Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Steve67]

Every team suffered from Covid, to a more of lesser degree.  The training complex was closed and we only carried on playing after every single player was fit again.  It may have affected our momentum but not to the degree that we only win a handful of games over the rest of the season.  Losing Jack also has nothing to do with Covid and seems to happen once a season.  We have to sign other quality players and be better prepared for it. I would ask the question: is Dean getting enough out of the players?

Regardless of any excuses offered, the second half of the season was nearly as bad as last season!

[Lastfootstamper]

I think they all highlight that our form isn't nailed-on relegation, it's merely that of a team that's more likely to finish in the bottom half of the table than the top half.

[Olof's Beard]

We've had 24 games from 28-Dec (inc 1 cup game) and we've won 5 of them by my count.

It doesn't strike me that people who are dissapointed by this are deluded to the extent that they need medical intervention.  What do you think?

We've beaten Newcastle, Southampton, Leeds, Arsenal, Fulham and Everton since the Covid break, so that's 6. That's the 6 in 21, including the Man Yoo and Chelsea games pre Covid break then it's 6 in 23 I suppose but then it's all getting a bit arbitrary.

It's been a hugely disappointing and unacceptable run but I don't think it's that unusual as others are pointing out in relation to other teams. It's a chuffing tough league and even scab 6 teams have had crappy runs this season. You could argue that it makes our first half of the season all the more impressive if you spin it another way.

[Risso]

We've taken 20 points from the last 20 games. At this point last year, we'd taken 19 from the last 20 games. This year, the only teams with a worse record over the same period are Southampton and the three relegated teams. It's been hugely crap for far too long.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Is there anybody on here who wouldn't have taken 11th at the beginning of the season?

Very true but then we weren't counting on bringing in a top keeper, Targett turning 180º to become a quality left back, Cash on the other side with a lionheart and like Ollie adapting to the PL like a duck to water. The benchmark was raised so much that at Christmas I doubt you'd find many on here wouldn't have taken 11th for the end of the season.

Somebody mentioned the other day form wise we're 4th from bottom. There is an elephant in the room that needs to be addressed. We've been generally crap for over 4 months. Something is seriously not right. I'm leaning on the side of it's more the players fault than Dean's but he's not helped himself. That said, when you're forced to play Barkley, El Ghazi, Trez or Traore, it's generally like playing with 10 men, all are bench players at best.

As for keeping us up last season (by the skin of our teeth), I really don't think it's a great deal to shout about. It took the Covid break for Dean to address the problem. That shit scares me.

[Sexual Ealing]

The other thing about the potential for long Covid being an issue is that DS is famously coy about injuries if he thinks that honesty might boost our opponents. We may hear more in the summer. Or I could be talking nonsense. All options are on the table.

[Rudy65]

I think some of the expectations expressed on here are deluded to the point that clinical intervention should be considered.

Is there anybody on here who wouldn't have taken 11th at the beginning of the season?

Less than 3 seasons in charge and DS has taken us from mid table Championship to mid table Premier League. With more investment there's no reason why we can't take another step up next season.

There aren't many teams above us I wouldn't have expected to be there, those being West Ham & maybe Leeds. Both with extremely experienced managers however much you may despise Moyes.

4th bottom of the form guide over the last 15 games. Won 10 out of the last 32. Since Xmas it’s been Awful football, no passion, no leadership on and off the pitch, no change of tactics, no clear plan, leaving subs until we are in trouble, we look clueless etc. Massive shake up needed in the summer

[Rudy65]

I think they all highlight that our form isn't nailed-on relegation, it's merely that of a team that's more likely to finish in the bottom half of the table than the top half.

4th bottom over the last 15 is too close for comfort

[Allan C]

Every team suffered from Covid, to a more of lesser degree.  The training complex was closed and we only carried on playing after every single player was fit again.  It may have affected our momentum but not to the degree that we only win a handful of games over the rest of the season.  Losing Jack also has nothing to do with Covid and seems to happen once a season.  We have to sign other quality players and be better prepared for it. I would ask the question: is Dean getting enough out of the players?

Regardless of any excuses offered, the second half of the season was nearly as bad as last season!

I don’t think any of us would disagree that our form has been poor since Christmas. But the same manager had us playing the best football in years up to that point whilst bringing in new and exciting talent as the start of a much needed rebuild. Yet people overlook that point and suggest that very same manager is the cause of the poor form, despite the squad having a Covid outbreak, a generally weak squad depth and losing his best player for three months!! Maybe that’s the cause of poor end to the season?

[Ketzster]

If we lose the last two games, it would be 37 points from 34 games since winning away at Leicester.

[SoccerHQ]

Even finishing top 8 this season will have teams in poor runs. Spurs have won same amount as we have since mid December I think and could still finish 5th.

That 6th place finish under O'Leary in 03/04 we won 15 games in the season so only one off that currently, Newcastle somehow finished above us with just 13 wins.

First MON 6th place season we won 16 games. We really aren't far away as long as we can get another 2-3 decent players in this summer.

Disappointment this season is we were in a really good position going into March after winning at Leeds and completely messed up the games v Sheffield United and Newcastle simply because we didn't have much of an idea how to play without Grealish at that point, at least in last few weeks we've at least had some good halves but a little bit too late.

[PaulWinch again]

The lack of points in the second half of the season is probably reflective of two things, in the main. Firstly Jack missing about a third of the season and also a lack of tactical awareness/an ability to manage games better. The former will always be a problem, but we need to improve the squad to mitigate the damage if Jack is injured. The latter is on Dean to develop more varied plans and be more proactive. It should be said that a stronger squad should help the second issue too.

[SoccerHQ]

The other thing about the potential for long Covid being an issue is that DS is famously coy about injuries if he thinks that honesty might boost our opponents. We may hear more in the summer. Or I could be talking nonsense. All options are on the table.

Depends who got it bad. I think it was said at the time Trez suffered and given how Barkley and Luiz's form had massively dipped in last three months both those probably struggled a bit but then I look back and see Barkley started the first 6 games after we returned, only dropped to the bench for the Leeds game in late Feb. Luiz was on the bench v Arsenal in early Feb.

It would seem a bit insane if say Ollie and McGinn had it and doctor saying to DS to make sure they take it a bit easier.....and yet they still play 90 minutes every 3-4 days as has happened. When Newcastle had their outbreak Saint Maximn was impacted and Newcastle eased him back with 3-4 sub cameos despite him being their best player by miles so I can't believe DS would just go against medical advice.

Aside from a bit of rotation in midfield and out wide it's largely been the same 7-8 players regularly starting as we had between September-December so I simply don't believe covid was that bad within the squad other than disruption caused by training ground closing. And of course they're being tested on daily basis to see if endurance levels are signifcantly dropping.

I don't buy it as an excuse otherwise we'd have seen much more rotated teams in the early games. Just looked back and between late Jan and early Feb we played Burnley, Southampton and West Ham within 7 day period. We made grand total of one change to the first 11 for the three games.

[Steve67]

Every team suffered from Covid, to a more of lesser degree.  The training complex was closed and we only carried on playing after every single player was fit again.  It may have affected our momentum but not to the degree that we only win a handful of games over the rest of the season.  Losing Jack also has nothing to do with Covid and seems to happen once a season.  We have to sign other quality players and be better prepared for it. I would ask the question: is Dean getting enough out of the players?

Regardless of any excuses offered, the second half of the season was nearly as bad as last season!

I don’t think any of us would disagree that our form has been poor since Christmas. But the same manager had us playing the best football in years up to that point whilst bringing in new and exciting talent as the start of a much needed rebuild. Yet people overlook that point and suggest that very same manager is the cause of the poor form, despite the squad having a Covid outbreak, a generally weak squad depth and losing his best player for three months!! Maybe that’s the cause of poor end to the season?

We strengthened the squad in January Allan, we bought the wrong type of player in Sanson when we needed a strong defensive midfielder.  We can all see it yet Dean can’t?  Same manager, same tactics. To be fair we also showed at times, against Southampton and Leeds how poor we can be even in the first half of the season.  I appreciate that Rome wasn’t built in a day and we are still a side in assembly phase but having spent what we have, I’d expect 11th as the minimum. 

Would any other manager sustained the start that we made?

[The Edge]

Sorry, yes, Moyes. Agreeing with SE that 'despising' him seemed a bit harsh!

Oh ok I get it. I'm a bit slow on the uptake sometimes