Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Risso]

Frankly, if he takes us down, he takes us down, provided we do so fighting. I think the only way it shouldn't be the case is if it looks like the players have lost faith in his methods in such a way that a promotion challenge next season looks jeopardised.

Splurging the 100+ million obviously doesn't look great, and the returns from some of the signings don't look great so far, to say the least, but basically everyone in the summer agreed that the squad needed a massive rebuild given the release of the Dad's army and the heavy reliance on loanees, it wasn't like it was already a well-rounded squad which was then not improved upon at all.

There’s been no fight at all in the last few games. Saturday was especially gutless. The players already look like they’ve given up and don’t believe in him.

[pauliewalnuts]

Frankly, if he takes us down, he takes us down, provided we do so fighting. I think the only way it shouldn't be the case is if it looks like the players have lost faith in his methods in such a way that a promotion challenge next season looks jeopardised.

Splurging the 100+ million obviously doesn't look great, and the returns from some of the signings don't look great so far, to say the least, but basically everyone in the summer agreed that the squad needed a massive rebuild given the release of the Dad's army and the heavy reliance on loanees, it wasn't like it was already a well-rounded squad which was then not improved upon at all.

There’s been no fight at all in the last few games. Saturday was especially gutless. The players already look like they’ve given up and don’t believe in him.

There is no energy or effort. They look *almost* like they're playing to get him sacked.

[passitsideways]

Frankly, if he takes us down, he takes us down, provided we do so fighting. I think the only way it shouldn't be the case is if it looks like the players have lost faith in his methods in such a way that a promotion challenge next season looks jeopardised.

Splurging the 100+ million obviously doesn't look great, and the returns from some of the signings don't look great so far, to say the least, but basically everyone in the summer agreed that the squad needed a massive rebuild given the release of the Dad's army and the heavy reliance on loanees, it wasn't like it was already a well-rounded squad which was then not improved upon at all.

There’s been no fight at all in the last few games. Saturday was especially gutless. The players already look like they’ve given up and don’t believe in him.

There is no energy or effort. They look *almost* like they're playing to get him sacked.

I don't think it's irretrievable at this stage, not at least without seeing what reinforcements are out there. People were absolutely saying the same things about the performances last season during the couple of months when Grealish was out.

[steamer]

I want Dean to succeed and become a legend
I think we missed out on a couple of targets in the summer.
I hope some of this is sorted in Jan.
However, the last few games have been worrying, lack of pace, lack of (with a couple of exceptions) desire and effort
Two of our Talisman players out injured, what could a new manager do ? change tactics, kick some Ass, bring in a few experienced players ?
tough call, but going back down, losing our best players, Financial fair play etc, etc would be a disaster.
the owners have to make a statement of intent, one way or the other and stand by their decision.
Not easy being a ,Manager,Boss or owner but these guys are not pussy cats and must be used to making decisions, lets hope they make the right ones.

[Clampy]

Yes, it needs to improve but let's get these next few games out of the way and see where we are in the new year. I just hope the club do not make any rash decisions. He's got my backing.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

It's obvious that things are very frustrating at the moment and that improvements need to be made by all concerned (including Deano) on match day, but it's the job of owners/ceos to hire and fire. My role is to support Aston Villa whatever the scenario and that's exactly what I'll be doing. So come on Deano and the team, let's turn this around and start looking upwards again. UTV!

[brian green]

The ship will either survive in the Premiership or sink back into the Second Division.  The Club's future is in the hands of the owners.  If they adopt the "steady as she goes" approach that has always presaged previous relegations history will inevitably repeat itself.  If the owners dig as deep into their deep pockets as FFFP allows, if they take a firm grip on Dean Smith and demand an end to blind scouting, Dean Smith come May might still have a Premiership club to manage and we might have a Premiership team to follow.

It goes without saying that I shall still be there regardless the division we are in but it would be more bearable if we are not to go down with a whimper.  Like last time.

[Mister E]

Agreed it would be daft but a lot of the signing look more Championship level than PL, but that could just be bad scouting and coaching.  £22m isn't that much these days, we could have wasted double that on Joelinton.

Charitably, I'd say most of the signings needed more time to bed in than we had; fitness levels are unacceptably low. However, it is the apparent lack of continuous learning (amongst the players and the coaches) from our first 18 games that worries me most.

[Bobby Boy]

Frankly, if he takes us down, he takes us down, provided we do so fighting. I think the only way it shouldn't be the case is if it looks like the players have lost faith in his methods in such a way that a promotion challenge next season looks jeopardised.

Splurging the 100+ million obviously doesn't look great, and the returns from some of the signings don't look great so far, to say the least, but basically everyone in the summer agreed that the squad needed a massive rebuild given the release of the Dad's army and the heavy reliance on loanees, it wasn't like it was already a well-rounded squad which was then not improved upon at all.

There’s been no fight at all in the last few games. Saturday was especially gutless. The players already look like they’ve given up and don’t believe in him.

This is what is most concerning. It has been infuriating to watch Villa players strolling around the pitch, letting opposition players pick up the ball in midfield , turn and do what they want without a hint of a challenge or of pressure.

That's not about technical ability or footballing nous, that's about a basic desire to be competitive and professional pride.

Our players seem to have a millisecond on the ball whereas our opponents have as long as they want.

Where does that come from? Players who inherently don't have drive or passion? No, I don't think so.

Surely, this is about knowing your role and being confident in what you are being sent out to do.

Dean Smith has a fixed, immovable way of playing. What if the players don't believe that they can carry what he wants out....

[brian green]

Me too. Mr E, is it stubbornness or is it stupidity? My impression is that it is the former.

[algy]

There was a long dip in form last season, wasn't there - and I'm sure I read on here that Brentford supporters said his teams were prone to long dips in form.

Obviously it's a bit concerning, but I think we're going to have to judge Dean over much longer timespans than the last half dozen games - whether they're record-breaking winning streaks, or the current form trough.

If the cause of these dips is lack of squad depth, that's relatively easy to fix. If it's that Dean isn't a great person for turning form around - we can get an assistant manager/someone who is. Again, it can be fixed.

The speed at which players and managers are being written off on here is incredible. Did people not expect the Premier league to be a bit of a step up for a team who, for most of last season, was a mid-table Championship side?

[Bobby Boy]

There was a long dip in form last season, wasn't there - and I'm sure I read on here that Brentford supporters said his teams were prone to long dips in form.

Obviously it's a bit concerning, but I think we're going to have to judge Dean over much longer timespans than the last half dozen games - whether they're record-breaking winning streaks, or the current form trough.

If the cause of these dips is lack of squad depth, that's relatively easy to fix. If it's that Dean isn't a great person for turning form around - we can get an assistant manager/someone who is. Again, it can be fixed.

The speed at which players and managers are being written off on here is incredible. Did people not expect the Premier league to be a bit of a step up for a team who, for most of last season, was a mid-table Championship side?

No, you are right. This was clearly going to be a tough season with every point hard won. However, the worry, particularly recently, is our lack of competitiveness, how easy we are to play against.

It's not unreasonable to point that out and to say that unless we dramatically improve our attitude and desire then we have no chance in this league.

[Ketzster]

There was a long dip in form last season, wasn't there - and I'm sure I read on here that Brentford supporters said his teams were prone to long dips in form.

Obviously it's a bit concerning, but I think we're going to have to judge Dean over much longer timespans than the last half dozen games - whether they're record-breaking winning streaks, or the current form trough.

If the cause of these dips is lack of squad depth, that's relatively easy to fix. If it's that Dean isn't a great person for turning form around - we can get an assistant manager/someone who is. Again, it can be fixed.

The speed at which players and managers are being written off on here is incredible. Did people not expect the Premier league to be a bit of a step up for a team who, for most of last season, was a mid-table Championship side?

The problem is, Smith didn’t do anything last season to stop the rot, it’s exactly the same as now, except this time we don’t have a player who is way too good for the division to come and save us. The arguments for giving him time would carry weight if we hadn’t been through the awful spell last season. It would take spending 200 million on a player for them to have the same impact as Grealish had from Derby onwards last season. It shows how poor Smith is that one player could have such a massive impact. A good manager would have been able to do something with the players at Smiths disposal in the championship but he just let it drift for weeks and weeks until Grealish came back. The ten game run was down to Jack, not Smith.

Giving Smith money in January wouldn’t solve the tactical inflexibility or the extremely poor in game management that has been on show for much of the year. If he stays we definitely go down. Grealish then leaves and we saw how shocking Smith without Grealish was last season so Smith wouldn’t get us back up. We’d have wasted the opportunity this season and then waste the beginning of next season as well. He’s a mid level championship manager and got extremely lucky that he had Grealish to come and save him. We still had Mings, Mcginn, Abraham etc before Derby in March and Smith couldn’t do anything with them

[Clark W Griswold]

Not sure i agree entirely there, he signed Mings and if you allow for a few games bedding in, he happened to start looking awesome around the same time Grealish came back. For me, it was those 2 players combined that had the biggest impact in the turnaround with McGinn significant all season and Abraham earlier on. I don't think you can take too much away from Smith in getting us up but i do think that your comments about the rest of the season and the possibilty of a struggle next season if he's still here are fair enough.
I did hear that we're all set up to be in a good position with the squad we have should we go down, it was a mate of mine who told me of comments to that effect that he'd heard from those above Smith. I would imagine that Grealish and McGinn would go (maybe Mings) but if we held on to the others we'd still have the basis of a very good squad for that level with money to spend on replacements.
I think it would still be an enormous setback though, if we can cling on this season i have faith that there will be enough quality bought in next summer to make relegation battles a thing of the past. I must admit i'm very concerned after Southampton and as much as i'd love to see us show loyalty to Smith, i would still sooner us do whatever we have to do to stay up.

[brentastonb6]

Frankly, if he takes us down, he takes us down, provided we do so fighting. I think the only way it shouldn't be the case is if it looks like the players have lost faith in his methods in such a way that a promotion challenge next season looks jeopardised.

Splurging the 100+ million obviously doesn't look great, and the returns from some of the signings don't look great so far, to say the least, but basically everyone in the summer agreed that the squad needed a massive rebuild given the release of the Dad's army and the heavy reliance on loanees, it wasn't like it was already a well-rounded squad which was then not improved upon at all.

There’s been no fight at all in the last few games. Saturday was especially gutless. The players already look like they’ve given up and don’t believe in him.

This is what is most concerning. It has been infuriating to watch Villa players strolling around the pitch, letting opposition players pick up the ball in midfield , turn and do what they want without a hint of a challenge or of pressure.

That's not about technical ability or footballing nous, that's about a basic desire to be competitive and professional pride.

Our players seem to have a millisecond on the ball whereas our opponents have as long as they want.

Where does that come from? Players who inherently don't have drive or passion? No, I don't think so.

Surely, this is about knowing your role and being confident in what you are being sent out to do.

Dean Smith has a fixed, immovable way of playing. What if the players don't believe that they can carry what he wants out....

But just three games ago we went to Old Trafford and came back from being behind and showed plenty of desire, all is not lost , we need to get behind the team just like in the Everton game . Should we fall a goal behind we need to get behind them even more . We all want this massive Villa family to succeed and the key contribution we can provide is support. Loud and proud boys and girls please - let our boys know we’re up for this fight too.