Dean Smith - Confirmed

[BC Villain]

At what point does his position become untenable?  Lose to the stripeys and I would say that will be that

[West Derby Villan]

They are professional athletes who have all recovered from COVID. None of them have been missing from the squad since the two week break. They would be monitored relentlessly for their health and bloods etc. They wouldn’t be playing if they were still ‘ill’. Poor excuse in my view

And yet:

Pre-covid: played 15, 8 wins, 29 goals, 26 points
Post-covid: played 16, 5 wins, 15 goals, 18 points

I'm not making an excuse, I'm pointing out the very clear split in the season. Even without stats every genuinely good performance from us was in those first 15, since then we've looked a shadow of that team. Grealish being out has been part of it but even before his injury we looked a lot less fluid and were struggling to make the vast amount of chances that we'd been seeing every game earlier in the season.

I don't know why the break affected us so badly but arguing that it didn't or that it's an excuse is ignoring what is right in front of you.

Agree

[Ads]

Fucking no chance.

[eamonn]

At what point does his position become untenable?  Lose to the stripeys and I would say that will be that

Seriously? Don't be a silly billy.

[Risso]

They are professional athletes who have all recovered from COVID. None of them have been missing from the squad since the two week break. They would be monitored relentlessly for their health and bloods etc. They wouldn’t be playing if they were still ‘ill’. Poor excuse in my view

And yet:

Pre-covid: played 15, 8 wins, 29 goals, 26 points
Post-covid: played 16, 5 wins, 15 goals, 18 points

I'm not making an excuse, I'm pointing out the very clear split in the season. Even without stats every genuinely good performance from us was in those first 15, since then we've looked a shadow of that team. Grealish being out has been part of it but even before his injury we looked a lot less fluid and were struggling to make the vast amount of chances that we'd been seeing every game earlier in the season.

I don't know why the break affected us so badly but arguing that it didn't or that it's an excuse is ignoring what is right in front of you.

You're making the age old mistake of confusing correlation with causation. Our midfield is rubbish, and so are our wide players without Jack. Covid isn't the reason that Traore is shite, 9 times out of 10, or that Barkley keeps getting picked despite offering precisiely nothing. It's pften been said that Smith is a streaky manager, and this is another poor run of form from him. Half a season of relegation form.

[Rudy65]

They are professional athletes who have all recovered from COVID. None of them have been missing from the squad since the two week break. They would be monitored relentlessly for their health and bloods etc. They wouldn’t be playing if they were still ‘ill’. Poor excuse in my view

And yet:

Pre-covid: played 15, 8 wins, 29 goals, 26 points
Post-covid: played 16, 5 wins, 15 goals, 18 points

I'm not making an excuse, I'm pointing out the very clear split in the season. Even without stats every genuinely good performance from us was in those first 15, since then we've looked a shadow of that team. Grealish being out has been part of it but even before his injury we looked a lot less fluid and were struggling to make the vast amount of chances that we'd been seeing every game earlier in the season.

I don't know why the break affected us so badly but arguing that it didn't or that it's an excuse is ignoring what is right in front of you.

You are solely blaming COVID. I disagree. It’s because we are playing boring, insipid football bereft of any game plan or tactics. We have been awful as backed up by your stats but COVID isn’t the reason. Players and the management are too blame

Play like this next season and we are bottom 3 at Xmas

[paul_e]

They are professional athletes who have all recovered from COVID. None of them have been missing from the squad since the two week break. They would be monitored relentlessly for their health and bloods etc. They wouldn’t be playing if they were still ‘ill’. Poor excuse in my view

And yet:

Pre-covid: played 15, 8 wins, 29 goals, 26 points
Post-covid: played 16, 5 wins, 15 goals, 18 points

I'm not making an excuse, I'm pointing out the very clear split in the season. Even without stats every genuinely good performance from us was in those first 15, since then we've looked a shadow of that team. Grealish being out has been part of it but even before his injury we looked a lot less fluid and were struggling to make the vast amount of chances that we'd been seeing every game earlier in the season.

I don't know why the break affected us so badly but arguing that it didn't or that it's an excuse is ignoring what is right in front of you.

You're making the age old mistake of confusing correlation with causation. Our midfield is rubbish, and so are our wide players without Jack. Covid isn't the reason that Traore is shite, 9 times out of 10, or that Barkley keeps getting picked despite offering precisiely nothing. It's pften been said that Smith is a streaky manager, and this is another poor run of form from him. Half a season of relegation form.

I'm really not, your making your common mistake of having decided everything is shit and refusing to even consider there may be reasons for it.

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

At what point does his position become untenable?  Lose to the stripeys and I would say that will be that

With respect, I think that is a ridiculous thing to say.
You sound as though you want us to lose ?

[AndyB6]

What concerns me is what if Grealish starts next season then gets a long-term injury?
What will Smith do?
His inability / reluctance / refusal to make any kind of tactical changes is infuriating.
We can't just keep waiting for more players. Every team that plays us knows exactly what to expect. Even if Jack plays, it would seem if you double up on him then none of our players have the nous to use the extra space and time this creates in other areas on the pitch.
I do wonder how well they are being coached.

[paul_e]

They are professional athletes who have all recovered from COVID. None of them have been missing from the squad since the two week break. They would be monitored relentlessly for their health and bloods etc. They wouldn’t be playing if they were still ‘ill’. Poor excuse in my view

And yet:

Pre-covid: played 15, 8 wins, 29 goals, 26 points
Post-covid: played 16, 5 wins, 15 goals, 18 points

I'm not making an excuse, I'm pointing out the very clear split in the season. Even without stats every genuinely good performance from us was in those first 15, since then we've looked a shadow of that team. Grealish being out has been part of it but even before his injury we looked a lot less fluid and were struggling to make the vast amount of chances that we'd been seeing every game earlier in the season.

I don't know why the break affected us so badly but arguing that it didn't or that it's an excuse is ignoring what is right in front of you.

You are solely blaming COVID. I disagree. It’s because we are playing boring, insipid football bereft of any game plan or tactics. We have been awful as backed up by your stats but COVID isn’t the reason. Players and the management are too blame

Play like this next season and we are bottom 3 at Xmas

I'm not solely blaming covid, I'm pointing out that the team post-covid looks nothing like the one pre-covid, either on paper or to watch during games. I don't know why (as I said) but there is a very clear dividing line between our performances (results as well but the drop in quality of our play is far greater than the drop in points).

[Rudy65]

At what point does his position become untenable?  Lose to the stripeys and I would say that will be that

Our run in is v tough. The stats over the last 25 games come the end of the season could look awful

[Risso]

I'm really not, your making your common mistake of having decided everything is shit and refusing to even consider there may be reasons for it.

Everything is shit at the moment, and the reasons are:

Poor wingers - Traore, El Ghazi and Trezeguet nowhere near the required standard
Limited manager - lower league manager doing his very best, but tactically rigid and unable to change matches
Poor passing from midfield, and very little goal threat
Insistence on perservering with very obviously poor players like Barkley
Jack Grealish injury- we're utterly reliant on him for any attacking ability

Covid - not sure why two weeks off three months go would still be having an effect now. The main reason for anybody with a pair of eyes is Jack being out, and nobody else who can remotely replace him or support Watkins.

[Ads]

He's not a lower league manager.

[paul_e]

I'm really not, your making your common mistake of having decided everything is shit and refusing to even consider there may be reasons for it.

Everything is shit at the moment, and the reasons are:

Poor wingers - Traore, El Ghazi and Trezeguet nowhere near the required standard
Limited manager - lower league manager doing his very best, but tactically rigid and unable to change matches
Poor passing from midfield, and very little goal threat
Insistence on perservering with very obviously poor players like Barkley
Jack Grealish injury- we're utterly reliant on him for any attacking ability

Covid - not sure why two weeks off three months go would still be having an effect now. The main reason for anybody with a pair of eyes is Jack being out, and nobody else who can remotely replace him or support Watkins.

We're poor now because our confidence is shot and how that's showing itself is that no one wants the ball.

I agree the midfield is a problem, I don't blame the wingers as much because they're not getting any decent possession, when they try something and it doesn't work it gets focused on because they only get a few touches of the ball for long stretches and we need them to make things happen every time, add the confidence issues in the entire squad and you get the peformances we're seeing.

On Smith in particular it's strange that he wasn't a limited manager (according to anyone on here) 6 months ago when we were tearing Liverpool and Arsenal to pieces.

Missing Grealish is clearly a problem, no one denies that, but it's not the only reason things have fallen away and it's not where it started.

[andyh]

Our problems lie with Jacks absence and started with his injury flaring up again.
He makes everyone in the team play better, not just the midfield or the strikers. Look at Targett, he is a world beater with Jack in front of him. He is just a jobbing full back when Jack isn’t there.

I have said before, Jack makes average players raise their game and be very, very good. When he is not playing they become very average again.
And being average isn’t going to win very many premier league games.