Convict Colony

I saw this thread trending and assumed some funny jokes were being made. If our little Napoleon sized owner is expecting/hoping to sell I would expect he would be reading from the Mike Ashley playbook and not sanction any transfers unless the club are able to play for it themselves which i don't think we have the budget for. Are there actually any stories about us currently or is this all hopium ? apologies not been looking in this thread.

the hero our club needs

I look at like this (sorry this turned out longer than i intended) I remember the Puel (possession around our halfway line), Pellegrino (keep possession around of back 4) and Hughes (pray for possession) and how with Ralph we can all see his plan since he came in and to be honest this is the way a lot of successful clubs play. Stating the obvious but I think the difference is that these other clubs are able to improve the squad each year and sell the players who dont make it or are a target for the bigger clubs. Until those big sales happen that financial ability is down to the owner and the allocated budget they get each year. As an example if I look at RB Leipzig when Ralph was manager they were able to spend around 60-70m a year whilst generating around 12 mil in sales in total for both seasons. Of that 120-140mil spent over the 2 years I'd say RB Salzburg received around half of that money so the money was kept "in house" and I believe there is a discount on the transfer pricing anyway. RB Salzburg give Leipzig an advantage as A) There is a pathway to Leipzig to sell to players who arent ready for budesliga yet but could be gems. B) RB Salzburg can take the younger, un proven players and mould them into the system to make them ready (think this would be where a moussa/salisu etc would go). I think we are caught in a half way house between trying to follow this model and system to get these young unproven players in and but then having to play them before they are ready cos we are crap (hence i think ralph realised this with Salisu particularly could see the talent and decided he would train only for 6months). We probably have max net 20-25m spend each year in the richest league in the world (not including sales - money to pay transfer money due per annum not transfer fees) hence the accounting footwork with Tino (pay 5mil this summer) Without picking on Redmond he joined in summer 2016 and he is still here 6 seasons later with a total of 20 goals average 3.33 goals a season and is still here playing as a winger/forward (salah, mane role hahahahah), I could pick a few players like this. We have no budget to significantly improve the quality of the squad (Jan Veest record signing joined in 2018 was bought with Virgil money) and until we either have players sought after by other clubs or we get owner investment this will not change. To be honest I really dont think the manager is the problem as I cant think of a manager alive who could get us scoring goals and keeping cleansheets working within the constraints we have (last 2 seasons were we mid table for scoring). I really think we have had bang average players for a while and when we can buy some we have to shop in the bargain basement of championship, lower european leagues or reserve teams as we have no money. We also have c level assistant coaches with no discernible coaching talent who unlike other coaches seem to cling onto their jobs whenever a manager leaves but they are seen as the cheap option so are kept on. Until we get an owner who can invest in the team to a suitable level we will continue to be on struggle street and our only hope is to have a playing system that helps negate the talent difference between our players and the opposition, unfortunately for us this system can be undone with mental lapses due to the lack of quality and execution which we see every week. So in short, its gonna be the same no matter the manager whilst we have this playing group and investment level - we just need to try and beat the teams around us and nick points off the top half where we can to try and stay up.

Am impressed enough that you were bothered enough to look up how to spell his name to start the thread

the amount of times our players lost the ball during close control in the final 3rd was ridiculous yesterday, they seemed to think they were ronaldinho and without fail as soon as they lost it arsenal counter attacked with pace. Must say first time I've seen ramsdale since bournemouth and what he brought to the arsenal team in both goal keeping and intent was impressive, it shows what we havent had for a long long time. I think to be honest we have crap forwards and without romeu a crap midfield. JWP hasnt played a through ball in his life and our forwards have more luck with pin the tail on the donkey. I want to know what the real story is with Stuart Armstrong, this calf injury is bullshit. Edit - I really like lyanco though, his intent and steel he brings to our backlike is what we need - him and salisu next game please.

where is stuart armstongs calf he is the messiah

our goalkeeping options

I dont think there is a tactical system invented that has these players scoring goals and keeping cleansheets.

If we could of scored from the loads of chances we had we wouldn't be too fussed about conceding. Id love to see chances to goals ratio it must be like 8:1 or something over the last 4 games. We batter teams in first halves and either draw or 1-0 up at half time when it should be more.

adams having one of those days where he could fall into a bucket full of tits and come out sucking his thumb

try any of these https://soccerstreams-100.tv/game/eng-1/605891

he's just found out mccarthy is being offered a new contract

He tried something different to try and win - it didnt work and he changed it at half time. Not much to really say more than that. Better teams than us will get spanked by more. Edit - also i want to see lyanco and salisu start in a 4 next game.

I'd already heard of this guy a while ago and for the life of me i cannot remember why and its really annoying me. Nice boat, expect its going to the Caribbean for xmas.

If they do buy us I might actually investigate the Ratuken app that was pre-installed with my tv. Would be happy with this deal for sure.

Dont think Ralph would go to villa anyway - think he feels like he owes Semmens for sticking buy him after 2 wallopings the last 2 seasons when it was easier to fire him,.

I like what lyanco brings to our side when he plays and does either of our other CBs not make mistakes. Bednerak reminds at some point in every game of a teenage who has had a growth spurt but his coordination hasnt caught up with him

Salisu has this ability to wrapped his legs around people from random angles to nick the ball away even if he is off balance. Thought 2nd have we either gave away the ball to easily or we kept smashing it into our own players to launch a villa attack

Salisu and then Tino our best players easily this season so far.

random thoughts, Mo El has been more and more influential these last few games i'd like to see him and armstrong start as inside forwards purely for their direct running. Diallo early quick balls have made a big difference to us going forward. Thanks chelsea - can we borrow some more Redders maybe time to move to left full back - get far away from the goal

I think this season more than any other Ralphs wardrobe is going through an identity crisis. He's worn some weird combo's, maybe he will stick with yesterdays look for a bit but I dont see it lasting through winter so I suggest he goes for the innuit look.

At what point does it go from the other team were terrible to we stopped them playing ? Man City 1 shot on target / Leeds 0 shots on target

Dont think the problem is the strikers its been the awful service and quick transition opportunities they have been receiving from the wide forwards and midfield. I have high hopes with Diallo who is a naturally more attacking midfielder will push forward more than JWP and with Armstrong back both aspects of our play will improve. I think Adams will play more as well to help linking with them both.

We have played 6 out of the top 7 teams in the current table drawn 4 lost 3. We have shown tactical flexibility across a few formations this season and ralphs in game subs have improved significantly on their timings. We are struggling to score goals but i think that is down to both our inside forwards (missing armstrong a lot) and the midfielders getting forward quickly when the counter. Think Diallo is actually the exact sort of midfielder we need to push on up the pitch on the counter with speed so will be interesting over the next few games. I think our biggest issue by far is the assists goals we can expect from the inside forward positions per season. Armstrong/Tella/Redmond/Walcott/Djnepo scored 11 goals in total last season - that is not enough - i feel this is the area ralph should work on the most in the next 2 weeks and how diallo links up with them moving forward.

i blame the short length