CanadaSaint

Are there more fixtures after the January window than before this year, because of the WC?

Completely agree. He’s become pretty reliable in the middle third, and he’s exciting in the front third, but he can look like a lost sheep in the defensive third - as he did today on United’s goal. He’s an unpredictable enigma who brings things that Elyanoussi can’t bring.

I can’t help but wonder if Broja developed a negative mindset when somebody in the dressing room got in his ear. He seemed all set and then things went pear-shaped. The smirks suggest that Ralph and Semmens know exactly who that was - and also the person behind the Mail leak. When shit like this happens inside a club, it’s seldom resolved with a public airing. More often, someone falls out of the squad selection reckoning. Just saying…

Diallo reminds me of some of the knobs in my car. I've had it for a few years and I'm still not sure what they do.

I think we have to be really careful here. ABK and Mara are both 20 and Lavia is 18. They look like outstanding talents but young players can lack the physical durability and mental fortitude that a gruelling PL season requires. We saw that with Tino. While I'm happy with our starting lineup I think we need to bear in mind that they're unlikely to be playing at their current standard all season - and we can't over-expose them, so we need to keep some older heads around. I hope we don't sell Adams, but if we let Romeu go we MUST sign Garner or someone similar; Diallo is too lightweight for me, and I'm still not sure what he's good at. There's also a good case for keeping Redmond, even if he's seldom a starter, and I have more faith in Lyanco than most on here. Selling Bednarek - not loaning him - could well be critical for the first half of our season.

It has been a while since we've had multiple options to freshen things up and apply tactical tweaks or even significant changes - largely (but not solely) because we haven't had the depth to do it. It has also been a while since we've felt any confidence that the coaching staff would a) recognize the need for those changes, b) implement them in a timely fashion, or c) implement them at all. It really helps if we don't have to use our substitutions to rectify errors in selecting the starting lineup. Ralph is looking like a much better coach for listening to those around him.

Absolutely. Bella-Kotchap and Salisu are dovetailing really well and it’s clear that they (and Bazunu) are communicating back there. We need that to happen with JWP and Lavia, who have yet to develop the understanding that JWP and Romeu had - but it will come. The goal we conceded was frustrating because it looked like a mis-aligned wall - something we can also work on. We’re clearly a side that plays better on the front foot, and we’ll get better when the Coaching staff and players have the courage to start that way, instead of absorbing pressure and waiting until we go behind - at least against non-Top 6 sides. Again, it was great to see Ralph having huddles with his assistants.

I don't buy into the notion that this is now "Ralph's squad". His input is considered in the target identification process but, in the SR model as I understand it, that's a much broader process involving other people and lots of analytics. This is the Club's squad, and Ralph is expected to get the best out of it, which he hasn't been doing - even this year, already. It would be foolhardy in the extreme to build a squad around the wishes of a manager whose future is uncertain - either because he's underperforming or because of his stated intent to retire in a couple of years. In fact, choosing not to start some of the new players, only for them to look good when/if they do get on, could be seen as inconsistent with the Club's goals. Defiant, even. I think we now have a much-improved squad, and the pressure is firmly on Ralph to get it dovetailed and performing. Ralph has some major talents but he also has major weaknesses. It's a very good sign that the coaching staff (similarly recruited) include at least one person with the courage to take him on when it comes to tactics - or even replace him if he fails to deliver. When it comes to the much-needed striker, the temptation is to consider them based on their standalone abilities. But the Club, I'm sure, is more concerned about how well they are likely to dovetail with those we plan to keep - Adams in or out?

Hopefully Ralph can park his ego and obstinacy and learn the fundamental tactical lessons that today’s game provides. If he doesn’t, we can at least be encouraged that someone in that coaching staff knows how we need to play. I don’t think that will be lost on the club hierarchy.

When was the last time Ralph had a multi-coach tactical pow-wow during a game? It’s not in his DNA, so that was either pre-match direction from above or humility and fear in progress.

Arrogant, pig-headed obstinacy 0 Leeds 2 Basic common sense 2 Leeds 0

I think the ref should make Leeds change their shorts because several players have done double-takes looking at pass options. I can see a tired-mind mental mistake coming from someone. Hopefully it’ll be Leeds.

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.