'Smithball'

[Keith Scott 243]

No style. No cohesion. No plan. No clue. Fling on subs and hope for the best.

All the best. Big Keith Scott.

[Virtual reality 706]

‘Turgidball’

[ricardo 7,330]

4 minutes ago, Keith Scott said:

No style. No cohesion. No plan. No clue. Fling on subs and hope for the best.

All the best. Big Keith Scott.

Don't  complain about the subs, at least everyone gets a game😉

[Worthy Nigelton 1,037]

We're 3rd. No left back for weeks. Key midfield signing not featured until today. Cantwell injured. Pukki out at the start of the season. Krul loss of form.

There are mitigating circumstances and we are still thereabouts. Promotion isn't sealed in October.

Having said that, McLean keeps getting 90 minutes and that is seriously doing my head in.

[TeemuVanBasten 3,327]

10 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

We're 3rd. No left back for weeks

We won the league with a lanky attacking midfielder filling in at left back for half a season, Marco Stiepermann.

Every club has issues like that over the course of a season, can't use that as an excuse in perpetuity. 

[cambridgeshire canary 6,669]

13 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

We're 3rd. No left back for weeks. Key midfield signing not featured until today. Cantwell injured. Pukki out at the start of the season. Krul loss of form.

There are mitigating circumstances and we are still thereabouts. Promotion isn't sealed in October.

Having said that, McLean keeps getting 90 minutes and that is seriously doing my head in.

Pretty much said all I could say. Not as bad and end of the world as some may claim, but... Still not great

[Dean Coneys boots 1,398]

Smith is a good manager. But I am not convinced he’s the right fit for these players. His style doesn’t get the most out of them. But then it might be about trying to develop a system that to keep us up next time. That said- I miss Farke ball 

[KeiranShikari 1,403]

1 minute ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

We won the league with a lanky attacking midfielder filling in at left back for half a season, Marco Stiepermann.

Every club has issues like that over the course of a season, can't use that as an excuse in perpetuity. 

Finished 14th with Stiepermann playing left back.

[GodlyOtsemobor 2,224]

1 minute ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

We won the league with a lanky attacking midfielder filling in at left back for half a season, Marco Stiepermann.

Every club has issues like that over the course of a season, can't use that as an excuse in perpetuity. 

Pretty sure that was the season before promotion. 

We had Lewis at left back for the promotion season.

 

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,776]

3 minutes ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

We won the league with a lanky attacking midfielder filling in at left back for half a season, Marco Stiepermann.

That was the season before. Lewis started 42 of the 46 games in the promotion season, with Stiepermann not playing there once.

[Capt. Pants 4,194]

Each game we start not knowing what the formation will be. Turns out the players don't know either.

Such lack of cohesion and free flowing football.

[KeiranShikari 1,403]

3 minutes ago, Capt. Pants said:

Each game we start not knowing what the formation will be. Turns out the players don't know either.

Such lack of cohesion and free flowing football.

Not true. I knew we'd start with Sargent and Dowell on the wings tonight.

[Ian 1,129]

7 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

Finished 14th with Stiepermann playing left back.

TVB in full-of-**** shocker? Well I never...

[Iwans Big Toe 312]

Sadly, the best we have looked this season is with Sargent up front when Pukki was injured. Smith's style of play has never and will never suit Teemu. Unfortunately because he is our top earner and scored lots of goals for Farke in a system that suited him, he will be the first name on the team sheet.

As much as it pains me to say it, losing him in January might get us promoted.

 

 

[McWrighty 52]

8 minutes ago, KeiranShikari said:

Finished 14th with Stiepermann playing left back.

What's he thinking!?

FARKE OUT!

[Ian 1,129]

25 minutes ago, Worthy Nigelton said:

We're 3rd. No left back for weeks. Key midfield signing not featured until today. Cantwell injured. Pukki out at the start of the season. Krul loss of form.

There are mitigating circumstances and we are still thereabouts. Promotion isn't sealed in October.

Having said that, McLean keeps getting 90 minutes and that is seriously doing my head in.

To be fair, he was far from the poorest performer today.

Not sure what that says about how we played, but Kenny was streets ahead of Nunez and Gibbs today.

[Wacky Waving Inflatable Arm Flailing Tube Man 3,776]

Just now, Ian said:

To be fair, he was far from the poorest performer today.

Not sure what that says about how we played, but Kenny was streets ahead of Nunez and Gibbs today.

I think criticising McLean has just become habit by now. 

Nuñez was poor again; the drop off over the last six weeks after his first four or five games is really surprising. 

Gibbs was excellent against Reading, but I'm really not sure if him as the only holding midfielder is going to work long-term and get us promoted (actually, I am sure: it won't).

[repman 633]

3 minutes ago, Iwans Big Toe said:

Sadly, the best we have looked this season is with Sargent up front when Pukki was injured. Smith's style of play has never and will never suit Teemu. Unfortunately because he is our top earner and scored lots of goals for Farke in a system that suited him, he will be the first name on the team sheet.

As much as it pains me to say it, losing him in January might get us promoted.

 

 

I'm not sure this is strictly true, Pukki was excellent in a couple of games coming in off the bench. For me it's as much trying to fit both him and Sargent in the side, leading to Sargent playing wide is what is hurting us. Sargent only seems to know how to play with his back to goal when it gets played into his feet, he's a striker so that's what you'd expect. When he's wide he will have an extra second or even the time to turn and look up for a pass, but that's not his game and it costs us.

[Ken Hairy 3,757]

It comes to something when wee Keith Scott has got a point 

[KeiranShikari 1,403]

More like SMITH BALLSED UP OUR SEASON!

get it?

[First Wazzock 902]

It'll be interesting if we lose to Luton...

[Big Vince 318]

2 minutes ago, First Wazzock said:

It'll be interesting if we lose to Luton...

Delia has one game to save her head.

[canarydan23 4,060]

1 hour ago, Iwans Big Toe said:

As much as it pains me to say it, losing him in January might get us promoted.

Losing Smith in October would be a more likely route to promotion.

[kirku 1,332]

1 hour ago, TeemuVanBasten said:

We won the league with a lanky attacking midfielder filling in at left back for half a season, Marco Stiepermann.

Every club has issues like that over the course of a season, can't use that as an excuse in perpetuity. 

Now, now. Dean Smith is the only coach who has ever had to deal with injuries or have any kind of rational context applied to his tenure.

Don't mention Farke beating Man City with Tettey at CB, that really annoys them..

[corbs 147]

The party line has been that we are a cut above in this division, but actually we aren’t, Watford we’re man for man better than us, and we’re prob a very average side. 

[wheres my rebate gone? 85]

24 minutes ago, corbs said:

The party line has been that we are a cut above in this division, but actually we aren’t, Watford we’re man for man better than us, and we’re prob a very average side. 

No it hasn’t, it’s been the players are a cut above most sides in this division but the manager isn’t getting anything out of them , just wait till we play someone half decent and we will get beaten, it’s been pretty obvious….for most!

Edited October 15, 2022 by wheres my rebate gone?

[corbs 147]

I thought Coventry were half decent and as good as us. 

[AJ 1,218]

53 minutes ago, corbs said:

The party line has been that we are a cut above in this division, but actually we aren’t, Watford we’re man for man better than us, and we’re prob a very average side. 

I think last time in this division we were a fairly average side, but we had Buendia, Skipp and Pukki to tip the scales in our favour. Now we're just an average team with Pukki, who gets no service. 

[Google Bot 3,255]

2 hours ago, Iwans Big Toe said:

Sadly, the best we have looked this season is with Sargent up front when Pukki was injured. Smith's style of play has never and will never suit Teemu. Unfortunately because he is our top earner and scored lots of goals for Farke in a system that suited him, he will be the first name on the team sheet.

The crazy thing is that we're lining up as if though Pukki is the future and current top goalscorer.  This is a prime opportunity to phase Teemu out on our terms.  He's off whatever happens, and given the choice wouldn't be here right now.

We could then play a wide man in wide positions, and Pukki becomes available as a sub with a point to prove when needed - at that point he's playing for his career which is a very handy card to have up the sleeve.

One other point is that I cannot beleive how disorganised we are defensively, we have very little shape in open play.

Many times I see clusters of players grouped together and allowing the opposition so much space around the edge of the box.  It's appauling.  Whats worse is that I don't know if it's by design, poor organisation/communication, or players not doing as told.

[hepphep 175]

Last season in EPL it felt that we just don't have individual quality to compete. Now it feels that we can only compete due to individual performances as we don't seem like a team at all, neither defensively or offensively.

Their first goal was prime example of that defensively, Dowell followed player next to Hanley even though Hanley was trying to wave and command him to take the man behind. Really simple mistake, like not all players even knowing where they should be. In addition our pressing is flawed for most of the time, while we spent lots of passes to get through opponents pressing they'll seem to be able to break our pressing with just two passes most of the time.

Offensively we mainly get our chances on set pieces or someone making a dribble to get a shot. We really cannot seem to break into final third by passing as we mainly stuck on single flank or drop bit lower to switch the side with slow passes. Just few players trying to get into tight spots, only to keep on playing short sideways passes.  Really predictable and easy to force us into spaces where we cannot create anything.

Not happy at all how we are playing as a team. I was actually early on positive about Smith's era, but it feels like we are just moving backwards all the time.