The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 127 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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JP Healy said:
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JNB90 said:
Moment of positivity here: We will stay up.

Why? Because we've gone backwards - which means we CAN right the wrongs. We started off the season losing games that our performances deserved points from. I'd be more concerned if the way we've played over the last few games, was how we had started. However we clearly are suffering from a dip in form, confidence and just a general rough patch.
SJM is a huge loss. But Mings will sure up the defence and the Smiths passion for his boyhood club will see a resurgence from the Villa Boys. Add in a couple of quality January signings and we'll be fine. We're only 6 points off mid table and with the right grit and determination on the field for fans to appreciate, and VP will be a fortress. UTV
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Fighting talk JNB. Two or three shrewd signings would give us a lift. Dean seems intent on sticking with his 4-3-3 but do we have the players to fit. Don't believe for a moment that Wes was a Smith choice,Trez or Marvelous.Dean plays a certain way and maybe, just maybe,if he had bought the players he wanted, Maupay, Webster and the Brentford schemer, things might be rosier. Understand that we are where we are and hopefully Smith chooses who he wants rather than Accountants guessing how much money we will make on resale. Dean has not become a bad manager but our recruitment team have failed big time. Don't exonerate Smith, he plays a system too open to counter attack and his refusal to "rest" Wes is baffling.
 
ultimately it doesn't make a shites worth of difference with plan A, B or C
if they aren't organised or put in the workrate
line them up how you like - they'll still fanny around not really competing.
We need someone that'll get them doing that at least.

Maybe it'll turn around somehow but we should surely be improving not going backwards
 
garygaryshaw said:
This is one of my biggest issues with him. We were 3 goals down on Saturday against 10 men before he decided to throw another striker on. Look at the difference with Lampard yesterday, he could see Arsenal’s game plan was getting the better of them, so made a change after 34 minutes and brought another midfielder on. The match turned from there and Chelsea took the 3 points. As much as I like Deano he needs to show more tactically if he wants to keep his job. He doesn’t just get a free pass indefinitely because he is one of us
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Seems to me that he is afraid to make those tough decisions for the good of the team. As a coach you have to do things that are unpopular with players at times, and take risks with an in-game change of shape or personnel. The Mings non-substitution is the most glaring example for me. It was, in hindsight the moment that things started to truly fall apart. Just before that moment ElGhazi had missed a sitter and we were well in the game. Post-match, instead of saying "I f**cked up" he made excuses for himself and Mings....
Instead of celebrating when an opposing player gets sent off, nowadays my heart sinks because it's as good as conceding the game.
 
garygaryshaw said:
This is one of my biggest issues with him. We were 3 goals down on Saturday against 10 men before he decided to throw another striker on. Look at the difference with Lampard yesterday, he could see Arsenal’s game plan was getting the better of them, so made a change after 34 minutes and brought another midfielder on. The match turned from there and Chelsea took the 3 points. As much as I like Deano he needs to show more tactically if he wants to keep his job. He doesn’t just get a free pass indefinitely because he is one of us
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But when at Brentford while playing us with Bruce in charge, after we had the better of the opening 15 mins, he changed something tactically and completely outdid Bruce. They went on to hammer us 3-0.

I remember thinking I wish we had a manager that had a bit of tactical nous like that.

But now apparently his only tactic is give the ball to the best player and hope for the best?

I just give up.
 
The selections are baffling, Elmo & Jota on the right, I've seen milk turn quicker than Jota & sincerely hope I never see him in a Villa shirt again. For all of Dean's signings, only Targett has any Premier League experience (apart from Mings who was with us last year). He has bought in foreign players & Championship players.

We so need some gritty experienced Prem players who will fight for the cause, any team we come up against who are willing to scrap, we bottle it.

Lack of talent is one thing, lack of effort, fight, grit is totally unacceptable!!
 
onlyteaminthemids said:
What happened to all those saying “we need stability“, “Smith needs to be given 4 years even if we go straight down”?
I despair tbh and no wonder our kiddie-fiddling neighbours accuse us of reaching for the bedsheets every time things don’t go our way.
These things are self-perpetuating; this kind of shit fuels more of itself, goes back to the players and management and erodes confidence further.
All that shit about the fans, players and management being on the same page and pulling together - did that just mean we were happy to be putting a few wins together?
I hope deano can sort things out for a million reasons. If he somehow can (seems unlikely) this forum will be alive with people calling him a disloyal c when he gets poached by England or the Sky 6. Football eh.
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I really hope he can sort it out but I haven't seen anything yet to suggest he can. He looks like a rabbit in the headlights.

I want him to be successful with us. I want this to work out but I don't want us getting relegated because he wouldn't adopt a system that suited the players we have.
 
We're throwing around too many wild accusations with nothing to back that up and for no reason. JT does feck all? Why? We don't know how the training works out. DS didn't sign this player or that? Why? We've got no evidence of who was his personal choice and who wasn't, or whether he was luke warm about any of them.

It's irrelevant. The only thing which is relevant is we have a problem which we have to solve. We've had enough good performances that we ought to accept that the players can do better than they are at the moment. Maybe more signings in January will help. Maybe Mings returning will help. Maybe the players themselves will sort it out. Whatever, there is an obvious problem and solving that is all that matters.
 
sirdennis said:
So do I if a loss means Allardyce.

I would rather poke my own eyes with a hot needle than have him as manager.
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With you all way Sir Dennis. Can’t for one minute imagine he would agree with his ego to come unless we gave him a longer contract rather than until the end of the season...if he kept us up or took us down....like Alex McLeish, it would only take a few negative, dull, uninspiring displays for the knives to be out. In fact we’d get those type of performances from day one...and we’d soon be back to square one with fans calling for his head..it would soon get nasty, he would get absolutely no slack at all......a recipe for another disaster!
 
It’s not dull or uninspiring performances we’re worrying about right now it’s winning matches and not gifting them to the opposition. I don’t think Sam has had a team that has ever been relegated from the PL despite the circumstances they were in. That’s the evidence you have to go by in our predicament if and when a change needs to be made. It all depends what you are prepared to sacrifice in order to give you a chance of staying up. Horses for courses! But of course I hope upon hope we can get something on Wednesday, believe you me!
 
Divine_islet said:
The stellar run we were on was not due to us playing good football as a team. It was solely due to Jack being in excellent form and pretty much single-handedly getting us promoted. If we really were playing good football as you say, then we would not have looked poor like we did when Jack was absent in the championship, or in the prem (vs Wolves for example), and when he is present but has no influence in games due to being marked by 2 players. Many fans are mistakenly thinking it was Smith due to whom we were playing " good football ".
Look at Sheff Utd for example, they have been playing good football since they were in League 1 and have continued that effective and attractive manner of playing into the premier league, and hence they are doing well, whereas we are struggling as we have no style of play due to Smith leaving his coaching staff at Brentford and not employing a competent coaching staff at present.
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I’m now coming to the conclusion that last years turn of form was purely down to the return of Jack and Tammy’s goals.
 
It's understandable that people are losing patience with the run we've been on. People keep talking about losing the plot and our owners not tolerating failure. Well, the cold, hard fact is that we're 1 point from safety with half of the season still to go. It may well be true to say that things haven't gone as planned. Conversely, our owners also know how to run successful sports, and neither of them have done it in 6 months and without bumps in the road before. The same things that are being said here at this time were being said in January and February too.
 
Going from pilar to post sack him back him who nows what the right thing to do is. All i know is i want villa to be successful but theres this little niggle in my head that says give him the chance to fix it with the January transfer window but if we get battered by burnley that might sway my head again i tell you this club messes with your head.
 
The first thing he's got to do is stop looking for excuses. We all know that refs are bad, VAR is a shambles and players get injured. As much as we want to claim we are victims, with exception of the Kevin Friend debacle at Palace, we've had as many bad calls and good calls as anyone else.
But as Head Coach you must focus on the thing you CAN control... ie. Performance, Fitness, Tactics, Team Shape etc etc. When you get it wrong, the first step in fixing it is recognizing that you got it wrong.
He'd do well to take a look at some Bill Belichick press conferences. When the Patriots lose he swats away questions about referees/bad calls and individual players and simply states "we have to coach better and play better in all phases of the game." He takes responsibility (not to mention the fact that his press conferences are highly entertaining because he despises reporters :))
 
Holte139 said:
It's understandable that people are losing patience with the run we've been on. People keep talking about losing the plot and our owners not tolerating failure. Well, the cold, hard fact is that we're 1 point from safety with half of the season still to go. It may well be true to say that things haven't gone as planned. Conversely, our owners also know how to run successful sports, and neither of them have done it in 6 months and without bumps in the road before. The same things that are being said here at this time were being said in January and February too.
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Dead right. It's not nice being in the relegation zone, but I'm not that worried about that simple fact at this stage. To put it in perspective, Eddie Howe is recognised as a good manager and Bournemouth now as an established PL side, but they are only two points ahead of us.

What I'm worried about is this sudden slump in performances over the last 6 matches. It might just be Mings' absence. There might be more to it. Whatever, it's worrying.
 
Posting this from another blog. Shows Smith in contrast with Nuno:

Conor Cody CB. 2 mill from Huddersfield. How much did Mingsy cost again?
Matt Doherty can play RB/LB. 75,000 from Bohemians. How much was Targett?
Ryan Bennett CB. Free transfer from Norwich. How much was Konsa?
Ruben Neves CM. 15.8 mill from FC Porto. How much did Douglas Luiz cost us again?
Diogo Jota CAM/ST. 13 mill from Athletico Madrid.
Joao Moutinho CDM. 5 mill from Monaco. Sorry Marv, you're a good player, but not on that level.
Adama Traore W/WB. 18 mill from Middlesbrough. Now eyebrows were raised at that signing, but what a signing he has now been for Wolves.

The point of that list was to show the vast improvement that Nuno Espirito Santo has done with these players. Their manager has doubled, tripled and even in some cases quadrupuled each of their price tags. Matt Doherty cost 75,000 FFS. How much do you think he's worth now?

But under our manager, the new players he's helped bring to the club, he's completely devalued them in 5-6 months with his lack of ideas and just his overall bad management.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
Good article in the Express & Star:
https://www.expressandstar.com/spor...-of-recovery-under-serious-threat-of-relapse/

Think that's about right in judging where we are.
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Good article and bearing out all the doubts that people have on here. We all thought that when we weren’t getting points from the top teams we would be ok at Christmas, Southampton, Norwich, Watford, Burnley, a possible 12 points, so far yielding 3 from the first 3 games. Possibly after Wednesday, 3 points from the 4 games with Man City to come. Can Dean get us out of it, we’ll see.
 
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