Dean Smith - Confirmed

[OCD]

The upside is that the club will have no doubt that more important work needs to be done over the summer and the areas that need work have been highlighted and are there for all to see.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

I don't know if Smith has hit his ceiling yet, but that's mainly because he's improved us, very obviously, every year. Any discussion about his future, despite this awful run, is way premature IMO.

I think a lot depends on the next 6 games. Fail to win any and an awful run becomes a downright abysmal run.

Indeed but a win tomorrow can relight the flame that burned so bright up until the new year. Hopefully we'll finish the season on a real high.

[SoccerHQ]

The upside is that the club will have no doubt that more important work needs to be done over the summer and the areas that need work have been highlighted and are there for all to see.

Manager needs to be more flexible in his approach though.

Reminds me of summer 2009 when we signed Habib Beye, had Luke Young still at the club and then O'Neill decided 3 games in the season Cuellar would just play every single game at right back. That's when strengthening the squad has its drawbacks and it created problems for us down the line.

If we're going big on another striker and there's also demand from many for us to get in another CM then Ollie and McGinn will need to be rested on occasions otherwise we just have expensive backups and they start losing motivation with no obvious path into the first 11.

[Risso]

That's been his biggest failing for me this season, his inability to use the squad effectively, and the utterly ridiculous "I've never had to take a player off for exhaustion" bollocks. Perhaps we'd still have Grealish available if he took a slightly less medieval approach to fitness.

[Toronto Villa]

That's been his biggest failing for me this season, his inability to use the squad effectively, and the utterly ridiculous "I've never had to take a player off for exhaustion" bollocks. Perhaps we'd still have Grealish available if he took a slightly less medieval approach to fitness.

Completely agree. He’s refused to change system and stubbornly stuck to the same way of playing. When it works it looks great. But when it doesn’t you simply have to know to implement something else. We have relied of late very unfairly in a defence which has been nothing short of superb all season to keep it down to one goal or clean sheets. And we’ve started to see the cracks in in it with mistakes from Cash, Emi and Mings as they get pushed deeper and deeper. We have to get back to playing on the front foot. But as the weeks have gone by we keep the ball less and less thinking we are still the counter attacking team with Grealish. Without him we have to play a different way and he still persists with a system that assumes he’s still playing.

[TonyD]

The football and tactics in the PL evolve and change so quickly these days that managers need to adapt quickly, having different systems to start matches and then hot on using the right subs during a game.  Dean falls down on most of this.  I also haven’t seen signs of much improvement in these areas when things don’t work.  The fact that most of us on here can see this is concerning.   Don’t mind being beaten but you need to see evidence of what we are working towards - I can only see the same old each game.  Better players will obviously improve his system but only so far. 

I think defensively we are in good place - how much down to JT.

After what happened this week - we all want Dean to take us forward and win trophies.   Let’s hope he can adapt and quickly.

[Clive W]

Doesn’t our recent drop off in form reflect our historical problems with squad depth?

Without going into a season by season analysis, my recollections over the last 12-15 years are that even when we have had a half decent side it only goes as far as the starting XI.

As soon as loss of form, injuries and suspensions kick in, as they inevitably do, our lack of depth in numbers and quality kills us. All we end up doing is rearranging the deck chairs.

I think this season is no different

[danno]

Doesn’t our recent drop off in form reflect our historical problems with squad depth?

Without going into a season by season analysis, my recollections over the last 12-15 years are that even when we have had a half decent side it only goes as far as the starting XI.

As soon as loss of form, injuries and suspensions kick in, as they inevitably do, our lack of depth in numbers and quality kills us. All we end up doing is rearranging the deck chairs.

I think this season is no different

Nail on head.

Injury at right back - Elmo
Injury at left back - Neil Taylor
Injury at Centre forward - Keinan Davis
Injury at centre back - Kourtney Hause
Injury at Left wing - El Ghazi

They've all contributed and some more positively than others (Hause, Anwar) but they are all without being harsh, a step down in quality.

[Lastfootstamper]

2010-11 we finished 9th on 48 points. Blues finished 18th on 39. We must have been safe with more than one game left? I remember us beating Liverpool and Arsenal in our last two matches and West Ham away before those games that pretty much made us 'safe' if not mathematically.

We were only mathematically safe after beating Arsenal. The last game was that day when we went up five places.

Not unlike the title tilt under SGT. With a week of the season left, we could still win it. Seven days later, we're runners up by a relatively whopping nine points.

[SoccerHQ]

Doesn’t our recent drop off in form reflect our historical problems with squad depth?

Without going into a season by season analysis, my recollections over the last 12-15 years are that even when we have had a half decent side it only goes as far as the starting XI.

As soon as loss of form, injuries and suspensions kick in, as they inevitably do, our lack of depth in numbers and quality kills us. All we end up doing is rearranging the deck chairs.

I think this season is no different

Yeah we still seem to be stuck in 80s mentality constantly a bit with regards that, the old winning the league with 13/14 players which is near impossible in modern football.

As Risso pointed out above, DS giving the big 'un at xmas about none of his players ever getting tired dosen't look so good at the moment as fresher teams buzz around us.

We will improve the squad and first 11 of course over the next year but the manager must be interested in actually signing players who can take the place of those currently seen as first choices in our 11 and really push the competition level and motivation up a notch as that's constantly been our downfall over the years, just signing up players who come to make up the numbers and quickly lose motivation on big pay packets.

Not so much on here but elsewhere there seems to be odd mentality we shouldn't sign another decent striker as it might upset Ollie and ruin his England prospects. He's had an excellent debut season but let's not go OTT, you have that mentality when forward is scoring 25-30 goals in a season as likes of Kane and Vardy do, not 12-15.

4 points is all we've taken from being behind in games so it will remain a huge issue for us until we have some decent game changers to come on. You don't finish top 6 with that bad a record.

[Clampy]

Doesn’t our recent drop off in form reflect our historical problems with squad depth?

Without going into a season by season analysis, my recollections over the last 12-15 years are that even when we have had a half decent side it only goes as far as the starting XI.

As soon as loss of form, injuries and suspensions kick in, as they inevitably do, our lack of depth in numbers and quality kills us. All we end up doing is rearranging the deck chairs.

I think this season is no different

Nail on head.

Injury at right back - Elmo
Injury at left back - Neil Taylor
Injury at Centre forward - Keinan Davis
Injury at centre back - Kourtney Hause
Injury at Left wing - El Ghazi

They've all contributed and some more positively than others (Hause, Anwar) but they are all without being harsh, a step down in quality.

But second season in just after escaping relegation by the skin of our teeth, are you surprised? It needs to be baby steps. Besides, the likes of Elmo might be good to have around the dressing room.

[eamonn]

Jack won't stay if it's baby steps. We need leaps.

[paul_e]

Doesn’t our recent drop off in form reflect our historical problems with squad depth?

Without going into a season by season analysis, my recollections over the last 12-15 years are that even when we have had a half decent side it only goes as far as the starting XI.

As soon as loss of form, injuries and suspensions kick in, as they inevitably do, our lack of depth in numbers and quality kills us. All we end up doing is rearranging the deck chairs.

I think this season is no different

Yeah we still seem to be stuck in 80s mentality constantly a bit with regards that, the old winning the league with 13/14 players which is near impossible in modern football.

As Risso pointed out above, DS giving the big 'un at xmas about none of his players ever getting tired dosen't look so good at the moment as fresher teams buzz around us.

We will improve the squad and first 11 of course over the next year but the manager must be interested in actually signing players who can take the place of those currently seen as first choices in our 11 and really push the competition level and motivation up a notch as that's constantly been our downfall over the years, just signing up players who come to make up the numbers and quickly lose motivation on big pay packets.

Not so much on here but elsewhere there seems to be odd mentality we shouldn't sign another decent striker as it might upset Ollie and ruin his England prospects. He's had an excellent debut season but let's not go OTT, you have that mentality when forward is scoring 25-30 goals in a season as likes of Kane and Vardy do, not 12-15.

4 points is all we've taken from being behind in games so it will remain a huge issue for us until we have some decent game changers to come on. You don't finish top 6 with that bad a record.

I can't agree with the bold bit given there's not a single player in the league who currently has 25 goals this season and there's every chance that no one will hit that mark at all this season. You talk about people being stuck in an 80s mentality at the top of your post but the line I highlighted is as out-of-date as anything gets in football. Centre forwards who score fuckloads of goals are dying out in the game, Kane, Lewandowski and Haaland are exceptional strikers but after those 3 it becomes a lot harder to find out and out 9s at the top of the scoring charts.

In England the next 3 after Kane are Salah, Fernandes and Son. In Italy and Spain Ronaldo and Messi top the charts as wide forwards, in France you have Mbappe, Depay, Volland and Ben Yedder who all play wide and deep as often as they play as an out and out centre forward. Germany is the only major league where traditional 9s are still bossing the top scorers list and they have 2 of the 3 best 9s in world football in the league.

On that basis I don't think we should be looking for direct competition or a replacement for Watkins and certainly not as a priority. What we need to find is a player who pushes to start at centre forward, right wing, 10, attacking midfield and maybe even left wing, someone who gives us the ability to change shape during games not just by switching wings but because all 3/4 attacking players are capable of moving into each others space and overloading areas of the pitch. Earlierin the season we were doing that and forcing defenders to make decisions to mark a run or attack the ball, when we stopped doing that is when the bad run started, I want more players that can fit that plan so we can rotate and still do the same thing.

[PaulWinch again]

Yes that’s a good point. Our growth needs to be rapid. This is season is fine, but we’ll need to take another big step next season.

Also whilst the likes of Elmo might be good around the squad we can’t afford for them to be our second choice in the event of injury or loss of form. We need stronger competition in some positions.

[eamonn]

I think SHQ has a point about Dean possibly being blinded by favourites. Will Watkins, McGinn and Mings always start regardless of form or if they look in need of a breather? They all need to be pushed for competition.