QldVilla

Two years ago we were in the Championship play-off final, two years later we're on the fringe of the Top 10 of the PL. Are there challenges, yes. Has the team continued to improve each season, yes. A little bit of perspective is needed.

Your taking the comment too literally. No long term success is ever built in sport by focusing on the outcome.

Not if you want to be a coach. What your saying is, don't worry about tactics, I'm not going to give you any instructions, where not going to train to beat the opposition this weekend.... Just go out and win? The process is improving your own game in training, training to identify weaknesses in the opposition, applying tactics to beat the opposition. If you can't carry out the process, you've already lost.

I think some are missing the point Smith was making. He is more focused on the process, rather than the outcome. If the team gets the tactics right, the players play their roles, then the outcome will take care of itself.

The issue with the gentleman is that he believes the financials are black and white, there not. There are normal accounting principles, but the rules within those principles can be treated in different ways. In some circumstances it may ‘not look good’, but not illegal. We have a very good CEO with great financial acumen who knows where the grey areas are. It’s not giving us an advantage over all other clubs, just putting us at the same level as the clubs at the top who have been treating their financials this way for a long time.

Agree, there’ll be no repercussions, there’s already statements welcoming them back to the fold. The one thing that might change is the other clubs won’t allow Manure etc to push them around, these clubs will be pulling their heads in for the short term.

They may know what they want, but it's just to suit their own narratives. Three of the so called big 6 have never won the competition and 20 years ago one of them was floating around the old 3rd Division, and 2 of them currently aren't in the competition. It's about greed and preventing damage to their bottom line, nothing more. Maybe their should be a clause that previous winners qualify every year.....if anything it's more viable a proposition than their selfish demands.

I like Merino at Sociedad, believe he would suit that type of role. Has PL experience as was at Newcastle albeit, didn’t look great, but seems to be with anyone who goes to the Toon. The players are there.

You only need to see how Casemiro plays for Madrid. He made Fabinho look like a pub footballer on a couple of occasions yesterday and shows what a proper DM can do. The players are out there, not sure whether Smith wants a proper DM though.

Hence the psychological component. You only need to be off 1-2% at the elite level for it to make a big difference in the outcome of performance. If we were as poor as you are alluding, we would be being beaten well each game, that's not what is happening. Defensively we still have been good, scoring has been our problem. If we had scored 1 extra goal in each of the past ten matches, we would have another 12 points and be in the Top 4. Saying we're poor is a simple analysis, it requires more thought.

People seem to forget that there is a psychological component to the game. To make the top 4, you have to be very good every week over 38 games. We are competing against some teams with better players and deeper squads and more experience playing at this level. We have shown what we are capable of, which was a very high level, but have been unable to replicate that high level of play over the past 10 games or so. I thought we were a 10 point better team than our position last season, and believe the same can be said of where we finish this season. A lot on here before the COVID outbreak believed Europe was a possibility and I remember getting a little flak from some because I thought we’d finish somewhere between 8-10th with that start. It’s the reality of football, some wanted to believe we were better than we are. We are a very good team that can go toe to toe with any football club in the division, but we aren’t ready yet to be consistent over a full season. The team needs to evolve again this summer and will be interesting to see whether some players are moved on for an upgrade and whether those key players we need to evolve are brought in.

The issue for Watford and Norwich is if they don't stay up next season and they are relegated, those good players they held onto won't stick around for another season of Championship football. They will be worth less in 12 months time if they go down, may be the best time to sell and invest in the squad.

It's not about being a contender, it's about being ready. Terry doesn't come across as someone who is happy to make it up as he goes along. He wants to be ready when he makes the decision and I get the feeling he feels he still has a lot to learn before he makes the jump into management.

Personally think if Guardiola wanted a player that played Grealish's role, he would go for Oyarzabal at Socieded. Very similar players and would get him for 60-70m.

Watched an interview with him and Mark Schwarzer (who predicted we would be relegated this season) a few months ago, he said he was studying for his badges and had a possible opportunity coming up, but didn't give specifics. Great to have his continued involvement in the club, possibly learning from grassroots to become a coach/manager long term?

Maybe, but he hasn't proven he's worth more, Chelsea aren't going to get anyone to pay more.

Chelsea got Barkley for £15m I believe, has he proven he’s worth any more...?

Stan was a far better player than Barkley though.

Never been a fan of Barkley, always thought of him as a front foot player, good when team dominating games, but poor when having to work. But not naive enough to think he wouldn’t improve us and help over the season.

Yep, been on this bandwagon as well.

Think Smith believes Luiz is better for what he wants from that position. never seen Luiz as a DM, deep lying playmaker yes, but not a DM. He likes to get forward and score, its a natural part of his game.

Agree, would like to see him playing in Barkley role and Nakamba playing the DM for the rest of the season.

I tend to agree, the problem at the back is a depth issue, the quality is the problem at the front. The lack of goals has been killing us since the new year. The problem is we probably need European football to solve those issues.

It's the first time today where we looked like the team prior to the COVID shut down. Slow, tepid, no movement, too much time on the ball, caught in possession etc. A good team would have punished the mistakes made today.

Like to say I feel sorry for Clarke, but...