cup has given me some of my most most memorable days out as a Villa fan I dont think its Smith that doesnt respect this cup enough, ( you havent said that, others have) the damage has been done by the managers of the big clubs over the years who have devalued this competition and the FA for allowing them to get away with it.
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In the last 7 years only Man City Man Utd and Chelsea have won it. It’s clubs like us that can’t afford to play 11 reserves that are devaluing it I’m afraid.
 
Wicked Messenger said:
In the last 7 years only Man City Man Utd and Chelsea have won it. It’s clubs like us that can’t afford to play 11 reserves that are devaluing it I’m afraid.
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No you are wrong.
All that proves is that it is the like of these clubs with their massively expensive squads that will carry on winning this cup because they have the resources that no one else does.
 
I would also add to the above, saying that it was those clubs with their obsession with Europe that started this policy of playing their third teams in the League Cup.
 
Wurzel said:
I don't really think Dean gives a toss about the League cup this season. After last season it is much more important to protect the first team squad for the league. The players who took the pitch last night should have been good enough to get a result, they didn't and that is down to them. They can't be banging on the managers door saying they weren't given a chance, they were and they blew it.
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Dean Smith might not care about the league cup but I do. No Grealish, no McGinn and a last 16 exit. Dean Smith's fault. Stupid team selection. If he doesn't want to win trophies I don't want him managing Aston Villa.
 
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