The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 333 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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If we are bottom 6 come Xmas then he will be toast. This is the strongest first 11 we have had for a very long time.
Wouldnt disagree with that Fulford, but he would have had a decent time in charge this season by then, so there would be no complaints from me, (unless one win would take us to top six) lol.
 
When Hause went off and Konsa came on I was sweating - if HE gets injured!!!
Yes Gillette, that was my very first thought when I saw him come on.
He has become a very important player for us.
But the fact is we played last night, we then get Friday and Saturday to sort any injuries and then have a big Premier League game.
I know injuries are part of the game but you can manage the risk.
 
One of the sights from the game last night was Dean Smith standing on the touch line looking miserable. What happens in the lead up to a match? He said after a couple of minutes it was obvious the players were treating it like a training match. Isn't it up to him to get them out there playing in the right frame of mind? Does he rely on players like Mings, Jack, SJM producing the right spirit?
 
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.[/QUOTE)

I would be interested to know your team selection for last night with a major game on Sunday.

If you say, "he should have played Grealish" (for example) Smith would have been trashed if he got injured last night and was out for Sunday.

Smith played the side that comprehensively destroyed Bristol in the previous round. Why would he not expect a similar showing against Stoke last PM?
 
I would have played the first team. I want to see Villa actually win a trophy again one day.

I would say "one day" is in about 3yrs - which is the kind of plan that the club is trying to enact. That is Ok with me - we can't spend due to FFP even if our owners were inclined to. So it's a slow build.
 
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.


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.

You’ve completely missed my point. I agree the clubs that keep winning it do so because they have superior players and more of them. They can afford to rest players and still put out a quality team. Teams like us are devaluing the competition because we are putting out impoverished teams that are unlikely to progress further by choice. We don’t have to. We can put better players in to try to compete but we don’t. Having said that, all the top teams played more first team players than us so I repeat, we are devaluing the competition by putting out teams that we wouldn’t cross the road to watch. Not one of them in our first choice eleven players.
 
I would have played the first team. I want to see Villa actually win a trophy again one day.

We could have rested one or two on the bench and put a few reserve players in to have a go. Dean would probably have put a strengthened team out against a top side in the later stages to try and win but embarrassingly he isn’t going to be able to give Jack and co a run out against better opposition now. That’s a failure and I’m sure Dean would admit it.
I know we’re trying to finish about 12th but surely that plus a good cup run with the 5 extra players we’ve got this year was doable?
 
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