Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Monty]

And they misspent almost every penny, whereas we went and got Watkins, Targett, Cash etc. Much better.

[eamonn]

Good interview that. Makes a good point about how much harder it is to get to the top 6 from mid-table, than from the relegation zone to mid-table

I've read a few different people saying it on here. It's going from wisdom to cliché fairly quickly. Hopefully Deano can up his press-game.

[Risso]

It's not easy, but I think he largely threw the chance away this season to get ahead of the game.  Obviously losing Jack was a big factor, but half a season of almost relegation form wasn't acceptable. Crap subs, lack of tactical flexibility and the bizarre persistence with Ross Barkley were contributing factors.

[London Villan]

Thing is, we wouldn't have got top 4, but securing a Europa league spot would likely do more damage than good next season with the additional 15 or so games.

We need to bypass 5/6/7th and jump straight into the Champs league spots next season - easy.

[eamonn]

The club had invested a lot in Barkley, he was always going to be given every chance to prove himself, rightly or wrongly.

[chrisw1]

The club had invested a lot in Barkley, he was always going to be given every chance to prove himself, rightly or wrongly.

Yep, I think he thought the way out of the rut was for Barkley to play himself back into form.  I understand the logic but it just never happened.

[algy]

The club had invested a lot in Barkley, he was always going to be given every chance to prove himself, rightly or wrongly.

We also didn't look any great shakes without Barkley, and you'd have to say that Ross had the biggest potential to add the creative spark we needed out of the realistic options. I'd have maybe been tempted to shake it up a bit, but I can see the logic behind persisting with Barkley.

[JD]

The club had invested a lot in Barkley, he was always going to be given every chance to prove himself, rightly or wrongly.

Yep, I think he thought the way out of the rut was for Barkley to play himself back into form.  I understand the logic but it just never happened.

He looked great in the first few games and I thought we got a class player, But unfortunately he just went downhill. He looked like he was running through treacle in the second half of the season and I felt a bit sorry for him as he looked kind of desperate, as if he knew his big chance to get back in the big time had passed him by.   

[ChicagoLion]

The club had invested a lot in Barkley, he was always going to be given every chance to prove himself, rightly or wrongly.

We also didn't look any great shakes without Barkley, and you'd have to say that Ross had the biggest potential to add the creative spark we needed out of the realistic options. I'd have maybe been tempted to shake it up a bit, but I can see the logic behind persisting with Barkley.

I cant, he never looked fit enough to compete and that must have shown up in training.

[OCD]

Thing is, we wouldn't have got top 4, but securing a Europa league spot would likely do more damage than good next season with the additional 15 or so games.

We need to bypass 5/6/7th and jump straight into the Champs league spots next season - easy.

West Ham almost did it. 

[eamonn]

He's probably the biggest player Deano has managed (excluding Jack who is an outlier in many ways). Barkley has played regularly for England, in the Champions League etc. That pedigree, his quality potentially rubbing off on other players (i.e the early results and match-winners like at Southampton) and the finances involved (huge wages and a a chunky loan fee)...Smith was always going to try and extract as much out of him as possible.

[OCD]

“We have now got the youngest average age group on the longest-term contracts in the Premier League." That stood out to me.

[Smithy]

“We have now got the youngest average age group on the longest-term contracts in the Premier League." That stood out to me.

Indeed. It's actually quite shocking to think our entire first-eleven could comfortably play at this level together for another 4 or 5 years.  Obviously they won't, but they're young enough to. The fact that our oldest outfield player - by a couple of years - is a 28-year-old centre-back is pretty remarkable.

A couple of top-quality additions this summer (and a 100% fit Jack Grealish) and I'll be very excited about what next season could bring...

[Risso]

He's probably the biggest player Deano has managed (excluding Jack who is an outlier in many ways). Barkley has played regularly for England, in the Champions League etc. That pedigree, his quality potentially rubbing off on other players (i.e the early results and match-winners like at Southampton) and the finances involved (huge wages and a a chunky loan fee)...Smith was always going to try and extract as much out of him as possible.

Continuing with something that very clearly isn't working and crossing fingers that it will is just daft though. And if it's true what you say about Smith, well he needs to get rid of that small time mentality ASAP. He did the same to a lesser extent with Drinkwater last season and that was an utter disaster.

[Smithy]

It's not easy, but I think he largely threw the chance away this season to get ahead of the game.  Obviously losing Jack was a big factor, but half a season of almost relegation form wasn't acceptable. Crap subs, lack of tactical flexibility and the bizarre persistence with Ross Barkley were contributing factors.

I'm not sure I'd call it "throwing it away", because I still think the biggest factor was the one thing out of his control.

In the end, we were just 7 points off a European place, and we can all see where those points could have come from during the 12 games Jack was out. Dean definitely carries some of the blame for how we played during that period, but he was managing a team without its best player, so I think he gets some leeway there.

I was disappointed with Barkley in the end, but I was a big supporter of his, even into the new year, but after the covid break he just wasn't up to it.  I can understand why we persisted (it's not like JJ or Sanson did much better when they got their chance), but it just didn't work out.

I'll be delighted (and surprised) if we come out of the blocks like we did last season, but I would like to see us a bit more consistent across the season, showing top-6-ish form throughout.  Never going more than a couple of games without winning one, trying to avoid back-to-back losses. I don't want to look back on a season of two halves again and wonder "what if"...