CanadaSaint

The difference between us "playing brave" and playing timid and negative is night and day. Same players, totally different mindset - but it has to come from Ralph. I'm still not sure what our best starting line-up looks like but Armstrong needs to be in it.

Lack of movement is a problem all over the pitch. More than half of our throw-ins are a guaranteed and almost immediate surrender of possession - for that same reason. That's down to two things - sheer laziness on the part of the players, and weak coaching.

So we had 57% possession. For a big chunk of that the ball was with either Stephens or Bednarek, or on its way from one to the other - unless they decided to add some variety by involving McCarthy. And we wonder why we can't break down opposition defences. Until that changes we're going to watch the same kind of turgid crap we saw for most of today. Hojberg's ability to fill a link role (or any role, really) has disappeared. Meanwhile, Lemina is fart-arsing around in Turkey. Today we must have had ten times the number of passes between our central defenders that West Ham did. Within seconds of breaking our attack down, they were back at our box.

It's completely gutless, soulless football. No ambition beyond keeping possession around the halfway line, and we're crap at that. It looks like Ralph has stripped all the creativity and enjoyment out of the players, and pretty much all of them look like they'd rather be somewhere else. Armstrong for Djenepo, Romeu for PEH, and at least have a go FFS.

The signs and causes of dressing room disharmony: Players who are getting worse with each game. CHECK Players who take ages to come back from relatively minor injuries. CHECK Payers being played out of position. CHECK General cluelessness about the tactics (e.g., zonal marking) CHECK A "better sideways or back" passing mentality. CHECK Tactical chopping and changing. CHECK Players who nobody - bar the manager - thinks should be on the pitch. CHECK Assistant coaches who seem to be there just to put out the cones. CHECK Players who look like they'd rather be having an enema than playing. CHECK No guts, no character. CHECK Losing at home by a sh*tload. CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK CHECK

Our next game will be a real test of character, which scares the sh*t out of me because there isn't any in this squad. They were playing to get the manager fired tonight, which is the only thing that some of them seem quite good at.

The reality is that it doesn't matter whether the fans think he needs to go. The decision-makers in this god-forsaken modern football are the players, and it looks as though they might have rendered their verdict tonight.

It's stunning when you think that we're really only down a striker. Behind that everything is set up to defend. The utter lack of character and leadership on that pitch is scandalous, and the total bemusement on the sideline is almost as bad.

That's both Chelsea and Leicester where the most depressing thing is not the loss but the utter lack of character and guts. That - much more than not having decent players - is a terminal weakness.

The chopping and changing has hit every area except the one it needs to hit. I'd keep Romeu but at least one of PEH and JWP needs to sit for a while; unfortunately they're the first names on Ralph's team sheet. I'm certainly not a JWP hater but he was abysmal today - creating nothing, giving it away in bad places, and offering little from set pieces. PEH used to drive forward, but now he hangs back in no mans land, getting bypassed with ease. I'm okay with the back four he fielded today, although Valery gets positionally lost too often and Bertrand still seems almost disinterested. Up front we have some options but they need the ball earlier if they're to do any damage. The ball won't come earlier with PEH and JWP in midfield. The performance was dreadful but even more worrying was the abject surrender.

That's the big issue for me. And even if they do attack the box, their shooting is crap or they turn back to recycle.

Amidst all the overreaction, I'm disappointed but reasonably okay with today. Yes we lost, but losing Cedric in the warm-up stopped Ralph from going with Cedric/Bednarek/Yoshida/Bertrand - which would make many of us happy. We looked good going forward, albeit against ten men, we passed sideways a bit less, and we created chances. We have wide threats on both sides. The big miss in our team is a late-arriving midfielder who can shoot from the top of the box. It will never be Romeu, PEH is too wild, and JWP may be good with a dead ball but his shooting with a live ball is p*ss poor. In a game like that, a scoring midfielder could have had a hat trick. And I'll say it again - Yoshida is so unlucky. He could be sitting on 20 goals for us if it wasn't for woodwork and great saves.

See the guys with anti-epidemic masks on behind the goal?

The movie is a bit juddery but I'm loving the soundtrack.

Did you register? I'm a bit leery about these sites.

Scumbags. Preston vs Man City or Arsenal vs Forest.

The things is that much of the sideways and bak is unnecessary. It drives me nuts to see someone pushing forward, with space in front of them, only for the pass to be square and often backwards. Momentum gone. And then we immerse ourselves in those tight little "going nowhere" passing triangles three feet in from the touchline. Bournemouth didn't play many square or backwards passes when pushing forward and nor did Sheffield United.

Ralph dropped a clanger by exposing Vestergaard on the left side with only the defensively-immature Djenepo as cover, but he fixed that after about 30 minutes by moving Cedric there. His fix was great but it troubles me that he can't seem to see how vulnerable Vestergaard makes us. Djenepo hasn't just scored 2 in 2, but two absolute crackers. Can't wait to see Bertrand back, and Cedric looked pretty good today. You get the feeling that Adams will start scoring soon, and hopefully not stop.

I was disappointed and frustrated with both of them - until it dawned on me that their primary remit today was clearly to protect the back four. Hojberg, in particular, wasn't pushing forward aggressively the way he usually does because Brighton's pressing in midfield kept their focus on that role. I think that's why Vestergaard looked better today - he was getting lots of help and not getting isolated in one-on-ones where his lack of pace and wide turning circle are a big problem. It was hard to watch at times - you could time some of our 'break-outs' with a sundial. Although Danso played quite well, we really missed that Bertrand/Redmond tandem. Still, it's coming together. Danso showed enough to look like a potential fit in central defence, Djenepo is a cameo handful but probably not a starter yet, and Boufal looks like he's benefitting from RH's coaching.

My expectations dropped when I saw PEH was out, but they dropped more when I saw he'd picked a CD trio without the only real "reader" he has - Yoshi. The three he picked are reactors, and two of them (Vest and Stephens) are very slow ones at that. I'm shocked that Ralph did that today. I'll be stunned and disgusted if he plays that threesome again.

The link is shown as "Not Secure", which I'm trying hard not to take with a broader meaning.

His style lends itself much more to a club like us than to one of the really big boys. The big clubs have hugely talented players but they're seldom the kind of work horses Ralph likes - and needs. The more I read that, the more I consider the possibility that this might be a "hold onto your hats" season. In a very good way. Let's just enjoy it rather than keep looking for the next gut punch.

I get the distinct impression that Hasenhüttl is not a man to cross. If Austin doesn't fit into his plans and is obstructing a move (undermining further squad improvement), I can see Ralph telling him that he won't be seeing much of the pitch (match or practice) because most of his time will be spent with the conditioning coaches. Given Austin's questionable appetite for hard work, that would be a prospect he wouldn't fancy one little bit. Sure, he could resist by claiming that his body is breaking down, but that doesn't help him get another club when his contract runs out. Given his lifestyle, he'll need one. Yes, Austin has a lot of power in this situation, but in an eyeball-to-eyeball contest, I'll go with Ralph. Time will tell.

So Kevin Friend, regarded as an utter joke of a referee throughout football - one of the very worst, gets the Cup Final. Lee Mason will probably get it next year. The incompetence of refereeing these days is a direct reflection of the people running the system. "Refereeing will improve when they become full time professionals", my arse.

Delighted to be staying up and so impressed with Hasenhüttl - can't wait to see what he does over the summer. However ... Conceding three goals by the same player at Newcastle (with Yoshi in the team) and nearly doing so again today (with Yoshi out) suggests that there is something seriously wrong - not just with the quality of our defenders but also with our defensive set up and tactics. Hat tricks are rare these days but to nearly concede two in three games is shocking.