The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 212 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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My thoughts are with the Smith family and Dean at this terrible time. Having lost my father a few years ago I can say it is a massive hole in my life. RIP Ron Smith.
 
I really worry/ despair about Deano. He’s had a few months now during lockdown to reflect on the season and Villas performances and weaknesses, and use the time to fix/ reset things in our remaining games.

On the evidence of last night he either thinks it’s fine to carry on as before, or he’s accepted the need to change but doesn’t know how to do it.

Neither the set up nor the selections last night offered anything positive. For example as well as Davis plays up against defenders he just ain’t gonna score the goals to keep us up, so why he hadn’t got either Samatta or Grealish up there with him is a complete mystery.

Exactly how was Deano scheming that goals would be scored based on that team and set up? I really don’t see it, can’t see the plan. Nor could the players by the looks of it either. Most teams you can see what the basic route to scoring is, where the threats are, but with Dean’s Villa it seems to be a secret both to the fans and the players.

As I say I worry that Deano has either learned nothing or is either stubborn or clueless.

Couple of wins and we could claw our way out of this, but for the life of me I can’t muster any confidence based on the evidence in front of me. It’s fine to be optimistic but to me it needs to be based on something tangible rather than hopeful wishing or magical thinking.

If we don’t see more a markedly different approach against Chelsea then we’re going to get more of the same which means certain relegation I’m afraid.
 
Look at the job Bruce is doing at Newcastle. No way you can tell me they have better players than us... purely down to the manager.

If only we could have got our hands on a top manager like Bruce......
 
Been a fair few performances this season where we were right to question the guts, mindset, determination, whatever you want to call it of the players and ultimately the coach will carry the can for that. Last night I saw a lack of quality but I couldn’t really question their desire. They tried, yes they made mistakes but we were the better team and it was a markedly better performance than at Leicester (which I know doesn’t say much!) but it gives us a glimmer of hope. Performances at Leicester, Bournemouth, Saints, Watford, home to Man City etc were bloody awful and players, coaches deserved all the flak that came their way along with question marks about their lack of desire, guts, determination, commitment etc. But I can’t say I questioned any of those last night to be honest.
 
Langoe66 said:
Been a fair few performances this season where we were right to question the guts, mindset, determination, whatever you want to call it of the players and ultimately the coach will carry the can for that. Last night I saw a lack of quality but I couldn’t really question their desire. They tried, yes they made mistakes but we were the better team and it was a markedly better performance than at Leicester (which I know doesn’t say much!) but it gives us a glimmer of hope. Performances at Leicester, Bournemouth, Saints, Watford, home to Man City etc were bloody awful and players, coaches deserved all the flak that came their way along with question marks about their lack of desire, guts, determination, commitment etc. But I can’t say I questioned any of those last night to be honest.
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I'm with you for once mate, we often see the same game but interpret it differently, me being a pessimist and you being an optimist Might be that this lockdown has made me mellow a bit about what is important.
I didn't want football back until I could go, unlike some. I'm not sure what they were expecting after over 3 months without a game.
I'm sure Deano would rather have his Dad back than be worrying about football but he's got on with it just as he Dad would have wanted
 
He just hasn't got it and never will make the grade at this level.

We never look motivated, there never seems a plan A let alone a plan B.

His team selections baffle us all and we are proven correct in questioning them.

We need to change now before we sleepwalk back to the chumps.

Make an offer of £1m per win and see who takes up the challenge.
 
crimsondonkey said:
I really worry/ despair about Deano. He’s had a few months now during lockdown to reflect on the season and Villas performances and weaknesses, and use the time to fix/ reset things in our remaining games.

On the evidence of last night he either thinks it’s fine to carry on as before, or he’s accepted the need to change but doesn’t know how to do it.

Neither the set up nor the selections last night offered anything positive. For example as well as Davis plays up against defenders he just ain’t gonna score the goals to keep us up, so why he hadn’t got either Samatta or Grealish up there with him is a complete mystery.

Exactly how was Deano scheming that goals would be scored based on that team and set up? I really don’t see it, can’t see the plan. Nor could the players by the looks of it either. Most teams you can see what the basic route to scoring is, where the threats are, but with Dean’s Villa it seems to be a secret both to the fans and the players.

As I say I worry that Deano has either learned nothing or is either stubborn or clueless.

Couple of wins and we could claw our way out of this, but for the life of me I can’t muster any confidence based on the evidence in front of me. It’s fine to be optimistic but to me it needs to be based on something tangible rather than hopeful wishing or magical thinking.

If we don’t see more a markedly different approach against Chelsea then we’re going to get more of the same which means certain relegation I’m afraid.
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Nah, don't buy this. I was puzzled by his starting selection but it worked. We looked a far more integrated team last night. Hasn't really been mentioned, but Luiz and Hourihane both had good games and Sheffield signally failed to over-run us in midfield, as many were predicting they would. And I thought the substitutions were well timed and positive, except SJM should have come off earlier.

Exactly how was Deano scheming that goals would be scored based on that team and set up? Well, we had 14 shots, 6 on target, compared to Sheffield's 5 and 1. That answers it. Their keeper wasn't MOTM for nothing; he made some stellar saves.

I thought the players knew what they meant to be doing and did it. Best league performance since January. Keep this going and we should be OK. As for DS, I'll wait until the final 9 matches are done.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
Nah, don't buy this. I was puzzled by his starting selection but it worked. We looked a far more integrated team last night. Hasn't really been mentioned, but Luiz and Hourihane both had good games and Sheffield signally failed to over-run us in midfield, as many were predicting they would. And I thought the substitutions were well timed and positive, except SJM should have come off earlier.

Exactly how was Deano scheming that goals would be scored based on that team and set up? Well, we had 14 shots, 6 on target, compared to Sheffield's 5 and 1. That answers it. Their keeper wasn't MOTM for nothing; he made some stellar saves.

I thought the players knew what they meant to be doing and did it. Best league performance since January. Keep this going and we should be OK. As for DS, I'll wait until the final 9 matches are done.
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Time will tell. I hope you’re right but I don’t share your reading of it or optimism.
 
crimsondonkey said:
I really worry/ despair about Deano. He’s had a few months now during lockdown to reflect on the season and Villas performances and weaknesses, and use the time to fix/ reset things in our remaining games.

On the evidence of last night he either thinks it’s fine to carry on as before, or he’s accepted the need to change but doesn’t know how to do it.

Neither the set up nor the selections last night offered anything positive. For example as well as Davis plays up against defenders he just ain’t gonna score the goals to keep us up, so why he hadn’t got either Samatta or Grealish up there with him is a complete mystery.

Exactly how was Deano scheming that goals would be scored based on that team and set up? I really don’t see it, can’t see the plan. Nor could the players by the looks of it either. Most teams you can see what the basic route to scoring is, where the threats are, but with Dean’s Villa it seems to be a secret both to the fans and the players.

As I say I worry that Deano has either learned nothing or is either stubborn or clueless.

Couple of wins and we could claw our way out of this, but for the life of me I can’t muster any confidence based on the evidence in front of me. It’s fine to be optimistic but to me it needs to be based on something tangible rather than hopeful wishing or magical thinking.

If we don’t see more a markedly different approach against Chelsea then we’re going to get more of the same which means certain relegation I’m afraid.
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Well considering our biggest issue this season is our awful defensive record, last night we never looked in trouble apart from the self inflicted keeper incident and another self inflicted giveaway on the edge of our own box. We’ve conceded more shots and goals than any other team yet last night we restricted them to one shot on target so quite clearly based on that evidence we have improved.

That said, I think anyone reading that much into the performance after 3 full months out, no proper preseason and a closed stadium for the first time ever needs a some perspective. It’s a completely unprecedented situation, firstly the players will quite clearly be rusty, how anyone can argue against that I don’t know, and secondly you can’t really judge them after one game back, especially when we weren’t even that bad, different story had we lost 4-0 but we didn’t, we were Ok not great but not bad I think it’s rational to actually wait for more games first before deciding if we’ve improved or not.

Oh and he hasn’t had 3 months to “fix things”, he’s had about 3 weeks. What tactical coaching is he expected to do when the training ground is shut and players weren’t allowed to be together until 2 weeks ago?
 
Playing 4-3-3 the wingers are supposed to get in behind or play close to the striker to provide support. Jack is coming deep and running with it making the LW redundant and for El ghazi he makes runs but is not found and drifts out of the game.

Grealish commits defenders, playing him in the middle will draw out the midfield and centre backs and that would create gaps for the wingers and midfielders to run into. It would also free up the LW position and make that more of a threat.
Then with grealish and mcginn attacking and trez, el ghazi and the striker making runs/ playing off the striker it would create more chances

Thats my thoughts anyway
 
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