Dean Smith assessment after 10 games...

[Pyro Pete 1,889]

The performances haven't been altogether convincing.

But as we are averaging two points per game, there's no cause for concern right now.

[Virtual reality 706]

1 hour ago, Kenny Foggo said:

Sorry but did any of you watch NCFC under Farke in the premier league?

Given the wrong tools for the job. He beat RB Leipzig 3-0 today and sits 6th in the Bundesliga.

Edited September 17, 2022 by Virtual reality

[Mullet 293]

3 hours ago, Petriix said:

Several of us who were undecided about Dean Smith said 'let's give him 10 games'. Well, here we are. 

If you'd asked me on Wednesday then my assessment would have been somewhat more positive, but today was a reality check and highlights how little we've progressed under Smith.

I'm willing to allow those first three games as a temporary blip while we found our feet. Far from ideal, but not the end of the world. 

The next 4 we found a way to win without playing especially well. Definitely a good sign. The next two we hit another gear (for the most part).

However, the midfield frailties persist. McLean is not a DM and Nunez is not fast or physical enough (yet) to perform the defensive part of the role he is being asked to do.

The telling thing for me is that we had dropped Rashica and (finally) reverted to the 4-2-3-1. With a number 10, Pukki was unshackled and back to his best. Cantwell was playing well too, in the same role in which he had originally broken into Farke's team.

We were creating chances. And taking them too. 

Yet here we are today. Cantwell dropped (squad rotated?) and back to the 4-3-3. And back to the same turgid rubbish from last season. No ideas. No creativity. Pukki isolated. Kenny as a single pivot in midfield, looking vulnerable and ineffective. A massive backwards step.

We're second in the table. 2 points per game. Salvaged a draw from a losing position against a good side. It's not so bad. Good enough, ultimately. 

However I'm still left with the overriding questions: what have we gained? Is this progress? 

It seems like the plan is still to keep persevering with the 4-3-3, despite its obvious shortcomings with our squad. It isn't working and it won't work with these players.

I can't warm to Dean Smith. The atmosphere is flat. There's an underlying discontent, simmering under the surface. 

We might just about have enough for automatic promotion. But we're nowhere near the level we hit under Farke. And we look further away from being a Premier League team than at any point in the last 4 years.

So, after 10 Championship games my verdict on Dean Smith: meh. 

I don't mind DS I think the problem is poor player recruitment over the past 4 years. We don't have much quality. Quality players can pass the ball to each other which is a basic starting point. We don't even have that. 

[CDMullins 436]

Can't remember the last time I enjoyed watching us play,

But I know for sure Dean Smith wasn't stood at the side of the pitch.

Double edged sword - I really want him out but if we keep picking points up and scrape promotion, he'll stay and make an embarrassment of us next season

[CDMullins 436]

1 minute ago, Mullet said:

I don't mind DS I think the problem is poor player recruitment over the past 4 years. We don't have much quality. Quality players can pass the ball to each other which is a basic starting point. We don't even have that. 

You can't look at the squad we have and put not playing well down to poor player recruitment, not in this division.

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

13 minutes ago, astro said:

The youngsters were still in the junior squads so that’s not really comparable. Of the four you’ve mentioned, only one is currently used in the first team and that’s because he has ‘come of age’ to play at senior level - so not really an argument.
Onel still has bags of pace but no end product - no change. 
Todd was going nowhere fast under Farke - is going nowhere fast under Smith.
Want to grab another handful of straws? 

Sorry, but you said they’d all gone backwards. I don’t agree. They haven’t. I’m grabbing at absolutely nothing.  But in the same way you seem to think I can’t prove they haven’t, you sure as hell can’t show me they have. So it’s all somewhat pointless.

But Todd is going nowhere is he? He’s played nearly all our games this season, so that’s just guff.

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

8 minutes ago, Virtual reality said:

Given the wrong tools for the job. He beat RB Leipzig 3-0 today and sits 6th in the Bundesliga.

Outside the top 2-3 it is a pretty crap league with real problems.

 

 

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

3 hours ago, littleyellowbirdie said:

I just think the fact that there are some saddos trying to have a 'sack the manager' campaign after a draw after 6 wins on the trot is hilarious.

Jaysus, this last week has made you very Binary. It's a legitimate discussion, seeing as the ' give it ten games' was discussed after the first couple, or maybe even last season. A sack the anyone campaign has to involve bedsheets and swearwords. 

[CDMullins 436]

1 minute ago, Branston Pickle said:

Outside the top 2-3 it is a pretty crap league with real problems.

 

 

Yeah but...

 

He's beat one of the Top3 3-0.

[Mullet 293]

17 minutes ago, Pyro Pete said:

The performances haven't been altogether convincing.

But as we are averaging two points per game, there's no cause for concern right now.

my concern is we might get promoted

[The Real Buh 3,423]

8 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

You can't look at the squad we have and put not playing well down to poor player recruitment, not in this division.

We needed legitimate change after last season’s performance and we got Dean Smith

If we don’t change we won’t evolve as a club

[Virtual reality 706]

11 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Outside the top 2-3 it is a pretty crap league with real problems.

 

 

Probably wasn’t a great strategy spending £20 million on players from a team relegated from that league and expecting him to keep us in the PL then. As I said he was given the wrong tools for the job…

Edited September 17, 2022 by Virtual reality

[PockthorpePete 331]

4 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

We needed legitimate change after last season’s performance and we got Dean Smith

If we don’t change we won’t evolve as a club

Evolve into what ?

[Mullet 293]

14 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

You can't look at the squad we have and put not playing well down to poor player recruitment, not in this division.

Apart from Pukki, Aarons and Sinani I don't see a lot of quality in this side. God help us if we get promoted again we would have to do a Forest type overhaul and we know that won't happen

[Chelm Canary 404]

I'm not criticizing Farke or Smith because it's so easy to but the quality on show today was appalling. 

It shows the golf between this league and the league above. 

At times it was like watching league 2 or non league football. 

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

Just now, Virtual reality said:

Probably wasn’t a great strategy spending £20 million on players from a team relegated from that league and then expecting him to keep us in the PL then. As I said he was given the wrong tools for the job…

Definitely - I think Sargent/Rashica showed in a nutshell that ok-looking Bundesliga players don’t necessarily make ok PL ones. Clearly Haaland is/was an exception.

[wcorkcanary 4,329]

2 minutes ago, PockthorpePete said:

Evolve into what ?

Spawn <Tadpole<Frog 

[Jim Smith 2,314]

I’m still a bit undecided to be honest. I like him and want him to do well. I think he makes better subs than Farke does. He seems competent enough. But on the flip side I’m really not impressed or happy with how we are playing. I don’t think he’s got the balance of the side right and in some cases I think he’s having to make his subs to address issues due to a poor initial team selection.

In his defence, I still think many of our issues stem from the recruitment/squad complexion and the fact we’ve relied on Hayden to solve our midfield issues and he’s crocked. That rests with Webber. 

 

[Pyro Pete 1,889]

16 minutes ago, Mullet said:

my concern is we might get promoted

I think that's more of a Stuart Webber problem.

[CDMullins 436]

4 minutes ago, Mullet said:

Apart from Pukki, Aarons and Sinani I don't see a lot of quality in this side. God help us if we get promoted again we would have to do a Forest type overhaul and we know that won't happen

Nonesense,

More than half this squad won the league last May and more than half of them won the league two years previously.

Completely agree Re-Going Up.

But Squad/Players/Recruitment cannot be an excuse this year.

There's no big spender in the division this year, we easily have the best squad.

[CDMullins 436]

16 minutes ago, The Real Buh said:

We needed legitimate change after last season’s performance and we got Dean Smith

If we don’t change we won’t evolve as a club

No idea what your actual point is?

[nutty nigel 7,509]

How can we easily have the best squad if we had the worst squad last season?

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,777]

20 points from ten games is without doubt automatic promotion form, but it doesn't feel like we've been playing well enough to be at a two-points-per-game rate. We haven't played well for more than 45 minutes in any one match, and a few times our strength in depth has got us out of a jam, but not always. I get the impression we should be putting in better performances given the quality we have in our squad. 

I like Smith as a bloke and whilst we're second any talk of sacking him is daft. I think he's a solid yet unspectacular head coach, who probably needs a good number two behind him to make up for the fact he's a bit 'vanilla'. But right now, whilst we're getting results, it's a bit foolish to start talk of reviewing his job and the like.

In the bigger picture, I'd be highly surprised if he gets talked about as one of our best ever coaches/managers in a couple of decades time, and will likely fade into obscurity. He's our head coach for the here and now however, so I don't understand why our fans aren't unanimously getting behind him. 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,777]

12 minutes ago, Mullet said:

Apart from Pukki, Aarons and Sinani I don't see a lot of quality in this side. God help us if we get promoted again we would have to do a Forest type overhaul and we know that won't happen

Nothing against Danel, but he's a random name to throw into that sentence. 

[The Real Buh 3,423]

4 minutes ago, CDMullins said:

No idea what your actual point is?

You don’t want to listen, and that’s fine.

[SwindonCanary 455]

It's the second game on the trot that we've been out played by their midfield, we've got to get a hold on this ! 

[mrD66M 99]

4 hours ago, Petriix said:

Several of us who were undecided about Dean Smith said 'let's give him 10 games'. Well, here we are. 

If you'd asked me on Wednesday then my assessment would have been somewhat more positive, but today was a reality check and highlights how little we've progressed under Smith.

I'm willing to allow those first three games as a temporary blip while we found our feet. Far from ideal, but not the end of the world. 

The next 4 we found a way to win without playing especially well. Definitely a good sign. The next two we hit another gear (for the most part).

However, the midfield frailties persist. McLean is not a DM and Nunez is not fast or physical enough (yet) to perform the defensive part of the role he is being asked to do.

The telling thing for me is that we had dropped Rashica and (finally) reverted to the 4-2-3-1. With a number 10, Pukki was unshackled and back to his best. Cantwell was playing well too, in the same role in which he had originally broken into Farke's team.

We were creating chances. And taking them too. 

Yet here we are today. Cantwell dropped (squad rotated?) and back to the 4-3-3. And back to the same turgid rubbish from last season. No ideas. No creativity. Pukki isolated. Kenny as a single pivot in midfield, looking vulnerable and ineffective. A massive backwards step.

We're second in the table. 2 points per game. Salvaged a draw from a losing position against a good side. It's not so bad. Good enough, ultimately. 

However I'm still left with the overriding questions: what have we gained? Is this progress? 

It seems like the plan is still to keep persevering with the 4-3-3, despite its obvious shortcomings with our squad. It isn't working and it won't work with these players.

I can't warm to Dean Smith. The atmosphere is flat. There's an underlying discontent, simmering under the surface. 

We might just about have enough for automatic promotion. But we're nowhere near the level we hit under Farke. And we look further away from being a Premier League team than at any point in the last 4 years.

So, after 10 Championship games my verdict on Dean Smith: meh. 

Perfect game for a 4231. Too bad.

Nuñez number 10, or number 8?

Sara is going to take a while. But the whole team was bad - selection and approach. Ramsey was probably the least bad, aside from Byram for saving our bacon.

My .2 cents

[PockthorpePete 331]

9 minutes ago, SwindonCanary said:

It's the second game on the trot that we've been out played by their midfield, we've got to get a hold on this ! 

Really?

[astro 358]

56 minutes ago, Branston Pickle said:

Sorry, but you said they’d all gone backwards. I don’t agree. They haven’t. I’m grabbing at absolutely nothing.  But in the same way you seem to think I can’t prove they haven’t, you sure as hell can’t show me they have. So it’s all somewhat pointless.

But Todd is going nowhere is he? He’s played nearly all our games this season, so that’s just guff.

No, read my post again, I said several have gone backwards. I see you’ve dropped the others and just focussed on Cantwell. 
Ok well have a look at a few minutes of this and then come back and tell me he’s now playing better.

 

[Branston Pickle 3,634]

3 minutes ago, astro said:

No, read my post again, I said several have gone backwards. I see you’ve dropped the others and just focussed on Cantwell. 
Ok well have a look at a few minutes of this and then come back and tell me he’s now playing better.

 

I’ve done nothing of the sort and am not  ‘dropping’ anything - I just realised it was an utterly pointless argument.

Todd was crap last season, better this. That’s all.