Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Risso]

We've averaging nearly two goals a game conceded lately, conceding far too may chances for the opposition and chances created by us have dried right up. So even if you ignore the only real "metric" that matters, ie points, the rest are garbage as well.

[Drummond]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

[ChicagoLion]

The thing is, if we had secured more points from winning positions we would not be having this debate.
This is for me the big issue regarding Smiths management ability. This w
Has been a constant over the last 2 seasons.

[Drummond]

We've averaging nearly two goals a game conceded lately, conceding far too may chances for the opposition and chances created by us have dried right up. So even if you ignore the only real "metric" that matters, ie points, the rest are garbage as well.

Without looking up stats for mid-table teams in the last few weeks of a season, I'd hazard a guess that our form and frailty in that regard is pretty common.

[algy]

But the new narrative now is ‘well we’ve improved this season, what did you expect‘
Well I expected more last season for a start
Where we are now is where we should’ve been last year
I’ve heard all the excuses of why we aren’t and I’m not bothered it’s not a race to the bottom

I won't quote everything but this bit, for me, shows a lack of understanding of what happens to play off winners. Since the formation of the premier league well over half of teams promoted from the play offs have been relegated the next season. A team that finishes 3-6 in the championship is out of its depth in the premier league and the only way around that is to spend big on improving the squad but that comes with it's own dangers of "doing a Fulham" because you're going into a very competitive league with a squad that are still getting to know each other.

a play off team not going back down is always an achievement, history shows that clearly.

Also I'd add, last season we spent a lot, but it was spread out over a large number of players (didn't it average about £10m per player?  Which in Premier League terms is peanuts).

Think it's always worth judging the squad based on who the worst players are in it, and who the middling players are.  Last season, that's probably the likes of Jota or Henri Lansbury - both utterly useless at this level.  Conor Hourihane was probably one of the middling players in that squad, a player who most people agree is somewhere in that too-good-for-the-championship zone.  Basically we had a squad mostly of good Championship players, with a handful of players who were Premier League standard.

Then this season.  Our worst players now are probably the remnants of the Championship squad (Elmo, Taylor), plus a couple of the budget buys from the season before (Marv, Trez).  All can and have done a job at PL level, and would be really standout players in the Championship.  Our middling players are probably Ross Barkley, Morgan Sanson, El Goalzie, Bertie Traore - all players who are good enough on their day, but have varying degrees of inconsistency.

I'd expect this summer, we're shipping off the last of the players who have a hint of 'relegation battle' about them.  We're pushing the inconsistent players down to being ones we don't need to call upon regularly, and making the middle tier of players look like ones who can consistently do a job at this level even if they don't always excel - thinking John McGinn in particular there.

I dunno, it just feels to me like we're moving forward, the squad overall is definitely getting stronger, and we're not losing any of our better players at the moment -- we're getting rid of the players we want to get rid of, and that to me suggests that probably Dean is the right person for the job since he'll be a huge influence in keeping them at the club & happy.

[Risso]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I wouldn't get rid of him to bring in somebody like Dyche or Howe, no, but I'd love to see a big hitter appointed to really try to shift us forward more quickly.  Smith has been lucky to inherit a freak of nature like Grealish, but without him we seem completely devoid of ideas, and I don't think Smith is the bloke to attract the sort of big names we need.

[Toronto Villa]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I wouldn't get rid of him to bring in somebody like Dyche or Howe, no, but I'd love to see a big hitter appointed to really try to shift us forward more quickly.  Smith has been lucky to inherit a freak of nature like Grealish, but without him we seem completely devoid of ideas, and I don't think Smith is the bloke to attract the sort of big names we need.

I hope that the players we are going after would be able to flourish under a better manager should one be needed and/or appointed. For too long we bought players specific to the manager. The one thing I have been impressed with at Leicester is that players bought since they won the title have been for the most part quality footballers and now with a better manager they have improved further. With the likes of Martinez, Konsa, Watkins, Cash, Targett as examples they will do well with Smith or anyone else for that matter. We need to keep getting in players of that level and better to progress.

[sickbeggar]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I don't. Lots of areas of criticism of him or his coaching/tactics is valid though, except hopefully its part of the learning curve for Smith.  I hate this line because I've disagreed with it lots of times in the past, but who is there better at the moment? If the club decided to spend 200m this summer to go for a CL place and wanted a "name" manager then I could understand their thinking in changing him. If they gave him 200m anyway and he struggled then I would understand them sacking him as well. But I look at our squad and its not a top5 squad and if every transfer Smith had made had come off I still don't think it would be a top5 squad.

[Drummond]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I wouldn't get rid of him to bring in somebody like Dyche or Howe, no, but I'd love to see a big hitter appointed to really try to shift us forward more quickly.  Smith has been lucky to inherit a freak of nature like Grealish, but without him we seem completely devoid of ideas, and I don't think Smith is the bloke to attract the sort of big names we need.

We'd all like to move forward more quickly, it's been far too long since we truly challenged. If Smith continues with the momentum he's had so far we'll be top 6 next season.

[Drummond]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I don't. Lots of areas of criticism of him or his coaching/tactics is valid though, except hopefully its part of the learning curve for Smith.  I hate this line because I've disagreed with it lots of times in the past, but who is there better at the moment? If the club decided to spend 200m this summer to go for a CL place and wanted a "name" manager then I could understand their thinking in changing him. If they gave him 200m anyway and he struggled then I would understand them sacking him as well. But I look at our squad and its not a top5 squad and if every transfer Smith had made had come off I still don't think it would be a top5 squad.

I agree, he has got things wrong, doesn't every manager? He's got a lot right too, but that appears to be glossed over.

He keeps moving us up the table and we can then attract better players. If course a couple of better results of late could have had us pushing for Top 8 and there's bound to be some disappointment that we've dropped off the pace a bit. New and better players will help too.

[Risso]

I agree, he has got things wrong, doesn't every manager? He's got a lot right too, but that appears to be glossed over.

He keeps moving us up the table and we can then attract better players. If course a couple of better results of late could have had us pushing for Top 8 and there's bound to be some disappointment that we've dropped off the pace a bit. New and better players will help too.

We've more than dropped off the pace a bit. The second half of this season has been very nearly as bad as the second half of last season, and we didn't have Martinez or Watkins then.

[Drummond]

I agree, he has got things wrong, doesn't every manager? He's got a lot right too, but that appears to be glossed over.

He keeps moving us up the table and we can then attract better players. If course a couple of better results of late could have had us pushing for Top 8 and there's bound to be some disappointment that we've dropped off the pace a bit. New and better players will help too.

We've more than dropped off the pace a bit. The second half of this season has been very nearly as bad as the second half of last season, and we didn't have Martinez or Watkins then.

So is the first half of the season the minimum we should have expected or were we punching above our weight?

[LeeB]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I wouldn't get rid of him to bring in somebody like Dyche or Howe, no, but I'd love to see a big hitter appointed to really try to shift us forward more quickly.  Smith has been lucky to inherit a freak of nature like Grealish, but without him we seem completely devoid of ideas, and I don't think Smith is the bloke to attract the sort of big names we need.

Everton have the biggest profile of manager we or anybody in our position could possibly get, yet it doesn't seem to have made much difference. I'd had a look around their forum after the last couple of games and most of them were bemoaning that despite expensive signings and a top coach there was no clear idea of how they were set up to play, unlike their opponents.

[hipkiss92]

I agree, he has got things wrong, doesn't every manager? He's got a lot right too, but that appears to be glossed over.

He keeps moving us up the table and we can then attract better players. If course a couple of better results of late could have had us pushing for Top 8 and there's bound to be some disappointment that we've dropped off the pace a bit. New and better players will help too.

We've more than dropped off the pace a bit. The second half of this season has been very nearly as bad as the second half of last season, and we didn't have Martinez or Watkins then.

If my sums are right, we've taken 23 points in the last 22 games. If we'd have done that last year we probably wouldn't have spent the last year hearing about hawkeye being the only that kept us up.

We're effectively at a point now where 20/21 Aston Villa without Grealish = 19/20 Aston Villa with Grealish, which is an improvement.

[chrisw1]

I'm interested, to know if anyone wants him sacked before the start of next season. My interpretation of some of the language used suggests so.

I don't deny our form hasn't been great recently but he has proven how good it can be. With better players as we'll surely buy in the summer we should be looking top 8 next season. If we don't buy a central midfielder and more creativity up front/on the wing I think we'll be hard pressed to improve.

I don't want him sacked right now, but if an exciting alternative became available I'd want to seriously consider it.

I'd absolutely love Smith to be a big long term success, but I am struggling to get over the fact that we've been poor for such long spells in both his seasons in the top flight.  I get that there are mitigating circumstances, but notwithstanding petty arguments over sematics, my eye test tells me we've been playing like a relegation team for a long time now.  If we start poorly next season I wouldn't be waiting long to pull the trigger.  I've got mixed feelings about giving him the summer if we're going to spend big, but given we have a recruitiment team leading the strategy it probably isn't too much of a problem.

I think I'm mainly just so frustrated about what a fantastic opportunity we've blown this season.  Yes we're staying up and yes I'd have taken 11th, but we only had to have an average second half of the season and we'd have put ourselves in a much stronger position to attract players, retain Jack and really kick on.  It's a reasonable placing, but feels like a failure.