Sam3773

Jokanovic ended his first season at Fulham with a 30% win percentage. Farke got 32%. Bet Fulham and Norwich are glad they weren't so quick to pull the trigger.

Love this game. At Forest, Warburton was sacked at 15th, Karanka got them to 7th. At Boro, Karanka was sacked at 19th, Mowbray had them in 7th. At West Brom, Mowbray left at 20th, Hodgson got them to 10th. At Blackburn, Hodgson was sacked at 20th, Allardyce had them on 13th. At Sunderland, Allardyce left at 17th, Bruce had them at 16th. At Villa, Bruce was sacked at 12th, Smith has them at 10th. Culverhouse.

Warburton went on to get sacked twice and Brentford were forced to sell a load of players at the end of that season to meet FFP. Not sure what we're proving by bringing this up all the time?

In terms of style, there's probably nothing in it between Jokanovic and Smith.

If the job became available, it would be Rodgers or Jokanovic for me and I suspect the latter would be more attainable.

He was on ITV playing tiddlywinks with James Haskell last night so I won't hold my breath. No but really, I have faith. Praise be.

I suspect promotion was all but given up on in January, hence sending the youth out for first team football. I think we'll see a few of them integrated into the first team over the summer, along with many, many cheap transfers and hopefully a little help from uncle Jorge.

I think quite a few teams have managed it without Grealish, Abraham, McGinn, Mings and Chester. I'd have to check Wikipedia though to be sure..

If we win every game between now and the end of the season, we'll match our final points tally from last season. [/thread]

Smith is renowned for having poor defensive records, that's true enough. It's a weird one. Mings has consistently been rated our best player since joining. A lot said Hause was brilliant on Saturday and I would concur. Those are the two we have identified and recruited since Smith joined. I won't count Elphick as we had no choice but to recall him at the time with Chester being out only 'fit' CB - especially now we know he wasn't. Kalinic seems to be improving since he started, although is he better than Steer? Not sure. It is what it is I guess and in my eyes we're 15th currently. If this run continues for the next 10, I think the choice is clear for the board. If, and I hope this is the case, he turns it around and we end in the top half, I think he'll get a crack at next season

They said something on Soccer Saturday yesterday that resonated. I can't remember which team they were discussing now but it wasn't us. They were describing the tough turn around of results under a new manager and said 'When you've got players who have been so used to playing route 1 football for years, it's underestimated how hard it is to change that mentality'. And when you think about it, a lot of the squad have been playing a certain way for a couple of years now. This puts Smith in an awkward position in my mind. He will be well aware that the fans wanted him because of his trademark style of football. He will be well aware if this group of players can or can't play to that style. If they can't, what does he do? Stick with it and lose games as the players make mistakes, poor touches, poor awareness etc. Or change to one the players are more used to until summer: Bruce Ball. Either way, it's going to be a tough few months on the fans. With that in mind, I think there's a way this squad goes on a winning run. That way is getting in a good route 1 manager. But no one wants that. I honestly feel that any manager who plays this expansive football is doomed to fail unless they're given that preseason and summer window. It's a tough one mentally on the fans though. We just want performances and results. At the moment I think we have a manager incapable of managing the way the team plays, and a team incapable of playing the way the manager wants.

Edit: Wrong topic. While I'm here... We're going up! One day.

He's really not helping himself is he? I know he can't exactly kill morale by slating everyone on the pitch, but at lease admit that our performances are dire. Unless he truly believes the game could have gone either way. In which case, we have a problem..

Well the next game is supposed to be Grealish's first back, so there's that..

Very disappointing. He has to give us something to ensure he gets time. He's giving us worse than nothing currently. We look awful in all areas. Fair play for bringing Ramsey in today, but it's nothing revolutionary. I haven't struggled this much to watch a team since Garde.

Best players on the pitch are the ones Smith signed. The rest can bugger off.

Just to add to this, I've been reading more on the Bucks under Edens' ownership and there are a lot of similarities. When he and Lasry bought the Bucks they had a squad of aging players and weren't doing great. They had just had a club record worst season. A full rebuild was needed so they brought in a young coach and gave him time to complete the rebuild with young talent. What helped Kidd keep his coaching job for so long under this rebuild, though, is a surprising first season and good run of results. Arguably that's something Smith doesn't have to prop him up at the moment. Either way, it feels like Edens and Purslow are fans of giving someone time to turn things around. Sawiris is the unknown. All we can hope for is a good performance today. I'm at a stage where the season is probably over, so I'm not fussed about the result (lie), but what I want to see is a performance, and a dominating one. I want Smith to be able to play his style of football and I hope the players will oblige.

Quote right, my apologies. I can't imagine they're involved in the day-to-day running of the club, but they would take great interest in what their asset is doing, particularly Edens who is used to owning sports teams. While they wouldn't hire and fire themselves, they will put Purslow under pressure if they felt a change is needed.

Instead of what we want to happen, I'm very interested in what we think will happen. I think Smith will get time and while I know the owners are very much an unknown entity, Purslow certainly seemed to want to give Bruce as much time as possible which suggests they'd like longevity and see this as a long term project. That being said, something has to be said about our calibre of owner. Sawiris is the majority shareholder in Adidas which I would imagine makes him a very decisive businessman. Edens sacked the Bucks coach last January and they are now 1st in the Eastern Conference. These are men who want success. For all the talk of 'they will give them time' and 'it doesn't matter if we get promoted this season', we are the 3rd richest club in England with two very ambitious owners. They won't want to be 30th in the English standings for long. Honestly, this is their Di Matteo. Their Houllier. For one reason or another, the first rarely lasts long. I think they'll give him time, but I honestly can't predict it. They could pull the trigger tomorrow, they could keep him for years. I don't think either would surprise me.

I think that's probably a bit unfair. Frank plays a similar brand of football to Smith so while he seems to have improved them defensively, he hasn't had a lot of work to do for the system as a whole. I imagine if we had hired a manager of Bruce's ilk we would be putting in better performances because we have players who are used to playing that style. I don't understand the midtable thing either. Yeah, he's got them to midtable consistently.. But they're a bottom half side on paper. He's over achieved with them and while he left during a rough spell, he left them in 7th. They're now in 15th. I guess the hoping is that if he can over achieve with a squad that cost £2.50, how can he do with a squad that costs a few mill, but obviously that squad has to be players that can play his way and his system. As I said last night, I am concerned and we need to show something, but he should have a fair shout of getting his squad on and a preseason.

Also, I'm no longer concerned about Grealish and another season in the Championship. I don't think Grealish goes this summer. He hasn't done enough (yet) to warrant the price tag I imagine we'll have on him. That being said, if he does get nabbed then we can put that money to good use. There are plenty of positions we need to invest money in and we can't be a one player team. Smith can either build a team around him next season or use the cash to invest in other young talent. Win-win.

Definitely not a penalty. They had the better shout for a penalty if anything. I really don't know what to say. I'm a firm believer that Smith should get a summer and a chance to build his squad, but I'm a realist. If performances don't pick up, of course Christian and the owners have a tough decision to make. I had concerns when we were linked with Smith as to how much he did at Brentford. There is a lot to be said about their coaching system rather than the figurehead. I want him to have a fair crack of the whip and a summer, but he has to give us something. Results aren't as awful as some make out compared to others, but christ those performances.. The last 2/3 games have made my eyes bleed and I believe the bulk of our squad aren't up to scratch, but we've gone from steamrolling some top teams to rolling over to everyone. Everything we do is slow, laboured, without desire or a clear system of what we're doing. Whenever we're in possession we're more likely to pass it to the opposition or long ball it back to their defence than we are to string some good passing together. Concerning. He should get time, but it's tough.

Another god awful performance from Villa and another useless EFL official. Copy. Paste.

Well deserved. We have been shocking tonight. Shocking.