Dean Smith

[M_Afro]

1 hour ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

Well I am a huge fan of Smith, but I have a bone to pick with him when it comes to rotations. 

There's no point having a squad if you don't use it. There's no chance that a fit Nakamba and Horihane wouldn't have been better than a shattered Luiz and McGinn.

Getting this right is his job. I would probably have even started Traore over Grealish.

Now we lost, got a bunch of displeased players in the squad that realise they won't get a look in no matter what. And McGinn, Luiz and Grealish are even more exhausted.

This is straight up poor management. Our bench might be poor, but it's a squad game unfortunately.

I would say that there’s every chance!

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, villalad21 said:

They lost to Bristol's B team.

Shame on them. They deserve nothing.

3 nil vs Bristol City we won

[villalad21]

23 minutes ago, Zatman said:

3 nil vs Bristol City we won

*Stoke

[Sulberto21]

22 minutes ago, Zatman said:

3 nil vs Bristol City we won

Someone didn't check the facts.

Defensive positioning was poor yesterday especially for their goals. A quirk I've noticed is opposition seems to get in between our Midfield and defensive line quite easily.

[mikeyjavfc]

I won’t blame Dean Smith for this loss. Losing Ross in the first minute can’t have been good for the game plan and with no like for like replacement the system suffered from back to front. Couple that with 1 days prep with the full squad and half the team looking gassed from internationals and Smith gets a free pass from me. Despite all that, we still looked dangerous and even ignoring the penalty shout we did enough for a point or even a win if not for dodgy finishing in front of goal. Without the international fatigue I think the concentration, control, passing, finishing etc is that much sharper and we win comfortably. This was a far cry from the Leeds capitulation. 

[Demitri_C]

11 hours ago, HKP90 said:

You can’t seriously think we’re in the mix to go down though, surely. We could have gone top tonight. We win our game in hand comfortably and get some favours we could be second. 

Im saying its a possibility we could be in the mix.  We havent had injury crisis yet we are losing games against shit teams like leeds and brighton at home.

Its a concern for me that one we week we batter arsenal the endt we lose to lame brighton at home

[Tomaszk]

2 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Im saying its a possibility we could be in the mix.  We havent had injury crisis yet we are losing games against shit teams like leeds and brighton at home.

Its a concern for me that one we week we batter arsenal the endt we lose to lame brighton at home

Brighton aren't lame.

[Demitri_C]

3 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Brighton aren't lame.

They hadnt won in 5 before this

[Tomaszk]

12 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

They hadnt won in 5 before this

So?

Everton haven't won in four.

Man City are three points behind us.

Are they lame? The PL is competitive and there aren't too many bad sides.

Regardless, we should have won yesterday. Missed about 3 sitters.

Edited November 22, 2020 by Tomaszk

[ozvillafan]

I was baffled by the Traore substitution for Barkley. My understanding was Traore plays wide or up front, not behind the striker. Surely Hourihane was the better pick - he's played in midfield with McGinn and Douglas before. His deadball delivery is as good if not better than Traore, his link up play with Grealish is better and he knows how to score.

I really think we looked unbalanced, which made the defense look worse than they actually were and meant we pulled Grealish and Trez out of their normal positions to compensate (despite the idea that it was to mark Lamptey).

He's got to do better than that.

[Demitri_C]

32 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

So?

Everton haven't won in four.

Man City are three points behind us.

Are they lame? The PL is competitive and there aren't too many bad sides.

Regardless, we should have won yesterday. Missed about 3 sitters.

I think asking to beat brighton a team who were out of form at home isnt too much to ask. Even a draw. Losing again is poor.

Just like smith gets praised when he wins against arsenal he deserves criticism when we pull shocking results like this and leeds. A return of 0 points against those two at home is abysmal

[Demitri_C]

8 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Ah good, plenty of the same faces expecting to win every game. They'll learn at some point.

Fatigue throughout the squad. Barkley injured after 2 mins. Mings a suicidal carcrash. McGinn and Watkins miles off it. Jack as bad as I can remember him ever in the last four years.

And we still should have won.

I'm not even a huge fan of Smith but not winning today is definitely nothing to do with coaching or tactics. We should have scored six.

Can you point out when anyone has said everyone expects to win every game as i cant see anyone has said that?

Most are are expressing criticism at the poor form against teams we should be getting a return of points whther thats a win or drqw as opposed to zero?

[PieFacE]

We are so much improved when compared to last season I find it difficult to really criticise Smith at this point. We're by no means the finished article, and we do have a severe lack of quality in relation to squad depth. But I think there's a lot to be said that the only team who have really outplayed us this season is Leeds. 

If we can work on our defensive organisation a little more, take advantage of more of the chances we create and add a bit more quality to the squad then we could have a very very good team. 

[sne]

4 minutes ago, PieFacE said:

We are so much improved when compared to last season I find it difficult to really criticise Smith at this point. We're by no means the finished article, and we do have a severe lack of quality in relation to squad depth. But I think there's a lot to be said that the only team who have really outplayed us this season is Leeds. 

If we can work on our defensive organisation a little more, take advantage of more of the chances we create and add a bit more quality to the squad then we could have a very very good team. 

Agreed.

Grown used to just feeling dejected or apathy when we lose but now I actually get angry when we lose. I credit this to Smith because we've actually built a team that can win most games.

Still very much a work in progress thou.

[sharkyvilla]

5 minutes ago, Demitri_C said:

Can you point out when anyone has said everyone expects to win every game as i cant see anyone has said that?

Most are are expressing criticism at the poor form against teams we should be getting a return of points whther thats a win or drqw as opposed to zero?

It's the lack of context for me.  I've noticed this before but you seem very black and white, winning is good, losing is bad and it's usually down to Smith.  I think after the last match it was 'what a lovely morning' then you go on to list all of Dean's achievements and how great he is, then we lose a game and suddenly we look like being in a relegation fight despite being about 15 points clear and 6th in the league.  I think sometimes you need to sit back and try to analyse what's happening a bit, also when saying stuff like Kamala Harris is as bad as Trump.

[PieFacE]

46 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

I was baffled by the Traore substitution for Barkley. My understanding was Traore plays wide or up front, not behind the striker. Surely Hourihane was the better pick - he's played in midfield with McGinn and Douglas before. His deadball delivery is as good if not better than Traore, his link up play with Grealish is better and he knows how to score.

I really think we looked unbalanced, which made the defense look worse than they actually were and meant we pulled Grealish and Trez out of their normal positions to compensate (despite the idea that it was to mark Lamptey).

He's got to do better than that.

Traore was pretty much a straight swap for the position Barkley was playing in a 4-2-3-1. Our game plan was to press up high and cut out passing lanes. Hourihane isn't that type of player to play behind a striker and press high up. I thought it was the smart sub really given the options on the bench. But I suppose we could have brought on Conor and gone for a 4-3-3. 

[GingerCollins29]

Am i only one to think traore was quite lively? Always looking to create, whilst id imagine not 100% match fit, got an assist also

[bannedfromHandV]

It’s going to be up and down for us this season folks, hopefully we continue the trend of more up than down and we finish upper mid table, that’s massive progress on last season if we achieve it.

Even in defeat yesterday we were so far beyond what we’d have seen for most of last season, in my opinion, and we lost a hugely influential player in the second minute.

I’m far more encouraged by the performance than I am worried by the result.

[lp_villa830]

3 minutes ago, GingerCollins29 said:

Am i only one to think traore was quite lively? Always looking to create, whilst id imagine not 100% match fit, got an assist also

I think he looked better through the middle. When him and grealish swapped they both seemed to disappear.

[Demitri_C]

38 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

It's the lack of context for me.  I've noticed this before but you seem very black and white, winning is good, losing is bad and it's usually down to Smith.  I think after the last match it was 'what a lovely morning' then you go on to list all of Dean's achievements and how great he is, then we lose a game and suddenly we look like being in a relegation fight despite being about 15 points clear and 6th in the league.  I think sometimes you need to sit back and try to analyse what's happening a bit, also when saying stuff like Kamala Harris is as bad as Trump.

Im happy when win and siapoounted naturally when we lose. I said we might be in a relegation dog fight. I think i have highlighted why becaus eour home form is really worrying. If you cant win at home your generally going to struggle.  If this improves we will be fine. 

the inconsistency is the most worrying thing for me. We can batter arsenal then lose so easily against brighton.

With all due respect I have no idea why you feel the need to raise something else that is completely irrelevant to football eg trump in a football thread. This area is a escape from them politics thread!!