SWLondon Saint

He was great last night out of possession, but there were quite a few occasions when he played Russ-ball passes backwards and sideways which actually put us in more trouble than if he'd just put his foot on it or through it. One in particular 2nd half I remember there was no-one in 10 yards of him, we had runners and players left side but he didn't even look forward, just played it without thinking back to Wood, it went right, their press came and we lost it. Needs to get that out of his system.

Well exactly, Schlong had a horrendous first touch but he was an absolute terror at closing down and winning stuff in the air and on the ground he had no right to be winning. Scored some great goals too though my heart was always in my mouth when he had 'easy side foot in' type goals. For an athlete like Downs, that's really the minimum he should be aiming for. What league he can do it in, I have no idea and we can only hope the new scouting team got it right...

I was thinking the same thing, he can probably bully them all day long! 😂

I think it's still too early to judge. The scouting team won't have brought in a 'lazy' player, there's too much info out there these days - and he's been a Poch player with the US team, and there is no way Poch would even have him in his squad if he was lazy. That means he's lacking in confidence or struggling to adjust. He needs some games in the reserves to figure out he should be bullying defenders with his pace and build. If they're on the ball, they should be wondering when he's going to tackle them, if we're on the ball they should be scared he's running in behind. Get that stuff right and then play on instinct and he should at least be able to be Shane Long-lite who never let his trampoline touch stop him being effective.

Hilarious sending off, you could see Frimpong is having a go and literally all the Liverpool players know what's coming. Annoying we conceded a stupid goal but the back 3 looked solid to me against a front line worth more than the entire Championship. Their 2nd goal was all about Chiesa's movement, that spot between the wide CB and the full back is the weak point and he exploited it. Won't get that + the ball over the top the rest of this season anyway.

Tbh I wasn't keen with Manning that half, look how close Jelert was getting every time it went wide on the right. Manning just stands off and lets them get going with pace at him, no idea why.

Macca just has absolutely no idea or ability at passing and he should never, ever have been asked to by Martin. You wouldn't play that pass to someone who's clearly not expecting or wanting it if you were 60 yards up the pitch let alone in your own box. He's a decent shot stopper but completely incompetent with the ball at his feet.

Yep, he should be looking at that and knowing it has to go long, there's no way Quarshie wants it on the inside there, it's completely brain dead. No words.

Yeah, I was thinking exactly the same thing, we won it in midfield, someone coming back from further forward (dunno who) played a completely stupid ball backwards when he should have turned, that happened twice more and I thought we were going to give it away. Looked safe then that brainfart by Macca. 'sake.

We need a fucking exorcist to get rid of Russ-ball.

I'm a bit worried about that too - he talked about Cap'n Jack being a great guy to have around and his experience of the club - sure, but unfortunately he is one of those who mostly has been crap in his entire time and badly needs a kick in the arse or spell on the bench to up his game. Chris Wilder actually summed it up very well, he said the bottom line is always 'Can you do it out there on the pitch on Saturdays?' - applies to the players and manager.

One thing I think we underestimate is just how bad a season Stephens and THB had last year. At least the last time we got relegated, we'd still had games where we looked like a PL team, Ralph would've had them fit at the start of the season, we were competitive, probably everyone came back wanting to bounce back. But last season we really were complete rubbish, not prepared enough and I think they've gotten used to losing. They need some time out.

Yeah sorry, I don't buy this 'not a great bunch of players' stuff either. This is definitely a top 2 level squad and if we don't get there that's on the manager. Look at Boro - Edwards came in after Carrick got the boot, they sold one of their best players to us - no problem. Mind you, everyone on here would have been up in arms if we had gone for Edwards... I do think he should be given more time but he's overdue a 'statement' type performance. Carry on like this another 5 or 6 games and realistically he's probably gone.

I said it after the Norwich game, I think we should be playing 2 up top. Stewart and Archer looked good together that game. Part of our problem is that with 1 up we never seem to have anyone near enough to them.

If you want to objective about it, the SR people who f'ed up that window are not the same ones as we have now, and I think most people would say the recent window was a success in terms of clearing out a lot of mess. Only issue is it looks like they didn't go far enough - I was willing to give them a chance but the Stephens deal and not cutting losses on Baz may be the things that screw up our season.

I don't think anyone's doing that, but the first goal he has to do better on. Him, THB and Cap'n Jack all need a spell on the sidelines.

Well we were, we had all the possession and conceded absolute crap goals frankly. High ball to back post, knock down, goal for 2 of them, and a free header from a set piece.

They just lost to Charlton at home, they're a mess too. Big player turnover too so this is not the team he had last season.

Watched most of that, bloody depressing. - There was clearly a plan to hit high crosses in to the back post - both THB and Stephens just got bullied by McBurnie. Baz should still be holding that header or getting it miles out. - THB was absolute crap today, diving into silly challenges, stupid yellow card, couple of random giveaways and hoofing it straight out of play once. Too easily beaten for the knockdown for their second. Stephens didn't even jump for the third. Wtf is going on with them, honestly, we'd be better off with Edwards-Wood-Quarshie in a 3 than this crap. - Azaz and Fellows totally anonymous. Robinson surely has to play over those 2, likewise at least Scienza tried to make something happen when he came on. Armstrong as well. - I know there's a plan but when it's pissing it down you can do a lot worse than have a big man - little man combo up front and play it long. You could see the surface was heavy and our play was so slow trying to play it on the deck. Horses for courses. - Early days but that Sheff Utd game looking like a bottom of the table 6 pointer, bloody hell.

Well, that's the point - the current status is that members of the majority are elevated over minorities. There's a well known study showing if you send out the same CV, some with a white 'Anglo-saxon' type surname, and others with a foreign person of colour name, the foreign one gets worse responses. For the exact same thing. And a similar study asked lawyers to critique the exact same legal documents with majority or foreign names and people scored the one written by a foreigner lower. So the evidence is that we do need some DEI just to be aware that if not, we all tend to hire or promote people who look like us or are familiar to us.

This setup actually works for Kane though, he comes short and you have players with pace running beyond like Madueke and Gordon. Even our fullbacks are making runs behind. Anderson looks class, a proper number 6. Could establish himself there for England for years to come.

We need them to stay up this season and then blow up next season ideally if all goes well 😉

I wonder if Rambo doesn't get any game time at all behind Pope, if he might ask to be released from the loan. He definitely won't have any chance at England if he's not playing...

To be fair, if the main concern for him is money, that is a life-changing amount, so...

Apart from the shouting, Wood absolutely does seem that kind of player to be honest, he got his head on a lot the other day. Quarshie also has looked excellent in the air and dominant when players have challenged him with strength. And much as I don't rate him, Cap'n Jack definitely seems the 'fight in an empty room' type of player with his shithousery attempts.