Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Pete3206]

'Project'? For fuck sake

[Nii Lamptey]

Job has to be under pressure now, if only for persisting with Hourihane. If there is no one good enough to fill that midfield slot, switch him out for a 2nd striker and 442.
No way we’re going to even get playoffs now, and our only half decent players will be packing their bags in the summer. We’d better get used to this shit hole of a league cos we’re not going anywhere for the foreseeable. 😔

[Risso]

There's just no sign of improvement, week after week.  The midfield without Jack is gash, so his signing of Carroll was absolute madness.

[cdbearsfan]

It's not that tough a market. We saw about half a dozen players tonight who would have improved our team, all would be very familiar to Smith and all would crawl over broken glass to play for a club of our stature.

I find it difficult to believe there isn't a single available midfielder who can run ten yards without stopping for a breather on the entire planet.

Or a vaguely competent left-back who has experience of playing... at left-back.

[themossman]

No improvement on Bruce sorry to say

But it's mostly Bruce's players....simply not good enough. Forget the play-offs.

.

He had Bruce’s players playing the best football in the league not that long ago and rightly got a lot of credit for that. He can’t have it both ways.

[Grocer]

This whole project needs time and we need to hold our nerve as fans. The quick fix has failed us for the last twenty years.

Absolutely spot on. It's easy to spout 'Smith out' etc in the heat of the moment. We have to give him time to build and hold our nerve.

[ChicagoLion]

I am torn between the fact that he has inherited a poor unmotivated squad and the fact that he has insisted in trying to play a system that is not working.

[LukeJames]

Job has to be under pressure now, if only for persisting with Hourihane. If there is no one good enough to fill that midfield slot, switch him out for a 2nd striker and 442.

Which is exactly what he did. Then we conceeded.

[Risso]

This whole project needs time and we need to hold our nerve as fans. The quick fix has failed us for the last twenty years.

Absolutely spot on. It's easy to spout 'Smith out' etc in the heat of the moment. We have to give him time to build and hold our nerve.

I'm struggling to see any positive signs that he knows what needs to be done.

[GarTomas]

Poor tactics and result. I’m trying and failing to find positives in these results in relation to smith’s ability.

Which players that started tonight would you like to see in the team next year?

Ah I see, so it’s either all Smith’s fault or all the players’ fault. Because that’s how that works.

No. Smith has largely inherited a group of limited and average players.  Of the players we own only Grealish and McGinn I see starting next year. Abraham won't unless we go up.

I'm not sure what he's expected to do with what he's got. The January window was underwhelming I agree but it was a sellers market.

[adrenachrome]

'Project'? For fuck sake

Reminds me of debates many  years ago involving Gant Diagrams and PERT charts.

[PaulWinch again]

There's just no sign of improvement, week after week.  The midfield without Jack is gash, so his signing of Carroll was absolute madness.

Nope it’s actually deteriorating. They look like they’ve never met, or if they have it was an hour before kick-off and they’ve downed several pints.

[Nelly]

This whole project needs time and we need to hold our nerve as fans. The quick fix has failed us for the last twenty years.

I think the issue is there is absolutely no sign of progress, none at all. In fact we’re getting worse by the game.

I hear that and see it. No argument - we were awful again tonight. We've lost key players and don't have ones of a similar ilk to step in. The players we do have aren't comfortable playing this way. It's going badly but I now just see the rest of this season as a tester to get it right for next time.

[cdbearsfan]

The trouble is that while we are "holding our nerve", Grealish and McGinn will be transferred while Abraham will return to Chelsea (or go elsewhere). It is only going to get more difficult to get out of this league.

[TheTimVilla]

Seven points off the playoffs, having played a game more than most around us. Another shocking first half. He doesn’t seem to learn from his mistakes.