Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Ozzjim]

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

Give or take 2-3 positions I agree, although there is invariably a side that starts well enough then drops like a stone into the relegation scrap. Make no mistake though,  only take 2-3 points from the next 4, we are in that conversation, which after 13-14 games is very very poor.

[ChicagoLion]

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

Give or take 2-3 positions I agree, although there is invariably a side that starts well enough then drops like a stone into the relegation scrap. Make no mistake though,  only take 2-3 points from the next 4, we are in that conversation, which after 13-14 games is very very poor.

after the next 4 we have Citeh Leicester and Plop

[villabear]

From this mornings Dean Smith presser:

"We’ve had two tight matches against Tottenham and Wolves and we probably threw the Wolves game away in the last 10 minutes.

“Out of the last three games, we’ve had two narrow defeats and one where we didn’t turn up in the first half."




errrrrr probably?

[brontebilly]

From this mornings Dean Smith presser:

"We’ve had two tight matches against Tottenham and Wolves and we probably threw the Wolves game away in the last 10 minutes.

“Out of the last three games, we’ve had two narrow defeats and one where we didn’t turn up in the first half."




errrrrr probably?

The Tottenham match was only tight in the scoreline. We were battered in the second half. Another tactical mess.

[Mister E]

Comments on the Grauniad website

[Mister E]

Amid the cacophony surrounding Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s future, or apparent lack thereof, as Manchester United manager, chatter regarding his Aston Villa counterpart Dean Smith has barely registered on the football decibel scale. Speculating on the bookmakers’ Sack Race market might seem ghoulish but a small investment on Smith being handed his P45 before the white-hot Norwegian favourite may not constitute the world’s worst wager at double-digit odds.
His team go into Sunday’s home game against in-form West Ham on the back of three successive defeats, the most recent a surprisingly feeble capitulation against Arsenal. Despite taking the scalps of Newcastle, Everton and Manchester United this season, it has been reported that Villa’s position of 13th in the Premier League does not come close to matching the expectations of the chief executive, Christian Purslow, or his billionaire bosses, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens.

This was always going to be a difficult campaign for Smith as he got to grips with life after the departure of Jack Grealish. Villa won only three of the 12 Premier League games they played last season without their talisman and most gifted creator and his summer exit was inevitably going to be keenly felt despite the club hierarchy’s commendable efforts to replace him.

In a frank, forthright and widely praised video address to Villa fans after Grealish’s transfer to Manchester City, Purslow explained the background to the deal and said Villa had tried to replace the qualities – creativity, goals and assists – of their former captain by signing three forwards in Emi Buendía, Danny Ings and Leon Bailey. Nine games into the season, with Grealish looking as at home in the City ranks as he did at Villa, Smith’s side have yet to gel or get motoring with any kind of consistency.

In his address Purslow said “it was never our intention to replace Jack with one footballer”, a statement that made sense but didn’t touch on the structural difficulties the club would encounter in trying to crowbar the three newcomers into a team still allowed to field only 11 players. It was left to Smith and his staff to find a solution to that dilemma and the manager’s task was not made easier by the summer departure of John Terry and Richard O’Kelly, two key members of his backroom team.

In order to get Ings and his fellow striker Ollie Watkins into his starting lineup, Smith changed from his favoured 4-3-3 to 3-5-2, employing wing-backs instead of wingers. The switch also forced him to move Buendía from his favoured wide right position to a playmaking role behind the front two at the tip of a midfield triangle with John McGinn and Douglas Luiz. To say the Argentinian has not yet adapted would be putting it mildly.

Buendía was voted player of the Championship with Norwich last season, scoring 15 goals and providing 17 assists playing on the right of a front three, but at Villa he has managed one full 90 minutes, one goal and no assists in seven league appearances. In mitigation, he is reported to have been struggling with a nagging hip injury and sat out matches against Chelsea and Everton while in (or just out of) quarantine after a controversial and ultimately futile trip to Brazil with Argentina. Tellingly, Buendía’s best Villa performance came when he played on the right of a front three after Smith switched formation during their draw with Brentford.

Although injuries have restricted Bailey to four substitute appearances, it is difficult to see where the left winger would fit into Smith’s current lineup, and his fellow winger Anwar El Ghazi is believed to be surplus requirements and may be moved on in January.

Smith is a likable, decent man who is Villa through and through but while he will always retain fans’ affection and respect for getting them promoted ahead of schedule in 2019, three consecutive defeats have prompted concern in the stands and – if local reporters are to be believed – the first signs of itchy trigger fingers in the boardroom.

A sluggish performance in defeat against Tottenham was followed by a calamitous final 10 minutes at home to local rivals Wolves in which they threw away a two-goal lead, and the meek surrender against Arsenal. They host a West Ham side dealing more than capably with the demands of action on the domestic and European front during a season in which many thought they might struggle.

Smith has done more than enough excellent work at Villa to buy himself time to avert the mini-crisis but it is difficult to escape the conclusion that defeat by West Ham could have serious repercussions for his future. His employers have lofty ambitions and did not accumulate the vast combined wealth that makes them the fourth-richest owners in the Premier League by trading in misty-eyed sentiment or nostalgia.

[Risso]

Always worrying when delusion starts to set in with football managers.

[villa `cross the mersey]

Good piece in the Guardian - can`t disagree with anything in the article. Whilst I agree that Smith has overseen our return to the top flight I have always considered his appointment a little underwhelming. Likewise, once getting us into the Premier League he deserved the opportunity to take us forward albeit with an over reliance on Grealish.
The last three results have been extremely disappointing, not just because we lost but the manner in which we lost. i.e. Smith being either stubborn with his formation or being unable to respond to in game changes.
His latest pre- match comments seem to reiterate that he doesn't feel he is responsible for the reasons for our disappointing form.
I recall with some embarrassment the photographic images of our players celebrating after defeating Manure on their turf - yes great result but the celebrating was for me a little over the top and "small time". While on holiday in Greece in July and September I met numerous fans from clubs far and wide and almost without exception the general perception was that Villa are viewed as a well supported club, with a great history but with little or no chance of being among the honours any time soon, especially after losing our best player.   
Most of us longstanding Villa fans see us as still being a "Big Club" whereas in reality we are hardly troubling those clubs who have become perennial winners over the past 10 - 15 years.
An appointment of a top European coach may go some way to restoring our standing however I've not a clue who is willing or available to do so.
As much as it easy to like Dean Smith with his love of the club etc I think in order to move the club onwards and upwards we will need to be ruthless and appoint someone with greater technical and coaching abilities ...       

[N'ZMAV]

Always worrying when delusion starts to set in with football managers.

we always get the delusional ones.... O'Neill towards the end, Lambert, O'Leary, Bruce to name a few....

[Risso]

I guess they all suffer from it when they start to fail.

[Footy-Vill]

Always worrying when delusion starts to set in with football managers.

we always get the delusional ones.... O'Neill towards the end, Lambert, O'Leary, Bruce to name a few....

Very harsh to label Dean who speaks so well and just.
Deans moving forward. He doesn't make excuses and he's always accountable both for his own decisions and that of the team
An excellent coach and an excellent man
 I reiterate this point on the Dean Smith thread!

[wince]

Always worrying when delusion starts to set in with football managers.

we always get the delusional ones.... O'Neill towards the end, Lambert, O'Leary, Bruce to name a few....

Very harsh to label Dean who speaks so well and just.
Deans moving forward. He doesn't make excuses and he's always accountable both for his own decisions and that of the team
An excellent coach and an excellent man
 I reiterate this point on the Dean Smith thread!

Maybe have him in the coaching staff then under a new manager? He is a good coach but would work better as a number 2 who doesn’t have to worry about tactics?

[Footy-Vill]

Deano seems calm to me
3 games ago beat Man Utd- desrved and at Old Trafford
And he called it right on how our last 3 matches have been with 2 tight matches spurs and wolves
And 80 minutes we were winning that Wolves match.
And a really poor first half against Arsenal.
Changed at half time and got better at and a response Arsenal.
DS is such a positive thinker and I think has a really good looking perspective on our last 3 matches. Yes but also knows performances and in turn results must be improved upon.
Last 3 games 2 narrow defeats
And a game where we didn't turn up for 45 minutes yet we got a response second half. That's all that's occurred. 

Nothing deluded there .

[Mister E]

Deano seems calm to me
3 games ago beat Man Utd- desrved and at Old Trafford
And he called it right on how our last 3 matches have been with 2 tight matches spurs and wolves
And 80 minutes we were winning that Wolves match.

Wolves was not a 'tight game' - we were in easy street and failed to adjust the tactics to deal with Podence coming on and a more offensive game from the oppo in the last 10 minutes. Against Spurrrrrrs, we were abject: the score may have been tight but our performance and player-mentality were terrible.

And a really poor first half against Arsenal.
Changed at half time and got better at and a response Arsenal.

Smith changed the team for the second half because we were getting totally mullered; he got a response because he went back to the winning ways of last season.

Nothing deluded there.

what? - from your post? Dunno, you tell me!

I'm not yet a Smith-out poster but I do think he needs to get up to pace fast with the top managers re systems and in-game management. I'd also like to know why he seems to have pissed on Sanson whom he was recently saying was a prime target for Villa.

[wince]

Can I say something without getting shot down? Does it not seem small time to say we beat manure? Especially after we beat Chelsea, Liverpool arsenal etc last season. It was a great win don’t get me wrong but I’m not gonna bounce up and down for being the conqueror of manure one week then getting mullered  by spuds, dogheads and the Tarquins as well as Watford. Spuds was a complacent team who didn’t show fight, wolves was a surrender and arsenal was a massive waste of time. Celebrating the highpoint of beating a shit manure side when there is something iffy at the villa.....

I honestly don’t care if dean is a nice bloke, one of us etc. He needs to sort the team out and not end in a win/lose team as we rarely draw so it’s shit or bust with him. It’s consistent and each time we hit form it’s amazing but lose a couple I expect to go on a losing streak. He is a good coach but he needs a ruthless side with the players at his disposal. Failing to do that we will just ride on the coat tails of promotion, cup finals, one of us accolades whilst others will think what might have been. Only smithy can prove us wrong and if he is sacked I do think he would be great to keep as part of the coaching squad.
But if our aim is mid table mediocrity then he is our man.

I would give him this season to move us higher than last but I honestly cannot see us doing it.