qwertyell

I wondered who made that fawning bridge banner professing undying love to Ralph in the wake of his second 9-0 shellacking.

His confidence and body language has always been questionable - seems like he has a lot to say for himself on the pitch, but then cowers like a frightened kitten when he gets on the ball. I'm always surprised by how weak he is. Physically, he looks far more solid than, say, Djenepo, but he gets brushed aside so easily. Unlike Moussa, there's just no fight in him, no putting his body on the line for the team. He's a quitter. You can put up with a frustrating player who keeps trying but failing to make things happen, but there's no future for one that stops trying. Ability? Some. Character? Zilch.

7 points from 14 games for the bestest manager ever. Mark Hughes was sacked after a run of 9 points from 14 games. Pellegrino was sacked after 1 win in 17. Hasenhuttl's currently sitting on 1 win in 14. "We'll never get anyone better."

Okay for 8 minutes. Appalling then for the next 20 and looked like we were going under. Then they has their second goal disallowed and it's been reasonably even since. Promising build up thwarted time and again by our shocking quality in the final third. Given that we're hopeless in the second half, though, I guess this can be marked down as another defeat. 7 points from the last 14 games incoming. We can't keep clean sheets and don't look like scoring. Not a great combination.

I remember Stephens playing as a holding midfielder for Swindon in the League One play off final (we also had Jordan Turnbull on loan there, playing centre back). Jack's highlight of the game was a Zidane-like pirouette away from twin challenges in the centre circle before driving majestically to the edge of the box and letting fly a dipping, swerving thunderbolt that almost snapped the corner flag. Swindon lost 4-0.

We had to sell him to fund the Che Adams transfer. In retrospect, we could've just played Targett up front instead and he'd probably have scored as many goals.

And yet he's still trying to do it anyway, in spite of knowing his approach is doomed to fail. He's got the tactical depth of a puddle. Any idiot can claim their way would've succeeded if only they had better players and more of them. The trouble with a "philosophy" manager is, where do they go when their plan goes to shit? Once they're rumbled, by the opposition or circumstance, their success or failure depends on how they adapt to evolving challenges. Thus far, Hasenhuttl's response to any deviation from things going precisely to plan has been to do nothing different. How can any manager have lost 9-0 TWICE and still have fans lauding him as sliced bread incarnate?

What a farce. We presently have ONE fit senior full back and ONE fit senior central midfielder. And we chose to play the season with this bare bones of a squad. Regardless of whether we stay up or not, heads should roll for how mismanaged the club has become. They won't, because we can't afford to sack anyone - which is another miserable reminder of how mismanaged the club has become.

The only interesting part of the article. Who wants to do the work and find out which players are out of contract in the summer? Goalkeeper, Left Back, Utility Full Back, Wide Attacker, Striker (x2?). I'd bet Walcott will be one of those. Weren't we linked to some journeyman Brazilian midfielder a few weeks back who was available on a free? Perhaps there was some truth to that rumour...

He can't head either. Can't fault his efforts, but Championship is his level at best.

Highest paid manager in our history. Heaviest home defeat ever. Heaviest away defeat ever. Longest sequence of defeats ever. One dimensional robotic football-on-rails that falls to pieces catastrophically at the first sign of adversity - while the manager does nothing on the sidelines to adapt to any and all unexpected developments other than look vaguely constipated. The players have been out on their feet since December. And yet the manager won't or can't change his inflexible approach to reflect that. We're still trying to press like madmen. We're still obsessed only with working against the ball. But the players just can't cope with the physical demands anymore. It's sad to see us run out of steam earlier and earlier in games. Imagine the hidings we're going to get when we can't even rouse ourselves for at least the first 45 minutes. It's heading that way. One win in thirteen games, and only seven goals scored - the manager's one, solitary idea is a busted flush and he looks almost as clueless as Pellegrino. Or Pellegrini. Whichever one it was. And the club have given him free rein to implement his shallow, unsustainable "philosophy" across all the age groups. So that's something to look forward to for future generations of League One subs... The most overrated manager we've ever had.

Hasn't made a save in two months.

Talk about a victim complex: Tella dived and Prowse took the free kick before the whistle. Sucks for us, but the rules were applied properly. Decent first 20 minutes from us, but our lack of quality in the forward positions is painful. We got sloppy after that and Leeds were the more dangerous team overall. The amazing Romeu tackle glosses over how truly inept our defensive set up was from our own bloody free kick. Assume we've run our race now and Leeds will eventually cash in on one of our myriad mistakes. If we get through this match on a fucking ice rink without any injuries that'll be a result.

The team just five points behind us - and who beat us with nine men the other day - are in a relegation battle, but we're "safe as houses*?

Bizarre game, really. We've been second best everywhere - Chelsea are quicker, stronger, more aggressive - and have barely completed a pass. And then Minamino, who has been our worst player and lost possession every time the ball came near him, pops up with a beautiful goal from out of nowhere. Suddenly we've got something to cling to. Whether we can is another issue. Not sure what the manager is thinking playing long balls up to a short striker and a winger, but I guess the scoreline so far justifies it. Credit to Djenepo for putting his brittle body on the line for the team. Can't defend to save his life, but he's giving it a go. Those two fouls on him weren't pretty but I have to say I'd have been livid if the boot was on the other foot and VAR had intervened to send a Saints player off for such challenges. Late, yes. A booking if a proper referee was on the whistle. But I don't think there was any serious intent there. Big half coming up. Even a point would be a boost. Good luck lads.

Is no-one allowed to point out that we're in relegation form, and that it's not ideal? Last 11 games: 1 win, 3 draws, 7 defeats. Goals for: 6. Goals against: 22.

Forster hasn't become better in absentia. He's still incredibly limited and technically flawed. But he has strung together a whole 4 competent games - which at this moment in time is in stark contrast to McCarthy, who has conceded 20 goals from the last 37 shots he's faced. It may make no difference whatsoever to change keepers, but as our current number one has the saves-to-shots ratio you might expect of a wheelie bin, how much can it hurt to try something else?

Go bold - give Nathan Tella a whirl. He's quick and enthusiastic. Has the strength of a kitten and looks like he might get lost running in a straight line, but hey. Not going to make it as a top level winger/forward, so why not try and convert him into something useful? At worst, he'll be terrible - like everyone else. All our options at RB without Walker-Peters are varying shades of shit, and the club should hang its head for allowing the manager to have no back up whatsoever - and not a single promising colt hiding in the ranks of our massively overhyped Academy. It'll obviously be Stephens for the foreseeable future. And it'll be horrible.

(h) Chelsea (a) Leeds (a) Everton (a) Sheffied United (h) Brighton (h) Burnely (a) WBA (h) Palace (h) Leicester (a) Liverpool (h) Fulham (h) Leeds (a) West Ham Two fixtures not arranged yet. Man City away (no points) and Spurs away (no points). Bolded games are the ones in which I think we've got a decent shot a winning. The Burnely to Palace run comes in a quiet April where we presently only have three fixtures, so plenty of time to rest and prepare between games. That might be our key period. Wouldn't want Fulham in May to come down to a must-win status. A couple of wins and a couple of draws should keep the pack at bay. At present, it'd just be nice to get another point on the board.

Let's see how this excuse holds up when Leeds run all over us for 90 minutes next week. Somehow, their intensity is holding up... If the players aren't fit enough to maintain the manager's tactics over the course of a season, surely a competent manager would adapt his approach. Lockdown in March bailed Hasenhuttl out last season, because we were physically cooked and headed on another dire run of form.

Fucking hell, six defeats in a row - and Chelsea next, so that'll be seven. Looks like KWP is injured again, so that's terrific. Snap your hand off for six more points and probable survival. Can't see where they're coming from any time soon. Still keeping an eye on Fulham and West Brom's results...

Salisu was excellent. People are jumping on a few errors as if he didn't make some fantastic blocks and interceptions to bail out his teammates' errors. You defend as a unit, and the unit was very tidy, for the first time in what seems like an age. Keep him fit and he'll become one of the first names on the teamsheet.

Traore rinsed us the other season (might've only been last season - it seems so bloody long ago) when Wolves came back from 2-0 down to win 3-2 at our place. His form this season has been way off, though.

No ideas or quality in the final third against an organised defence. Hasenhuttl-ball epitomised. Not expecting to see a plan B after half time. Salisu's looked all right, though. Albeit against a team who've barely attacked. Bit rusty at times, but that's to be expected. Just hope we can get through the rest of the game with no new injuries.

I wouldn't waste your energy. He's not going to change now. It's his character that's the problem - it isn't that he's not trying, it's that he loses belief at any minor setback and spends the rest of the game trying to minimise his mistakes thereafter. Liverpool away a handful of years back - it might even have been THAT semi final - encapsulated everything Redmond is about. He absolutely terrorised their backline in the first half; he was direct, running straight at the box as soon as he picked up possession, twisting their centre backs inside and out. But ultimately there was no end product and he quickly lost heart. In the second half he barely touched the ball, and when he did just passed it safely backwards while he went into hiding. It's who he is.