mike_field
Vital Football Legend
are ratchets just a bit bigger than Mousechets
Yes.
are ratchets just a bit bigger than Mousechets
I'd also factor in last season , the "ghost" season was a strange one , it took players time to adapt to the weirdness of it all, we got off to a flyer but by January our form returned to just over a point a game which is where we are now. We are a lower mid table club going nowhere fast under this management regime. The summer upheaval and betrayal by Joe has to be factored in aswell for balance.There's no certainty in football, that's one of the beauties of it. All teams and managers get one put over them one time or another. I hate us losing, but I don't think simplistic whacking blame on individuals is the answer. There is a bigger picture, which is what matters.
What concerns me at the moment is this. We've come off the back of a good season. Something to build upon, and building on it matters a lot. Snake2 going doesn't help that, but doesn't destroy it either. We've made some good signings, all designed to take us forwards. But I don't get the sense we are building in that way.
We've changed direction, by going 3-5-2. Players who were a big part of where we got to last season are warming the bench, with apparently no chance of getting on as subs. It's not obvious where players brought in like Bailey are going to fit in. Players are getting on the field who aren't as good as those left out, e.g. Tuanzebe, and maybe Ramsey. Maybe DS thinks he needs to change tack as a result of Snake2 going. He doesn't. Maybe he just wants to try something different. It's a mistake.
Let Lambert be a lesson. Every time we got to the end of a season seeing signs of things beginning to progress he'd rip it up in the summer with nonsensical signings and went in a different direction.
Last season we ended with a good base to build on, with players comfortable with the system. We suffered when Snake2 wasn't playing but we were getting used to it and we've bought over the summer to rectify it. Time to take a hard look at our strengths and build on them.
Could easily put Buendia on one wing and Ollie on the other with Ings down the middle. The partnership between Ollie and Ings has no chemistry, and I'm not sure either Hause or Tuanzebe are good enough to warrant regular game time to justify 5 at the back either.I know what you mean but with Bert and Bailey both out, what's the alternative?
We had the measure of them until Luiz and Buendia went off and then we totally collapsed.
It's a real kick in the teeth.
What take off two injured players and a midfielder who'd travelled back from South America the day before, they probably wouldn't have started Luiz but anyone would have subbed him for Marvelous. Not sure which bit of Cash and Buendia were injured people are not getting.
It will be interesting once everyone is fit what we look like in terms of personnel and actual quality. I don't think Smith fully knows his best team yet or the best system, hence the experiment with the 3-5-2. I think Bailey starts when fit and Buendia might be more fancied in midfield than out wide which would leave another wing option for Watkins/Traore.. that would be my guess anyway.
Wouldn't have mattered who he put on if Mings and co hadn't gone into Curtis pub player mode, normally 2-0 up and 10 mins to go it's all overI agree about who came off but I don't agree with two of the three players he put on.
Agree Platypus, we know that we have progressed each season but even Fergie needed an undeserved win at Forest to keep his job,we know the rest. But if we eejits on the Holte could see Wolves overloading our left flank, how come Deano and Shakey didn't make the appropriate change? Still a Smith fan, even the supernatural Pep gets stick for tactical decisions. Keep the faith, we are rich but not super rich and we will improve gradually, with hiccups alas.Joachim Bum-picking Low.
I'll stick with the guy that's improved us every year of asking and who has yet been able to put out a full strength side this season after losing his best player in the summer.
Ffs,Gillette, a couple of weeks ago,we'd beaten Man u and Everton and it was check your passport totimThe loss is the players to own - we were 2-0 up but Mings went mental 2nd half, Targett is fukked by the new role, Zebe was off it from minute 1.
They should all apologise.
BUT
Dean is playing a system that doesn't work, picking favourites, the standard of play is poor and DS has had control of the coaching for three years. We look the worst team in the PL in possession. Weirdly we manage to score goals but our play is POOR.
Who bought the players in the summer? Sick note, old git, duff CB, and a CF and a midfielder we can't fit into the team. And we've thrown away all the positives of last season.
Ffs,Gillette, a couple of weeks ago,we'd beaten Man u and Everton and it was check your passport totim
PS I am concerned that YKW leaving has crushed the owners ambitions. I think they are leaving us to coast for a while - putting off bigger investment for a later.
However a loss to the Arse next week and we are drawn into a relegation fight (which I now expect).
I'm not sure what the owners will do if we are 16th in 2/3 weeks time.
Ffs,Gillette, a couple of weeks ago,we'd beaten Man u and Everton and it was check your passport totim
I don't think Snake2 leaving has made the slightest difference to the owners' ambition. Why should it? We're not coasting; they invested enough to improve on last year's performance even allowing for Snake2 going. They are not people to be crushed by a player leaving.
If we'd have won on Saturday (as we should have) we'd be 7th. The loss is a setback but a minor one in the scheme of things. We're nowhere near being a relegation case. We seem to have a problem setting up in a way which reflects the players we have at our disposal and getting the required result. That's Smith's problem to solve.