“No need to panic” says Dean Smith

[kenfoggo 247]

Of course he WOULD say that. Of course there is no need to panic. It is only game three of the season and the fact that we are bottom of the division is irrelevant. I suspect that the Owners, the Board and the Sporting Director will take a cold, dispassionate review of Dean Smith’s record since his arrival at Carrow Road. Without any panic they will come to the conclusion that Smith is not a good fit at this football club. A search for a new head coach will begin as they tell Smith and the Press that they have “full confidence” in the current Head Coach and his staff. Huddersfield and then Millwall, both home fixtures, must surely be a watershed for the future of the current regime?

[Feedthewolf 4,844]

2 minutes ago, kenfoggo said:

Of course he WOULD say that. Of course there is no need to panic. It is only game three of the season and the fact that we are bottom of the division is irrelevant. I suspect that the Owners, the Board and the Sporting Director will take a cold, dispassionate review of Dean Smith’s record since his arrival at Carrow Road. Without any panic they will come to the conclusion that Smith is not a good fit at this football club. A search for a new head coach will begin as they tell Smith and the Press that they have “full confidence” in the current Head Coach and his staff. Huddersfield and then Millwall, both home fixtures, must surely be a watershed for the future of the current regime?

The only trouble with this, is that coming to that conclusion would cast aspersions upon their own ability to choose a suitable successor to Farke. Even if they have come to that conclusion, they're more than likely to wait in the hope that he can turn it around.

As you say, though, the two home games this week are pivotal. Fail to win either of them, and a raucous Friday night crowd are unlikely to go home quietly after the Millwall game.

[essex canary 491]

A Smith reiterates a famous Jones phrase. Say no more!

[Canary Wundaboy 1,358]

Tuesday night could be feisty.

[DraytonBoy 142]

Smith is right though, the season has only just started so there's plenty of time to sort things out. I still circle back to same question - is it the squad or the manager? 

[Unhinged Canary 375]

25 minutes ago, DraytonBoy said:

Smith is right though, the season has only just started so there's plenty of time to sort things out. I still circle back to same question - is it the squad or the manager? 

The squad is garbage for the most part, but he's worse.

[Ken Hairy 3,759]

At a Premier League level the squad is garbage granted, but at Championship?? The problem is totally with the so called manager, he's going to run Megson close in the useless stakes. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Ken Hairy

[horsefly 4,287]

A cold dispassionate view would assess the three games as two matches in which City dominated (70% possession) but threw away wins because of player errors that were not the fault of the manager. Thus the message "No need to panic" is perfectly reasonable, just as it was in the early days of similar results under Farke.

[Don’t be Krul 398]

Just seen extended highlights of the game. We DO have the players that can rip up this league, none more so than Nunez who we should build around. The return of Hayden can't come soon enough and I feel that we need a proper left back, can't wait around for when Byram might return. So DS says no need to panic and in a way he is right. The players are there, so what's the problem??? Dean Smith, it is YOU

[Herman 9,713]

1 hour ago, Unhinged Canary said:

The squad is garbage for the most part, but he's worse.

The squad isn't garbage and that's the problem I have with him. There is a good team in there trying to get out but I don't think he is getting the best out of them.

[Ken Hairy 3,759]

The thing is, sacking Dean Smith wouldn't be panicking, it would be correcting a very poor business decision, something all good leaders should be prepared to do. 

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,251]

Agreed. Fans need to concentrate on getting behind the team at this stage. The last thing we need is toxicity - the boos at halftime yesterday were disgraceful. I hate this sense of entitlement within the fanbase.
 

Yes there have been mistakes, and our abysmal attempt to stay in the EPL is borderline embarrassing. But what we have currently is a very good championship squad capable of winning a lot of games this season. There are positives if you look. 
 

This could turn round very quickly. So Smith is right, there is no need to panic. If we’re still here in 7 games time, then It’s a different story. But if the performances stay like they are, I’m sure we won’t be. 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Creedence Clearwater Couto

[AJ 1,218]

1 minute ago, Ken Hairy said:

The thing is, sacking Dean Smith wouldn't be panicking, it would be correcting a very poor business decision, something all good leaders should be prepared to do. 

1 win since January is worse than Farke is it not? He got sacked for much less after what can only be described as an excellent tenure. Yes he probably hadn't shown enough ability to get to grips with the top flight, but then it proved to be the players just weren't good enough either. 

[ron obvious 1,499]

The thing for me is that the performances have improved with each game, so I'm still confident it'll turn around very soon. However, you simply can't keep gifting goals, missing chances & thereby losing games you should have won easily without destroying the team's (& supporters') morale.

I'm completely neutral on Smith. I think he's trying to play decent football but if he can't start winning games soon he'll have to go. He'll never be in the same league as Daniel though, whatever he does.

This is so Groundhog Day. Feels like I've been here so many times before.  Still can't wait for Tuesday though ...

[astro 358]

1 hour ago, DraytonBoy said:

Smith is right though, the season has only just started so there's plenty of time to sort things out. I still circle back to same question - is it the squad or the manager? 

This squad was playing in the premiership last season. Beat Watford and Brentford at their own place, Southampton and Everton here, took four points off Burnley, and narrowly lost to a Ronaldo inspired Man U twice. The squad had been strengthened rather than weakened. I’ll leave you to make your own conclusions to your question. 

[astro 358]

41 minutes ago, horsefly said:

A cold dispassionate view would assess the three games as two matches in which City dominated (70% possession) but threw away wins because of player errors that were not the fault of the manager. Thus the message "No need to panic" is perfectly reasonable, just as it was in the early days of similar results under Farke.

But it’s not early days is it! 

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

A minimum of 4 points from these two figures otherwise that's it for Smith as far as I'm concerned.

The club has invested heavily in these players last season and this, yet Smith still doesn't know his best starting XI. 

If we lose at home to Millwall the atmosphere will turn toxic and I see no way back for him.

It appears right now to be such an horrendous appointment.

[Capt. Pants 4,195]

2 minutes ago, astro said:

But it’s not early days is it! 

No I don't think so. It was all last season as well including his failure at Villa.

[RugbyCanary 94]

We're not 'just three games in' though........we need to leave farke out of this. 'its a points game' (?) If it is, he's not cutting it.  Yes only three games in this season how many last? I feel he doesn't know his strongest team OR formation.......

[canarybubbles 1,915]

There's no need to panic in the sense that we could easily have five or six points if the matches had gone slightly differently and we have looked better than we did for most of last season (although against much weaker opposition).

But it's very worrying that almost every player who was a regular member of the squad when Smith took over seems to have gone backwards. Pukki is a shadow of his former self, Rashica is getting rapidly worse with each game, Gibson was never great but used to be reliable rather than an accident waiting to happen, Hanley has been less impressive so far this season, Aarons has been OK this season but was awful by his high standards in the last half of last season, McLean seems more prone to losing the ball, and in yesterday's game even Omobamidele was starting to lose his shine. Who has improved?

I'll grant Cantwell, but I think that's a special case and it's more to do with him realising he screwed up big time and he's in the last chance saloon in terms of his long-term career. And even he has put in the effort rather than been the effective and creative player he was two seasons ago.

[canarydan23 4,060]

32 minutes ago, Creedence Clearwater Couto said:

Agreed. Fans need to concentrate on getting behind the team at this stage. The last thing we need is toxicity - the boos at halftime yesterday were disgraceful. I hate this sense of entitlement within the fanbase.
 

Yes there have been mistakes, and our abysmal attempt to stay in the EPL is borderline embarrassing. But what we have currently is a very good championship squad capable of winning a lot of games this season. There are positives if you look. 
 

This could turn round very quickly. So Smith is right, there is no need to panic. If we’re still here in 7 games time, then It’s a different story. But if the performances stay like they are, I’m sure we won’t be. 

Entitlement?! In terms of the Championship, we're an elite team at this level, a Man City or Liverpool 

We've forked out close to an 8 figure sum on someone we didn't even select yesterday and bought in a Chilean international. We've one of the best strikers in the league's history, two more attacking players that we didn't get a lot of change out of £10 mil, 50% of a back four that we feared would be nicked by EPL teams (Hanley and Aarons) and a Dutch international keeper.

It's not entitlement to be frustrated at losing 2-0 at half time to Hull.

Imagine if Man City were bottom after 3 league games. After all, they're bookies favourites to win the league like us.

It's a pathetic start by an abject manager in charge of a squad who should be getting 90+ points.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

We have played THREE league games ... some folk need to chill out - there are 43 games left!!!

We're playing well but have struggled against teams happy to take a draw with a stubborn low block.

Once we get a win and have Hayden available we should start motoring.

 

Edited August 14, 2022 by Cantiaci Canary

[canarydan23 4,060]

2 minutes ago, canarybubbles said:

There's no need to panic in the sense that we could easily have five or six points if the matches had gone slightly differently and we have looked better than we did for most of last season (although against much weaker opposition).

But it's very worrying that almost every player who was a regular member of the squad when Smith took over seems to have gone backwards. Pukki is a shadow of his former self, Rashica is getting rapidly worse with each game, Gibson was never great but used to be reliable rather than an accident waiting to happen, Hanley has been less impressive so far this season, Aarons has been OK this season but was awful by his high standards in the last half of last season, McLean seems more prone to losing the ball, and in yesterday's game even Omobamidele was starting to lose his shine. Who has improved?

I'll grant Cantwell, but I think that's a special case and it's more to do with him realising he screwed up big time and he's in the last chance saloon in terms of his long-term career. And even he has put in the effort rather than been the effective and creative player he was two seasons ago.

That's a fair point. McLean has his haters here and I entirely agree that he's a woeful player at EPL level, but was comfortable with him in the Championship. However, he looks as off it this season as last. Likewise, Gibson was brilliant two years ago but now looks like Gary Doherty on one of his bad days every time he steps on the pitch.

[canarydan23 4,060]

2 minutes ago, Cantiaci Canary said:

We have played THREE league games ... some folk need to chill out - there are 43 games left!!!

We're playing well but gave struggled against teams happy to take a draw with a stubborn los block.

Once we get a win and have Hayden available we should start motoring.

 

Eh? Cardiff and Hull didn't take a draw bud.

And we've had a lot more than 3 games to assess Smith, was last season so bad you've expunged it from your memory? I wish I could.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

1 minute ago, canarydan23 said:

Entitlement?! In terms of the Championship, we're an elite team at this level, a Man City or Liverpool 

We've forked out close to an 8 figure sum on someone we didn't even select yesterday and bought in a Chilean international. We've one of the best strikers in the league's history, two more attacking players that we didn't get a lot of change out of £10 mil, 50% of a back four that we feared would be nicked by EPL teams (Hanley and Aarons) and a Dutch international keeper.

It's not entitlement to be frustrated at losing 2-0 at half time to Hull.

Imagine if Man City were bottom after 3 league games. After all, they're bookies favourites to win the league like us.

It's a pathetic start by an abject manager in charge of a squad who should be getting 90+ points.

There is no elite in the Championship.

It's a physical and relentless scrap with ZERO respect for price tags and past glories.

The number of times I've seen so called elite squads humbled in this division over the years is high and there's a reason for that.

This is not a computer game. This is a battle, a slog a scrap - and we'll be fine once we get a little luck and things start clicking. We very very easily could be sitting on nine points right now but the cookie didn't crumble that way.

[Cantiaci Canary 556]

6 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Eh? Cardiff and Hull didn't take a draw bud.

And we've had a lot more than 3 games to assess Smith, was last season so bad you've expunged it from your memory? I wish I could.

They would've been delighted with a draw - hence the way they set up and approached the game. Both were lucky to come away with three points!

Additionally - I don't think any manager on earth could've got more out of the players we had than Smith did last season ... we were easy prey regardless of who sat in the dug out.

Edited August 14, 2022 by Cantiaci Canary

[Ken Hairy 3,759]

12 minutes ago, Cantiaci Canary said:

We have played THREE league games ... some folk need to chill out - there are 43 games left!!!

We're playing well but gave struggled against teams happy to take a draw with a stubborn los block.

Once we get a win and have Hayden available we should start motoring.

 

1 win since January...... ONE!!!! 

[canarydan23 4,060]

5 minutes ago, Cantiaci Canary said:

They would've been delighted with a draw - hence the way they set up and approached the game. Both were lucky to come away with three points!

Additionally - I don't think any manager on earth could've got more out of the players we had than Smith did last season ... we were easy prey regardless of who sat in the dug out.

Wow.

I mean...wow.

[Creedence Clearwater Couto 1,251]

10 minutes ago, canarydan23 said:

Entitlement?! In terms of the Championship, we're an elite team at this level, a Man City or Liverpool 

We've forked out close to an 8 figure sum on someone we didn't even select yesterday and bought in a Chilean international. We've one of the best strikers in the league's history, two more attacking players that we didn't get a lot of change out of £10 mil, 50% of a back four that we feared would be nicked by EPL teams (Hanley and Aarons) and a Dutch international keeper.

It's not entitlement to be frustrated at losing 2-0 at half time to Hull.

Imagine if Man City were bottom after 3 league games. After all, they're bookies favourites to win the league like us.

It's a pathetic start by an abject manager in charge of a squad who should be getting 90+ points.

It was 1 nil at half time, not 2.

We’re Norwich City.. so we’re  entitled to boo at HT away at Hull 3 games into a championship season for being 1 down. Come on.. that’s a bit embarrassing IMO. Hull remember,  are a bigger city than us, and have richer owners, and made some impressive signings this summer,  should that not be considered? 

The Championship is a fantastic league, where teams show little respect for anything you’ve highlighted above. 

 

[Ken Hairy 3,759]

8 minutes ago, Cantiaci Canary said:

They would've been delighted with a draw - hence the way they set up and approached the game. Both were lucky to come away with three points!

Additionally - I don't think any manager on earth could've got more out of the players we had than Smith did last season ... we were easy prey regardless of who sat in the dug out.

I'll echo Dan..... Just wow!!! 

Do you honestly believe Klopp or Guardiola wouldn't improve this squad? Imagine the instant respect, as opposed to a couple of fat lads strolling in supping their PG Tips. 

Now obviously Klopp or Guardiola aren't serious suggestions but to state NO MANAGER could have done better is just hyperbole of the highest order.