horsefly

Here is my "original point": "It's absurd to claim "Smith has shown absolutely no ability to improve a player during his tenure here". You don't have the slightest evidence to make such a claim. While he has been here we have seen Springett, Rowe, and Gibbs make impressive debuts, and Omobamidele establish himself as a first team player." So, you are clearly lying that I said "young". Your desperate need to lie in order to distract from the stupidity of your claims is sadly all too obvious. Secondly, Smith arrived at Villa shortly after Grealish's 23rd birthday. Grealish would no doubt be indebted to you to learn that he is entirely mistaken to credit Smith with being a major influence on his footballing development Clearly no footballer has developed their talents after reaching such an ancient age. Bye, bye thicko! I really can't be bothered to indulge your idiocy any longer. (BTW It really isn't a good look when you can't even manage to put a required apostrophe in your actual site name)

I think that needs qualifying a bit. I'm not quite sure what the relevance is of pointing out "the words are absolute". As you rightly say yourself "you can debate what he meant", but that is precisely the only thing of real import. This, of course, holds equally true of all texts in all religions. The differences in the various Muslim sects all centre on interpretation, and in that respect they don't differ from any other sects in any other religion. As you point out, it is fundamentalism that is the problem (something that is not only true of religions but also fanatical political movements too, and something brilliantly lampooned in The Life of Brian). Fundamentalists of all stripes assume that their interpretation of a text is the only valid interpretation and all others are the work of apostates and heretics. Fundamentalism is the real enemy. Interestingly the US has currently far more to fear from right-wing Christian fundamentalism than it does from Islamic fundamentalism.

Let's not forget the fundamentalist Christians in America who have bombed abortion clinics and murdered medical staff. Even in this country Christian zealots persecute women seeking abortions, and harass gay people (even to the extent of subjecting homosexuals to the torture of conversion therapy).

Smith became manager in 2018, Grealish had just turned 23; obviously he stopped developing at that ancient age. You are simply too thick to bother engaging with any further.

A perfect display of how little you bile mongers read and understand. Who has described Smith as a hero? Personally I'm neither pro nor against Smith. I'm pro using one's rational capacity and giving the man a chance (which is going to happen irrespective of what you Smith haters wish). If we had been outplayed in the three games I would indeed be very worried, but the reality is we haven't, indeed the evidence is to the contrary, we have dominated those games (in particular Wigan and Hull). But for a couple of gross blunders and contrived misses in front of goal we could easily have 7 points on the board. A rational response to defeat in such circumstances is to give the manager and team the opportunity to turn that domination into wins. How little people have learnt from the early months of Farke's reign.

Try to get those two brain cells you own to smash into each other occasionally. A quick google search reveals plenty of players singing Smith's praises. But let's be honest, you don't give a fu*ck about the truth so somewhat pointless reeling off a list, or pointing to the City players who have been elevated to the first team squad on merit. Now trot off and throw some darts at a picture of Smith. Maybe even you can manage a hit if you stand close enough, Dumbo!

Hahahahaha!!! You really are remarkably dumb! Players develop throughout their careers you buffoon, and Grealish has thanked Smith for playing a crucial part in his own development (as have others). Are you entirely incapable of sticking to the point being addressed, or does your frustration and bile always get the better of you?

Spot on! But you will, no doubt, get flak for being balanced and rational. That's a cardinal sin on this site.

Because you wrote a lot of crap regarding my response to the claim that Smith is incapable of developing young players. Grealish was precisely one of those young players who credit Smith with developing his talent. There are plenty more out there, and I have little doubt that those absurd claims would be refuted by Rowe, Springett, Gibbs, Omobamidele et al. Do pay attention.

Such a simple word "no", yet you don't understand its meaning. Explains a lot.

And Sinani against Wigan just "didn't".

And yet, Ramsey should have scored one and had another cleared off the line, hardly what you would call a poor substitution. Sinani came on against Wigan and produced nothing. That's how the game goes.

Try reading what they say about him.

More than welcome. Make sure you copy in your Pinkun posts on your application form, they'll be mightily impressed.

First, Ramsey made an excellent run to be in precisely the right position. I suspect even he will be at a complete loss to explain how he managed to clear the bar. Secondly, he had another effort cleared off the line. Are you seriously claiming that you know with certainty that had Sinani came on instead he would have scored? I think you will find that's not how football works.

Interestingly, Villa fans continued to sing his praises to the end.

Perhaps you should offer your services as a club scout. You clearly have an eye far superior to our current staff.

Remind me what Harry Kane's loan record was with us.

Here is a Hull fan's balanced view of the game. What a shame that he is happier to give a rational assessment of NCFC's performance while many of our own fans are desperate to use the defeat to abuse Smith: http://boothferrytowembley.blogspot.com/2022/08/hull-city-2-norwich-city-1-tigers-top.html Hull City 2 Norwich City 1: Tigers top the table For the second successive home game to start this season, Hull City’s players strolled around three packed sides of the ground after a 2-1 win, sharing hugs and high-fives, applauding the fans and soaking in the sound of “I can’t help falling in love with you” wafting from the PA and those delirious supporters. It won’t be like this every week. Not even most weeks but with the sun shining, the lush green MKM Stadium pitch defying the rest of our brown and yellow country, over 17,000 fans creating an atmosphere we feared we wouldn’t see again for a long, long time, this was special. City had more injury woes to deal with for the visit of Norwich – recently relegated and much fancied to win the Championship, again. Talisman Jean Michael Seri was missing after picking up an injury at Preston, weakening an already depleted squad. Shota Arveladze chose to replace him with Alfie Jones and to switch to 4-3-3 rather than replace Jones in defence. Both decisions were masterful. City: Ingram, Coyle, Elder, Figueiredo, Greaves, Jones, Slater, Tufan (Williams), Sayyadmanesh, Estupiñán (Covil), Tetteh (Cannon). Norwich are a good outfit. They’ve got quality everywhere and, unlike City, a bench full of players who can make a difference. They’re exceptionally well organised and know their jobs in and out of possession and they have exceptional pace and movement. They really looked the part, despite their new third kit, which looks like a Zap Ice Cream. For ten minutes, they battered City. They forced two corners in the first minute. Matt Ingram made four saves in as many minutes. After Tobias Figueiredo gave Jones a suicidal pass and Teemu Pukki robbed him in the penalty area, Ingram made a fantastic double save with his feet, deflecting the second shot wide as the corner count climbed. City struggled to get hold of the ball, couldn’t get near Pukki and had Todd Cantwell drifting all over the front line looking like the player who was on the verge of England honours and a big money move a couple of years ago. Fortunately for us, and unfortunately for Cantwell, it didn’t last. Lewie Coyle was generally free on the right-hand side and Jacob Greaves’ diagonal cross field balls started to find him and allow a link up with Allahyar. Jones and Regan Slater found more composure and stayed on the ball in midfield, committing players and opening gaps. Slowly but surely, City pushed the visitors back and the attacks, while still dangerous, became more sporadic and Ingram’s saves easier. With City enjoying more of the ball, Ozan Tufan shone. A few weeks ago, fans feared he'd be a white elephant. His fitness levels scorned. His motives doubted. His ability questioned. That only lasted one “proper” game and he’s already showing just how good he is, even if his fitness is still a way off. They’re terrified when he gets a sight of goal and in open play, his footwork saw him spin out of one challenge only to immediately nutmeg the next and he then skipped clear on the left before Omobamidele took him out and took a yellow. Clear cut chances were clearly missing from City’s performance but the front three were working hard, particularly Estupiñán who we’ve not seen much of so far, and Tetteh volleyed well over from a Coyle delivery while Allahyar got himself into promising positions on the right numerous times but his crossing is pretty terrible. The fussy ref was winding everyone up and peaked when he allowed Norwich to play-on with Max Aarons down injured, which they were entitled to do, only to immediately blow-up once Estupiñán stole possession and launched a counter. Do you believe in karma? I’m not sure I do, but regardless, once Aarons was attended to, City scored from the drop-ball. The ball was launched forward towards Tetteh, the returning Aarons crashed into his back but the big man continued anyway and put the ball forward towards Estupiñán. Aarons was involved again, recovering the ball only for him to proceed to smash at it at his mate and it dropped for Estupiñán to poach his first City goal [1-0]. City went into the break in front thanks to another fine save by Ingram from Pukki. The 4-3-3 had been a huge success. The front players were nowhere near as isolated as last week at Preston, the spaces wide were exploited by pushing on the full backs, Coyle particularly, Jones brilliantly anchored the midfield in front of his excellent central defenders, Figueiredo’s early pass aside, and Slater buzzed everywhere allowing Tufan to pull the strings. Half time: Hull City 1 Norwich City 0 The second half took a while to get going. Mainly due to Mr Fussy in the middle gifting Norwich free-kicks every time someone breathed near them. They struggled to dominate like the first half though and were the first to make changes, including €9.5m USA striker Josh Sargent. With City’s bench severely depleted and the visitors throwing on players of this expense, it looked most likely that their subs would affect the game. But with Andy Cannon, who ended last season on loan to Stockport, readied to come on for The Tigers, they struck again. An exchange from a throw in saw Estupiñán free Coyle, who found Jones. His cut back was well struck by Tufan but blocked, as was a follow-up from Tetteh, which deflected for a corner. Tufan delivered the corner, it fell to Jones, was saved by Tim Krul, a follow-up was blocked on the line and poked in by Estupiñán for this second of the game [2-0]. The noise was glorious. 8,000 people watching miserable home games in the cold last season are a distant memory. More Norwich subs followed while City slipped further back in protection of their lead. More corners were clocked up (count ended up 2-11) and well defended, particularly by Allahyar who has a real knack for it. City were defiant in open play and Ingram had almost got bored having not made a save for about 2 minutes. Then Callum Elder clumsily caught Sargent who rolled about 5 yards and they dragged the ball another 5 to create a create shooting opportunity. It was taken by Nunez who curled an absolute beauty, a reverse Andy Holt vs. S****horpe, beyond Ingram [2-1]. From there, it was back to attack vs. defence. Williams and Covil came on to partner Allahyar up front but despite the intention of fresh legs pressurising their defenders, they ended up as additional full backs in a back six half the time. They missed an absolute sitter sliding in at the back post and Greaves headed magnificently off the line. Imagine any oof the morons online questioning Greaves’s commitment this week? The kid is incredible. He’s been outstanding in every league game this season. Despite the seeming inevitability of an equaliser and having to negotiate seven (!!) minutes of stoppage time, City held on for a tremendous win and top the Championship – until Blackburn play next, anyway. Full-time: Hull City 2 Norwich City 1 Seven points from three games, one a tricky away fixture and another against promotion favourites, is a great return for a side still clearly finding fitness and familiarity and seriously lacking in depth. Arveladze used his substitutes very well today but was fortunate that we never needed anything to change a game in which we trailed because there wasn’t anyone available to do so. But, in spite of those issues, what City have shown is incredible fight in the games, determination not to concede goals from our outstanding back line and defensive midfielders and found a way to score goals – at home anyway. Callum Elder made this 100th start for City today and had a very solid game, though they did really get at our left side as he tired. Ingram and Jones were clear man of the match candidates but Slater was good again and Estupiñán had his moments. I love how Coyle has started the season too. He’s led brilliantly as skipper. The games keep coming thick and fast and Burnley away on Tuesday night is about as tough as it gets for a side that’s just put in an incredible amount of graft in baking conditions. There aren’t really the fresh legs available to make the changes Arveladze would want to make after such an effort but Seri could come back into contention and Ryan Woods is said to be close to arriving from Birmingham. It’s hard to see where either fits in to the side, on merit anyway, on the back of today’s performance. Both the system, and the personnel, deserve to be seen again so the decisions for Shota to make are big ones. He’ll perhaps sacrifice an attacker for an additional midfielder to revert to 3-5-2 or 5-4-1 to try and take something at Turf Moor. Then it’s on to WBA (a) on Saturday, just in case you’d forgotten that treat! Being top of the league is nice, but it doesn’t really matter. Taking 7 points so far is nice, but it doesn’t really matter. New signings starting to look the part is nice, but it doesn’t really matter. Having Hull City back. That matters. The people in seats. The black and amber everywhere. The queues to get in, to buy shirts, to get a beer. The kids everywhere. The girls and women everywhere. The smiles everywhere. Remember when this football lark used to be fun? You’d have to remember all the way back to about…. 5pm this afternoon.

Hahaha! Of course, Ramsey obviously has a track record of blazing over from 4-yards and that's why Smith signed him. He's so desperate to lose.

No!

With all due respect, perhaps you should pay a bit more attention to what has been claimed. Your response is simplistic anti-Smith bile. Here's the reaction of Jack Grealish to Smith's sacking from Villa: No1 will ever compare 💙❤️ the real goat ❤️❤️ https://t.co/Spp6ADIAo6 — Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) November 7, 2021 I suppose you want to claim that he never developed under Smith too. I could post more responses from young players who are full of praise for Smith's influence but it is a somewhat futile exercise given the tinned eared determination of fans like you to spew out anti-Smith tosh.

It is. perhaps take a look at this Hull fan's report to get some balance: http://boothferrytowembley.blogspot.com/2022/08/hull-city-2-norwich-city-1-tigers-top.html

You believe Aarons lacks confidence do you? I suspect he would be the first to own up that his error had absolutely nothing to with lack of confidence nor anything to do with the manager. Likewise Ramsey's miss, do you really think he went back into the dressing room thinking, "that was all Smith's fault, he makes me feel so unconfident"? Get real ffs! It's absurd to claim "Smith has shown absolutely no ability to improve a player during his tenure here". You don't have the slightest evidence to make such a claim. While he has been here we have seen Springett, Rowe, and Gibbs make impressive debuts, and Omobamidele establish himself as a first team player.