mikeyjavfc

I support Dean to get it right but he needs to be careful. Like Sarri at Chelsea, by chasing a certain style of play using players that are unsuited is sure fire way to go backwards as a team. I'm sure the experience with the Smith system will be valuable to the players in the current squad who are carried into next season, but the others who are nailed on to leave have no stake in this game and will likely lose interest / desire as we already seeing. Bad performances mean bad results mean impatient crowds means added pressure on the team: a downwards spiral. I hope Dean finds a system with some middle ground for the short-term at least, to get us through to the squad overhaul in the summer. Would hate to see him sacked for trying to play the game the right way (Sarri too).

Kortney had a stinker all right. He struggled to even hoof the ball up the line correctly a number of times and his first touch was very...rusty. I don't doubt he is actually better than that performance when fully fit. My question is why are we loaning players who aren't fit and ready to go? A loan is a short-term appointment by definition so it doesn't make sense that he should need a number of games over the season to be at his best? I think we have an option to buy, so I can only assume the club see him as a long term option to potentially take in to next season. I would also question whether he is really a Dean Smith style player? He didn't seem to be good with his feet, his passing wasn't great nor was he calm / confident with the ball. Some of that will come with games... but as a direct comparison Mings DOES immediately looks like a Dean Smith player to me despite also coming back from bad injuries. A strange one indeed.

Predicting a 3-2 win following a surprise super-sub return by Jack. Shef U to go 2-0 up only to collapse following an accidental face stamp on their goalie by merciless Mings.

*praying* Smith said he had had a scan on Saturday and he was "running now" in his press conference. Call me a pessimist but that doesn't sound like he's likely to bounce straight into full training this week. I think he'll be starting from the bench at best - hope I'm wrong.

If Mings says it was an accident then that should be the end of it. You cant prove intent in a situation like this and it won't classify as dangerous play as they were tussling together and his feet were in a normal position. I would be very surprised to see any punishment unless Mings does a 180 and confesses it was intentional.

He gives us another options in the middle of the park which we need at the moment given that Whelan and Jedinak are out of favour under Smith, and Connor and BB never looked comfortable at the base of the midfield. I am hoping that Carroll is a player that is comfortable on the ball and can pick out a forward pass or carry the ball if no pass is available - these very basic traits would improve us to no end but none of our current crop seem capable.

He’ll, any central midfielder will do! I thought we had used up all our loan slots though?

Never forget:

We only need to scrape 6th place to be in with a chance...it's hardly Mt. Everest is it? I think it's entirely likely we will manage that over the rest of the season. After a bad result and performance against Wigan it is tempting to think that this is how we will play for the rest of the season, but I would bet that come the end of the season the Wigan game will comfortably be our worst performance of the year. It certainly seems like a blip rather than status quo based on all of Smiths games to date. If Smith can find some form and keep pace with the rest of the top 6 for the next month then the eventual return of Grealish and Axel will give us a massive boost at a key point for the run in.

Henry is a good player but he is not worth his wages if he continues to be injured this much. Wouldn’t be surprised if his next contract is a pay as you play given his injury record. If he was an outstanding player then he would be worth persevering with and letting him drop in whenever he’s fit ala Kompany or Ledley King, but I’m not sure he is even above average for this league. He’ll end up being a good but risky signing for a league 1 club down the line, who can only get him due to his injury record.

We looked mentally and physically exhausted today. I’m confident the results will pick up now that the fixtures are spreading out a bit and we have time to get players back from injury and or get new recruits in. There were a few upsets across the league generally today and I think that is down to Xmas fixture congestion, which has hit us particularly hard with our injury list and thin squad. McGinn and Hutton looked particularly knackered I thought.

Autos were long gone before this game and continue to be so. We are still well in the mix for playoffs and one dodgy result against Preston doesn’t change that. We looked disjointed and it is no massive surprise with Grealish and half the defence missing and Bikir not fully fit (and THAT goalie), playing for 3rd time in a week. We need reinforcements next month and frankly we need the fixtures to slow down as it is clearly taking a toll (Chester is still carrying an injury). I trust Dean to get it right.

Gutted today, but I’m not going to get too upset. This confirms what I think I knew already: we are not good enough for autos this year. That’s fine and with all the issues Bruce and Xia left us with it was probably inevitable. We should be looking at 6th place now and making sure we give ourselves a shout in the playoffs. Transfer window is massive, as is the run of 10 winnable games coming up. I trust Smith to get it right.

The ultimate fraud. No doubt he has an incredible highlights reel of him ghosting past defenders, which cuts away to another clip just before he spoons the cross in the gods.

The moral is: be as dodgy as you like as long as you cover your tracks and don't get hacked!

Brentford have been garbage and are looking good for a draw. I hope baggies carry this form into Friday

West Brom fans would be happy to swap at the moment, they don’t rate SJ at all. It’s a funny one and shows how everybody needs time to bed in.

I think the defence will get better with time, even without new additions (although they would certainly help!). One of the issues with the championship is that the schedule is relentless with matches every few days and then half the team disappearing for international breaks over autumn etc., so you don't get a prolonged period of training time to drill you defence. I was chatting with West Brom fan at work and she was adamant this is why their defence has been so poor this season and is only now picking up because Darren Moore has now had time to train his defence properly. So much of good defence is repetition and consistency that it will take time for Dean Smith to drill them in his style.

That is pretty damning on Nyland and the defense. Forest would have been expected to score once from the chances they had and they scored 5.

and still better than AVTV.

To look on the bright side, I thought his distribution was excellent again on sat.

You can't criticise Whelan too much. He's at the tail end of his career and not well suited to this team, and he is only playing due to the fact we have several injuries in the middle of the park. I'm sure Dean Smith can see what we see, and when McGinn and Birkir are fit he will be well down the pecking order again.

Taylor feels like a throw back to a time when LBs weren't expected to bomb forward, overlap and expand the play. It feels like he never gets much if any further forward than our centre backs and generally slows the play and is often caught in possession. I think he could work as part of a back 3, but as a LB he is completely ineffectual compared to Hutton and Elmo. He's handy back up but nothing more for me.

A sloppy game to be honest, but it’s massively encouraging to score 4 in a sub-par performance and derby game. When the quick passing is working it is a joy to watch the ball zipping around the field with the opposition chasing shadows. When it’s not working we looked ponderous and turned the ball over far to much in our own half. The 2nd sha goal was an utter gift and hope DS stamps out that kind of sloppy play. Overall a professional derby day win. Adomah MOTM for me - that’s the first performance in a long time where he looked back to his best and leaving his man for dust.

Grealish: low socks. Bolasie: no socks.