I must confess pvb I wasnt sure Dean Smith was up to the task but have to say that so far I am enjoying what I am seeing.Dean smith is a breathe of fresh air ans and he will get us promoted, maybe next year or whenever but I'm so glad we have him and the team in charge. I never want a Steve Bruce or Paul Lambert or David oleary ever again.
In Dean we trust, enjoy the ride.
Just been watching the Elphick interview. Very positive, enthusiatic to play under Smith, and I think it's genuine. Smith is similar to Howe, and Elphick did well under him. We could see a new player!
The style of play thing is not as easy as it sounds... at Brentford he had a bunch of players who probably considered themselves lucky to be making a living in the game and would listen to him.
He's now got a bunch of primma donna's who probably think they know more about football than some guy from Brentford. I don't think he'll find it as easy to get his ideas across or get the respect of the players here as he did there.
And this one, especially the second paragraph hits the nail right on the head as to where we are at with Smith and the squad as it stands today.
I bet Smith can't wait to get shot of quite a few.
He has a difficult balancing act. I bet he would love to dig them out but as he needs them to be onside as player power rules and they could get him the sack he has to play it cute and not be too harsh on them. If they don't perform the whole squad won't get sacked but one person will. The manager. He is on a weak position. Every manager is . It's the modern game. He needs them more than they need him.
Will try and be balanced here. When Smith came in there was definitely more than a new manager bounce. We saw signs of the football he’d had Brentford playing which gathered momentum through the derby/boro purple patch and hit a brick wall with the cheating Tesco scum. However, he hasn’t managed the setbacks well. Any team would struggle losing the best player in the league and our best defender. My worry is he’s tried to play in exactly the same way without them and it clearly hasn’t worked. Some of his selections have also been puzzling. Yes, he can only work with what he’s got, but been here a few months now, the squad shouldn’t be a surprise to him. He identified Nyland as a weak link and had kalinic lined up early. Why not a left back, centre back, right back and midfielder? Our new owners are gazillionsires and money talks, so these deals should have been done by now.
I'd almost rather we go out and sign a whole bunch of players from League One and League Two who might make more of an effort.
Something happened leading upto or during the Stoke game.
It’s like a switch has been turned off, we look a completely different team since that game.
My guess is it’s kicked off in dressing room or on training pitch but definitely something has changed.
The switch was Dean himself yes i know we lost Grealish and it was a big loss but we had been playing with a midfield of Grealish and SJM two attacking midfielders and then one of Bjarnason, Houlihan or Whelan but in the stoke game he went defensive and played SJM, Houlihane, Whelan which just invited stoke 15 yards further up the field which put our week defense under pressure so they were just booting it up the pitch and that was the end of attacking possession football. Dean Smith has lost his way lets hope he figures out soon.
Yes I thought that El Ghazi could do a job there but he's just so inconsistent he reminds of that little midfielder that Lambert signed the Spanish guy who scored that spectacular goal against was it Bournemouth in the cup forgot his name. He shows tremendous skill at times but shies away from the rough and tumble part.I agree with this summary but can’t think who could replace a Jack as an attacking midfielder who can hold the ball and pss it? Lansbury? El Ghazi perhaps?
Carlos GilYes I thought that El Ghazi could do a job there but he's just so inconsistent he reminds of that little midfielder that Lambert signed the Spanish guy who scored that spectacular goal against was it Bournemouth in the cup forgot his name. He shows tremendous skill at times but shies away from the rough and tumble part.
That's himCarlos Gil