Dean Smith

[macandally]

The question being asked after Watford was whether Smith still had the dressing room, could shore up a porous defence and had the flexibility to come up with alternate tactical options.  Credit where due, he came up with the right response today and interestingly there could be some lessons from Burnley, with Dyche taking them down and back up first time round which shows what stability can do in a club.

We still look weaker than we did at the start of the season and the two injuries in key positions are a major concern however if you are going to have any chance of staying up, the players and staff have to be together and importantly, up for the fight.

Good job today Deano! 

[Rob182]

Where’s @TRO gone from this thread?

  
 

(Joking mate, I’m sure you’re just busy)

[KenjiOgiwara]

Liked the look of 3 at the back, even if it's a very small sample pool. 

I do however think we need to sign a new left back if that's going to be a thing for us. Watching Taylor as a wing back makes my eyes bleed. 

Anyway, 3 points and well done Deano. 

[MaVilla]

please lets stick with the 3-4-3, really suited us.

[Tom13]

6 hours ago, MaVilla said:

so the 3-4-3 we played versus Burnley, from the highlights looked like the front 3 played much narrower (like an actual front 3 (1 striker, 2 inside forwards), rather than a striker and 2 wingers?), is that correct?

If so, looks to suit us much better.

Yep. Deano even said in his interview he played Trez and Jack as "Two number 10s"

[MaVilla]

1 minute ago, Tom13 said:

Yep. Deano even said in his interview he played Trez and Jack as "Two number 10s"

great then, it suited the team MUCH better, long may it continue.

[Tom13]

5 hours ago, MaVilla said:

EXCELLENT!!!!!

Honestly, i reckon they had a "team crisis" meeting, and i would bet £10 they players actually had a part in proposing the new system & Deano agreed, for some reason i highly doubt this change was 100% deanos idea.

Not playing Deanos input down, good man for the change and sure he played a big part, credit where its due.

But just saying i also reckon the players had input, would bet some money on it, looking at recent performances i honestly think the players didnt have confidence in the 4-3-3 they were playing.

Right again. They did have a long meeting, Jack said so in his post game interview, saying there were a few "home truths"

[MaVilla]

3 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Yep. Deano even said in his interview he played Trez and Jack as "Two number 10s"

do you have that interview?, seen a few interview but not one where he mentioned them both playing as 10s?

[KenjiOgiwara]

At least playing 343 or 5221 will hide the fact that we don't have wingers of sufficient quality. 

[Tom13]

1 minute ago, MaVilla said:

do you have that interview?, seen a few interview but not one where he mentioned them both playing as 10s?

I don't. It was on the radio - BBCWM.

[AV82]

Besides improving our ability to defend long balls into the box I noticed today that the extra CB allowed Hause and Konsa to drive forward with the ball and bypass Nakamba's poor playmaking ability, giving us another outlet. This works really well with Mings acting as a sweeper and I think it's why Konsa in particular looked very good. I recall seeing him do the same last season at Villa Park for Brentford.

In the second half Jay Rodriguez looked dangerous dropping into the hole and certainly affected the game, making us look exposed in the middle with only Douglas and Nakamba acting as a shield. Smith caught on and made the switch from 3-4-3 to 3-5-2 with around 78 on the clock, subbing in Hourihane and pushing Grealish up alongside Kodjia. These are all encouraging signs and are the 'tweaks' we've been asking for. I'm looking forward to seeing more of us with 3 at the back, great job today boss.

[useless]

Needs to walk into the dressing room and tell everyone we can beat Manchester City.

[Tom13]

3 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

do you have that interview?, seen a few interview but not one where he mentioned them both playing as 10s?

Found it - https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQyMzQxMzgucnNz&episode=dGFnOmF1ZGlvYm9vbS5jb20sMjAyMC0wMS0wMTovcG9zdHMvNzQ2NjQ2MA

Says it near the end when asked about Jack

[MaVilla]

2 minutes ago, Tom13 said:

Found it - https://podcasts.google.com/?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hdWRpb2Jvb20uY29tL2NoYW5uZWxzLzQyMzQxMzgucnNz&episode=dGFnOmF1ZGlvYm9vbS5jb20sMjAyMC0wMS0wMTovcG9zdHMvNzQ2NjQ2MA

Says it near the end when asked about Jack

thanks mate.

He talk about 2 x 10s from 3m20 seconds onwards, for anyone who is interested.

[A'Villan]

4 minutes ago, useless said:

Needs to walk into the dressing room and tell everyone we can beat Manchester City.

HOW and WHY we can beat Manchester City.

Have everyone united under a game plan that can cause City problems and keep our liabilities to a minimum.

[MaVilla]

so basically if we played 3-4-3 with 2 x 10s as per Deanos comments, looked like this (kind of a 3-4-2-1):

                       Heaton

         Konsa - Mings - Hause

Guilbert - Luiz - Nakamba - Taylor

                Grealish - Trez

                      Wesley

 

think it suited us so much more than the 4-3-3 with wingers not performing and not enough support in the middle, you could see from the goals and general play, the 343 (3-4-2-1) gave us so many more bodies in the middle and up top to actually get players in the right positions.

Edited January 1, 2020 by MaVilla

[MaVilla]

Deano, as you obviously read this forum , this is our strongest 11:

                      Heaton

         Konsa - Mings - Hause

Guilbert  -  Marv - Luiz  -  Targett

           Grealish  -  McGinn

                     Wesley

Subs: Steer, Engels, Elmo, Hourihane, El Ghazi, Trez, Davis      (Jota??)

 

my only debate is Engels, part of me thinks he should be in the back 3 as a starter, but part of me also thinks with Konsa, Mings & Hause, all of them have a turn of speed so the whole back 3 can play that bit higher up the field without fear of being turned, thoughts?

If Engels did get in that 3, would probably be Konsa - Engels - Mings  OR  Engels - Mings - Hause......thoughts?

[Adam2003]

40 minutes ago, KenjiOgiwara said:

At least playing 343 or 5221 will hide the fact that we don't have wingers of sufficient quality. 

If you’re meaning Trezeguet and El Ghazi in particular I think it will actually suit their games way better as well. Today was the best I’ve seen Trezeguet play. It was all his hustle that led to Grealish’s goal.

[KenjiOgiwara]

Just now, Adam2003 said:

If you’re meaning Trezeguet and El Ghazi in particular I think it will actually suit their games way better as well. Today was the best I’ve seen Trezeguet play. It was all his hustle that led to Grealish’s goal.

He had the lead up to both goals from what I saw. Good match. 

[Adam2003]

5 minutes ago, MaVilla said:

Deano, as you obviously read this forum , this is our strongest 11:

                      Heaton

         Konsa - Mings - Hause

Guilbert  -  Marv - Luiz  -  Targett

           Grealish  -  McGinn

                     Wesley

Subs: Steer, Engels, Elmo, Hourihane, El Ghazi, Trez, Davis      (Jota??)

 

my only debate is Engels, part of me thinks he should be in the back 3 as a starter, but part of me also thinks with Konsa, Mings & Hause, all of them have a turn of speed so the whole back 3 can play that bit higher up the field without fear of being turned, thoughts?

If Engels did get in that 3, would probably be Konsa - Engels - Mings  OR  Engels - Mings - Hause......thoughts?

Think the good thing is Konsa and Engels could both play either in the centre or on the right, Mings could play centre or on the left, Hause definitely on the left, and then that means we can cope with any one of them being out. Chester as additional cover but maybe need one more if we stick with this formation.