Farke Sacked // Smith appointed

Like everyone else, I'm hoping that DS hits the ground running because we have 3 key matches coming up, then Spurs and another key game against Villa. Four of those are the games we need to take points from if we're going to survive. The initial basis for comparison is whether we take at least 5 points from those games as that's what we did in the previous five games, though 3 of those were away whereas only 2 of the next 5 are away.

DS also has the advantage of following a win as that will build confidence and hopefully the 'new coach bounce' will add more so DS has a lot going for him. After that it's about getting the most out of the players and achieving enough consistency over the season as a whole and I am very much hoping that's what happens and that DS and CS give us a fighting chance for survival.

 

I thought Hanley was getting better, Krul made hardly any mistakes McLean I always wondered about. I could see he was good in some games, but always wondered if he should have played every game. I wish Idah had more of a chance to prove himself rather an 2 mins each game.

 

Great post, thanks!

 

That makes it sound as if, in the event we end up back in the Championship, an immediate return to the EPL is what matters. But given the amended objective of top 17 rather than top 26, having a team/squad equipped to survive in the top tier surely trumps simply having a team/squad good enough to win promotion? Returning to the EPL with a survival-capable side might take until the end of Dean Smith's current contract, summer 2024.

 

If you have 20 minutes and can put up with the quality and the sound (it's good enough to hear), listen to this talk from DS which he did at Birmingham University, it's really interesting. You won't learn a lot about him tactically but you will get a feel for his management style.

 

I am slowly moving away from the idea that Farke would have offered the best chance of promotion, needless to say he wasn't the best person to keep us up. Farke's record without Buendia were terrible both in the Prem and the Championship. I am not suggesting he was a one man team, but he was our best player and we certainly became heavily reliant on him in a lot of what we do, just as we did with Maddison before him.
Hopefully with a clean slate we will see a more balanced approach with the onus on all players to step up.

 

Football is indeed a funny game. It's hard enough to figure out what has happened and why - there's just too many factors involved. We'll never know what would have happened if DF stayed and the same is true with Villa and Smith. Where we wonder about Buendia, they wonder about Grealish.

The 5 points over the last five games has made survival possible again, though not necessarily probable. All we can hope is that Smith can build on that and take us further. Here's hoping anyway.

 

Id love to see Smith come out with...

Krul
Aarons Omobamidele Gibson Williams
Normann Gilmour
Tzolis Cantwell Rashica
Pukki

...on saturday. Can't see it, but feel this side would be pretty exciting to watch. Especially vs an average So'ton side.

 

Buendia was an exceptional player in the Championship, but far less so in the PL, which is true of most players. Cantwell was an exception two years ago as he raised his game in the PL and really blossomed as a player. Buendia had good stats for creating chances but his actual output from those was far lower in tangible outcomes. He hasn't looked a £33m player so far for Villa but that could change as he settles in. The same could be said about our new players with the exception of Normann, who looks at home in the PL. Rashica has also shown signs of what he can do and it'll be interesting to see how Smith and Shakespeare work with them.

 

Re. Cantwell, there's a Dean Smith interview in the series of video interviews by Graham Hunter in which Smith talks about Grealish, who he considers by far the most talented player he has ever been lucky enough to coach. When prompted further about Grealish, Smith didn't focus on a particular skill or skills, he simply stressed Grealish's "coachability". If a player, however talented, is not coachable, he'll never achieve his full potential. DS already knows a lot about Cantwell, Villa were scouting him; what he'll be looking to find out is how coachable Cantwell is.

 

Grealish was underperforming until Smith arrived at Villa, so it'd be great if he can have a similar effect on Todd.

 

You're losing your touch, Robbie. So far FIVE of us have liked this comment.

 

Nothing to do with me Gozo; it's rather that the events of the last ten days have lifted the scales from people's eyes .

 

That's more like the old Robbie!

 

Just watched the SW & DS press conference and was impressed. He's obviously well used to these and handled questions from a packed press room very well.

https://www.pinkun.com/sport/norwic...n-smith-daniel-farke-press-conference-8497636

Also worth watching Dave Freezer and Paddy Davitt's recap of it with some telling points.

 

The first thing he told Grealish when he arrived was that he wasn't getting his numbers high enough, both from an attacking perspective and goals, that changed him immediately.

I think the player you want to watch is Rasicha. The rumour is that in 2020 we wanted to sign him from Werder Bremen, but for whatever reason it didn't happen. It'll be interesting to see if Smith can work his magic on Milot.

 

Does Smith play 4, 3, 3 usually?

 

Yes, Rashica came up in the press conference today, along with Cantwell and Gilmour. DS acknowledged that these were the three players he had a detailed knowledge of before coming. Rashica (the ica is pronounced like eetsa - we're all learning) seems to have settled now and adjusted his play to the team and the PL and it'll be interesting to see what effect Smith will have on these and other players.

 

Yeah usually 4-3-3. Played it extensively with Brentford and with us for the majority of last season.

 

It's good for us to have your knowledge, SteakFrites. We're all learning step by step but the press conference was very positive - DS wants to cut down the goals conceded and increase the goals scored, which sounds like a very good plan to me.