CanadaSaint

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.

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.