Dean Smith

[Zatman]

1 hour ago, MWARLEY2 said:

The stats back up the thoughts that teams are working us out. Up until southampton we were averaging 15 shots per game throughout the season and had at least 10 shots in every game

Last 4 against southampton 8 shots west ham 9 shots arsenal 10 shots and tonight 4 shots.

Basically halved our creative output in the last month. 

Ignore the fact we had a serious Covid outbreak and then 6 games in 18 days after it

[Vive_La_Villa]

We’re we are having a bad spell performances wise at the moment. This was always going to happen at some point during the season. Covid has to be a factor but it could also just be a dip in form which every team in the league will suffer from at some point bar Man City. 
 

The encouraging thing is we are still picking up points whilst not playing very well. 

[Zatman]

Just now, Vive_La_Villa said:

We’re we are having a bad spell performances wise at the moment. This was always going to happen at some point during the season. Covid has to be a factor but it could also just be a dip in form which every team in the league will suffer from at some point bar Man City. 
 

The encouraging thing is we are still picking up points whilst not playing very well. 

While true we are still picking up points, 10 point i think since the Covid break yet not playing great 

Last season we were playing well in games and getting no points. Its what good teams do, teams that win leagues dont play great every week but still get points

[Vive_La_Villa]

Just now, Zatman said:

While true we are still picking up points, 10 point i think since the Covid break yet not playing great 

Last season we were playing well in games and getting no points. Its what good teams do, teams that win leagues dont play great every week but still get points

I think the worrying thing is we are looking like we were last season at times and it’s easy to feel that eventually the scoreline will start reflecting the performances.    I guess Brighton are in the in form team and have only conceded 1 in the their last 6 I think. But still we really were poor today. 

[useless]

There's a lot of great and interesting opinions in this forum, and I'm not just saying that. We're seventh in the form guide over the last six games, which isn't bad in of itself, but also West Ham are second and we only have three less points than them over the same period. We've only lost one of the last four, and also won two of them. And looking at the fixtures we've got coming up there's a chance there for us to continue our pleasing form, there's no games where you'd completely write us off.

[Villan_of_oz]

31 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

This is bold tbh. 

He was absolutely dreadful today and fully deserves to be dropped. But lets be honest, he wasn't alone. 

I never said he was alone, I totally agree with you that we were poor as a whole. 

However Ross came here to be important, I bet he's being paid to be important, and the fact is he isn't important to our success, that's been proven over a decent period of games.

It's worse though than he isn't important, he's actually a liability on the pitch and I think he affects SJM and Luiz's performances.

I was basically told I was an idiot for having my own opinion.

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Villan_of_oz

[Zatman]

2 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think the worrying thing is we are looking like we were last season at times and it’s easy to feel that eventually the scoreline will start reflecting the performances.    I guess Brighton are in the in form team and have only conceded 1 in the their last 6 I think. But still we really were poor today. 

I think it sort of evened out when we battered Brighton at VP and got nothing.

Last season we had Jack to bail us out most games. Today Jack was quiet but our defence was solid. I think thats progress 

[Vive_La_Villa]

4 minutes ago, Zatman said:

I think it sort of evened out when we battered Brighton at VP and got nothing.

Last season we had Jack to bail us out most games. Today Jack was quiet but our defence was solid. I think thats progress 

Definitely progress. For a team not playing too well being 7th in the form table is not too bad at all. Two very tough games coming up. Play poorly in these two and we will lose. But I think they’ll be a reaction again. 

Edited February 14, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[VillaChris]

Tonight was a good point given how poor we were.

I wouldn't be too harsh as tonight was easily the worst 90 minutes of football quality all season. Even in general poor performances like Leeds and West Ham we put some good moves together or scored a good goal, nowhere near that tonight and a real off one from all outfield players bar Targett who was solid and tried to get a few crosses in.

We had 1 or 2 shots on target so that must be a season low.

Just shows how we struggle v certain teams. Leeds, Southampton and Brighton all have decent pace out wide and completely smother us centrally, giving us no time to breath and so we either lose the ball or just start launching missiles at Ollie's head.

Played 5 v them and won just once and not really looking forward to Leeds away if we don't massively up on tonight's effort.

Comes to something when I'm more confident playing a Chelsea or Arsenal now who on paper have great attacks but if you negate that they'll stand off a bit more in central midfield so gives more time to start up attacks and play little balls through for Jack.

[Rightdm00]

20 minutes ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Definitely progress. For a team not playing too well being 7th in the form table is not too bad at all. Two very tough games coming up. Play poorly in these two and we will lose. But I think they’ll be a reaction again. 

Brighton are just an awful matchup for us. We aren't physical enough to bully them and they just crowded out out three creative players. I have never seen Jack have so little time on the ball all season. 

I think we will see a far better performance just based off of not having to play Brighton again. 

[Tomaszk]

The pied piper is whistling a loud tune tonight.

Great point to run away with.

If Elmo starts a PL game we won't be winning it.

[QldVilla]

A lot of supporters making comments for comments sake, who don't understand physical and psychological adaptation and think players should turn up week in week out and be excellent.

I was expecting a win and a strong performance today, but in the back of my head, I also thought there might be a let down after a week off from playing twice a week for 3 weeks after Covid. It happens and we still got a point from the game.

Yes I'm disappointed we should be winning those games, but we are either in a bad slump, or we will see a performance in the next game.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

2 hours ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I never said he was alone, I totally agree with you that we were poor as a whole. 

However Ross came here to be important, I bet he's being paid to be important, and the fact is he isn't important to our success, that's been proven over a decent period of games.

It's worse though than he isn't important, he's actually a liability on the pitch and I think he affects SJM and Luiz's performances.

I was basically told I was an idiot for having my own opinion.

 

Who cares what people on the internet think. You do you. 

[Adam2003]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think the worrying thing is we are looking like we were last season at times and it’s easy to feel that eventually the scoreline will start reflecting the performances

But on the other hand we are four points off the Champions League with two games in hand.
 

We aren’t perfect but very different to last season. But of course we aren’t totally different... it’s the same club, same coach, mostly the same players. That’s a sign of achievement not a problem...

[AvfcRigo82]

4 hours ago, QldVilla said:

I was expecting a win and a strong performance today, but in the back of my head, I also thought there might be a let down after a week off from playing twice a week for 3 weeks after Covid. It happens and we still got a point from the game.

Yes I'm disappointed we should be winning those games, but we are either in a bad slump, or we will see a performance in the next game.

Brighton was always going to be a difficult game and it didn't help with some of the players having an off day either.

It was disappointing how we played in most stages of the game and we were fortunate in the end to come away with a point.

Hopefully we are back on it in the next game and we will need to be! Leicester are no mugs and this won't be an easy game.

Still, we're 4pts off 4th place with 2 games in hand.

[WallisFrizz]

What was so disappointing was how unmotivated they seemed. I’m not saying they were, but they certainly looked that way. 
 

Liverpool and Spurs had just lost, we had a golden chance to make serious progress up the table, there should have been cup final levels of performance and energy but they were started so slow and didn’t improve. 
 

We’ll only be able to use the “never mind, we’re only 4 pts off 4th/games in hand etc etc” for a week or so more unless Smith gives them a serious shake up  and gets them playing that lovely football that we’ve enjoyed all season. I don’t buy that we’ve been found out. I think we’re doing this to ourselves and can definitely improve. 
 

Cash injury is a huge blow tho. I love Elmo but he is going to have a torrid time against Leicester and Leeds.

[DCJonah]

Not a great game but an important point. Most teams will have bad spells at certain points. Look at Liverpool and spurs, expensive players, huge squad and still have runs where they struggle. Why should we expect difference. 

The most important thing in my opinion is that the defence has stayed solid throughout all of this. 

No idea how Barkley gets singled out when you look at how bad even Grealish played last night. I do think Dean will change things up for the next one. 

 

[Delphinho123]

12 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

Not a great game but an important point. Most teams will have bad spells at certain points. Look at Liverpool and spurs, expensive players, huge squad and still have runs where they struggle. Why should we expect difference. 

The most important thing in my opinion is that the defence has stayed solid throughout all of this. 

No idea how Barkley gets singled out when you look at how bad even Grealish played last night. I do think Dean will change things up for the next one. 

 

You have no idea how Barkley gets singled out? 

[WallisFrizz]

1 minute ago, DCJonah said:

Not a great game but an important point. Most teams will have bad spells at certain points. Look at Liverpool and spurs, expensive players, huge squad and still have runs where they struggle. Why should we expect difference. 

The most important thing in my opinion is that the defence has stayed solid throughout all of this. 

No idea how Barkley gets singled out when you look at how bad even Grealish played last night. I do think Dean will change things up for the next one. 

 

Grealish played one of his worst games for us. I don’t even think it was being marked out of the game or anything, he was poor generally, gave the ball away and lacked any spark. That said, people are far more forgiving of him than Barkley because he deservedly has huge credit in the bank with the fans. I’m not a Barkley hater and up until recently (about 9 hours ago) would have been open to buying him at a reasonable price but now I’m hoping that we haven’t agreed to start him every game provided he is fit. Think he would benefit from being an impact sub for a couple of games, and maybe earn his way back into the team that way.

To finish on a positive tho, it’s great to see Mings get some regular praise as I think he’s having a great season for us. The rest of the back 4 were also reliable, Douglas Luiz was improved on his return and Emi outstanding.

[chips'ngravy]

It felt harsh when Barkley was put straight back into the team in place of an in form El Ghazi and is proving to be one of the few mistakes Smith has made this season. Whether Barkley was ready or not he should've been made to fight his way back into the first eleven. That he wasn't has been to the detriment of the team, not only with his below par performances but also with the effect it's had on El Ghazi. 

El Ghazi is clearly a confidence player, as his woeful return against West Ham showed, and we perhaps could've ridden his purple patch a while longer with the added benefit of giving Jack an extended run in the middle had Barkley been pressuring him from the bench. We now have both players underperforming when if handled differently could have been making match-winning contributions. 

I have some sympathy with Smith as he sees Barkley as the player with the bigger skill-set, which I'd agree with, but it's hard to argue he's put it to effective use on a regular basis and his bias is an assault on the meritocracy he aspires to create within the squad.