Dean Smith - Confirmed

[curiousorange]

There's a lot of talk about Smith being given time, which I absolutely agree with, but as we've seen with Rowett this week, you don't have to be at a club for a couple of seasons before owners get itchy trigger fingers.

[PaulWinch again]

Well no and you get time if there’s clear signs that things are moving in the right direction. There’s no sign of that at the moment, quite the opposite.

[curiousorange]

Our owners aren't philanthropists. They've saved our bacon already and they'll want to see some return on the punt they took. Scrapping around the middle of a league containing Rotherham, Millwall and yes, Wigan isn't what they'll have had in mind.

[Rudy65]

There's a lot of talk about Smith being given time, which I absolutely agree with, but as we've seen with Rowett this week, you don't have to be at a club for a couple of seasons before owners get itchy trigger fingers.

And billionaires, let alone two of them aren’t known for their patience. He has got to be given until the end of the season at least

[olaftab]

Remember same Manager ripped apart Boro and Derby away 3-0. The problem is since than other teams have realised how Smith plays and counteracted to nullify our players. In turn our current squad are nowhere near good enough to get round opposition tactics. This is players job on the pitch not Managers. Better quality players would find a way to still play the sort of football that blew away Middlesbrough and Derby etc.

[Toronto Villa]

Post match interview. He looks a bit lost and he’s right he needs to look at himself in the mirror also. It’s honest but that’s not changing anything right now.

https://twitter.com/avfcofficial/status/1084141689588072448?s=12

[PaulWinch again]

Yes I thought very honest, but didn’t fill me with much confidence.

[Villafirst]

Is this yet another Manager who's going to be chewed up by the Club?

[Steve67]

other teams are now doing to us, what we were doing to them when Smith first came here.  Press Chester and he will give you the ball, decent defender but not a great footballer, same as Taylor, Bree, Hutton and Elphick.  Hourihane and Whelan are so one dimensional, slow or anonymous they are not worth their place in the squad.  Hourihane and Lansbury came to us as big fish in small pools and they have been found out.  I know Hourihane scored, what, 11 goals last season, but he was freed from defensive duties and we are now asking more from him and he cannot deliver.  Bolasie and El Ghazi are so inconsistent, they will do one good thing and five poor, so what's the point in having them?  Sadly, Smith's decisions making and 'go to' players are the only ones he has available. 

Smith really needs fresh blood as he is quickly falling foul of a bad tempered, short of patience fan base that has simply had enough of the same old shit.   That said, he is absolutely contributing to his own down fall.  We are not a team.  We are a group of individual players thrown together and hoping it comes off. 

[PaulWinch again]

Remember same Manager ripped apart Boro and Derby away 3-0. The problem is since than other teams have realised how Smith plays and counteracted to nullify our players. In turn our current squad are nowhere near good enough to get round opposition tactics. This is players job on the pitch not Managers. Better quality players would find a way to still play the sort of football that blew away Middlesbrough and Derby etc.

Sorry but that’s the manager’s responsibility as well. If teams adjust to our style, the manager needs to adjust tactics to counteract that.

[curiousorange]

Yes, I think that's the key - new players in the squad. At the moment it looks stale, like trying to wow Paris Fashion Week with the contents of your late grandfather's wardrobe. But how likely that is with FFP, I don't know.

[Villafirst]

So yet another training injury, this time Jonathan Kodjia - precisely what is going on in training sessions? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

[Steve67]

Post match interview. He looks a bit lost and he’s right he needs to look at himself in the mirror also. It’s honest but that’s not changing anything right now.

https://twitter.com/avfcofficial/status/1084141689588072448?s=12

Why don't they ever ask about potential transfers when they interview.  Three questions; what went wrong today, how are you going to put it right, can you provide an update on potential transfers. 

[Toronto Villa]

He’s answered questions on transfers during the week. What more is he going to say other than what he’s already said that they are looking at a number of players? He’s hardly going to name players or even positions to strengthen.

[curiousorange]

So yet another training injury, this time Jonathan Kodjia - precisely what is going on in training sessions? Talk about shooting yourself in the foot!

We ought to flog the whole place to HS2. Not only is it injuring any players that set foot on the place, but any residual success it might have been responsible for back in the day has long since vanished.