CanadaSaint

Bednarek wouldn’t be a major loss - he’s half decent defensively but extremely uncomfortable with the ball at his feet. We can do much better, but my fear is that Ralph has got it into his head that Valery is a right side CB. He isn’t - often weak positionally, and nowhere near good enough in the air. If it’s a choice between Bednarek and Valery, god forbid, I’d reluctantly go with Bednarek.

A new right side CB who can defend (unlike Stephens) and pass (unlike Bednarek) and a new keeper who communicates and can distribute (unlike McCarthy) and dominate his six-yard box (unlike Forster) would transform us defensively. Forster’s ludicrous contract has been a millstone for years. If the McCarthy contract is signed, I hope it’s at backup wages, because that’s what he is - at best.

It was more clumsy for me. Under our system, with wingbacks pushing forward so much, the CDs are going to be exposed to one-on-ones, and Salisu needs to improve with them. But this is his first full season - and that was Man City.

I knew you weren’t capable of an intelligent response. 😂

Watch the game again, and then post a response that has a modicum of intelligence and objectivity behind it. Melt.

Some of you aren’t going to like this but Forster has now reverted to type. Despite being 6’7” he flaps at a cross he should have caught or punched and it goes out for a throw (goal 3) and gets beaten low, near-post (goal 4). City have ruthlessly exploited our known weaknesses. Every gooal has come from a clear error.

Plenty left in this. City aren’t sure whether to hold or push but they’re still lethal on the break.

It all came from Mo’s indecisiveness when we had them on the break.

With subs we can improve more than City can with theirs, and City’s goal came from a major clanger rather than us getting taken apart. We may have missed more clear chances than them. So it’s definitely game-on.

GTFIT

I agree. He’s snatching at all his chances, and has been for a while, which comes with lack of confidence.

If we can just hang in there, I can see this being a game of two different halves.

Bednarek can defend but not pass, Stephens can pass but not defend. We desperately need someone who can do both adequately. He doesn’t need to be Salisu quality, just not a recurring source of screw-ups.

Remind me, what are the sub rules for the FA Cup? The style we need to win this is unsustainable, so we really need the bench to maintain it.

Excellent, thanks! I've been looking for it all week - did it just appear?

Any streams, folks?

We really, really need a right-sided CB who's comfortable on the ball, because Bednarek certainly isn't. Every time he defaults to someone beside or behind him, so we seldom break out from the back on the right side. He's an okay defender but we won't see the best of this side with him in it. I think the origin of the Wood goal was a Bednarek giveaway on halfway, but he doesn't get the blame because it was thirty seconds or more before the ball hit our net. The over-elaboration in the last twenty minutes was doing my head in. We were back to the side that's in love with its own style and tends to forget that the objective is to score. I really like how we play but we need to throw an early ball in there from time to time to keep the defence guessing. Otherwise it's too easy for them to sit back and let us fart about.

On the Blue Moon poll, we were second behind Chelsea on the teams they DON’T want to play.

The way we’ve been playing - and not against crap teams, I think we can suspend our inferiority complex for a while. For 3-D perspective, I don’t think Pep will be resting many of his starters.

By “still ongoing” I assume you meant that you’re still not a dad yet. Hang in there. Our first arrived as a result of my wife laughing so hard that her waters broke. She was laying on the sofa when our dog went up to the TV screen to investigate a program about dogs. He got a static shock from the screen, thought he’d been bitten, and ran behind the sofa yelping. 😂 So get her laughing. Maybe show her Djenepo’s cameo from today. Good luck. The arrival of our first was the most incredible moment of my life, a whisker ahead of the arrival of our second, and - just behind that - May 1, 1976.

I’m having a really weird feeling I’ve literally NEVER had before - and that covers more than half a century. I don’t care who we get in the next round.

You'd have to think that if Theo couldn't get into that starting lineup he's now low on Ralph's depth chart. And with Ralph pulling Djenepo at half time after another of his "fart in a thunderstorm" performances you'd have to think he might be joining Theo down there. For me, sad to say, it makes us a better squad if those two are OUT of consideration rather than in it. Addition by subtraction.

Jeez, Perraud sure strikes the ball crisply. Tonight's howitzer and the rocket against Spurs were top drawer. He's not far behind JWP on that front, and I'd love to see both of them standing over free kicks outside the box. Righty and lefty - nightmare scenario for keepers.

In Ralph's defence - and to totally argue against my own pre-match criticism - we have some players with significant potential that will only be realized if they play more. Valery and Smallbone are great examples. Both of them lack the self-confidence that can really only come with game time, and A. Armstrong is on the same list. I just wasn't ready to see them get the chance in a last-16 FA Cup tie.

I think we're all kinda right. We were lucky to survive Ralph's starting lineup without being two or three down, but kicked their arses with something closer to the lineup we wanted.