Dean Smith - Confirmed

[AsTallAsLions]

Taylor has been a pleasant surprise this season as I think a great many of us felt the Premiership would be too much for him, I feel he has improved over last season so far.  He has his limitations, but he hasn't been the failure lots of us were expecting.

He simply isn't being expected to get forward the way he was last year, so we're not seeing his lack of pace and end product highlighted so starkly. He's not getting found out as much at the back because, positionally, he's only being asked to do one job, instead of the two jobs of the modern full-back. We're just not dynamic enough to be doing what we did against lesser opposition last season, even if he was the weak link in that chain

[JUAN PABLO]

ps is Hause still injured?

got to be better than Taylor

Hause is predominately a centre back though. Taylor has been fine, but I expect Targett will be our first choice left back once he gets up to speed.

lets hope  - taylor  is ok at defence but the way the team is set up we need a better left back who can get forward

[brian green]

I will have what you are having.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Taylor has been a pleasant surprise this season as I think a great many of us felt the Premiership would be too much for him, I feel he has improved over last season so far.  He has his limitations, but he hasn't been the failure lots of us were expecting.

Arsenal targeted him for the first 25 minutes and got next to nothing so switched their attention to our right side. Taylor might improve if he had somebody better in front of him.

[Mossie Hennebry]

I hope the manager gets the full season. He got us up and assembled his own squad and should be given the opportunity to succeed with them.

[AsTallAsLions]

I hope the manager gets the full season. He got us up and assembled his own squad and should be given the opportunity to succeed with them.

100%.

[Three Spires Villa]

I hope the manager gets the full season. He got us up and assembled his own squad and should be given the opportunity to succeed with them.

Agree, also hope Dean and the coaches and players can get the results. I hope they can achieve

[gpbarr]

There is no room for sentiment in this game anymore. Having invested over $100m the owners won’t stick with him unless the results improve.

[KevinGage]

What concerns me a bit (a lot, actually) is when we were at our best last season we were dominating teams home and away and playing good football into the bargain. Now we're often content to let the opposition dictate play and hope we'll nick something on the counter.

The jump in quality is obviously huge and we've seen how sides like Bournemouth and West Ham have developed since we've been away.

But when Swansea came up under Rodgers or Eddie Howe under Bournemouth, they didn't stop playing the fundamental way that had earned them promotion in the first place.  Swansea would often dominate possession even against teams with far bigger budgets and Bournemouth have pretty much always had goals in them even if they have been shaky at the back. I don't think either of them ever took the approach of 'This is the Premier League now and we'll just sit in against sides and hope for the best.'

To run counter to the current 'Smith doesn't have a Plan B' narrative, when I heard him talk about wanting to go more direct against Everton so that Jack and SJM could feed off the scraps it sounded completely out of kilter with our approach last year.

Yesterday's performance prior to the defensive howlers wasn't that bad in all honesty. But we need to show more intent at home and against sides outside of the top 4 when the game is there to be won.

[Sexual Ealing]

Having cooled down after being totally Villad yesterday, I think we're getting better.

[Nunkin1965]

I’ve got to be honest about all this and say that we’ve actually done ok in all of the games so far.
We’ve been naive at times and clearly still have loads to work on but if we keep progressing then I’m confident that we’ll be ok this season.
It’s a results based business though and Dean Smith more than anyone and he will know he needs some.

[Flin5tone]

Let's says we lose the next 2/3 do we keep Dean or make a change, I'm of the opinion we stick with him even if we go back down but on the other hand we've spent Big so will the owners be happy to do that?

I really want it to work for Deano and be great to have a villa man as a long term manager BUT he himself needs to change he can see what we are seeing so hopefully he has learnt  from the last two games.

[KevinGage]

I don't think they'll allow him to go 10 games without a win just because he got us up.

But with the fixtures we have between now and early December we *should* be able to win three of them.

So he'll be alreet.

[Dogtanian]

Having cooled down after being totally Villad yesterday, I think we're getting better.

Yes, if it only took six games for players and managers to fully adapt then the Premier league would be easy.  We are improving, but more to come.

[Dogtanian]

Dean Smith is the man.  He’s on a learning curve but he’s shown all his career he can step up, we are improving, and it’s to his credit that six games in we’re pissed off we didn’t beat Arsenal...