CanadaSaint

I don’t think it was in the game plan to press - and arguably, on a day like this, shouldn’t have been. Ralph looked like he had a contain first half, up the tempo second half plan. We now have some fresh front foot players to put on. This could work out.

He needs a solid LWB alongside him, or he gets sucked out of position to cover and then struggles to fulfill his main role.

ABK is making last week’s starting lineup look even more mental.

He got the ball after the contact. Could have gone either way.

Not thrilled with the starting lineup but willing to hope that Ralph is thinking it’s a 90-minute, 5 sub game on a hot day against a team that likes to press. Absorb some pressure then take control. Djenepo will again be an Achille’s heel, though. Took my highly optimistic pills this morning.

The reality, for me, is that we don't know how good our squad is - and nor, in truth, did we know last year. I (and I suspect the players) think it's much better than we've seen over the last 20+ games, which accounts for the mounting rumble on here and also - apparently - in the dressing room. Playing players out of position and in unfamiliar, ever-changing roles will never unlock our best. Nor will it give young players a fair chance of succeeding. The reality of what we're capable of being is hidden in the void between some absolutely brilliant performances and some utterly dire performances, with little in-between, and with both extremes being largely down to Ralph's line-ups, tactics and changes. He's both a great guy and an arrogant, stubborn, infuriating annoyance. I wish we could just keep "the good Ralph", but the annoying one is proving increasingly destructive, and I don't think he's capable of changing.

I wouldn’t be surprised if SR have a clearer idea of who our next manager will be, if it comes to that, than who our much-needed striker will be.

The most troubling part for me is that this stuff - especially if it's recurrent (which it has been with Ralph) - makes its way quickly through the agent community, and then to prospective signings. The reputation of the manager can either be a big attraction for players or a solid reason NOT to go there. This is how issues within a club can spiral if they're not addressed. I'm not sure there are many quality players out there at the moment thinking they'd love to play for Ralph.

One would assume that, as Ralph's Number Two, Selles was part of the decision-making that produced Saturday's ludicrous starting lime-up. If so, I have little faith that he could make much of a difference. Alternatively, Ralph is even more autocratic than most of us suspect, and didn't give Selles much of a say in the decision. That would be giving the finger not just to Selles but also to SR. However, it also wouldn't say much for Selles' likely ability to man-manage a team of highly paid, egotistical athletes. It's almost as though Ralph would rather get a nice payoff than go through the next eight potentially disastrous months.

My hope was that the coaching change would bring in someone who had the courage and ability to "speak truth to power", so that we could keep Ralph's best bits (he certainly has some) and lose his worst bits (square pegs in round holes, and the stubborn refusal to change what everyone else can see isn't working). That's not easy with Ralph because he always seems utterly convinced that he's right, and has a disturbing habit of blaming players - even, now, individual players - for his own failings. My fear is that his arrogance is so embedded that it's beyond his capability to accept and act on any input that's counter to his own views. That's a terminal failing in most walks of life. He's fast losing the dressing room, and - because word does go around (especially in the agent community) - he's becoming a detriment to player recruitment, not an asset.

I think you're right - they're not players that Ralph wanted but players identified by the model SR are implementing. So it's not a question of giving Ralph some time to get his players performing well within a cohesive unit. It's a question of how long they're willing to allow Ralph to make SR look like they don't know what they're doing. Needless to say, B) is far shorter than A) - especially when a number of our squad have for some time looked like they're tuning Ralph out.

I've tried to calm down before posting because I was spitting blood for most of the game. On the negative side, after hanging in there with him through thick and thin, I'm now convinced that we have a relegation manager. He is - and always has been - arrogant, self-opinionated, blind to his own failings, and too obstinate to recognize and change what's not working with a starting line-up that should never have started. Our back-left quadrant was wide open from the get-go because Djenepo will never, ever be an effective LB/LWB; to pick him and leave Perraud on the bench (who played very well against Spurs last year) was madness. Valery in Ralph's back-three makes our composure deficit even worse. Picking Armstrong ahead of Adams (and keeping Adams on the bench) was senseless - unless they're protecting him because there's a deal pending that would see Adams leave and a new striker come in. On the positive side, I think we're not too far from a solid, mid-table Premier League squad, although we obviously need a striker. I'll justify that optimism with an analogy. If someone changed his guitar strings around, even Eric Clapton would look like an idiot. The problem's not the guitar but the dipshit who set it up.

But that's my concern. I suspect that most of us see Salisu and Bella-Kotchap as the first CD picks - the issue is the third one. Surely Ralph has seen enough of Bednarek's inadequacies to realize that it may well not be him, and today's meaningless game was a perfect time to experiment. My biggest problem with Ralph is his obstinacy and closed-mindedness, and today was yet another example.

You could be right. But while Stephens is the better defender of the two IMO, his party trick is bringing the ball out of defence with composure and then promptly giving it away. Today would have been the ideal time to give Bednarek one half and Stephens or Lyanco the other, to see which of them dovetails best with Salisu and Bella-Kotchap. That's exactly what pre-season is for, so it makes you think that Ralph sees today's choices as his best three.

I think we’re close to having a much better back three but not if Bednarek is part of it. He’s a very reactionary defender, which forces the other two to cover for his inadequacies. I’m not sold on Lyanco but in the absence of a new CB I think he’s the better choice. And he’s more comfortable on the ball.

With both goals we’ve had three CDs who don’t read situations, just ballwatch and react late to them. It’s been our biggest Achilles heel for some time, and it doesn’t look to have changed.

His composure and control in such a tight space was ridiculous.

We are much better when we play at a higher tempo and cut down on the short square passes in meaningless areas. Hopefully the 5 subs this season will enable us to keep our intensity level up. Villarreal are no mugs and this is a good final test.

Is that Cat Stevens in old money? 🤣

The things you look for in trying to figure out whether a young striker can succeed at a higher level are his standard of control in tight spaces, his awareness of those around him (whether he's giving or receiving), and his ability to strike without needing a ton of time. They are the key prerequisites for success at any level. Delap appears to tick all those boxes. We haven't had a striker who ticks all of them for a long time - and Broja didn't. His lack of PL experience is not due to a lack of the required skills, but to being at City.

Absolutely. And let's not forget Katharina. Even though she's a minority shareholder she is legally entitled to involvement in significant decisions, and this wouldn't be happening as easily without her full support. I think she's been fully committed to her father's "project" since Day One, but things went pear-shaped after she sold a majority share to Gao, who then hit CCP-inflicted constraints. Redemption in my eyes.

Many of us have wavered about Ralph because, under him, our team has embodied the old (paraphrased) saying - "When we are good we are very, very good, but when we are bad we are horrid." He certainly has some admirable qualities but he also has some infuriating weaknesses. The frustration is magnified by the fact that he can seem wilfully blind to the obvious. I think we would really benefit from having someone within the coaching team who's willing to "speak truth to power". Ralph is a smart guy and, in many ways, a great coach, but he has long struck me as arrogant and self-opinionated. There have been so many times when someone needed to have a word in his ear, but his assistants seemed like a subservient bunch whose first priority was to keep their jobs. My hope is that the new hires include someone with the gonads to speak that truth to Ralph. Maybe even someone who could take over if things go pear-shaped early in the new season.

I called the players “half-hearted” - that isn’t excusing them. They were dreadful but it looked to me like the team had no discernible structure, so they all looked like headless chickens.

All along Ralph’s weakness has been his own arrogance. He refuses to recognize his own errors and, as a result, repeats them. That’s why he waits an eternity to change a lineup that wasn’t working (and was never likely to work) from the get-go. It’s also why he persisted with two front runners after we went a man down, and consequently ended up shipping nine goals each time. Our record against bottom-third teams is appalling, but Ralph ignores that because we picked up some points from the big teams. The ego boost he gets from those successes allows him to brush aside the reality check he should get from the many shameful days like today. I’m tired of it and, judging by their half-hearted effort today, so are the players.

Agree completely. As long as we play KWP on the left we will be dangerously unbalanced; it was abundantly clear as far back as Norwich away because I voiced concerns about it then. Salisu gets sucked out to a wider covering role, and the reactive, un-anticipative Bednarek is left with too much space for his limited brain to process. KWP is a better RB/RWB than Tino, Perrauld is a better LB/LWB than KWP (not a better player), Salisu is a more composed CD with a left-footed LB/LWB alongside him, and Bednarek is less of a defensive clusterf*ck if he has less space to cover. That balance leaves Romeu and JWP with much more manageable defensive roles. With just ONE change we become much less vulnerable defensively, but Ralph just won't accept the blatantly obvious. It's really hurting Salisu individually, and exposing Bednarek even more. All I can imagine is that Tino's automatic RB/RWB selection is the product of agreements made when we signed him. And while I'm venting, I would love to know what semblance of twisted logic rests behind the recurrent decision to send Salisu 75 yards away from the area of his defensive remit to take a useless, lazy parabola of a throw-in. That is likely to end up only one way, as it did again yesterday - with the ball coming back at us while we scramble vainly to get back. Ralph has many talents but his arrogance and obstinacy have always been his Achilles heel. The players notice this stuff - as they do when the wrong players are taken off and the wrong ones left on, and they end up looking as uncommitted we we did yesterday. I've supported Ralph all through, despite his arrogance and obstinacy, but the ice is cracking under his feet.