Delphinho123

Not going to judge off one performance but let it be known that he was absolutely f****** dreadful today. The worst thing is, he wasn’t anywhere near being our worst player.

Honestly, if we don’t sign anyone else - lol. These owners can forget Europe, or the consequences of finishing 13th. We needed 2 before today’s game. Two central midfielders. The scary thing is, we may need more.

But why play him? Ok, I’ve probably slagged him off a bit too much, but why play him? Did you watch the Burton game last season where he did nothing and was a complete waste of space? If so, why has Smith played him today? If there was absolutely no alternative, then fine. But we absolutely do have an alternative don’t we. I’ll list them. 1. Play Buendia on the right, Young on the left and Chukwuemeka in behind Ings. 2. Play a half fit Traore on the right, Buendia on the left and Chuk in behind. 3. Play Bidace on the right and Young on the left with Chuk in behind Ings. 4. Play Bidace on the left and Buendia on the right with Ramsey in behind. 5. Play Traore on the right, Bidace on the left and Chuk behind Ings. I could go on. How many times do we have to watch El Ghazi play for this club and put in a dreadful, embarrassing performance? How many times? I don’t even think our transfer window business has been good (check the other thread), but at least it’s given us options. It’s utterly terrifying that our management team have sat down at some point this week and decided that El Ghazi was the way to go on the right hand side of our attack. Terrifying. That worries me more than the fact that he’s actually played poorly, because we all knew he’d play poorly.

That’s just it though isn’t it? He was barely good enough in the Championship and yet here we are, 3 years later, having sold our best player for £100m, with him starting. The mind genuinely, genuinely boggles. And not because I’m surprised at how shite he is. I knew he’d be shite from the moment the team sheet was announced. What really blows my mind is that the manager saw fit to play him today. To start him. On the right. Smith has done a lot of amazing things since coming in as manager, but every now and again he does something that makes me honestly wonder if he’s capable of taking us to the next level. And that’s coming from someone who really likes the bloke. El Ghazi is crap. He’s been crap in all but maybe 6 games he’s played for us in 3/4 years. How the hell has he started for us today?

Our business has been unbalanced. We’ve bought in good players without a plan. We can’t play 4-4-2 because we don’t have the midfield. 4-2-3-1 is an issue because we can’t play both Ings and Watkins in this formation. 4-3-3 is an issue because you have to drop Ings or Watkins and potentially Buendia/Bailey. Anyone saying I’m overreacting is talking nonsense. If you look at my posts for the last few weeks I’ve been telling anyone who’d listen that we need to replace Grealish and buy a defensive midfielder. Smith needs to figure out a way to get the best out of what he has. We have some very good players but I’ll be god damned if I know who plays where and in what system. I don’t envy his task. The club isn’t giving Ings 100k a week to sit on the bench. I have this horrible, horrible feeling they didn’t expect Grealish to leave and now they’re scrambling around to make good.

Ings is a real problem for Smith. And it might be his downfall.

Garbage

Almost as hilariously predictable as this post. People are allowed to like Dean Smith and still criticise when he gets things wrong. I really want him to do well but can accept when he gets things wrong.

We’ll be closer to the bottom of the table than to the top. Thread is fair.

Ings and Buendia have been rubbish.

A lot of work needed still. But then, we all knew that didn’t we? Lol at the people thinking we just need one midfielder. Our owners want to progress and we’re going backwards.

Gonna be a little bit more difficult to replace Grealish having lost to Watford. El Ghazi. Lol.

We’re crap. But no surprise really.

We still need to replace Grealish.

Lol, came here to post something similar. You’ll know when he’s 6 weeks away from returning because he’ll be ‘back out on the grass’. Sanson took a knock a while back and may never play again.

--------------------------Ings---------------------------- Watkins------------------------------------Buendia ------------------Chukwuemeka-------------------- --------------McGinn--------Nakamba------------ -------------------------------------------------------------- Targett--------Mings----Konsa-----------Cash ------------------------Martinez------------------------ I don't want El Ghazi anywhere near the side tbh. He's been poor in pre-season and is largely poor whenever he plays. If Watkins is out, I'd play Young on the left. Failing that, JPB.

There is also massive risk that comes with not improving and that is the likes of Martinez, Konsa etc. leaving to chase success and trophies. We need to improve quickly if we don't want the 'bigger' clubs sniffing around.

It's a fair point and my viewpoint is very crude. Of course you can have a negative net spend and improve if one player goes for 100m. I'm just saying, the general rule of thumb is, you need to spend to improve. And as things stand, I think we need two more bodies and the youngsters need to go out on loan.

Yep, it's a 5/10 transfer window for me atm. We haven't gone forwards (because of Grealish) and we haven't gone backwards. We've done enough to stand still, perhaps finish 1 or 2 places higher but what's the difference in finishing 11th-->9th? Bugger all really. Either the board and management team know what we have isn't enough and we'll bring in two more players. Or.. They think what we have is enough to challenge for Europe. If it's the latter, they're in for a rude awakening. It's VERY difficult to progress when you have a negative net spend.

Staggering to think he's still anywhere near the first XI considering we've spent £250m since being promoted or whatever it is. I expect very little when he starts.

Yeh, that is kind of where I'm at.

Perhaps ‘no chance’ is a tad strong but no, I don’t think we’re quite there yet tbh. We’re very close, I’ll just be very confused if we don’t add another 2 starters to this side, especially as we’re currently in net profit this Summer. I don’t rate players like El Ghazi or Traore so mentioning them as squad players is fine but they’re both largely poor in most of the games they play.

Bidace and Chuk should really be out on loan for me. No need to rush them through. Hopefully I’m completely wrong and they’re both ready now!

I think the league has changed slightly and the gap between the top and bottom has widened. Teams like Watford, Newcastle, Norwich, Brentford, Southampton, Burnley will all struggle this season and therefore teams will take more points from them. I don’t see us getting anywhere near Europe with our current side tbh. Hopefully I’m proven wrong!

If Bailey doesn’t come in and play very well from the off, we’ll be very reliant on Buendia, just like we were with Grealish. I just don’t buy into the idea that we’ve improved all that much. We’ve probably done enough to replace Grealish’ output but how much have we actually improved? We still need a couple more players - DMC and AMC with Sanson and McGinn fighting it out to play as the 8. That’s the way I see it anyway.