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Author Topic: Dean Smith - Confirmed  (Read 1522848 times)

Offline TopDeck113

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4365 on: June 26, 2019, 09:10:40 PM »
You live in Manchester?

Yep. About 15 miles north of the city centre.

Offline Ads

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4366 on: July 10, 2019, 05:40:00 PM »
Something I've been pondering.

We played much more on the front foot under Smith, but largely couldn't get ourselves together effectively or consistently until the defence was balanced, Jack came back and we found a goalkeeper we could rely on.

There on, we were miles better in every department than anybody else in the league.

Are we expecting more? The prospect of a pre-season with Smith and more of his players can only help. Two attacking full backs, two centre halves who play football. Clearly we're not done yet.

But are we expecting the football to be even better after a preseason and a general uptick in quality?

Offline KevinGage

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4367 on: July 10, 2019, 05:43:26 PM »
That will be the test.

During that sticky patch in Jan - March, it wasn't as if we were trying to play a particularly stylish blend of football but luck deserted us. We were largely bollocks.

Jack makes such a difference to this team. But for the topflight, I'll feel much more secure when we have a solid, Premier League quality keeper and an energetic defensive midfielder.

Offline paul_e

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4368 on: July 10, 2019, 05:48:19 PM »
That will be the test.

During that sticky patch in Jan - March, it wasn't as if we were trying to play a particularly stylish blend of football but luck deserted us. We were largely bollocks.

Jack makes such a difference to this team. But for the topflight, I'll feel much more secure when we have a solid, Premier League quality keeper and an energetic defensive midfielder.

We suffered from both having the odd defensive 'rick' in us and having no cutting edge going forward. The combined effect was that teams could push forward and pressure us high because they weren't scared of us breaking on them. Once Jack came back they didn't have that luxury and it improved us at both ends of the pitch. That's why Jack was so important, because teams were scared of him. If he can do the same in the premier league then, to answer Ads, yes I am expecting more.

Offline Damo70

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4369 on: July 10, 2019, 08:28:18 PM »
Something I've been pondering.

We played much more on the front foot under Smith, but largely couldn't get ourselves together effectively or consistently until the defence was balanced, Jack came back and we found a goalkeeper we could rely on.

There on, we were miles better in every department than anybody else in the league.

Are we expecting more? The prospect of a pre-season with Smith and more of his players can only help. Two attacking full backs, two centre halves who play football. Clearly we're not done yet.

But are we expecting the football to be even better after a preseason and a general uptick in quality?


When people talk about the quality of the football and how entertaining it is what entertains me is winning football. The football under BFR and Brian Little was good to watch. The football under SGT was more direct and often involved long balls hit up front for Platt to chase (admittedly a lot of quality long balls from Sid) and balls hit high and wide to Ormondroyd on the wing when SGT realised most full backs didn't have the height to compete with him in the air. In all of those cases I was happy because we were winning more games than we were losing.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2019, 08:32:20 PM by Damo70 »

Offline Sexual Ealing

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4370 on: July 10, 2019, 08:34:52 PM »
Something I've been pondering.

We played much more on the front foot under Smith, but largely couldn't get ourselves together effectively or consistently until the defence was balanced, Jack came back and we found a goalkeeper we could rely on.

There on, we were miles better in every department than anybody else in the league.

Are we expecting more? The prospect of a pre-season with Smith and more of his players can only help. Two attacking full backs, two centre halves who play football. Clearly we're not done yet.

But are we expecting the football to be even better after a preseason and a general uptick in quality?


When people talk about the quality of the football and how entertaining it is what entertains me is winning football. The football under BFR and Brian Little was good to watch. The football under SGT was more direct and often involved long balls hit up front for Platt to chase (admittedly a lot of qulity long balls from Sid) and balls hit high and wide to Ormondroyd on the wing when SGT realised most full backs didn't have the height to compete with him in the air. In all of those cases I was happy because we were winning more games than we were losing.

Dean Smith had an almost immediate impact on how we played last season. I stopped being scared of the opposition the first time we clicked under him (although I hated QPR away. I thought we were shit, which he didn't). I can't remember the last time I wasn't scared of the opposition as a Villa fan.

Edit: I've just remembered. It was when we were two down away to Reading in the FA Cup at half time. I knew we'd win 4-2.

Offline Matt Collins

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4371 on: July 12, 2019, 05:29:03 AM »
I am sure our style will improve further

Equally, against at least a third of teams we are not going to be able to play in the way we've been trying to. We need to be able to play more on the back foot and the break

Offline robbo1874

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4372 on: July 12, 2019, 08:14:49 AM »
It’s so hard to predict, as it’s a completely different set of circumstances to any other time we’ve been in the PL. newly promoted team with a bunch of new players and a few quality, settled ones. Very good manager and coaching staff at championship level, but untested in the Prem. I think a lot will depend on the start we get off to. Get a draw or better at Spurs and have a solid first 6 weeks or so and we could end up surprising a lot of people. Struggle from the off and it could be a brief stint in the top flight. Personally I don’t think we have too much to fear, as things stand. But really who fkn knows? Still a lot of business potentially to be done in the transfer market. I’m really looking forward to seeing how far DS can take us. Haven’t been this excited about Villa since the arrival of O’Neill.

Offline Breezeblock

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4373 on: July 12, 2019, 08:18:15 AM »
I am sure our style will improve further

Equally, against at least a third of teams we are not going to be able to play in the way we've been trying to. We need to be able to play more on the back foot and the break
Smith out! Pubehead in! Wait.......nah, as you were :)

Offline SamTheMouse

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4374 on: July 12, 2019, 09:30:45 AM »
I'm definitely expecting more, but not right away. It could take a few months for so many new players to develop an understanding and adapt to Smith's style.

Offline danno

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4375 on: July 12, 2019, 09:31:42 AM »
Chequebook manager  ;D

Offline kipeye

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4376 on: July 12, 2019, 09:45:45 AM »
You live in Manchester?

Yep. About 15 miles north of the city centre.
Would that be Rossendale or Pendle? Used to cover that area for work.

Offline kipeye

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4377 on: July 12, 2019, 09:51:02 AM »
While I am sure we are not at the level of the top sides yet and may take a while to compete at the very top, I am convinced we are more than a match for the bottom half of the table. I hate making positive statements as it can be a curse, but I actually think we should be looking at top 6 for a first year.
If things do become a struggle, I am really confident we have all the best options in place to respond. Even if we did go down, we finally have a club, team and fan philosophy in place and they are likely to keep my enthusiastic support. Jeez! I might even go and watch them.

Offline Ger Regan

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4378 on: July 12, 2019, 10:05:07 AM »
My only slight doubt about Smith is how slow / unwilling he can can sometimes be in making changes mid-game when we are under pressure. Don't get me wrong, he's miles better than many of his predecessors, and for every example of this there's probably two of him making a positive change (thinking boro away), but it's a niggling doubt that this might be exposed more in the prem. Hope I'm wrong, obviously.

Offline exigo

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #4379 on: July 12, 2019, 10:16:57 AM »
My only slight doubt about Smith is how slow / unwilling he can can sometimes be in making changes mid-game when we are under pressure. Don't get me wrong, he's miles better than many of his predecessors, and for every example of this there's probably two of him making a positive change (thinking boro away), but it's a niggling doubt that this might be exposed more in the prem. Hope I'm wrong, obviously.

Take the point, but for me it's counter-balanced by the fact that he does a lot of adjustment before the game starts. Boro away was a good example, where we didn't cross much in the air, but got to the byline and cut the ball back along the deck – something their 6 foot 6 meatheads at the back were useless against. That's the difference between him and the last few managers we've had – he's actually coaching them on the game ahead.

 


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