OxfordVillan

I’d imagine the bulk of our summer budget will have to go on LWF and RWF players if we are to further improve next season.

What did Klopp do differently with the way Liverpool played last season? Or Pep, the season before? To counter your assertion that Smith is predictable I offer you the last two managers to win the Premier League. They never changed set ups, formation etc. What they had was very good players, in particular Pep has very good players all through his squad. Most of the time it’s less to do with formations and tactics, and more to do with simply having a depth of good players. Klopp barely changed a thing with the Liverpool side over two seasons. If Dean Smith had the luxury to bring on DeBruyne, Ageuro, Fernandinho instead of a Davis, ElGhazi, Ramsey etc then we’d not even be thinking about the tactics etc, we’d simply be talking about superb players winning us games. Of course there have been mistakes at times with game management etc, but I guarantee you fans of all clubs will have gripes about their manager. Good players win games, not formations.

Comments seem to be either one end of the pendulum or the other regarding the manager, there doesn’t seem to be any interest in the middle ground, for a bit of balance. I think this subject needs to be viewed from a few different angles to build the picture. The climb we’ve had since Dean Smith took charge has been impressive, from where we were in October 2018 to now must surely be beyond most reasonable expectations?! Not outstanding, not a miracle, but for sure it should be viewed as very solid progression. The first half of this season can be said to have been superb, up until the turn of the year the team were still well in the mix for the European places and were talked about as one of the most exciting teams to watch. The wheels, whilst not coming off, have certainly become wobbly since January, since the COVID outbreak. Only time will tell what impact the outbreak had on the team, fwiw I think the teams decline since then can be more attributed to Grealish carrying what is obviously the shin splint injury, before finally having to stop playing completely. But even with that we can say we’ve been safe all season and never once looked like flirting with the relegation scrap, which I think is what most of us had targeted when the season started. Our start obviously raised expectations, and so how we’re finishing the season is a comedown for many of us and makes what is a very decent season begin to feel like a bit of a failure. For me there is no doubt that the Manager goes into next season having been backed once more in the summer transfer market, his year on year progress warrants that. What I would say, though, is that he’ll have to keep progressing. And for me I think the owners would expect progress to be a very similar start to the 21/22 season as we’ve had this season, where we are up and running amongst the top 7 or 8 teams.....and stay there. I would have concerns for the manager if we followed up a flat end to this season with a couple of so/so months into the start of next season. We must remember that the owners are ambitious and successful men, this is the Premier League, and very few managers get time. Momentum is key, a disappointing end to a season followed by a sticky start has seen the demise of many a manager, it makes people forget all the good that happened previous to a relatively short spell of poor/disappointing results. In short, Dean Smith has done very decently. He hasn’t worked miracles and he hasn’t been crap. Wolves performed better over their opening two seasons back in the Premier League, and Leeds now look like they could out perform us over this season. This should show many people that what we’ve achieved really isn’t the stuff of miracles. We can’t be complacent, or blind to other clubs achieving more. Dean Smith has earned the right go into next season (unless we fall off a cliff and lose 6 or 7 of our last 8 games).

Big mistake trusting in Barkley, surely the manager only did that because of the reverse fixture? It was sentimental nonsense that backfired, Barkley was less than useless.....can’t even strike the ball properly these days. I just don’t want to see him in a premier league game for Villa again.

Id wager a decent amount that many Liverpool fans would snap your arm off if offered Ollie Watkins as a replacement for Firminho. Jota is not a specialist CF, he was brought in initially as cover for Mane as a wide forward. I’ve a couple of mates who are Liverpool fans who would love Watkins as CF in place of Firminho. A CF who works his nuts off AND scores goals were their exact words. Why on gods earth would we push Watkins out wide to accommodate a player not as good as Watkins at CF?! Not many top teams have two top notch CFs, not when most are playing with just one. Spurs have Kane and then it’s a big drop off, Liverpool have Firminho and then a big drop off to Origi, Man City have had Aguero (you might argue Jesus, but he’s only really played with agueros career at city coming to a close....... and city often playing without a recognised CF), Man Utd have had to sign a 34yr old CF to get them through a period of time, Leicester will have to replace an ageing Vardy (though I rate Iheanacho), Chelsea have often reverted to an ageing Giroud at CF (preferred often to Abraham), Arsenal struggling to accommodate Aubamayang and Lacazette, to the point that they play their now highest salary earner out wide and out of position.....with a poor goals return. Ollie Watkins has proven to be a fantastic signing at CF, proven himself the entirety of the season thus far. We’d be utterly mad to move him out of position for a former loaned player that some fans have a schoolgirl crush on.

I note you haven’t ruled Messi out..........

The comparison you make is a ridiculous example of whataboutery. It’s not an either/or scenario, they shouldn’t be doing either. If you don’t think that playing computer games into the small hours has an effect on young mens demeanour and performance the folllowing day then I’d suggest you know little about it. I see with my own eyes the effect it has on our 18yr old lad and his mates when they’ve been gaming for hours on end, more so when it’s into the small hours. Eyes like pandas and zombie like, seemingly unable to fully take in what’s happening around them. For many it’s an addiction. And these are lads who have nothing to worry about other than stacking shelves at Sainsbury’s the next day, or rocking up in van to a building site. We’re talking about young men who are PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES. Special mention again of the word PROFESSIONAL. They cannot live like my lad, they are different whether they like it or not. They are paid to live differently, to look after themselves physically and mentally. They are paid to be the best they can possibly be, to be far superior to the young men stacking shelves in Sainsbury’s after a long night of gaming, or being out on the pi55. But those young men either out on the pi55 or gaming still have to be at work at a time that suits their employer, not the other way round. Or they end up getting sacked. I’d love to hear Messi or Ronaldos thoughts on starting training later to accommodate younger players nighttime gaming habits, I think it’d make interesting reading.

I’d have to say I really don’t like the idea of starting training at midday because younger players stay up until 2am playing effing PlayStation etc. Getting yourself up in the morning is one of life’s simple disciplines, and it’s not an option available to your average everyday man that Dean says he wants his players to remain grounded to. And staring into screens for hours on end isn’t good for a professional athlete, I’m really surprised at this particular point he made.

People are entitled to question Dean Smith, nobody should be beyond criticism. It’s natural that when a teams performances have been as below par as our have been over the course of a couple of months then a manager will be open to criticism, certainly will be questioned. I think Dean Smith has a good deal of credit in the bank with the owners, but we also shouldn’t underestimate our owners. I do believe that if opportunities present themselves then we have owners who can and will act. As things stand I can’t think of another manager that is available, or realistically obtainable, that could add more to us. But if this slump continues after the international break then credit in the bank will start to dwindle, and you leave yourself a little more vulnerable. As good as we were up to December, if we finish poorly then that’s what people remember the most. That’s football. I hope we can pull ourselves together after this international break, if even for the last 4 or 5 games and finish with something approaching our pre-Christmas form.

Our season is petering out quite rapidly. I think we’ll do well to finish 11th-12th as things stand.

Oh FFS, Davis on for Trezeguet. I’m turning off.

Get Cash off, go 3 at the back (Konsa, Mings, Targett) and get Ramsey on. We’ve surely got to try something tactically different when the personnel changes yield negligible difference? Anyway, this games gone. Its actually going as I thought it would.

Super comfortable now. We’ve absolutely zero premier league goal creation quality without Grealish.

Spurs are comfortable.

Woeful thus far.

It’s not often I’ve said this, I’d put Barkley on. Our balls into the box are dire, we seem completely incapable of finding even a single decent cross. Doesn’t matter if it’s a corner, free kick, or open play........we just have no quality being put in. And this is not an isolated game where that’s been the case. I think we need to go through the middle, go narrower with more bodies.

I think we lose this game by 2 or 3 goals. We’re not playing well, we’re without our creative players, and Spurs need the result more than we do. Our best opportunity for points remains in keeping the opposition goalless, but I just don’t see that happening against Kane & Co. 3-0 loss.

I do think there’s going to be big money flying around, one of the reasons being who you mentioned, Haaland. I also think Kane is ready to move. As you mentioned, both Manchester clubs need a No.9, and both Manchester clubs have bags of money. I could easily see Kane & Haaland in Manchester by August, which would mean something in the region of £300m being shelled out. If Spurs end up with £150m in their pocket you can guarantee they’ll be at our door with an offer for Grealish. Big moves create a domino effect, and I fully expect big moves this summer.

Interesting reading here. It seems some haven’t learned the lessons of the Lerner era. That is that if you allow your very best players to transfer out to the clubs above you, you’ll never catch them. And if you compound that mistake by taking an ageing player on a massive salary in part exchange, then you screw yourself to the floor for a number of years. Mercifully I don’t envisage our owners making the same mistakes. IF Man City came calling for Grealish then the reply should be along the lines of, “sure, if you include Phil Foden and £100m as part of the deal then we’ll mull it over”. In other words, f**k off. I like to think our transfer team is a whole world better than it was in the recent past. We’ve all witnessed the value of Jack Grealish to our football club in recent matches, matches we can barely create a chance in without him. So he’s worth around £200m to us. There’s an international tournament on the horizon and Grealish is close to entering his prime years. With another good summer of investment theres every opportunity to establish our club amongst the top 6 or so clubs, which means competing at the sharp end of the sought after competition’s. I honestly don’t see why our 2 incredibly wealthy billionaire owners would be in football for any other reason than success? I hardly think they’re too concerned about making a few tens of millions a year by cashing in on players and scraping by in the league.

We’re naturally shedding some squad players this summer, with Elmo & Taylor’s contracts running down. I think we need to turn to our emerging youngsters now to fulfill the role of back up to Cash & Targett, no point spending £s on back up players this summer when we need every penny to purchase starting players. I’d not be spending anymore £s on Ross Barkley beyond his loan agreement, either. I think we should be looking to play Grealish in the Barkley role, a massive upgrade on Ross and doesn’t cost us a penny. We need a CM/DM to upgrade from McGinn, who just hasn’t looked remotely like the McGinn we once knew from before his ankle injury 15-16months ago. We need a good LW, an alternative CF, in addition to the aforementioned upgrade for McGinn.......as a minimum.

I thought McGinns attempt to waste time from our corner at the end was ridiculous, and McGinn has become very predictable in trying to turn his arse into opposition players to try and shield the ball. It’s nonsensical to play a short corner and to only commit one player to try and retain the ball. Newcastle were obviously desperate to get the ball and get up field, and they inevitably won the ball quickly and went upfield. What they would have been dreading was the possibility of conceding a chance on their goal from a well delivered corner, or at least the possibility that, with well positioned players outside of their penalty area, we recycled any clearance out of their box. It was really poor game management from us, poor execution of poor game management. FFS, make the opposition defend the set piece from their penalty box, the danger area. You don’t have to over commit players for the corner, but FFS put ball into box and have yourselves set up to challenge for any potential clearance. Newcastle equalised by swinging a ball into the box, a cross that went completely unchallenged by McGinn as he ambled out with a token gesture of a challenge.

The thing is, McGinn saying stuff like that deflects for his own performances, which are poor. Your comment of, “got to love McGinn”, goes to show this. I’d prefer he did the right things, rather than say popular things.

Yep. I’m cancelling my live football subscriptions, not watching anymore of this dross. We’re not going down, we’re not getting a European place.

Pathetic. Another poorly motivated, poorly coached display. Game management atrocious.

I think it’s going to be a dreadful game, bland as Weston-Super-Mare beach front on a Wednesday morning in January. I think they obviously need it more than us, so I’m unfortunately going with a 1-0 loss.