The Official Dean Smith Thread | Page 57 | Vital Football

The Official Dean Smith Thread

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The Goal from Tammy again Blackburn could have been Sterling for Man City.

The spine of the team now is "Premier League" class with Mings Hause, McGinn Grealish and Abraham add to that the graft and experience of Whelan and the flashes of brilliance from Dutch International El Ghazi and "one of our own" Andre Green it's certainly taking shape.

The excellent Axle T is now available again after recovering from injury so it could (will) mean 4 at the back who are comfortable with the ball going forward, in fact, a whole team that is happy with the ball at their feet. The first thought now being forwards not backwards,

For Dean Smith and the Club to get that far after one transfer window is an achievement in itself, given the situation in the summer.

Smith has brought in players to suit the style he wants to play. Rather than just bringing in players for the sake of it and not playing them. Caroll being the exception, although he did get injured early on.

He's brought in players from clubs above us, he brought back Green and Steer and used them. Two players who the previous management didn't see having game time this season.

He's let Bolaise go back and sent our better kids out on loan to see if they can cope with the rigours of "real football"

The bench looks powerful with the likes of fit-again Lansbury and Caroll unable to even get a place on it. Although in fairness to Caroll he couldn't because we are only allowed 5 loan players in the matchday squad.

All in all the team is looking stronger to the point that Club Captain and last seasons player of the year James Chester has almost been forgotten about.

There is a bit more to it than Jack coming back although he is a big part of it.
 
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The jury is still out for me. Things are going brilliantly at the moment but let's see where we are at the end of season.

If we are still in the Championship, Smith has failed this season.
 
OVB said:
Really do not see how he has failed if we do not go up. Surely he must be judged on a full season And a couple of transfer windows?
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A club like ours belongs in the PL. Financially, we need to be in the PL. If we don't go up this season, we'll be in big financial trouble. That's not Smith's fault but it's his responsibility now.

I'm not suggesting he should be sacked if we don't win the playoffs but this season will be a failure if we don't go up.

Smith probably deserves time but the club doesn't have time to give him.
 
The club has as much time to give him as they want to. Not going up this season will naturally be disappointing but it won't be a disaster; we'll have further constraints on spending but that's not big financial trouble. DS is just the man to keep us moving forwards with those constraints in place; at least, I think that's how the owners will see it.
 
BodyButter said:
A club like ours belongs in the PL. Financially, we need to be in the PL. If we don't go up this season, we'll be in big financial trouble. That's not Smith's fault but it's his responsibility now.

I'm not suggesting he should be sacked if we don't win the playoffs but this season will be a failure if we don't go up.

Smith probably deserves time but the club doesn't have time to give him.
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Do you remember the summer?! The fact we didn't, because we couldn't, sign anyone until the last week of the window. That we nearly went bust. If we go up this year, I'd call it an unbelievable performance to be honest! The fact we are in the mix has shown what talent and guile we did have and that's now being steered by Smith. To me, as much as I'm desperate to see us return to the PL, I won't call it a failure if we don't do so this time around.
 
Tierney said:
Do you remember the summer?! The fact we didn't, because we couldn't, sign anyone until the last week of the window. That we nearly went bust. If we go up this year, I'd call it an unbelievable performance to be honest! The fact we are in the mix has shown what talent and guile we did have and that's now being steered by Smith. To me, as much as I'm desperate to see us return to the PL, I won't call it a failure if we don't do so this time around.
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Share your view Tierney, in fact, in a perverse way, I hope we don't go up because I think we would get automatic next year and it would be great to see us winning week after week. My only concern about not going up this year is losing Mings
 
I would hate to lose Mings if we do not go up. However Hause, Elphick, Tuanzebe and Chester would be a decent start for a defence next year along with Guilbert? We just need a quality left back.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
A big part of it has been him improving players who maybe had been written off. Whelan, Taylor, Elmo, for example. If we don't go up that will be a big plus for next season.
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Can't emphasize this enough IMO.

Whelan - I didn't want him within 50 miles of the stadium or training ground but fair fucks he has been as good as anyone.
Taylor - still terrifies me but doesn't look like a complete liability he has been steady and solid
Elmo - A lad I'd have said shouldn't be near the bench after one of previous strings of performances

That very long winless run is the elephant in the room for Smith and my own opinion is that bringing back Grealish like he did robbed him of vindication. We would have beaten Derby (nervously) without Grealish things had started to change a little we were getting glimpses. Mings and Hause didn't instantly start playing well when Grealish returned nor did Whelan.

Credit where it is due they didnt just start playing well because they decided to. Neil Taylor lads like there isn't a man in here can tell me with a straight face he was always a good player and just felt he'd play better when Grealish was back. Glenn Whelan as well this a lad who didnt complete a single pass in an international game against Georgia near 12-18 months ago.

Smith has a couple of questions marks but credit where it is due if you point to him as a single point of failure you can't deny him as a single point of success. The rest of us will go on without dealing in absolutes. Tunes have certainly changed in the last month but I don't think we'll course correct before the end of season.
 
gator said:
Same here he's turned the defence round brilliantly he's certainly not failed there.
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I'd wager that whoever was in charge Bruce, Smith A Nother, we'd have probably still signed Mings and Hause in January.

Everyone could see we needed a defence and we have a structure in place with Pitarch and the scouts identifying the players.
 
McParlandTheGreat said:
A big part of it has been him improving players who maybe had been written off. Whelan, Taylor, Elmo, for example. If we don't go up that will be a big plus for next season.
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They shouldnt have been written off though. Personally I thought Elmo and Whelan were hard done by with the amount of criticism they were getting. They were just the easy targets when results were going against us (similar to Hourihane earlier this year). They weren't popular signings when they joined and some cling on to their previous perceptions of them.
 
Xchurch Villa said:
Share your view Tierney, in fact, in a perverse way, I hope we don't go up because I think we would get automatic next year and it would be great to see us winning week after week. My only concern about not going up this year is losing Mings
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I think we'll lose Grealish as well as all of the loan players. Without the parachute payments, we will struggle to replace them.

If we could keep this team together, I think we'd top the league but it won't be that easy.
 
IMO, one of the factors that has gone under the radar a little is that along with a settled defence that is comfortable on the ball and the resurgent central midfield, the wide midfield berths are more stable and consistent. Anwar in particular is becoming more of a threat and Green (although not perfect) has been more effective than Kodjia or Albert. Credit again to DS.

I just hope that come the end of the season, we have achieved enough to keep the neucleus of a potentially bright future together.
 
DeanoVilla said:
I'd wager that whoever was in charge Bruce, Smith A Nother, we'd have probably still signed Mings and Hause in January.

Everyone could see we needed a defence and we have a structure in place with Pitarch and the scouts identifying the players.
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The difference is that Bruce would not have the team playing in the attacking manner that DS does. Their managerial philosophies are completely different. I know which I would rather watch.
 
Neither did Smith when Jack was out. We were very boring.

I think the Steve Bruce thing is a bit of a myth anyway. Yes it was a bit turgid at the end but he'd lost all his best players and was rebuilding.

But in the season we finished 4th we were 3rd highest goalscorers in the division. I don't think that smacks of a defensive philosophy.

It's just people have short memories, and are seemingly very ageist (all the dinosaur crap).
 
People do have short memories. Under Bruce last season we had, on paper, one of the top squads in the division. We should have gone up, probably via the automatics.

We didn't, for a number of reasons. Far too often the team didn't turn up, as in the Wembley final. Far too often players were wandering around the field looking as though they didn't know what they were supposed to be doing. We didn't have a recognisable style. Sometimes it all came together and we looked good, as in beating Wolves. Too often it didn't.

To me that's down to Bruce. I think he signed some (but not all) good players. But as a manager he's not very good, not by the standards needed to succeed today.
 
DeanoVilla said:
Neither did Smith when Jack was out. We were very boring.

I think the Steve Bruce thing is a bit of a myth anyway. Yes it was a bit turgid at the end but he'd lost all his best players and was rebuilding.

But in the season we finished 4th we were 3rd highest goalscorers in the division. I don't think that smacks of a defensive philosophy.

It's just people have short memories, and are seemingly very ageist (all the dinosaur crap).
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For how long is "a bit turgid" acceptable? Short memory and ageist? No. I know what I saw. A team set up not to lose and a handful of exciting performance in two seasons. After the Wolves game, we never looked like winning a raffle, let alone promotion.

Had we had the squad we have now at the start of the season, playing under DS, I believe we would be challenging for the automatic places. It's not personal, Bruce left the squad in a mess and had run out of ideas. His time was up.

Should we continue in this vein of form and reach the promised land, this year we have a stronger core of players IMO. The tactical changes under DS have on the whole worked, although only time will tell what he will achieve. Last years squad would have been relegated.

Time the Bruce apologists stopped apologising and looking at his tenure with rose tinted specs. We needed to move on.
 
Bruce apologist?

I'm not a Bruce apologist, I'm a Bruce fan, so I'll always speak fondly of him. If that offends you I apologise..... does that make me a NorthamptonVillan apologist?
 
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