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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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30 minutes ago, sheepyvillian said:

Well one thing is glaringly obvious the players who've performed up till now have not been good enough. Like I said , he's not stupid enough to think nothing needs changing, regardless of how stubborn he may seem. I have the confidence in him to believe he will implement the correct changes. Maybe you don't, but another change of manager is not the answer for me,and I hope it's not for the owners. 

Fair comment, thanks for taking the time to reply,

ATB.

VLD.

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6 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

Off topic but what do ATB and VLD mean?  It's probably something really obvious and I'm being a bit daft.

ATB-----All The Best....

VLD....this is a bit of a joke with another poster....not malicious at all, but he hasn't got it yet so I will keep it to myself if you don't mind...👍

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2 hours ago, sharkyvilla said:

Smith did get promoted last season, which Bielsa didn't.  To me the most crucial thing is signing fewer but better quality players this summer if we do manage to stay up whoever is in charge (it will be Smith).

True, but under normal circumstances, that could so easily be reversed this season.

personally, I think Biesla is a better manager, overall.....Leeds will go up automatically this season, not sure with our style, we would go up automatically, if we was back in that division.

I agree in principal of signing fewer, but better quality.....but these players we have bought have not improved individually and subsequently not projected the profile of the club in to any kind of general ascendency.....its a divided view by fans if a better manager, might have got more from them.

question is, will these better quality players come, also in view of the popular view going to our best player leaving, that would be a further question, whether these better players, would want to come and whether we could be sure, they would be better.

Still, more questions than answers for me.

Edited by TRO
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On 14/03/2020 at 12:33, Graham t said:

I admire your optimism. However our current form ( last 6 matches ) leave s us bottom of the league. Our performances are just awful at the moment with even a genius like Jack unable to lift us. We are going down unless we change direction. Now is the perfect time to make the change. Dean is a likeable chap but is clearly out of his depth in the premier league. Unfortunately points aren't awarded for being ' a nice bloke'.

ATB

VLD.

I think the nice bloke syndrome is a desperate attempt to be reasonable, by some.....and I understand the reference....its nice to be nice....but success in football, is hard fought and hard nosed.

but if we have any semblance of ambition that would be a piece of criteria, way down the list of needs and more of a want.

first and foremost, we need a strong character, strong characters can still be nice blokes too.....I don't know Dean personally, so he might be a strong  character, but i don't see it.

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6 hours ago, sir_gary_cahill said:

A big name doesn’t always equate to instant success though

No it doesn't......but for  a layman like me its unlikely, i have a comprehensive dossier of the best managers in world football and those available.

its also more prudent to have the attributes that we need and find a manager to fit that criteria, rather than to go the other way around......however to fast track that theory, most would go for a big name who has proved their ability to earn the reputation.

The people in the know, should know, who to court.....more so than fans.

its quite a different argument to know whats not right......versus how to put it right.... based on our limited knowledge/information, we are more likely to know the former before the latter.

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2 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

THIS, Absolutely THIS and then THIS some more.

 

Yes, it has been a rough season, and yes we are not where we want to be - and by we I mean those of us who understood that surviving the season was the aim, not those who think we should be top 10 or comfortably clear of the relegation places with 10 games to go.

Am I happy with what I have seen so far - no, it could be better - but I am not ready to chuck Smith under the bus - He is still learning, and I think he can cut it at this level, given the chance. He did an amazing job getting us here and is a victim of his own success to a large degree. Do not forget the rebuild we needed to do. Basically we were almost bankrupt and had half a dozen decent players and that was it. We had to build a squad for the premier league from there. Yes, we now have money, but cannot spend freely and are to an extent haunted by the financial mess of the past. People calling for Pearson or Allardyace??? Jesus wept!

IF this season is null and void, that gives us a chance to get our squad fully fit, we have had most of a season to assess those already here and we should know who will make the grade and then be able to fill in the gaps nicely. I would then like to see Smith given at least half a season with a full squad, and having spent an amount of money commensurate with where we want to be, given where we were.

If there is an issue behind the scenes, then now is the time to sort it - if it is Terry's presence - then he needs to leave. I would most certainly not want Terry as our manager/Head coach at this point in time. I have seen nothing to make me feel that he is up to it.

I don't know any fans who thought we should be top ten going in to this season?

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We have arrived at an interesting juncture, and many of the conflicting views have merit...but our future relies on getting more decisions right than wrong.....only time will tell, whether we missed an opportunity or kept our nerve and chartered stormy seas.

It will be fascinating to see.

 

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3 hours ago, kurtsimonw said:

I never made comment regarding his performance at all. I was asking you whether he was given a new contract after one game in charge. But I'll answer it for you - he wasn't. So, again, nonsense from you.

Back to school for you.

I was fascinated to see you both disagreeing, when gleaning both your past posts, you seem to have a similar outlook.....i fear some wires have been crossed here

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Well, now is the ideal time to replace deano IF they are going to do so.

If they dont so it now I cant see them doing so.

Tbh I kinda think they never had any intention of sacking him, think he will be with us next season regardless of whether we stay up through a voided or complete season, or get relegated.

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3 hours ago, Graham t said:

Yes, but that was last year.....This year he has been found out to have little or no, recruitment or coaching ability. My analysis is isn't a personal attack on Dean who always comes across as a particularly nice bloke. Unfortunately being ' a nice bloke' doesn't count for much in football succes. See Sir Alex and 'old big gob', for examples for ruthless achievers.....

Thats the manager. You said the owners obviously do not know how to run a football club. I totally disagree. 

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2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Thats the manager. You said the owners obviously do not know how to run a football club. I totally disagree. 

I'm fine with that, you may well be proven right......👍

ATB.

VLD.

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2 hours ago, Graham t said:

ATB-----All The Best....

VLD....this is a bit of a joke with another poster....not malicious at all, but he hasn't got it yet so I will keep it to myself if you don't mind...👍

VLD = Virus Less Dialogue?

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4 hours ago, TheStagMan said:

THIS, Absolutely THIS and then THIS some more.

 

Yes, it has been a rough season, and yes we are not where we want to be - and by we I mean those of us who understood that surviving the season was the aim, not those who think we should be top 10 or comfortably clear of the relegation places with 10 games to go.

Am I happy with what I have seen so far - no, it could be better - but I am not ready to chuck Smith under the bus - He is still learning, and I think he can cut it at this level, given the chance. He did an amazing job getting us here and is a victim of his own success to a large degree. Do not forget the rebuild we needed to do. Basically we were almost bankrupt and had half a dozen decent players and that was it. We had to build a squad for the premier league from there. Yes, we now have money, but cannot spend freely and are to an extent haunted by the financial mess of the past. People calling for Pearson or Allardyace??? Jesus wept!

IF this season is null and void, that gives us a chance to get our squad fully fit, we have had most of a season to assess those already here and we should know who will make the grade and then be able to fill in the gaps nicely. I would then like to see Smith given at least half a season with a full squad, and having spent an amount of money commensurate with where we want to be, given where we were.

If there is an issue behind the scenes, then now is the time to sort it - if it is Terry's presence - then he needs to leave. I would most certainly not want Terry as our manager/Head coach at this point in time. I have seen nothing to make me feel that he is up to it.

Exactly this. If we get relegated I want Smith to stay. If we find ourselves in the relegation places in the championship come November then that's the time to get someone else in. 

Even if we hadn't got promoted and stayed in the championship we'd still need to rebuild to a certain degree. Except we would have had next to no money with FFP restrictions. The promotion has given us a cushion to spend some money on new players and help boost our profit etc. The problem is our squad needed so much work to begin with, on top of competing in a new, much higher level league we had to spend way more than most teams just to haave a squad that could try and compete. 

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12 hours ago, regular_john said:

I think it would be a real shame if Smith got the sack.

 

Think back to where we were when he came in - drifting about, midtable in the championship and looking like having another write off of a season. He comes in, galvanises us and, before you know it, has us celebrating a big win at Wembley. Not only that, his team breaks an all time club winning record en route.

 

That, ironically, is where I think it all went pear shaped. Had we lost that game, I think the consensus would have been that he did brilliantly to get us there and he should be given the opportunity to have a full season with us. At that point, he could have rebuilt the squad and had a year in the championship, with less pressure and at a lower standard, to get the team bedded in and ready for life in the premier league.

 

But that's not what happened. By getting us promoted, he was suddenly in a situation where he had half a squad that drastically needed overhauling to survive in the prem. 

 

Think about that squad:

 

- Three of our best players were loan players that went back to their parent club (Mings, Tuanzebe, Abraham). We also lost El Ghazi, who had a decent season.

 

- We had three keepers who had never shown anything resembling premier league quality

 

- We had a defence that included; Chester, who is never fit; Hutton, who retired; Elphick, who was nowhere near prem quality; Taylor, who is not prem quality, and Micah Richards, who spent the whole season injured and then retired

 

- We had a midfield that included; Whelan, who now plays in league 1; Hourihane, who often does naff all apart from pop up with the odd goal; Jedinak, who is currently without a club; Bjarnason, who is nowhere near prem quality, and Adomah, who is nowhere near prem quality

 

- Our forward line included Davis, who never scores, and Kodjia, who is currently plying his trade in Qatar

 

Those are the players that needed replacing as a bare minimum, not to mention adding extra bodies to complete the squad. Yes, he had money to spend, but £140 million does not buy the 10-12 prem quality players we required. That's the reality of the modern football environment. Had we had an extra season in the championship, we would have at least had a team who knew each other well and knew how to play together.

 

Despite all of that, Smith still managed to get us in touching distance of our first major trophy in 24 years, which is something that took MON four years.

 

We also have to keep in mind that we've come up as the playoff side. In the last 25 years, the playoff team has only stayed up 4 or 5 times. We all knew relegation was a strong possibility this season. We all knew that 17th and above would be acceptable. 

 

Given all of the above, sacking Smith at this point seems incredibly harsh and unfair. He's not perfect, he's made mistakes, he's stubborn, he's still learning how to manage at this level. His players are competing against some of the best in the world. As a manager, he is competing against some of the best in the world.

 

This constant hiring and firing of managers has gotten us nowhere. It's time we gave a manager real time and support, even if that means weathering the storm, including relegation if it came to it.

 

I think he deserves our support and the chance to continue the good job he has done so far.

 

 

 

 

Excellent post. Just superb. Spot on. 

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the argument for me anyway is what is the biggest issue the players or Dean's ability to manage them?

I think there is a toxic lack of confidence and belief that has been born partly out of bad luck and stupid VAR decisions and partly out of poor coaching and inexperience.

First of all the attacking approach seemed good at first but it meant we kept conceding late goals and failing to win against ten men, this must have killed squad confidence.

Our midfield changed every week, as did our goal keepers, there has never been any consistency in our starting eleven, and most players know that even if they work hard we will still concede ridiculous goals.

Our defence and midfield reeks of players who are desperate not to make mistakes and consequently seem to be either avoiding taking responsibility for actually making things happen or stopping things from happening, or just making stupid mistakes regardless.

We lack leadership all over the pitch, Mings tries in defence but he makes mistakes also, Grealish is awesome but not a born leader. We don't have enough steady heads/players with experience who can settle the rest of the younger players and noobs. Engels, Guilbert, Hause, Konsa have all proved that they don't have enough talent/pre experience between them to start every week, yet we have no choice but to play some of them. I like Targett but again he struggles as there is a lack of experience round him. Elmo and Taylor are not viable answers to any questions.

Luiz is too young/inexperienced to play a key midfield role every week. Nakamba tries hard but lacks a coherent footballing brain. Drinkwater is off the pace and Connor doesn't offer much other than set pieces. Dean doesn't have any midfielders who can change anything now, it is too late. El Ghazi has talent but is inconsistent and gives up too easily/is too soft, Trez works hard but is a headless chicken.

People think McGinn could be the answer, but if Dean again plays him as the furthest midfielder forward then he will get completely isolated and wasted just as he was before he was injured (plus he will take a fair few games to get match fit/sharp again).

In conclusion I think Dean hasn't realised he doesn't have the players to play the way he wants and every bungled attempt to get things right/comedy loss just makes player belief and squad confidence lower.
 






 

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