Dean Smith

[tinker]

Barkley coming on as a sub maybe a good way of building his confidence back up.

On subs I thought Smith took a chance with Douglas staying on the pitch Sunday,  he had a  yellow card and was lucky not to get another with a challenge late in the second half. 

[sparrow1988]

15 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

" Is it true that Gingers have no soul ? "

Yes

[VillaFaninLondon]

13 hours ago, Delphinho123 said:

Smith is doing a fantastic job but I have a horrible feeling we’re about the embark on a terrible run of results and there will be a lot of people pointing to his performance as manager without Grealish in the team which to be fair is...patchy. 

If you offered me our league position now and ended the season I’d bite your hand off. Think it’s highly likely we’ll finish between 12th-15th. 

I think if we finish 12th that's ok, if we finish 15th that would be an appalling drop off in form regardless of whether Jack is fit or not.

 

I look at the teams around us and to use your term I think it's 'highly likely' Spuds and possibly Arse finish above us as they are teams capable of going on good runs. Leeds and Wolves is 'possible' they could finish above us (if they manage to find some consistency and our form continues to be shaky). Southampton I believe is more unlikely than likely to finish above us given their own lack of form and points behind us so 10th-12th is most likely I think.

 

If we were to finish below all those sides above + 2 of Palace, Brighton, Burnley and Newcastle that would be a almighty fall and quite rightly a lot of stick for the manager and players to collapse like that. 

 

DS was doing a fantastic job up to Xmas (and I have to be careful what I say here because any criticism of the manager seems to lead to stinging reproach among some of our fanbase), he's still doing a good job as we're 8th with a game in hand but recent performances are a worrying sign of stagnation and it's up to him to address this and find a solution to get us performing again. We've all mentioned changes in personnel to get more energy into the midfield, it may also mean changing formation because the 4-2-3-1 is the same one he's used all season and teams now know exactly how we will set up. 

[villalad21]

52 minutes ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I think if we finish 12th that's ok, if we finish 15th that would be an appalling drop off in form regardless of whether Jack is fit or not.

 

I look at the teams around us and to use your term I think it's 'highly likely' Spuds and possibly Arse finish above us as they are teams capable of going on good runs. Leeds and Wolves is 'possible' they could finish above us (if they manage to find some consistency and our form continues to be shaky). Southampton I believe is more unlikely than likely to finish above us given their own lack of form and points behind us so 10th-12th is most likely I think.

 

If we were to finish below all those sides above + 2 of Palace, Brighton, Burnley and Newcastle that would be a almighty fall and quite rightly a lot of stick for the manager and players to collapse like that. 

 

DS was doing a fantastic job up to Xmas (and I have to be careful what I say here because any criticism of the manager seems to lead to stinging reproach among some of our fanbase), he's still doing a good job as we're 8th with a game in hand but recent performances are a worrying sign of stagnation and it's up to him to address this and find a solution to get us performing again. We've all mentioned changes in personnel to get more energy into the midfield, it may also mean changing formation because the 4-2-3-1 is the same one he's used all season and teams now know exactly how we will set up. 

Smith isn't exactly helping himself with his team selections.

He needs to stop picking players on reputation and start picking players on merit.

Nakamba and Sanson both have looked good. Start picking them. You have a squad for a reason.

Edited February 22, 2021 by villalad21

[Big Salad]

Dean has been great for us but I do wish he would be a little bit more flexible at times in terms of his selections.

Barkley clearly has not had it for awhile now,should not have started.Make some subs earlier,etc.

Hope he does this going forward.

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

5 hours ago, VillaFaninLondon said:

I think if we finish 12th that's ok, if we finish 15th that would be an appalling drop off in form regardless of whether Jack is fit or not.

 

I look at the teams around us and to use your term I think it's 'highly likely' Spuds and possibly Arse finish above us as they are teams capable of going on good runs. Leeds and Wolves is 'possible' they could finish above us (if they manage to find some consistency and our form continues to be shaky). Southampton I believe is more unlikely than likely to finish above us given their own lack of form and points behind us so 10th-12th is most likely I think.

 

If we were to finish below all those sides above + 2 of Palace, Brighton, Burnley and Newcastle that would be a almighty fall and quite rightly a lot of stick for the manager and players to collapse like that. 

 

DS was doing a fantastic job up to Xmas (and I have to be careful what I say here because any criticism of the manager seems to lead to stinging reproach among some of our fanbase), he's still doing a good job as we're 8th with a game in hand but recent performances are a worrying sign of stagnation and it's up to him to address this and find a solution to get us performing again. We've all mentioned changes in personnel to get more energy into the midfield, it may also mean changing formation because the 4-2-3-1 is the same one he's used all season and teams now know exactly how we will set up. 

In my opinion, finishing 12th was " good " at the beginning of the season. ( Jack said 8th to 12th was the aim then ). Now, finishing 12th, would be slightly underwhelming, not because of any sort of divine right, or over expectation but because it essentially means we have pissed away our good start and opportunity.

I say that more based on the fact that alot of the games we have lost or drawn, we literally handed over the results to the opposition, not that the opposition severely outclassed us or anything. Just us being extremely poor at times.

If it was a case where we gave it our all but were simply outclassed by better teams I'd have no problem.

Even the players seemed to have started believing in " Europe " or close.

Even if there are/were teams below us, which have more quality, and usually finish above us, we will have totally failed to make our games in hand and points advantage count, thrown it away with a whimper IMO.

Under top 10 would be disappointing for me, but yes, we will obviously have made monumental progress over last season either way.

Edited February 22, 2021 by JAMAICAN-VILLAN

[VillanousOne]

well his latest quotes suggest he is happy with Ross and based on that he isn't going to drop him just like he's never dropped McGinn when 'fit' so could be a long spell of dire form before things improve again.

 

[JAMAICAN-VILLAN]

43 minutes ago, VillanousOne said:

well his latest quotes suggest he is happy with Ross and based on that he isn't going to drop him just like he's never dropped McGinn when 'fit' so could be a long spell of dire form before things improve again.

 

[rodders0223]

4 hours ago, Big Salad said:

Dean has been great for us but I do wish he would be a little bit more flexible at times in terms of his selections.

Barkley clearly has not had it for awhile now,should not have started.Make some subs earlier,etc.

Hope he does this going forward.

Same 11 same subs.

[mykeyb]

1 hour ago, VillanousOne said:

well his latest quotes suggest he is happy with Ross and based on that he isn't going to drop him just like he's never dropped McGinn when 'fit' so could be a long spell of dire form before things improve again.

 

I don't think he will announce his next starting eleven until an hour before our next game, however if there are no changes to our midfield I will question what he has been watching in our 5 games.

[VillaFaninLondon]

4 hours ago, JAMAICAN-VILLAN said:

In my opinion, finishing 12th was " good " at the beginning of the season. ( Jack said 8th to 12th was the aim then ). Now, finishing 12th, would be slightly underwhelming, not because of any sort of divine right, or over expectation but because it essentially means we have pissed away our good start and opportunity.

I say that more based on the fact that alot of the games we have lost or drawn, we literally handed over the results to the opposition, not that the opposition severely outclassed us or anything. Just us being extremely poor at times.

If it was a case where we gave it our all but were simply outclassed by better teams I'd have no problem.

Even the players seemed to have started believing in " Europe " or close.

Even if there are/were teams below us, which have more quality, and usually finish above us, we will have totally failed to make our games in hand and points advantage count, thrown it away with a whimper IMO.

Under top 10 would be disappointing for me, but yes, we will obviously have made monumental progress over last season either way.

I agree, I'd still be disappointed not to finish top 10 in all honesty given how we performed up to Christmas where we were on course to finish on 75+ points.

 

But 12th I could take as it is still where Jack said we were aiming to finish and therefore in line with the club's goals and progress on last season.

 

If we're being honest all of the teams above us with the possible exception of West Ham are better on paper than us. Below us you could make the same argument about Spuds, Arse and Wolves. We're better than all of the bottom 7 and of similar quality to Southampton I think. Therefore, 12th is about right of where we finish, but also means we have had a bad end to the season which is disappointing. 

 

Regardless of where we finish, we need to identify the weak links in the team in the summer, get it addressed, and progress again next season. Top half at the minimum should be the aim for 21/22 and pushing for a top 6 spot. 

[Villan_of_oz]

I never ever accused Dean of talking shite, but be has when declaring that Ross is still putting out good numbers on the pitch.... 

[Hornso]

43 minutes ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I never ever accused Dean of talking shite, but be has when declaring that Ross is still putting out good numbers on the pitch.... 

He's not one to throw a player under the bus is he? 

[ozvillafan]

22 minutes ago, Hornso said:

He's not one to throw a player under the bus is he? 

Depends. He replaced El Ghazi at half time in a game where every player was dire.

He wouldn't do that to Ross.

[supermon]

Having his favourites will be his downfall, it may even cause a slight rift within the team. Weird given how we always want to go for players with the right character but then not playing players on merit seems to be asking a lot of their so called character. 

Dean just isn't ruthless enough, but would definitely give him more time. He absolutely deserves it. Just hope he can turn this poor form around quickly. 

[Tomaszk]

22 minutes ago, ozvillafan said:

Depends. He replaced El Ghazi at half time in a game where every player was dire.

He wouldn't do that to Ross.

Ross hasn't once played as badly as El Ghazi did that first half.

He should absolutely be dropped for Leeds. El Ghazi should probably keep his place even though Leeds isn't really a game for him.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Tomaszk

[Villan_of_oz]

1 hour ago, Hornso said:

He's not one to throw a player under the bus is he? 

I don't think he needed to throw anyone under the bus, but he also didn't need to come out and make that ridiculous statement in support of Ross.

He was happy to drop AEG who was scoring goals regularly just to get the chosen one back into the team.

I'm a huge DS fan, doesn't mean he is exempt from criticism.

I fear if he doesn't show some flexibility and soon, we will finish well down the table and then I fear Jack will be off in the British summer.

Edited February 23, 2021 by Villan_of_oz

[Keyblade]

1 hour ago, Villan_of_oz said:

I never ever accused Dean of talking shite, but be has when declaring that Ross is still putting out good numbers on the pitch.... 

I mean unless you're privy to the numbers he's referring to, you can't really accuse him of that can you?

[TRO]

1 hour ago, Hornso said:

He's not one to throw a player under the bus is he? 

No he's not....but you some times have to be aware as a manager, that they inadvertently don't throw you under.....you have to act decisively.

Losing games starts the chattering classes...one disgruntled, leads to 2 and 3 and so on.

He has to let them know that some performances, won't be tolerated.

 

[TRO]

33 minutes ago, Tomaszk said:

Ross hasn't once played as badly as El Ghazi did that first half.

He should absolutely be dropped for Leeds. El Ghazi should probably keep his place even though Leeds isn't really a game for him.

How many have we got at the moment that Leeds is a game for them?

probably half of them.