Dean Smith - Confirmed

[brontebilly]

Got his game plan spot on tonight. Looked rightfully livid after the Leicester goal, hopefully he tore Luiz a new one afterwards. But well done Deano.

I think i would be targetting Konsa for for the subject of my ire, knocking that free kick short to Luiz was criminal.

A premier league midfielder simply has to be comfortable receiving a ball like that. at a minimum, he should have protected the ball to draw a free kick, McGinn style. Or else play it back to Konsa, he dawdled and it cost us a goal. My fear is that he hides even more now from getting on the ball.

[AsTallAsLions]

Just seen the post match interview , and he didn't appear happy with the performance. I understand we have a hard second leg to overcome , and he probably wants to play it down. But , Blimey Charlie Deano you have defended some turgid performances over the Christmas period and can't raise a smile for that one.

That's a bit odd alright.

I often think managers must see things we don't and forgive collective fuck-ups because they see individual elements that were worked on in training or whatever. Like an obsessive attention to detail with insight we don't have. The only explanation for an intelligent man constantly forgiving a range of poor performances.

What was worked on ahead of tonight, apart from the obvious defensive solidity, was probably the constant barrage of stupid mistakes being made in that area between defence and midfield. I'd say not just the Konsa/Luiz incident, but the Nakamba stuff also has pissed him right off. Maybe no harm in that, in the long run, tbh.

[Toronto Villa]

I got the impression he is massively fucked off at the inability to retain the ball yet again and the way we conceded the goal. The game plan was working and we looked like we could get a massive win tonight and we let it slip. That’s got to be very frustrating as a manager. He’s been in a large part the reason we’ve not won games or kept leads. Tonight was squarely on a specific player as why we didn’t win the game as much as it was a club effort why we did so well most of the evening.

[Drummond]

He didn't get over excited or down, it's Smith's style to stay pretty calm and nonplussed regardless of the scoreline.

To be fair, we got a good result last night and the manager should take the credit. There was no over reliance on Grealish, just some good performances all round.

[dave shelley]

He’s pinned it on konsa in his interview.

I'd be more inclined to pin it on the short-sighted view that thought Wesley was enough strike power to see us through the season.  Konsa, shouldn't be absolved from his share of the blame but, we're in the seventy-fourth minute or so of a game we've been defending as though our lives depended upon it and I would respectfully suggest tiredness was a large factor in his thought process, there was no one up front to whack it to and, from what I could see very little movement to give him other options.  A real pity as we had done so well.  Konsa will become a very good player IMO.

[Abbeyfealeavfc]

Great work again Deano last night. Loving the 3cbs.
Konsa played the ball to Luiz to retain possession. Luiz dawdled again and showed he is still not up to speed with the British game. He had plenty of time to do something when he received the pass from Konsa. If Smith (and Mings) was unhappy about anything it would have been Luiz's casual style at such an important stage in the game.

[frank black]

Learning very fast, I like Dean and hope we don’t need to be talking about out/in anymore.

[chrisw1]

It was a good battling display against an excellent side, but I can't get over excited about it being a Deano tactical masterclass.  Puttting 10 men behond the ball and inviting the opposition on for 90 mins was the sort of stuff Bruce used to get slated for.  Our inability to get out showed our midfield just aren't functioning.

[PeterWithesShin]

Post-match on WM

[Nev]

It was a good battling display against an excellent side, but I can't get over excited about it being a Deano tactical masterclass.  Puttting 10 men behond the ball and inviting the opposition on for 90 mins was the sort of stuff Bruce used to get slated for.  Our inability to get out showed our midfield just aren't functioning.

Quite right but that's down to the players in the middle being sub standard last night. It was no tactical masterclass as you say but Smith showed bravery last night when it would've been easier to be cautious. He showed his intransigence and rather cowardly side in persisting with his formation pre NYD but that change has given this season a lift and some optimism for the future and his decision not to play an out and out striker was a risk that more or less paid off. He could have left one of our two best players on the bench but didn't. How many managers have we bemoaned for being over cautious, particularly when up against it in cup games, almost waving the white flag as they get off the coach?
The ability to adapt and change, accept criticism and acknowledge your own misgivings is as vital as anything in management, and for Smith to become a top manager or coach he must do the same and there are signs that he might.

I was on the verge of giving up on him after Watford, there is a long way to go but my hope that he becomes a Villa great has been restored and I pray my faith is repaid.

[PeterWithesShin]

I don't think it was his decision not to play a striker, it was more a case of we only had Indy and Cam as fit strikers.

[chrisw1]

It was a good battling display against an excellent side, but I can't get over excited about it being a Deano tactical masterclass.  Puttting 10 men behond the ball and inviting the opposition on for 90 mins was the sort of stuff Bruce used to get slated for.  Our inability to get out showed our midfield just aren't functioning.

Quite right but that's down to the players in the middle being sub standard last night. It was no tactical masterclass as you say but Smith showed bravery last night when it would've been easier to be cautious. He showed his intransigence and rather cowardly side in persisting with his formation pre NYD but that change has given this season a lift and some optimism for the future and his decision not to play an out and out striker was a risk that more or less paid off. He could have left one of our two best players on the bench but didn't. How many managers have we bemoaned for being over cautious, particularly when up against it in cup games, almost waving the white flag as they get off the coach?
The ability to adapt and change, accept criticism and acknowledge your own misgivings is as vital as anything in management, and for Smith to become a top manager or coach he must do the same and there are signs that he might.

I was on the verge of giving up on him after Watford, there is a long way to go but my hope that he becomes a Villa great has been restored and I pray my faith is repaid.

I'm sorry but I hate this word 'cowardly' that keeps getting thrown about in here and your use of it is just bollocks.  Playing 10 men behind the ball is not brave and if we had lost as we could easily have done were it not for some excellent saves and blocks, then people may well have said it was waving a white flag.  If you invite pressure for 90 mins more often than not you will lose.  It was a good backs to the wall performance, but tactically brave?  Not for me. 

And arguably sticking to your principals when under pressure as Smith did pre new year can be brave not cowardly.  I'm not saying he shouldn't have made some changes earlier in the season, but not doing so was nothing to do with being a coward.

[Nev]

It was a good battling display against an excellent side, but I can't get over excited about it being a Deano tactical masterclass.  Puttting 10 men behond the ball and inviting the opposition on for 90 mins was the sort of stuff Bruce used to get slated for.  Our inability to get out showed our midfield just aren't functioning.

Quite right but that's down to the players in the middle being sub standard last night. It was no tactical masterclass as you say but Smith showed bravery last night when it would've been easier to be cautious. He showed his intransigence and rather cowardly side in persisting with his formation pre NYD but that change has given this season a lift and some optimism for the future and his decision not to play an out and out striker was a risk that more or less paid off. He could have left one of our two best players on the bench but didn't. How many managers have we bemoaned for being over cautious, particularly when up against it in cup games, almost waving the white flag as they get off the coach?
The ability to adapt and change, accept criticism and acknowledge your own misgivings is as vital as anything in management, and for Smith to become a top manager or coach he must do the same and there are signs that he might.

I was on the verge of giving up on him after Watford, there is a long way to go but my hope that he becomes a Villa great has been restored and I pray my faith is repaid.

I'm sorry but I hate this word 'cowardly' that keeps getting thrown about in here and your use of it is just bollocks.  Playing 10 men behind the ball is not brave and if we had lost as we could easily have done were it not for some excellent saves and blocks, then people may well have said it was waving a white flag.  If you invite pressure for 90 mins more often than not you will lose.  It was a good backs to the wall performance, but tactically brave?  Not for me. 

And arguably sticking to your principals when under pressure as Smith did pre new year can be brave not cowardly.  I'm not saying he shouldn't have made some changes earlier in the season, but not doing so was nothing to do with being a coward.

So how should he have played it then? We'd have been well beaten if we'd have played more openly, we've already seen it this season and to not learn from that would've been foolish. They have better players and are a better team than us, that doesn't make them unbeatable but over two games they would always be the likely winners but last nights result brings it down to a single game at home.
But for the blocks and saves, yes we would have been beaten, but for the bar we might've won the game. Had we taken a beating, my disappointment would've been tempered by the fact that we played our best team.

There have been and probably will be opportunities to hammer Smith but in this case he got a result and fair fucks to him.

[Clark W Griswold]

Yep, swap Nakamba, Luiz and Trez for Viera, Keane and Henry and we'd have fuckin' hammered 'em.

[chrisw1]

I'm not saying he should have played it differently, the results speaks for itself.  I'm just saying it was no tactical masterclass nor was it particulaly brave.  I'm also saying there was nothing cowardly about the way we were setting up before.