Well actually an exciting game today and as much as I wont fault the effort from the players, the defending was yet again disgraceful. I thought the defeat was harsh in us but Spurs had numerous chances to win it and cut through the defence like a knife to butter. Hause and Drinkwater should be nowhere near the first team yet Smith continues to play them. If we insist on playing a back three it has to be Mings, Konsa and Engels. And Drinkwater today was again terrible. He is miles off the pace of Premiership football, Hourihane must get a run in the team in my view. Saints away next week and it just gets harder and harder to see where the points are going to come from to keep us up, especially if we are going to gift the opposition goals like we did today !!!
posted on 16/2/20
Comical from Engels for the 3rd goal, letting Chester go was a mistake, so much better than Hause
He is championship level at best
Drinkwater was a bad signing thankfully only a loan
posted on 16/2/20
Saying that, should have been 2/3 up in the first 30 mins
posted on 17/2/20
Chester went out on loan to a side that is near the bottom of the Championship so not sure he isn't a Championship player either
Don't think any of our CBs are that great (our goals against proves that) but Hause is the weakest I think, would play Mings, Engels and Konsa if we continue to play 3 at the back. Engels had played ok yesterday but it was stupid trying to control that ball, he should have just put his foot though it.
Drinkwater was a terrible loan signing and Smith keeps playing him, I'd much rather Nakamba and Luiz until McGinn gets back. Drinkwater is clearly trying but too unfit and ponderous for us to keep carrying him every game. Nearly gifted Spurs 2 or 3 goals yesterday from his clumsiness.
It's sad the position we are in and the number of losses we've had this season, because I think we've been unlucky and in many ways we're the masters of our own downfall. Competed well against Spurs twice, Arsenal and Liverpool but lost them all in the final few minutes because of bad defending and sloppy mistakes. We haven't taken advantage in games we should have won either, like Bournemouth (twice) or Watford away and Southampton at home. Win 2 or 3 of those and we're well clear of relegation.
Can't give up yet but time is running out, we're still out of the bottom 3 miraculously but we've got to get 3 or 4 wins from somewhere. We can't keep having to score 3 to win or draw every week though, and we've had all season to improve the defence and it still hasn't improved so how the feck do we put it right with 12 games to go???!!!
posted on 18/2/20
The thing our CBs lack is experience and the vision which goes with it. It shows when we play a high line then let the opposition through. We missed Mings yesterday, and I reckon letting Chester out on loan was a big mistake. Don't know what's wrong with Engels but his confidence has gone to pot; early on in the season he and Mings were a good partnership.
Mistakes cost us but otherwise I thought we played very well. Samatta is a danger up front. Drinkwater isn't up to speed but I thought his experience was a plus.
I'd play the same against Southampton except bring Mings back in and swap Luiz for Nakamba. Southampton aren't very good; it's Ings who has dragged them out of trouble.
posted on 19/2/20
I like Chester but he’s not good enough for this level. The last time Chester was playing well was 2 years ago in the Championship. I take issue with many things Smith has done but not that. Had Chester been the answer PL teams would have wanted him.
Our issue was not signing a high calibre CB in Jan. Vida would have been good given his experience, always showed up Lovren playing for Croatia, but we didn’t get the deal done which is frustrating. He’s also a leader which helps when Mings is out.
But it’s as much the coaching and set-up as it is the personnel. Whether we stay up or not Smith for me isn’t the man for us, as much as I appreciate what he’s done. He cannot coach a team to defend and we haven’t had a good defence at this level in over a decade and desperately need one. Why can’t he adapt his style to make us harder to score against? He constantly plays a high line regardless of opponent, we don’t defend set pieces properly, and the team seems to have poor fitness levels which has led to many late goals against us. Surely he can see this but does nothing about it. I also take issue with his use of subs - particularly taking the outstanding Samatta off for Baston who was terrible.
I hope we stay up under Dean, but his inadequacies as a manager will hold us back and that needs to be addressed in summer.
posted on 19/2/20
Samatta was knackered. He's not yet ready for 90 minutes.
The defence with Mings in it isn't too bad; that's why we beat Leicester in the cup. To me it's not so much the way we play but the mistakes we make.
posted on 20/2/20
He didn't look knackered at all. And as soon as he went off we had no outlet whatsoever. Spurs had about 5/6 chances in the final 10 minutes after he went off, no coincidence at all. The goal was coming when he went off and that decision to sub him cost us the game. If you really want to take him off at least bring Hourihane on, someone who can at least hang on to the ball. We would have had no striker but it was like we had no striker anyway as the ball kept coming back to us. I'll give credit for him taking Drinkwater off who was dreadful but he shouldn't have started in the first place.
The two are not mutually exclusive. We make mistakes because we are so open and try to overplay – that’s why Engels didn’t put his foot through the ball on Sunday because he’s trying to take a touch to control the ball when in that instance he should have just blasted the ball away. I don’t want us to play a long ball game like Burnley or Newcastle or Sheff Utd (we don’t have a burly striker to do this anyway), but we have to have a balance and Smith doesn’t seem to understand this. And when we play sides like Spurs, City, Man Poo and Liverplop, we cannot afford to play out from the back like that. We simply must adapt our game for the sides we face but Smith never does this.
Our defence has been dreadful all season McParland, with Mings and without. We are marginally better with Mings in the team but have still conceded 36 goals in 21 games. In total we have conceded 50 goals in 26 games, nearly 2 a game. The stats speak for themselves.
I think we’ve got our defensive recruitment horribly wrong too. Mings is our only leader at the back and despite spending ~£150m since getting promoted we’re playing Hause and Konsa at CB every week, two players who didn’t exactly excel in the Championship. We could have signed Pontus Jansson and Vida for a combined £12m and have three CBs who can lead the team. And we could still have Konsa as a player for the future on the bench ready to come in for injuries/suspensions. The defensive recruitment was not thought out at all and it’s no surprise Brentford actually can defend now since Smith left.
posted on 22/2/20
We are not the worst team to watch in the league, some of the football has been good.
However we ship goals all over and that is a sure sign that we are in big trouble.
UTV