Dean Smith - Confirmed

[sirlordbaltimore]

not even if we repeat the pattern of the last 13 games? I don't want Dean to get sacked, I want him to succeed where many others in recent years have failed, but the only yardstick for any manager is results. Somehow he needs to engineer a big uplift  between now and May 5th.

But if some of the players have given up, how is he supposed to get a tune out of them? it's not like we have loads to call on as replacements either

They're on trial more than Smith for me.

[XXVilla]

The major issue is our fan base in large sections just depmand instant success without the work. Not willing to have any pain at all even if it benefits us down the line. This is the first apt of our new owners and board and they will give him time. Weve not signed players on in the first window that dont join until the summer unless we are thinking further ahead.
The young lads who have gone on loan will come back to us better off in the summer. That's then a chance for them so take up important roles in our first team squad instead of the overpaid wasters like Lansbury etc.
The toughest thing for people to grasp at the moment is just accepting that we don't have many players who are actually any good. Certainly not up for the demands of a front foot style.

My biggest worry is the effect of these short term results and what pressure that could bring. Say we don't beat stoke/derby then on the wrong side of a result at the sty, the whole thing just becomes toxic once again.
Its blatantly obvious to a lot of the squad that they don't have futures under us. This naturally will cause a downturn in performances. Some of the news is inescapable of them knowing (the fact we wont discuss new deals with certain members) and that speaks volumes.

Deano has discussed how he sees football and what he expects us to play. First time ever weve had a manager who discusses style, tactics and the type of players he wants. We now have to allow him time to put that into practice. If come Jan 2020 we are no further forward then that would be the time to look at his position.

I agree with all of this but we’ve actually had 8 years of pain already so we’re entitled to moan a little.

[The Edge]

I think it's safe to assume that the summer will see the kind of overhaul not seen since the summers of '91 (Big Ron) and to some lesser extent '95 (Sir Brian), and with it a whole new team and playing style for next season.  There seems to be a lot of negativity and confusion amongst fans with where exactly we are, and no knowledge of what plans are in place (understandably)and ultimately what the future will be, however I have 100% confidence that the owners know exactly what they are doing, and better days are not far away. 

Keep the faith!

I like the cut of your jib. This is how I feel about the current situation. We have to have faith that the owners know what they are doing. Keep the faith.

[berneboy]

The major issue is our fan base in large sections just demand instant success without the work. Not willing to have any pain at all even if it benefits us down the line. This is the first apt of our new owners and board and they will give him time. Weve not signed players on in the first window that dont join until the summer unless we are thinking further ahead.
The young lads who have gone on loan will come back to us better off in the summer. That's then a chance for them so take up important roles in our first team squad instead of the overpaid wasters like Lansbury etc.
The toughest thing for people to grasp at the moment is just accepting that we don't have many players who are actually any good. Certainly not up for the demands of a front foot style.

My biggest worry is the effect of these short term results and what pressure that could bring. Say we don't beat stoke/derby then on the wrong side of a result at the sty, the whole thing just becomes toxic once again.
Its blatantly obvious to a lot of the squad that they don't have futures under us. This naturally will cause a downturn in performances. Some of the news is inescapable of them knowing (the fact we wont discuss new deals with certain members) and that speaks volumes.

Deano has discussed how he sees football and what he expects us to play. First time ever weve had a manager who discusses style, tactics and the type of players he wants. We now have to allow him time to put that into practice. If come Jan 2020 we are no further forward then that would be the time to look at his position.

I agree with every word of VC84. Deano needs time to rebuild. Several of our players simply aren't able to play a pressing, passing game.

[Drummond]

We're 4 months in to Smith's tenure as Head Coach, Pitarch's as DoF and just over 5 in to Purslow's as CEO. With our new owners having bought the club just over 6 months ago I think people complaining and demanding success are absolutely, completely and utterly jumping the gun.

We're an organisation that's been going backwards for years and years and the rot had most definitely set in.

There's no way that any philosophy will have had the opportunity to show itself yet. The manager and DoF have had one January window. The CEO the same and the owners have had half a window on top of that, the previous half window looked like we were going to have to sell any assets we had.

We may not be playing great at the moment but people calling Smith out at this point, when he's working with players brought in by at least three previous managers who had different styles are being, quite frankly, about as short-termist as you can get.

I don't disagree with any of that Drummond.  I don't think many people are demanding instant success though.  Smith himself has said that top 6 was his target, and it's not looking like we're even going to be close.  Worse than that, it's not just a case of just missing out, we're in the middle of one of our regular spirit-sapping runs of miserable performances and results.  He needs to show he's got the ability to turn things around, as I honestly don't think he'll survive if it this run continues for another half a dozen games, which is all too possible.  I want him to succeed, but he needs to turn things round sharpish.

So we should give him another 6 games? Or what does 'sharpish' mean exactly?

He won't have had another window, he won't have had his two best players, the whole owner/senior exec thing is new and won't have had much more time. I'm disappointed in the results, and will be even more if there isn't some hope. However, the likes of Ramsay, Green, Davis and O'Hare getting game time and time in the matchday squad over the last 6 games, O'Hare, RHM, and Clark being out on loan to get more experience and new signings playing well (Mings, Kalinic) are signs of preparation for the future.

[mallo]

I'll grudgingly write this season off and give him the summer to have a clear out - it's painful having to put up with this again but I can't see an alternative just now. Even if we stink out the league for the rest of the season, I think the decision is made at the top - Smith gets a full closed season. If after 12 games next season we still stink then it's time to think again, but my god it will just be the same old repeat ad nauseum.

What annoys me is we were doing some passing and moving and scoring goals - where has that gone. The players now look like they can't be asred - which to me looks like there's something wrong in the dressing room. How do you motivate a man on 40k a week and no incentive to give 100%? I don't know but I think Smith will meet a few bigger tests than that along the way so he needs to find an answer, and pretty quickly, otherwise his stock with the ones who stay may have been tarnished. That's all conjecture by the way - I've not been conspiring with thatcherlover.

[wince]

I'll grudgingly write this season off and give him the summer to have a clear out - it's painful having to put up with this again but I can't see an alternative just now. Even if we stink out the league for the rest of the season, I think the decision is made at the top - Smith gets a full closed season. If after 12 games next season we still stink then it's time to think again, but my god it will just be the same old repeat ad nauseum.

What annoys me is we were doing some passing and moving and scoring goals - where has that gone. The players now look like they can't be asred - which to me looks like there's something wrong in the dressing room. How do you motivate a man on 40k a week and no incentive to give 100%? I don't know but I think Smith will meet a few bigger tests than that along the way so he needs to find an answer, and pretty quickly, otherwise his stock with the ones who stay may have been tarnished. That's all conjecture by the way - I've not been conspiring with thatcherlover.

Could it be as simple as jacks presence off of the field as well as his absence playing? I wonder if there is any legs in our dead wood also being told they are off at the end of the season? I would say that we have a team that is a bunch of individuals who looked good in their YouTube clips. Together they aren't gelling and that is a worry. Roll on end of season

[dalians umbrella]

I really hope this Thatcher Lover is full of **** because the scenario he describes, of Dean Smith significantly upping the amount of running too quickly to the point where he alienates the players, is the exact scenario I have been worrying about.

If we take a quick look at the evidence for:

1. Dean Smith was recently showing the players videos of how much Liverpool and Man City run, which made me worry this was an attempt to "bring them round".

2. Jack's stress fracture. This is an overuse injury - you get it from doing too much running relative to what you are used to (e.g. building up too quickly) and relative to the amount of rest you are getting. Smith's discussions of this in the press were really bizarre, to the point of making his own medical staff look like idiots by saying they were baffled and couldn't get to the bottom of it. What's to get to the bottom of? The MRI shows a stress fracture - he's been running too much. This made me think he didn't want the cause of the injury to be made common knowledge.

Now,  the big risk of a stress fracture is that once the bone is weakened in that area, you can suddenly get a proper "acute" fracture  ....

3. Axel's metatarsal fracture. The most common site of running-related stress fractures are the metatarsals. When any footballer gets a metatarsal fracture, I always wonder whether it could have been a stress fracture in the first instance.

4. Nyland's Achilles rupture. Healthy tendons don't rupture - they need to be degenerate first (tendinosis) - which is another overuse injury.

5. Some, but not all players who have been training elsewhere  - Green and Carroll - come into our training and instantly get hamstring strains.



Did our player's need to do more running? Well, for years now, we have had a slow, lumbering Serie A style, whereas every other team we've played (including lower league teams in the cups) look to be playing a completely different style and run rings around us.

Does an increase in running need to be built up slowly so you don't get more injuries and shatter the players? Yes - but would that be the job of the fitness coaches and fitness staff to tell the manager this.

Is the amount of running that Smith wants his players to do excessive? If it was, he have crocked all the players at his previous clubs? Is it too much for player's who aren't used to it? Maybe?

Is this all just conjecture? Definitely.

[Ads]

I wouldn't base even the most wildest of conjecture on anything that attention seeking twat says. Davis moaning to him personally that he's not been playing. That would be the injured Davis.

[XXVilla]

I really hope this Thatcher Lover is full of **** because the scenario he describes, of Dean Smith significantly upping the amount of running too quickly to the point where he alienates the players, is the exact scenario I have been worrying about.

If we take a quick look at the evidence for:

1. Dean Smith was recently showing the players videos of how much Liverpool and Man City run, which made me worry this was an attempt to "bring them round".

2. Jack's stress fracture. This is an overuse injury - you get it from doing too much running relative to what you are used to (e.g. building up too quickly) and relative to the amount of rest you are getting. Smith's discussions of this in the press were really bizarre, to the point of making his own medical staff look like idiots by saying they were baffled and couldn't get to the bottom of it. What's to get to the bottom of? The MRI shows a stress fracture - he's been running too much. This made me think he didn't want the cause of the injury to be made common knowledge.

Now,  the big risk of a stress fracture is that once the bone is weakened in that area, you can suddenly get a proper "acute" fracture  ....

3. Axel's metatarsal fracture. The most common site of running-related stress fractures are the metatarsals. When any footballer gets a metatarsal fracture, I always wonder whether it could have been a stress fracture in the first instance.

4. Nyland's Achilles rupture. Healthy tendons don't rupture - they need to be degenerate first (tendinosis) - which is another overuse injury.

5. Some, but not all players who have been training elsewhere  - Green and Carroll - come into our training and instantly get hamstring strains.



Did our player's need to do more running? Well, for years now, we have had a slow, lumbering Serie A style, whereas every other team we've played (including lower league teams in the cups) look to be playing a completely different style and run rings around us.

Does an increase in running need to be built up slowly so you don't get more injuries and shatter the players? Yes - but would that be the job of the fitness coaches and fitness staff to tell the manager this.

Is the amount of running that Smith wants his players to do excessive? If it was, he have crocked all the players at his previous clubs? Is it too much for player's who aren't used to it? Maybe?

Is this all just conjecture? Definitely.

So you’re saying they’re doing too much running..?

[villa `cross the mersey]

Maybe Dean is a big Spencer Davis fan and next season the team will come out to "Keep on Running"

[The Edge]

I really hope this Thatcher Lover is full of **** because the scenario he describes, of Dean Smith significantly upping the amount of running too quickly to the point where he alienates the players, is the exact scenario I have been worrying about.

If we take a quick look at the evidence for:

1. Dean Smith was recently showing the players videos of how much Liverpool and Man City run, which made me worry this was an attempt to "bring them round".

2. Jack's stress fracture. This is an overuse injury - you get it from doing too much running relative to what you are used to (e.g. building up too quickly) and relative to the amount of rest you are getting. Smith's discussions of this in the press were really bizarre, to the point of making his own medical staff look like idiots by saying they were baffled and couldn't get to the bottom of it. What's to get to the bottom of? The MRI shows a stress fracture - he's been running too much. This made me think he didn't want the cause of the injury to be made common knowledge.

Now,  the big risk of a stress fracture is that once the bone is weakened in that area, you can suddenly get a proper "acute" fracture  ....

3. Axel's metatarsal fracture. The most common site of running-related stress fractures are the metatarsals. When any footballer gets a metatarsal fracture, I always wonder whether it could have been a stress fracture in the first instance.

4. Nyland's Achilles rupture. Healthy tendons don't rupture - they need to be degenerate first (tendinosis) - which is another overuse injury.

5. Some, but not all players who have been training elsewhere  - Green and Carroll - come into our training and instantly get hamstring strains.



Did our player's need to do more running? Well, for years now, we have had a slow, lumbering Serie A style, whereas every other team we've played (including lower league teams in the cups) look to be playing a completely different style and run rings around us.

Does an increase in running need to be built up slowly so you don't get more injuries and shatter the players? Yes - but would that be the job of the fitness coaches and fitness staff to tell the manager this.

Is the amount of running that Smith wants his players to do excessive? If it was, he have crocked all the players at his previous clubs? Is it too much for player's who aren't used to it? Maybe?

Is this all just conjecture? Definitely.

So you’re saying they’re doing too much running..?

Deano & co are known for their progressive methods so I very much doubt they just send the players out running just for the effing sake of it. And running is kind of what footballers do for a living in any case? As for Jack's injury we were told at the time that it was a cumulative effect of him being the most fouled player in the league. I do however think that he doesn't help himself with those tiny shin pads he prefers. I'd also like to add that I think what's definitely a big problem with the team right now is the amount of players who know they aren't part of our long term future. I think it must be really be difficult to motivate all those affected.

[PeterWithesShin]

They shouldn't really need that much motivation. Even if you ignore the tens of thousands they are paid weekly, professional pride and the desire to get a contract elsewhere should, I repeat should, be enough to have them motivated.

[Tayls_7]

Many professional footballers can compensate for a lack of athleticism with exquisite touch, vision and positional sense.............. ............."Right lads, a dozen shuttles of the A38, go".

[andyh]

To be honest, many of them do so little running in games that probably need to run a few extra miles in training to keep the pounds off.

Seriously though, I think Dalians umbrella has a valid point.
We were talking about the same thing at the weekend. It is incredible the number of injuries that the squad has contracted during training. There has to be some reason for it, doesn’t there?