Dean Smith

[KHV]

2 hours ago, villalad21 said:

Smith won't change his system. Just have to hope the players find their feet as soon as possible in the league.

Could be his downfall

[Tomaszk]

4 minutes ago, KHV said:

Could be his downfall

Hope not.

Said before he needs to be willing to try another system. Been here a year almost and we've only played 45 minutes that wasn't 4-3-3. Even in the horrible run last year between the two West Brom league games, same setup every week.

When the team needs a change to shake it up a new shape can give something different, even if he doesn't want to change the players too much.

[terrytini]

1 hour ago, KHV said:

Could be his downfall

Unbelievable

[TRO]

On 31/08/2019 at 17:05, KenjiOgiwara said:

Give him a break. We've come on leaps and bounds. Some matches you just will lose, whether it's a one off, corrupt referee, broken VAR or whatever. 

Treat it like a bad bit of pussy and move on. 

Never had a bad bit.....I though it was all good....just, must have been lucky.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

2 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Hope not.

Said before he needs to be willing to try another system. Been here a year almost and we've only played 45 minutes that wasn't 4-3-3. Even in the horrible run last year between the two West Brom league games, same setup every week.

When the team needs a change to shake it up a new shape can give something different, even if he doesn't want to change the players too much.

I can perfectly understand a stance of continuity and it takes time for players to get used to a system.....but our team is not good enough in certain area's to be playing the same way Home and away.....We need to get tighter away from home and have positional discipline, with clear lines for the opposition to deal with.....our midfield and front players need to contribute to the defensive duties more capably at times. more effective in their tackles and turning the ball over.

I can understand and I enjoy Deans system at home.....away, I think its a tad naive......but I also come back to players winning their personal battles with heir opposite number, if they don't a system won't save you.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

8 hours ago, eholm said:

Agree with others in here that we are lacking a certain physical presence in midfield. DL is a talented player, just not sure he is the no 6 we need currently. Maybe as he develops and acclimatises to the PL he will be in the near future. Nakamba seems a more physical DM and the fact that DS stated that, of the 2, he sees DL as the option to play further forward as Marv is more of a DM leads me to believe that Marv could well be given his first start after the break. 

The option of having them both starting with JM as the no 8 also makes a lot of sense. His bombing forward will be better protected and so free him up to do it more. Playing Jack from the left would also give him more freedom in an attacking sense. Both of these tweaks would result in more frequent and sustained support for Wes who is currently very isolated. 

The great thing is DS has multiple options in midfield and I’m sure he will get the balance right; just like the players he is also learning about the PL as well. Still confident we will stay up no matter how tough things get. 

I too, still feel that.

.....could Konsa play there?....I hear he is comfortable on the ball.

The paradox is......A good DM not only protects the back four, but in many cases ( when turning the ball over) its where attacks start from......so its not just a defensive initiative its offensive too.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[TRO]

7 hours ago, Tomaszk said:

Issues clear. We still haven't played well for me.

Feels like the team is always too far away from each other, certainly when we go forward.

I still think Taylor is a huge issue when we're in possession, we can't go to that side of the pitch, if we do teams can just close the CBs down and it ends up with the keeper.

Team is trying I think, hard work is there. A problem is we're rushing so hard to get the ball then rushing too much when we've got it. There's no period of relaxed possession, can't build anything.

It'll look smelly if we get nothing from West Ham, bearing in mind we were robbed of a point yesterday.

I have picked up on that too.....we give too much room for the opposition to play.

[TRO]

On 31/08/2019 at 17:34, Jareth said:

I agree - the ref was on something - very bad day for him. 

pre-ju(d)ice.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[spiezels]

5 hours ago, nick76 said:

I’d like to try McGinn, Luiz and Nakamba, so we are more solid in midfield and then Grealish and Trez floating behind Wes.

Grealish plays. 

Created the goal in the 95th minute. Was all him. 

Why does he get dropped? 

[TRO]

23 hours ago, useless said:

Only problem with a back five is I don't think Targett is very good in that system and why he got a lot criticism from Southampton fans, you'd be relying on him for width down the left hand side, and whilst he's comfortable on the ball and can put in a good cross he's not very dynamic going forward, I think for a left-wing back we'd need someone with more pace, a left sided version of Guilbert.

I don't think we'll see anything too dramatic in terms of the formation, other than possible bringing in an extra midfielder into the central three and moving Grealish further forward. This might sound counterintuitive but I actually think that moving Grealish to the 'wing' might allow him to play more akin to how he was playing last season, than playing in a midfield three in the Premier league does.

I don't think the back 5 are that much of a problem......its the other 6 who are not showing enough defensive capability in their play, collectively.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[Vive_La_Villa]

1 minute ago, spiezels said:

Grealish plays. 

Created the goal in the 95th minute. Was all him. 

Why does he get dropped? 

The post you just quoted never said he should...

[TRO]

10 minutes ago, spiezels said:

Grealish plays. 

Created the goal in the 95th minute. Was all him. 

Why does he get dropped? 

Jack is having to be in too many places.

but why was Mings and Jack having to deal with Ayew for his goal?..........surely Engels and Guilbert should have been there.....I understand players have to cover, but we look all over the place at times... we are allowing ourselves to be pulled around.

We really have to be more disciplined with our positional play.

Edited September 1, 2019 by TRO

[nick76]

43 minutes ago, spiezels said:

Grealish plays. 

Created the goal in the 95th minute. Was all him. 

Why does he get dropped? 

Go back to my post and re-read, I didn’t drop him....I moved him forward in a floating role behind Wes.

[useless]

For all the moaning on here we've actually won the last three games 8-2 on aggregate, or put in another way we've won two of the last three, and if it wasn't for an awful refereeing decision we would be unbeaten in the last three games.

[Vive_La_Villa]

Whilst we didn’t play well I saw an amazing amount of fight from the players. Especially with 10 men.  To play most of second half with 10 men and overturn a 1-0 deficit shows tremendous character. 

Surely we should be taking heart from that. 

[LxYoungAVFC]

- F**k the wingers. We barely score from crosses anyway.

- Wesley needs someone to play off him.

- Hourihane is needed for set pieces.

*Either Davis or Kodjia to play up top with Wesley. I chose Jimmy over Davis because he's a proven goalscorer.

Edited September 1, 2019 by LxYoungAVFC

[terrytini]

1 hour ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Whilst we didn’t play well I saw an amazing amount of fight from the players. Especially with 10 men.  To play most of second half with 10 men and overturn a 1-0 deficit shows tremendous character. 

Surely we should be taking heart from that. 

I think most of us are. I guess it’s going to be a Season where a nervous vocal minority will, simply because of how often we Will lose, dominate discussions.

Then, at the end of the Season, when it turns out we were good enough to survive all along, we can look back on what a lot of needless energy was expended !

 

[Dave-R]

50 minutes ago, LxYoungAVFC said:

- F**k the wingers. We barely score from crosses anyway.

- Wesley needs someone to play off him.

- Hourihane is needed for set pieces.

*Either Davis or Kodjia to play up top with Wesley. I chose Jimmy over Davis because he's a proven goalscorer.

I liked what you said but I'd go with Davis, until January and fetch someone in to be up front with Wesley unless Davis starts firing..

[Dave-R]

2 hours ago, Vive_La_Villa said:

Whilst we didn’t play well I saw an amazing amount of fight from the players. Especially with 10 men.  To play most of second half with 10 men and overturn a 1-0 deficit shows tremendous character. 

Surely we should be taking heart from that. 

Oh yes that's for deffo, there was determination to try get something, really 10 men down most teams cave in, we had spirit, yet all that doesn't get us a point or three especially when we get robbed by that ref.

Still annoyed with the ref now, seriously needs a slap for a wake up call. Linekar didn't half lay into his refereeing and so have many, why on earth on incidents like that are games not corrected by the league, they should be researched and disallowed goals should be overturned.

As it stands I felt like we was in an episode on the WWE where we were fighting the champion for the belt,it's a great match then all of a sudden abit of dodgy refereeing and a cheating opponent has basically got the match thrown out and you come away with nothing.

 

[Tomaszk]

4 hours ago, TRO said:

Jack is having to be in too many places.

but why was Mings and Jack having to deal with Ayew for his goal?..........surely Engels and Guilbert should have been there.....I understand players have to cover, but we look all over the place at times... we are allowing ourselves to be pulled around.

We really have to be more disciplined with our positional play.

I've just about given Jack the benefit of the doubt with that goal in that he was unlucky it ricocheted into an incredibly perfect spot for Ayew. Bet that wouldn't happen if McGinn was there though. It all would have gone into the stands, ball, man and Mings probably along with them.

Anyway, Jack was unlucky and had made sure he got back to help out. But it was his lazy, poor cross that launched their attack. If you watch again, we had loads of players forward, including Engels and Guilbert for the first time since we went down to 10. Jack's ball was hopeful and nothing more and it was that rather than the deflections at the other end that I'm more annoyed at looking at that goal.

I rate Jack so highly that chance balls like that from him annoy me. If it was someone like Hourihane who I don't trust to do anything with responsibility, I wouldn't be surprised see it. We need Jack to be better. I think he will be as time goes on.