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Dean Smith


Demitri_C

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Agree, the good thing is Smith brought in the right defenders, hopefully we have clauses to buy at the end of the season. Consistency is also required, but what also has to be acknowledged is the best 3 teams don't always go up, sometimes 1 team just has the momentum at the right time, maybe that can be Villa. I don't think where ready to go up, but the consequences if we don't, possibly losing Jack, and losing Abraham, who I think we could sign if we were promoted. Anyway, lots of ifs and buts, but will make an interesting end to the season.

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1 minute ago, Zatman said:

IF and its a big IF we keep Mings, McGinn and Jack we would comfortably go up next season and I think Tammy would re-sign on loan if we kept all them players. As I said a big IF

Chelsea can't buy any players so I would be highly unlikely Tammy will be going anywhere next season

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6 minutes ago, LondonVillian said:

Chelsea can't buy any players so I would be highly unlikely Tammy will be going anywhere next season

They will appeal it though and then sign players again in the summer window. Happened with barca a few seasons ago, they spent over 200 million in a window they was supposed to be banned from signing players. 

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1 hour ago, LondonVillian said:

Sorry to piss on the parade but I'm still not convinced by Smith - 3 good results doesnt make up for the 3 months of  dire tactics / results. 

We are very lucky to be back in with a chance of making the playoffs. My worry is that if Grealish leaves - he doesn't know how to get results without him. If we don't get promoted I think Grealish would be forced to leave for his career (hope he doesnt ofc)

Not saying that DS is awful willing to give him some more time but the jury is still out for me. 

It's not just 3 good results, though, is it? He's actually got a respectable record since he joined. All managers drop points when their star player gets injured. It's not like we were showing relegation form without Jack, but we had no natural replacement for him, and his absence exposed weaknesses in other players (especially Hourihane).

Several previous managers have had Grealish and better players across the squad, and haven't achieved this kind of form, so DS must be doing something right?

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51 minutes ago, Zatman said:

IF and its a big IF we keep Mings, McGinn and Jack we would comfortably go up next season and I think Tammy would re-sign on loan if we kept all them players. As I said a big IF

McGinn and Grealish on long contracts, the longest we have I think, poss Kalinic now too?

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1 hour ago, TRO said:

Martin O'Neill has a point, but had we had Mings and Hause all season we might be.....its been a position we have fudged around with for too long ....JT was great, but the years were always catching up and his return from Injury highlighted it....JC for me, is too small for CB, to be dominant, he is too easily negated.

Any team will only be in the Prem if they deserve to be and that means over 46 games and all of their players....We are currently showing top of the table form in some of our players, I still think the wingers have much to contribute to be even close to that claim and Taylor is not top of the table material.

I am just hoping Dean is able to improve us in the summer, in order to achieve more consistency.

With this squad? Probably not. You'd have to at least give him a preseason and a transfer window before we can know if he can get a team without Grealish playing like this. With this current squad and the lack of creativity in midfield, you can bring in Guardiola and nothing would change.

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2 hours ago, LondonVillian said:

Sorry to piss on the parade but I'm still not convinced by Smith - 3 good results doesnt make up for the 3 months of  dire tactics / results. 

We are very lucky to be back in with a chance of making the playoffs. My worry is that if Grealish leaves - he doesn't know how to get results without him. If we don't get promoted I think Grealish would be forced to leave for his career (hope he doesnt ofc)

Not saying that DS is awful willing to give him some more time but the jury is still out for me. 

Righto, fair enough to have doubts.

I too am/was concerned re: how we adapted without Grealish and Tuanzebe, but his hands were tied to a great extent.

We've seen enough before and after their absence to know he can get a team to play, so actually, with positives and negatives weighed in the round, he deserves more credit than criticism.

You carry on, banging on, having an opinion for the attention. 

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55 minutes ago, terrytini said:

I hope you don’t mind if I piss back ? 🙂

I don’t normally bother arguing the toss but for the sake of clarity when do you mean ?

Why do I ask ? Well, whilst i fully respect any fans views, I always find it odd when our own fans mislead ( in my view) themselves !

What do I mean ? 

Well, first off, in my view it’s 4 good results in a row. Why is a Point Away at a stoke not considered a good result ?

That would mean our last bad result was against the Baggies on 16 th February.

Three months back from then takes us to 16th November. Not sure how that can be considered the start of a bad period when AFTER that date we beat Blues 4-2, Boro 3-0, and Drew with Forest 5-5 and the Baggies 2-2. All top 8 sides aswell.

I don’t think it’s a subjective idea to say that shouldn’t be considered a bad period !

  But even after that, we lose just 2-3 to Leeds, the Second best side in the League, having drawn at home to Stoke then beat Swansea and get a point away at Preston, who have been on a storming run.

Now, I agree that whether that block of results is ok is a little more subjective, but I’d argue certainly not dire.

THEN,  Form January 1st, we DO have what I think pretty much all would agree was a rotten run.

Eight games where we manage just 1 Win and 4 Draws, with 3 defeats and as you rightly say some dire performances.

So that run was from 1st January to 16 th February and covered 8 games. 

Very poor, yes, but it wasn’t 3 months, it was 7 weeks. 

To wrap up, you say the recent results don’t MAKE UP for the three months.

How about this, Smith has had 145 days. I’d argue he had a rotten 47 days in the middle there.

But it doesn’t DETRACT from the other 98, in which he got 32 Points from 17 games, (equal to 86 points over a season), scoring 36 goals and conceeding 20.

Personally, for a new guy inheriting rather a mess, I’m delighted.

 

standing ovation applause GIF

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I have never lost faith in Smith.

Losing Grealish, Tuanzebe, and having to play Chester while injured would have floored most managers.

IF we get into play-offs, imho we will go up. We are a much better,  stronger and more positive team now than under Bruce.

Saturday will be very interesting. The crowd will be really up for it, the team know we are in with a chance of the play-offs and full of confidence.

I think we could give 'Boro a hammering!

 

 

Edited by MikeMcKenna
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3 minutes ago, MikeMcKenna said:

I have never lost faith in Smith.

Losing Grealish, Tuanzebe, and having to play Chester while injured would have floored most managers.

IF we get into play-offs, imho we will go up. We are a much better,  stronger and more positive team now than under Bruce.

Saturday will be very interesting. The crowd will be really up for it, the team know we are in with a chance of the play-offs and full of confidence.

I think we could give 'Boro a hammering!

 

 

I wouldn't say I lost faith but I was disappointed that Smith couldn't get the best of what he had. I still have question marks about how limited Smith can be when he has a few injuries. 

However what's promising for me is Smith can spot talent as he did with Mings. Bruce never. Would have gone for someone like Mings. 

I am hopeful we see some shrewd business come the summer. 

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59 minutes ago, Lerner's Driver said:

Righto, fair enough to have doubts.

I too am/was concerned re: how we adapted without Grealish and Tuanzebe, but his hands were tied to a great extent.

We've seen enough before and after their absence to know he can get a team to play, so actually, with positives and negatives weighed in the round, he deserves more credit than criticism.

You carry on, banging on, having an opinion for the attention. 

Lost me on the last sentence ??

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1 hour ago, terrytini said:

I hope you don’t mind if I piss back ? 🙂

I don’t normally bother arguing the toss but for the sake of clarity when do you mean ?

Why do I ask ? Well, whilst i fully respect any fans views, I always find it odd when our own fans mislead ( in my view) themselves !

What do I mean ? 

Well, first off, in my view it’s 4 good results in a row. Why is a Point Away at a stoke not considered a good result ?

That would mean our last bad result was against the Baggies on 16 th February.

Three months back from then takes us to 16th November. Not sure how that can be considered the start of a bad period when AFTER that date we beat Blues 4-2, Boro 3-0, and Drew with Forest 5-5 and the Baggies 2-2. All top 8 sides aswell.

I don’t think it’s a subjective idea to say that shouldn’t be considered a bad period !

  But even after that, we lose just 2-3 to Leeds, the Second best side in the League, having drawn at home to Stoke then beat Swansea and get a point away at Preston, who have been on a storming run.

Now, I agree that whether that block of results is ok is a little more subjective, but I’d argue certainly not dire.

THEN,  Form January 1st, we DO have what I think pretty much all would agree was a rotten run.

Eight games where we manage just 1 Win and 4 Draws, with 3 defeats and as you rightly say some dire performances.

So that run was from 1st January to 16 th February and covered 8 games. 

Very poor, yes, but it wasn’t 3 months, it was 7 weeks. 

To wrap up, you say the recent results don’t MAKE UP for the three months.

How about this, Smith has had 145 days. I’d argue he had a rotten 47 days in the middle there.

But it doesn’t DETRACT from the other 98, in which he got 32 Points from 17 games, (equal to 86 points over a season), scoring 36 goals and conceeding 20.

Personally, for a new guy inheriting rather a mess, I’m delighted.

 

Stoke are a struggling team so no would not call it a "good" result - it was fine. 

Timescale I may have exagerated slightly but my point was we had a fairly large purple patch where we played completely awful. 

I think its a fair question what will happen if we loose Jack again and to question DS as manager being unable to pick up points against very average teams without Jack. (ie next season)

The bad run at one points was 2 wins in 13 games I beleive ? I don't have the time or the pettyness to dig though the exact stats but I think my point is clear enough.

 

Edited by LondonVillian
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