S-Clarke

He had a real spark about him against Leeds in the 2nd half, but he's just regressed ever since.

A wide number 10 and a clinical front man, that's what we needed in July, and we still need it. We always do this, every window we leave a position short. Full back, centre back, CM etc. But this year we've played the game with the position you cannot play that game with. I'm one who will stick up for the club when it does good stuff, but the summer transfer window has to be looked upon as a huge failure. We spent £80m and ended the window with a weaker attack than the season before, absolute shambles.

I dunno, even of the teams who look a bit shit (Forest, Bornemouth, Leicester, Villa, Leeds, Wolves etc) have attacking threats who are capable of scoring goals. We've got nothing.

Could potentially beat Newcastle, but still 12-15 points is a pretty naff return before the WC. I must admit I thought thinking we'd get 15 points by the WC as being seriously pessimistic, but seemingly that seems to be an optimistic view nowadays which is quite depressing in itself.

Yeah I don't know why we keep flogging Diallo in the 6, I don't know how many more times he needs to play for everyone to realise he can't do it. He is not good enough and never, ever, ever will be good enough at this level. Inept central midfielder. As a further advanced in a 3 he can pass as a squad player, but whoever keeps thinking he can play as a 2 in this league needs shooting.

First half was absolutely dire, we were not in the game at all and we were lucky it was only 1-0 really. The main problem from that first half was Diallo who is so far away from being able to play in CM in this league. Stop putting us through the misery of having to watch him, a truly inept CM. One of the worst we've ever had. 2nd half was much better once we got more of a grip of the CM. AMN, whilst not amazing, added steal and some intelligence in his play which was sorely lacking in the first half. We did create some great opening and if we had a Broja or an Ings then it's at least 1-1, we wouldn't have lost it. Adams once again showing that whilst in build-up and hold up he's the best we've got, he just cannot be relied on to score goals at this level. We undid all the work from our transfer window by failing to address the attack in my opinion. It's looking likely we'll finish around 15 pts before the start of the WC and to me that's not enough. I'll stand by what I said weeks ago - get 20 or so points on the board before the WC and we can continue with Ralph and look forward, but if we get 15 or less (which now looks likely) then sadly it's probably time a change needs to happen. There are times when a club needs a fresh impetus, and I must admit it does feel a bit stale right now. I will stand by my opinion that Ralph isn't the sole problem here, anyone would struggle to get these guys scoring goals, but sometimes a fresh start and a fresh pair of eyes after so long is needed to give a new appraisal on the squad. But January is critical. Fail to sort out the attack/strikers in January and we will be gone by March/April. But it seems quite clear that this is the first season in some time that we will be engulfed in a relegation battle for the entirety, we're certainly 'one of the teams' and no longer on the periphery - and after an £80m spend, that's a huge failure.

Just what we need, another non-scoring support forward.

Great read. What I like about DCC as opposed to Lyanco is that he seems a bit more assured in his game. Lyanco will just throw arms, heads, legs into everything which is great entertainment but somewhat risky. In a way Salisu also has some of those traits, but they've been weeded out a bit in the last year or so. DCC is more measured and assured, seems to take the right positions up, gets nice and tight when marking and he's very strong/no nonsense about it. Another point you mentioned is his passing, which is almost always on the money from the back. It wouldn't have ever taken much to upgrade on Bednarek, but this guy is just streets ahead and it's obvious after just 2 games.

You say that, but our transfer policy this summer pretty much revolved around the best Man City youth players, whom he was all over prior to joining us.

I guess that's the same 'fucked' as Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Virgil Van Dyk, Falcao, Shearer, Xavi, Totti to name just a few. He's young enough to get right back up to speed. I wouldn't expect much from him this season, give him a full pre-season behind him and he'll be our first choice RB in 23/24. Hopefully in the PL.

I'd argue that his off the ball work is consistent, that's why Ralph picks him as he’s reliable on that side. His problem is the lack of consistency in an attacking sense, that's where we need him to play those killer balls, drop his shoulder and beat a man etc but it's few and far between he does that. It's great that we have a '10' who can close, work hard against the ball etc, but ultimately he will be judged on his attacking output which is pretty awful overall.

Arsenal tired massively in that 2nd half, but we needed to react to that which we did. We pushed up better, but I felt we were aggressive all game (especially the CB's), which set the foundations 'if' we could get the attack closer to the rest of the team. I need to see more from Aribo though, a good touch aside - he seems like a passenger in games, and we cannot afford that. Armstrong gave us much more in the 2nd half, that's what we are crying out for - movement, bit of running into space from the wide which we did much better in the 2nd half. The best area of that team for me were the CB's, for the entire game. I like the cut of DCC, good positioning, gets stuck in, strong as anything and Jesus just couldn't get a sniff most of that game really. Totally frustrated him. CB is one area we have clearly upgraded on in the summer in my eyes. Shout out to Elyounoussi for his work today, this is why Ralph picks him - against the ball he's probably our best 'number 10', just need to see more from him consistently in the attacking third. I feel sorry for Adam Armstrong to be honest. I think he knows he's well out of his depth, we looked better once Edozie was coming off of that side.

How can you drop JWP when we have no midfield as it is?

The problem is pretty obvious to me, we only have one third of a team. Defensively, Lyanco (should have been better on the goal tbf), DCC, Salisu decent. Getting tight and being aggressive against Jesus. The problem is 1) how easy arsenal play through our middle third, and 2) how we are struggling to get out via the middle third. We've left ourselves incredibly light in CM with the sale of Romeu, just weak and meek - nothing in there. Easy to play in and around without much effort. Attack is what you expect it to be, they're too disconnected from the rest of the team to start with and we don't have anything in the middle to bring them into the game. Our attack is very, very limited and bordering on shambolic quality wise, but the midfield doesn't give us a chance to compete.

Yet another pearl of wisdom from Charlie.

Bit harsh lumping Elyounoussi and Armstrong into the same category as Perraud. At the end of the day 10-11m isn't going to get you a world beater, no matter how good your scouting is. It just won't happen. Forest paid a £6m fee to get Lodil - just on loan. What you want/need from Armstrong and Elyounoussi is totally different than Perraud. As a full back we need someone who can provide width and cross (which he does) and also track back/cover multiple gaps, which he does. He tires because he's often having to patrol that entire left side himself, but his grit and determination seem to get him through. Elyounoussi and Armstrong on the other hand were bought to score goals, provide goals and create attacking opportunities, of which neither are able to do.

Hopefully that clean sheet will give him the confidence he needs. It's always going to be risky taking the approach of a young kid in goal, but we've pretty much committed to that approach, so we need to live through the ups and downs it'll bring (as with any young players). I do like him, I think his demeanour and attitude on the pitch defies his age - which is very impressive I think. We do have to expect errors and misjudgements from him though.

So, ABK had a dislocated shoulder in that game. He has supposedly opted against getting surgery at this stage, as it would pretty much kill the rest of this year for him (and his WC chances). So he's trying to manage it over the next few weeks with a view on playing the last couple of games for us before the WC break. Lavia is back in training, but tomorrow will come slightly too soon. I imagine he'll be fully back in the fold for Palace. KWP out until 2023 by all accounts. It's a 6-week hamstring injury. To be fair I wouldn't have put KWP in the in-form category, one of our better players yes, but not really in any particularly good form.

I like Perraud to be honest, he's limited technically but he doesn't half put in a shift. Always described him as a bit of a terrier type player. He does tire a bit quickly, but I like his application and grit he brings to the team. Been a decent signing IMO.

What a massive blow for KWP. With Trent being dodgy, Reece James being injured, he had a chance of a WC shout. Hopefully we don't miss these guys too much what with the world cup in the middle, so there's only a handful of games. Still shit though.

We feel as stable as the government right now.

Absolutely. Everyone can see that a GE is the only option from here. Id hope that any new ‘prime minster’ does this as their first job, call a General election and let the country decide. They can’t seem to make the right decisions themselves and have lost any authority to govern in my eyes.

Agree with your views, although I quite liked the look of Caleta-Car. Strong, physical, got himself in good positions etc. He had a few odd moments with bouncing balls, but both our CB's were on equal footing of decentness last night I felt.

Now I've remembered that AMN cannot play against Arsenal...! Supposedly Larios can play both sides, so maybe he will come in at right and Perraud continues at LB. Like you say we don't have enough in CM to be moving people around, and given we'll be without Lavia the only option we have alongside JWP is Diallo - so we can't afford moving either of those imo.

I don't think people are digging him out too much, I think he gave a good shift and stretched the play quite well at times. People are just aware of his limitations.