PaddytheVillan

Unpopular opinion warning: he has been a poor appointment. If Burnley win their game in hand on us we're 5 points above the relegation zone, with most of the on paper "easy" games wasted. This is unfathomable for a team that regularly has 3-4 £20m+ players sitting on the bench Tactically he is stubborn, repeating the same tired lineups, formations and lacking any game management nouse. The 3 points thrown away to trash like Leeds from not being able to hold a two-goal lead was horrendous, the Newcastle game was the worst performance I've seen since we've been back in the PL. Our defence was problematic before he joined but we look completely toothless going forward. With Ings, Watkins, Coutinho, Bailey, Buendia, Ramsey, McGinn etc, we barely created a chance against two of the worst teams in the league, one of which is definitely dropping this season. Digne feels unnecessary (a slight improvement on Targett overall, better going forward, suspect defensively), but failed to recruit that defensive midfielder we obviously need. I've not been impressed with Chambers - is he meant to be a backup or a starter? We will *probably* survive, but the fact we are looking over our shoulders, in the position the owners have put us in, is unacceptable. We'll likely lose to Brighton, if other results don't go our way it's time to be really concerned.

Embarrassing, schoolboy errors from the defence. Minus in particular vastly outclassed. Nice to see us create some chances but zero killer instinct. A long, long season ahead.

Leeds got thrashed by Man Utd not Watford? And Arsenal should be panicking they looked awful. The Grealish saga was known about behind the scenes for months, Purslow made it clear we had been planning for it. For the past 5 seasons we've struggled with answers without Jack when he's been injured, and it should have been solved by now. I'm sorry but there were no positives from that utter garbage. Bailey looked decent I guess when he came on.

Relegation scrap coming. We looked utterly terrible in every department. 3-1 flatters us, well played Watford.

Everybody has been awful so far, particularly Nakamba, Targett and Young. Young is 36 and should not be starting in an advanced position. We haven't learnt how to attack without Jack, hopefully it will come in time...

As soon as I saw that I knew we'd lose. We are a gift to out of form strikers, teams that can't score etc

I don't get the hype around Ramsey. I think Dean is right to give him games and get a feel for him, rather than Barkley who won't be here next season. But I can't tell you one clear strength or attribute Ramsey has, there must be better youth prospects that we could blood instead.

Watkins, Ramsey and Hause all really poor today. Beaten by the better team. Really disappointing end to a season that's been good overall. Finishing some way off the top half is poor considering where we were around Christmas. Lots of work for Dean to do in the summer.

Slightly better performance especially going forward, but still way off where we should be. Drawig at home to an almost relegated team is really poor, the lack of goals and the performances do not bode well going into next season.

Did Leeds have that attitude? "Well we were always going to lose so it's cool".

Cash cost us another game. Then again we were absolutely shocking going forward, again. Zero threat, incredibly boring to watch.

Cash is just not a good right backat this level. I'm sorry, I know people like him. But every game he is a risk. I think one in every five games he's got sent off, made a horrific error or conceded a penalty. Not good enough. And he's cost us this game. Again.

Liverpool were profligate today, it couldve been a lot more. I thought we were extremely poor going forward, wasting most any chances and weak in midfield. Luiz, Traore and Barkley particularly bad. Another poor performance without Grealish. Martinez excellent.

I like Cash a lot but we seem to cut him more slack than other players. To my memory he has conceded 4 penalties in the Prem this season due to individual errors. That being said he has shown a lot of promise and been part of a very strong back line.

I honestly think we would be relegated in 20th place this season without Grealish. Each match is worse than the one before. No Villa highlights, no good attacks, awful desfensive errors and no chance of scoring a goal even if the match was 900 minutes.

The way Smith has handled this injury is embarrassing. And his lack of alternative tactics is poor. 2-0 to Fulham.

Two goals in the last five, against consistently poor opposition. One of the five was a fluke deflection. Smith is the man to fix it but he needs to be more flexible in his tactics and stop lying about when Grealish will be back. Let's not forget we all knew this was the same shin injury he had in 2019 and was out for 3 months, Smith said with a straight face he might have been back within a week. Yeah, we'll lose this one. 2-0 to Fulham.

We've had some of the easiest games of the season with Jack out and got 5 points from 6. Average that over a season, factoring in tougher opposition, and we would finish on around 30 points. Ie certain relegation. It's dire and such a shame that this is how this promising season will end.

We aren't getting relegated but our form and performances are pathetic and without Grealish we would clearly be bottom 3 or close to it.

Abject, pathetic display against awful opposition. What has happened to the exciting team we saw in the first half of the season? We wouldn't have scored if the game went on for 900 minutes. I can't see us scoring at the moment let alone winning a game. Big, big changes needed from Smith in tactics, formation and personnel. We cannot be this reliant on one player, however good he may be.

Unwatchably awful again. Cannot remember the last time we played competently.

I think we'd all have taken being safe from relegation in March - it's an incredible achievement all things considered. Also Dean has sorted the defence, we have a top class goalie, and a very strong back four with competent backups. A couple of obvious problems and areas to work on for me. Our threat going forward, especially without Grealish, is pretty much non existent. There have been flashes of brilliance from all of our attacking players but they have not gelled as a unit. We need a better backup winger option than Trezeguet - I like the guy and admire his work ethic but the ability just isn't there. The other one for me is that Smith has always had hot and cold patches of form. 10 back to back wins and the end of last season (plus the start of this one) are the good. But we've also had horrible patches of form like last season and in the Championship, and to a lesser extent our current form. I think we could be a consistent top 10 premier league team if Smith can fix the following: 1) find a way to win without Grealish 2) prevent the long, poor runs of form that have been present throughout his career 3) have a better pool of backup players, particularly at striker and winger.

I think we'd be very close to going down without Jack Grealish this season. I dont think the problem is that the players around him are awful, it's more our entire style of play is built around him, and of course he's world class. I hope we can persuade him to stay this summer, but I wouldn't blame him if he wanted to leave.

Appalling all round performance, we are a one man team.

Hourihane would create at least two excellent opportunities per game with his set pieces. I do not understand how Ramsey, Barkley, Trezeguet or Sanson are a better option than him.