roonst83

Agree. We showed against Everton how attacking when in front can be the right thing to do. In fairness to Smith, his usual approach was to do the same, but that fell away of late.

I highly doubt Ings would have joined if the "sell" was for him to play second fiddle to Ollie Watkins. Was always an odd signing and there were some suggestions it was to mask the impending negativity surrounding Grealish's departure. Ings is proven to be one of the best finishers in the league. Our issue is we can only really start one or the other to get the best out of them individually. I'm just not sure how long Ings would hang around if he's benched every game. Watkins has looked off all season. I didn't like the ssshing the crowd after he scored his first goal in front of our home crowd and his fitness looked, and still does in my opinion, well off what it was. Watch him when another player scores for us, he isn't ever that bothered by the looks of it. Now, most players you could argue may appear this way, but there's players in our team who are delighted for others when they score. Ollie is a strong minded forward who wants to be the main man and score all the goals. Not a bad mindset to have providing things are going well, but this can bae limiting to us when things aren't going too well. Great goal on Saturday but if he doesn't score that then I'm sure there'll have been plenty of gripes about his poor overall performance. That said, I think the best way to get him scoring regularly is by playing him in his best position, the front of the three forwards, for a run of games. Gerrard was waxing lyrical about him post match so I expect him to start that way and Ings to potentially be benched. Although whether or not we start Bailey will have an affect on this too.

Agree. Great performance but he shouldn't be starting.

Agree with this.

We needed a win today. Any way we could get it. We stood up to a hugely pressured game today and came through it. After an initial period of intensity for first ten mins Brighton were much more comfortable on the ball than us first half and pressed us very well to stop us building out from the back. They linked well from their back line to attack which is something we massively lacked. We had glimpses of moments of good play in the opening 45 but lacked fluidity from midfield to attack. Martinez saved us at the end of the first half. Second half we looked much more composed. Targett and Nakamba, in particular, improved vastly in the second half and enabled us to get forward and rotate the ball better. McGinn put himself much more about in a similar vein to how he plays for Scotland. Watkins looked unfit and off the pace throughout the first period. He seemed more interested and sharp in his preferred role and scored a great goal. Hope that catapults him into some form but he needs to improve his fitness and involvement during games. I suspect a run of games in his natural position as the lead striker in the 433 would be his best chance of achieving that. Although I’m not convinced Bailey should start right now. He seems better suited as a sub. Buendia is massively lacking confidence and it shows. I’ve always stated he tries too hard and holds onto the ball too long and gets caught in possession. We have an unforgiving home crowd at times and you could see he was very tentative and nervous. There’s a player there. Competition for places is rife now with new management so hopefully that’ll be the motivation he needs going forwards. We made the right subs at the right time. Similar to the Everton game earlier in the season. I’m always disappointed when Young is brought on but he was composed and did great for the first goal. The subs changed the game. Big big three points and credit to Gerrard for getting a tune out of the players with so little time. I’ve liked what I’ve heard and seen of him so far. Today’s performance wasn’t great but it was effective. Stayed tight at the back, rode our luck a couple of times but stayed in the game so we could take advantage. Gerrard under no illusions there’s plenty of hard work needed but he’ll have leant a lot today and will do so throughout the week when he spends more time with the full squad.

Best performance for ages today. So good to see. Played like he had a point to prove. And he absolutely loves scoring goals for us. Key difference in his play today was he didn’t just lump it. He played considered, focused and composed. And didn’t mess around defensively. Cleared his lines well. More of the same please Big Ty.

It was a missed opportunity in fairness. our game plan was solely based around having Grealish fit. As soon as he was out we struggled. If he had have been fit for the majority of the season and not lose him for three months then I'm confident we would have finished with a lot more points.

There'll be no sentiment from Gerrard with Mings, or any player come to that. They're all unproven to Gerrard and the coaches. The amount of costly error Mings has won't be tolerated especially given that Gerrard will be given more money to send to bring his own players in. FYI, I'm not saying Mings shouldn't start for us, he should, and we're better with him, but that doesn't mean he can't, nor shouldn't, improve. Hope we get back to him and Konsa at CB.

Nor would I be if I'm dating that absolute smoke bomb ...

If we used this guy appropriately he can be an absolute weapon for us. One of the best, most natural finishers in the league. He's absolutely lethal.

A.k.a. the Jamie Vardy diet.

He's a very good left back I feel, when he has someone willing to work with him and hod on to the ball long enough for an overlap. Last season proved that. Granted, he was with Grealihs and that brought the bets out of him but people writing this guy off is just unfair, I feel. His defending, which was always labelled his weakest component to his game, was vastly improved last season. He just isnt a qwing back and never will be., He lacks the athleticism and agility to be a box to box wing back. But, throw him in a flat back 4 (our strongest defensive set up by a mile) and match him with someone with a brain down the left then you've got a very good player for us. He also always plays like he actually cares. His interviews are always open, honest and refreshing rather than being a media-drilled trained monkey. I like him. He has had some poor performances this season but in a ball playing team he can be of value for sure.

This guy is made of biscuits. So frustrating.

Guess we're as clueless as he will be given he'll only meet the full team 48 hours before the game.

This is where I'm at with it. Slightly perplexed but will give my full backing.

Every time he speaks, in my opinion. He's always spot on and unafraid to go against the grain of social convention just to fit in. Big fan of his. Oh, and the only one on TalkSport worth listening to.

This all feels like the vote to remain or leave. Where the majority were banging on about leaving despite not having a clue what they were voting for. Now we've sacked Smith and have no idea what the alternative is. Whoever it is we'll all get behind but plenty are sad about losing Smith. Not so much because of the recent form as that's hard to defend (ironically), more so because Smith built the bridges between the fans and our club again and got the positivity back. That in itself is a huge task for the next manager.

Couldn't agree with this more.

Is it realistic for us to expect a new manager to go better than that? I would say unlikely. Which is why perhaps a changing of the guard at the end of the season would have made more sense to me. Time will tell but I agree I'm confident Smith would have kept us up.

Agree and can't see Smith jumping straight in for another role so soon.

Gareth Bale.

He would’ve been great for us last season. Think he’s guilty of trying too hard and dwells on the ball too long. Clearly has a good footballing brain. Just isn’t working for him at the moment but then he’s in a team that’s clueless right now too.

Feels like it did first season we came up… when we didn’t have Grealish.

I still don't really know what Ramsey's qualities are to be honest.

No, Smith confirmed he's out.