The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 24 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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Dean smith is a breathe of fresh air ans and he will get us promoted, maybe next year or whenever but I'm so glad we have him and the team in charge. I never want a Steve Bruce or Paul Lambert or David oleary ever again.
In Dean we trust, enjoy the ride.
I must confess pvb I wasnt sure Dean Smith was up to the task but have to say that so far I am enjoying what I am seeing.
He has been a breath of fresh air at Villa Park as you say.
I was a Bruce fan and dont mind admiting it but towards the end of his tenure the whole thing seemed to overwhelm him and the football on offer became evermore dire.
Really looking forward to seeing what he can do with our team and his ideas. A few new faces in January in the problem areas could make for an interesting second half of the season or if not then next season.
 
Just been watching the Elphick interview. Very positive, enthusiatic to play under Smith, and I think it's genuine. Smith is similar to Howe, and Elphick did well under him. We could see a new player!

Perhaps overlooked here as well is the fact Tommy captained Bournemouth to promotion to the Prem.

With all due respect to Chester, he is no leader and we have been crying out for some proper leadership on the field since JT finished. I reckon Elphick can bring that to the party.

He's clearly not a Laurent Blanc, a Rio Ferdinand or a John Terry, but he knows what it takes to get promoted, he will benefit from working with the likes of JT and DS, and he knows the club.

I am very happy to see him back in the fold. First time around, he arrived at a freshly relegated club in a mess with a new manager and an untested continental goalkeeper who looked proper shaky in his first few matches and was rapidly discarded.

This season, he started in a similar vein, albeit with the same established manager who didn't rate him. And then he was packed off on a season-long loan when we clearly had no CB cover.

I am backing Tommy to come back here all guns blazing and he will show us what he's about.

:utv:
 
I was just going through this thread to try and find something i thought i put in it when Smith was appointed which I thought was relevant today. It's really interesting reading some of the comments early doors.

I could select quite a few as an example but I don't want make it personal.

Suffice to say David O'Leary may have had a point after all.
 
The style of play thing is not as easy as it sounds... at Brentford he had a bunch of players who probably considered themselves lucky to be making a living in the game and would listen to him.

He's now got a bunch of primma donna's who probably think they know more about football than some guy from Brentford. I don't think he'll find it as easy to get his ideas across or get the respect of the players here as he did there.

And this one, especially the second paragraph hits the nail right on the head as to where we are at with Smith and the squad as it stands today.

I bet Smith can't wait to get shot of quite a few.

He has a difficult balancing act. I bet he would love to dig them out but as he needs them to be onside as player power rules and they could get him the sack he has to play it cute and not be too harsh on them. If they don't perform the whole squad won't get sacked but one person will. The manager. He is on a weak position. Every manager is . It's the modern game. He needs them more than they need him.
 
And this one, especially the second paragraph hits the nail right on the head as to where we are at with Smith and the squad as it stands today.

I bet Smith can't wait to get shot of quite a few.

He has a difficult balancing act. I bet he would love to dig them out but as he needs them to be onside as player power rules and they could get him the sack he has to play it cute and not be too harsh on them. If they don't perform the whole squad won't get sacked but one person will. The manager. He is on a weak position. Every manager is . It's the modern game. He needs them more than they need him.

I'd almost rather we go out and sign a whole bunch of players from League One and League Two who might make more of an effort.

The lot we have now are not a bad bunch, but typical young modern footballers. Too busy backslapping each other and their mates from other clubs on the likes of Instagram rather than focusing on the next game. I don't care what anyone thinks of Roy Keane, he's dead right about all of it.
 
Will try and be balanced here. When Smith came in there was definitely more than a new manager bounce. We saw signs of the football he’d had Brentford playing which gathered momentum through the derby/boro purple patch and hit a brick wall with the cheating Tesco scum. However, he hasn’t managed the setbacks well. Any team would struggle losing the best player in the league and our best defender. My worry is he’s tried to play in exactly the same way without them and it clearly hasn’t worked. Some of his selections have also been puzzling. Yes, he can only work with what he’s got, but been here a few months now, the squad shouldn’t be a surprise to him. He identified Nyland as a weak link and had kalinic lined up early. Why not a left back, centre back, right back and midfielder? Our new owners are gazillionsires and money talks, so these deals should have been done by now.
 
Will try and be balanced here. When Smith came in there was definitely more than a new manager bounce. We saw signs of the football he’d had Brentford playing which gathered momentum through the derby/boro purple patch and hit a brick wall with the cheating Tesco scum. However, he hasn’t managed the setbacks well. Any team would struggle losing the best player in the league and our best defender. My worry is he’s tried to play in exactly the same way without them and it clearly hasn’t worked. Some of his selections have also been puzzling. Yes, he can only work with what he’s got, but been here a few months now, the squad shouldn’t be a surprise to him. He identified Nyland as a weak link and had kalinic lined up early. Why not a left back, centre back, right back and midfielder? Our new owners are gazillionsires and money talks, so these deals should have been done by now.

Agree with your first part of the post.

In terms of the 2nd, I think January is a tough window to sign good players - it seems more spontaneous where opportunities come up for a player and you either take it or leave it, and the majority of deals are done (or certainly in terms of value) in the last few days. Might be why Bruce brought players who couldn’t fit into the stule of play in January? DS needs til the end of summer before we can really understand what he’s about.
 
Smith has my backing 100%.

The players don't. A handful do but many don't.

I wasn't at the game but a few comments stand out . SD said at half time that the lack of ability to pass to each other was incredible. This was exactly what was said about the team under Bruce. This shouldn't be a surprise folks as apart from the GK it's the same bunch of players.

Who's fault is this then. Do you think that Smith actively goes out and tells them not to pass to each other, not to tackle , not to have a single chuffing shot on target !.

And regarding the subs. The bench yesterday.

Whelan- majority on here think he is shit.
Hogan- as above.
Adomah- spliting opinion . Nowhere near the player of 12 months ago
Hause- new signing,a few days training, a CB
Davis- hasn't kicked a ball in anger for months .
Hutton - love him but what was he going to do.

That bench is basically crap. I'm sure DS turned around and thought the same. Ok . I cannot condone putting a CB on . It should have been Davis. But even then that would that have changed in the game bearing in mind the other dross going on.

So apart from Davis what the fcuk was there yesterday.
A 12 million pound waste of money whom was apparently appalling last week v Swansea
A geriatric defensive DM
An out of form winger.
A right back
A centre back
A GK

Oh the youth I hear some say. Yeah. Right . Whatever.

The squad is a shambles. The defence is a shambles. The central midfield is a shambles. Apart from SJM.

Was when SB left . The squad is bought by a bloke who played boring defensive football. They are incapable of playing the way Smith wants.
Smith is not out of his depth. The players are with what they are being asked. People have said the club is too big. We need a manager that has done it at a big club.
Rubbish. It's about the players as this stage. He is probably fully aware but has a difficult balancing act. What is he supposed to do drop 11 players?. Can't do it . Slag them off publicly time after time. Can't do it because players will down tools completely and he will really be out of a job because the club can't sack the squad so Smith carries the can as the manager.
 
Something happened leading upto or during the Stoke game.

It’s like a switch has been turned off, we look a completely different team since that game.

My guess is it’s kicked off in dressing room or on training pitch but definitely something has changed.
 
I'd almost rather we go out and sign a whole bunch of players from League One and League Two who might make more of an effort.

And that is what Dean Smith had to do when at Brentford and they didn't do too badly. The problem is that when Villa have tried to do that it has failed spectacularly and we ended up with players who never seemed to realise the potential that they were supposed to have - Jordan Bowery springs to mind.

Having read his comments on the BBC Sports site, he knows exactly what he has to do now, even if he didn't know it before. I just hope that the owners back him if he wants to move on some of the players who are not up for the fight. It seems that getting to play for Aston Villa has become a 'soft touch' for too long and we need players who are prepared to fight for the badge, the shirt, the club and the supporters - the latter of which Dean sees himself a member of.
 
Something happened leading upto or during the Stoke game.

It’s like a switch has been turned off, we look a completely different team since that game.

My guess is it’s kicked off in dressing room or on training pitch but definitely something has changed.

The switch was Dean himself yes i know we lost Grealish and it was a big loss but we had been playing with a midfield of Grealish and SJM two attacking midfielders and then one of Bjarnason, Houlihan or Whelan but in the stoke game he went defensive and played SJM, Houlihane, Whelan which just invited stoke 15 yards further up the field which put our week defense under pressure so they were just booting it up the pitch and that was the end of attacking possession football. Dean Smith has lost his way lets hope he figures out soon.
 
The switch was Dean himself yes i know we lost Grealish and it was a big loss but we had been playing with a midfield of Grealish and SJM two attacking midfielders and then one of Bjarnason, Houlihan or Whelan but in the stoke game he went defensive and played SJM, Houlihane, Whelan which just invited stoke 15 yards further up the field which put our week defense under pressure so they were just booting it up the pitch and that was the end of attacking possession football. Dean Smith has lost his way lets hope he figures out soon.

I agree with this summary but can’t think who could replace a Jack as an attacking midfielder who can hold the ball and pss it? Lansbury? El Ghazi perhaps?
 
I agree with this summary but can’t think who could replace a Jack as an attacking midfielder who can hold the ball and pss it? Lansbury? El Ghazi perhaps?
Yes I thought that El Ghazi could do a job there but he's just so inconsistent he reminds of that little midfielder that Lambert signed the Spanish guy who scored that spectacular goal against was it Bournemouth in the cup forgot his name. He shows tremendous skill at times but shies away from the rough and tumble part.
 
Yes I thought that El Ghazi could do a job there but he's just so inconsistent he reminds of that little midfielder that Lambert signed the Spanish guy who scored that spectacular goal against was it Bournemouth in the cup forgot his name. He shows tremendous skill at times but shies away from the rough and tumble part.
Carlos Gil
 
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