It's crunch time for Dean

[eamonn]

A lot harsh.

Equating Paul Robinson and Keinan Davis due to similar goal records was pretty funny though.

[eamonn]

A clown tactically...

Tactically nieve. Cant change a game on the fly.

Not a bad manager and I said that in the rest of my post. But how often do we beat 10 men? How often do we change a game when needed.

I think Jose is a clown in the media.
I think Neymar is a diving clown

Neither statement mean I think that are bad in any way shape or form

If anything, it seems you like clowns!

[sickbeggar]

Well the article mentions MON and that's the benchmark for me. Dean started at a much lower ebb with no money,  spent a lot when we got up, but comparatively the same as MON and kept us up, and hasn't bought loads of non-playing squadmen. Not to mention a final. MON got 4 seasons and we never even got the pleasure of binning him off so imo Dean deserves at least the same. We may stand still a bit this season but before we dump him in pursuit of the" big name" manager to take us to the "next level", just be careful what you wish for.

[wince]

Smith a clown? If he is what the fuck did that make Lambert? It is crunch time for Deano, the villa fan we should be grateful to and I hope he makes it.

[adrenachrome]

I very much doubt that it is crunch time for D.S.
If anything, the late departure of J.G. and the late arrival of players incoming,  plus the lack of a real pre-season gives him some leeway.

Also, the owners like the cut of his jib.   

[ChicagoLion]

Isn’t it crunch time for pretty much every manager every season?

Smith is not a clown, our clown has left to join the circus.

my major criticism has been his in game management and the biggest excuse for this apparent weakness has now to great extent been removed.
The squad is a lot deeper providing the manager with more options off the bench to be pro active or reactive.

[Demitri_C]

Its a big season for him thats for sure.  Finishing 10th or lower with no cup would be a failure esp as he has been backed and signed some quality players

I do have concerns with smith as without grealish he was pretty hopeless at getting results.  Now we can see what we can really do

[Three Spires Villa]

Didn't we beat the team that became the Champions League winners in our last competitive game?

And lost to Crystal Palace 2 games before! Last season was good but as mentioned we really struggled at times, and were great at times. Getting into Europe is a massive ask.

[algy]

Don't go backwards this season and I think Dean will be fine. It'll mean he's successfully replaced the player who left - forget his name. Jeff? Joe? - for less than we sold him for.

Think we could take aim higher up the game. Averages points for 7th place in the last 3 seasons was 59.33. That usually means Europe, and is less than 6pts more than last year's tally. And that was with us looking horrendous for a third of the season.

Think because of the summer's events and his track record, Dean's pretty safe this season bar having an absolute 'mare. But equally don't think it's beyond either him or the players we've got to progress even further up the table.

[andrew08]

Well Mr Purslow put it out their immediately after Joe left that he has been replaced by the three signings. Had Greedish been fit for all of last season I guess we would have got somewhere between 10th and 6th so we should be in that ball park. New signings like a Ward Prowse pushes expectations higher. I can’t imagine the owners or the newer fan base with be happy with the lower end of that and if we are in the lower half at Xmas he may be vulnerable.  A Cup trumps any league position for old school me, but I doubt Dean will last long enough to make a Wembley final if we are in the teens league wise early next year.

[Vegas]

I’d love to be proved wrong, but I’m a bit more pessimistic than most. I love our new signings, but we came 11th last year and lost a world class player. Our net spend is -£10m I think.  We’ve also had a disrupted pre-season and don’t seem to have a settled formation.

We definitely can progress to 6th-8th if it all clicks, but I would think 10th-12th would be a par result for Dean this year.  If we make a major CM signing I would push that up to 7-10th.

[sid1964]

At the end of last season Purslow made the comment about the fall off in form after Christmas, Dean needs a good start to the season otherwise he could be under real pressure to keep his job

I remember when Big Ron got the sack - Doug stated that the awful form after we won the League Cup and the start of the following season was the reason he had to go, hopefully Purslow will not be saying something similar in October about Dean.

I hope Dean does keep his job as this season if all goes well this could be a special season, FA Cup winners and 7th in the league is my guess.

[algy]

I hope Dean does keep his job as this season if all goes well this could be a special season, FA Cup winners and 7th in the league is my guess.

It'll be our 8th league title this time

[Gareth]

It is a massive year for Dean but I for one back him to come through it and take us comfortably into the top 10 - to call him a clown is massively massively harsh.

Changing the flow of a game when your bench options are generally like for like players is immensely difficult - the three we already have signed strengthen those options, the youngsters around the squad will be better & stronger….plus there will surely be one more incoming.  Obviously losing one of the top 3/4 players in the country is a huge blow but it has to be seen as a challenge to adapt & improve not a funeral for our hopes to progress.

Tactically we have to be more fluid, 433 is not the be all end all but signing of Ings suggests we will be fluid.  The recruitment of a set piece coach also suggests that this was highlighted as a weakness that needs addressing.

[Risso]

It's an obvious thing to say, but an awful lot is going to depend on how he deals with Ratboy leaving. I don't think it's unkind to say that for the most part, the results under Dean without him have been pathetic. This was probably due to the massive fall off in quality before now. Hopefully the signings of Buendia, Ings and Bailey will have stopped that.