Dean Smith - Confirmed

[ChicagoLion]

We can’t keep changing coaches every year.  Even if we go down he gets my vote.  He’s either the Vic Crowe or Ron Saunders of this era.  Either way I would feel sad if he left.

This. I believe even if we are relegated Smith should stay.

I don’t think anyone is saying get rid.
There are some very worrying signs though.

[PaulWinch again]

We can’t keep changing coaches every year.  Even if we go down he gets my vote.  He’s either the Vic Crowe or Ron Saunders of this era.  Either way I would feel sad if he left.

This. I believe even if we are relegated Smith should stay.

I like Dean, but I think a judgement either way on that is way too early. If we go down having shown progression and a clear path to improvement then yes he should stay. If we go down because we repeat the same mistakes every week resulting in us throwing points away he absolutely shouldn’t stay.

It’s in Dean’s hands and I want him to stay, but he doesn’t have a free pass. He has to show he’s the right man.

[Ian.]

We can’t keep changing coaches every year.  Even if we go down he gets my vote.  He’s either the Vic Crowe or Ron Saunders of this era.  Either way I would feel sad if he left.

This. I believe even if we are relegated Smith should stay.

We’re exciting, we play some excellent football and we are learning all the time. I’m
Very confident over the course of a season we will be fine. Not worried one bit/

[garyfouroaks]

We can’t keep changing coaches every year.  Even if we go down he gets my vote.  He’s either the Vic Crowe or Ron Saunders of this era.  Either way I would feel sad if he left.

The Board invested huge sums in the club this summer. If it looks like a relegation battle at Christmas, Smith is toast.

The Villa manager's job is not part of a job opportunity scheme. Managing in the PL , and surviving, is a different job to securing promotion from the Champ. Whether Smith has that skill remains to be seen.

We were the fifth best team in the Champ last year. We have bought an entire new team's worth of players. Putting out a competitive PL side from that is no easy task. Is it one Smith is up to?

[OzVilla]

The unfortunate fact is that Smith is being consistently out coached in the first 7 games. Up against 10 men twice and in the lead on three occasions with less than 15 mins left and we’ve returned 2 points from those 4 games. That’s been the biggest surprise for me so far this season and the biggest disappointment.

[Villafirst]

I remember in February people wanted Dean out when results weren't great. We need to stick with him, the team is gradually gelling and we look equal to most teams.
He needs to ditch Taylor and Wesley for now. Put Hause at LB and give Davis a go up front - he will hold the ball up better in my opinion and bring others into play.

[JJ-AV]

Smith has made some mistakes but I think fundamentally the recruitment of Wes and Trezeguet has been the biggest issue.

Had we signed Tammy back we'd probably be sitting in the top half now.

You're not going to get them all right. Trez looked impactful during his cameo yesterday and Wes does have some quality, so there are positives - but it is pretty concerning.

[JJ-AV]

The unfortunate fact is that Smith is being consistently out coached in the first 7 games. Up against 10 men twice and in the lead on three occasions with less than 15 mins left and we’ve returned 2 points from those 4 games. That’s been the biggest surprise for me so far this season and the biggest disappointment.

But what is he supposed to do when the forwards haven't been good enough?

The majority of our big chances this season have fallen to Anwar, Jack and John. That's because Trezeguet and Wesley haven't been up to it. While I'm sure he was involved in their signing (particularly Trezeguet), he is not a recruiter and those two have been the ones to cost us points.

It's individual errors and I don't think you can blame the coach for that. We are generally playing well and causing teams problems.

Our big signings to score us the goals have been from Turkey and Belgium and are taking time. To compare them to the other foreign lads, if they'd have come in and played to the level that Engels*, Nakamba or Guilbert have then we'd have a few more points on the board.

*Although the past two games Engels has made some massive errors, generally I'd say his level has been adequate so far

[Dogtanian]

Smith has made some mistakes but I think fundamentally the recruitment of Wes and Trezeguet has been the biggest issue.

Had we signed Tammy back we'd probably be sitting in the top half now.

You're not going to get them all right. Trez looked impactful during his cameo yesterday and Wes does have some quality, so there are positives - but it is pretty concerning.

Tammy was never on the cards.  He wanted to jump ship in January, he didn’t want to join us in the summer as he wanted to fight for a place at Chelsea, Lampard had seen what he could do last season and so wanted him in his side a Chelsea, and Chelsea couldn’t get any new strikers in even if they wanted to.

[KRS]

Patience and support is needed. Dean did an excellent job getting us promoted last season having inherited a dysfunctional team, and this season he is trying to gel a relatively new team with some players having little or no Premier League experience at all. Some of the new signings aren’t performing as well as expected and Dean shouldn’t be taking the full brunt of that when we know the signings weren’t entirely his responsibility. The players and management team need time, and I’m sure additional players will be signed in January if things still aren’t looking too rosey.

[simboy]

I seem to remember a Brentford fan when we got Smith saying that Smith sides take a little time to really click and we have to be patient. This is a different side to the mess he inherited, different to the one he sorted out in January, so the second side he’s put together in less than a year.

Lots to be positive about, although still a little slow to change tactically during games hopefully the results will follow quickly and ease any pressure.

[ROBBO]

It is such a vital position leading the spine I have no doubt with a more seasoned centre forward we would have won at least a couple of games more. Do we need a giant at the front Puky or whatever his name is seems to lead the line well.

[Brassneck]

Of course its not too early to drop him, if we think Davis will do better.

But to definitively say any player anywhere is going to be a superstar or a flop after seven games is mental.

Xhaka at Arsenal was scouted 30 times and they still signed him! They're obviously taking the piss, if it's possible to know someone is never going to cut it after seven games.

He was never prolific at Bruges so I think it's safe to say that, that aspect of his game is not going to improve in a better league.  Is he suddenly going to start jumping higher and actually giving the defenders something to worry about?  No chance.  Is the ball going to stick when we aim to hit him as an outlet?  It's difficult to envisage at this point.  Will his distribution get better?  This is possible but that alone will not turn him into a PL striker.  There are some players who show something and this justifies sticking with them.  There are others (like Wesley) who show nothing to justify sticking with them.  He needs to be replaced.  I'll then be more than happy to stick with him if he's on the bench.  It will then be up to him to take his chance when it comes along and to work to impress in training.  There was an instant yesterday when Jack cut inside and had Wesley free, wide of him.  It was the obvious ball to play but Jack chose to ignore him and try the more difficult route.  It's possible that this was because Jack knew (as most of the crowd did), that a ball to Wesley would probably end in Burnley regaining possession.

Having Davis on will at least give us an outlet when we go long.  He will play the role of bringing our supporting midfielders in superbly.  From this point, I'd like to see Davis given 10 games (which will include the toughies against Liverpool & Man City).

[London Villan]

A John Carew type player would be perfect now.

[olaftab]

The unfortunate fact is that Smith is being consistently out coached in the first 7 games. Up against 10 men twice and in the lead on three occasions with less than 15 mins left and we’ve returned 2 points from those 4 games. That’s been the biggest surprise for me so far this season and the biggest disappointment.

Agreed he had been "done" but he was up against very experienced operators at this level. Pochettino, Howe, Hodgson, Silva, Pelligrini, Emery, etc are no mugs. Dean is also in the learning process along with players.