Clint

Yes he should start as at least that may allow us to go to 4-4-2, which is the only formation that has actually worked this season. But yet we’ve decided to completely abandon it!

I’m not sure what he’s said wrong here to be honest. All seems pretty fair to me.

This is not saying we should have kept Farke or we should sack Smith but I am very concerned about our inability under Smith to start playing until halftime. This is a point I have raised before but the only match I can recall where we were even remotely good first half was Everton. A few other matches we’ve been ok at best but the rest we’ve been an absolute shambles until half time. Why is this?

The handling of this this situation is one of the many disasters of this season sadly.

I’m not sure the problem is Gilmour, I think the problem is Gilmour and McLean together. I think it’s the combination of the two that kills us. Of the matches that Gilmour has played and we’ve got points, was he in a midfield three with McLean and one other? I may be wrong but I recall Kenny having a spell out of the team, what was the points haul like in those games?

Gibson can’t play on Thursday. Bear in mind we actually conceded 4 yesterday as well, with another piece of shambolic defending. If Kabak is fit, I’d play him, if not, Zimbo. Or both with 5-3-2, which quite honestly I cannot believe has not been tried at all yet!

He’s playing the same formation and players that Farke was using and was being unsuccessful with. The only time he changed it, the results improved. That fact he has reverted back to what Farke was doing so unsuccessfully, is the maddest part.

Gibson is an absolute liability at this level, directly or indirectly responsible for so many of the goals conceded. Our worst CB and shouldn’t be playing.

I think it has to be 4-4-2 today as we simply have to win and to do that we need to score! Pukki remains our best chance of doing that so we need to get him in the game.

I’ll be there!

Isn’t it a bit early for this thread?

I would be very disappointed if Smith changed the outfield starters tonight. Those that played last week deserve the opportunity to play again. Despite having less midfielders on the pitch, our midfield looked much more efficient, in both attack and defence. Kenny surely can’t be match fit either so there would be no sense in him starting tonight. Stranger things have happened though!

It was actually £2.5m plus add on’s wasn’t it?

I may be wrong but I can’t recall a first half under Smith where we have actually played well. Even on the very rare occasions we’ve done ok, it’s pretty much all been down to the second half. We all said Farke had no plan B but at least he had a plan A!

Do we have the money to ‘just buy one’ though?

We had more points last time around with a team of lower league German players and academy graduates. We were initially competitive despite all of the summer signings then also being failures. It wasn’t until lockdown that we really fell apart. The signings, the sacking of Farke, the appointment of Smith, the whole thing is just a shambles right now. That has to fall on Webber. And we’ve totally lost the togetherness within the club and team spirit that we had before. I totally agree that a team with Vrancic, Trybull, Marco, Onel etc could hardly be doing any worse. Potentially inferior players (not really sure about that though) but wanted to play for the club, each other, the manager and the fans.

I assume those saying that they’d rather have Hugill back are aware of the fact he has one goal and no assists in 17 appearances in the championship this season for a team doing well?

I may be wrong but wasn’t there an issue/clash with Russell Martin in Farke’s first season as well?

I’d give him two more matches and he has to win at least one of them.

Idah was the designated penalty taker and should’ve taken it. But I understand why a guy who gets 2 mins of game time here and there would’ve given in to the new multi-million pound Greek wonderkid. Isn’t the problem here the complete lack of discipline and leadership? Firstly, Tzolis went against the managers wishes but it only appeared to be him vs Idah to take it, with a bit of an interjection from our young inexperienced loan player. It’s hardly Gilmour’s job to sort these things out, is it? Not for the first or last time tonight, our captain was AWOL. Surely it’s his job to sort these sorts of issues out? And if not, the senior players? Can you imagine Roy Keane letting some young upstart go against the managers wishes? Can you imagine anyone wanting to defy Fergie? We have no discipline and no leaders, from the top down.

He’d have scored that penalty though, which he should’ve taken. Perhaps, like everyone else, he’s completely lacking in confidence.

With Vrancic, Tettey, Leitner and Trybull et al in that team?

It’s going to be at least 17 with Everton and Burnley away up next.

Gilmour is a very similar player to Lietner but even less physical. Lietner was deemed not the sort of player we require at this level so why do we now have Gilmour? Has to be dropped, he’s a complete passenger.

Completely correct Bunny. Emi’s defensive work for a player of his type was second to none.