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Author Topic: Dean Smith - Confirmed  (Read 1522152 times)

Offline Risso

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10755 on: November 13, 2020, 06:01:59 PM »
If anybody had offered me 5 wins from the first 7 games this year I would have, not only, bitten their hands off but possibly have gnawed mightily on their calves and nibbled lightly around their ears.  Dean has brought a breath of fresh air to this club that has been missing since the Brian Little revolution.  Long may he reign.

Yes.

I agree with Sexual Ealing.

Online Lastfootstamper

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10756 on: November 13, 2020, 06:19:10 PM »
Yet again Dave W you have got it spectacularly wrong - my comment  earlier was nothing to do with an emotion state and everything to do with fact.

How is it a fact? It led to a goal, that the goal was disallowed doesn't mean the tactic didn't work, it just means it didn't result in the goal it very easily could've. Does a player not count as having given away a penalty if it gets missed?

I’m not convinced it is a great tactic but it did work this week.

I like it. Teams that don't do it are the equivalent of that misery-arse in the pub who when he breaks in a game of pool only knocks two balls out of the pack.

Online john e

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10757 on: November 18, 2020, 07:50:20 AM »
I was just talking to my Daughter about the last time we saw Villa play live,
it was was the Wembley final against Man City

we both said the team we have now would have beaten City on that day
not saying we are better than City now but they didn’t overrun us that day and with the extra quality we have now we’d have won that cup

Only saying this because we have the team in the making to start believing we can win trophies again
we really do need to put something in the trophy cabinet in the next few years


Offline OCD

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10758 on: November 18, 2020, 12:13:50 PM »
Just need to add some strength in depth to add cover and competition for places.

Offline purpletrousers

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10759 on: November 20, 2020, 01:45:27 AM »
If anybody had offered me 5 wins from the first 7 games this year I would have, not only, bitten their hands off but possibly have gnawed mightily on their calves and nibbled lightly around their ears.  Dean has brought a breath of fresh air to this club that has been missing since the Brian Little revolution.  Long may he reign.

Yes.

Uh-huh.

oh yeah
Always there to confuse and fool you

Offline OCD

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10760 on: December 07, 2020, 12:31:13 PM »
Good article in the Athletic on the upside of using a small squad -

There’s a statistic Dean Smith will forever be in awe of: Aston Villa winning the First Division title in 1981 by using just 14 players.

It’s an incredible achievement — almost unbelievable, really — and will never be repeated unless there’s an alteration to the game as implausible as the feat in discussion.

Members of that famous side, who would go on to win the European Cup the following year, recall tales of playing with bumps and bruises on pitches that were sometimes frozen and other times carrying standing water.

But for the 90-minute format, where 11 players take on another 11 players in a bid to outscore each other, it’s football a million miles away from how we know it today.

Footballers rarely play with injuries or on pitches that are likely to lead to injury these days, and managers, of course, like to take full advantage of their 25-man Premier League squad, as well as their crop of emerging youngsters. Liverpool used 24 players in their most recent title-winning season, for example, and have already fielded 23 difference faces in this campaign.

The game has dramatically changed, yet the same benefits can be gained today as they did all those years ago by sticking with a small group of players who get to know each other that little bit better than their rivals.

Villa have found themselves operating with a core group of 13 players this season and while they won’t be repeating the heroics of those who wore a claret-and-blue shirt 40 years ago, they could still end up reaping some rewards.

“When you play every game with the same players, you quickly learn where to help out your team-mate in areas of weakness or where to get the most out of one of your strengths,” Dennis Mortimer, one of seven ever-present players in the 1981 title-winning team, tells The Athletic.

“Our strength was as a team. We all realised what we did and didn’t do well, and over time, we were able to use that when we needed it the most.”

There are other examples of how sticking with a tried and trusted side works in the long run.

When discussing Leicester City’s title-winning season in 2015-16, where the champions favoured a particular starting XI but still ended up using 23 players in total, boss Claudio Ranieri said: “Why do I have to change? Yes, I am Tinkerman but I am not stupid.”

Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo also prefers a small squad and explained his reasons last season, saying: “It’s our idea of having a strong and compact squad that allows us to make good decisions. If it’s the same players, over and over again, training together, passing the ball to each other, timing their runs; all these small details that can help, so a deep knowledge of your team-mates it really helps with the tasks he has to do. It’s our philosophy.“

Of course, it’s easy to highlight the success stories but less so when a team is struggling.

Villa flew out of the traps this season, winning the first four league games — but have since lost four of the last five. Still, they have used the fewest amount of players (18) in the Premier League this season, only four bodies more than that mighty lot of 1981, and the season is only nine games old.

Admittedly, though, Ahmed Elmohamady (35 minutes), Marvelous Nakamba (13), Jacob Ramsey (14), Anwar El Ghazi (35) and Keinan Davis (28) haven’t started a game and are very much bit-part players.

Villa find themselves leaning heavily on a small group of 13. The goalkeeper, Emi Martinez, has started all nine Premier League games so far, as have the back four of Matty Cash, Ezri Konsa, Tyrone Mings and Matt Targett, with Douglas Luiz as the holding midfielder, John McGinn in another midfield position, Jack Grealish on the left wing and Ollie Watkins up front.

That leaves one midfield position available — where, if fit, Ross Barkley plays, and if not, is filled by Conor Hourihane — and the right wing, where Trezeguet has started eight out of nine games, with Bertrand Traore adding an alternative option.

Villa have only changed players in the two positions mentioned above. They have also made the fewest amount of changes (four) to their starting line-ups in the Premier League. So, how do they start making those limited changes count in a 4-3-3 system that rarely changes?

Pundit Danny Murphy referred back to when Leicester were able to master their choice of formation — a 4-4-2 system — in 2015-16, telling the BBC: “For it to work well, you need to develop little partnerships all over the pitch. For example, the relationship between the right-back and right midfielder has to be spot on. The best example I can think of that in the past 25 years is at Manchester United, when they had Gary Neville and David Beckham.”

Villa need to find those partnerships of their own in their own system.

Konsa and Mings have shown signs of promise but the defending in general over the past few games has been disappointing, with Villa looking vulnerable at set pieces. Cash and Trezeguet haven’t been as solid down the right side, either.

Barkley’s expected return within the next fortnight will help in attacking areas and certainly make Villa more of a goal threat. The way he was linking up with Grealish before his injury was both exciting and impressive but there needs to be other success stories on the pitch, too.

In this period leading up to Christmas and before the transfer window opens, Villa will continue to stick it out with a bunch of familiar faces. In the 2-1 defeat at West Ham, there was no striker or centre-half on the substitutes bench. With Kortney Hause and Bjorn Engels out injured, defensive reinforcements are thin. The attacking areas of the squad are also limited and ideally need addressing in the next transfer window, even if Barkley and Wesley are scheduled to return in the not-so-distant future.

Four defeats in five suggests Villa are wobbling but they have only lost by a single goal in three of those games and have been on the end of controversial stoppage-time VAR decisions in the last two games.

Villa were also impressive last time out, so can they start turning around results and learning from each other’s mistakes? Smith certainly thinks so and believes his side are stronger than last season.

“We are definitely better,” says Smith. “I have said before; you come into the first season in the Premier League and I felt we had five top players at the time and an opportunity for others to grow.

“Now, this second season, I feel we have eight or nine top players and others who can grow. It takes time. You have to be in the Premier League for three or four years before you can grow that squad to being experienced.”

Offline itbrvilla

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10761 on: December 10, 2020, 11:21:04 AM »
I think Dean is featured on Football Focus this Saturday

Offline Risso

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10762 on: December 10, 2020, 12:59:54 PM »
I think we really need to stop the rot on Saturday, as otherwise what looked like a good beginning to the season from Smith and the team starts to look distinctly less so. 

Offline Mister E

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10763 on: December 10, 2020, 02:05:54 PM »
I think we really need to stop the rot on Saturday, as otherwise what looked like a good beginning to the season from Smith and the team starts to look distinctly less so. 
There's also the loss of psychological confidence into a more pessimistic mindset amongst players when the straights wins become straight losses. We need to turn this around before we move into the quick-fire run of Xmas / New Year games.

Offline Dave P

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10764 on: December 13, 2020, 10:17:24 AM »
I just put in the Wolves post match thread that it’s so refreshing that being a man down away from home in a tight game doesn’t mean shutting up shop. We have reaped rewards overall with Dean’s tactics and bravery and long may it continue. If he continues this philosophy with better players year after year, then we could be on the cusp of something special.

Online dave.woodhall

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10765 on: December 13, 2020, 10:22:12 AM »
I just put in the Wolves post match thread that it’s so refreshing that being a man down away from home in a tight game doesn’t mean shutting up shop. We have reaped rewards overall with Dean’s tactics and bravery and long may it continue. If he continues this philosophy with better players year after year, then we could be on the cusp of something special.

That's twice this season we've won away in stoppage time by attacking rather than holding on for a point. It might cost us a defeat next time but it's still the best approach.

Offline Hookeysmith

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10766 on: December 13, 2020, 10:49:03 AM »
100% agree

Compare that to the teams put out by McCleish and Bruce I would take this everytime

Offline AV82EC

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10767 on: December 13, 2020, 11:28:56 AM »
Old Villa going back as long as I remember would have been happy with a point each at West Ham and Wolves. New Villa seem to be try and win the game and end up win one, lose one. Net result +1 points.

 

Offline West Derby Villan

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10768 on: December 13, 2020, 01:37:30 PM »
Certainly agree with that, so refreshing to watch an attacking strategy at the end of a game. As said before reaping the benefits with 6 points instead of 2. Well played Dean Smith

Offline Clampy

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Re: Dean Smith - Confirmed
« Reply #10769 on: December 13, 2020, 02:10:34 PM »
I just put in the Wolves post match thread that it’s so refreshing that being a man down away from home in a tight game doesn’t mean shutting up shop. We have reaped rewards overall with Dean’s tactics and bravery and long may it continue. If he continues this philosophy with better players year after year, then we could be on the cusp of something special.

Yep. He could have easily thrown on a defensive midfielder when Doug went off, but he stuck with what he had and it paid off. A lot of credit due there.

 


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