Dean Smith - Confirmed

[pauliewalnuts]

Hoping for "some decent football" is getting carried away?

Not at all but expecting it after he's been coaching the team for five days might be

It is going to take time to get them playing how he wants

You are right though to be excited about the fact we have a manager who actually has a style of play, something which Bruce clearly did not

[Chris Smith]

The other thing I am hoping for is to see him giving some of the young players the opportunity to prove themselves.

[clash city rocker]

The other thing I am hoping for is to see him giving some of the young players the opportunity to prove themselves.

Agree. Think the youngsters must have thought whatever we do Bruce won't really acknowledge us.

[fredm]

I think the team selection for Swansea will be very interesting.  Although no doubt Smith will have some knowledge of our players, JT will have the inside knowledge of them all except McGinn and maybe will have a major input.  Due to them being scattered far and wide this coming week I would imagine Smith will only have Thursday and Friday to work with the squad and he won't be able to instill much change in them in that short space of time.

[mr underhill]

true but a near full VP and the new cat bounce factor will hopefully see us through

[Steve67]

I'm sure he'll keep it all really simple and play them where they should be playing, other than Hutton.  I wouldn't be surprised to see a formation change with the likes of McGinn and Jedinak playing as the holding midfielders with Grealish in front of them.  Bolasie and either Kodjia or El Ghazi right and left and Tammy up top.  We all know that we are both short and weak defensively.  So, I expect him to keep it simple, Hutton stay at left back and Axel and Chester in the centre.  Really looking forward to the rest of the season, I don't think we will go up automatically but I hope that we trouble the play off's and put the Wembley disaster right.  That would be the perfect end to a season that promised so little when Bruce was interviewed in Portugal, to where we are right now.

[john e]

it will take time to implement his football ideas into the team and also bring in his own type of players

but it won't take time to change the whatever it was Bruce was playing to a more attacking mindset

I'm with Ads I'm looking forward to it and expect a change of emphasis straight away no matter what the result

[Risso]

Really wish I was going to be at his first match, reckon it will be a cracking atmosphere.  Instead I will be in New York.  Hoping for better results than last time I was there, when we got dicked 8-0, 4-0 and 3-0.

[Toronto Villa]

it will take time to implement his football ideas into the team and also bring in his own type of players

but it won't take time to change the whatever it was Bruce was playing to a more attacking mindset

I'm with Ads I'm looking forward to it and expect a change of emphasis straight away no matter what the result

Agree and what’s most frustrating is that when Bruce sent us out to play in an attacking mindset we looked brilliant. So it’s there, it’s in the squad. We have the players that while we look poor at the back we have ability to outscore any team. I’d like to see Dean come and unlock our creativity.

[brontebilly]

Very happy with the appointments so far. I think we must all be patient though. Bruce has left us with a makeshift defence and no decent goalkeeper, so unless the new management team can come up with some new options in defence then i can't see how we can improve in that department until the January transfer window opens up. Obviously playing people in their correct positions will be a start, but for now I'm just happy to be rid of Bruce and his anti - football.

No idea what  Appleyard refers to either.

I think he is going to have to go with the Tuanzebe and Chester partnership at centre half until January.  They need to be given some time to develop a partnership and the chopping and changing needs to stop.

Tuanzebe is useless unfortunately. Going with them at least means we can push higher up the pitch and should keep the ball better. But every team in the division will have a field day launching high balls into our box.

[Villa Lew]

News conference live on Sky Sports News at 4pm on Monday, with Deano, Terry and Purslow.

[Monty]

I don't expect everything to be perfect instantly, but I'd be very surprised if there weren't a very different feel to the team. Just a change of emphasis onto attacking will get so much more out of these players than Bruce's extremely basic, cautious approach.

[Ads]

It's an opportunity.

The fan base seems to have rallied. People are excited about the football again, they'll be 40k plus on the gate for a 2nd division game at home to Swansea! If we can get a result, put in a performance too then maybe it might be the start of a bit of a wave to push us to where we want to be.

Hoping for a bounce.

[WarszaVillan]

Wait till 2pm next Saturday when you see Jedinak is playing Centre-half

[paul_e]

Small changes, like passing at a higher tempo and pressing higher up the pitch can come a lot quicker than you'd expect, 1-2 training sessions will make a noticable difference.

What will take longer is the movement off the ball to make the most of the space we're creating with the simpler changes.