The Official Aston Villa FC thread
Discussion
Driver101 said:
Villa are quickly getting drawn into a relegation battle.
The table certainly suggests that but from what I've seen of Villa you haven't been awful - it's more you've been only playing well in patches but getting punished when you've been playing badly. You should have beaten Wolves, probably should have had something at Spurs and, despite being battered in the first half, the second half was very different and you could have drawn with Southampton last night. Another five points and you'd be knocking on the door of a European place so it's fine margins!That said losing tends to sap confidence and can easily become a habit so I understand the unease of some Villa fans - as a Leeds fan I feel much the same about us at the moment! I'd have thought Dean Smith deserves a bit longer although you do have some difficult fixtures between now and the end of the year; mind you, so do we so it will be interesting to see where we're both sitting in the table when you come to Elland Road on 28th December....
ETA: Above written assuming you're a Villa fan, apologies if you're not!
JNW1 said:
The table certainly suggests that but from what I've seen of Villa you haven't been awful - it's more you've been only playing well in patches but getting punished when you've been playing badly. You should have beaten Wolves, probably should have had something at Spurs and, despite being battered in the first half, the second half was very different and you could have drawn with Southampton last night. Another five points and you'd be knocking on the door of a European place so it's fine margins!
That said losing tends to sap confidence and can easily become a habit so I understand the unease of some Villa fans - as a Leeds fan I feel much the same about us at the moment! I'd have thought Dean Smith deserves a bit longer although you do have some difficult fixtures between now and the end of the year; mind you, so do we so it will be interesting to see where we're both sitting in the table when you come to Elland Road on 28th December....
ETA: Above written assuming you're a Villa fan, apologies if you're not!
We've had a bit of bad luck and plenty of injuries but we have been pretty awful for large parts of this season in my opinion. Our patches of playing well have generally tended to come after we've already conceded a goal or two.That said losing tends to sap confidence and can easily become a habit so I understand the unease of some Villa fans - as a Leeds fan I feel much the same about us at the moment! I'd have thought Dean Smith deserves a bit longer although you do have some difficult fixtures between now and the end of the year; mind you, so do we so it will be interesting to see where we're both sitting in the table when you come to Elland Road on 28th December....
ETA: Above written assuming you're a Villa fan, apologies if you're not!
I'm not sure Smith does deserve anymore time now. Five losses on the bounce is terrible in itself, but looking at the bigger picture, I think we've now lost 50% (or more) of our matches in this calendar year. Our record under Smith without Grealish playing is terrible.
L4CON said:
We've had a bit of bad luck and plenty of injuries but we have been pretty awful for large parts of this season in my opinion. Our patches of playing well have generally tended to come after we've already conceded a goal or two.
I'm not sure Smith does deserve anymore time now. Five losses on the bounce is terrible in itself, but looking at the bigger picture, I think we've now lost 50% (or more) of our matches in this calendar year. Our record under Smith without Grealish playing is terrible.
He's not getting any more time,he's just been sacked.I'm not sure Smith does deserve anymore time now. Five losses on the bounce is terrible in itself, but looking at the bigger picture, I think we've now lost 50% (or more) of our matches in this calendar year. Our record under Smith without Grealish playing is terrible.
L4CON said:
We've had a bit of bad luck and plenty of injuries but we have been pretty awful for large parts of this season in my opinion. Our patches of playing well have generally tended to come after we've already conceded a goal or two.
I'm not sure Smith does deserve anymore time now. Five losses on the bounce is terrible in itself, but looking at the bigger picture, I think we've now lost 50% (or more) of our matches in this calendar year. Our record under Smith without Grealish playing is terrible.
At least Grealish watched a good game yesterday from the bench.I'm not sure Smith does deserve anymore time now. Five losses on the bounce is terrible in itself, but looking at the bigger picture, I think we've now lost 50% (or more) of our matches in this calendar year. Our record under Smith without Grealish playing is terrible.
Not surprised that Dean has been given his cards after five straight defeats. Like many fans I think he's a thoroughly decent bloke, he's one of us, and he must be hurting. Lots of players coming out with typical cliched platitudes on their social media, one looks at their responsibility in his sacking,
Are Smith's tactics genuinely not working or are we living in an age of player power where they know that a run of defeats like this will get the manager sacked and a new one will come in?
So far, the return on the Grealish money - Buendia, Ings and Bailey - hasn't amounted to much. I'm not sure how much of a say Dean Smith had in those signings vs Johan Lange, but as we sit here today they are buys that have not yet delivered. Let's hope a change of manager improves on that.
Lots of talk about Steven Gerrard being favourite for the job. I'm not in favour of this as I'd see him only taking the job as a stepping stone to getting the Liverpool job when they eventually decide to replace Klopp, so he can navigate round the 'hasn't managed a big PL club' criticism when that job comes along.
Likewise lots of talk about John Terry returning. It's always difficult as a fan to know how much of an influence the back room staff have on the performance on the pitch, but it's pretty clear cut here: since he left our strong defence has gone to pot. I'd welcome him back.
Are Smith's tactics genuinely not working or are we living in an age of player power where they know that a run of defeats like this will get the manager sacked and a new one will come in?
So far, the return on the Grealish money - Buendia, Ings and Bailey - hasn't amounted to much. I'm not sure how much of a say Dean Smith had in those signings vs Johan Lange, but as we sit here today they are buys that have not yet delivered. Let's hope a change of manager improves on that.
Lots of talk about Steven Gerrard being favourite for the job. I'm not in favour of this as I'd see him only taking the job as a stepping stone to getting the Liverpool job when they eventually decide to replace Klopp, so he can navigate round the 'hasn't managed a big PL club' criticism when that job comes along.
Likewise lots of talk about John Terry returning. It's always difficult as a fan to know how much of an influence the back room staff have on the performance on the pitch, but it's pretty clear cut here: since he left our strong defence has gone to pot. I'd welcome him back.
Whilst it's great to see a (good) former player work his way up the managerial ladder I think Villa's owners have so much invested that they can't take a gamble at this point in time on someone not proven in top flight football management. It needs to be a big name. If Robins was pulling up stumps in The Championship I would review that - hopefully he will - but Cov have only just got back there after a long time in the doldrums.
Besides, he is a bit of a folk hero at Norwich, who have just sacked Daniel Farke, so if he was going anywhere, I would expect it to be there.
Besides, he is a bit of a folk hero at Norwich, who have just sacked Daniel Farke, so if he was going anywhere, I would expect it to be there.
PurpleTurtle said:
Are Smith's tactics genuinely not working or are we living in an age of player power where they know that a run of defeats like this will get the manager sacked and a new one will come in?
I think its been a difficult 9 months, and of course the time since Jack went has been hardest. But I think this 'post Jack' period has shown that Dean really struggled to come up with a plan for how to approach the game. The switching formations, squeezing (the very average) Axel in, expecting Targett to be an effective winger (without Jack drawing the attention of three opposition players). I think we have actually gone backwards as the players weren't able to deliver this 352 and then when he switched back damage had been done as they'd been playing a system they didn't understand / weren't capable of for 2 months. The biggest sign of this has been the collapse in work rate with a couple of high energy but desperate halves over this last 5 games.Dean was brilliant for 2 years. We need to never forget that. And I suspect in time he'd have found a system that worked and he would have had a few back from injury etc. But I genuinely think its this last 9 months, punctuated with 5 losses on the bounce that did for Smith.
rjfp1962 said:
Steven Gerrard named as new manager..
On the face of it he did reasonably well at Rangers who are undeniably a very big club; however, North of the border you basically have only one team to beat and the SPL is nowhere near as strong as the top flight in England. So I think Gerrard will face a much tougher challenge at Villa and it will be interesting to see how he gets on; if I was a Villa fan I'd be thinking it's a slightly risky appointment but only time will tell....JNW1 said:
rjfp1962 said:
Steven Gerrard named as new manager..
On the face of it he did reasonably well at Rangers who are undeniably a very big club; however, North of the border you basically have only one team to beat and the SPL is nowhere near as strong as the top flight in England. So I think Gerrard will face a much tougher challenge at Villa and it will be interesting to see how he gets on; if I was a Villa fan I'd be thinking it's a slightly risky appointment but only time will tell....
To help with his new challenge he will have access to much greater funds that he could only have dreamt about in the SPL.
cuprabob said:
JNW1 said:
rjfp1962 said:
Steven Gerrard named as new manager..
On the face of it he did reasonably well at Rangers who are undeniably a very big club; however, North of the border you basically have only one team to beat and the SPL is nowhere near as strong as the top flight in England. So I think Gerrard will face a much tougher challenge at Villa and it will be interesting to see how he gets on; if I was a Villa fan I'd be thinking it's a slightly risky appointment but only time will tell....To help with his new challenge he will have access to much greater funds that he could only have dreamt about in the SPL.
He came in and totally modernised the place, built a team from the ground up and then stopped Celtic Winning ten in a row while playing some great football and having excellent European results. He done a fantastic job up here and Villa fans should look forward to him and his coaching staff.
Those saying it’s a 2 horse race should have a look at his euro results too, his teams were superb in the europa league and that is with the limited ( compared to the epl) funds we could give him.
This season things did go a bit stale however a fresh challenge should re-invigorate him.
cuprabob said:
JNW1 said:
rjfp1962 said:
Steven Gerrard named as new manager..
On the face of it he did reasonably well at Rangers who are undeniably a very big club; however, North of the border you basically have only one team to beat and the SPL is nowhere near as strong as the top flight in England. So I think Gerrard will face a much tougher challenge at Villa and it will be interesting to see how he gets on; if I was a Villa fan I'd be thinking it's a slightly risky appointment but only time will tell....To help with his new challenge he will have access to much greater funds that he could only have dreamt about in the SPL.
I agree Gerrard will have more money at his disposal at Villa but it might not do him much good this season as the availability of decent players tends to be pretty limited in the January window. And if it goes pear-shaped and Villa go down - which to be fair I think is unlikely - he probably won't be in the manager's position for the transfer window next summer!
JNW1 said:
I don't underestimate the pressure managers at Rangers and Celtic face - they're both very big clubs! However, they're also big fish in a small pool and probably don't need to be at it every week to be successful - or even survive - in the way teams do in the English Premier League.
I agree Gerrard will have more money at his disposal at Villa but it might not do him much good this season as the availability of decent players tends to be pretty limited in the January window. And if it goes pear-shapand Villa go down - which to be fair I think is unlikely - he probably won't be in the manager's position for the transfer window next summer!
If they close the grounds to fans he will be great! I agree Gerrard will have more money at his disposal at Villa but it might not do him much good this season as the availability of decent players tends to be pretty limited in the January window. And if it goes pear-shapand Villa go down - which to be fair I think is unlikely - he probably won't be in the manager's position for the transfer window next summer!
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