JibMcdo

Good performance, same intentions as every game this season including the Bristol City game, but Cardiff afforded us more space and we took advantage. Playing the way we do allows us to look that dominant when we are allowed, and control games and grind them down when we aren’t. Hopefully in those tougher moments people will understand why we are doing what we are doing and support the team. I think it’s great to watch. As I posted after City I do think the Sulemana injury will be a blessing, we will be more effective and should allow Manning to play better too.

I’m in the minority it seems. I like watching us dominate, it does take balls from the management and players to play that way and over the long term that is the style that wins games and trophies these days. We play it well currently and will only get better. I think Martin should get great credit for the switch to a diamond for the second half as well. It occupied Bristol City’s back 5 (7 at times) and we looked good. Think the injury to Kamaldeen may be a blessing in disguise. Re the interview, we’ve just won a game against a team that had zero intention of committing more than 2 players forward at a time, played well second half, 10 unbeaten, and Blackmore’s focus literally 3 seconds into the interview is about the fact they had 2 chances in the first half? Teams are allowed to have a shot, a counter attack - Blackmore’s expecting a perfect 3-0 game every time with total domination and literally zero shots against? It seems to be dominating interviews and press conferences at the moment and I understand why his opening question may have irked Martin.

No way Bednarek is going to be a backup in the Championship so with this signing and the Wood rumours I’d say he’s definitely off.

Nobody who watched that Forest game could rationally believe he was the right man for the job. Outsiders will think fans have overreacted but it was the most inept performance by a PL team in history. Tactically what were they trying to achieve that evening? It was madness. I’m usually against fans turning on their own teams but if it actually achieved something in this case fine. Didn’t like his interview, especially the part where he said we dominated Forest! Yesterday was much better but you can’t tell me it was an evolution from Forest to Palace to City, and a process of building and time. Last night was a revolution in terms of how they tried to attack. Hopefully he’s got a few things off his chest and can act more professional going forward, because last week’s reaction was justified.

It’s mad. I thought Downes stood out like a sore thumb when we played Swansea. It was a really impressive performance and anyone who took half an interest in that game would have taken note of him. I’m sure if you go back to the match thread, instead of commenting on the game people were just frothing at the mouth about Ralph’s team selection for 120 minutes.

I’m all for data but xg is clearly crap. A quality international footballer unmarked 22 yards out only scores that once in every 25 attempts? That’s bollocks.

Don’t have the full details but I doubt it. Issue unrelated to his calf injury.

Heard 3 or 4 weeks ago that McCarthy is out for the foreseeable future, so if Forster is let go we may need two new keepers.

Ralph’s aggressive tactics made him a better player as it sort of made up for his lack of pace as he was always on the front foot. He was obviously good in the air and very good on the ball. He’s have probably been a part of our squad for many years to come but looks as though he is playing himself out of being in the Premier League.

Fans always want a scapegoat and as we have improved recently it looks as though Bednarek is next on the list. I think he’s underrated by most. Ralph likes his centre halves to be ultra aggressive in their marking and try to restrict the ball getting to a striker’s feet and this is definitely his main strength. - probably why he’s been a mainstay since the manager’s arrival. He’s good in the air and he can put in a great last ditch block. No he isn’t perfect, he can be weak running towards his own goal a la Jimenez against Wolves, but he’s a big part of an improving back line and he’s worth way more to us than £15m.

He’s f*cked then isn’t he.

I still find it absolutely mental people can watch our team and think the manager isn’t right for us. We’ve played similar to that today for quite a bit of this season. Sometimes we’ve conceded 2 and gone on to lose. But Jesus this bloke is and always will be our best asset until he leaves.

Mental. So many people just haven’t got a clue

Think Dean Smith is a below average PL manager. What are his teams good at? What’s his style of play? They were a Hawkeye error away from going down in their first season having spent £100m+, and were heading in the same direction again this season having spent similar. Think he had a lot to thank Grealish for as to being in that job so long. Lets be honest we have battered Villa in every game we’ve played them in the last 3 seasons, even if we somehow lost at home last year, because we have a manager on another level to Smith who was tactically outclassed every time. I was happy to see he’d gone to Norwich and would expect us to play well on Saturday and have every chance of beating his side again.

This is 100% a new, deliberate tactic of ours this season to slow games down. We have lost way too many points from winning positions not to try something new. It also means that we can get more rest in between our effort to press.