Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Diablo]

What do you think now Mr Carling at Loftus Road?

Dean Smith is building something and the crowds are coming. 41k for Swansea? 37k for Stoke? 41k for Leeds for half 1 on a Sunday?

Everton wouldn't get as good a home crowd as we do.

I must of missed this comment. Who is Mr Carling (at QPR)? What was the comment?

I assume it was some well-oiled opinionated chap that Ads had the pleasure of spending an evening within earshot of at Loftus Road.

Ah cheers (thanks for the confirmation too Ads) as we have a history with one of their ex managers spouting crap I thought I may have missed another one of their employees doing it again. The fact that we didn't deserve to lose to QPR must have made that conversation with Mr Carling even more grating. Fingers crossed they'll get Steve Bruce when their dutch maestro McClaren leaves.

[Toronto Villa]

Listening to his press conference today just one more chance to say how proud I am
to have this man as our manager. He is absolutely one of us.

[PaulWinch again]

Not good enough today Dean, I absolutely have faith obviously and I realise there are personnel limitations, but the defence and midfield just doesn’t look like it has a defined plan.
 That needs to change irrespective of who we get in.

[Ad@m]

Very harsh. They have a plan, it's just the defence isn't up to delivering it. Elmohamady gives two goals away today - one in exactly the manner he gave the penalty away against Stoke.

Until he's had chance to bring his own players in there's no way we ought to be criticising him for losing against top of the table from a 95th minute goal with half a defence.

[PaulWinch again]

They have a plan? Why have weaker players in the air picking up their strongest header of the ball? I really like what Dean is doing, it doesn’t mean he’s above criticism. The defence is not solely a personnel issue, it’s a key factor but it’s not everything.

[Brassneck]

Honeymoon is over.

2 very poor back to back home performances.

2 points out of a possible 9 from the last 3 home games.

Valuable points lost at the death against Leeds, WBA & Forest (who were down to 10 men)

Work needs to be done.  Today has as good as killed off our hopes of top 2.  We need to get our act together and ensure we reach top 6 and end the season in form.

[Ads]

I'm bemused as to how he came to the conclusion after Stoke thst Hourihane and Whelan were the answer.

Woeful from Smith the past two games. We've been outplayed twice on our own patch. Nowhere near good enough.

[Ad@m]

I don't think he does think Hourihane and Whelan are the answer but he hasn't got much choice. Grealish and Lansbury are injured and Thor is on his way back from injury.

The defence is crap and is suffering from injuries.

On top of all that, these aren't his players.

That's his first home defeat and it was to top of the league in the 95th minute. Give the guy a break.

[PeterWithesShin]

You only have to look at the bench today to see how little option we had but to put out that midfield. I doubt that he would pick Hotlips and Whelan in the same midfield if he had other options.

[SoccerHQ]

I'm bemused as to how he came to the conclusion after Stoke thst Hourihane and Whelan were the answer.

Woeful from Smith the past two games. We've been outplayed twice on our own patch. Nowhere near good enough.

All our midfielders aren't fit.

Grealish out

Bjarni- would've put him on the hour but reality is he had an operation only 3 weeks ago.

Lansbury- 1 game in about 8 months and obviously wasn't fit to make the bench.

Jedinak- Can you imagine the outcry on here if he'd started. Dosen't fit the DS style anyway.

I can understand against a team like Leeds why he'd opt for midfielders who have regular match rhythm rather than ones who haven't played in months.

I actually thought Whelan had another decent game but obviously at 34 can't last for more than an hour against this type of opposition. Hourihane is very much missing in action though so he needs to become squad player once we do business in January.

[kippaxvilla2]

Didn’t take us long!  If Bruce was still Manager we would have bored our way to a 4-1 defeat.

[Brassneck]

Didn’t take us long!  If Bruce was still Manager we would have bored our way to a 4-1 defeat.

Are we not allowed to comment if it’s not good enough?

That’s the 2nd home game running that we’ve been 2nd best and the amount of last minute goals we’ve conceded recently has cost us the points needed to have had a realistic chance of top 2.

I appreciate that we’re going through a transitional period but the goals against is getting silly now, even allowing for the 4 poor defenders we have.

[paul_e]

In midfield he needs to give Doyle-Hayes and Clarke a chance, Houri and Whelan can't play together, we can't cope with the lack of mobility, especially with Elmo and Hutton at full back who both have the same problem. It's not down to fitness or effort, it's that they get caught on their heels too often and, as a group, leave too many gaps for players who drift between the lines.

[Risso]

Nowhere near good enough today, completely outfought and outthought by Bielsa.  Look at the subs numbers for Leeds, Bielsa hasn't been scared to chuck the kids in.  What is the point in persevering with utter shite like Whelan and the defence when they are costing us goals and points, game after game after game.

His subs were awful today.  Kodjia was having a good game and giving them all sorts of problems, so to replace him like for like with El Ghazi was crazy.  Hogan is utterly fucking dreadful, and should never be in a squad again.  Seriously, give him away on a free transfer, and let him take Bjarnason with him on a two for one deal.

[kippaxvilla2]

And we’ve played against what essentially is still PL squad and the league leaders with the shittest defence in the league.  I thought the decision to start with Whelan was a bit strange but vindicated as without him we would’ve been completely overrun.