Dean Smith

[tomav84]

22 minutes ago, kidlewis said:

The problem is (which I’ve said a few times) is that our performances are not matching the opposition.

 

todays effort against spurs against Bournemouth is three points.

against Southampton I am not sure we will put in the same performance today, it’s more likely the Bournemouth performance and as a result we lose 

thats exactly my thoughts. was saying in the first half we beat southampton playing like this. problem is we wont.

[Guest av1]

5 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

 

We're literally 1 point from 19th, it's no good saying we're currently outside the bottom 3 so we're OK.

 

I didn't say we are ok, I said it's ridiculous to claim that 'its been obvious for months we are going down'

 

[briny_ear]

1 minute ago, av1 said:

If only there was a system that determined the 3 worst teams so far this season. 

We’ll see at the end of May. My belief is we’ll be fourth worst.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Our problem is we are trying to take the game to teams at home but our defence can’t do a high line. They are ridiculously flat footed and I lost count how many times the ball over the top or though the lines did us today. So weak without Mings organising the defence.it was painful to watch. 
 

The encouraging side was we looked very good going forward and Samatta was a very bright focal point.

[Guest av1]

2 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

We’ll see at the end of May. My belief is we’ll be fourth worst.

We'd all settle for that. 

[KentVillan]

34 minutes ago, Don_Simon said:

First five games of the season we lost three, won one and drew one - conceding six.

Last five games of the season we have lost three, won one and drew one - conceding 13. Even taking away the City spanking, we've conceded more than the first five games.

We've conceded 50 goals (the most in the league). Incapable of beating teams who have less players than us. Errors are more prevalent than ever and we're playing five defenders each game.

May I ask where you think we are "much better"?

Compare the two Spurs games as an example.

The first game we scored a goal against the run of play but got absolutely battered for 90 mins.

Today we looked like a team who might deservedly walk away with all 3 points, admittedly in a very loose, end-to-end match, but that passing move from the back which ended with Luiz’s shot being blocked was light years ahead of anything we were doing at the start of the season.

Our set piece defending has improved massively (Alderweireld’s goal was freakish). We’re better at retaining possession. We look more coherent as a unit. Samatta is a huge upgrade.

And two of our best players were out today.

Look I’m not saying we are anything other than relegation battlers, but we have definitely improved since the season began.

What bothers me about this squad is we don’t have a single player with lightning pace. I look at that Newcastle team (who are terrible btw) and I wish we had an option like Saint Maximin or Almiron to hit teams on the counter. It would push opposition defences back and give Grealish a lot more space to work in.

If we had that pace on the counter, I think Smith would be more prepared to sit back against better teams. As it stands, we have to try and take the game to teams because of the players we have.

[Graham t]

Any manager that thinks Drinkwater is the answer doesn't know what the question was....He was just as stupid with his selection of Wesley. In the Premiership you simply can't carry poor players. He just doesn't seem to understand that poor selection has consequences.

Regards,

VLD.

[tomav84]

9 minutes ago, briny_ear said:

We’ll see at the end of May. My belief is we’ll be fourth worst.

very pessimistic attitude. i prefer to say we'll be 17th best

[Delphinho123]

Just now, Graham t said:

Any manager that thinks Drinkwater is the answer doesn't know what the question was....He was just as stupid with his selection of Wesley. In the Premiership you simply can't carry poor players. He just doesn't seem to understand that poor selection has consequences.

Regards,

VLD.

The Wesley one is kind of understandable though. As bad as Wesley is/was, he didn’t have many alternatives. Kodjia simply wasn’t interested in playing football anymore and Davis was injured more often than not.

The Wesley situation was simply a huge cock up by whoever decided to spend 22m on him. 

It was a catastrophic error of judgment by the scouting team. Samatta is a much better player for less than half the price. 

[Zhan_Zhuang]

11 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

They are ridiculously flat footed and I lost count how many times the ball over the top or though the lines did us today. So weak without Mings organising the defence.it was painful to watch. 

Yes, commentator said today how much we seemed to watch the ball....it's schoolboy defending to be honest. Shame really it's basic stuff.

[Graham t]

2 minutes ago, Zhan_Zhuang said:

Yes, commentator said today how much we seemed to watch the ball....it's schoolboy defending to be honest. Shame really it's basic stuff.

Absolutely spot on. This really is something that is taught at junior football level. Seeing this at professional level us truly shocking.

Regards,

VLD.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

I'll admit that I think Drinkwater starting today was a clanger, but I held the optimistic view thinking he would have come storming out the blocks after having 2 weeks to integrate and get his fitness up.

Shows flashes of being good then just looks absolute turd moments later, is his confidence shot, is he still not fit?

Even the commentators on BEIN mentioned that while they know the pedigree he has etc there was too much at stake for Deano to be risking keeping him on when he was looking a liability.

On the flip side though, the alternatives were Nakamba and Hourihane, Nakamba, on form, is good at what he does, but offers next to ZERO going forward. Connor, is well, Connor, on form he is great in attacking positions, set pieces, and probably not much else.

So I'm guessing they see Drinkwater as a better all round "CM" for whatever the game plan is.

Drinkwater is pretty much filling in for McGinn..

I think Deano is often in between a rock and hard place.

Edited February 16, 2020 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[Don_Simon]

24 minutes ago, KentVillan said:

Compare the two Spurs games as an example.

The first game we scored a goal against the run of play but got absolutely battered for 90 mins.

Today we looked like a team who might deservedly walk away with all 3 points, admittedly in a very loose, end-to-end match, but that passing move from the back which ended with Luiz’s shot being blocked was light years ahead of anything we were doing at the start of the season.

Our set piece defending has improved massively (Alderweireld’s goal was freakish). We’re better at retaining possession. We look more coherent as a unit. Samatta is a huge upgrade.

And two of our best players were out today.

Look I’m not saying we are anything other than relegation battlers, but we have definitely improved since the season began.

What bothers me about this squad is we don’t have a single player with lightning pace. I look at that Newcastle team (who are terrible btw) and I wish we had an option like Saint Maximin or Almiron to hit teams on the counter. It would push opposition defences back and give Grealish a lot more space to work in.

If we had that pace on the counter, I think Smith would be more prepared to sit back against better teams. As it stands, we have to try and take the game to teams because of the players we have.

I was at the Spurs game at their place. For the first ten and last thirty we were battered, but the other 50 we were in it. I'd also expect a battering at the Champions League finalist as a newly promoted team. 

Better at retaining posession? I dont see that in any way. There's clips from that spurs game of us playing excellent football, even including Neil Taylor at one stage. 

I dont think we've improved at all. I think we've regressed. You think we're much better. A game of opinions I guess. I very much hope you're right though.

 

[Villarocker]

29 minutes ago, Graham t said:

Any manager that thinks Drinkwater is the answer doesn't know what the question was....He was just as stupid with his selection of Wesley. In the Premiership you simply can't carry poor players. He just doesn't seem to understand that poor selection has consequences.

Regards,

VLD.

I'm a fan of Smith's but find it hard to counter against what you you've said there about Drinkwater and Wesley. 

Today, the inclusion of Drinkwater totally baffled me and I said straight away it would be a wrong decision unless he'd ripped up trees in training. During the game, I also stated that if he took off Samatta he would be making a huge mistake as at no time did he look tired or out of the game. 

Smith has my support but man is he making some howlers recently. Deano, stop playing Drinkwater and make sure Engels is on the bench. Play Ally all game as he is our main goal threat. We will get through this but we need you to stop with the mistakes. 

[KentVillan]

1 minute ago, Don_Simon said:

I was at the Spurs game at their place. For the first ten and last thirty we were battered, but the other 50 we were in it. I'd also expect a battering at the Champions League finalist as a newly promoted team. 

Better at retaining posession? I dont see that in any way. There's clips from that spurs game of us playing excellent football, even including Neil Taylor at one stage. 

I dont think we've improved at all. I think we've regressed. You think we're much better. A game of opinions I guess. I very much hope you're right though.

 

Fair enough - perhaps the truth is somewhere in the middle. I think a lot of opinions today have been slightly affected by the sickening nature of the winning goal.

[ozvilla28]

His not to blame totally for our persistent mistakes,but questions should be asked. Week in week out the continuity of school boy mistakes poor defending etc.We look so disorganised in the back 4 nothing changes through  weekly amazing to with JT in our coaching staff to.

I think he should be under more pressure to be honest.

Edited February 17, 2020 by ozvilla28

[Philosopher]

For me that was our best performance of the season. We just keep making stupid mistakes. Cut out the mistake we stay up comfortably. Keep making we probably go down.

[screwdriver]

Drinkwater should start................ with Nkamba. We beat Watford and got a decent point at Brighton when they start together. Even with Mings the defence is brittle so Smith needs to put two sitters in front of them.

Drinkwater should be finishing games why isn't he fit? Why isn't Smith giving him extra conditioning to get him to last 90mins.

Smith is making it up as he goes along.  I bet he'll bring Hourihane back into the mix for southampton.

There was no need to take off Smatta today. Why not give him a full 90 they've just had two weeks break!

I'm sick of listeneing to his interviews now. talking about taking his wife to rome before the spurs game. disgrace. give it the big un about your champagne lifestyle when you've got a trophy on the shelf. not when you've been spanked by bournmouth and then. and after the game going on about the pen? I thought no pen in the stadium but when I looked on skysports website at home the first viewing I realised it was pretty much stone wall.

 

 

[KentVillan]

1 hour ago, screwdriver said:

I thought no pen in the stadium but when I looked on skysports website at home the first viewing I realised it was pretty much stone wall.

I thought your lot played on Saturday?

[Avcol]

5 hours ago, Graham t said:

Any manager that thinks Drinkwater is the answer doesn't know what the question was....He was just as stupid with his selection of Wesley. In the Premiership you simply can't carry poor players. He just doesn't seem to understand that poor selection has consequences.

Regards,

VLD.

Premier League. Hasn't been called the Premiership in 15 years. Others have corrected you yet you still say it.

Regards,

Avcol