Popular Post MikeMcKenna Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Popular Post Share Posted February 17, 2019 12 hours ago, briny_ear said: It stretches credibility somewhat to describe the squad he inherited as “total s**t”. Abrahams, Grealish, McGinn, Tuanzebe can hardly be described as “total s**t” for starters. Also he has added four players of his own choosing to the squad and recalled Elphick. If there were stronger signs that Smith was clearer about what he is trying to achieve, I think the comments would be less despairing. - it goes without saying that if Grealish & Tuanzebe had been available then things could be very different. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 hours ago, AVTuco said: Is it a given that it's better? The best performers yesterday were either brought in or recalled by Smith or they were called McGinn. OBE said only 4 of the 11 that started are contracted to be with us beyond end of the season. If we replace the poor performers with players that play to the same level as our best performing players then why not? I reckon we will be better yes. Problem is that now a whole heap of clearings in the woods are baying for blood before we even get to the rebuild. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnnyp Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 hours ago, Dante_Lockhart said: What’s happened to the team that played attacking football when he first came in, 3-0 Derby, 3-0 Forest, 4-2 Blues. Hell, even 5-5 Forest. You can’t tell me that losing 1 player (Jack) means we are a completely different team. No but i think losing Jack showed how limited hourihane and many others are without him. That's becoming very obvious. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
poitier Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I think Tuanzebe has been a massive loss too, we have really missed his pace at the back and his ability to bring the ball out from the defence into the midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndyM3000 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 This thread is mental. He has been here 3-4 months and without two key players for 80% of it. We should be doing slightly better but it's nowhere near bad enough for people to start calling for him to be sacked already. Look at our squad, you can replace Whelan with Thor, Hutton with Elmo, Green with Adomah. There's no upgrade or downgrade here it's a massively average squad that for the most part has been held up by loan players. Id rather he keeps playing his own way this season to find out who he wants to keep. This season is dead so what's the point of adapting a system to fit these players who wont be here next season? He's managed to get a keeper in on a permanent deal and the rest are short term loans or recalling ones we sent out on loan. I will liken this to Pep's first season at City, he had his style and stuck with it even though it was a disaster and he called it a failed season himself. He went out and got players in who can play the way he wants to and now look at them. Smith needs time and thankfully Christian Purslow seems to have a long term plan. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post villabromsgrove Posted February 17, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted February 17, 2019 This may sound weird given the current state of play, but I'm genuinely excited by the prospect of DS having a full summer transfer window, and preparing the right players for next season. I'm expecting bags of energy, pace, attitude, character and hunger, with a decent amount of technique! 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villa Stu Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 8 minutes ago, villabromsgrove said: This may sound weird given the current state of play, but I'm genuinely excited by the prospect of DS having a full summer transfer window, and preparing the right players for next season. I'm expecting bags of energy, pace, attitude, character and hunger, with a decent amount of technique! I feel the same mate. He needs to get in players that can play a high tempo, high pressing, pass and move game instead of the aging, immobile players that make up the majority of our squad. You only need to look at the way Brentford play to see how he likes to play football and that’s a team that most likely cost less than McCormack. He needs his own type of players and I think we will be smashing teams again. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fairy In Boots Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 3 hours ago, Shropshire Lad said: Just a caveat to say that twitter account is very pro Bruce (even more so than Bruce’s staunchest sympathisers on here) and he set out his stall on Smith from the get go. 4 hours ago, AvfcRigo82 said: Interesting you say that as I was under the impression DS didn't want JT here from the start and not suprised to here something like this. I.e lesving JT to wonder around as a spare part/surplus to requirements. As for JT trying to gain experience for management - I can't see him learning much from DS and Kelly. How much substance there is to the Twitter ITK is another matter but you raise an interesting point. Yeah it’s twitter do you have to question it’s authenticity and he was a big Bruce fan. Hes since been on saying senior players question his tactics and training methods. Independantly rumours I’d heard at the time are that Bolasie was one of these voicing displeasure, hence his removal. Kodjia was another hence his almost move to France. Basically their opinion is that they train to hard and should focus more on tactics, Smith is believer in intensity on the training pitch. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keener window-cleaner Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 It was good to see that we played 4-3-3 again and ditched the 4-2-3-1, thought we were back to playing a bit like we did in DS first games for the first 30 mins. I think the passing style of play we played and hopefully want to play relies a lot on the midfielders, loosing Grealish is of course the biggest factor, but having the others injured and only having Whelan, Hourihane and McGinn makes it really difficult for us. They need to rotate and get a rest, but we don't have any players to rotate with. Add to that, that Hourihane has fell apart and Whelan is old and slow, and we basically have McGinn alone to do the work of three midfielders. It just wont work. Hopefully we can get some of our midfielders back soon to get some fresh legs in the midfield. When we do I think we will see big improvements, especially if the defence settles with the back 4 from the last games. Still haven't given up on the play offs! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 2 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said: Still haven't given up on the play offs! We're 7 points off 6th.. teams above us have 1 and 2 games in hand. With DS in charge it ain't happening mate. This season's gone. Over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LakotaDakota Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 3 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said: It was good to see that we played 4-3-3 again and ditched the 4-2-3-1, thought we were back to playing a bit like we did in DS first games for the first 30 mins. I think the passing style of play we played and hopefully want to play relies a lot on the midfielders, loosing Grealish is of course the biggest factor, but having the others injured and only having Whelan, Hourihane and McGinn makes it really difficult for us. They need to rotate and get a rest, but we don't have any players to rotate with. Add to that, that Hourihane has fell apart and Whelan is old and slow, and we basically have McGinn alone to do the work of three midfielders. It just wont work. Hopefully we can get some of our midfielders back soon to get some fresh legs in the midfield. When we do I think we will see big improvements, especially if the defence settles with the back 4 from the last games. Still haven't given up on the play offs! play offs? we would need to win 10 out of the remaining 13 games to even have a sniff. We'll be lucky to win 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 (edited) 6 minutes ago, AvfcRigo82 said: We're 7 points off 6th.. teams above us have 1 and 2 games in hand. With DS in charge it ain't happening mate. This season's gone. Over. Not now mate , boro won away today too which means we are 9 adrift of 6th place with derby and Bristol city both having 2 games in hand and 10 behind boro who still have a game in hand - our season is over regarding the play offs Edited February 17, 2019 by Eastie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keener window-cleaner Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 That's the spirit! :- D Agree it doesn't look likely, quite unlikely rather. But if we get Grealish back, plus some other midfielders to rotate and get back to the form we showed in November then it's possible imo. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gordy Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 Hi all, Onky my second post here so expect to be slaughtered but I think people are a bit unfair on some players. The likes of Hourihan and Whelan are specific types of player. From what I have seen Whelan does his job, collect from the back and try secure defence. But it is difficult if you are a certain type of player to play in a different way. Lets be honest, I dont think Grealish defends thst much. That is something DS wants from 1-11 but as he is a "local lad" he gets away with it. This is a bedding phase manager assesing what he has and where he needs to tweek and players adapting to new roles and responsibilites. My major concern is our back 4, more holes in it than the titanic and no real defensive plan. The keeper often left to save the day needs real addressing 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villabromsgrove Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 I'm okay with the realisation that we wont make the play offs, because the rebuild that Dean Smith has in mind will involve a number of younger players who will need to be coached and built into a cohesive unit. The Championship is the best place for that to happen, and hopefully that will lead to an exciting winning season for everyone concerned .... including us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eastie Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 6 minutes ago, LakotaDakota said: play offs? we would need to win 10 out of the remaining 13 games to even have a sniff. We'll be lucky to win 1 Probably 10 wins wouldn’t be enough either - this season has truly been a massive disappointment to be in mid February and virtually dead and buried 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AvfcRigo82 Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 (edited) 5 minutes ago, Eastie said: Not now mate , boro won away today too which means we are 9 adrift of 6th place with derby and Bristol city both having 2 games in hand and 10 behind boro who still have a game in hand - our season is over regarding the play offs Ah well. I suppose we have next season when DS gets a Pre-Season and gets all 'his players' in that suit 'his style' then we're gonna walk this league. Edited February 17, 2019 by AvfcRigo82 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 hour ago, poitier said: I think Tuanzebe has been a massive loss too, we have really missed his pace at the back and his ability to bring the ball out from the defence into the midfield. Possibly miss him more than Grealish, but to miss both is huge, Mings has started to bring it out from the back and make up the extra man but then without Grealish to give it to things stall a bit! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Villan4Life Posted February 17, 2019 Share Posted February 17, 2019 (edited) 1 hour ago, villabromsgrove said: This may sound weird given the current state of play, but I'm genuinely excited by the prospect of DS having a full summer transfer window, and preparing the right players for next season. I'm expecting bags of energy, pace, attitude, character and hunger, with a decent amount of technique! i'm excited see what we do too. He needs time as seen what capable of under him when came which is type of football we been wanting to see to for years. Once he starts getting in the players in summer he likes to fit his system we will look very good Edited February 17, 2019 by Villan4Life Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
romavillan Posted February 17, 2019 VT Supporter Share Posted February 17, 2019 1 hour ago, AvfcRigo82 said: Ah well. I suppose we have next season when DS gets a Pre-Season and gets all 'his players' in that suit 'his style' then we're gonna walk this league. If he gets us playing like the first two months for most of next season we'll be "there or thereabouts" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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