Quote from: KRS on February 14, 2019, 05:05:13 AMIs it any real surprise we're so shit given the squad Smith inherited from Bruce?! Someone posted something last week which was very true...a lot of ppl on here expect a new manager to come in, sprinkle some magic dust and expect him to turn a load of over paid and over rated shite players into league winner.When he arrived, we had pretty much a fully fit squad and we certainly had a new manager bounce as Smith was praising the players for how quickly they were learning and adapting to the new style of play...this showed in both performances and results. What happened next has been a load of injuries to some of our best players...Grealish, Axel, Chester...the consequence has been those players have had to be replaced by others that are quite simply not good enough and performances have dropped off a cliff. Add in injuries to Adomah and BB who have come back as even worse versions than they were then it comes as no surprise.Other than SJM, the best/only options available in midfield are Whelan (old, slow and shite), Hologram (lightweight and shite), Jedinak (old, slow, shite and can't pass), Adomah (never been that good), BB (always been shite), Kodjia (half the player since injured), El Ghazi (one game wonder) and Green (barely played but not shown us too much). These players are either past it, on the way out of the club or just not arsed so it's no wonder why we fail to create anything, we lose possession and it's back to the wall again with a creaking defence.Speaking of which...Smith was left with one fit CB thanks to Bruce, and a whole host of useless shite as a supporting cast...step forward Hutton, Elmo and Taylor. When the best players in the back line are the recalled Elphick and a loanee from Bournemouth to lead the back line then you know you're in a whole world of shit. The less said about the clusterfuck collection of goalkeepers we have at the club the better.It's hard to pin the drop in performances on losing Grealish and Axel, but there's no other explanation as to how things can turn to shit so quickly...it's more than just a coincidence that if you put shit players on the pitch to replace them then you end up with a shit team playing shit football. Dean Smith doesn't have any anti-shit magic dust.Is the correct answer.
Is it any real surprise we're so shit given the squad Smith inherited from Bruce?! Someone posted something last week which was very true...a lot of ppl on here expect a new manager to come in, sprinkle some magic dust and expect him to turn a load of over paid and over rated shite players into league winner.When he arrived, we had pretty much a fully fit squad and we certainly had a new manager bounce as Smith was praising the players for how quickly they were learning and adapting to the new style of play...this showed in both performances and results. What happened next has been a load of injuries to some of our best players...Grealish, Axel, Chester...the consequence has been those players have had to be replaced by others that are quite simply not good enough and performances have dropped off a cliff. Add in injuries to Adomah and BB who have come back as even worse versions than they were then it comes as no surprise.Other than SJM, the best/only options available in midfield are Whelan (old, slow and shite), Hologram (lightweight and shite), Jedinak (old, slow, shite and can't pass), Adomah (never been that good), BB (always been shite), Kodjia (half the player since injured), El Ghazi (one game wonder) and Green (barely played but not shown us too much). These players are either past it, on the way out of the club or just not arsed so it's no wonder why we fail to create anything, we lose possession and it's back to the wall again with a creaking defence.Speaking of which...Smith was left with one fit CB thanks to Bruce, and a whole host of useless shite as a supporting cast...step forward Hutton, Elmo and Taylor. When the best players in the back line are the recalled Elphick and a loanee from Bournemouth to lead the back line then you know you're in a whole world of shit. The less said about the clusterfuck collection of goalkeepers we have at the club the better.It's hard to pin the drop in performances on losing Grealish and Axel, but there's no other explanation as to how things can turn to shit so quickly...it's more than just a coincidence that if you put shit players on the pitch to replace them then you end up with a shit team playing shit football. Dean Smith doesn't have any anti-shit magic dust.
Quote from: Toronto Villa on February 14, 2019, 01:28:20 AMQuote from: hilts_coolerking on February 13, 2019, 11:08:19 PMQuote from: Toronto Villa on February 13, 2019, 10:34:45 PMI don't think we will have wingers next season. We will have 5 in midfield who will have better energy, pace and ball retention skills than any of these wankers we have now. What Smith is realizing very quickly is that most of these fuckers are worthless and the sooner they are of the books the better.I agree with you 100% but how many years now have we been saying exactly the same thing?We're like Brentford?I know. I suppose my naivety or faith is what I have seen Brentford do to us the last few years and most of tonight. That one day we can be like them...Be like Brentford. Fuck me.We're already like Brentford under Smith. What was his win rate there, with "his own players"? 33%? We can't be far off that already.perhaps that's the peak of his ability, with a bit of fancy football now and again? This isn't Brentford though.
Quote from: hilts_coolerking on February 13, 2019, 11:08:19 PMQuote from: Toronto Villa on February 13, 2019, 10:34:45 PMI don't think we will have wingers next season. We will have 5 in midfield who will have better energy, pace and ball retention skills than any of these wankers we have now. What Smith is realizing very quickly is that most of these fuckers are worthless and the sooner they are of the books the better.I agree with you 100% but how many years now have we been saying exactly the same thing?We're like Brentford?I know. I suppose my naivety or faith is what I have seen Brentford do to us the last few years and most of tonight. That one day we can be like them...Be like Brentford. Fuck me.
Quote from: Toronto Villa on February 13, 2019, 10:34:45 PMI don't think we will have wingers next season. We will have 5 in midfield who will have better energy, pace and ball retention skills than any of these wankers we have now. What Smith is realizing very quickly is that most of these fuckers are worthless and the sooner they are of the books the better.I agree with you 100% but how many years now have we been saying exactly the same thing?
I don't think we will have wingers next season. We will have 5 in midfield who will have better energy, pace and ball retention skills than any of these wankers we have now. What Smith is realizing very quickly is that most of these fuckers are worthless and the sooner they are of the books the better.
managers can only manage with what they have, granted, but as average as some are in the squad, Dean should be flexible enough to mix things up and get more than 2 wins in 2. Even Four in 12 would have see us in contention for a lay off place
The team assembled by Dean Smith played the one he now manages off the park. It’s hardly stretching credulity to expect that when he has had time to implement his plans at Villa we will see similar performances.
What happens if you give Smith the beginning of next season, and he loses say two players to injury? We know what happens now if that happens and you can’t afford for it to happen again. Smith has shown he is totally incapable of managing it. Surely if any other manager had been in the position where the team was playing like we have, certainly since Preston away, and certainly since the absolute disgrace at Wigan, they’d have changed the formation and tried something different? That’s why I don’t think Dean Smith is up to the job. He never uses substitutions to change formation, like the appalling triple substitution at Wigan, and it makes me think he is too inflexible to be a success. He literally has one way of playing and if it doesn’t work you’ve had it. If you were a player and you know it’s not working, you’d probably be thinking why does he keep persisting with this. For this reason it wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest if he’s ‘lost the dressing room’. For all the stick the players get, Smith needs to take a fair amount too for the decisions he’s made. Not once has he tried 4-4-2 with Davis for example so the ball might stay up front longer etc. It doesn’t matter who we’ve played, home or away, against better teams or struggling, he sets us up the same. And the better managers don’t do that. When we were getting battered in the relegation season at least we were playing Man Utd, Liverpool etc. Dean Smith has overseen us getting battered by Wigan, Hull for the first half at home, Swansea in the cup, Sheffield Utd at home for 82 mins. They were new low level showings and that’s in amongst the other dross that’s been served up in the other 9 or so games since the AlbionYes some players need to go, or they will be out of contract in the summer, but the first thing I would do is change the manager