Philosopher

Never said that either. I said I'd prefer Lampard over Fonseca (whom I consider an average foreign manager). I see Fonseca as a Portuguese Steve Bruce. I just think the remit for any new gaffer should be: 1. Good with bringing through youngsters. 2. Plays entertaining football. 3. Will get the team passing and moving. Lampard ticks all those boxes. I think people see him as a worse manager than he actually is. He is one of those managers fans love to hate on, like Bruce. I would prefer Smith to stay and turn it around. I'd prefer Potter. But other than Potter who else would be a manager that can take us forward? I don't see any other good option that would take the job. For me Lampard has shown more than Gerrard. Scotland with Rangers is a two team championship. Terry has not managed yet and Fonseca is a manager that has never managed in England, probably can't speak English, never done anything of note outside of Porto. After Potter what are the better options? Nuno? Howe? Dyche?

I never said anything like that! Read carefully!

The mention of Lampard is in relation to Fonseca. I would prefer Lampard over Fonseca, he brings more to the table. I would not want Lampard unless we could convince him and Terry to co manage, but that could be brilliant or a shitshow! Potter is the standout. Good manager, his teams play good football, and he's a Villa man. For now though Smith deserves a couple more games at least.

Certainly prefer him over Fonseca

Thing is our youngsters like the Chukwuemekas, Ramseys, Barry have higher ceilings then most first teamers. So bringing them through is key to our clubs fortunes. Lampard would be great for all the talented young midfielders we have. So while leaky is right, I think the benefits would be worth it longer term.

If McGinn is one of them them Luiz and Ramsey have to be with him in a 6 and two 8's set up. If we can get Sanson fit and up to speed then he could oust McGinn, McGinn is very wasteful with possession.

No average foreign managers please! Graham Potter my number one if Smith is to be replaced. Otherwise prefer Lampard. At least he would get the midfield functioning and bring through the youth. We must get a manager brave enough to play youngsters.

Like I have said. The passing out from the back has been a problem since last season. We are far to pedestrian when moving the ball around the defense and the defenders don't really move to create angles for the passing. This is clearly a coaching issue. Certain players don't seem to have the ability the move it quickly and accurately like Targett and Mcginn. Both Mings and Hause spend ages looking for a long ball as soon as they receive it. We don't play with a target man, our midfielders ate small wtf! The defense is the same as last season so is the midfield, so why is there such a disconnect? It has to be put a Smith's door. What is Danks doing he is our in possession coach, so why do we look worse since he has come in. We have a situation where we are having to change and adapt, but there doesn't seem to be a clear plan or vision. Are we a possession based team, or a counter attacking team? Do we play 442, 4231, 433 or 352? Smith needs to pick direction and way to play and just do that every game. You can't be tactical when you don't even have a base plan. Tactical coach's have a preferred system and then tweak it depending certain perceived threats and weaknesses. Things are just too unsettled. Footballers are creatures of habit. And all this chop and change is unsettling the existing players while not allowing new ones to settle. There is no conspiracy. it's just Smith having to juggle losing the player the team was built around, while having to integrate a new attack, while you have an injury crisis. Right now the only way to turn it around is to get the defense operating properly. Lets keep some clean sheets, be hard to beat. Defensively we are being pulled apart too easily right now. We have have goalscorers so if we keep a clean sheet we will turn draws into wins by virtue of having quality strikers.

I somewhat agree with you. I think we have played at least 3 different systems in less than 10 matches, playing almost every player in our first team squad. We are having to adapt our style or play because previously everything centered around Jack Grealish. We are also having to bed in a new attack. Throw that we had lost 3 matches in a row and 2 of which in rather demoralising fashion. Makes me believe it's part confidence in themselves, and part confidence in the system (they simply haven't had a proper chance to establish one). I think now the players may start to doubt Smith. I think players know when they aren't being played how they would like, and this definitely affects them. For me the biggest criticism I can levy is that he has changed things around too much (which isn't all his fault really, as injuries and availability have forced much of it on him), and playing players in new roles or not playing to players strengths. We were never going to hit the ground running and even without the injuries the first 10 games were always going to be difficult. My issues with Smith is a changing to 442 then 352, he should have stuck with 4231 / 433 for continuity. He shouldn't have tried to play Buendia as a 10 or an 8. It's also common knowledge that 352 away from home against 442 means if the home team look to attack the flanks it's overloads all day long! He has made a difficult start harder by by overcomplicating things. When you're are trying to integrate new players and a new style, play players in their preferred positions, and to their strengths. And do that consistently. Minimise formation changes and personnel changes. Yesterday he changed the formation, shoehorned Ramsey into the no 10 role, played Buendia without anyone making runs infront of him. Had Watkins taking up spaces that Bailey should be running into. Dropped the captain and main organiser. And played Mcginn in what is the worst way to play him (play him as the only DM he knows to stay back, hold his position and not go running everywhere, play him as a number 8 he knows he has the freedom to go where the ball is, playing as a half and half is not good for him). So play would obviously be slow and disjointed as many didn't know whether to stick or twist. Premier league football is high speed, so a manager has to make the decision making as simple as possible for his players. Drill the same shit over and over. Play them how they are used to playing, and in a system they are used to with players whose game they know. He needs to go back to basics.

So poor team performance. The first goal was poor on several counts. How does the fullback get so much space, how was Targett so narrow, if Targett is that narrow it implies Bailey should've been outside of him. However you don't expect a left back to cut in onto his weaker foot and shoot 20 yards across goal to score. Also how does Rice have so much time and space to play that ball to Johnson. Bringing on Ash ahead of Carney seemed like a lack of ambition, it was the safe option. Good response to get back in the game and deserve it which we just about did. How we could give such a goal away 4 minutes later, once again Rice having acres of space and time to shoot. Who was supposed to close him down? I thought when you play a no 10 he is supposed to mark the opposition 6! Rice is their best player, we should be putting a man on him. The 'elbow' from Hause looks worse than it was. One he actually touched the ball first, two he always had eyes on the ball. Clumsy yes, a yellow yes, a red would've been harsh for me. The red card was very harsh. As I saw it Bowen cut across Konsa's path, it was basically impossible for him to avoid contact. If you give a foul for that, okay, but a red card is just plain wrong. Whether it's because that's what the rules say or not that's just an excuse, that was NEVER a red if the ref had the option to give a yellow. With 10 men and a goal down against a team playing better football and very effective on the counter, there was only ever one result. We played poorly Mcginn and Targett gave so much ball away it was criminal! I never want to see Mcginn as one of two 6's again! Targett has to be dropped, he gave a lot of ball away against Arsenal too. Our playing out from the back is awful. This is one reason why I'd like Young starting LB as he can pass, so he would help us. However this is fundamentally a coaching issue, and a long standing one! Playing two 6's and a 10 was the wrong call. We should have started with a 6 and two 8's as our ten ended up coming too deep half the time, Mcginn often was caught in two minds and Rice got acres of space anyway. Our attack still ended up getting isolated half the time. In the match thread many commented on us playing better with 10. However that was just West Ham inviting us on, so they could kill us on the counter, the extra space being a man down made it easy for them. Watkins going to the left before coming inside meant he was actually cramping Bailey. Bailey needs space to run, he's not Jack, those congested spaces aren't good for him. On the flip side, Buendia needed Ollie on that right hand side as he plays deeper and likes having someone in front of him to find. We should be looking to overload Buendia's side then switch it to Bailey's side to make the most of their strengths. All in all poor from back to front. Smith needs to get it together, as he isn't playing to his players strengths right now.

The last two games is relegation form. It looks like the coaching hasn't been good enough.

Bailey or the left side DM should've been picking up the fullback for the first goal. One of the DM'S should also have been closing down Rice for the second. Targett has been poor with the ball, so has Mcginn. Konsa shows no ambition when trying to play out. We can't pass out from the back. It's a massive weakness that was apparent last season. Hitting long balls against West Ham is pointless.

Should have put him on when Ramsey came off.

Our pass and move is terrible. Hause playing OK, the goals were nothing to do with him. The Hause one wasn't an elbow, more a forearm, and he actually makes contact with the ball. Bowen runs across Konsa and their legs meet, Konsa couldn't do anything to avoid it. Got f'ed over.

So can anyone tell me about those 28 Man U shots. I have no idea where that state comes from because I never saw 28 shots! I'm guess most of them were from over 30 yards out! Or mis-hit crosses.

The three chances that was easier to score than miss. We should have 2 on the board.

This window currently is a somewhere between a 6 and a 7. Ings and Buendia look like they have settled already, and will be big players for us. Tuanzube and Young are solid squad players that improve our ability to get results amid injuries and packed scheduling. Bailey seemed unfit despite the effective cameo v Watford. Has not made the last two squads. A little concerned, but should be up there with Ings and Buendia. On the flip side: Still need a specialist 6. Luiz will tire come January or February. Hasn't has a proper break, played Copa America then Olympics. Nakamba is not first team quality imo, and has AFCON in January. I would have liked a pacy young left back capable of snatching Targett's place. We loaned out both Kessler and Guilbert so now have Young as cover for both fullback positions and then it's CB's at right back and left back. Tuanzebe is only a loan. Would have preferred a permanent option. Grealish gone. The team should be marginally better with the players we brought in. But Jack was the one true world class player in our squad and now he is gone. If we had kept him and still brought in Buendia, Young and Tuanzebe we'd be even better, add one of Bailey or Ings and champions league qualification becomes possible. Now 7th is our best possible outcome. 10th to 12th place is most likely, as we have to rebuild our attack amongst an injury crisis, disrupted preseason, and an all new attacking line up. Not spending more and giving the youngsters a chance could save us money and means we have room to spend more in future windows, this is a smart choice, although a little safe.

I agree he should stay at Swindon, especially as he has started so well. However I think we should keep Hi. At the club next season if he does well, and shows good consistency.

Don't forget Konsa and Tuanzube can both play right back. Also Hayden-Kessler can be recalled from his loan as well.

I can definitely see Levy only willing to pay the absolute minimum necessary to sign a player, definitely not more!

I was taking the piss a bit. He took his goals well, and was very effective. But he isn't worth a lot in my eyes. In my opinion he is a flat track bully. Good against inferior opposition. But when we have to battle, and fight, or when the chips are down, he becomes invisible. Anwar is a talented player. But he goes missing too often. If we can make a profit on him I'd take it.

See we're being linked with McNeill again. I don’t particularly rate him. He's decent, but that's about it! Would rather give the game time to JPB.

I rate this lad. Great feet, gets his head up, good mentality. Has a bright future.

I'd take anything over 10m for him. Take his penalty and tap in away and he was poor yesterday. Bidace and Carney were far superior yesterday.

If you don't like my posts don't read them. I'm just expressing my views like everyone else. Yes I'm long winded but I don’t give a .....