Anyone starting to get worried?

[OzVilla]

Mourinho, really?

That’s who I think they’d go for yes.

[Three Spires Villa]

Interesting, but a debate / conversation hopefully we don’t have to have

[Damo70]

I hate to use the dreaded 'F' word but we are starting to sound very fickle very quickly. We might be Aston Villa but right now we are a newly promoted club who have spent the best part of a decade struggling to survive in the Premier League, failing to survive in the Premier League and then battling to get back into the Premier League. The criticism of the manager who got us promoted at the first time of asking is particularly unfair. Seriously, did anybody think this season was going to be a cakewalk?

[pauliewalnuts]

I hate to use the dreaded 'F' word but we are starting to sound very fickle very quickly. We might be Aston Villa but right now we are a newly promoted club who have spent the best part of a decade struggling to survive in the Premier League, failing to survive in the Premier League and then battling to get back into the Premier League. The criticism of the manager who got us promoted at the first time of asking is particularly unfair. Seriously, did anybody think this season was going to be a cakewalk?

You're right, it won't be a cakewalk, which is why thrown away three points like today are so hard to swallow, I guess.

There's nothing wrong with criticising him. We all fuck up, he just needs to not fuck up with the same thing repeatedly, that's the key.

[ChicagoLion]

I really did not expect to see Dean Smith be so passive as his team were being torn apart by 10 men either.

[OzVilla]

Interesting, but a debate / conversation hopefully we don’t have to have

Totally agree, I’d love nothing more than DS to be a massive success and be Villa manager for the next 10 years. It feels so right. But in the meantime he needs a few results on the next 5 games else he might be looking over his shoulder.

[Luke8]

I think he will be given plenty of time. It’s arguable that promotion was achieved ahead of schedule given the position when Dean Smith was appointed (and also in March)

Obviously targets and plans change once promotion is achieved - the owners (and Christian Purslow) are clearly not just going to be happy thinking it’s a bonus we are here let’s see what happens, but I think given the state of the squad following the play off final, he’ll be given a while to work with what is essentially a new team and squad of players.

[wittonwarrior]

Asp from second half v spurs have not been outplayed

[Three Spires Villa]

Asp from second half v spurs have not been outplayed

I was at Palace and they outplayed us. I know about the “incident” at the end, but we could easily have been 2-0 down before that.

[olaftab]

Asp from second half v spurs have not been outplayed

We were totally outplayed by 10 men team. A team that played on Thursday but was still had more energy than us in the second half.

[SoccerHQ]

Mourinho, really?

That’s who I think they’d go for yes.

Don't think he'd give us the time of the day. Would be more likely to go for a Javi Gracia if he's still out of work or even Nuno if Wolves sack him.

Obviously hope we don't change manager in near future but it may happen more quickly than people realise if we don't pick up a win or two in next three games. After that it's a tough 8 game period with only Newcastle at home looking really winnable.

[Sexual Ealing]

It was the 'Steve Bruce' substitution that fucked us. Bringing Elmo on effectively said to the players "this team, who you've gone toe-to-toe with for 70 minutes, we're now scared of them."

[OzVilla]

Mourinho, really?

That’s who I think they’d go for yes.

Don't think he'd give us the time of the day. Would be more likely to go for a Javi Gracia if he's still out of work or even Nuno if Wolves sack him.

I'm basing that on the fact that we seem to like people who have previous connections - that's certainly something we did with our transfer business.  I'm fairly sure Mouriniho worked with Purslow at Chelsea so you'd think they'd know each other well and obviously there's a massive connection between Mouriniho and John Terry. 

Also he's 56 now, if Mouriniho wants to work in England again he probably needs to be looking at a club outside of the current top tier teams, cant see him pitching up at Man City, Liverpool, Spurs or Arsenal and he's already been at Chelsea (twice) and Man Utd.  That leaves someone outside that group as a long term project that can offer him some serious financial backing to achieve it.  Which leaves us, Everton and maybe Wolves at a push.

[Ian.]

Not yet no way. We’ve probably been our worst enemy in all our games this season, but we have shown enough quality for me to say we’ll turn it around. Also I’m sure as we did last season learn from this. Dean as much as the squad are new in this league and I have to believe that he and his coaching team will improve enough to finish mid table.

[qwerty]

IanJ,

I wish I had your optimism about turning around the current situation.

The last two games have highlighted the tactical incompetence of Dean Smith.

John McGinn’s post-match comments are illuminating:

But we got deeper and deeper and you can't do that. It is game management. It has cost us dearly this season.
When you force pressure on yourself you get punished. We need to capitalise when things go for us in the game.

If John McGinn can see the problem, why can't the manager? It is so glaringly obvious.

After promotion it was clear that the squad needed serious reinforcement to stand any chance of remaining in the Premiership. Unfortunately Villa seem to have followed Fulham in throwing a lot of money at Championship-standard players.

Despite this, I do think that a different manager who has some tactical nous would be capable of picking up more points with the same raw material.
Villa have chucked away vital points in the last two games thanks to Dean Smith’s tactical inadequacy and naivety at Premiership level.

The situation is only going to get much worse with him in charge. He is completely out of his depth and needs to go pronto.