Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Meanwood Villa]

Fair enough LeeB, I have read some of the defence of the team selection in the post match thread and found myself agreeing with some of the points made. E.g. giving youngsters valuable game time, chances to likes of Hause and Sanson to stake claim for first team place.

I just know the same will happen in the FA cup and we're then 27 years without a trophy. And so it goes on. I'm sorry but I don't see us breaking into the cabal of trophy winning teams any time soon so every chance we have is precious and they keep getting squandered.

[Ads]

I guess the alternative, if we'd played a stronger line up or taken one of our chances, Lukaku comes on 20 minutes earlier and the same thing happens as the Saturday before last.

[Risso]

I guess the alternative, if we'd played a stronger line up or taken one of our chances, Lukaku comes on 20 minutes earlier and the same thing happens as the Saturday before last.

There’s no way of knowing, but generally the stronger team you put out, the better you do. And I wonder if Hause has emptied his pockets to find Lukaku still in there with his car keys and chewing gum?!

[SoccerHQ]

Had no issue whatsoever with the team.

Only little query is we didn't have likes of Ings and perhaps Luiz on bench to put on to take a penalty (which is basically what happened with Konsa).

That was a little strange to me considering there's no extra time anymore in these rounds so much bigger chance of game being decided by pens and we were left with 2-3 inexperienced penalty takers which was the difference in the end compared to what Chelsea had.

[Ger Regan]

It's always crap to lose like we did last night, but if it gives a clear pathway to first team opportunities for a number of very promising youngsters, then i think it's worth it. It's not really chucking the competition, considering how close we came to winning, but it's seeing a bigger, longer term picture.

[Risso]

It's always crap to lose like we did last night, but if it gives a clear pathway to first team opportunities for a number of very promising youngsters, then i think it's worth it. It's not really chucking the competition, considering how close we came to winning, but it's seeing a bigger, longer term picture.

The trouble is the ability to play them in further rounds has now gone, which defeats the object. It’s why I think a bit more balance was called for.

[SoccerHQ]

If we got to quarters we'd be starting Ings and Watkins I'm sure.

When we played Liverpool under 12s in the QFs a two seasons back we played pretty strong 11 IIRC.

Archer showed last night he'll be above Davis in pecking order for rest of the season and rightly so. He'll get 10-15 minutes off bench for a few prem games we're winning I reckon in next 3 months so that's the way to bring him on and hopefully he can score another goal or two.

Then could loan him out in January to championship club for regular starts.

[Risso]

The decision to give Davis a new contract was completely inexplicable. He’s an OK player but a crap goal scorer, and he’s always injured. The club get so much right that this was really odd. He’s now behind Watkins, Ings and Archer in the striker pecking order, even when he is fit enough to play, which is never.

[Ger Regan]

It's always crap to lose like we did last night, but if it gives a clear pathway to first team opportunities for a number of very promising youngsters, then i think it's worth it. It's not really chucking the competition, considering how close we came to winning, but it's seeing a bigger, longer term picture.

The trouble is the ability to play them in further rounds has now gone, which defeats the object. It’s why I think a bit more balance was called for.

That's fair enough, but when you consider that one change was enforced (and doubt anyone would argue with Carney being put on for Sanson, especially with McGinn out), Konsa for Cash was another change made, so the only question mark really is around whether Watkins should have come on for Traore (assuming he came off due to fitness / minor injury issues), and I'm not convinced that would have made the difference needed, particularly if he would have needed to play further out wide. Obviously hard to tell, but the way events unfolded it's debatable.

[Footy-Vill]

Dean Smith I feel making his mark now with this team. Playing his brand of football.
Attacking wise there has been some delightful interplay and the energy and enthusiasm the team has is great to see.

[Allan C]

Absolutely terrific night
The team were fantastic, Proud to be Villa last night

But I do agree with others Tuchel wanted it more than Smith and that is difficult to write when our team haven’t won anything for 25 years
Who knows what would have happened either way
But the simple truth is Tuchel wanted it more because he put his bigger hitters on the bench just in case, where ours were sitting at home tickling their balls

Yes they have a bigger squad but he didn’t put squad members on the bench he put his biggest stars
When you think that the carabao cup must be a long way down the list of priorities for Chelsea I think Smith must learn here
Tuchel is an absolute ruthless winner that’s the difference

yeah, I had no problem with Archer starting but if Chelsea can risk Lukaku for 15 minutes at the end of the game before Man City this weekend, then you'd think we'd have the option of Wakins or Ings to come off the bench for 15 mins

If he'd done that and they'd pick up a knock, he'd have got crucified for it.

There's an element of 'can't win' to this type of situation for clubs in our position.

Exactly this, can you imagine the outcry if either had got injured??

[Ian.]

Dean Smith I feel making his mark now with this team. Playing his brand of football.
Attacking wise there has been some delightful interplay and the energy and enthusiasm the team has is great to see.

Definitely Footy, although we seem to have a more conservative formation from the start, we really do seem far more aggressive and playing some lovely football.

[john e]

Absolutely terrific night
The team were fantastic, Proud to be Villa last night

But I do agree with others Tuchel wanted it more than Smith and that is difficult to write when our team haven’t won anything for 25 years
Who knows what would have happened either way
But the simple truth is Tuchel wanted it more because he put his bigger hitters on the bench just in case, where ours were sitting at home tickling their balls

Yes they have a bigger squad but he didn’t put squad members on the bench he put his biggest stars
When you think that the carabao cup must be a long way down the list of priorities for Chelsea I think Smith must learn here
Tuchel is an absolute ruthless winner that’s the difference

yeah, I had no problem with Archer starting but if Chelsea can risk Lukaku for 15 minutes at the end of the game before Man City this weekend, then you'd think we'd have the option of Wakins or Ings to come off the bench for 15 mins

If he'd done that and they'd pick up a knock, he'd have got crucified for it.

There's an element of 'can't win' to this type of situation for clubs in our position.

Exactly this, can you imagine the outcry if either had got injured??

he who dares though init
Tuchel risked a 100mill player in a cup competition that even their own fans won’t be to bothered about winning
it could have been a catastrophe
Where as we don’t think it’s worth risking some of our bigger players

that’s the difference Tuchel is a cold blooded 100% winner at all costs manager
He don’t like losing and is prepared to risk it all

some might think it crazy but there you go

[Sexual Ealing]

Tuchel is a (brilliant) manager of 22 world class, financially-doped, players, whose priority is the league and the Champion's League. Dean Smith is the head coach of a club that's policy is to recruit the best young players in the country and develop them into first-team players, or to sell them on at a profit. They're both doing excellent jobs.

[London Villan]

Same with Man city and the reason they’ve won an “insignificant” trophy so many times over the last few years.