Dean Smith - Confirmed

[colin69]

Unfortunately I’m beginning to think Dean may not cut it at this level. His starting line up was all wrong as were his subs. What the hell is Barkley even doing in the squad let alone coming on, completely useless. I feel very sorry for Davis who deserves to be starting games.

[paul_e]

Recog

Another one down to Smith.
Poor team selection, even though we were extremely lucky to go in a goal up, he did nothing to help the team. Stubbornness and lack of game management are  his major failings and I don’t think you can get to the top 6 with those traits.

What game management should we have done?

Recognising at h-t that despite being ahead we were lucky and that Traore and Trezeguet were offering nothing.

Our defence is fantastic and so is Watkins but our midfield is piss weak.

Shore up the midfield and make it hard for Liverpool to play through us.

Everyone on here wants Villa to be successful. Giving our opponents the run of the midfield game after game and not even trying to change it is a problem.

Playing wingers who do nothing  is a problem.

Except one of those wingers that you were desperate to see taken off hit the post and should've won us a penalty. They also didn't have the run of midfield in the 2nd half, both goals were quick counter attacks after we gave the ball away too cheaply around their box. The 2nd in particular was shockingly poor play from Ross who dithered on the ball, didn't play the pass he should've and then stood around sulking instead of making any effort to get back.

My only major criticism of Smith today was bringing on Barkley who was comfortably the worst player on the pitch today.

[Nunkin1965]

Absolutely no chance of us finishing top 6 with gormless in charge. Get rid.

Nice to see you making up for lost time.

I don't know why you take any criticism of Smith so personally. You like him, I don't. He's still in charge, so you're winning, technically.

Nice gormless quote there Axel.
Maybe you need a little patience?

[FatSam]

Absolutely no chance of us finishing top 6 with gormless in charge. Get rid.

I don’t think Smith deserves to be called gormless, especially by one of his own supporters.

[ChicagoLion]

Recog

Another one down to Smith.
Poor team selection, even though we were extremely lucky to go in a goal up, he did nothing to help the team. Stubbornness and lack of game management are  his major failings and I don’t think you can get to the top 6 with those traits.

What game management should we have done?

Recognising at h-t that despite being ahead we were lucky and that Traore and Trezeguet were offering nothing.

Our defence is fantastic and so is Watkins but our midfield is piss weak.

Shore up the midfield and make it hard for Liverpool to play through us.

Everyone on here wants Villa to be successful. Giving our opponents the run of the midfield game after game and not even trying to change it is a problem.

Playing wingers who do nothing  is a problem.

absolutely, and doing nothing about it.

[Axl Rose]

Yes, let's sack a manager because we haven't gone from 17th to 6th in a season.

I agree with you.

By the way, you don't have to defend him in every post that he's condemned. You aren't friends.

Thanks for the advice, step up from crying and calling me a twat.

I'm not entirely sure about the crying part, but the character description, I stand by. You won't be getting an apology that's for sure.

Please don't talk to me. I'm only just back from a ban and I'd prefer not to interact with you

[Axl Rose]

Absolutely no chance of us finishing top 6 with gormless in charge. Get rid.

Nice to see you making up for lost time.

I don't know why you take any criticism of Smith so personally. You like him, I don't. He's still in charge, so you're winning, technically.

Nice gormless quote there Axel.
Maybe you need a little patience?

Maybe mate, yes. I am a bit of an impatient swine at times. Have a good night, mate.

[Sexual Ealing]

Unfortunately I’m beginning to think Dean may not cut it at this level. His starting line up was all wrong as were his subs. What the hell is Barkley even doing in the squad let alone coming on, completely useless. I feel very sorry for Davis who deserves to be starting games.

We lost to the champions, who scored an injury time winner. We didn't play that well but we kept at them and he made attacking subs - there was no MON/Bruce-style hanging on and hoping for a point.

I like Davis, and I'd have brought him on, but what in the universe has he done to 'deserve to be starting games'?!

[SoccerHQ]

Trez played well second half and was a square post away from scoring.

How did game management lead to them winning? They had a lot of the ball, didn't really dominate territory, didn't make the keeper make any saves, didn't put us under any sustained pressure what so ever. So how did the manager and their absence of "game management" lead to that winner?

I agree today no real issue other than not trusting Davis despite being excellent in his cameo last week.

Desperately need a striker in the squad that will be trusted to come on in every game next season regardless of score or opposition.

[Risso]

Nice gormless quote there Axel.
Maybe you need a little patience?

It's the perfect description of his face when he's stood on the touchline wondering what to do.

[RamboandBruno]

Another one down to Smith.
Poor team selection, even though we were extremely lucky to go in a goal up, he did nothing to help the team. Stubbornness and lack of game management are  his major failings and I don’t think you can get to the top 6 with those traits.

Can’t agree with this, we were the better team after they equalised, in fact the two shots that led to the winner, are the only ones I remember them having in the last 30 minutes. I’ve never felt so comfortable watching us at Anfield as the 2nd half.
Two subs were forced by injuries, I’m not sure what you expected him to do.

you were watching a different game to me, we looked confused without structure for pretty much the whole game.

Fair enough it’s about opinions. But I can’t think of one occasion when they had a shot between them equalising on 55 and getting the winner on 90.
In terms of game management he brought on Barkley for Nakamba, presumably as he thought we could retain possession more and push for a winner. We might not all agree with that substitution in terms of personnel, but Smith was being proactive.
I thought Trezs shot was in and I don’t see Liverpool coming back from that if it is.
We weren’t brilliant, but nor were they and as I said I personally felt it was comfortable.
Always a sickener giving away a last minute goal, and I as gutted as anyone, but I honestly can’t understand some of the hysteria on here or the match thread/post match thread. That’s not aimed at you by the way.
We’re 4 points off a European place.

[Ketzster]

I tend to fall on the Axl Rose side of the argument. It is incredibly frustrating having a manager that never really makes any changes other than the like for like substitutions. We keep hearing he is learning, but is he really? I don’t see it because you know it will always be 4-3-3, no matter who we are playing and no matter what the situation in the game is normally. We don’t have the squad to do that. Liverpool can for example because they have better players than most teams in the league. Personally I do wonder whether we are wasting a golden opportunity. We’ve got owners who spend a fortune and it just feels like we are wasting the chance to do something. Eventually the owners might stop spending so much and will we look back and think if only they’d gone and given that money to a top manager?

[Risso]

Unfortunately I’m beginning to think Dean may not cut it at this level. His starting line up was all wrong as were his subs. What the hell is Barkley even doing in the squad let alone coming on, completely useless. I feel very sorry for Davis who deserves to be starting games.

We lost to the champions, who scored an injury time winner. We didn't play that well but we kept at them and he made attacking subs - there was no MON/Bruce-style hanging on and hoping for a point.

I like Davis, and I'd have brought him on, but what in the universe has he done to 'deserve to be starting games'?!

You could say the same about Traore, but he starts every week, despite being absolutely terrible, week in, week out.

[dave.woodhall]

Would you really change the formation and tactics just to accommodate Keinan Davis?

[Ads]

Trez played well second half and was a square post away from scoring.

How did game management lead to them winning? They had a lot of the ball, didn't really dominate territory, didn't make the keeper make any saves, didn't put us under any sustained pressure what so ever. So how did the manager and their absence of "game management" lead to that winner?

I agree today no real issue other than not trusting Davis despite being excellent in his cameo last week.

Desperately need a striker in the squad that will be trusted to come on in every game next season regardless of score or opposition.

I wonder if they realised how bad Wesley's injury was back in the summer. Its 15 and a half months now.