Dean Smith - Confirmed

[BC Villain]

Time to go.  He never learns.  Thanks for the promotion Dean, but your out of your depth now

Same for Terry, O’Kelly and Shakespeare then? Always seems to be a team effort when we win and Smith alone when we lose. Where’s their fucking input?

Yes, they need to take responsibility too, but Smith is the top man here. 

[Rudy65]

The problem lies with the squad. It's a midtable squad and it's delivering midtable form and results. There's plenty to work with, but if we want to compete in the top 8, we need 4 good quality players.

You are being too kind. The squad is giving us 4th bottom position of the last 15 games

Form table based on 36 says something different.

True but most managers and teams are judged on recent form. The last 15 games make me worried for next season.  We didn’t lose today because we were unlucky we lost because we were truly awful SH. Smith will get a pass because of Jack being missing but the problems are greater than that. Today was a feeble surrender and is a symptom of our form since January

[ez]

We needed Traore and Sanson to be good. Sadly they are no better than what we already had.

[SoccerHQ]

Just been looking at Burnley away and crikey it's pretty identical to how today panned out.

No subs at 2-1 up, nothing at 2-2 and then suddenly after Burnley went 3-2 up 3 changes were made straight after to little effect.

Today he did at least put Jack on when we were 2-1 up but there were 10 minutes between 2-2 Palace and 3-2 Palace. Nothing happened, not even calling for a sub but some sort of tactical tweak to stop them getting crosses in as aside from Hause we lost so many free headers in the box today it was untrue.

As soon as Palace went 3-2 up Davis was thrown on but too late and he barely touched it aside from the late header. More logical to make changes at 2-2 when games are more open and stretched but two games four months apart and little changed in second halves we lost control of.

Both teams we lost to will be finishing below us so they're no world beaters.

[Toronto Villa]

And there you go. What exactly did you do Dean to counter what they did in the second half?

Dean Smith: "I'm bitterly disappointed and annoyed as well. I came in at HT because it was a strong performance. Then, second half, they counter-pressed us and we never played with the same quality on the ball."

[rougegorge]

We don't do the ugly things well. I'm sure a striker, a 10 and a winger will be coming in, but it is the big horrible bastard in midfield who we need and will prove most useful.

Somebody who would have closed Eze and crunched him.

I certainly hope we will get someone that is going to do more than that and end up getting suspended all the time.

However I agree we need a better defensive midfield shield, but with players that can offer more.

[Smirker]

We needed Traore and Sanson to be good. Sadly they are no better than what we already had.

Sanson has hardly played. Judge him next season.

[Toronto Villa]

We needed Traore and Sanson to be good. Sadly they are no better than what we already had.

After one season of Traore who has scored some tremendous goals and been involved in some excellent moves, and a few games of Sanson I’m not sure how you can say that. The sample size especially on the latter is way too small. Players improve over a season as we have seen in our squad. Can the manager get the best out of both of them will be the key.

[ez]

With even more additions in the summer we will have a lot of midfielders at the club next season. At least we can offload Barkley.

[Jonathan]

Smith seems incapable to adjusting his tactics mid-game. He always reacts rather than being proactive, which I think is the sign of a top manager. Yes we could give him £100m to spend this Summer but that lack of tactical flexibility will still be there. We see it time and again, that the opposition makes changes that brings them back into the game, hence our record for throwing away the most leads in 2021. I like Smith, but I just don't see him capable of breaking into the top six.

[Toronto Villa]

After what was such a superb start to the season we are going to end with an immense sense of emptiness. I don’t see us getting much at all from the last twin games. So instead of top 6 or top 8, we will likely end up 12th which, while an improvement is a mile away from what we might have achieved. We will finish a good distance below Leeds and Arsenal, the latter we showed over two games to be at minimum their equal, and in the first so much better than. Really disappointing how it will all finish up.

[curiousorange]

Not for me, Clive. The first half of this season's given him the summer, which is about fair. But I'd say he might not make it past October now.

[aj2k77]

And we've faded away because other teams know our strengths, know our weaknesses, know our formations and tactics and have adjusted accordingly. Beacuse we do the same things every single week, no matter who we play. It's lazy management by numbers. It takes more than spending £100m each summer and throwing them on the pitch to be a good manager.

[boutrosboutrosgnarly]

We needed Traore and Sanson to be good. Sadly they are no better than what we already had.

Sanson not good enough after NINE appearances.Well can't say he hasn't been given a chance.

[Bobby Boy]

Smith seems incapable to adjusting his tactics mid-game. He always reacts rather than being proactive, which I think is the sign of a top manager. Yes we could give him £100m to spend this Summer but that lack of tactical flexibility will still be there. We see it time and again, that the opposition makes changes that brings them back into the game, hence our record for throwing away the most leads in 2021. I like Smith, but I just don't see him capable of breaking into the top six.

This is it exactly. Smith doesn't seem to be able to spot the danger signs in a game. Today was a classic example of his lack of decisive action but it has happened numerous times.

When he does react it is invariably too late and makes no difference.

I like Dean Smith, I like the fact that he's a Villa fan but ultimately I want him to put us in the best place to win games. He has got to be more proactive and flexible than he seems prepared to be.

It's been a decent season but the second half has been worrying and it is more than just the loss of Grealish.