Mr Smith's Record

[Captain Holt 522]

26 points from 35 games in the Premier League this season. 

Would any other club still be employing him with that record?

The '4 or 5 names ready to go should Daniel leave' was abandoned for a man who needed faulty technology to keep Villa up having spent hundreds of millions of pounds with one of England's best players in the side.

Tactically woeful, horrendous substitutions, stubborn with team selection when it clearly doesn't work (Billy and Kenny anyone?), no style, substance or signs of changing anything. His attitude to the fans also stinks - he's the worst type of arrogant; someone who pretends not to be. 

Great mug though.

[cambridgeshire canary 6,715]

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

[Capt. Pants 4,227]

1 minute ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

After next season? If we're not top 6 by October he'll be gone.

 

[king canary 7,604]

34 minutes ago, Captain Holt said:

26 points from 35 games in the Premier League this season. 

Would any other club still be employing him with that record?

The '4 or 5 names ready to go should Daniel leave' was abandoned for a man who needed faulty technology to keep Villa up having spent hundreds of millions of pounds with one of England's best players in the side.

Tactically woeful, horrendous substitutions, stubborn with team selection when it clearly doesn't work (Billy and Kenny anyone?), no style, substance or signs of changing anything. His attitude to the fans also stinks - he's the worst type of arrogant; someone who pretends not to be. 

Great mug though.

We were the club who, until October, employed a manager who took 21 points from 38 games, so this is an improvement really.

[jaberry2 550]

There's a lot of anger from fans this season and I dont think it should be placed on Dean Smiths lap at this stage. Webber / recruitment team need to take accountability of signing complete drivel and not for the first time either. Once accountability to some degree has happened we can move on and look to correct errors from this season / seasons gone. Recruitment has been awful for some time now and you cant just ride on the signings of Buendia / Pukki forever, as many thereafter have offered very little. Things need to change now, for the sake of starting the new season on a more positive note.

Edited May 9, 2022 by jaberry2

[Haus 259]

33 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

didnt make any moves in January either though, he said he was happy enough with the players as is

[TIL 1010 4,738]

7 minutes ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

You do realise that he knew what he was taking on when he accepted the job and i assume he was aware of our financial shortcomings or don't you think the squad and the state of things for the January transfer window were discussed between him and Webber ?

[canarydan23 4,060]

1 hour ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

Thrown onto the titanic by accepting a job offer?

Riiiight. As far as I'm aware, the squad we had and the league position we were in was publicly available information and I seem to recall he professing that the squad definitely had the quality to stay up. If he couldn't do what was mandated, then he was welcome to carry on holidaying in the US with his 7 figure severance pay packet.

And if his mandate wasn't to stay up, then the job offer would never have been available in the first place.

His appointment has been a catastrophic failure whatever way you dice it.

Edited May 9, 2022 by canarydan23

[hogesar 9,658]

I think the players clearly weren't good enough regardless which obviously questions the necessity of sacking Farke (although most fans on here wanted it, and way before we actually did it, then we did it didn't like it anyway) - but we did sack Farke, so I think Smith deserves an opportunity next season.

As I said elsewhere, the awful ending to the season does raise pressure on him to start incredibly well next season.

[Dr Greenthumb 749]

1 hour ago, Haus said:

didnt make any moves in January either though, he said he was happy enough with the players as is

I don’t think that was the reason! 

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

Get him out the door before the Spurs game. 
He needs his P45 as he is still suffering from his Villa heartbreak.

[king canary 7,604]

2 hours ago, Capt. Pants said:

After next season? If we're not top 6 by October he'll be gone.

 

I think this is a totally fair assessment. He hasn't done enough to give himself a long rope here but he deserves a shot with players he's asked for and a preseason to implement his ideas.

 

[Making Plans 936]

The truth is the Club were not that bothered if we stayed up so Smith was an easy appointment to make.

The Club have never been bothered about the PL as they prefer being in the Championship.

As long as we keep getting paid, what are by our standards, vasts sums of money for failure then there really isn't a reason to change anything.

Edited May 9, 2022 by Making Plans

[Mello Yello 2,289]

We now as a club just seem so archaic, stale, stagnant, disjointed, lacking focus, continuity, responsibility and direction.....

But apart from that.....

[Ken Hairy 3,772]

2 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team

This argument gets thrown about a lot, but under the current set up of the club its none of the managers team. It's been reported in the past week Farke didn't want these players either. If you're waiting for it to be "Smith's team" then you'll be waiting until we ditch the sporting director role. 

[vlad666 203]

It’s not his team but it’s alarming that not one single player has improved under him. In fact I’d argue players have regressed. The players look shot to pieces and like they haven’t got a clue what they’re supposed to be doing. 
Just because the championship is inferior I don’t see us turning into a cohesive unit unless we see a massive turnaround in players. The sad thing is that there seems a huge disconnect with the players and the fans also. On a personal note it’s probably only Pukki that I would be disappointed if he left. Lack of desire reeks from this group unfortunately. 

[Creative Midfielder 1,996]

6 hours ago, cambridgeshire canary said:

Not his team, he's been thrown onto the titianic with a mop and been told to rescue it. Judge him after next season.

It's not supposed to be his team, that was the whole point of having a Director of Football who would deliver continuity of the footballing squads within the club and the club's philosphy/ethos/style of play/identity - call it what you will - if/when a change of Head Coach was deemed necessary.

As the OP pointed out all the talk about continuity & succession that we'd heard on many occasions turned out to be total b******s as Webber didn't have a scooby as to who could come in and do any better when he stupidly sacked Farke and as a result appointed a dud and has undone nearly all the good work that he and Farke did over the last four years - hopefully some of the stuff behind the scenes that Webber achieved will endure, training ground etc but on the playing side we have gone backwards massively under Smith and think you have to be supremely optimistic (which I'm certainly not)  to believe that he can turn it around next season.

 

Edited May 9, 2022 by Creative Midfielder

[Google Bot 3,275]

Guy hasn't really had a break since Villa, so let's give him his summer rest and come back blazing.   Pointless giving him **** right now, not his team, issues above his head, players not capable, injuries, jumped into the frying pan etc.

If I call for his head now and proven right in December I won't be winning any award for it. I do have serious doubts, but I think it's best to support those who are here come kick off next season and build some positivity up - if we start as a bubbling cauldron it'll never work out - right or wrong.

[Inch High aka Inchy.. 405]

I get tired of the whole "not his team" nonsense, He knew what we had and decided he could do better than Farke with them and failed miserably. 

Send him and Shakespeare on their way before we become a mid table Championship club under them.  

[Thumbbass 318]

1 hour ago, vlad666 said:

It’s not his team but it’s alarming that not one single player has improved under him.

Idah did. 

[norfolkngood 1,086]

Not his players etc

But where is the Passion , Work rate and Desire that should come from the Manager 

are these players all of a sudden going to start show passion and desire and work harder next season ?

 

[Greavsy 2,413]

8 minutes ago, norfolkngood said:

Not his players etc

But where is the Passion , Work rate and Desire that should come from the Manager 

are these players all of a sudden going to start show passion and desire and work harder next season ?

 

90% is acceptable. But lets not get too optimistic! 

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

Considering it took Farke three transfer windows and a season and a bit (and he was looking a little ropey after that 0-3 tonking by Leeds) in a lower division, I'll always be very cautious before registering much disdain on a new manager.

[vlad666 203]

30 minutes ago, Thumbbass said:

Idah did. 

Not in my opinion. 

[canarydan23 4,060]

15 minutes ago, TheGunnShow said:

Considering it took Farke three transfer windows and a season and a bit (and he was looking a little ropey after that 0-3 tonking by Leeds) in a lower division, I'll always be very cautious before registering much disdain on a new manager.

There are rumours that but for a late equaliser by Leitner of all people, Farke was gone if we'd have lost the Ipswich game following that Leeds loss. Whether that's true or not we'll probably never find out.

But one thing I will say is that you could see what Farke was trying to do, even if it failed to work more often than it worked in that first season. We were losing games with 60, sometimes 70 percent possession, and that gave some cause for optimism that a couple of transfer windows would enable him to acquire players more suited to that sort of football.

No one has a clue what Dean Smith is trying to do. And not just with his approach or style of play, but his formations, his lineups, even his in game changes often leave people scratching their heads wondering just what on earth is going on in his head.

[Walcombe canary 69]

I am not sure / cannot remember the options around his ( D.Smith ) appointment, apart from Frank Lampard. And maybe not my choice. But, he does know the Championship, and I think he has to be given full backing this summer, and also full backing in the January window by The Board. They have to

The Big Issue for me is. Will we stick or twist if we should be lucky enough to get promotion again. I do hope the board look for extra finances should we get promotion. I am not in favour of Foreign Owners. But it does appear to be the only way to stay  / succeed in the top division. On top of the fact that this season, many signings were under par ( being polite ).

Cannot wait for the season to finish, but have to keep the faith. 

 

[hertfordyellow 460]

2 hours ago, Ken Hairy said:

This argument gets thrown about a lot, but under the current set up of the club its none of the managers team. It's been reported in the past week Farke didn't want these players either. If you're waiting for it to be "Smith's team" then you'll be waiting until we ditch the sporting director role. 

This is just wrong. There is a transfer committee in which the manager is one of that committee. Webber had to take a more hands on role because the head of recruitment was placed on gardening leave because he had taken a role at another club. This whole 'Webber signs who he wants' mantra isn't based on reality. In the ideal world, he wouldn't have had to step in and be the focal point for this summer's recruitment.

When people say it isn't Smith's team, its because he hasn't had a pre-season with them. He came in to fire fight and try and pull off a miracle. It seems strange to me and most that he isn't more frustrated at his players but then he could be in private. He also hooked two at half time which is a public show frustration.

[Google Bot 3,275]

52 minutes ago, Inch High aka Inchy.. said:

I get tired of the whole "not his team" nonsense, He knew what we had and decided he could do better than Farke with them and failed miserably. 

The team he took over is radically different to what he was left with after he took the job.

No Kabak, No Cantwell, No Idah.

That means no CB Reserve to push Hanley/Gibbo, The talent he was hoping to unlock with Cantwell cannot be understated, and the Idah/Pukki partnership that he was developing (7 points in 3 games) crushed.

So yes, it's not his team, even when applied in the sense of the one he thought he was inheriting.

[TheGunnShow 5,940]

20 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

There are rumours that but for a late equaliser by Leitner of all people, Farke was gone if we'd have lost the Ipswich game following that Leeds loss. Whether that's true or not we'll probably never find out.

But one thing I will say is that you could see what Farke was trying to do, even if it failed to work more often than it worked in that first season. We were losing games with 60, sometimes 70 percent possession, and that gave some cause for optimism that a couple of transfer windows would enable him to acquire players more suited to that sort of football.

No one has a clue what Dean Smith is trying to do. And not just with his approach or style of play, but his formations, his lineups, even his in game changes often leave people scratching their heads wondering just what on earth is going on in his head.

I think the problem here has a radically different underlying cause even if the symptoms look the same. He's basically had a go at trying, against the odds, to keep us up with Farke's old team. Granted, it was never the likeliest of undertakings, but we did have a couple of games (the turnaround against Southampton, or indeed the wins against Everton and Watford, or even the draw when under the cosh against an in-form Palace side) that could have made some think that a bit more incremental improvement could do the job, but said improvement did not last and the resulting losses in confidence have sent the team backwards again.

I do think he's been hit quite badly with Idah and Omobamidele missing, as Idah was looking like he was getting the idea, and Omobamidele looked like he had the idea. At least then with Idah in good form the ball was sticking up top for far longer, allowing defence and midfield to reorganise / get into the game in attack. When that's not around, we're far more vulnerable in the middle of the park, hence the defensive midfield issues we have on a regular basis.

I agree that you could see what Farke was trying to do early on in his reign, but he also had a whole pre-season to work on it to start with as he came at the start of July. Smith's basically come in not too long before the mid-season window, and no doubt accepted the job on the premise that no-one new was coming in.

[spencer 1970 207]

I think a lot of us feared it wasn't going to be a good fit and although we wanted him to suceceed, it was likely to come true. 

Yet again, I'll stand by my choice of Knutsen.