Dean Smith - Confirmed

[OCD]

After yesterday a lot of fans were probably checking their fixture list to see when they'll be playing them.

[Dave P]

After yesterday a lot of fans were probably checking their fixture list to see when they'll be playing them.

Like I did by checking when we had Man Utd.

[kippaxvilla2]

The transformation in a short space of time is extraordinary. I’ve been going for 30 years and I can’t remember a better performance than that off the top of my head. The Villa just tore them to shreds. People will talk about Liverpool and their high line in the media but that’s what they’ve been doing for years. Last Monday they were saying Liverpool wouldn’t lose a game after the Arsenal game so it wasn’t as though it was a Liverpool team that had fallen apart. It was an incredible evening and one that we will never forget, and if he’d been sacked a few months like many of us wanted, a night we wouldn’t have seen. So I’m delighted to have been proved wrong

Totally disagree under Big Sam it would have been 10.

[Smithy]

As others have said, before the Liverpool game I was thinking of it as a 'free hit' with zero expectation on Dean or the players. To me, it was nothing more than a way to see how we'd developed the first 11 from last season, and hopefully to get a goal or two on our way to an almost inevitable defeat. 

Shame on me.

The challenge now, as I see it, is to keep the performance levels up there for the season to come.  There is no way we're going to reproduce that level of performance every week - it's impossible.  But hopefully that has shifted the level for what we consider an "acceptable" performance for the rest of the season. 

We're going to lose games. There'll be games we should win, and won't.  But there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't give everyone we play a proper game.  No more meek surrenders like away at Southampton and Leicester, no more capitulations like Man City at home.  We try and bloody the nose of everyone we play.

Right now, I feel like we have a chance to win every game.  We won't, obviously, but there is no reason at all to fear any side in the league.  And more importantly, the teams we play will now be fearful they might be facing us on a day when we 'click'.

If at the start of the season you'd offered me 9 points clear of relegation and a 14 goal difference better than the best side in the bottom three by Christmas - I'd have snapped your hand off (it would have put us 8th at Xmas last season).

The fact we're there after three games is mind-blowing! :-)

[KevinGage]

I've been critical and had my doubts but I have to say the way they/he  addressed both the management  deficiencies from .last season ( the addition of Shakespeare  with Premiership know how) and the significant upgrades in player recruitment  has been very impressive.

It harks back to the great  days when Saunders improved teams season on season but but also surrounded himself with very able luitenants.

Mr Smith you may well be laying the foundations  to something  very significant.

It's one of the things Fergiescum did well (and no, I'm not suggesting Smith will go on to have a fraction of his or Saunders' success).

Beetroot features was your standard 4-4-2 merchant late 80s to mid 90s with jobs for his mates as assistants up until the late 90s. Then he brought in Steve McLaren (don't laugh) who was the first to use ProZone (individual video analysis for players) and other insights of that nature. Later it was Carlos Queiroz, and they started playing a flexible 4/3/3 with the top three all switching position.

I'm not sure if he was Smith's selection, but Thomas Frank worked under him as assistant at Brentford and is now doing well in his own right.

He seems humble enough to take input from a range of sources and is not afraid to shake it up with a new voice.

[dave.woodhall]

I've been critical and had my doubts but I have to say the way they/he  addressed both the management  deficiencies from .last season ( the addition of Shakespeare  with Premiership know how) and the significant upgrades in player recruitment  has been very impressive.

It harks back to the great  days when Saunders improved teams season on season but but also surrounded himself with very able luitenants.

Mr Smith you may well be laying the foundations  to something  very significant.

It's one of the things Fergiescum did well (and no, I'm not suggesting Smith will go on to have a fraction of his or Saunders' success).

Beetroot features was your standard 4-4-2 merchant late 80s to mid 90s with jobs for his mates as assistants up until the late 90s. Then he brought in Steve McLaren (don't laugh) who was the first to use ProZone (individual video analysis for players) and other insights of that nature. Later it was Carlos Queiroz, and they started playing a flexible 4/3/3 with the top three all switching position.

I'm not sure if he was Smith's selection, but Thomas Frank worked under him as assistant at Brentford and is now doing well in his own right.

He seems humble enough to take input from a range of sources and is not afraid to shake it up with a new voice.

And while Mr Saunders did virtually everything himself, he brought in the best scout in the country and wasn't averse to changing his tactics -moving from an orthodox winger to three strikers with width coming from the full-backs was revolutionary..

[Somniloquism]

As others have said, before the Liverpool game I was thinking of it as a 'free hit' with zero expectation on Dean or the players. To me, it was nothing more than a way to see how we'd developed the first 11 from last season, and hopefully to get a goal or two on our way to an almost inevitable defeat. 

Shame on me.

The challenge now, as I see it, is to keep the performance levels up there for the season to come.  There is no way we're going to reproduce that level of performance every week - it's impossible.  But hopefully that has shifted the level for what we consider an "acceptable" performance for the rest of the season. 

We're going to lose games. There'll be games we should win, and won't.  But there is absolutely no reason we shouldn't give everyone we play a proper game.  No more meek surrenders like away at Southampton and Leicester, no more capitulations like Man City at home.  We try and bloody the nose of everyone we play.

Right now, I feel like we have a chance to win every game.  We won't, obviously, but there is no reason at all to fear any side in the league.  And more importantly, the teams we play will now be fearful they might be facing us on a day when we 'click'.

Totally agree. We outplayed Liverpool because we saw a weakness and exploited it about 12 times in the match and also had that bit of luck you get when you try it. Other teams will put the men behind the ball and tell us to break them down and sometimes we will struggle. However what I have seen from most of our league play this season and post Covid Break, is we now also have a defense at the back we didn't have for most of last season so I'm hoping that if we score one against these teams defensive, it means three pts instead of one or none which happened too many times last season. I also hope that we don't see us score early and sit back as well which happened too much last season.

[fredm]

We also had shots on goal which we didn't do last season. People would get near the penalty area and then pass it to someone else to take responsibility. It was the one thing missing (IMO) from Grealish's locker.  If you have shots they might go wide or over, they might fly in or, as Sunday, you might get a little bit of luck with a deflection.  But if you don't shot you will never get any of this.

[supertom]

On a general note. If the first games of this season have proved anything, it's that no one should be shown too much respect or fear in this division. Fucking get at them. Whether it's liverpool or City, or whoever. We did that and we got rewarded. I think this season as a spectacle will be special.

What's really pleased me about Smith is that he's learned from last season. He's made a clear and concerted effort on our defensive organisation. He's made us more direct and incisive going forward. He's added significant quality in key areas, with seemingly players of a cohesive attitude. It's not peppering players left and right, or anything that feels desperate (conversely, Utd signing Cavani, whether he works or not, looks desperate). We seem well drilled. We seem to have a plan and we seem to be heading in the right direction. That top 6, and places in it are wide open. No we won't win the league, but who's to say we can't have a top half finish and continue to impress?

We've won three games. What has been most impressive? Sheffield Utd down to 10 men. We don't do wins against 10 men. We won. Fulham away. Last season we struggled in winning a lot of the 6 pointers, and we weren't ruthless enough when the momentum was in our favour. We blitzed them 3-0. Likewise, even when we got in an advantage against top 6 sides last season, we all too often retreated and then capitulated. We beat Liverpool 7-2, with a perfectly executed and frankly ruthless, relentless display.

I really think Deano has turned a corner. Lets see how things play out if we go on a run of games without winning, but I hope he's got contingencies. He's had to make a big step up, but he's learned from it and the fact he's outthinking managers now, is very pleasing. Some games we gave too much respect to the opposition, rather than being more pro-active in playing to our strengths. I'd hope we're luckier with injuries too because losing McGinn, our first choice keeper, our striker, Mings, Grealish (for various lengths) was unlucky. I feel like we've got more options to cope now too and players who were warming to the league, are now better for a season under it.

If you're ourselves, among several clubs who (finished below 6th and) have spent well, whilst the supposed big 6 have had indifferent starts, you have to be going for it this season, because potentially it's as wide open as it's been for decades. We seem very positive, likewise Everton. There wil be a couple of surprises within that top 6 I think. I've got that good feeling we had under Little in 95. We've got our best first 11 since Houlliers side, but there's a lot more team unity (which is also a key factor, and again, another positive influence from Deano).

[Mister E]

We've done well. The downside is that opposition managers may spend a little more time on analysing us than perhaps they used to ... it's no longer "get Grealish-stop Villa". I think we can expect rather tougher games than we've had so far.

I think the International break came at a really good time; dampening the hyperbole and giving the players the chance to reflect on the amazingness of that game.

[Risso]

We owe Leicester big time for two abysmal games last year, so I hope we've saved some of the Liverpool game spirit for them.

[RamboandBruno]

We owe Leicester big time for two abysmal games last year, so I hope we've saved some of the Liverpool game spirit for them.

Agree with that. Leicester away was in particular the night I thought we were (wrongly) down. Love to turn them over at their place

[LukeJames]

Our defensive line in the 1-4 at home was horrendous.

Almost as bad as Liverpools on Sunday.

[WilliamStanding]

We don’t owe Leicester a dime, we stayed up and had a day at Wembley at their expense.

They will be not looking forward to playing us.

[SaddVillan]

Saturday is the 2nd Anniversary of Dean Smith's appointment.

1st season - promotion
2nd season - Wembley Final
3rd Season -?

Raise a glass on Saturday, to all that he's done so far.

Then raise a second glass to our future.