Dean Smith - Confirmed

[villa `cross the mersey]

Right choice at the time to replace Bruce. He went through a bad phase this time last year. We came out of it and got promoted against all odds. Do you want to bet against us?

He just isn't getting the 110% from the squad

[brian green]

The manager of Aston Villa is entitled to that which all employees are entitled.  He is paid (very well) to do a job.  Because it is his work, not his hobby or his unpaid pastime, if the standard of his work falls short of expected standards he/she must be held to account. Lawyer, plumber, brain surgeon, it is essential that the competent thrive and that the incompetent are found more suitable, less demanding work.  Respect is earned not demanded.

[Three Spires Villa]

Right choice at the time to replace Bruce. He went through a bad phase this time last year. We came out of it and got promoted against all odds. Do you want to bet against us?

That’s ok, but this time last year we were in the Championship & had Jack to come back from injury, this time we are in the Premiership & Jack is playing!!! Question is, is Dean the right man now?

[Footy-Vill]

Firstly it's on the record and very recent that after the 4 year contract
Dean is at the heart of our rebuilding process and that is the rationale behind his contract extension


Purslow, CEO clearly stated “The Board is delighted that Dean has signed a new four-year contract which puts him at the heart of the Club’s long term rebuilding plans"

Maybe there is an issue at this time in new players adapting to Smiths methods. Because people Deano isn't going anywhere .
Smith is here to stay and is here to re establish Villa as a premier league club.

Dean Smith methods and philosophy seemingly taking time for new players  to adapt.
Really it's too soon to be saying Smith isn't up to grade because he has had a group of new players having to quickly take on his way of playing.
I think if Smith with his secure 4 years deal can go on like Chris Wilder (he's had 2-3 years or so) as with a settled team at the Villa  this club will be pushing some and gaining plaudits.
I mean at times already this season Villa have been quite rightly acknowledged as a decent team and players who have performed well.
I certainly think Dean Smith would be fine

My concern is how much this Suso character is able to pick out the calibre of player for Smith.
As well as this the whole strategy of not buying finished articles and players to grow value as assets mean more of a lean on business than football matters.
Dean Smith is a football coach . His job is to develop the players and coach the team.
That's the structure our football club.

Dean Smith is 100% committed and is more than enthusiastic to get this club going forward.
And hes backed by the club
Now it's the Villa support who need to be 100% behind him rather than turn with the first bump in road.
The players will get there and are moving in right direction.
So to those solely blaming him isn't quite the case when a recruitment strategy is not 100% his domain.
He can suggest that players won't be up to his methods or levels and even though he's required to develop and grow players there is the finance to bring in more suitable players for his system if difficulties occur.

Pure folly to thing Dean is going anywhere .
He's the most suitable man for our great club
And for me I think we only drive us forward.
He wants to succeed and will only make players and this club better.
Let's have some patience shall we.

Love you Deano! I don't blame him for anything !! I think he's just superb !
Quality man
Merry Xmas everyone.

[passport1]

I have to say that when things were pear shaped in the past  our lack of a modern structure was regulaly cited eg no director of football , a manager instead of the modern head coach. Its intersting that now that we have all that the fault apparently lies with the director of football recruiting the wrong players.

Personally I think we have been a shithouse of a club for so long that no one can remember what it takes to be a successful club. It is thalt lack of  a ongoing history of success that leads to us flip flopping from one half baked plan to another.

Maybe one day we will stumble on a successful formula but probably  more by accident than design.

[Sexual Ealing]

I have to say that when things were pear shaped in the past  our lack of a modern structure was regulaly cited eg no director of football , a manager instead of the modern head coach. Its intersting that now that we have all that the fault apparently lies with the director of football recruiting the wrong players.

Personally I think we have been a shithouse of a club for so long that no one can remember what it takes to be a successful club. It is thalt lack of  a ongoing history of success that leads to us flip flopping from one half baked plan to another.

Maybe one day we will stumble on a successful formula but probably  more by accident than design.

The structural point is a good one. Structures are made of people.

DS has proved, to an extent, that he can do his part by coaching the team he inherited from mid-table to promotion. Pitarch has had one summer to recruit a number of players to improve us to the extent that we survive/thrive in the PL. I'm not sure he's done his bit yet. A lot of the new players look well short of the required standard.

[Luke8]

What we do know is that plenty of us pointed out, come the start of the season, how Wesley had better come good as we had pretty much no other options up front - Davis (a non-scoring striker who is always injured and totally unproven at this level) and Kodjia (also unproven and coming off a fallow period of about a year).

Think of those goals Leicester scored against us, or if you like, the movement of Ings yesterday.

Now try and imagine that from our strikers.

Regarding your second point, I reckon there is a good chance that if you swap Wesley for Long or Iheanacho, he would have had a pretty decent time of it against our defence.

These are various other factors that are compounding this, but we are currently stuck in a rut where we are playing a system in a way that leaves us far too open and vulnerable defensively and devoid of ideas and creativity in attack.

[The Edge]

Firstly it's on the record and very recent that after the 4 year contract
Dean is at the heart of our rebuilding process and that is the rationale behind his contract extension


Purslow, CEO clearly stated “The Board is delighted that Dean has signed a new four-year contract which puts him at the heart of the Club’s long term rebuilding plans"

Maybe there is an issue at this time in new players adapting to Smiths methods. Because people Deano isn't going anywhere .
Smith is here to stay and is here to re establish Villa as a premier league club.

Dean Smith methods and philosophy seemingly taking time for new players  to adapt.
Really it's too soon to be saying Smith isn't up to grade because he has had a group of new players having to quickly take on his way of playing.
I think if Smith with his secure 4 years deal can go on like Chris Wilder (he's had 2-3 years or so) as with a settled team at the Villa  this club will be pushing some and gaining plaudits.
I mean at times already this season Villa have been quite rightly acknowledged as a decent team and players who have performed well.
I certainly think Dean Smith would be fine

My concern is how much this Suso character is able to pick out the calibre of player for Smith.
As well as this the whole strategy of not buying finished articles and players to grow value as assets mean more of a lean on business than football matters.
Dean Smith is a football coach . His job is to develop the players and coach the team.
That's the structure our football club.

Dean Smith is 100% committed and is more than enthusiastic to get this club going forward.
And hes backed by the club
Now it's the Villa support who need to be 100% behind him rather than turn with the first bump in road.
The players will get there and are moving in right direction.
So to those solely blaming him isn't quite the case when a recruitment strategy is not 100% his domain.
He can suggest that players won't be up to his methods or levels and even though he's required to develop and grow players there is the finance to bring in more suitable players for his system if difficulties occur.

Pure folly to thing Dean is going anywhere .
He's the most suitable man for our great club
And for me I think we only drive us forward.
He wants to succeed and will only make players and this club better.
Let's have some patience shall we.

Love you Deano! I don't blame him for anything !! I think he's just superb !
Quality man
Merry Xmas everyone.

Excellent post. Well said.
Merry Christmas

[tomd2103]

Dispite the Hourihane substitution, i find it hard to criticise for yesterdays gutless performance. I do however hold a fair few of our players responsible, and with that the buffoon whom scouted and recruited them. Thats where this mess lies, with summer recruitment.

Maupey and Benhrama wanted to come, Smith wanted them...we (forever what reason) baulked at the price and bought a few duds instead. Cheap buys you sod all in this league, trying to be clever and cheap buys you even less...and on top of that, they recruit a striker whom is so raw and does not even fit Smiths style of play, for a whopping 22 million!

No, Smith has his faults (all managers do), but this mess falls directly at the Door of Suso and to a lesser degree, Purslow for sanctioning it.

Massive January now, but im a little worried as to what our scouting team will be recommending

We certainly weren't being cheap when it came to Matt Targett. Whoever gave that signing alone the ok needs sacking. We have a thoroughly unbalanced squad anyway. Five senior centre backs, four of which were signed last summer but no forward capable of playing in Smith's system.

No pace throughout the squad, lack of physical presence, limited top division experience and a collection of crab like midfielders.

Watching it unfold yesterday, it was the lack of experience that stood out.  Heaton aside, virtually none of the of the others have considerable top flight experience and it is beginning to show.  I go back to the Houllier season where we had quite a few injuries around this period of time and dropped into the relegation places in the early New Year period.  As well as signing Darren Bent, what really stuck out for the remainder of hat season was the return of the likes Young, Reo-Coker and Petrov, who although were not world beaters, saw us through games with their experience. 

After the Norwich game, it looked like we were looking upwards rather than down at the relegation places, but all that is out of the window now.  If someone offered us all finishing 17th on goal difference at the end of the season, we would snap their hands off.  To get there, we need some experience in the side alongside some of these younger players.

[mr underhill]

Bringing in a couple of players is a must - they may not work out of course, but not bringing in anyone will certainly lead us to relegation.

[Rico]

If Dean Smith was to be relieved of his duties I'm pretty sure that the first thing his replacement would do is consign the 433 system to the scrap heap, and go 442 or 532. It's patently obvious to everyone that we are leaking goals like a bloody drain, so we need to sort that out asap. If we start the Norwich match in 433 then I suspect we'll lose, and in that case Dean will deserve to go.

Some of the older fans will probably remember this. When Graham Taylor was our boss, first time around, I seem to recall us struggling that first season back in the top flight. The following season i think we started poorly again, and were struggling to get the system right. Then injuries forced Taylor into changing the system, and if memory serves we switched to 532 and Ian Ormondroyd, who to be quite honest was looking like a complete and utter duffer was switched from striker to winger and the rest is history. From relegation candidates to runners up. So my point is that like many others have said already ditch 433. It's not working. Try something, anything else. If not then thanks for getting us promoted. Close the door on your way out!

[villa `cross the mersey]

Just a thought ......could Smith be under instructions to player Wesley week in week out?

[Risso]

Wouldn't surprise me.  I think the set up is all wrong.  We've got Pitarch as DoF, but being brutally honest the majority of his acquisitions haven't worked out at all.  He (Pitarch) hasn't been at the last 4 or 5 games, so not sure what's going on there.

[Clampy]

Just a thought ......could Smith be under instructions to player Wesley week in week out?

No, I wouldn't have thought so and I can't think of any reason why.

[The Edge]

If Dean Smith was to be relieved of his duties I'm pretty sure that the first thing his replacement would do is consign the 433 system to the scrap heap, and go 442 or 532. It's patently obvious to everyone that we are leaking goals like a bloody drain, so we need to sort that out asap. If we start the Norwich match in 433 then I suspect we'll lose, and in that case Dean will deserve to go.

Some of the older fans will probably remember this. When Graham Taylor was our boss, first time around, I seem to recall us struggling that first season back in the top flight. The following season i think we started poorly again, and were struggling to get the system right. Then injuries forced Taylor into changing the system, and if memory serves we switched to 532 and Ian Ormondroyd, who to be quite honest was looking like a complete and utter duffer was switched from striker to winger and the rest is history. From relegation candidates to runners up. So my point is that like many others have said already ditch 433. It's not working. Try something, anything else. If not then thanks for getting us promoted. Close the door on your way out!

Ahh Ian Ormondroyd the worlds tallest winger. Happy days. It's painfully obvious that we need to change things. A more mobile front line is paramount if we're to survive. Make it so please Dean & co.