Dean Smith - Confirmed

[Monty]

But it was an offensive formation. And 4-3-3 might have been more defensive as I said (and Christ knows it can be defensive - not Mourinho's favourite formation for nothing).

And one thing that Pep and Tuchel have in common is playing three at the back. You don't see the contradiction in what your saying? That the formation is too cautious but then praising people as risk-taking and brave who in fact play it?

[Drummond]

Well we tried something different and whilst the result didn't go our way, there was promise in the performance. I like that we tried something else and looked good, sometimes really good.

If the strikers had been swapped around we'd have won. Simple as that.

[West Derby Villan]

People complain that there’s no plan B, we tried plan B, played extremely well, created loads of chances and they’re still not happy. Ollie first full match of the season, of course he’s a bit “ ring rusty” Deano just can’t win with some of our fans. He hasnt even had an opportunity to play his first choice line up yet!

[N'ZMAV]

wasn't Dean Smith's fault yesterday that there was individual errors in both penalty boxes.

[john e]

But it was an offensive formation. And 4-3-3 might have been more defensive as I said (and Christ knows it can be defensive - not Mourinho's favourite formation for nothing).

And one thing that Pep and Tuchel have in common is playing three at the back. You don't see the contradiction in what your saying? That the formation is too cautious but then praising people as risk-taking and brave who in fact play it?

It wasn’t 433

[SoccerHQ]

Monty made a good point over the page.

I honestly think we'll learn more to progress over next few months from yesterday's defeat than say when we beat Newcastle who are a poor team who'll end somewhere in bottom six and we didn't actually play that well, just scored at the right times (as Chelsea did yesterday).

While no one likes losing it's going to happen plenty of times in transitional seasons and sometimes it can show a way forward. I remember us years back in one of the O'Neill seasons playing Arsenal who were top and flying. We lost but played really well and get loads of plaudits in the press and then we hit a nice run of form over the next few months.

Thought it was a positive DS actually changed the formation rather than just blindly sticking to 4-2-3-1. Now we see v top 6 McGinn is more effective being pushed as advanced midfielder who can press from the front and it's essential we have Ollie for those games aswell.

Gives him a few issues e.g. where do the likes of Buendia fit into the system and is Danny Ings really undroppable. Up to him to tweak things as season goes on rather than just think they're undroppable due to the prices we paid for them so look forward to how it plays out as season goes on.

[Monty]

But it was an offensive formation. And 4-3-3 might have been more defensive as I said (and Christ knows it can be defensive - not Mourinho's favourite formation for nothing).

And one thing that Pep and Tuchel have in common is playing three at the back. You don't see the contradiction in what your saying? That the formation is too cautious but then praising people as risk-taking and brave who in fact play it?

It wasn’t 433

[Bangs head into wall]

[Allan C]

People complain that there’s no plan B, we tried plan B, played extremely well, created loads of chances and they’re still not happy. Ollie first full match of the season, of course he’s a bit “ ring rusty” Deano just can’t win with some of our fans. He hasnt even had an opportunity to play his first choice line up yet!

Nail hit firmly on the head. Some won’t be happy til we get that wonder of the south coast Potter in.

[Ian.]

People complain that there’s no plan B, we tried plan B, played extremely well, created loads of chances and they’re still not happy. Ollie first full match of the season, of course he’s a bit “ ring rusty” Deano just can’t win with some of our fans. He hasnt even had an opportunity to play his first choice line up yet!

Nail hit firmly on the head. Some won’t be happy til we get that wonder of the south coast Potter in.

Yep! Absolutely.

Anyway, who’s Potter? That fella from Phoenix Nights?

[eamonn]

Nope, Graham, Brighton's gentle but brainy guru in charge. A Villa man too....allegedly.

[eamonn]

It worked so well, we got stuffed, having beaten them quite convincingly in May.

Strange how we see things differently. We were very fortunate to win that game in May, I thought. Chelsea were in control much of the time. Yesterday we played far better as a team and had a gameplan that caused them lots of problems. They just now happen to have the one thing they were missing in May, a genuine world-class centre forward.

[dave shelley]

People complain that there’s no plan B, we tried plan B, played extremely well, created loads of chances and they’re still not happy. Ollie first full match of the season, of course he’s a bit “ ring rusty” Deano just can’t win with some of our fans. He hasnt even had an opportunity to play his first choice line up yet!

Nail hit firmly on the head. Some won’t be happy til we get that wonder of the south coast Potter in.

Yep! Absolutely.

Anyway, who’s Potter? That fella from Phoenix Nights?

No.  This is Potter

[RamboandBruno]

It worked so well, we got stuffed, having beaten them quite convincingly in May.

Strange how we see things differently. We were very fortunate to win that game in May, I thought. Chelsea were in control much of the time. Yesterday we played far better as a team and had a gameplan that caused them lots of problems. They just now happen to have the one thing they were missing in May, a genuine world-class centre forward.

I think Smith did take risks yesterday and it would of came of if our finishing had been better and/or their keeper didnt play so well.
I think it shows now with the players we’ve brought in, we change things around for different challenges.
Saying all this i think he wont play that system next week. I think he’ll go back to a 4 with Tuanzebe coming out. I also wouldn’t be surprised if Ings drops to the bench and he flanks Watkins with Beundia and Bailey, keeping the midfield 3 of McGinn, Ramsey and Dougie. 

[Steve67]

The scoreline flatters Chelsea.  We didn't go there to sit behind the ball despite having 5 defenders in the line up.  If we had put our chances away, we'd have won and won well.  Two silly mistakes, against arguably one of the top five strikers in the world and we were made to pay.  I hated the result, but enjoyed the way we played I hope we are this brave against every side we play and not just because it was a title contending side.  The very fact that Dean Smith failed to bring in a good DCM tells me that he will never be a defensive manager.  It might cost him eventually but yesterday was a good watch.

[Drummond]

Every player in our squad has improved and increased in value under Smith. As have the club's results in terms of end of season league position.