Dean Smith - Confirmed

[ChicagoLion]

... The good thing is Deano won't allow another performance like what we witnessed on Friday again, so vs West Ham will do everything in his coaching power to get 3pts ...

I think that was said after the Spurrrrrs game; the problem being we're in a rut and don't show much sign of digging ourselves out right now.

If there is one thing that Smith is capable of is following a shit performance with a shit performance.

[brian green]

Dean Smith does not need to go.  I would not call for him to go but what I would call for, very loudly and clearly, is for him to reinvent himself, to to abandon the wilfully stubborn mind set that his way is the only way.  I have used the metaphor before of US freeway signs that have painted in huge letters on the back of them   STOP   YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY.

[Risso]

Dean Smith does not need to go.  I would not call for him to go but what I would call for, very loudly and clearly, is for him to reinvent himself, to to abandon the wilfully stubborn mind set that his way is the only way.  I have used the metaphor before of US freeway signs that have painted in huge letters on the back of them   STOP   YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY.

I don't get it. He used the first lockdown wisely to analyse everything that had gone wrong, and was largely successful in reorganising things, so even though the football wasn't that great, it was enough to stay up and the defence was hugely improved. With a whole lot of squad improvements and another season under his belt, how has he let things drift again to such an extent that we don't really look much better overall at the start of this season than we did at the start of that season? On top of that, it now looks like he's got a deeply unhappy squad to deal with, and that's going to make turning things round that much harder.

[brian green]

Martin, in circumstance like those we now face "turning things around" is a palliative that masks the problem but does not address it.  Hard decisions and hard choices have to be made. Deeply rooted preconceived notions must be dumped.  Failing managers inevitably cling to loyal players but the loyal ones are not neccessarily the ones to listen to.  It all leads to Secret Santa Revisited.  And we all know what happened next.

[ChicagoLion]

Dean Smith does not need to go.  I would not call for him to go but what I would call for, very loudly and clearly, is for him to reinvent himself, to to abandon the wilfully stubborn mind set that his way is the only way.  I have used the metaphor before of US freeway signs that have painted in huge letters on the back of them   STOP   YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY.

leopards and spots.

[villa for life]

Watching Liverpool v Man U now.

Man U ‘s situation not unlike ours

Desperately wanting one of your own to work out. Giving him longer than he should but all the time knowing he’s not quite good enough.

[olaftab]

I'll leave it there, it's clear for everybody to see.

I am with you on this. Other than semantics there is nothing to mull over.

[olaftab]

Dean Smith does not need to go.  I would not call for him to go but what I would call for, very loudly and clearly, is for him to reinvent himself, to to abandon the wilfully stubborn mind set that his way is the only way.  I have used the metaphor before of US freeway signs that have painted in huge letters on the back of them   STOP   YOU ARE GOING THE WRONG WAY.

They also have signs that say "Road surface is likely to be wet when it's raining".

[Allan C]

Players arguing isn't a major deal in scheme of things especially the context
Mings was super annoyed by McGinn inept defending as SJM didn't jump with Partey for the goal and not only that he was in the way of Mings who would have cleared the ball.
So having cross words makes sense. To me it would be more concerning if they were arguing without substance.

I feel Smith is totally safe in the job. He knows the task in hand and he'll address our losing.
The good thing is Deano won't allow another performance like what we witnessed on Friday again, so vs West Ham will do everything in his coaching power to get 3pts.

Keep the faith!
In Dean Smith we trust
Up the Villa

Do you not think he should have coached the team not to have a repeat of the last 10 minutes against Wolves? Instead, we got all the usual shit about "good response in training" and then Smith kept the same idiotic formation, and the team served up *that*. It looks like the atmosphere in the team is rotten, and he had a player swearing at him during the match. In Smith I do not trust, at all. Time to go.

How many times have you said that now? Every time you were wrong.

Eh? Which bit is wrong?

Every time you've said he should be sacked over the past three years.

Perhaps if he had of been sacked we wouldn’t have gone on bad runs, almost got relegated - we were basically down, stayed up through Terry sorting the defence, Jack and luck , wouldn’t  have a rubbish second half to last season and a better start to this season.

Disagree with a lot of that. We came up with a championship squad and we’re always gonna struggle. We effectively gave a free transfer to our best goal scorer since Andy Gray. Why didn’t Terry sort out the defence before the Covid break??? The squad was massively better last season but still being rebuilt when Covid again and fatigue took its toll. And this season, with the exception of Man City, Chelsea and Liverpool, there’s virtually nothing between the teams between 5th and 16th. We absolutely need to improve and look at tactics but I think Smith should be given a chance to sort it out

[Reuben]

I imagine we will lose to West Ham...and I'd imagine that even if we were on form such is they way they are going.
The following game v Southampton is therefore key and will determine if we are to finish around the same place as them and Palace or whether we can seriously be aiming for 10th/11th

[brian green]

Because I am bored I will relate a true story.  True. Really. When I was working as an architect at Aldershot Barracks the worst disciplinary records on garrison were those of the Royal Corps of Physical Training and the Royal Corps of Music.  The gymnasts and the musicians were both undisciplined rabbles.  Somebody in the Army heirarchy had the brilliant brainwave of switching the Commanding Officers.  Thus a very senior military musician was put in charge if the gymnasts and the most senior physical training officer put in charge of the musicians.  It worked like a dream.  The music CO did not give a shit about how many back flips a corporal could do and the PE CO did not give a shit how long a trumpeter could hold a top C.  They just became blokes expected to do a job.  That is the sort of sea change a football team needs when the dressing room starts to turn nasty.  In a nutshell the moral of this story is that imagination and flexibility are more useful tools for a struggling manager than hair dryers and eyeballs out bollockings.

[Risso]

The game on Friday was like sending troops over the top with trombones rather than bayonets.

[gpbarr]

I imagine we will lose to West Ham...and I'd imagine that even if we were on form such is they way they are going.
The following game v Southampton is therefore key and will determine if we are to finish around the same place as them and Palace or whether we can seriously be aiming for 10th/11th

Your just kidding right?? Talking about where we will finish after the 11th game of the season is utter tosh

[Monty]

I imagine we will lose to West Ham...and I'd imagine that even if we were on form such is they way they are going.
The following game v Southampton is therefore key and will determine if we are to finish around the same place as them and Palace or whether we can seriously be aiming for 10th/11th

Your just kidding right?? Talking about where we will finish after the 11th game of the season is utter tosh

Tell that to Norwich.

[olaftab]

At about 10 games table positions get established and other than one or two exceptions that's where teams end up.