The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 20 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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I could never warm to Bruce, but Dean Smith seems a good fit for us. Good feeling about the future under him.
 
And another nice touch that I noticed from his post match interview. The poppy pin badge that he was wearing was one with the Villa crest alongside the poppy. Villa and Remembrance together as one. He could have just worn the obligatory poppy, but some thought had gone into that gesture.

I am excited about his appointment as manager. I have witnessed some good managers in my time, but I have not been this optimistic since the days of Ron Saunders, Ron Atkinson or Brian Little. I am hoping that the giant is finally awakening from years of slumber and that we will return to where we belong amongst the top clubs in the country.
UTV
VTID
HEITS
 
Looking at it, I wish we didnt have both the Blues, Boro or Albion over the next few weeks.

Not because of results because I can see us beating Blues and Albion and getting a draw v Boro.

But last season we had performances v Wolves and Blues where we also thought "this is it" only to come out the next game against pub sides like we had been on an 18-30 holiday.

The players will obviously be up for Blues and Albion , and if we were playing, lets say , Ipswich and Wigan next - we would really have seen if things have changed.

So far so good though. Last week he said he was showing Grealish vids at half time, yesterday it was we are getting beat with long straight balls and we need to work ln it.

Just think we shoulc keep level headed on this. When we beat the Wolves last year, I honestly thought we could have beat Man City next, and look what happened. The good thing is, the majority of the side AND the coach know it as well
 
I don’t see blues as a must win game, in fact it’s s free hit.
I’ve been watching villa blues since mid fifties and they can go either way. Win lose or draw we must continue the improvement we play the game.

GT and the two Ronnies always wanted blues to do better as Ellis had no more ambition but to be top In Brum.
Perhaps the new owners have never heard of blues whereas s lot of Villa fans are obsessed with them
 
Erod said:
I don’t see blues as a must win game, in fact it’s s free hit.
I’ve been watching villa blues since mid fifties and they can go either way. Win lose or draw we must continue the improvement we play the game.

GT and the two Ronnies always wanted blues to do better as Ellis had no more ambition but to be top In Brum.
Perhaps the new owners have never heard of blues whereas s lot of Villa fans are obsessed with them
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Excellent points Erod. I expect Dean to try to take all emotion out if this game and leave that to the fans. A cold, calculated and deadly Villa will suit me.
Personally, I'd prefer Blues to be doing ok as long as we were doing a lot, lot better. Taylor said that Doug wanted us to be good but wouldn't go the extra mile to being great. A decent Blues pushes us on but I also doubt that that will be any sort of parameter for the new owners, I hope not.
I don't hate Blues - is there something wrong with me? Friendly rivalry is all I've ever felt in this respect. I don't see them as scum or hate their fans, I don't associate with that sort of ranting. And while on it, can we think of a better song after all these years than shit on the city...
 
Wicked Messenger said:
I don't hate Blues - is there something wrong with me? Friendly rivalry is all I've ever felt in this respect. I don't see them as scum or hate their fans, I don't associate with that sort of ranting. And while on it, can we think of a better song after all these years than shit on the city...
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I'm with you on that Wicked. I feel a bit 'Meh' about Small Heath - I have far more distaste for Sandwell if I'm honest.
 
sirdennis said:
Tactically switched on as well. He talked about setting traps for Derby and forcing them to have the ball in areas that suited us.

Quite novel for us.
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Is he Darth Sidious then? Using the force and setting traps. Perhaps we are attempting to conquer the Galaxy then and not just the EFL.

In that case, I'm fully on board. Long live the Empire.
 
Bikini Inspector said:
Smith is the man he will be here for 10 years. He's got Grealish scoring headers at the back post and that's the difference in approach.
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I disagree with some of the comments that we played poorly today - what I took from today is that Dean has drilled to play a certain way and to look for weakness.

There was a lot of movement and trying to find ways around their backline. Slowing it down and looking for holes to play through and drag them round to get in behind.
 
Think he's said he's looking for perfection. That's what drives Guardiola so it must be OK!

Think he's right as well. We've made good progress under him but to become a comfortable PL side we've got some way to go.

There were periods today where we made too many loose passes and let Blues back into the game. On the other hand, for a lot of the time we were on top, retained possession and made Blues chase us. Blues were the more knackered at the end. Good tactics.
 
Think the good thing is the players are buying into what Dean is trying to do, which i never felt that under Bruce, even the loan players are enjoying being here, which is great to see..
 
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