The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 341 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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I’m like most I want smith to to well but last night showed how he couldn’t see it after 10mins they were gonna score first. Ollie looked isolated as per normal & no player turned up. Slow passes, expected attitude to win and basically horrors from last season. But no change tactically was poor & no sub change or player rotation gives nothing to others... smith’s main failure for me
 
Don’t like the general “walking” to set positions, hoofing it and not winning the first or second ball. Would like to see a bit of energy, some different plans, people showing short (while keeping their shape). It’s the same with free kicks, throw-ins, corners. FFS, we pay them enough to run around a bit and kick a pigskin. Leeds unfortunately showed us how to do it yesterday and it means Ollie is a passenger - we do it to all our CFs and then blame them.
 
Villasince63 said:
I love Villa, but at times I hate Villa fans. October the 3rd 2018 Aston Villa were 12th in the championship. Dean Smith was appointed on October 10th. As it stands we are 3rd in the premiership having won four and lost one and people are on here having a go at Dean Smith. Amazing, simply amazing !!!!
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I will always be grateful for his achievements but if we want to be a successful club in the top 6 of the PL and playing in Europe, then I have serious reservations about Dean Smith being our manager.

His in game management is poor and he fails to have a plan B when things are not working out. Friday was a perfect example of where he comes up short.
 
Xchurch Villa said:
Smith played 5 won 4 lost 1 - rubbish
Bielsa played 5 won 2 drawn 1 lost 2 the messiah
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Who’s saying that?

Most of the analysis has been just that.

I think in the spirit of improvement you’re allowed to dissect what happened, identify areas for development (you know, like a good coach).

The slightest observation that looks like criticism and it’s an unneeded defence of the manager, but it’s not destructive criticism, it’s room for improvement.

We expect players to improve and develop don’t we, and I expect coaches to do the same, unless some people think that Dean is the finished article which surely can’t be right.
 
Villasince63 said:
So where was Jurgen Klopps game management when Villa were hammering then 7-2 ? So on your argument Klopp wouldn't be a good manager either ?
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Now you are just talking silly. Jurgen Klopp's achievements at the top level prove he's a good manager.
 
crimsondonkey said:
Who’s saying that?

Most of the analysis has been just that.

I think in the spirit of improvement you’re allowed to dissect what happened, identify areas for development (you know, like a good coach).

The slightest observation that looks like criticism and it’s an unneeded defence of the manager, but it’s not destructive criticism, it’s room for improvement.

We expect players to improve and develop don’t we, and I expect coaches to do the same, unless some people think that Dean is the finished article which surely can’t be right.
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Spot on.
 
Villasince63 said:
I love Villa, but at times I hate Villa fans. October the 3rd 2018 Aston Villa were 12th in the championship. Dean Smith was appointed on October 10th. As it stands we are 3rd in the premiership having won four and lost one and people are on here having a go at Dean Smith. Amazing, simply amazing !!!!
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The good news is that the club's owners will not listen to tittle tattle from fans after a defeat to decide Deans future. They are investing heavily in the club and will expect continued and significant improvement from the manager to match their spend. So far they will be delighted because Dean is well ahead of where they expected to be, and he continues to match the expectation. So don't worry.
 
crimsondonkey said:
The slightest observation that looks like criticism and it’s an unneeded defence of the manager, but it’s not destructive criticism, it’s room for improvement.

We expect players to improve and develop don’t we, and I expect coaches to do the same, unless some people think that Dean is the finished article which surely can’t be right.
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Very well said, it's absolutely another lesson for Dean and I agree if anyone thinks Dean is the finished article then he should be sacked.

Dean has not proven himself to be an adaptable in-game manager yet but he has improved. There was a time we would go to putty under pressure and lose games from winning positions. Now he knows to get Marv on and be a bit more compact and sit deeper or throw on Davis to keep the ball away from our goal.

This is a criticism levelled at Smith multiple times by multiple people. Setting out to go toe to toe being completely unable to do so but persisting in the hopes we'll score first.

Its like the saying sometimes you have to go back to go forward. Sometimes you have to be a little more compact and defensive to get a foothold in the game. If we had of been able to repel their attacks the tides would turn or it would have given him time to see how we can be more effective in attack. He did nothing so we got nothing.

And you know what we probably would have complained anyway had it been 0-0 but at least we would have more points and some positives to say. Its not like he didnt have the options to change the outcome. At 2-0, 3-0 yeah he had absolutely no options at that stage but even at 1-0 he could have done something.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
Very well said, it's absolutely another lesson for Dean and I agree if anyone thinks Dean is the finished article then he should be sacked.

Dean has not proven himself to be an adaptable in-game manager yet but he has improved. There was a time we would go to putty under pressure and lose games from winning positions. Now he knows to get Marv on and be a bit more compact and sit deeper or throw on Davis to keep the ball away from our goal.

This is a criticism levelled at Smith multiple times by multiple people. Setting out to go toe to toe being completely unable to do so but persisting in the hopes we'll score first.

Its like the saying sometimes you have to go back to go forward. Sometimes you have to be a little more compact and defensive to get a foothold in the game. If we had of been able to repel their attacks the tides would turn or it would have given him time to see how we can be more effective in attack. He did nothing so we got nothing.

And you know what we probably would have complained anyway had it been 0-0 but at least we would have more points and some positives to say. Its not like he didnt have the options to change the outcome. At 2-0, 3-0 yeah he had absolutely no options at that stage but even at 1-0 he could have done something.
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Not helped by half the team forgetting how to play and crumbling when we went behind.

That's something DS can't overtly affect (certainly not within a game), that's down to them and my biggest disappointment from the game.
 
mike_field said:
Not helped by half the team forgetting how to play and crumbling when we went behind.

That's something DS can't overtly affect (certainly not within a game), that's down to them and my biggest disappointment from the game.
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I agree with that too Mike, I don't think Barkley or McGinn should be starting at Southampton for instance.

The first half the players massively let Dean down but he let himself down in the second by not changing it. Marv and Hourihane have to be furious they didnt get on.

TBF a lot of this is hindsight too. First half I thought it was reasonably balanced so I would have been slow to react to making a change. I was wrongly blaming Cash when the reality is he wasn't getting help.
 
CDX_EIRE said:
I agree with that too Mike, I don't think Barkley or McGinn should be starting at Southampton for instance.

The first half the players massively let Dean down but he let himself down in the second by not changing it. Marv and Hourihane have to be furious they didnt get on.

TBF a lot of this is hindsight too. First half I thought it was reasonably balanced so I would have been slow to react to making a change. I was wrongly blaming Cash when the reality is he wasn't getting help.
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He should have replaced Trez at half time as you could see it just wasn't working.
 
Ooh! Was about to say:-

Leeds beat Villa
Wolves beat Leeds
Newcastle drawing with Wolves at Molineux

Must mean Smith out Bruce in!
 
crimsondonkey said:
Who’s saying that?

Most of the analysis has been just that.

I think in the spirit of improvement you’re allowed to dissect what happened, identify areas for development (you know, like a good coach).

The slightest observation that looks like criticism and it’s an unneeded defence of the manager, but it’s not destructive criticism, it’s room for improvement.

We expect players to improve and develop don’t we, and I expect coaches to do the same, unless some people think that Dean is the finished article which surely can’t be right.
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Sorry Crimson, I'm not buying that. Many of the comments following the Leeds game were anti Smith. There were a number of very harsh comments implying that Smith is clueless..

Yes I will defend our coach because I look at where we were when he took over two years a go and where we are today (not to mention playing in a cup final).

As somebody that worked in management for 23 years I understand that things don't đchange in the blink of an eye. When you are implementing change it tends to be 2 steps forward and 1 step back.

There is an attitude in our society of instant and continual gratification. I'm long enough in the tooth to know that lifes not like that and you don't come down on people like a ton of bricks everytime things don't go to plan.
 
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In fairness though Xchurch it's also the difference between the red mist comment as an easy go to to express anger and then a genuine belief.

The truth lies in the middle, DS has clearly shown improvement but there remain things for him to improve upon and in some ways, unfortunately we've shown how good we can be this season but that clouds that truth that if we can be that good for 40% of the season, we have made massive strides forward.

Simply because it hypes up the disappointment.
 
What does he need to improve exactly? Going on a ten game winning streak to get us to an unlikely playoff, beating our league rivals over two legs, and then winning the final. Or being tasked with keeping us in the prem, having to rebuild an entire squad in one window, get them playing well enough quickly enough, then realising that he needs to change it in lockdown, and managing to keep us up when EVERYBODY including myself thought we were down.? Or getting us to a cup final? Or winning four games on the trot at the beginning of a season, something that we haven't done in 90 years? So where is this improvement needed exactly?
 
CDX_EIRE said:
I agree with that too Mike, I don't think Barkley or McGinn should be starting at Southampton for instance.

The first half the players massively let Dean down but he let himself down in the second by not changing it. Marv and Hourihane have to be furious they didnt get on.

TBF a lot of this is hindsight too. First half I thought it was reasonably balanced so I would have been slow to react to making a change. I was wrongly blaming Cash when the reality is he wasn't getting help.
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Mate that was going ok until you mentioned Hourihane coming on against a rampant Leeds and it lost all credibility :throw:
 
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