CanadaSaint

Too much in love with our own style when we’re chasing a result. It is Ralph’s biggest failing. Our greatest strength is also our biggest weakness, and it’s killing us.

It doesn't really change the point, though, does it? We surrendered depth in several short-depth positions, in the midst of an injury crisis, to add it in one where we were reasonably okay. That is a surely a money-driven decision rather than a football-driven one.

After that abject disaster I'm trying to focus on the bigger picture, and there are some even more troubling signs: Why would we weaken an already very shallow squad, further ravaged by injuries, by sending players out on loan at the deadline? Are we THAT desperate to get wages off the books? Is Danny Ings effectively already gone because we're desperate for the money, and we're just trying to negotiate the break fee as high as we can get it? I'm normally an optimist, but I have a horrible feeling that things are falling apart financially inside the Club. I can't think of any credible alternative answers to those questions. There's another question I'm grappllng with personally. Why do I keep watching a sport I've loved since I was a kid, when it's now run, officiated and largely played by arrogant, self-centered, greedy bastards.

This sport is being destroyed by faceless, self important bastards and big money, and the more I watch it the more it nauseates me. It isn’t just about today but the sense that football exists to benefit everyone except those who pay for it - those of us who have loved it since we first started walking. Fuck them all.

Okay, this is a bit of a stretch, but some time back we lost a player to an early Dean red card, got the shit hammered out of us, and then went on the best run we’ve ever had in the PL.

After that start, and with Prick Dean refereeing, I think I’ll be mentally safer watching the Aquarium Channel.

No doubt in my mind that Dean has a bias against us. Harsh red on Bertrand in the Leicester game and now that!

I agree, but he doesn’t quite have the “bite” that JWP has. Either way, covering the counter will be key today.

I think he will, too. He’s very good at covering the other team’s danger man. But what worries me is our vulnerability to a Grealish counter when JWP takes opposite side corners and fee kicks.

In fairness to Bertrand I think he is, as others have said, totally unsure what Djenepo is going to do next. He looked better after Armstrong came on. Djenepo is like a football version of Tourette’s.

I said after the Arsenal game that we’re too in love with our own style. I really like how we play, but that’s three straight winnable games – Arsenal, Fulham and West Ham – where we’ve opted to pass it around and keep recycling in the late stages rather than go for the three points. Even when Bertrand finally started to push up, after Djenepo thankfully left, we turned back and left him up there waiting. We need to sort out the left side because a Theo/KWP-type partnership over there would transform us. The answer is not Djenepo.

I don't disagree with what you're saying but I wasn't talking just about today. Our style serves us well for the majority of most games, but I think we have a tendency to stick with it in the late stages when we need to find some final-third penetration. Bednarek, in particular, is apt to keep the ball at the back regardless of the score and time remaining, Redmond has lost his zest for taking defenders on, and Bertrand no longer seems as willing to push up. The bright spot is KWP. This isn't about how we play generally, but how we play when we're chasing a result.

It seems to me that we've fallen in love with our own style. Don't get me wrong - I'm really enjoying it and full of admiration of Ralph for instilling it. But when there's a game to be won - or tied - in the last ten or fifteen minutes, we need to find a higher sense of urgency. We need to do less turning and recycling, and start looking for more of the higher risk passes and take-ons, especially in the final third. Still, the club has made massive progress and most of the time we're a joy to watch.

I might just repeat my Father’s unforgettable words as we left Wembley at around 5:30 on May 1, 1976 - “You can take me now, Lord, you can take me now”

I’m still slapping myself for writing off a guy as a total screw up, and then watching him become a rock defensively, an attack launcher, and a goalscorer. I don’t know WTF Ralph puts in Vestergaard’s coffee, but I’ll have some of that. How good are those long diagonals he hits!

The natural instinct at the start of the season was to view this as a game in which scraping a point could be key to avoiding relegation. And it still looks like that. 😎

Watching Arsenal trying to play out from the back, as per Arteta’s instructions, makes me think that Ralph’s press could cause them some serious problems. I’d be inclined to go for the jugular early.

It's an extremely demanding style - especially if (like us) a club doesn't have the depth. It's a vulnerability in the micro context of an individual game, but it's also a vulnerability in the macro context of an entire season. The danger is that we'll have a really good first half of the season followed by a really bad second half. I'm not looking for high-priced signings in the window - just good players giving us more depth in key positions.

I think we REALLY need Redmond back - with an improved attitude and commitment level. When the utterly unpredictable Djenepo plays, Bertrand becomes tentative and lost without his interplay with Redmond. Giveaways in really bad places are the result. I thought Bertrand was very poor today. Adams, however, was outstanding.

And, not wishing to tempt fate, I think we suit him perfectly. Very few of the elite players at the top clubs are willing or able to commit the effort necessary for Ralph's style. Plus, I think he's an honourable man who places a premium on commitment and loyalty, so I don't see him looking to head out at the first opportunity.

This is an incredibly "all on the same page" team, and what makes it even more impressive is that its cohesion has survived significant line-up changes. Ralph has drilled an instinctive pass and move style into them which, if they do it quickly, is extremely hard to counter. Every game it's difficult to pick a MOTM, which says everything.

It's unusual to see defensive midfielders with an 80 yard range of effectiveness; we have two. It's unusual to see a striker contributing effectively at both ends of the pitch; we have two. I love Ralph's style, and this team is maturing together rapidly. Hard to pick a MOTM from such an excellent team performance, but I'll go with JWP. He's really becoming an elite player.

Bednarek played him onside. This sounds "hindsight is 20/20" but a high level CD would have seen what was developing and stepped up, or even stopped still, to play Werner offside.

A "Ralph demands character" performance. With goals coming from different players, and JWP and Romeu paying solidly, our areas of major weakness seem to be declining to two - lack of pace in the CDs, and an occasional failure of some players to stay in the game, mentally and physically, for 90 minutes - often costing us goals. Redmond, I'm largely talking about you. I'm fancying Walcott on one side, Armstrong on the other, and Redmond on the bench until he figures out what's needed from him. Having a left-footed CD would help a lot, but who would partner Salisu? Bednarek may be playing himself out of that opportunity. We are deeper squad-wise, with a decent range of options to cover injuries and match circumstances.

That was Leicester-like form but thankfully against a team lacking the quality and pace to punish us like they did. It was the same pedestrian shit at the back, passing to eachother and often ending up playing it back to McCarthy for him to hoof it aimlessly. God, Stephens and Bednarek could have done that in the first place and at least we'd get the ball forward quicker. JWP's passing was dreadful, Redmond was awful, and Kyle Walker Peters didn't seem interested in attacking them down the flank. In fact, he's now caught the disease and turned into Kyle Walker Pass-Back. I am struggling to remember us playing one early ball in the entire match. It's hard to imagine that Ralph has lost the plot so suddenly, but that (and much of the Palace game) was a total reversion to bottom five football. Unless we break up that duo at the back - playing their comfy you-to-me, me-to-you shit - it's hard to see this changing.