Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Footy-Vill]

Have to roll with the punches here.
Smith given time can produce. It's his first full season in EPL for heaven's sake.
Look at klopp he had 5 years 8 , 4 then 2nd now likely champions.
It takes time ! Smith should be afforded time and it's a period that happens to all managers and coaches
He's head coach so takes the blame but I'll continue to support him and suggests there are others who are accountable for poor form and poor players too
I back him till there is good reason not to.
Villa aren't bottom of the league and villa won 3 days ago . Expectations perhaps have made us go in on Smith when really patience and support should be given (by those who are giving him a hard time and being crass and admiring glances to other new coaches)

In Dean we trust !

[mr underhill]

the trouble is, Footy, you can't trust him to run a bath at the moment, let alone the Villa.

[KRS]

I’m on the fence with whether DS stays or goes as I can see it clearly from both angles. What I don’t get is what are these changes that they expect Dean to implement that will turn around performances and results on the pitch given that he has a clusterfuck of a squad to deal with whilst Mings and SJM are out injured?

I genuinely don’t see any combination of our current midfielders being competitive and our patched up inexperienced defensive lineup is still prone to mistakes (thank fuck for Heaton) and leaking goals...and the less said about our forward options the better given that they are Wes or JK.

I’ve said it before on other threads, but I just don’t think the recruitment has been good enough...Wes, Trez, AEG, Luiz, Marv, Jota and Targett simply aren’t good enough (or need too much time and coaching), and there are question marks over Engels and Konsa...plus the likes of Lansbury that shouldn’t be anywhere near a starting lineup in the PL.

We all sit here astonished by the latest starting XI and we can all criticise the formation, but what players in what formation would actually be capable of getting results at the moment?

[cdbearsfan]

The thing is do we want the new guy in by city a gsme we are most certainly going to lose ?

They didn't beat us when Remi Garde was manager and have already lost to Norwich. It's the sort of game our rivals keep getting results in, and it's about time we managed.

[mr underhill]

I'm prepared to put my mortgage on it that we won't win .

[aj2k77]

It's got a 4-0+ written all over it.

[Steve67]

I'm happy to see what players they bring in over the course of January to see if Dean Smith can pull this around.  With so many defeats in the last few games, I think he's facing an uphill battle and they will have to bring in players who can hit the ground running to lift the spirits of the other players.  Either that, or the owners and CEO fully expect us to really struggle but hope that we manage to avoid relegation.   As a precaution, they start to plan for the drop in the hope that they come up as Champions and all involved are more knowledgable for the experience for this season.   Whatever happens, January will be a very interesting month.

[Risso]

As a precaution, they start to plan for the drop in the hope that they come up as Champions and all involved are more knowledgable for the experience for this season.   Whatever happens, January will be a very interesting month.

If we go down, we almost certainly lose Grealish, Mings and McGinn.  We then have to replace them, find a goalscorer, and cope with FFP.  Doesn't sound like a great plan.

[Drummond]

As a precaution, they start to plan for the drop in the hope that they come up as Champions and all involved are more knowledgable for the experience for this season.   Whatever happens, January will be a very interesting month.

If we go down, we almost certainly lose Grealish, Mings and McGinn.  We then have to replace them, find a goalscorer, and cope with FFP.  Doesn't sound like a great plan.

A bit like the beginning of this season would have been had we not been promoted.

Only a year behind with a shit load more cash in the bank.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

For me it's the Soton and Watford games I'm most annoyed about (results-wise), as our points tally up to the start of Christmas wasn't too bad with the transfer window about to open. For this reason I can understand the board keeping faith and they and Deano have my short term support.
On the subject of Smith keeping faith with Wes, Deano needs to ask himself the question would any other PL manager have kept faith with a striker who is so underperforming for so long? I think the answer would be no. He should have at least mixed it up a bit by using Kodj and bringing Wes on as an impact sub. This needs to be addressed from 1st Jan!
Finally the reason we look so ineffective against 10 men so often is because, although we have 11 men on paper, in reality when we have the likes of Wes, ElGhazi, Trez, Luiz and perhaps 1 or 2 others in the team we are in fact playing with only 9 or 10 depending on who is on form and a sending off for the oppo is just serving to even things out a bit rather than giving us the impetus to be on the front foot. It also proves how weak our attacking options are that they cannot take advantage.
Come on Deano, sort it out!

[Risso]

As a precaution, they start to plan for the drop in the hope that they come up as Champions and all involved are more knowledgable for the experience for this season.   Whatever happens, January will be a very interesting month.

If we go down, we almost certainly lose Grealish, Mings and McGinn.  We then have to replace them, find a goalscorer, and cope with FFP.  Doesn't sound like a great plan.

A bit like the beginning of this season would have been had we not been promoted.

Only a year behind with a shit load more cash in the bank.

And a shit load more expenses going out.  I think a better plan would be to stay up, personally. 

[West Derby Villan]

I’m on the fence with whether DS stays or goes as I can see it clearly from both angles. What I don’t get is what are these changes that they expect Dean to implement that will turn around performances and results on the pitch given that he has a clusterfuck of a squad to deal with whilst Mings and SJM are out injured?

I genuinely don’t see any combination of our current midfielders being competitive and our patched up inexperienced defensive lineup is still prone to mistakes (thank fuck for Heaton) and leaking goals...and the less said about our forward options the better given that they are Wes or JK.

I’ve said it before on other threads, but I just don’t think the recruitment has been good enough...Wes, Trez, AEG, Luiz, Marv, Jota and Targett simply aren’t good enough (or need too much time and coaching), and there are question marks over Engels and Konsa...plus the likes of Lansbury that shouldn’t be anywhere near a starting lineup in the PL.

We all sit here astonished by the latest starting XI and we can all criticise the formation, but what players in what formation would actually be capable of getting results at the moment?

Agree with all of this KRS, good post

[Drummond]

As a precaution, they start to plan for the drop in the hope that they come up as Champions and all involved are more knowledgable for the experience for this season.   Whatever happens, January will be a very interesting month.

If we go down, we almost certainly lose Grealish, Mings and McGinn.  We then have to replace them, find a goalscorer, and cope with FFP.  Doesn't sound like a great plan.

A bit like the beginning of this season would have been had we not been promoted.

Only a year behind with a shit load more cash in the bank.

And a shit load more expenses going out.  I think a better plan would be to stay up, personally.

Well obviously. We all want that. (though I'd take us going down if we won the Cup 😉)

[Three Spires Villa]

Going down should not be an option, yes the board must have a plan for it, but it will cause very big problems, players leaving & FFP. If we go I don’t think we will come straight back up.

[N'ZMAV]

Going down should not be an option, yes the board must have a plan for it, but it will cause very big problems, players leaving & FFP. If we go I don’t think we will come straight back up.

like last time?