The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 404 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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I think they need one massive leadership quality that all long term successful managers have and that’s person power. Partly charisma but not charm, an inner personal strength that people follow. Whether Fergie, our own two Rons, Wenger and the rest. Dean may we’ll have that, he’ll certainly need massive self belief to survive the outrageous fortune at this level.
 
Dean brought in 5 new players at the start of the season plus a sixth in January. He also added to his coaching staff with Craig Shakespeare to “add some PL coaching experience.” It looked like it had worked but we were found out and under no pressure we haven’t been able to find a formula to get the best out of the players at our disposal. Now a lot of fans are staying it’s because the players aren’t good enough or they’ve nothing to play for or they’ll learn from this year and be better next season. It would be unreasonable not to question the coaches’ part in the decline over the past 3 months. We bought players in to fulfill Dean’s plan of two wide men and one man in the middle. If that’s the only plan he’s got we risk being in serious trouble by giving him more money to spend next season. Dean hasn’t shown me that he’s got the wherewithal at this level. And I don’t think it’s the answer bringing in another Craig to “help” him again.
 
I think he does have the wherewithal as he has taken a very poor squad to in and around top 10 in just under two seasons at this level.

I do except that we might be pushing against his limitations but I certainly wouldn't get rid of him now. I think the reality is that he will be under more pressure next season assuming we spend big this summer and I think that will be fair.
 
Be interesting what the owners think, come the end of the season. With no track record as yet, we really don't know where they see their plan, do we?

I do agree with a lot of what Wicked says above, you can't keep adding to the coaching set up, I thought Craig might have been the final piece of the jigsaw.

I do also get what someone else said in this or another thread, that if these results were all spaced out through the season, most of us would probably be happy. But this year has been awful and as the commentators said in the WBA game, you have to be careful with momentum like this, not to take it into the next season.

IF the owners had a top manager target to bring in, (and that manager would have to have agreed to come, not the long drawn out selection process that puts you in behind the curve when it comes to transfers) and a top budget for that manager, then maybe.... If not, then I can't see the point of changing.

However, I am sure Smith isn't patting himself or his coaching team on the back for the way this year has gone, so I don't the owners will be either.

A few wins up to the end of the season could still see us finish top ten and that would be a very reasonable jump up from last season.
 
Even the optimists among us said we had no depth at the start of the season and a couple of key injuries would screw us. Well, add to that lack of depth the combo of the COVID outbreak plus the ridiculous schedule to catch up when we most needed a break and I can't see our drop in form as a coincidence.

Yes, he needs to make changes earlier but maybe a better bench makes that happen.

No matter what happens he'll be here next season and personally I'm really happy about that.
 
Pfft, none of the results since January are St Dean's fault, the players are simply not good enough and he has had absolutely nothing to do with choosing any of them or their development so you can't blame him no matter how much has been spent.

The good results pre Christmas are all St Dean's credit, especially the thrashing of the PL Champions, Arsenal, Leicester, WBA, Wolves, Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Against Southampton, West Ham, Brighton and Leeds - that was also down to the players not being good enough.

Give him another £250-500m and 6 more transfer windows and he'll have them playing like Barca and winning every week... :whist:
 
Siri, what's a strawman?

crimsondonkey said:
Pfft, none of the results since January are St Dean's fault, the players are simply not good enough and he has had absolutely nothing to do with choosing any of them or their development so you can't blame him no matter how much has been spent.

The good results pre Christmas are all St Dean's credit, especially the thrashing of the PL Champions, Arsenal, Leicester, WBA, Wolves, Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Against Southampton, West Ham, Brighton and Leeds - that was also down to the players not being good enough.

Give him another £250-500m and 6 more transfer windows and he'll have them playing like Barca and winning every week... :whist:
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Nobody is saying Dean isn't responsible (he's the manager), but that people saying there aren't extenuating circumstances are talking out their hoops.
 
Wicked Messenger said:
Dean brought in 5 new players at the start of the season plus a sixth in January. He also added to his coaching staff with Craig Shakespeare to “add some PL coaching experience.” It looked like it had worked but we were found out and under no pressure we haven’t been able to find a formula to get the best out of the players at our disposal. Now a lot of fans are staying it’s because the players aren’t good enough or they’ve nothing to play for or they’ll learn from this year and be better next season. It would be unreasonable not to question the coaches’ part in the decline over the past 3 months. We bought players in to fulfill Dean’s plan of two wide men and one man in the middle. If that’s the only plan he’s got we risk being in serious trouble by giving him more money to spend next season. Dean hasn’t shown me that he’s got the wherewithal at this level. And I don’t think it’s the answer bringing in another Craig to “help” him again.
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We weren't "found out". I looked at us during our great start to the season and thought, it would be great if we could keep this up all season but it's highly unlikely that we could. It's a long season, the PL is the toughest in the world, and there's the unknown effect of Covid on top. We didn't have the squad depth to cope with injuries, tiredness, loss of form, illness. That 11 at the start of the season was our best; there wasn't much to back it up.

Liverpool have had a poor season by their standards. And that's with a much deeper squad. Where we are now is no guide to where we'll be at the start of next season. It may serve as a reminder though as to what might happen towards the end of next season.

By the way, DEAN IS GOING NOWHERE
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
We weren't "found out". I looked at us during our great start to the season and thought, it would be great if we could keep this up all season but it's highly unlikely that we could. It's a long season, the PL is the toughest in the world, and there's the unknown effect of Covid on top. We didn't have the squad depth to cope with injuries, tiredness, loss of form, illness. That 11 at the start of the season was our best; there wasn't much to back it up.

Liverpool have had a poor season by their standards. And that's with a much deeper squad. Where we are now is no guide to where we'll be at the start of next season. It may serve as a reminder though as to what might happen towards the end of next season.

By the way, DEAN IS GOING NOWHERE
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If we could have put the occasional good performance together in the last three months I might have agreed with you. But we haven’t and we’ve made even relegation threatened teams look good.
 
Wicked Messenger said:
Dean brought in 5 new players at the start of the season plus a sixth in January. He also added to his coaching staff with Craig Shakespeare to “add some PL coaching experience.” It looked like it had worked but we were found out and under no pressure we haven’t been able to find a formula to get the best out of the players at our disposal. Now a lot of fans are staying it’s because the players aren’t good enough or they’ve nothing to play for or they’ll learn from this year and be better next season. It would be unreasonable not to question the coaches’ part in the decline over the past 3 months. We bought players in to fulfill Dean’s plan of two wide men and one man in the middle. If that’s the only plan he’s got we risk being in serious trouble by giving him more money to spend next season. Dean hasn’t shown me that he’s got the wherewithal at this level. And I don’t think it’s the answer bringing in another Craig to “help” him again.
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One thing is for sure, we cannot carry this 2021 form into the next season or else we are surely going down. Now all hopes have been pinned on the summer transfer window to find quality players to replace the shite in midfield and they need to hit the ground running without any excuses of getting used to the league, country, food etc. However, I have read that bringing a player in doesn't depend on Dean but he is given players and he needs to get the best out of them. If that is the case, then I don't have much hope in the success of our players who we will buy.
 
robbo110 said:
We are a poor side going forward without jack!, we would be fighting relegation if you were to take approx. 15 points that I believe JG brought to this team earlier in the season, this is taking into consideration we have improved our defence, near 250m is a big investment without DS being held accountable!
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You're right. It was true before and it's true now: If you take 5 victories and turn them into 5 defeats, we would indeed be 15 points worse off. It's a disgrace.
 
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