The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 453 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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McParlandTheGreat said:
There's no certainty in football, that's one of the beauties of it. All teams and managers get one put over them one time or another. I hate us losing, but I don't think simplistic whacking blame on individuals is the answer. There is a bigger picture, which is what matters.

What concerns me at the moment is this. We've come off the back of a good season. Something to build upon, and building on it matters a lot. Snake2 going doesn't help that, but doesn't destroy it either. We've made some good signings, all designed to take us forwards. But I don't get the sense we are building in that way.

We've changed direction, by going 3-5-2. Players who were a big part of where we got to last season are warming the bench, with apparently no chance of getting on as subs. It's not obvious where players brought in like Bailey are going to fit in. Players are getting on the field who aren't as good as those left out, e.g. Tuanzebe, and maybe Ramsey. Maybe DS thinks he needs to change tack as a result of Snake2 going. He doesn't. Maybe he just wants to try something different. It's a mistake.

Let Lambert be a lesson. Every time we got to the end of a season seeing signs of things beginning to progress he'd rip it up in the summer with nonsensical signings and went in a different direction.

Last season we ended with a good base to build on, with players comfortable with the system. We suffered when Snake2 wasn't playing but we were getting used to it and we've bought over the summer to rectify it. Time to take a hard look at our strengths and build on them.
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I'd also factor in last season , the "ghost" season was a strange one , it took players time to adapt to the weirdness of it all, we got off to a flyer but by January our form returned to just over a point a game which is where we are now. We are a lower mid table club going nowhere fast under this management regime. The summer upheaval and betrayal by Joe has to be factored in aswell for balance.
 
BodyButter said:
I know what you mean but with Bert and Bailey both out, what's the alternative?

We had the measure of them until Luiz and Buendia went off and then we totally collapsed.

It's a real kick in the teeth.
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Could easily put Buendia on one wing and Ollie on the other with Ings down the middle. The partnership between Ollie and Ings has no chemistry, and I'm not sure either Hause or Tuanzebe are good enough to warrant regular game time to justify 5 at the back either.

It will be interesting once everyone is fit what we look like in terms of personnel and actual quality. I don't think Smith fully knows his best team yet or the best system, hence the experiment with the 3-5-2. I think Bailey starts when fit and Buendia might be more fancied in midfield than out wide which would leave another wing option for Watkins/Traore.. that would be my guess anyway.
 
Villan57 said:
What take off two injured players and a midfielder who'd travelled back from South America the day before, they probably wouldn't have started Luiz but anyone would have subbed him for Marvelous. Not sure which bit of Cash and Buendia were injured people are not getting.
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I agree about who came off but I don't agree with two of the three players he put on.
 
david-avfc said:
It will be interesting once everyone is fit what we look like in terms of personnel and actual quality. I don't think Smith fully knows his best team yet or the best system, hence the experiment with the 3-5-2. I think Bailey starts when fit and Buendia might be more fancied in midfield than out wide which would leave another wing option for Watkins/Traore.. that would be my guess anyway.
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My hope is he does know he just doesnt have a full team yet.

I think most of us would pick a back 4 with at least 4 of the following 6 players in the forward spots. Luiz, McGinn, Sanson, Bailey, Ings, Buendia. The only other question is if Targett will revert to form when moved back into FB or if Young ends up ousting him.
 
I sadly said this around October 2019 (below). Nothing has really changed for me and I can't say I'm seeing any positive improvement that makes me welcome the future under Dean Smith's tenure.

Plenty will disagree with me but that's football, a game full of different opinions.

Personally, I think we can do better than Dean Smith as I just don't see him as a manager that can take us to another level. Don't ask me to say who as I'm not as clued up about availability as others on here but we appear to have the right people at the club who should know.

At best, all I see is mid-table mediocrity under Smith so if you are happy with that then fair enough but I can't see why we can't get a high calibre, experienced manager in to take us to that next level? You don't ask then you don't get, however, the club and the squad need a shake-up and we need it now.

Chelsea started to drift under Lampard and the owner (and not for the first time) took decisive action and installed Thomas Tuchel. An immediate improvement in the mentality and desire of the players to show him how they can play and a deep desire to please a manager who demands 100% and make sure they don't leave anything on the pitch after the game ends.

Do you really see that from the players under Smith & Co? - I know I don't as we or the manager never seem to know what Aston Villa are going to turn up and that is reflected by the inconsistency of giving 100% pressing down in one game and hardly bothering in the next.

Dean Smith apparently said recently a team mirrors the manager on the pitch well then Dean how come you can't motivate them enough EVERY game only to result in whining about the players after games and deflecting criticism away from yourself?

If you are a Dean smith fan then Sorry if you don't like what I have written but for me, right or wrong, that's how I see it.





Thomas Holte said:
I'll put my neck on the line here and finally, say what I've been thinking for a while now.

As much as I like the guy and fellow Villa fan from a Great Barr Villa family I just don't think Dean has got what it takes at this level and for me anyway, it's only a question of time before he is politely asked to step aside.

Apart from the wrong tactics both home and away I've grown tired of hearing him say the same thing after every defeat that he knows what's wrong and he will ensure it changes. The problem is the very same problems and mistakes appear in the next game and at this level, you will get punished and so it has been,

I don't feel any better for saying the above but it's my head talking and not my heart.

I sincerely hope he proves me wrong and I won't in the least be happy if I'm correct.

There, I've said it now so criticise if you want as I fully understand people defending Dean with the hope he can turn it around?
 
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A name put forward on another site :sorry::ban:has suggested Joachim Low the former Germany manager. Interesting but a moot point as Deano is still our manager ( last time I looked anyway, unless the owners have been on this thread)
 
Agree Platypus
Platypus said:
Joachim Bum-picking Low.

I'll stick with the guy that's improved us every year of asking and who has yet been able to put out a full strength side this season after losing his best player in the summer.
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Agree Platypus, we know that we have progressed each season but even Fergie needed an undeserved win at Forest to keep his job,we know the rest. But if we eejits on the Holte could see Wolves overloading our left flank, how come Deano and Shakey didn't make the appropriate change? Still a Smith fan, even the supernatural Pep gets stick for tactical decisions. Keep the faith, we are rich but not super rich and we will improve gradually, with hiccups alas.
 
Easy tigers ,wasn't suggesting ditching Deano at all merely pointing out a name that had been mentioned to gauge reaction....obviously not a good one 🙊
 
I always think it's unfair that when we win the players get the credit , but when we lose most of the time Deano , gets the blame. For instance I thought the Man Utd win was a tactical masterclass from Deano , but it rarely got mentioned , off the top of my head there is Palace at home last season with 10 men as well and other games I could mention.

Sure he may have done better on Saturday , but I think the players as a group could and should have done a whole lot better without having their hands held.

There was plenty of experience out there , and it wasn't as if we haven't been able to see games out before.
 
One thing we are certain of unless he gets offered the England job like Sir Graham he's going nowhere. I very much doubt he'd leave for the first top 4 clubs that came in for him because if they came in for him it would mean Villa are there already in the top.6

If Purslow decides to get rid of him the whole set up will be disrupted by all the staff leaving and some big noise coming in and using us for his personal progression.

I get that some think a Tuchel or some other flash foreign manager is an instant fix but not with our budget it isn't we are a 30k a player club now not a 60+k a player club.
 
The loss is the players to own - we were 2-0 up but Mings went mental 2nd half, Targett is fukked by the new role, Zebe was off it from minute 1.
They should all apologise.

BUT
Dean is playing a system that doesn't work, picking favourites, the standard of play is poor and DS has had control of the coaching for three years. We look the worst team in the PL in possession. Weirdly we manage to score goals but our play is POOR.

Who bought the players in the summer? Sick note, old git, duff CB, and a CF and a midfielder we can't fit into the team. And we've thrown away all the positives of last season.
 
PS I am concerned that YKW leaving has crushed the owners ambitions. I think they are leaving us to coast for a while - putting off bigger investment for a later.
However a loss to the Arse next week and we are drawn into a relegation fight (which I now expect).

I'm not sure what the owners will do if we are 16th in 2/3 weeks time.
 
Gillette said:
The loss is the players to own - we were 2-0 up but Mings went mental 2nd half, Targett is fukked by the new role, Zebe was off it from minute 1.
They should all apologise.

BUT
Dean is playing a system that doesn't work, picking favourites, the standard of play is poor and DS has had control of the coaching for three years. We look the worst team in the PL in possession. Weirdly we manage to score goals but our play is POOR.

Who bought the players in the summer? Sick note, old git, duff CB, and a CF and a midfielder we can't fit into the team. And we've thrown away all the positives of last season.
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Ffs,Gillette, a couple of weeks ago,we'd beaten Man u and Everton and it was check your passport totim
 
Gillette said:
PS I am concerned that YKW leaving has crushed the owners ambitions. I think they are leaving us to coast for a while - putting off bigger investment for a later.
However a loss to the Arse next week and we are drawn into a relegation fight (which I now expect).

I'm not sure what the owners will do if we are 16th in 2/3 weeks time.
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I don't think Snake2 leaving has made the slightest difference to the owners' ambition. Why should it? We're not coasting; they invested enough to improve on last year's performance even allowing for Snake2 going. They are not people to be crushed by a player leaving.

If we'd have won on Saturday (as we should have) we'd be 7th. The loss is a setback but a minor one in the scheme of things. We're nowhere near being a relegation case. We seem to have a problem setting up in a way which reflects the players we have at our disposal and getting the required result. That's Smith's problem to solve.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
I don't think Snake2 leaving has made the slightest difference to the owners' ambition. Why should it? We're not coasting; they invested enough to improve on last year's performance even allowing for Snake2 going. They are not people to be crushed by a player leaving.

If we'd have won on Saturday (as we should have) we'd be 7th. The loss is a setback but a minor one in the scheme of things. We're nowhere near being a relegation case. We seem to have a problem setting up in a way which reflects the players we have at our disposal and getting the required result. That's Smith's problem to solve.
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Look I SO hope you are right.
 
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