Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Toronto Villa]

As far as I'm concerned it just means someone tall and strong who doesn't mind the rough stuff, again it's you that assumed I meant someone who can barely kick a ball.

Where have I assume that? I used the term you used to describe a player. I’m making the point a player who wins the ball doesn’t need to be a “nasty bugger”.

[john e]

Who is Chelsea’s nasty bugger who can mix it? You could argue they have Kante who is just a rich man’s version of Nakamba. Who was Barcelona’s nasty bugger in midfield when they had Iniesta and Xavi? Man U don’t have one now really.

What we need is better footballers who can keep control of the ball and win it back quickly and fairly. I wouldn’t call John McGinn a nasty bugger (stupid that he has the most bookings) but he chases down the play better than anyone else we have. What we have to better at is keeping the ball, chasing it down and winning it when we don’t have it and moving it quickly to the players who can cause damage.

One of the best example of that? That not so colossus of a man Gareth Barry...He was quick in small spaces, could win the ball back but critically was brilliant at moving it quickly to the likes of Ashley Young who then got it in space to attack the full back. We need more of that.

Busquets was a key player in that Barca side because he did all the grunt work to allow Xavi and Iniesta to dominate, Chelsea have Kovacic and Kante, Man U fans mostly think they've struggled because Fred and McTominay haven't been good enough in front of the back 4.

Also it's you and John that decided I mean a brute who can barely kick a ball when I've said a number of times now i want a Vieira style player who can fight his corner against teams like Burnley but also has the game to be a part in us playing good football. I also think McGinn and Luiz (and probably Sanson as well) will be better with someone like that behind them and it would be great to have that player in there with Ramsey and Chuk. Berge and Locatelli are the 2 I've mentioned as, in my opinion, gettable and good enough. I like Koopmeiners as well but I think he might have Champions League offers.

Calling a player a “big nasty bugger” doesn’t exactly conjure anything other than what’s on the tin. Viera style players come around once in a blue moon.

Agree TV
as for Viera I just saw a world class footballer a nasty bugger was Vinnie Jones, Joey Barton,
Graham Souness, Billy Bremner were a nasty buggers from yesteryear but you can’t play like that anymore you’ll be sent off within 10 minutes

Keane Was probably the closest to being a real nasty bugger and a very good footballer but then he was also a world-class footballer as well
 people that talk about a Keane type or a Viara type actually mean mean Keane and Vera they aren’t about it’s a simple as that

[brontebilly]

Who is Chelsea’s nasty bugger who can mix it? You could argue they have Kante who is just a rich man’s version of Nakamba. Who was Barcelona’s nasty bugger in midfield when they had Iniesta and Xavi? Man U don’t have one now really.

What we need is better footballers who can keep control of the ball and win it back quickly and fairly. I wouldn’t call John McGinn a nasty bugger (stupid that he has the most bookings) but he chases down the play better than anyone else we have. What we have to better at is keeping the ball, chasing it down and winning it when we don’t have it and moving it quickly to the players who can cause damage.

One of the best example of that? That not so colossus of a man Gareth Barry...He was quick in small spaces, could win the ball back but critically was brilliant at moving it quickly to the likes of Ashley Young who then got it in space to attack the full back. We need more of that.

Barry to Young....cross to the backpost....simple but every effective. McGinn has a lot of attributes but getting it out of his feet quickly to release someone down the left isn't one of them

[Allan C]

Who is Chelsea’s nasty bugger who can mix it? You could argue they have Kante who is just a rich man’s version of Nakamba. Who was Barcelona’s nasty bugger in midfield when they had Iniesta and Xavi? Man U don’t have one now really.

What we need is better footballers who can keep control of the ball and win it back quickly and fairly. I wouldn’t call John McGinn a nasty bugger (stupid that he has the most bookings) but he chases down the play better than anyone else we have. What we have to better at is keeping the ball, chasing it down and winning it when we don’t have it and moving it quickly to the players who can cause damage.

One of the best example of that? That not so colossus of a man Gareth Barry...He was quick in small spaces, could win the ball back but critically was brilliant at moving it quickly to the likes of Ashley Young who then got it in space to attack the full back. We need more of that.

Busquets was a key player in that Barca side because he did all the grunt work to allow Xavi and Iniesta to dominate, Chelsea have Kovacic and Kante, Man U fans mostly think they've struggled because Fred and McTominay haven't been good enough in front of the back 4.

Also it's you and John that decided I mean a brute who can barely kick a ball when I've said a number of times now i want a Vieira style player who can fight his corner against teams like Burnley but also has the game to be a part in us playing good football. I also think McGinn and Luiz (and probably Sanson as well) will be better with someone like that behind them and it would be great to have that player in there with Ramsey and Chuk. Berge and Locatelli are the 2 I've mentioned as, in my opinion, gettable and good enough. I like Koopmeiners as well but I think he might have Champions League offers.

Calling a player a “big nasty bugger” doesn’t exactly conjure anything other than what’s on the tin. Viera style players come around once in a blue moon.

I agree with you TV  We need three players of similar proven quality to Grealish that’ll go straight into the first team and an upgrade on the deeper squad (hopefully from the youth team).

[paul_e]

As far as I'm concerned it just means someone tall and strong who doesn't mind the rough stuff, again it's you that assumed I meant someone who can barely kick a ball.

Where have I assume that? I used the term you used to describe a player. I’m making the point a player who wins the ball doesn’t need to be a “nasty bugger”.

Who said anything about winning the ball back though? Again we need a player who won't let teams like Burnley intimidate us and who can compete in the air in front of the defence and stepping in to help at corners and on crosses. I like the midfielders we have but they're all on the smaller side and it's a weakness in the squad.

John if you don't think Vieira was physically dominant and bullied teams then I don't think you watched him enough yes he was world class though. How about i use Ian Taylor as an example instead, he was fantastic for us because as well as a good footballer he also didn't take any shit and it made us much tougher.

At the moment Luiz is trying to be that player but because he isn't strong enough he ends up committing too many fouls.

[brontebilly]

Who is Chelsea’s nasty bugger who can mix it? You could argue they have Kante who is just a rich man’s version of Nakamba. Who was Barcelona’s nasty bugger in midfield when they had Iniesta and Xavi? Man U don’t have one now really.

What we need is better footballers who can keep control of the ball and win it back quickly and fairly. I wouldn’t call John McGinn a nasty bugger (stupid that he has the most bookings) but he chases down the play better than anyone else we have. What we have to better at is keeping the ball, chasing it down and winning it when we don’t have it and moving it quickly to the players who can cause damage.

One of the best example of that? That not so colossus of a man Gareth Barry...He was quick in small spaces, could win the ball back but critically was brilliant at moving it quickly to the likes of Ashley Young who then got it in space to attack the full back. We need more of that.

Busquets was a key player in that Barca side because he did all the grunt work to allow Xavi and Iniesta to dominate, Chelsea have Kovacic and Kante, Man U fans mostly think they've struggled because Fred and McTominay haven't been good enough in front of the back 4.

Also it's you and John that decided I mean a brute who can barely kick a ball when I've said a number of times now i want a Vieira style player who can fight his corner against teams like Burnley but also has the game to be a part in us playing good football. I also think McGinn and Luiz (and probably Sanson as well) will be better with someone like that behind them and it would be great to have that player in there with Ramsey and Chuk. Berge and Locatelli are the 2 I've mentioned as, in my opinion, gettable and good enough. I like Koopmeiners as well but I think he might have Champions League offers.

Calling a player a “big nasty bugger” doesn’t exactly conjure anything other than what’s on the tin. Viera style players come around once in a blue moon.

I agree with you TV  We need three players of similar proven quality to Grealish that’ll go straight into the first team and an upgrade on the deeper squad (hopefully from the youth team).

If we had three other players of Grealish's quality, it's winning the league title we would be aiming for!

We need a presence in midfield, Luiz had a disappointing season really. More experience and bite needed in there. Push McGinn further up nearer Grealish and Watkins. Teams will do well to try playing through us then.

[LukeJames]

Its noticeable that Chrisene and Raikhy are big lads. When they broaden out in the next couple of years they will become units. Raikhy especially seems to already have a superb level of passing on him.

[Lastfootstamper]

Something else has occurred to me that the current coaching team deserve credit for. Somebody in the transfer thread said about getting in a dead ball specialist, and that suddenly tangentially made me think, hang on, dunno when this happened, but we're not relentlessly shit at throw-ins anymore!

[Toronto Villa]

As far as I'm concerned it just means someone tall and strong who doesn't mind the rough stuff, again it's you that assumed I meant someone who can barely kick a ball.

Where have I assume that? I used the term you used to describe a player. I’m making the point a player who wins the ball doesn’t need to be a “nasty bugger”.

Who said anything about winning the ball back though? Again we need a player who won't let teams like Burnley intimidate us and who can compete in the air in front of the defence and stepping in to help at corners and on crosses. I like the midfielders we have but they're all on the smaller side and it's a weakness in the squad.

John if you don't think Vieira was physically dominant and bullied teams then I don't think you watched him enough yes he was world class though. How about i use Ian Taylor as an example instead, he was fantastic for us because as well as a good footballer he also didn't take any shit and it made us much tougher.

At the moment Luiz is trying to be that player but because he isn't strong enough he ends up committing too many fouls.

Burnley didn’t intimidate us. We should have been 5 goals clear at HT at their place because we outplayed them all over the park. We played shit in the second half despite taking the lead again. I want our players to be better than worrying about the likes of Burnley on a cold Tuesday night.

Keep the ball, pass it quickly, move into open spaces so that their players don’t get near ours. You don’t have to be physical to do that. You just need to be smarter and better than them.

[Ian.]

I thought Burnley did bully us second half, as they did with quite a few teams this season. Although I don't think that's down to the centre midfield but they do like to launch it to those two big brutes up front.

Next season we must learn to score more when we are on top, quite a few times we have not been clinical enough, both Burnley games come to mind. Also Leeds at home in the first half. West Ham as well we absolutely dominated except for two sucker punches in both halves. They seemed to go on a very run after that result too.

[Toronto Villa]

I thought Burnley did bully us second half, as they did with quite a few teams this season. Although I don't think that's down to the centre midfield but they do like to launch it to those two big brutes up front.

Next season we must learn to score more when we are on top, quite a few times we have not been clinical enough, both Burnley games come to mind. Also Leeds at home in the first half. West Ham as well we absolutely dominated except for two sucker punches in both halves. They seemed to go on a very run after that result too.

With Leeds at home we were just massively naive. They tactically beat us by overloading Cash’s side and in the second half we just shit the bed. Mind you Jack should have scored to make it 1-0 before they did. And away despite all their running we deserved to win that game. Good opening goal and we battled them well in the middle. Back to Burnley they tactically adjusted and kept running at us, pushing us back deeper and deeper along with launching long balls. I don’t put that down to intimidation as much as they did well what they have always done well and we couldn’t counter that tactical gameplan. Has we taken our chances they wouldn’t have had a path back into the game.

[Ian.]

I thought Burnley did bully us second half, as they did with quite a few teams this season. Although I don't think that's down to the centre midfield but they do like to launch it to those two big brutes up front.

Next season we must learn to score more when we are on top, quite a few times we have not been clinical enough, both Burnley games come to mind. Also Leeds at home in the first half. West Ham as well we absolutely dominated except for two sucker punches in both halves. They seemed to go on a very run after that result too.

Back to Burnley they tactically adjusted and kept run at us and launching long balls. I don’t put that down to intimidation as much as they did well what they have always done well and we couldn’t counter that tactical gameplan. Has we taken our chances they wouldn’t have had a path back into the game.

I agree, I mean it was centre halves being bullied by the long balls into their forwards so it bypassed midfield and we should have scored a bucket load in both games.

[paul_e]

I thought Burnley did bully us second half, as they did with quite a few teams this season. Although I don't think that's down to the centre midfield but they do like to launch it to those two big brutes up front.

Next season we must learn to score more when we are on top, quite a few times we have not been clinical enough, both Burnley games come to mind. Also Leeds at home in the first half. West Ham as well we absolutely dominated except for two sucker punches in both halves. They seemed to go on a very run after that result too.

Back to Burnley they tactically adjusted and kept run at us and launching long balls. I don’t put that down to intimidation as much as they did well what they have always done well and we couldn’t counter that tactical gameplan. Has we taken our chances they wouldn’t have had a path back into the game.

I agree, I mean it was centre halves being bullied by the long balls into their forwards so it bypassed midfield and we should have scored a bucket load in both games.

Yes, so a big midfielder to step back in and win those headers would've helped. West Ham it was all about Rice and Soucek just being more physical and creating space for Lingard, which they've suckered a lot of teams with, again someone to put them on the backfoot would help.

I get what TV is saying about being smarter but you have to earn the right to play smart football, if we do that bit then most of our attacking players and midfielders are plenty good enough to rip into teams as we've seen a number of times this year.

For me the 2 big problems are that we can get pegged back by teams that play good football (Man City for example) and we can be harried into making mistakes. I think 1 good signing in midfield goes a long way to addressing both of those and then adding some pace and quality to compete on the right (and give us another out ball) finishes the job of addressing the weaknesses in our 'core' group. Once we have both of those filled we can look at adding depth elsewhere.

[Goldenballs]

I read on twitter that only one club from the top 92 has risen more places in the league ladder than us since Smith took over. No idea if it's true though.

[Toronto Villa]

We earned the right to be better defensively by buying a top keeper, an upgrade at RB and improving the ability of Konsa, Mings and Targett through coaching and their own dedication. We immediately improved up front by buying a striker who has almost everything. I expect we will see improvements in other areas too, on the wing and midfield, but the fastest way to gets there is just getting better now.

Get in players who already do what we need them to do and we don’t need a defined enforcer. For me that’s a limited footballer. I would sooner we just got players who enjoy having the football and technically don’t give it away easily. The best way to overcome teams in or around us and certainly below us is by not allowing them to have the football. We won’t be able to be that to the very top teams but we have already shown we can more than compete. We have nothing at all to fear.