M_Afro

Are we a mid table side though? The stated aim of the club at the start of the season was to challenge for Europe. Smith said on Friday that we have a top half squad. There is a subtle difference between saying we are a top half side and a mid table side but it is important nonetheless. Top half suggests that we are at least in the hunt for a European slot. Mid table suggests we are neither in the hunt for Europe or in danger of relegation. I know you really want Smith to stay and I do empathise with you. Smith has much to like. He brings things to the table that are unique to him because of his history with the club. I also have to admit that I never wanted him in the first place. There have definitely been stages where he has really started to win me over but then we revert to the same things that ultimately hold us back. In my view however, our form has largely been poor all year. This is backed up by our points accumulated during that period.

Our form has been poor all year in my view. We did play well against Spurs at the end of last season but we were incredibly lucky against Chelsea. We were poor against an Everton side missing their best players (the stats had it as the luckiest result of the weekend). We were good against Utd. That’s only 2 good performances. I also wasn’t talking about our attractiveness to managers. I agree that we are a very attractive prospect. I was talking about how our finish will affect our ability to retain our best players and attract new ones who are of a high enough quality to improve us. Our finishing position becomes incredibly important then.

My points weren’t just about spells of bad form though. Also, our form has been poor for a very long time now. Does that still class as a “spell”? If we have to wait until the summer to get the right person then I wouldn’t be totally against that but if we feel the right person is available now, then why wait? If we let a poor season drag out with Smith it will make our player retention/recruitment so much more difficult. Smith himself has stated that we have a top half squad. We really need a top half finish to be able to build. If we let the season drift under Smith and say finish 14th, we will have lost a load of revenue and the outside perception of the club will be that we are a relegation candidate. That will make it so much more difficult to attract players. It’s too great a risk.

You make some good points and if it was his first bad spell, or even his second, then I would be in total agreement but it’s not. Key considerations for me are: Our form in 2021. Our form without Grealish. Our long spells of poor form where nothing gets changed. We just go again. Our indiscernible style. I still don’t know what we are trying to do/be. The shoe horning of certain players come what may (SJM and Ings in particular). Our in game management (not at least tweaking the formation/tactics in the first half on Friday was quite unbelievable). Our total failure to create a competitive and balanced midfield, despite spending £350m. The number of occasions when we simply just don’t turn up (Watford, Spurs and Arsenal so far this season). Our in game capitulations. The lack of leadership within the team. Why we are so easy to get at. I know we kept a lot of clean sheets last year but Emi was the key reason for this. We still allowed a high number of chances in those games. I do love Dean and we all want him to do well but he is sat in last chance saloon now. He needs to turn this around now! Not in a month or two. Now. We have currently lost 5/9. We have not been unlucky. We have got what we deserved in those matches. Even the Wolves match they had an expected goals of 2 compared to our 1.

Axel is an interesting player. I have genuinely never seen anything in him to suggest that he should be playing in the PL. His reading of the game and anticipation is awful. He is poor on the ball. He constantly loses his man. He dives in. Just watch the first goal that Chelsea score against us. It’s so easy to prevent and yet we make it so easy for them to score. So why do we keep bringing him in on loan? The club obviously see something in him but what is it? He seems like a good bloke and probably is very professional but are we really considering bringing him in permanently? I can’t see him coming here to warm the bench so if we are interested then we obviously see him as a starter. I just can’t see it.

Yep. I think most people agree with the formation. I would play Sanson in place of Ramsey, who is not ready to start in the PL yet but otherwise no change. Ideally we would sign a physical DCM so we could play a 4-2-1-3 as well with SJM as the 1. If we are really serious we would also sign a proper 10 to compete with SJM for that position. Sadly, the above means dropping Ings and Axel and that won’t happen. Smith my drop Axel and revert to a flat back 4 but he will keep shoe horsing Ings in to everyone’s detriment.

I agree with this. Our biggest problem is trying to shoe horn our players in to get Danny Ings a game. It’s really starting to get on my nerves. Play 4-3-3. Watkins down the middle and Bailey and Buendia either side. You will then see what Buendia can do. If he is still rubbish, then we have a problem but he still needs a bit of time to get used to the players around him.

It’s quite hard for a half decent team to lose 4 on the bounce against other half decent teams and for that reason, purely stats based, I am certain that we will draw or win this. Dean will go back to 4-3-3. He simply has to. I suspect that he will still try and play Ings and Ollie from the start, which will make our task more difficult but we won’t lose. 1-1 is the score most likely.

He said that about the actual negotiations which is the way it should be. He is fully involved in the process of selecting the players that we target. The DOF and sometimes Purslow then handle the negotiation.

Is JT working at the minute? I wonder if Smith could get him in to do some consultancy work for a month or so. Our defence has gone to the dogs since he left!

I think Hause is better. Our best defensive performance was against Utd.

I’ve slept off my annoyance from last night now but still I can’t understand what I saw in that first half. It was clear before the match even started that the midfield was going to be a massive issue. That was made even more obvious in the first 5 minutes of the game with Arsenal being totally dominant. To then watch the next 45 minutes unfold and do absolutely nothing! I just can’t understand that. It’s as if Smith just froze. I have never seen such a one sided half of football where the manager has not at least tried a few things to stem the flow. I am further perplexed that when the change did come at halftime, Ings and Watkins were left out on the pitch getting in each other’s way and offering absolutely nothing. I was surprised by the Ings signing when it happened and it is looking like an even more bizarre decision now. Much to ponder but unless Smith drops Ings and Axel he will not be picking our team for much longer!

Our last three games were all winnable and that didn’t work out too well! Dean has only had two decent winning runs in his time at the club. First our 10 game run in the Championship and then our first 4 games of last season. Other than that we have always been very inconsistent. We may win 2 of our next 4 but we will almost certainly lose 2 as well.

He is gone this season at some stage. I absolutely guarantee it. It’s likely to happen sooner rather than later too.

And yet he watched the entire 50 minutes unfold without doing a single thing about it. Nothing.

I’m even more annoyed after hearing his post match interview and pretty certain that we are stuck with a starting 11 that shoe horns Ollie and Ings into it. Smith is done here. Let’s get it done and move on.

He deserves to go after that first half. I am an ex rugby playing middle aged football lover with zero coaching experience but even I could tell that we were going to be in trouble as soon as I saw the two team line ups. That was ratified within 5 minutes of kick off. For some reason Deano did nothing about it until the game was well over. Even then he didn’t make the right changes. Lovely man. Great Villan. Bang average manager. He will be gone before the end of November and he deserves to. Thanks for the memories Dean but we need much better

I can’t believe that he has not been mentioned tonight so far. Never a PL centre half in a million years. He is awful.

AEG is a left forward who has been available all season. Buendia is a right forward who has been available almost all season. Add to that Bailey, Traore and Bidace who have all been available for quite a few games and you will see that we will always have been able to field a decent team in that formation. The problem is his insistence that Axel and Ings have to play. It is killing us.

Good leaders hire people who test them. Poor ones hire people who are unthreatening. Seems like the later to me.

Sorry mate but this is nonsense. We have umpteen players suitable to a 4-3-3. We do not need Bailey fit for it. We could have played it all season. Smith is clearly too gutless to drop a centre half ( all of whom deserve dropping on current form) or either Ings or Watkins ( neither have been good so far). Show some minerals Dean. It’s last chance saloon mate.

Potter is on another level to Smith. If Potter leaves Brighton will replace him with someone much better than Dean.

How is this kid still getting a game? His first half today was worse than his first half against Watford. He is also a gutless wonder. He gives up so easily. I would much rather play Young. At least he will always show courage.

Just look at his record without Grealish. It’s awful. Really bad. This team cost £350m and it was as bad as any villa team I have ever seen in the first half tonight and not that much better in the second. Indefensible. You can legislate for players having a bad day but you can never legislate for a manager who watches something truly awful but does absolutely nothing about it.

I always think the big test is who would be interested in a manager if he became available. Can anybody see another premier league team take an interest in Smith? It won’t happen. He will eventually get sacked by villa and then never manage in the PL again.