The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 297 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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Ron, maybe, different time and age though. Brian wasn't middle of the road in my humble.

We are meant to be a club with money, we have spent millions upon millions, sorry, miss-spent millions upon millions. If it wasn't our club, it would be comical.
 
That team that showed up last night would with a 15 or so goals a season centre forward be well clear of relegation by now. If we stay up and Jack is sold we have the funds to buy 2 or 3 quality players to strengthen the 11 with perhaps 3 others to add depth (not all from the sale of JG I hasten to add).

Most of our points have come from bottom half sides but with the right additions we could kick on and the nucleus of the current group finally look to be coming together.
 
Yup, that's the frustration for me as whilst not ignoring how much improvement we need to do, how much I wish DS had shown across the season...I genuinely believe we were a Glenn Murray or a Peter Crouch (short term fix) of being anywhere up to 11th looking at the points now.

I would've called that phenomenal for the first year back with the summer upheaval and everything else.

Even then though, with a bit more smarts from DS/bit more luck, we should already be safe. The fact we aren't is down to everyone.

If we do stay up - whatever happens with DS - we need to add quality now, proven quality to ensure we aren't in a battle next season, and then the punts/potential for the future are used sparingly so they can settle properly - unlike this year.
 
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Villatone said:
That team that showed up last night would with a 15 or so goals a season centre forward be well clear of relegation by now. If we stay up and Jack is sold we have the funds to buy 2 or 3 quality players to strengthen the 11 with perhaps 3 others to add depth (not all from the sale of JG I hasten to add).

Most of our points have come from bottom half sides but with the right additions we could kick on and the nucleus of the current group finally look to be coming together.
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But would a 15-goal-a-season centre forward become a 5-goal-a-season one if he played in our current setup? We have big trouble building attacks as a team. That's what worries me. We have to attack better AND retain a solid defence.

And if Jack goes, how much will we have to spend to replace him? Because he will leave a big hole. And I'm not sure he's replaceable.
 
Not quite McP really, it's one of the bug bears we had with Wesley, Davis and Samatta - often the delivery was there but it was wrong for 'them' as we judged their style of play. How many times did we talk about Wesley being a lump who wouldn't move etc.

I know it's not as simple as that but a half decent finisher, putting in proper effort would see us 5 (10 absolute max) better off for me.

Wes really should've had 10 himself, Davis could quite easily be on 5 - that's easily be 5-10 extra points.
 
The Fear said:
Ron, maybe, different time and age though. Brian wasn't middle of the road in my humble.

We are meant to be a club with money, we have spent millions upon millions, sorry, miss-spent millions upon millions. If it wasn't our club, it would be comical.
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For sure we've squandered millions. Love Brian Little, a great man and genius as a player but record as a manager whilst decent at the likes of Darlington and Leicester was for me a bit of a risk at the time following on from Big Ron. Didnt see it as a big name appointment at all but he certainly did a terrific job for a couple of seasons before the 2/3 year curse reared its head yet again!
 
Fulford said:
Why do we have to go for a manager that's available.

Can I add another manager to the possible list of replacements, Roberto Martinez.
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Yes I like him, however, will take anyone as all I want to see is entertaining football at least. Does not matter who provides that. Even Dean is fine !
 
CDX_EIRE said:
We can't have it both ways and it was the same last season. Some look at it as exclusively being a Dean Smith issue but now that we wins games its other teams.

Its all a big combination, some of the players have started to show up. Our manager has made some of the right calls and we've been able to play a few teams at the right time. Its about time we got a break because we've all complained at one time or another of playing teams at the wrong time.

We can only play the team thats put out on the pitch at that given time, form peaks and troughs as it always does virus or no virus.
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Like I said to sirdennis, he deserves praise once we continue this improvement over a period of time. We were rubbish against Palace until Trez scored which was morale boosting. It is he who deserves the most credit.
 
A decent forward would score goals in this team, Grealish is our only threat so everyone else has to act as a decoy to try and get him room. Imagine having another decent attacker who took up even 25% of the attention he receives.

Our midfield is not as dysfunctional anymore with Luiz starting to bring a presence and range of passing. The more players we can actually get into the team that contributes, the fewer extra men they can put on Grealish.

Defensively we need Heaton back and you could honestly buy an entirely new back four. A lot of work is needed at the back. I like Konsa but he is going to make mistakes at his age, bringing in Tuanzebe is not the answer. Mings needs someone beside him who is reliable and doesnt make mistakes because Mings makes them too. I like Guilbert but again we need a better RB, Targett is decent going forward but brutal defensively. He needs a challenger at a minimum.
 
Langoe66 said:
Lots of questions to ponder here Fear but I’ll offer one answer to ‘what evidence is there that a middle of the road manager has ever given us any success’...a certain Ron Saunders of course and I’d also add Brian Little with two top 4 finishes and a league cup win.....both I’d say were pretty middle of the road when appointed. The appointment of Saunders was actually not welcomed by a fair few. Game so very different now though and unfortunately money dictates to the extent that I’m not sure whether the managers classed as ‘top pedigree’ and therefore at clubs with a bob or two would be so impressive with less money to spend. Oh for the days of a more even playing field!
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So how much money did poch have to spend at southampton how much did he have to spend at tottenham. It's not just money don't get me wrong it helps but you need a manager who can see what he needs from players he has got and to bring the right players in to fill the gaps Saunders was a master at that Smith has failed spectacularly.
 
hightrinity said:
So how much money did poch have to spend at southampton how much did he have to spend at tottenham. It's not just money don't get me wrong it helps but you need a manager who can see what he needs from players he has got and to bring the right players in to fill the gaps Saunders was a master at that Smith has failed spectacularly.
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There is a lot of good managers that don't get the support they deserve, a few excluded from that obviously, but i think our owners will give support to a manager that is moving in the right direction, so i wouldn't rule anybody out.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
But would a 15-goal-a-season centre forward become a 5-goal-a-season one if he played in our current setup? We have big trouble building attacks as a team. That's what worries me. We have to attack better AND retain a solid defence.

And if Jack goes, how much will we have to spend to replace him? Because he will leave a big hole. And I'm not sure he's replaceable.
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Its only since lockdown that we haven't created too many chances. For the majority of the season we had scored more goals than anyone else in the bottom half, and more than some in the top half.

Desperate times have called for desperate measures, but I think a bit of quality added to certain areas of the pitch will result in a return to attacking football, this time with far more success.
 
The one thing that has changed which has meant we have garnered more points is the defence - is that Smith or is it Terry that should get the credit?? Konsa/Mings have actually played as a pair, leaving it all out on the pitch and looking out for each other. They made Benteke see the red mist, can’t think of another game that has happened this season. Reina returning has helped - Smith insisting on playing Nyland was stupidity. The players seem to know their roles over the last few games - Why has it taken so bloody long. The mantra when replacing a player is only do it if your improving on what you already have. Has to be the same with Smith, show ambition and go out and improve. Trouble is now is if we do stay up on a feeble points haul the club will stick with Smith for continuity. I would love the owners to build on what Smith and they have done with a new manager and some more players - oh and I would keep Grealish for another season or so.
 
Divine_islet said:
Like I said to sirdennis, he deserves praise once we continue this improvement over a period of time. We were rubbish against Palace until Trez scored which was morale boosting. It is he who deserves the most credit.
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Yes , but some on here are even refusing to give him credit for getting promotion , spouting rubbish like it was a two man team and we were lucky Jack came back from injury.
 
sirdennis said:
Yes , but some on here are even refusing to give him credit for getting promotion , spouting rubbish like it was a two man team and we were lucky Jack came back from injury.
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My rubbish on that is that without Tammy being on a rampage, we'd not have gone on our run and Tammy was a Bruce signing. We didn't improve massively shape wise, but we were a bit more organised, which wasn't difficult as something had really gone wrong with Bruce having steadied an incredibly rocky ship. We had written the season off and then we went on a 10 game run. We don't know if that might have happened anyway. Possibly not, Bruce really should have had a couple of weeks off to rest after his parents deaths. The removal of Bruce did remove some of the toxicity, that helped.

As am aside, part of the 10 game run was without Jack which I always thought was positive because some seemed to think we couldn't win anything without him.
 
The Fear said:
My rubbish on that is that without Tammy being on a rampage, we'd not have gone on our run and Tammy was a Bruce signing. We didn't improve massively shape wise, but we were a bit more organised, which wasn't difficult as something had really gone wrong with Bruce having steadied an incredibly rocky ship. We had written the season off and then we went on a 10 game run. We don't know if that might have happened anyway. Part of the 10 game run was without Jack which I always thought was positive because some seemed to think we couldn't win anything without him.
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At least your rubbish is better than other's rubbish though.

:grinning:
 
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