The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 372 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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Dean was gash last season (as were a few others complicit in that shambles) for 34 games and then the whole bunch of them really pulled together to keep us up.

This season so far has been beyond (mine at least) expectations, I think Dean has done a fabulous job this time around.

Neither scenario precludes any kind of praise or constructive criticism as far as I'm concerned. Like many of our young players, Dean has improved but is far from the finished article. This season has shone a light on some of his strengths but some of his weaknesses also.

I suspect that he'll get through this and come out the other side having learned something.

Even if you don't like their approach etc, a lot of the older more experienced managers will say that what built them is learning how to change things and get out of a rut/ slide in form. Over to you Dean (and team).
Very much agree with this. Some great results have raised expectations too much. I said at the start of the season that a far more comfortable survival would be a good result this season and a great platform to build on, we're very much on course than that and maybe better.

The squad is still light on quality but is much better off than last season. We're playing better football overall and getting better results. Things are going pretty well if you aske me!
 
This cycle of raised expectation has happened on numerous occasions through my years with Villa. Brian Little wasn't immune during the 1996/97 season when we weren't hitting the heights of the prior season, yet still comfortable in the league. Even Sir Ron would get heavily criticised in 1978-80 as he built the team that won it all. It seems as soon as we have little bit of relative success, then a drop-off is treated as a disaster. I think it's perfectly OK to have a rant about a poor run of results, or a bad performance here and there (I do it regularly myself) and to question decisions, team selection and the like, but it's the huge over-reaction and the "I told you so" mentality that I just don't understand....
 
Apart from that result against Liverpool we also won at Leics, went to Arsenal and played them off the park as well as beating them in the return fixture at VP We drew at Chelsea in a game I think we should have won. We deserved something from the Man U game but as usual they got the dodgy decisions. It was 0 - 0 against Man c when they got that ridiculous goal and the rules were changed after.
I could go on about all the other games where we won and been miles better than the opposition. We have 36 points with 15 games still to go and along with West Ham we are probably the two most improved teams in the league. Yes Dean is making mistakes and he should learn from them. I was one of his biggest critics last season when we were struggling but the progress this season has been staggering. I think credit should be given and if it continues we can only improve on where are.
 
This "No Plan B" has become the new cliche, yet I'm still waiting to see someone back-up the cliche with an actual "Plan B" that could be logically implemented during a match.

I think no Plan B is different things to different people. Just rotating personnel is a Plan B but others want to an entirely new formation, system and so on.

IMO Grealish through the middle is a Plan B, totally alters how we play, it may not change the fact that we're trying to get him on the ball but forces the opposition to reshuffle. All a plan B is to me is forcing the opposition to think and forcing them to adapt.

My gripe is more to do with being unable to shift momentum in games and/or waiting too long to make changes. Thats the bigger problem along with not taking some proactive steps with managing fatigue.
 
I think no Plan B is different things to different people. Just rotating personnel is a Plan B but others want to an entirely new formation, system and so on.

IMO Grealish through the middle is a Plan B, totally alters how we play, it may not change the fact that we're trying to get him on the ball but forces the opposition to reshuffle. All a plan B is to me is forcing the opposition to think and forcing them to adapt.

My gripe is more to do with being unable to shift momentum in games and/or waiting too long to make changes. Thats the bigger problem along with not taking some proactive steps with managing fatigue.

Yes Plan B to me is countering what the opposition do and quickly. Like at Brighton 90 mins and we never had a good spell at all and persisted with Jack wide left. Try something play him deep play him next to Ollie but don't just stand there are folded arms shaking your fecking head.
Move Ollie out wide just change it, dare I say even sub him when he's getting nowhere. He says he trusts the bench but he clearly doesn't
 
But those are reasons that are thrown at every manager, not just Villa managers.

We act like managing a football club is a piece of piss and anyone can do it. There could be a multitude of reasons behind every decision that Smith makes.

People bang on about Ancelotti, I've watched some Everton games this season where they have been dreadful, I guess he makes mistakes too, imagine that.

There could be multiple reasons but none of them are right. I don't think playing Barkley repeatedly in the hope that he will some day get back him form is a mistake. I feel Sanson or Ramsey should take his place in the midfield or if he still insists on playing Ross, he should be given not more than one half in a game.
 
Far too much is being made of the expectations issue. We'd all be hugely delighted if we made top 4 but not sure a single person expects it. Likewise nobody expects us to get relegated. My guess most expect us to end up with a decent season, with decent covering a broad range.

But we're fans. We're keenly interested in the progress of the team, naturally. So when we see a performance where part of the team hasn't delivered we wonder why, and we have opinions on it. As we should. Especially when in previous matches that part has stood up well. Expectations only come into it where we know the team can and has done better. The manager has expectations. The players have expectations. Ultimately we expect the manager to sort it out; so does he. Is player X not getting involved enough or is he playing player X in the wrong position? He has to find out. We try to help him. That should be fine.
 
There could be multiple reasons but none of them are right. I don't think playing Barkley repeatedly in the hope that he will some day get back him form is a mistake. I feel Sanson or Ramsey should take his place in the midfield or if he still insists on playing Ross, he should be given not more than one half in a game.

Well if we don't know the reasons, we don't know if they are wrong or right.

I do agree about Barkley, if he starts against Leeds and he's not at it, pull him off at half time and not the 79th minute. But from what Deano sees in training he'll know more than us whether Ramsey or Sanson are capable of replacing him. The thing about Barkley is that he can produce a moment of real quality and win a game even if he's anonymous, maybe that's why Dean is persisting with him.

I'm not really sure Leeds is the right game to experiment with Ramsey or Sanson from the start to be honest, but again, if Barkley is not showing anything, then half-time he needs to be replaced.

But it's not as if Dean is too stubborn to make changes, everyone wanted Traore dropped for the West Ham(?) game so he started El Ghazi and that went so well he was taken off at half time.
 
Well if we don't know the reasons, we don't know if they are wrong or right.

I do agree about Barkley, if he starts against Leeds and he's not at it, pull him off at half time and not the 79th minute. But from what Deano sees in training he'll know more than us whether Ramsey or Sanson are capable of replacing him. The thing about Barkley is that he can produce a moment of real quality and win a game even if he's anonymous, maybe that's why Dean is persisting with him.

I'm not really sure Leeds is the right game to experiment with Ramsey or Sanson from the start to be honest, but again, if Barkley is not showing anything, then half-time he needs to be replaced.

But it's not as if Dean is too stubborn to make changes, everyone wanted Traore dropped for the West Ham(?) game so he started El Ghazi and that went so well he was taken off at half time.

I agree that we don't know what those reasons are. However, whether those reasons based on which he is choosing to play Ross are good for the team or not will be proven by what he does about an underperforming player. The fact that playing him in the hope that he will some day regain his form despite him underperforming has proven that those reasons are wrong in my view. Playing him is like giving the other team a head start.

I frankly don't trust what he sees in training.
 
Some throw 4 strikers on when it's too late that's a plan B
its not about a plan be its about knowing how to change a game if things are not going the way we would like iv seen pep take a player off in the 1st 15 minutes to change formation deans been brilliant since he came here but needs to work harder on his subs as in if were 3 nill down making a like for like player sub with 10 minutes to go isnt really going to change the outcome
the last few games we have become very easy to play against and its a worry teams are playing through us far too easy and when jacks marked out of games now we seem to hoof the ball
 
I don't get this Shakespeare thing.

Dean brought him in, those of us praising the difference Shakespeare has obviously made to Dean's backroom team, were therefore praising Dean for bringing him in and building that backroom team.

It is a perfectly valid thing to say Shakespeare has made a difference, if you spoke with Smith, would you think he'd say otherwise? He brought him in for a reason, a good reason, and he and us, are reaping the benefits.

I don't get the need for some of this stuff to be honest.
 
Two things Dean needs to reflect on is why did it take him so long to drop an under performing Barkley and should he be automatically dropping players when they have stepped in and played well in a winning team performance. A third would be timing of substitutions to effect change in a game. He’s got great man management and managerial skills but needs to add ruthlessness in his thinking to his undoubted qualities.
 
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