Dean Smith New Interim Manager - Official

[funkyrobot]

You can see by his continually changing first 11 that he doesn’t trust the squad at all. He’s tried, discarded and then had to go back to KDH, Ndidi, Thomas, Kristiansen, Daka, Tete, Praet and he’s had to continue that cycle. It’s not his fault the squad are as poor and as mentally weak as they are. Where you can rightly question Smith is his crazy midfield set up. We can’t function without a CDM pivot and specifically not selecting the only one in the squad who can be trusted in this role this season - Papy Mendy. Playing Tielemans and Soumare with Maddison ahead has been shown to be a suicidal set up. Maddison can only be trusted playing on the right. He’s not got the physicality or the discipline to be trusted centrally in this team. Soumare and Tielemans are incapable for different reasons of being adequate cover centrally without a functioning pivot. Tielemans isn’t fit or mobile enough and Soumare hasn’t got anywhere near the discipline enough to do the role. Mendy wasn’t even in the Matchday squad yesterday. Crazy crazy decision and one that will probably result in Smith not being asked to stay on when we get relegated as he’ll continue to set up a midfield that parts the seas like Moses and as a result we’ll continue to concede lots of goals. 

[murphy]

19 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

I think the smith regime thus far has shown he and his team have pretty limited tactical nouse. we knew that shakey wasn’t blessed in this respect from his short spell in charge beginning 17/18.  JT either isn’t or isn’t listened to. And smith makes the calls so he obviously isn’t. We know from villa and Bournemouth that dumb and dumber are clueless 

 

so going into fixtures against klopp and Howe should fill us with dread - the only chance we have is that we out fight them and kill them with intensity.  So two sh1t shows await. 
 

last game against west ham becomes the only chance we have and it’s possible that 33 won’t be enough anyway 

Sorry, I can't have that.  Shakespeare saved us from relegation when we looked doomed with five wins on the bounce.  

 

No Craig Shakespeare, no FA Cup and probably no title too.  He deserves more gratitude and respect than he has ever received on these pages.

[lgfualol]

The damage was done long before he joined so I dont blame him that much, but I am disappointed and perplexed by some of his/coaches decisions. Wouldn't want him to stay on if we go down. 

[The Doctor]

11 hours ago, HankMarvin said:

And he got 2 fifths and a Fa Cup 

because he was a managerial genius overachieving 

he was always a fraud relying on individual talent to mask his ineptitude 

[Number 6]

There's so much rot set in that a big turnover of players and staff is actually a positive. Don't blame Deano but he's not the man to take us forward.

[st albans fox]

8 minutes ago, murphy said:

Sorry, I can't have that.  Shakespeare saved us from relegation when we looked doomed with five wins on the bounce.  

 

No Craig Shakespeare, no FA Cup and probably no title too.  He deserves more gratitude and respect than he has ever received on these pages.

The players saved us after Claudio left - we went back to auto pilot 

 

the following season showed shakey’s tactical ability - punt it long for vards to chase was plan A, B and C 

Go back and watch the first game of the season at arsenal and how we manoeuvred ourselves from winning 3-2 to losing 4-3 by bringing kel on for his debut with fifteen to go in place of a midfielder……

 

he was an integral part of the ups of the past decade because he laid the base with NP and supported Claudio in a way that he couldn’t manage with the players 

 

however shakey hasn’t shown me that he has any real tactical nouse in his armoury.  (Unless smith just ignores him which I find difficult to believe) 

[Realist Guy In The Room]

It was a tough task to take on.  Having said that, Smith and his staff have made little to no impact which is disappointing.

 

Hopefully they have more of an impact after the summer in the Championship.

[murphy]

15 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

The players saved us after Claudio left - we went back to auto pilot 

 

the following season showed shakey’s tactical ability - punt it long for vards to chase was plan A, B and C 

Go back and watch the first game of the season at arsenal and how we manoeuvred ourselves from winning 3-2 to losing 4-3 by bringing kel on for his debut with fifteen to go in place of a midfielder……

 

he was an integral part of the ups of the past decade because he laid the base with NP and supported Claudio in a way that he couldn’t manage with the players 

 

however shakey hasn’t shown me that he has any real tactical nouse in his armoury.  (Unless smith just ignores him which I find difficult to believe) 

Well we can agree to disagree.  I don't think it happened by accident.

 

One thing I do remember when Shakespeare took over was him saying that we were a much better team on the front foot.  He removed Claudio/s shackles and won five in a row.  We stayed up after having collected just one point from the calendar year (0-0  Boro) and having scored zero goals.  Another coach might easily have gone defensive.

 

He was first team coach for the promotion winning team, the great escape and the title win.  Surely all of that didn't happen despite CS?

 

 

Edited 9 May 2023 by murphy

[Matt]

I'm intrigued to where the media will analyse what went wrong once our impending relegation is confirmed.

 

I'm willing to wager they put more blame on Smith than Rodgers.

 

Likewise the players will (rightly) get a share of the blame but the likes of Maddison and Tielemans will have their praises sung, lauded and touted to 'top' clubs.

[Tomek]

God help us if we stick with him in the championship. Should never have got the job and completely failed with a strong Norwich team.

 

 

[Chelmofox]

2 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

It was a tough task to take on.  Having said that, Smith and his staff have made little to no impact which is disappointing.

 

Hopefully they have more of an impact after the summer in the Championship.

The 5 points suggests that there was more than 'little or no impact'. We were dead and buried under Rodgers. Whats disappointing is that he hasn't been able to turn one of those draws into a win, or get a good performance out of them for the Fulham game. I think there are problems behind the scenes that these 3 simply couldn't fix in a short amount of time.

[nnfox]

People talking about not keeping Smith on for next season are being a bit high and mighty.  I doubt he'd take it even if he was offered it.

[ClaphamFox]

1 minute ago, nnfox said:

People talking about not keeping Smith on for next season are being a bit high and mighty.  I doubt he'd take it even if he was offered it.

High and mighty? Leaving Mendy out of the squad yesterday while putting Soumare in the starting 11 is a sackable offence in itself. It was an absolutely mind boggling decision.

 

I don’t want Smith anywhere near our club after the last game of the season. 

[Fear Of The Fox]

5 minutes ago, ClaphamFox said:

High and mighty? Leaving Mendy out of the squad yesterday while putting Soumare in the starting 11 is a sackable offence in itself. It was an absolutely mind boggling decision.

 

I don’t want Smith anywhere near our club after the last game of the season. 

I didn't want him near our club from the beginning and some of our fans here properly told me off like he was the Messiah of coaching. Same applies to that Terry guy. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me which are Terry's coaching credentials. If Terry is considered a coach then I'm personally a world class manager/coach. Why? Because I'm telling you I am. 

[sacreblueits442]

37 minutes ago, Realist Guy In The Room said:

It was a tough task to take on.  Having said that, Smith and his staff have made little to no impact which is disappointing.

 

Hopefully they have more of an impact after the summer in the Championship.

...you have to say, no to them being at the helm for next season!!!

  If there was a major aspect to him (Smith) being here, it was his ability to be proactive in games, making changes when it was called for. His changes are now late and more like for like, as opposed to giving the opposition something else to think about.

Edited 9 May 2023 by sacreblueits442
Spelling error.

[Tuna]

17 minutes ago, nnfox said:

People talking about not keeping Smith on for next season are being a bit high and mighty.  I doubt he'd take it even if he was offered it.

Who is going to give him a better offer?

[Trent Steel]

as most of said on here already, its not Smiths fault, its Rodgers and the Board/Owners

 

Some pundits are even saying that |Rodgers is a god and its not his fault but the players

 

They will sat that as even sucks off BR like he is some sort of football god

 

Its never the manager is it ?

[sacreblueits442]

20 minutes ago, nnfox said:

People talking about not keeping Smith on for next season are being a bit high and mighty.  I doubt he'd take it even if he was offered it.

...oh yes he would!!!

This is a win win situation for him, in as much as any relegation cannot be pinned to him, the club gave him a poisoned chalice. Having been relegated he would then be in the driving seat as to the managers role. Unless the club is looking fir a young up and coming manager, no one of note is going to take a look at a team in the Championship. 

  I wonder how many of the interim managers in the Premier League,  brought their coaching team with them when they took up their role?

[ClaphamFox]

10 minutes ago, Trent Steel said:

as most of said on here already, its not Smiths fault, its Rodgers and the Board/Owners

 

Some pundits are even saying that |Rodgers is a god and its not his fault but the players

 

They will sat that as even sucks off BR like he is some sort of football god

 

Its never the manager is it ?

Smith did not cause the mess we're in. But he has already displayed a level of tactical naivety that disqualifies him for the job on a permanent basis. Or at least it should disqualify him - Rudkin will probably offer him a five-year contract even if we finish bottom.

[westernpark]

He’s got every team selection wrong, but it would have taken a miracle worker to do well with this squad now. This is all on the club.

[st albans fox]

51 minutes ago, murphy said:

Well we can agree to disagree.  I don't think it happened by accident.

 

One thing I do remember when Shakespeare took over was him saying that we were a much better team on the front foot.  He removed Claudio/s shackles and won five in a row.  We stayed up after having collected just one point from the calendar year (0-0  Boro) and having scored zero goals.  Another coach might easily have gone defensive.

 

He was first team coach for the promotion winning team, the great escape and the title win.  Surely all of that didn't happen despite CS?

 

 

I’m absolutely not dissing shakeys contribution to our success over the past decade - he was integral as a people person and coach  - but I don’t believe he has tactical nouse.  Going onto the front foot with the defence we had and prime wilf and vardy/mahrez was not a tough call. But it didn’t take any deep tactical nouse. The game is way more complex than most of us appreciate. 

[Chelmofox]

28 minutes ago, westernpark said:

He’s got every team selection wrong, but it would have taken a miracle worker to do well with this squad now. This is all on the club.

The problem with our squad is there is no 'right' team selection. 

[MattFox]

1 hour ago, nnfox said:

People talking about not keeping Smith on for next season are being a bit high and mighty.  I doubt he'd take it even if he was offered it.

He won’t get a better offer

 

Bloke must have fallen off his chair when he heard us come in for him

[StanSP]

1 hour ago, Matt said:

I'm intrigued to where the media will analyse what went wrong once our impending relegation is confirmed.

 

I'm willing to wager they put more blame on Smith than Rodgers.

 

Likewise the players will (rightly) get a share of the blame but the likes of Maddison and Tielemans will have their praises sung, lauded and touted to 'top' clubs.

Wouldn't surprise me if they went for Terry too, especially being a class defender and having to see what our defences have served up. 

 

[l444ry]

Smith and his crew took on a poisoned chalice so they can't be blamed for the shambles Rodgers (and Stowell/Sadler) left them. But I can't get my head around why he's kept picking the walking timebomb that is Soumare then whine that the midfield is too open.