Where do we go from here...

[clash city rocker]

With our owners I dont think they are the sort of people who give up on a project simply because there are a few bumps in the road. We will never know the facts about who we may of tried to sign in the summer and that is how it should be. You have to remember there are four parties involved in any transfer..... the buyers, the sellers, the player,the agent....and everyone of them has there own agenda.

[ChicagoLion]

The owners are not the problem here, they will become the problem if they let this situation take hold of the season though.

[clash city rocker]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

[richtheholtender]

We don't really know who else they tried to bring in other than ESR and Ward-Prowse. To suggest that they have taken their foot off the gas just because we didn't spend more than we got for Joe is unfair. If any pair deserve the benefit of the doubt, it's the two owners.

I found these strange as from an outside perspective the bids for ESR and JWP were insultingly low. Which made no sense to me when we paid good money for emi at that point

Tool the limelight off the Joe transfer. Made us look ambitious.

[Clampy]

I don’t see how the injuries forces 3 5 2 , the defence was not the problem so why change something that isn’t bust?
There are multiple options the manager could have used based on the resources he has had that does not require playing most of the team out of position and shoehorning 2 up top and Tuanzabe into the system.
Then when it isn’t working do it again.

Bert and Bailey both being out didn't help which is why he maybe went with the wing backs but yes, it also comes across as a case of not wanting to drop either Ings and Watkins.

[Beard82]

The owners, manager setup has all be great in getting us this far - and it took me a long time to come around to believing that things could be different this time and maybe we could be optimistic about being a top team.   

But now Something somewhere just doesn’t add up since the end of last season.  We finished on a high and in a great position - we seemed to know where we were going and what we were doing.  Then the summer seemed a mess - and we’re further behind people we thought we would be competing with.

There seems a disconnect - I don’t think smith wanted or rates a lot of the players that have been bought in the last 2 windows. 

All the new coaches feel underwhelming and the basically we have been shit most of the season so far.  The team is now less then the sum of its parts - and that worries me - as up until now your Dean I think it has been greater than the sum of its parts.

I know joe leaving is a huge blow - but this seems wider than that

[N'ZMAV]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

this is my concern; would I rather stick with Smith than gamble on who the owners could bring in. Am I right in remembering their links to Thierry Henry previously? or was the another owners/time - I can't remember.

[Jon Crofts]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

this is my concern; would I rather stick with Smith than gamble on who the owners could bring in. Am I right in remembering their links to Thierry Henry previously? or was the another owners/time - I can't remember.

The Terry Henry to Villa stories were July 2018 and according to anyone who'd listen he'd agreed terms to replace Bruce.

[Bobby Boy]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

this is my concern; would I rather stick with Smith than gamble on who the owners could bring in. Am I right in remembering their links to Thierry Henry previously? or was the another owners/time - I can't remember.

For me it's not about Smith or someone else as such. It's about knowing that we have a manager who is tactically flexible and who is prepared to make changes during a game decisively when it is clear that the original plan isn't working.

The top managers will make in game changes even if it means changing the shape or the personnel in the first half.

I would like Dean to be that manager but he consistently refuses or is unable to make changes that seem obvious.

How 532 lasted the whole of the first half against Arsenal was jaw dropping. It was so clearly a mistake. Making the change at half time when we were then 2-0 down was infuriating.

If Dean can show that he can be ruthless and admit to his own errors then great but nothing suggests so far that he can do that.

[Sexual Ealing]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

this is my concern; would I rather stick with Smith than gamble on who the owners could bring in. Am I right in remembering their links to Thierry Henry previously? or was the another owners/time - I can't remember.

For me it's not about Smith or someone else as such. It's about knowing that we have a manager who is tactically flexible and who is prepared to make changes during a game decisively when it is clear that the original plan isn't working.

The top managers will make in game changes even if it means changing the shape or the personnel in the first half.

I would like Dean to be that manager but he consistently refuses or is unable to make changes that seem obvious.

How 532 lasted the whole of the first half against Arsenal was jaw dropping. It was so clearly a mistake. Making the change at half time when we were then 2-0 down was infuriating.

If Dean can show that he can be ruthless and admit to his own errors then great but nothing suggests so far that he can do that.

I certainly agree that we need a manager who changes things when we're playing shit, but where are they? Pep, Klopp, Bielsa definitely aren't 'tactically flexible'.

[tomd2103]

I find the idea that the owners aren't serious or "haven't really spent" absolutely bewildering.

It's not just bewildering, it's absolute nonsense.

Nonsense that they haven't so far. But not nonsense that they may not moving forward. No one knows that, their intentions on promotion before Newcastle were bought by a country etc was clearly stated, but losing Joe, having a net spend of plus £10m when there were still gaps in the squad, no real sit and game changing signing to lift the profile suggests they may have taken the foot off the gas a little and are taking stock. For me it feels at the moment a bit Lerner like. Not to the same extent, but something doesn't feel right about it at the moment.

I think there is the possibility that everyone at the club was taken aback by Grealish's departure and had planned for him to be with us.  The fact that it was so late in the window wouldn't have left us too long to make alternative plans really.

[Risso]

I think there is the possibility that everyone at the club was taken aback by Grealish's departure and had planned for him to be with us.  The fact that it was so late in the window wouldn't have left us too long to make alternative plans really.

That's not realistic, one bit. Firstly, there was the buy-out clause. The inclusion of that alone means it can't have come as a complete surprise. Then now having heard all the stuff post the transfer happening, it's clear he wanted to leave all summer.

[Risso]

I certainly agree that we need a manager who changes things when we're playing shit, but where are they? Pep, Klopp, Bielsa definitely aren't 'tactically flexible'.

I've seen Bielsa take an underperforming player off after 30 minutes, something Smith would never, ever do. As for Klopp etc, perhaps they don't need to be that flexible if they're winning 60-70% of matches using their favoured tactics.

[Sexual Ealing]

I certainly agree that we need a manager who changes things when we're playing shit, but where are they? Pep, Klopp, Bielsa definitely aren't 'tactically flexible'.

I've seen Bielsa take an underperforming player off after 30 minutes, something Smith would never, ever do. As for Klopp etc, perhaps they don't need to be that flexible if they're winning 60-70% of matches using their favoured tactics.

That's true. We just need an astonishing manager. I hope we can pay for one.

[SoccerHQ]

It all begs the question if not Smith then who ? And getting replacement manager has all the same issues involved as signing a player.

this is my concern; would I rather stick with Smith than gamble on who the owners could bring in. Am I right in remembering their links to Thierry Henry previously? or was the another owners/time - I can't remember.

For me it's not about Smith or someone else as such. It's about knowing that we have a manager who is tactically flexible and who is prepared to make changes during a game decisively when it is clear that the original plan isn't working.

The top managers will make in game changes even if it means changing the shape or the personnel in the first half.

I would like Dean to be that manager but he consistently refuses or is unable to make changes that seem obvious.

How 532 lasted the whole of the first half against Arsenal was jaw dropping. It was so clearly a mistake. Making the change at half time when we were then 2-0 down was infuriating.

If Dean can show that he can be ruthless and admit to his own errors then great but nothing suggests so far that he can do that.

I certainly agree that we need a manager who changes things when we're playing shit, but where are they? Pep, Klopp, Bielsa definitely aren't 'tactically flexible'.

It dosen't have to be a manager who does a double sub after 20 minutes as Mourinho famously did a few times years back.

No interest at all in watching one of the worst first halves we've ever played again but anyone could see it wasn't working after 10 minutes. Nothing happened and we then inevitably conceded. Nothing happened still right up to the penalty.

From what I could see there was no tweak of formation or shifting of players e.g. considering the space Smith Rowe was getting floating around Cash surely bringing Ollie back and giving him more of a defensive role to help out the full back would've been logical? We were massively exposed with just two centrally so perhaps Axel could've been pushed into midfield just to disrupt Arsenal a bit more.

To simply sit on his hands yet again in a period of a game where we simply couldn't do anything isn't good enough to me and hints at why we probably won't finish top 8 under him as we'll simply have too many of these games season in season out.