Ex Lion Tamer

It will be interesting to see if Ralph can get him playing the pressing game. Some on here have questioned his aptitude but I'm not sure he's ever had a manager drill that sort of game into him. Unlikely Wenger or Koeman did anyway. Silva? It could give his career a new lease of life if he can adapt to Ralph's methods

It's the likelihood of getting assists based on their general play. For all that Diallo will give the ball away less, he'll make us a more defensive team and we may find it harder to build attacks. Expect people on here to complain that he only does short sideways passes

Looking at Hoj's stats, he's a much more similar player to Sangare then he is to Diallo. Much more attacking, poor pass completion

At least Diallo is better at passing I guess. He just has a lot less going forward.

Sangare looked quite ungainly in his movements, although perhaps effective nevertheless. This guy seems like much more of a natural player

Plus the experts on here though Pelle and Mane were shit based on their first few games!

Exactly, there is a reason our away record is so good - we like teams to come on to us; then we can press, win the ball back and break. Hodgson treated it like an away game for Palace, so it was a home game for us, which meant we struggled to break them down.

Armstrong wasn't that highly rated by Celtic fans was he? My memory was that he'd lost his place in the team and they weren't too worried about him going

Same thing happened to Klopp in his last season at Dortmund. Sometimes things can suddenly fall apart for managers who for years have got players overperforming. That said, Bournemouth's weakness at the back for the whole of their time in the Premier League counts against Howe getting a really top job.

I went to school with Wayne Bridge. He was a couple of years older so my only memories are him winning the 100m at sports day and him kicking our ball over the fence one time. I realise that makes him look bad so i'll say he didnt have a particular reputation as a bully or anything

We're currently on 14 points from 16 home games, with three to play. Palace stayed up with 20 home points last season. In 2017/18 we stayed up with 19 home points. 2016/17 Palace 20 points 2015/16 Bournemouth 20 points 2014/15 Sunderland 20 points 2013/14 Sunderland 18 points 2012/13 Villa 20 points 2011/12 Villa 19 points 2010/11 Wigan 23 points 2009/10 Wolves 21 points 2008/09 Hull 14 points😀 2007/08 Fulham 20 points

It's plausible that this story in the Times has been placed in order to pressure RB to firm up their interest

If we got taken over by Red Bull, it would be ok if we were top of the chain. But if we became a feeder club for Leipzig it would be very bad news. Imagine the uproar on here if our top players started being despatched to the parent club! Worse owners than Gao: Sullivan/Gold Ashley Glazers Levy (got lucky with Poch, watch them sink) Arsenal board? Not many granted but Gao isn't the worst.

I think you misread Ralph's character to be honest. I don't think he wants expensive signings, he wants to develop players. I think he doesn't want to bring players in unless he can shift others first because he wants a close knit group where everyone has a role and a chance of getting in the team. And I think he he's a patient perfectionist who would rather wait until the summer to get the right player than accept less now

Puts your campaign against Reed in a different light, no wonder you are keen to downplay it

Yes, we have a squad full of average players on big wages, which is at least part of why we don't have money to spend on transfer fees. It's going to take time to turn that around. Reed is gone now, and so is Wilson, so while I don't want to make out that Gao is an amazing owner, we could well be turning things around to correct the mistakes of the past. And I'm personally happy we are not loaded with debt - i'd have thought someone with your political persuasions would agree with me!

The only positive if that he's yet to oversee crazy appointments like Wigley, Gray, Portvliet, Clifford, Woodward, etc. He seems happy to leave that stuff to other people.

Wages only 53% of turnover compared to our 75%, £144m loans owed to Ashley

According to these figures from earlier this year, all but one of those clubs have a lower wage bill and all have more debt https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/22/premier-league-finances-club-guide-2017-18-accounts-manchester-united-city

Ings has already done the big club thing so I'm hopeful that he'll be happy to bide his time and at least give us another season after this one. He won't want to be back on the bench every week, that's for sure. Why not stick with a manager who has him playing the best football of his career and can offer him the prospect of a top half finish next session?

Che will have learnt more from that 17 minutes against Leicester than he would in 90 minutes against Sheffield Wednesday. There's no way he should go out on loan, he needs to keep plugging away at this level playing with higher quality players

Omar Colley apparently https://www.goal.com/en/news/newcastle-face-competition-from-southampton-and-west-ham-for-15m-/1idfzxufl9hrx1qh7cp5ymz2ig