Robin Sainty: City’s season appears to be disintegrating before our eyes

The response was "forward thinking , forward running. Good possession, moving the ball quickly".

He also talked about winning the ball back swiftly when it was lost, but it’s hard, if not impossible, to equate that description with what we’ve seen, even while results were favourable.

Although City have had occasional bursts of fluidity, Saturday’s first half being one such example, they’ve seemed incapable of producing it for a full game, and there have been times, such as the first half at Watford, where they’ve appeared to be utterly incapable of stringing more than three passes together.

Injuries haven’t helped but one of the most frequent criticisms that I hear from fans is that they simply have no idea what Smith’s game plan actually is.

One of the main reasons given for his appointment was his ability to be more tactically flexible than his predecessor, and there is no doubt that he has been prepared to try different shapes, but none has been particularly successful, with the football on display becoming increasingly stodgy as results have declined.

At Burnley, City found themselves up against a side that actually did all of the things that Smith had talked about back in August and, despite a gallant defensive effort in which league debutant Jonathan Tomkinson played an impressive part, they were completely outclassed by a vibrant, positive team.

Isaac Hayden, right, giving Jonathan Tomkinson some encouragement after the Burnley goal (Image: (C)Focus Images Limitedwww.focus-images.co.uk+44 7813 022858)

While the defensive set-up with full-backs being asked to get tighter to the centre backs and the midfield discipline of Isaac Hayden has made City harder to penetrate centrally, opponents are constantly using the width offered to them to get their wide players into one-on-one situations and drive at the bye line.

This puts pressure on City’s full-backs, who are regularly running shuttles to the touchlines as opponents switch play while also being expected to act wide outlets for their own side in possession.

It doesn’t help that Teemu Pukki has missed a potentially match-winning penalty and a simple chance to earn a point in the last two games while a confident and in-form Josh Sargent continues to languish on the right, but only so many excuses can be made as City’s season appears to be disintegrating before our eyes.

I’ve never subscribed to the view that Smith is a poor manager. His achievements at Brentford and Villa show that he isn’t, but for whatever reason he simply hasn’t been able to get anything like the best from a highly-talented squad, although it’s not the manager who misses chances or misplaces passes.

I do feel that it was a risk for him to come straight into another job so soon after being sacked by the club he supports and perhaps there is an element of burnout involved.

However, that will do nothing to mollify an increasingly frustrated fanbase, although the publication of the accounts shows that City are in something of a Catch 22 situation.

Do they keep faith with Smith only to see a slide further away from the automatic promotion slots or do they make their financial position worse by having to pay up his and his coaching team’s contracts as well as possible compensation for whatever target they might have in mind to replace him?

That, of course, must also be balanced against the financial impact of not achieving promotion this season, so there are some difficult decisions to be made unless there is a significant improvement in results.

I would still love to see things work out for Smith, a decent man, but I’ve been around long enough to know that it is a massive job for a manager to win back the fans once he has lost them and I fear that we are very close to that point, if it hasn’t already been passed.