Dean Smith

[Vive_La_Villa]

I think we need a spell of games where our 2 central midfields aren’t overrun

. I’d go with Sanson in there and him and Mcginn can interchange to support Olli. 

 It may mean olli may be isolated at times but it will at least hopefully make us less easy to pass through and having centre halves and Emi bailing us out.  It won’t be pretty but it’s important to continue not to lose while not playing as well as we can.

Edited February 14, 2021 by Vive_La_Villa

[useless]

We're already better than a bottom half team, currently five points clear of eleventh place with a game in hand.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

One thing I can say is that Deano (Sometimes to a fault ? ) will usually give players multiple chances, and enough rope to hang themselves with.

However once they have hung themselves, they are out, and that is it, until they prove different.

Wouldn't suprise me if since the beginning of last week, and yesterday, Barkley has essentially, hung himself.

Edited February 14, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[TRO]

I voted Dean "Good" not for his game management....more for his after match comments.

He was spot on, after the game, his comments mirrored exactly my feelings.

Moving forward, I think he needs to rethink the starting team......I think he needs to start with players who can win the initiative in the game, win the battle for supremacy of the ball......and then bring on the flamboyant players later to addt the flair, when the opposiion tires.

right now, our talent, is being too easily neutralised......we have to meet fire with fire and protect the talent a bit.

for example, start with Trez and end with Traore, not the other way around.

Edited February 14, 2021 by TRO

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 minute ago, TRO said:

I voted Dean "Good" not for his game management....more for his after match comments.

He was spot on, after the game, his comments mirrored exactly my feelings.

Moving forward, I think he needs to rethink the starting team......I think he needs to start with players who can win the initiative in the game, win the battle for supremacy of the ball......and then bring on the flamboyant players later to addt the flair, when the opposiion tires.

right now, our talent, is being too easily neutralised......we have meet fire with fire and protect the talent a bit.

for example, start with Trez and end with Traore, not the other way around.

Agreed, at this point, if some of them are knackered, let's set out for solidity, and bring on some of the " weapons " later on in the game when the opposition are tired or are just settling into a "rhythm". I know there are question about depth, but i'm confident we have enough to do this.

[sharkyvilla]

I hate to say it but I have a sense that a few players just found it too cold last night and didn't fancy it so much.

[dont_do_it_doug.]

Big mistake in dropping Nakamba in all honesty. He should rectify that asap. 

[TRO]

When we talk about balance in the squad, I think last night shows where we have deficiences.

We have a few too many players, who don't like the close physical contact, you can see it in their faces, in their expressions...we need a few who can thrive on it.

I actually exclude Jack from this....He relishes it and draws players, last night he had a bad one.....but Jack does not baulk at close physical contact, he might moan, granted....but his game is  not negated by it, normally.

I don't think, its about fitness, or about how many games we have played ( covid 19, I can't say for sure, but i have seen this before covid) or about off days, its about style, we can't play against teams who want to get in our faces.

Dean has to address this....if we have any notion of moving forward.....we have done well so far, but this is an innate issue that needs dealing with.

[TRO]

12 minutes ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Big mistake in dropping Nakamba in all honesty. He should rectify that asap. 

bang on.

[WallisFrizz]

21 minutes ago, TRO said:

bang on.

Yet I thought Luiz was one of the better ones. Sanson, Luiz and Nakamba next game?

[It's Your Round]

12 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Yet I thought Luiz was one of the better ones. Sanson, Luiz and Nakamba next game?

I’d be happy with that, McGinn needs some time out, he’s not been anywhere near as effective recently. We’ve got Leicester next so some solidity in midfield is a must. 

[DCJonah]

3 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

The decision to keep playing Ross Barkley is somewhat detracting from a good season and how well Smith is doing. 

He needs to address the problem in central midfield if we are to have any hope of challenging for Europe. 

Really? I think think that's a bit OTT. 

In the last 6 games we've got 10 pts and kept 4 clean sheets and we're going to say picking a player some want dropped detracts from all that? 

 

[DCJonah]

29 minutes ago, WallisFrizz said:

Yet I thought Luiz was one of the better ones. Sanson, Luiz and Nakamba next game?

Yeah I think it's time to try this. 

[DCJonah]

1 hour ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

Agreed, at this point, if some of them are knackered, let's set out for solidity, and bring on some of the " weapons " later on in the game when the opposition are tired or are just settling into a "rhythm". I know there are question about depth, but i'm confident we have enough to do this.

I've questioned our depth. But when Jack, Mcginn, Barkley and Traore play as bad as that the depth argument becomes null and void. 

[cheltenham_villa]

I'd be against wholesale changes, one of our strengths has been the understanding and trust the starting 11 has. This is particularly evident in the 12 clean sheets weve kept.

I'd swap a Barkley or Traore but only one of them not both. Both can be a bit of luxury and blow how and cold. We cant really afford both blowing cold.

Any changes need to bring goals or assists to the team, that's where we are struggling.

[nick76]

4 minutes ago, DCJonah said:

 

In the last 6 games we've got 10 pts and kept 4 clean sheets and we're going to say picking a player some want dropped detracts from all that? 

 

This is where I am at.  

We seem to have fans that want players rotated/dropped and that’s fair enough but other comments are a little OTT.

We were playing so well for so long and winning, that I said when we have a drop of form or lose a few games how would fans react because all teams go through patches in seasons but in this time when performances in parts are lacking we still have 10 points in 6 games and 4 clean sheets.  That shows some real good strength underneath which is a great trait to have.

Yes we should rotate a few players in midfield just to freshen things up but we should also appreciate that we are still solid, picking up great point totals even when we have some players out of form and the team overall is a bit out of form.  How we got a draw yesterday I’ll never know and Smiths comments were spot on but we still got a draw despite it.  

Take the point from the game, take the ten points from the last six games, we are in poor form, rotate some players if we think that’s right to do and hopefully our performances will come back but at least we continue our current point accumulation rate or better.
 

[jimmygreaves]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

I think we need a spell of games where our 2 central midfields aren’t overrun

. I’d go with Sanson in there and him and Mcginn can interchange to support Olli. 

Yes, yes, yes, **** yes....

If we're still struggling you bring on Nakamba.

 

The last few (quite a few) games where Barkley has contributed next to nothing we've been crying out for this. Just to give us more control of matches... 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

1 hour ago, WallisFrizz said:

Yet I thought Luiz was one of the better ones. Sanson, Luiz and Nakamba next game?

What I was thinking myself.

[Don_Simon]

He lies. Players don't earn the shirt on a matchday. Hause earned the shirt and got dropped immediately for Mings. Hourihane earned the shirt and got immediately dropped for Barkley. Nakamba earned the shirt and was dropped for Luiz. El Ghazi earned the shirt and was dropped when Barkley returned from injury. I don't necessarily disagree with his selections, but he has his untouchables like MON did.

[Adam2003]

3 hours ago, dont_do_it_doug. said:

Big mistake in dropping Nakamba in all honesty. He should rectify that asap. 

Should have rotated McGinn out for DL. He has looked poor last couple of games and always seems to come back strong after a rest. As someone else said, I wouldn’t mind seeing Nakamba-Sanson-DL next game.
 

But again let’s not lose sight of the fact that four points from our two games in hand would have us in the Champions League spots.