From Farkeball to Hoofball

[Worthy Nigelton 1,334]

Dean Smith's football is pretty direct isn't it? But not in a counter attacking pacey way, more in a hit the channels kind of way. Might be due to a lack of quality players but it's not pretty to watch in my opinion. Anyone else thinking this?

Edited December 14, 2021 by Worthy Nigelton
Typo

[(Hoola)Han Solo 324]

I agree with this slightly, but when we are passing it around, a total lack of movement and creative spark just leads us to firing it down the channels. 

[Graham Paddons Beard 2,886]

7 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

Dean Smith's football is pretty direct isn't it? But not in a counter attacking pacey way, more in a hit the channels kind of way. Might be due to a lack of quality players but it's not pretty to watch in my opinion. Anyone else thinking this?

No. I didn’t see us hitting anything into channels. 

I think we may have tried a few times but it didn’t clear the defence . 

Edited December 14, 2021 by Graham Paddons Beard

[AJ 1,377]

If Farke approached the PL with the same style as the Championship last season I think we would have done far better. We've been far too defensive as a whole, losing Buendia was of course a very big blow but we've simply not created enough and even with the changes we've seen from Smith with a bit more fight in the players, still we lack creating genuine goalscoring chances. It's like playing cricket but just passing it between the fielders without attempting to bowl, absolutely bizarre we're not taking it to these teams, especially at home. I'd rather we lose 4-3 than struggle to muster a single shot on goal at home to a team not far above us in the table

[Worthy Nigelton 1,334]

2 minutes ago, AJ said:

If Farke approached the PL with the same style as the Championship last season I think we would have done far better. We've been far too defensive as a whole, losing Buendia was of course a very big blow but we've simply not created enough and even with the changes we've seen from Smith with a bit more fight in the players, still we lack creating genuine goalscoring chances. It's like playing cricket but just passing it between the fielders without attempting to bowl, absolutely bizarre we're not taking it to these teams, especially at home. I'd rather we lose 4-3 than struggle to muster a single shot on goal at home to a team not far above us in the table

This is a good point that hasnt been made enough. Under Lambert we just had a go at everyone, it was fun and it worked. Same as Leeds last year.

[astro 423]

13 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

This is a good point that hasnt been made enough. Under Lambert we just had a go at everyone, it was fun and it worked. Same as Leeds last year.

But the trouble there is that after a season other teams find you out. Farke didn’t want that. He wanted to build a team that would stay in the division without a constant relegation battle. Whether he would ever have succeeded, I really don’t know. 

[Danke bitte 1,199]

What happens in the Champ next season with Smith and not Farke? Are we going to ring Farke back up and say get us promoted mate?! I worry about where we’re heading stylistically. I don’t see real identity to our play and we can’t score. We’re witnessing the end of the Webber era I suppose… 

[Hank shoots Skyler 2,094]

24 minutes ago, Danke bitte said:

What happens in the Champ next season with Smith and not Farke? Are we going to ring Farke back up and say get us promoted mate?! I worry about where we’re heading stylistically. I don’t see real identity to our play and we can’t score. We’re witnessing the end of the Webber era I suppose… 

Please try to remember how Farke had this same group of players playing overall up to Smith joining in the premier league, it was turgid aimless hoofball in the latter stages with no plan of how to press teams or deal with transitions. 

Yes we were poor today and haven't always been particularly attractive in Smith's opening games, but its overall been a definite improvement probably deserves to show us his style of play in the champs, as imagine it will be more expansive at the lower level to a similar extent that Farke's was. 

It was only recently that we dominated possession at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, and pressed Wolves and Southampton extremely high all over the pitch, so clearly we are not solely going down the direct route under Smith (whilst I do agree that today was shambolically poor).

[Petriix 3,250]

I started a very similarly titled thread a couple of months ago, ironically while Farke was still at the helm. I was gutted that Farke had abandoned his style with fairly catastrophic consequences. 

Smith brought a semblance of order to the chaos, but we're ultimately no further forward. The dream of survival is masking the deeper issues. The squad has been totally mismanaged to the extent that I can't see us being competitive in the Championship next season.

We've lost the two best players from our last promotion in Skipp and Buendia , and our remaining best player, Cantwell, has become a shadow of his previous self. We've lost Vrancic and Stiepermann too. That's a lot of goals we're going to struggle to replicate, and a seriously weakened defensive unit to boot.

The players we've signed are nowhere near the level of those we've moved on. Rashica is no better than Placheta or Hernandez, Tzolis has shown nothing and Sargent is pretty similar to Hugill but without the goal threat. 

So, now there's no real chance of playing that dynamic, attacking transition play where we swiftly work through the phases. We just don't have the quality on the pitch, let alone the cohesive collective understanding of what we are trying to do. It's a shambles.

Now it's possible that Smith has his own style which might get the team working together in a way that we've not yet seen. There have been some good signs. But it's lacking the final bit where we kick it into the goal. We've scored exactly 3 times in his tenure: all from crosses. I'm struggling to see where the goals are coming from.