Man City (A) Pre match

[Vazman]

1 hour ago, moore_94 said:

Dean Smith Pre-Match Press Conference vs Man City

 

Why did you take the job?

“The main reason I took the job on was because Craig and JT wanted to do it as well. The points are there to be won, to grab, to get out of the bottom three. It’s been a season I’ve not seen before in terms of nine teams involved in the relegation battle. The more we can keep in that, it’s not insurmountable to get out.”

 

Confidence down?

“We’ve lost seven out of the last eight games, so confidence isn’t going to be high. I was 80-20 to take the job, but I probably went down to 50-50 after watching the Bournemouth game! I felt they just needed a lift. I felt confident we could do that. We’ve seen great enthusiasm. We’re trying to put smiles on the faces, and that should lift their confidence very quickly.”

 

Same as Villa?

“There are comparisons of being in the situation. Not setting targets. We just want to be out of the bottom three. Craig has been in that situation before here at Leicester as well. He believed we could do it, so his experience is helpful.”

 

Maddison and Grealish comparisons?

“We do need to transition the game more quickly. James held his hand up after his mistake. Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? Our job is to get him into a position where he can hurt the opposition, like we did with Jack.”

 

Job beyond this summer?

“It’s not a conversation we’ve had. It’s an interim job. I was watching the Masters in August last week and now I’m back to England. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

 

Man City?

“We’ve watched an awful lot of teams try to impose their game on Man City and come unstuck. We have to have a gameplan and stick to it. We’ve seen Brentford go there and get a result. We have to have belief in ourselves.”

 

Defence?

“Straight away, bringing in JT, who helped sure up defence at Villa. We’ve got six centre-backs here at the club, Evans has just come back from injury and some have not played as many minutes as we would have liked, but there’s plenty to work with.”

 

Would be your biggest achievement to keep City up?

“I’ll tell you that at the end of the season if and when we’ve kept them up.”

 

Relegation battle?

“It’s strange to have so many teams involved and so few points between everyone. It’s a real interesting period. The games we have after Man City will be interesting, but we have to get a performance from this weekend and hopefully get some points.”

 

Surprised by City's position?

“Yes. One of my first points of action was to speak to the leadership group on Monday evening, get their thoughts on why they think we are where we are and what they think we should do to get out of it. We have our ideas and will put demands on the players. Ultimately players make the decisions on the pitch.”

 

Why are you the right man?

“Tomorrow might be my 600th game as a manager, coming up through Walsall to Brentford, to Villa and Norwich. We’ve got experience. As a three, it’s strong. We’ve got different qualities. We’ve been through relegation battles in the Premier League.”

 

Sense there is complacency in squad?

“No. From the first time I spoke to the players, I’ve been really impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude and quality. Unfortunately, we’ve got a couple of players missing. Harvey Barnes will be out for Saturday and is touch and go for next Saturday. The quality has impressed all of us. We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen.”

 

Tielemans?

“He’s available for selection. He hasn’t done a lot of minutes in training, so we’ll have to see if he’s ready to start. He’ll play a big part. Him and Jonny give the team calmness.”

 

Any other injuries?

“Ricky felt his hamstring after the game last week. His looks worse than Harvey’s. He’ll be out for a few weeks. That takes away our wider options.”

 

Being at City

“You can’t help but be excited when you see this training centre. If you get John Terry saying ‘oh wow’, you’re doing something right. We got him off the golf course, but there’s a golf course here! It’s a great club, meeting the staff and owners has been refreshing. I’ve seen humility. They’re willing to help us. We want to be a success together.”

 

What's missing?

“Looking back to the Bournemouth game were players without confidence and with lethargy. We’ve tried to make training more fun and intense. We’ve tried to make it more frantic. We’ve had a response. Today is more tactical.”

 

What does a Dean Smith team look like?

“Focus, concentration, energy, commitment, everything that you would like to see. Connectivity between the players. It’s a clean slate for everyone. We have fresh eyes on the players. We like what we’ve seen so far. We have to have those components to get a result tomorrow.”

Great read and liked how he took the job because off CS and JT wanting it as well, I reckon collectively they fancy their chances of keeping us up, best of luck to them as well, I hope we win every fu"&÷g match till the end of the season 

[TJQuik]

10 minutes ago, KP Fox said:

Yeah we nearly pulled it off when we played that way at home. However, I don't think Dean Smith has ever played 5 at the back. 

A back 4 with faes and amartey, with maddison playing as a winger

[Verumex]

11 minutes ago, Bert said:

What’s the difference of playing Evans (who was at least in the match day squad last week) to Soyuncu who hasn’t been playing? 

Very valid point, but at least Soyuncu has been training and should have been keeping his fitness levels up. 

 

Either would be a massive risk though, you're right. 

[goose2010]

for me we get tomorrow out of the way and after that every game with the right set up and right energy is a winnable game. 

 

We are not dead and buried and its likely to be around 3 or 4 points from safety. 

 

Long way to go but we just need that confidence back and a good performance regardless of the result will give us that. 

[KP Fox]

3 minutes ago, TJQuik said:

A back 4 with faes and amartey, with maddison playing as a winger

Well I think they were lucky to beat us at the KP. They needed a wonder goal from De Bruyne and Youri nearly equalised when he hit the crossbar!

[Old Fox]

2 hours ago, mozartfox said:

Big Dan to tame the big Viking.  C-mon you Foxes.

I hope he is nowhere near the starting team again - being polite he is not good enough

[zdx]

Barnes missing this game in particular is a huge, huge blow - make no bones about it. Regardless of any lift in spirit / new manager bounce that Dean Smith may have brought, we know how this game sets up: Man City absolutely dominant in possession and control of the ball and us defending deep. Any chance we get of scoring will come from the counter - and Barnes is our most key player in that respect. Our chances of getting anything out the game are significantly reduced with his absence. As a result, I think that Tete and Daka have to start, as we need the pace.

[Fox92]

1 hour ago, moore_94 said:

Dean Smith Pre-Match Press Conference vs Man City

 

Maddison and Grealish comparisons?

“We do need to transition the game more quickly. James held his hand up after his mistake. Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? Our job is to get him into a position where he can hurt the opposition, like we did with Jack.”

 

Great read but this answer especially is really good. Hopefully he does work on getting Maddison further forward.

[Old Fox]

48 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

A lot of talk on here about a back 5/3. If the plan is to use a back 4 for the rest of the season. I'd rather us use this game to put it into practice.

 

We will stay up or go down on what we do in the last 7 not what we do on Saturday.  

 

 

Appreciate its city but it’s still 3 points up for grabs and they had the high of CL and a second leg to come - we need to treat every game as a cup final and believe you never know - go strong as we can and worst case bring them off after an hour - we need 3 points and ultimately if by some miracle we are in the game with 30 Minutes left go for it - imagine the shock through other clubs if we could buck the trend here - ————-now I will go back to my dream - nite 😂

[KP Fox]

11 minutes ago, Old Fox said:

I hope he is nowhere near the starting team again - being polite he is not good enough

Whenever we've had a clean sheet this season, Big Dan was in defence. 

[Finnegan]

God damnit Ricky. 

 

He'd be a Ballon D'or if he didn't have legs made out of Ryvita. 

[HankMarvin]

Speaking to the leadership group 

Like FM

wonder who is in it

Vardy

Evans 

Ndidi

Maddison

Youri

[fox_favourite]

2 minutes ago, HankMarvin said:

Speaking to the leadership group 

Like FM

wonder who is in it

Vardy

Evans 

Ndidi

Maddison

Youri

And Amartey…

Edited 14 April 2023 by fox_favourite

[splinterdream]

Martin Keown just said on talk sport we keep playing Mendy as a central defender 🙈🤣

[fox_favourite]

4 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

Martin Keown just said on talk sport we keep playing Mendy as a central defender 🙈🤣

And the most clueless award goes to…Martin Keown is a donkey. 

[lgfualol]

Feel like it will be something like

 

Iversen

Castagne Soutter Faes Kris

Mendy Ndidi KDH

Tete Vardy Maddison

 

If Dean hasnt got donkey brains he'll play Ndidi properly again, making sure all he does is tackle and intercept, with minimal touches of the ball as he'll just toe poke it to Man city every time.

Edited 14 April 2023 by lgfualol

[SkidsFox]

31 minutes ago, zdx said:

Barnes missing this game in particular is a huge, huge blow - make no bones about it. Regardless of any lift in spirit / new manager bounce that Dean Smith may have brought, we know how this game sets up: Man City absolutely dominant in possession and control of the ball and us defending deep. Any chance we get of scoring will come from the counter - and Barnes is our most key player in that respect. Our chances of getting anything out the game are significantly reduced with his absence. As a result, I think that Tete and Daka have to start, as we need the pace.

You're right, and I wonder how Barnes gets so much flack here.

Hopefully Tete has his once every ten weeks stunner matches.

[SkidsFox]

Quote

You can’t help but be excited when you see this training centre. If you get John Terry saying ‘oh wow’, you’re doing something right. We got him off the golf course, but there’s a golf course here!

Not sure about this..

[sacreblueits442]

10 hours ago, fox_favourite said:

And the most clueless award goes to…Martin Keown is a donkey. 

...Keown is not a clueless commentator,  he obviously meant a central defensive midfielder!!!

Edited 14 April 2023 by sacreblueits442
Spelling error.

[StanSP]

1 hour ago, KP Fox said:

What are the odds on this scoreline? 😂🙏🤲

Skybet aren't evening doing odds for it

 

[HankMarvin]

18 minutes ago, SkidsFox said:

Not sure about this..

Everyone seems to be a bit concerned he sinks a hole in one

[sacreblueits442]

4 minutes ago, SkidsFox said:

You're right, and I wonder how Barnes gets so much flack here.

Hopefully Tete has his once every ten weeks stunner matches.

...Tete will be released much quicker and not from a cumbersome build up, for this game!!!

  I think he will revel in a quicker game.

[Tuna]

Ricky injured, great idea loaning out Ayoze and Marc, with Barnes injured we have one winger. Idiotic.

[Dames]

2 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Dean Smith Pre-Match Press Conference vs Man City

 

Why did you take the job?

“The main reason I took the job on was because Craig and JT wanted to do it as well. The points are there to be won, to grab, to get out of the bottom three. It’s been a season I’ve not seen before in terms of nine teams involved in the relegation battle. The more we can keep in that, it’s not insurmountable to get out.”

 

Confidence down?

“We’ve lost seven out of the last eight games, so confidence isn’t going to be high. I was 80-20 to take the job, but I probably went down to 50-50 after watching the Bournemouth game! I felt they just needed a lift. I felt confident we could do that. We’ve seen great enthusiasm. We’re trying to put smiles on the faces, and that should lift their confidence very quickly.”

 

Same as Villa?

“There are comparisons of being in the situation. Not setting targets. We just want to be out of the bottom three. Craig has been in that situation before here at Leicester as well. He believed we could do it, so his experience is helpful.”

 

Maddison and Grealish comparisons?

“We do need to transition the game more quickly. James held his hand up after his mistake. Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? Our job is to get him into a position where he can hurt the opposition, like we did with Jack.”

 

Job beyond this summer?

“It’s not a conversation we’ve had. It’s an interim job. I was watching the Masters in August last week and now I’m back to England. I’m looking forward to the challenge.”

 

Man City?

“We’ve watched an awful lot of teams try to impose their game on Man City and come unstuck. We have to have a gameplan and stick to it. We’ve seen Brentford go there and get a result. We have to have belief in ourselves.”

 

Defence?

“Straight away, bringing in JT, who helped sure up defence at Villa. We’ve got six centre-backs here at the club, Evans has just come back from injury and some have not played as many minutes as we would have liked, but there’s plenty to work with.”

 

Would be your biggest achievement to keep City up?

“I’ll tell you that at the end of the season if and when we’ve kept them up.”

 

Relegation battle?

“It’s strange to have so many teams involved and so few points between everyone. It’s a real interesting period. The games we have after Man City will be interesting, but we have to get a performance from this weekend and hopefully get some points.”

 

Surprised by City's position?

“Yes. One of my first points of action was to speak to the leadership group on Monday evening, get their thoughts on why they think we are where we are and what they think we should do to get out of it. We have our ideas and will put demands on the players. Ultimately players make the decisions on the pitch.”

 

Why are you the right man?

“Tomorrow might be my 600th game as a manager, coming up through Walsall to Brentford, to Villa and Norwich. We’ve got experience. As a three, it’s strong. We’ve got different qualities. We’ve been through relegation battles in the Premier League.”

 

Sense there is complacency in squad?

“No. From the first time I spoke to the players, I’ve been really impressed with the enthusiasm and attitude and quality. Unfortunately, we’ve got a couple of players missing. Harvey Barnes will be out for Saturday and is touch and go for next Saturday. The quality has impressed all of us. We’ve been impressed with what we’ve seen.”

 

Tielemans?

“He’s available for selection. He hasn’t done a lot of minutes in training, so we’ll have to see if he’s ready to start. He’ll play a big part. Him and Jonny give the team calmness.”

 

Any other injuries?

“Ricky felt his hamstring after the game last week. His looks worse than Harvey’s. He’ll be out for a few weeks. That takes away our wider options.”

 

Being at City

“You can’t help but be excited when you see this training centre. If you get John Terry saying ‘oh wow’, you’re doing something right. We got him off the golf course, but there’s a golf course here! It’s a great club, meeting the staff and owners has been refreshing. I’ve seen humility. They’re willing to help us. We want to be a success together.”

 

What's missing?

“Looking back to the Bournemouth game were players without confidence and with lethargy. We’ve tried to make training more fun and intense. We’ve tried to make it more frantic. We’ve had a response. Today is more tactical.”

 

What does a Dean Smith team look like?

“Focus, concentration, energy, commitment, everything that you would like to see. Connectivity between the players. It’s a clean slate for everyone. We have fresh eyes on the players. We like what we’ve seen so far. We have to have those components to get a result tomorrow.”

Very hard not to get excited after reading that. I do wonder what was said when they met the leadership group about the problems. 

[Death by Football]

2 hours ago, moore_94 said:

Dean Smith Pre-Match Press Conference vs Man City

 

 

Maddison and Grealish comparisons?

“We do need to transition the game more quickly. James held his hand up after his mistake. Why are you coming so deep to get the ball? Why are we giving it to you when you’ve not got a pass on? Our job is to get him into a position where he can hurt the opposition, like we did with Jack.”

 

I am so pleased to see him recognise this.  I've been thinking back trying to come up with a goal we've scored in the last two years that came from a slow build up of play and didn't rely on Madders or Youri banging one in from 25 yards and I can't think of a single one.  

Edited 14 April 2023 by Death by Football
Learned how to reply properly