Dean Smith - Confirmed

[The Edge]

It's hard for everybody at the moment. I would hesitate to blame our fans for being a bit twitchy over our recent form, because quite frankly, we've been here far too often recently. And the fact that we're still here shows you that it has never ended well. We're nervous, we have been burned too many times recently, and we're finding (pretty much blind) faith difficult to project at the moment. Plus, more specifically, we know that the rest of this season fading away to insignificance means that we're almost certainly going to lose our best home grown player in a generation. And that really hurts.

So the atmosphere is fraught, to say the least. It's not as 'toxic' as has been suggested elsewhere, although it has taken a worrying turn in the last week or so, and we desperately need something to get behind. The Sheffield United comeback should have been it, but the result (and performance) in midweek burst that balloon before it was inflated - Saturday just sliced a knife through it. I'm not sure that this is a situation the fans can drag the team out of though - but like the desperate housewife offering another 'one more chance', we just need to see some evidence that things will be different this time.

It's hard for Dean Smith as well. We all know that Bruce had quite a few runs like this that he survived; in fact, one was always around the corner with him, and you could argue that if we'd have got rid of him after the first one, we would be in a much better position now. Or that we wouldn't. Smith seems to have the unwavering support of the board, and that seems like a good thing (although that relies on more faith from our point of view). I don't think he's worrying about his job's security, just on how to do it well. He's sticking to the type of football he wants us to play, no matter what the results and whether the current squad are capable of doing it. Whether this is a sensible first step to turning the ethos of the entire club around, or recklessly stubborn behaviour from a manager unable to adapt depends on your point of view I guess. Personally, I think it's the former, but I would be lying if I wasn't concerned that there might be something in the latter. I don't think he expected the players to struggle so much with a higher tempo.

It's also hard for the players. They were, largely, assembled by a manager who (I reckon) was an absolute dream to work with. You wouldn't see him much during the week, and he always seemed to want to be your best mate - a nice bloke that wanted you just to do your thing. All of a sudden you need to be fitter, play outside your comfort zone, work harder all week (assuming training has become more intense), take responsibility for all aspects of the game, and, for the last couple of months, cover for the best player in the league. It's tough, and they're struggling. Conor Hourihane is probably getting the most stick at the moment, and while I've never been a fan of his, I don't think he's a bad professional. I imagine he probably works hard at training, and tries to be better. Ultimately, though, I think he's a coward, who was never physically or mentally capable of playing for a club as big as Aston Villa. And I think he knows that. He didn't trudge off the pitch on Saturday as a petulant protest at his reception, he did it because he's broken, exhausted and exposed. He was never meant to be here, playing this type of football. And the same goes for a lot of them. You can't train that out of people in a few months.

So what happens now? Well, barring a miracle, we'll be in this league again next season. As others have said, it will be the busiest summer we've had for over 20 years. So many players need to go, and a few will go that we desperately want to keep, and I can see a lot of work going on with the backroom staff as well (I note Terry was at the Chelsea game last night, when our reserves were playing at Bescott - something has changed since he first arrived, whether it's his decision or Smith's). It will be a recruitment drive like many of us have never seen before, and we need to get it right. It's already started. I really hope we focus on the mental side of our new signings. Tyrone Mings seems to get it. More of him, please.

There will be no excuses next season, including 'time to bed in'. Sorry. You get a preseason and then we start winning. Or I'm afraid that the current 'toxic' atmosphere will be looked back on with great fondness. What will help a great deal, though, is to take with us some goodwill from the next few months. So we need to find a way to stop this rot; a fluky deflection in the last minute, a sending off for the opposition, a dodgy penalty, a goalkeeping error in our favour. Or maybe just our best player being fit again. I want to look back on the rest of the season, being able to say to my son "when he started getting a tune out of that pile of rubbish, I knew we had the right manager". Come on Dean, you've got this.

That's an excellent and well thought out rant Boozey. Some great points in there and like the rest of us you obviously care deeply about all things AVFC. Some of the more nervy bed wetting types should take a good look at what you put. We need to pull together and be strong for the greater good of our club. The good times lie ahead I'm sure of it. Like David Bradley said in the brilliant 140 years of Aston Villa video "inevitably along with the highs come the lows. But the lows just make the highs higher"

[villa `cross the mersey]

Excuse me Boozey ......this is H&V - we don't do optimism or pragmatism

[brian green]

Woe, woe and thrice woe is our schtick

[AVH87]

Very good post Boozey, hit the nail on the head and the bit about Hourihane really sums it up. I don't think he's lazy or got a bad attitude, it's just swallowing him up whereas others have taken the easy way out and not got themselves fit, or been loaned out, or stopped trying and found themselves left out.

[Sexual Ealing]

Very good post Boozey, hit the nail on the head and the bit about Hourihane really sums it up. I don't think he's lazy or got a bad attitude, it's just swallowing him up whereas others have taken the easy way out and not got themselves fit, or been loaned out, or stopped trying and found themselves left out.

Too true.

[AV82EC]

It's hard for everybody at the moment. I would hesitate to blame our fans for being a bit twitchy over our recent form, because quite frankly, we've been here far too often recently. And the fact that we're still here shows you that it has never ended well. We're nervous, we have been burned too many times recently, and we're finding (pretty much blind) faith difficult to project at the moment. Plus, more specifically, we know that the rest of this season fading away to insignificance means that we're almost certainly going to lose our best home grown player in a generation. And that really hurts.

So the atmosphere is fraught, to say the least. It's not as 'toxic' as has been suggested elsewhere, although it has taken a worrying turn in the last week or so, and we desperately need something to get behind. The Sheffield United comeback should have been it, but the result (and performance) in midweek burst that balloon before it was inflated - Saturday just sliced a knife through it. I'm not sure that this is a situation the fans can drag the team out of though - but like the desperate housewife offering another 'one more chance', we just need to see some evidence that things will be different this time.

It's hard for Dean Smith as well. We all know that Bruce had quite a few runs like this that he survived; in fact, one was always around the corner with him, and you could argue that if we'd have got rid of him after the first one, we would be in a much better position now. Or that we wouldn't. Smith seems to have the unwavering support of the board, and that seems like a good thing (although that relies on more faith from our point of view). I don't think he's worrying about his job's security, just on how to do it well. He's sticking to the type of football he wants us to play, no matter what the results and whether the current squad are capable of doing it. Whether this is a sensible first step to turning the ethos of the entire club around, or recklessly stubborn behaviour from a manager unable to adapt depends on your point of view I guess. Personally, I think it's the former, but I would be lying if I wasn't concerned that there might be something in the latter. I don't think he expected the players to struggle so much with a higher tempo.

It's also hard for the players. They were, largely, assembled by a manager who (I reckon) was an absolute dream to work with. You wouldn't see him much during the week, and he always seemed to want to be your best mate - a nice bloke that wanted you just to do your thing. All of a sudden you need to be fitter, play outside your comfort zone, work harder all week (assuming training has become more intense), take responsibility for all aspects of the game, and, for the last couple of months, cover for the best player in the league. It's tough, and they're struggling. Conor Hourihane is probably getting the most stick at the moment, and while I've never been a fan of his, I don't think he's a bad professional. I imagine he probably works hard at training, and tries to be better. Ultimately, though, I think he's a coward, who was never physically or mentally capable of playing for a club as big as Aston Villa. And I think he knows that. He didn't trudge off the pitch on Saturday as a petulant protest at his reception, he did it because he's broken, exhausted and exposed. He was never meant to be here, playing this type of football. And the same goes for a lot of them. You can't train that out of people in a few months.

So what happens now? Well, barring a miracle, we'll be in this league again next season. As others have said, it will be the busiest summer we've had for over 20 years. So many players need to go, and a few will go that we desperately want to keep, and I can see a lot of work going on with the backroom staff as well (I note Terry was at the Chelsea game last night, when our reserves were playing at Bescott - something has changed since he first arrived, whether it's his decision or Smith's). It will be a recruitment drive like many of us have never seen before, and we need to get it right. It's already started. I really hope we focus on the mental side of our new signings. Tyrone Mings seems to get it. More of him, please.

There will be no excuses next season, including 'time to bed in'. Sorry. You get a preseason and then we start winning. Or I'm afraid that the current 'toxic' atmosphere will be looked back on with great fondness. What will help a great deal, though, is to take with us some goodwill from the next few months. So we need to find a way to stop this rot; a fluky deflection in the last minute, a sending off for the opposition, a dodgy penalty, a goalkeeping error in our favour. Or maybe just our best player being fit again. I want to look back on the rest of the season, being able to say to my son "when he started getting a tune out of that pile of rubbish, I knew we had the right manager". Come on Dean, you've got this.

What a great post. Standing Ovation for boozey.

[cdward]

Three cheers for Boozey would seem more appropriate..

[SoccerHQ]

I’ve no idea what goes on in training however since Smith arrived, the number of players suffering serious / long term injuries not related to an incident in a match seems unusually high;   

Jack
Axel
Nyland
Carroll
Davis?
Lansbury?
BB?

Not sure of the last 3. Was off the top of my head. There could be more.

Wasn't Jack injury picked up in the WBA match?

Carroll missed 3 months for Swansea and should be back this weekend. Davis, Lansbury and Bjarni all missed loads of games in last 12 months, they're just all injury prone.

[paul_e]

I’ve no idea what goes on in training however since Smith arrived, the number of players suffering serious / long term injuries not related to an incident in a match seems unusually high;   

Jack
Axel
Nyland
Carroll
Davis?
Lansbury?
BB?

Not sure of the last 3. Was off the top of my head. There could be more.

Wasn't Jack injury picked up in the WBA match?

Carroll missed 3 months for Swansea and should be back this weekend. Davis, Lansbury and Bjarni all missed loads of games in last 12 months, they're just all injury prone.

I wouldn't say injury prone, I'd just say that they've struggled getting fit after previous injuries, which isn't the same thing at all. Lansbury in particular had no real injury record to speak of before he joined, a couple of 5-6 week injuries in his career before the last season backs that up.

On the rest, Jack got scans after West Brom but the type of injury it is will have been building for a while, Carroll arrived mid-recovery and has had a small relapse, Axel does seem to be a bit injury prone and Nyland's injury is a bit of a freak accident. I don't know if this is just bad luck or because of training but there's enough there to suggest that it's just coincidence.

[chrisw1]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

[kippaxvilla2]

If Sarri goes, don't be surprised to see Terry feck off to be with Lampard at Chelsea.  I won't be sorry.  There was a stat doing the rounds last night that Hourihane I think has a lot more assists than a lot of other so called great midfielders in this league - I think someone said it was the most in the championship but I am not sure that is right.  He may be limited, he may be being consumed by a complete lack of confidence, but, it is worth remembering that without him we wouldn't have made the play offs last season. 

[john e]

I was hoping that twitter thing was true about the running

I’ve got no problem with him running the little fuckers hard
I’m pissed of that we are always the team that runs out of legs first

run them hard get them proper fit like Bielsa does and the ones who can’t hack it  can fuck off

.........imo........

[Scott Nielsen]

Boozy's post is very good, but what is it with the current trend of calling everyone cowards? 

Hourihane may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I really don't see how limitations as a footballer makes him a coward.

I thought the same. He's gotten a lot of abuse on here but that's a proper insult. 

[Chris Smith]

If Sarri goes, don't be surprised to see Terry feck off to be with Lampard at Chelsea.  I won't be sorry.  There was a stat doing the rounds last night that Hourihane I think has a lot more assists than a lot of other so called great midfielders in this league - I think someone said it was the most in the championship but I am not sure that is right.  He may be limited, he may be being consumed by a complete lack of confidence, but, it is worth remembering that without him we wouldn't have made the play offs last season. 

I don’t see them picking a manager whose team has just lost at home to Milwall whatever his playing history with them is.

[andyh]

Hmmmmm, an interesting Stoke pre match press conference.
First question about what is needed to get us going on a run and Smith responded straight away with ‘togetherness’ which strikes me as a strange answer to give.

Jack not ready for Saturday and Smith did seem a little guarded in his response.

Maybe I’m reading too much into it.