Well, against pretty much all the odds, we’ve done it.
We’ve stayed in the Premier league and I was of course ecstatic.
We didn’t look like had the slightest chance of surviving just a couple of weeks back and massive credit has to be given to Dean Smith and the players. Smith because he always believed when most of us fans faltered and the players because it must have been a real tough mental challenge in not letting their belief drop.
There’s no denying that overall, we looked a much better side once Project restart kicked in and that suggests some really high amount of hard work went on during the lockdown.
It seems that is indeed what’s happened and apparently the fact that Smith worked so hard has been enough for the owners to say that the manager’s position is safe. Reading further into such stories suggests that Smith would probably have been safe even if we were relegated.
Which is why I’m adding a poll. I’m interested to see if the Smith approval rating has gone up, or if there’s still a fair sized minority who still want him gone, in the belief that he won’t take us any further.
So while I was elated to see us retain our Premier league status, so I immediately found I was asking myself lots of questions.
The first was indeed “should we keep Smith?”
And it’s still a very important question for me.
First off, I like Smith. I believe he wants to play footy in the proper way. And he’s a Villa fan.
But that doesn’t mean I have a particular soft spot for him.
So I have to try and think logically and look at what’s best for the club.
I can fully understand those who won’t have any truck with Smith. Certainly, his tactics have looked incredibly poor at times during the season. It’s an area where some fans felt Smith was beyond redemption and it was something he’d never sort out.
Yet, we’ve looked a lot better organised at the back and much more resilient recently.
Has that improvement been enough? Or was it too little, too late?
Me, I think that it’s probably just about enough and the fact that we live to fight another season means he gets at least a few months next season.
It would be harsh to sack a manager who got us promoted in his first season and retained our Prem status in his second, just yet, in my opinion.
Yet while he’s “safe” we all know there’s no such thing for a football manager.
Safe for now, would be more accurate.
While I was dancing up and down and shouting my head off at the final whistle, I also watched the Villa players and staff celebrating like mad.
And it was enough to see Roy Keane commenting that he was disappointed about that, with his point being that we’d achieved nothing and won’t do either, if that’s our mentality.
Carlton Palmer has come out and said that we’re quite right to celebrate as much as we want and it’s a view I have a lot of sympathy for.
But my view is more in the middle.
Look, I know we don’t have any divine right to be in the Prem, but we know where our true position is and how we’re perceived by other club’s fans.
And it isn’t at the bottom of the league.
So while, yes, the players and Staff are entitled to some celebration, our surviving should very much be seen as only this season’s minimum requirement and a mere stepping stone.
So with the manager safe, for now, at least, where does this leave other areas?
Suso is obviously the first point to address.
And the question for me is that if we had been relegated, surely it would have been 100% confirmation that our recruitment wasn’t good enough. As fans, it’s a point that’s been repeatedly made for months even before we were relegated?
But we haven’t been relegated.
Does that mean then that if we’ve stayed up, it’s proof that our recruitment was good enough and Suso’s position is also safe?
That would be the logical assumption, but it’ll be interesting to see what happens there.
And then there’s the big question of how much we’ll fight to retain players.
Is Grealish already packing his bags ready for that house near Manchester that he was supposedly eyeing up?
Would we let Mings go for the right money? Or McGinn, for that matter?
This is obviously one for the owners to answer.
I’ve no doubt there will be investment, but it’s not just as simple as throwing money at it, is it?
Not with FFP anyway and it might be a case of even if the owners can put quite a bit in, the fighting fund might have to be assisted by some unwanted sales.
Certain players will be on their way, but I don’t see it being too many. We need to increase the size of the squad, as was oft proven this season.
And that is probably only the start of the questions.
This post is becoming overly long though, so I’ll cut it short.
The poll is merely Dean Smith. Sack him or not?
Interesting to see where we go from here.
There is no time to dwell on yesterday and, ‘Sweet Caroline’ celebrations aside, we need to take stock of why it all came down to the final game in the first place and, more importantly, make sure we are not in the same position again.
It has been shown that making wholesale changes to the squad can lead to instability, which really played a major role in our season. Injuries to key players at crucial times didn’t help. Whilst we now have a squad that has a single season of the Premiership experience under their belts, I feel that,as well as definitely having to strengthen the team, there are a few that I don’t believe will ever be of Premiership standard.
I don’t expect Smith to get rid of too many but,if it was down to me, Nyland would never wear a Villa shirt again. His ridiculously incompetent error against Sheffield United has all and sundry suggesting Watford and Bournemouth take legal action for the ‘point we shouldn’t have gained’. I wasn’t surprised to hear that Steve Bruce signed him from a fourth division German League team, which is one tier up from Sunday League I believe.
If I was allowed to cull the squad further, I would offload Samatta, who appears not only to lack ability, but also lacked the desire and commitment that we so desperately needed from the entire team to help us get through our plight.
Keinan Davis has the desire but, I fear will never be good enough.
Neil Taylor is someone I have always wondered how he has managed to get to the level has attained.
El Ghazi flatters to deceive and is really fortunate that his clearance on the line, when it was easier for my Granny to score, didn’t end up costing us our place at the top table. It would have made the last two games a little more bearable, that’s for sure. Finally, Nakamba is very often anything but Marvellous when he plays. Not wishing to sound too negative, Douglas Luiz, Konsa, Heaton, Grealish and Mings, when he stops being too casual, give me hope.
I believe that there are teams that over achieved this season and I fully expect it to be tough again for us but think that Brighton, Burnley, if Dyche goes, the Baggies, possibly Palace and Newcastle could be down at the wrong end of the table. I even think Sheffield United, who were able to hit the ground running this season, won’t have that momentum this time round and will struggle.
The main thing is, we don’t join them. Still, I won’t pack away my blood pressure monitor just yet.
Keep the faith. Here’to better days ahead. UTV !!!
Good points to consider in your post. I’ve recently been a consistent supporter of Smith so I feel comfortable in voting to retain his services.
Historically, most teams promoted through the play offs struggle to adapt to the EPL and are, more than often, relegated in their first season. To compound this we had an ageing team – including loan players like Abraham that we were unable to sign on a permanent basis – necessitating a complete rebuild of the team let alone the squad. Of course arguments exist over whether we bought the right players but my point is that it takes time to transform any group of players – strange to each other – into a team.
Then you have to take into account injuries – on 21st December McGinn fractured his ankle; less than 14 days later Heaton and Wesley suffered season ending injuries at Burnley (we’d also lost Jed Steer to a long term injury earlier in the season). Is it any wonder that subsequently our form dipped alarmingly when we just didn’t have the depth of squad to cover these losses.
Efforts were made in the January transfer window – but we all know this is a fruitless effort although signing Reina on loan was a decent piece of business in the circumstances.
When everything is taken into account, I think Smith deserves credit for doing a pretty good job. Now he has to persuade our best players to stay.
Nothing more to say except well done to all of avfc team from project restart including tea Lady to Dean Smith and owners. VTID
Badger, to me the pole is going to give a false account of Villa’s plight . I would have voted to sack a few matches ago, the thing is did he get it right at last over the last 3-4 games? or was we lucky .my stance at this time is give him 10 games in see if he’s now learnt his trade and gets the chance to get his players and not what Suso telling him. Another thing is the way things are with Terry and co, are they happy because I don’t think they are but could be wrong again. I’m on holiday at the minute and happy as pig in
Shite knowing we still in the premiership. Utv.
That’s the thing though Bill.
You don’t learn your trade in a few games and Smith was either good enough or not, from the off.
It’s mostly the reason I was interested in the result of the poll.
Opinion shouldn’t be swayed by what’s happened in a handful of games, I reckon, but it seems we’re all only human and views change quickly.
The last poll said 16% thought Smith should be sacked.
But it’s currently only 2.4% in favour.
I don’t know what that tells me, except that one of those opinions has to be wrong.
It just proves how it’s all about results.
And nothing else matters.
First off, I think this article on Sky really shows the work that was put in my Smith over the break https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11661/12035358/premier-league-hits-and-misses-from-the-final-day-dean-smith-finally-gets-it-right-and-chelsea-ready-to-step-up.
If we’re to interpret the stats well, then that suggests to me that Smith has shown he is capable of adapting and deserves more time. Let’s not forget, this was almost everyone’s first experience in the EPL bar a few players (who didn’t have a history of success there in the first place; such as Targett, Grealish, Mings). Those who did have some solid EPL experience such as Heaton and Elmo were very solid when called upon. This suggests to me that experience and quality count for a lot!
I started to wonder if Smith was cut out for it before the break and immediately after. He definitely made some mistakes but I also agree feel that he’s learned from those and fixed them in the last few games and that cannot be understated.
I personally feel our recruitment has done well this year. If we didn’t buy the players we did on the budget we had, who do people think we might have bought in place? El Ghazi we all wanted who we knew could be hit or miss – but we got him for cheap. At this point, I’d sell him now though. I was excited by Trezeguet but would let him leave despite his goals keeping us up. We’d all let Jota leave who for me is the most disappointing of all. I was very happy with the progress Wes was making before his injury and hope that he comes back and finds his feet quickly or that injury could prove to be a real dent on his progress.
I am concerned at the number of goals our forwards have managed – and I guess a lot depends on if we keep JG or not. If we sell him and/or McCann then we’ve got to then seriously reconsider what our expectations are for next season. If by some stroke of genius we keep our key players then I’m very optimistic at the thought of next season, a few quality signings and Smith at the helm.
It’s started Suso
Left the Villa , also Wolves have signed our young goalie Majic .
i am more than happy with how we survived, we have to realise how much of a step up it is championship to premiership. also as hitch pointed out playoff winners are usually relegated as they have the least amount of time to prepare.
all of our squad were premiership virgins. but not now, they all had a taste of the top flight, some players like konsa and hause grew into the league. some did not and smith will weed out the and improve his squad and first team now.
i was very impressed with how dramatically we adapted after covid break. we could not defend, we were all over the place without the ball. one or two pressing and the others dropping off. we were miles of a settled team. luiz what a player he was after the premiership restarted. he was unrecognisable he was now shielding mings and konsa he also covered the fullbacks. he was always available option to pass too. he was also good with the ball. this shows you we have to be more lenient, stop being too quick to judge players, especially when they are new to league and country and do not speak a word of english.
before season started i was overly ambitious with my prediction. i predicted 17th and escape by the skin of our teeth. i was spot on but i wasn’t overly confident. i knew we along with norwich and sheff utd we were all in for a massive struggle. chances were all three of us were doomed. sheff utd unique style aided them lots. next season they will struggle as teams work their system out. if they do not move forward they will be were us and norwich were this season. but our players will be far better equipped next season and with new additions that are premiership quality we should be finishing midtable
Radio 5 have just announced that Suso has left the club… Good.
Now that is interesting.
It would seem things are going to move quickly.
I wonder how influential Smith was in that decision?
I’d expect JT to follow very soon.
Seems the excuse is that Suso had disagreements with Purslow.
I’m not sure I buy that.
If, as I suspect, JT goes shortly, Smith will be feeling very vindicated and his position has been massively strengthened.
Does that mean we’ve abandoned the DOF idea, I wonder?
The odd thing is that just as happened previously when we did get relegated, I suspect some of our current squad will actually come good.
dof is needed but dof and manager have to agree and sing from the same page, smith did not seem to get his choices in the players recruited, most of them were pushed on him imo. he did refute them accusations claiming he went out to watch wesley and trez but i think he knew they were not gonna acclimatise quick enough to be assured signings. smith wanted the benermra sorry spelling lol but i agree he was more premiership ready than trez and would have ripped holes in premiership defenses.
luiz was not smiths signing and i think he will be a great signing if we do not get stitched over by city. who could buy him back for the agreed price and sell him on to another club for profit as reported in manc papers a few weeks ago.
A couple of weeks ago I was totally convinced we were going down. I would have definitely offloaded Suso for too many poor acquisitions. So great news if he has been given the boot.
I think we got lucky with our last 4 fixtures when we played teams with nothing left to play for. We were lucky with the Sheffield United no goal and VAR ruling out Palace’s goal. That being said, we suffered many poor VAR decisions pre lockdown plus Man Ures penalty that shouldn’t have been given, that we were owed some luck. Also thankfully Norwich, Bournemouth and Watford had a terrible finish which kept us in it.
Credit to Smith for managing to keep the players believing, especially after Man Ure ripped us apart in the second half before we met Palace.
So yes, I would keep Smith and give him a chance to learn from his first season in the premier league. I expect Terry to go and try his luck in management. If he doesn’t go however does he deserve to carry on after our poor defensive record? He could argue that the last 10 games our defence was much improved and he himself is learning the ropes and getting better in his coaching role.
Man Citeh have proved FFP means squat after their ban was overruled and therefore set a precedent that fines instead of bans from now on. We have very wealthy owners so do not need to sell. It’s about time we showed we are no longer a selling club. I understand that sometimes players force moves but let’s make sure they pay through the nose going forward. We definitely need a new GK, LB, LW, RW and CF regardless of any comings and going’s. Targett, Samatta, El Ghazi and Nakamba aren’t good enough and Trezeguet I’m still unsure about despite his goals. The useless Drinkwater and Baston signings were pointless and Reina always had a mistake in him. Nyland also isn’t good enough and Heaton seems to be getting injured too often to be relied upon.
Hopefully we will recruit quality experienced players at premier league level to ensure we don’t have a repeat of this season. UTV!
Holte, my guess is that JT was totally taken out of the equation and it’s much more likely Smith took over the defensive coaching himself.
Certainly it seems Smith did something different during the lockdown.
JT’s a goner, imo, if only because the constant press talk about him undermines Smith.
We don’t need Terry and indeed, I actually want him gone.
I, also on balance, think JT moving on would be good for all parties concerned. I did read a couple of excellent articles which implied it was Smith that had to rethink his tactics to set the team up more defensively than the front foot ‘toe to toe’ style that he prefers. That suggests that the problems with defence weren’t all down to inadequate coaching.
On Suso, again I think this is the right thing and, I guess, will be welcomed by most Villa fans. I can well imagine a fall out with Purslow if the latter decided the transfer policy hadn’t worked and sided with Smith – they do seem to have a very good working relationship.
Interesting times ahead methinks
Great questions Badger and I agree with Hitchens analysis. If at the start of the season we were informed we would keep our Premiership place and get to a cup final, we all would have taken it.
It cannot be underestimated the impact of putting together a new team and the time it takes players to settle. Smith used the lockdown superbly. If one player reflects our season it was Konsa. He looked good in flashes but always had a mistake in him. Post lockdown he has looked immense.
Personally, I’m a great believer in continuity. It took Ron Saunders 7 years to get it right. It’s taken Klopp 5 years at Liverpool and it took Fergurson 7 years at Manure. I’d stick with Smith and back him. Great to see the owners playing hard ball over Grealish transfer value. Also, I’d like to see them buy out Man City’s buy back clause for Douglas Luiz.
That’s an interesting observation Sid (re Luiz). Is it actually possible to buy out a ‘buy back’ clause? I assume there would have to be specific provisions within the contract to allow that to happen.
I’m thinking the buy back provision is more about Citeh wanting him back in their squad than treating him like some bit of ‘real estate’ that you turn over for a quick profit.
It’s started Suso
Left the Villa , also Wolves have signed our young goalie Majic .
What I hadn’t remembered (realised) is that Suso was already at the club prior to Smith’s arrival. They probably will appoint a new DOF but this time I trust Smith will be involved with the process so we get someone with experience, the right philosophy but also will work with Smith and whose terms of employment will not give them dictatorial influence over signings.
If two parties are willing a deal can be struck so AV could, effectively, have the Citeh buy-back clause removed – all it takes then is ‘moneh’
The International Football Association Board (Ifab) rules state: “In principle, a match is not invalidated because of: malfunction(s) of the VAR technology (as for goal line technology (GLT)).”
Now this is interesting – what does ‘in principle’ and ‘not invalidated’ mean? I assume, when drafted, the intention was that a failure of the technology cannot be used to change the outcome of a completed game.
Are Bournemouth going to argue the match should be invalidated and, if so, that Villa (and United’s) point deducted from their totals or are they going to argue the game should be replayed?
This is extremely contentious territory.
This is just a bad loser. Mistakes happen and we all have to live with them; large and small. How many other VAR errors have we seen through the year; not to mention refereeing errors? How many times in the past before VAR has TV shown clearly (not the 1966 type of debatable incident) that a ball was over the line but not given – and none of those got replayed (Come to think of it, didn’t Villa suffer one of those last season?). If they alter one match result they have no choice but to alter them all – which is not going to happen because it would make a nonsense of the whole thing. So, unfortunate for Bournemouth, but they ended up where they are because they weren’t good enough to stay up – or if they are then they can bounce back next year. As I’m not a Bournemouth follower I don’t know the answer but how many dodgy decisions have they benefited from during the season?
And as I’ve mentioned previously on here, AV were robbed of a point at Crystal Palace so that cancels the Shef Utd incident in the great scheme of things. Que sera
In principle (whatever that means!) I agree with your sentiments but there is a difference between the interpretation of the evidence technology provides and the actual failure of the technology itself – the latter being the case in point. In the cases you cite, the technology itself didn’t fail but the interpretation was questionable.
I would be extremely surprised if Bournemouth were successful in actually getting the game invalidated because it’s for the IFAB to govern it’s own rules which all clubs agree to adhere to.
To be fair, the article refers to a possible action against Hawk Eye (who run GLT) rather than the IFAB which suggests suing for compensation but as you say, if they were successful, it risks opening Pandoras Box on the quality and interpretation generally of VAR and GLT.
Odd sort of fruit machine spotted on South Coast. Pull the handle and 3 Cherries turn into Sour Grapes.