Dean Smith - Confirmed

[AlexAlexCropley]

He’s answered questions on transfers during the week. What more is he going to say other than what he’s already said that they are looking at a number of players? He’s hardly going to name players or even positions to strengthen.

O        k then

[Toronto Villa]

He’s answered questions on transfers during the week. What more is he going to say other than what he’s already said that they are looking at a number of players? He’s hardly going to name players or even positions to strengthen.

O        k then

WTF does that mean? You seem to be a bit obsessed with me.

[john e]

where's the attacking football gone, the risk taking the pressing, the defined system that he's known for playing,
the attractive front foot we'll get one more than you stuff gone,

he's gone from that to bringing on Whelan to try and hold on to a 2-0 defeat in just a few short months

he's turned into every other British manager

[SheffieldVillain]

other teams are now doing to us, what we were doing to them when Smith first came here.  Press Chester and he will give you the ball, decent defender but not a great footballer, same as Taylor, Bree, Hutton and Elphick.  Hourihane and Whelan are so one dimensional, slow or anonymous they are not worth their place in the squad.  Hourihane and Lansbury came to us as big fish in small pools and they have been found out.  I know Hourihane scored, what, 11 goals last season, but he was freed from defensive duties and we are now asking more from him and he cannot deliver.  Bolasie and El Ghazi are so inconsistent, they will do one good thing and five poor, so what's the point in having them?  Sadly, Smith's decisions making and 'go to' players are the only ones he has available. 

Smith really needs fresh blood as he is quickly falling foul of a bad tempered, short of patience fan base that has simply had enough of the same old shit.   That said, he is absolutely contributing to his own down fall.  We are not a team.  We are a group of individual players thrown together and hoping it comes off. 

Pretty much exactly how I feel.
- Yes, Whelan's shit. So put in Hourihane. Oh, he can't do the job either. Or Bjarneson - poor today. Or Lansbury - can't tackle and usually injured anyway.
- Drop Taylor. And put in a right-footed Hutton who has been shit at left-back all season. Or Bree who is a young kid who isn't a left-back either.
- Tuanzebe's out. So bring back Elphick who is average at best. Or play Jedinak there who is injured and crap at centre half. Or some untried kid from the youth team (Suliman or Bedeau) who the regular youth-team watchers don't think are up to it.
- If Tammy were out - we've got Kodija who isn't half the player he was before his injury, Davis who is just back from months out or Hogan who is shit.

For the amount of money we've spent, the depth of our squad is absolutely appalling. We've got a collection of players who were either good in YouTube highlights or were good about five years ago.  At a minimum we need a left back and holding midfielder now just to have a chance of the playoffs, but come the summer there needs to be a big turnover of players.

[Toronto Villa]

Next summer I want us to do away with loans. We need to start again from the ground up. Buy players, use the academy. Tammy has been great but we need to have more long term certainty. And we absolutely have to much younger, faster and more energetic.

[jwarry]

Post match interview. He looks a bit lost and he’s right he needs to look at himself in the mirror also. It’s honest but that’s not changing anything right now.

https://twitter.com/avfcofficial/status/1084141689588072448?s=12

Why don't they ever ask about potential transfers when they interview.  Three questions; what went wrong today, how are you going to put it right, can you provide an update on potential transfers. 

Not sure how he thanks we were ok tactically 😳

[Hairbandinho]

Has the job started to overwhelm him already? Seems that way. Everyone here wants him to succeed but the signs are not good are they?

[pauliewalnuts]

other teams are now doing to us, what we were doing to them when Smith first came here.  Press Chester and he will give you the ball, decent defender but not a great footballer, same as Taylor, Bree, Hutton and Elphick.  Hourihane and Whelan are so one dimensional, slow or anonymous they are not worth their place in the squad.  Hourihane and Lansbury came to us as big fish in small pools and they have been found out.  I know Hourihane scored, what, 11 goals last season, but he was freed from defensive duties and we are now asking more from him and he cannot deliver.  Bolasie and El Ghazi are so inconsistent, they will do one good thing and five poor, so what's the point in having them?  Sadly, Smith's decisions making and 'go to' players are the only ones he has available. 

Smith really needs fresh blood as he is quickly falling foul of a bad tempered, short of patience fan base that has simply had enough of the same old shit.   That said, he is absolutely contributing to his own down fall.  We are not a team.  We are a group of individual players thrown together and hoping it comes off. 

Pretty much exactly how I feel.
- Yes, Whelan's shit. So put in Hourihane. Oh, he can't do the job either. Or Bjarneson - poor today. Or Lansbury - can't tackle and usually injured anyway.
- Drop Taylor. And put in a right-footed Hutton who has been shit at left-back all season. Or Bree who is a young kid who isn't a left-back either.
- Tuanzebe's out. So bring back Elphick who is average at best. Or play Jedinak there who is injured and crap at centre half. Or some untried kid from the youth team (Suliman or Bedeau) who the regular youth-team watchers don't think are up to it.
- If Tammy were out - we've got Kodija who isn't half the player he was before his injury, Davis who is just back from months out or Hogan who is shit.

For the amount of money we've spent, the depth of our squad is absolutely appalling. We've got a collection of players who were either good in YouTube highlights or were good about five years ago.  At a minimum we need a left back and holding midfielder now just to have a chance of the playoffs, but come the summer there needs to be a big turnover of players.

Very well put.

[john e]

other teams are now doing to us, what we were doing to them when Smith first came here.  Press Chester and he will give you the ball, decent defender but not a great footballer, same as Taylor, Bree, Hutton and Elphick.  Hourihane and Whelan are so one dimensional, slow or anonymous they are not worth their place in the squad.  Hourihane and Lansbury came to us as big fish in small pools and they have been found out.  I know Hourihane scored, what, 11 goals last season, but he was freed from defensive duties and we are now asking more from him and he cannot deliver.  Bolasie and El Ghazi are so inconsistent, they will do one good thing and five poor, so what's the point in having them?  Sadly, Smith's decisions making and 'go to' players are the only ones he has available. 

Smith really needs fresh blood as he is quickly falling foul of a bad tempered, short of patience fan base that has simply had enough of the same old shit.   That said, he is absolutely contributing to his own down fall.  We are not a team.  We are a group of individual players thrown together and hoping it comes off. 

Pretty much exactly how I feel.
- Yes, Whelan's shit. So put in Hourihane. Oh, he can't do the job either. Or Bjarneson - poor today. Or Lansbury - can't tackle and usually injured anyway.
- Drop Taylor. And put in a right-footed Hutton who has been shit at left-back all season. Or Bree who is a young kid who isn't a left-back either.
- Tuanzebe's out. So bring back Elphick who is average at best. Or play Jedinak there who is injured and crap at centre half. Or some untried kid from the youth team (Suliman or Bedeau) who the regular youth-team watchers don't think are up to it.
- If Tammy were out - we've got Kodija who isn't half the player he was before his injury, Davis who is just back from months out or Hogan who is shit.

For the amount of money we've spent, the depth of our squad is absolutely appalling. We've got a collection of players who were either good in YouTube highlights or were good about five years ago.  At a minimum we need a left back and holding midfielder now just to have a chance of the playoffs, but come the summer there needs to be a big turnover of players.

can't argue with either of the posts above

[cdbearsfan]

Next summer I want us to do away with loans. We need to start again from the ground up. Buy players, use the academy. Tammy has been great but we need to have more long term certainty. And we absolutely have to much younger, faster and more energetic.

Completely disagree. Get whatever players it takes to get promoted. We will then be in position to make much better permanent signings than we can down here.

[john e]

Next summer I want us to do away with loans. We need to start again from the ground up. Buy players, use the academy. Tammy has been great but we need to have more long term certainty. And we absolutely have to much younger, faster and more energetic.

agree, but might as well start now
Fuck them all off including Tammy, we will never build anything on shifting sands, and we won't know exactly what we have until the decks are cleared of hired mercenaries

[brian green]

I agree with you john e.  He is no longer what was written on the tin.  Is it permanent?  Who knows.

[curiousorange]

Part of me feels we need the patented nasty bastard to help us cope in this division. But then we got one, namely Jedinak, and the problem with nasty bastards is that they're only worth having if they can play as well.

[BC Villain]

Remember same Manager ripped apart Boro and Derby away 3-0. The problem is since than other teams have realised how Smith plays and counteracted to nullify our players. In turn our current squad are nowhere near good enough to get round opposition tactics. This is players job on the pitch not Managers. Better quality players would find a way to still play the sort of football that blew away Middlesbrough and Derby etc.

Sorry but that’s the manager’s responsibility as well. If teams adjust to our style, the manager needs to adjust tactics to counteract that.

Bottom line is this is Steve Bruce's team built on the same basis he builds all of his squads i.e. no thought to tactics or game plans.  Just throw a load of cash at it and hope something sticks.

Dean Smiths teams are about pressing high, possession and movement, but it's obvious most of these players can't do that, so he has to be flexible and try to do it another way.  You simply can't expect to get results conceding the amount of goals we do

[Toronto Villa]

Next summer I want us to do away with loans. We need to start again from the ground up. Buy players, use the academy. Tammy has been great but we need to have more long term certainty. And we absolutely have to much younger, faster and more energetic.

Completely disagree. Get whatever players it takes to get promoted. We will then be in position to make much better permanent signings than we can down here.

We’ve relied on loans far too much to our detriment. We don’t develop our own players. Jack aside not one player has come through. Yet you look at clubs who can’t afford to spend big money on transfers or loans and they have done just fine. Leeds will win this division with a number of astute buys, young kids and a smart manager. Dean Smith did a super job at Brentford by buying intelligently on a shoestring budget. Sometimes being Aston Villa and having a larger revenue base we have been lazy and ultimately our own worst enemies in player acquisition and use of our academy. That simply has to change.