S-Clarke

You don't want to throw too many young players in at once, but anyone other than Elyounoussi would be decent. I personally want to see Edozie get a run of games, I don't know if he's any good or not but we need pace and directness in the final third which is sorely lacking at the moment. I've supported Ralph and have wanted him to have his own team to build a team in his style, but now he has his team it's the first time we seem to lack an identty. That's one thing you could never label at a Ralph team, but I don't know what I was watching against Wolves and Villa - just no identity in what we're trying to do and that worries me. He's not going to go yet, but I would say if we're sat on something between 10-12 points by the time the world cup comes around then he's done for. Newcastle, Palace, Bournemouth, Everton, West Ham in this group of fixtures. Got to be looking at going into the world cup around or just under 20 points in my opinion.

Don't know a great deal about him, but it's the sort of 'outside of the box' appointment they were always going to make. They've had a pretty disruptive window if you look at it. Two best players sold (Cucurella and Bissouma), their only somewhat reliable source of goals sold in Maupay - and their manager and coaching team left. Certainly a period of transition for them, they have been punching so it's a tough job for a new guy to come into.

Adam Armstrong was one of his signings. (well, he'd have had an input in that one) I think there was a period where we could argue he was trying to polish a turd with Bertrand, Vestergaard, Bednarek, Redmond, Elyounoussi, Valery, Stephens etc - but they're all gone now (bar Ely). On Friday the only players who started who haven't been signed during his tenure were Elyounoussi and JWP. So I don't think it's fair to throw the ''it's not his squad' at him anymore. This is as much his squad as he's ever had, so he needs to get it working.

This is what we saw from everyone on Friday, the first touch from everyone was so, so poor. The two basic principles of football at any level - touch and pass, we couldn't do anything. It was weird, it's like everyone of them forgot the basics. Still 2 days on I can't remember a worse attempt at playing football from any team at this level. I noticed KWP coming out and saying ''at least it was only 1'' - give me strength, if we're taking that as a positive in a game like that against a team like that then we should just liquidate.

I don't think it's fair to single him out as our main problem, he's been poor this season for sure, but when the midfielders (attacking midfielders) in front of him are Elyounoussi, Adam Armstrong or Moussa then the most sensible thing to do is pass it back or sideways and at least keep possession. His safety first passing is more because of the crap in front of him as opposed to what he truly wants to do, he decides to keep the ball rather than watch Elyounoussi get pushed off of it or Moussa tripping over his left foot. We need Edioze and Aribo to be those extra bits of quality in the final third willing to attack and commit, that will at least provide an option to pass to in front of him.

We have certainly become more negative this year, much more direct, bypassing the midfield and going straight for the front. My issue with that is that we don't have the players in attack to play that way. If we had a Pelle up top and some pace in and around him we may get ourselves free kicks, runs in behind, flick ons etc - but we're targeting Adams and he cannot be expected to be a focal/hold up striker. The guy is a support striker who needs someone better alongside him, he can't do it all himself as he's not good enough.

I think that's a really fair view of him. His tactical discipline and 'intelligence' is one of the reasons he's chosen for his off the ball work, but like you say without strength and pace then your impact in this league will be zero without an extraordinary touch and pass, which for him is just bog-standard averageness. I think most of us saw that when he was playing under Hughes after we'd just signed him - he looks so unsuited to the PL. Nothing has changed in those years apart from him being decent in the SPL, and a L2 player would look decent in the SPL.

We have very poor quality in attack, I'd argue Stu Armstrong and Aribo are the only premier league quality we have in those positions, yet they're not shoe-ins. It's a weird one, can only think it's a fitness thing.

I don't think we should pin so much on Lavia, it's not so much the fact we miss him as he's the best player in the world, it's because the quality outside of him as a second 6 is utterly dross (Diallo). Good players in this side stick out like a sore thumb given what we have to replace them with when they're not available. Personally for me I'd have kept Romeu and used him as a squad rotation with Lavia. They'd both still play games, but it would give us many more options and much more physicality if required. I get the club wanted to 'honour' him by letting him return home, but sometimes it feels like they put the players needs in front of the team.

Good point about his mobility, as he seemed less mobile than he usually is. Some of his passing was laboured and not clean, he gave so many hospital passes and misplaced ones. But sticking up for him a little, he had so much ground to cover. He had to cover for KWP when he went forward, he had to cover for Diallo at all times as he's not good enough - so he struggled as the makeup of the team was just all wrong. We spent last season with the criticism that we had no one to really replace Romeu when he missed games, so the club went and got in Lavia - positive. But then the club go and sell Romeu so we're back to square one. Strange one.

I think the most concerning thing for me in the last two games is that the oppo haven't really had to turn up, both Wolves and Villa were shocking on the day yet still had just about enough to beat us. Most Championship teams would have given both of those sides more of a game. This has been something that's bugged me with us for years - we cannot win 'bad'. We have to be absolutely 100% to win any game, yet teams like Villa and Wolves are able to win bad. I feel as low about last night as I have about any game for many years. I can't begin to describe how horrific that was.

He works better in a 3, in a more advanced position. But as a 'two' in a sitting midfield alongside JWP he will get destroyed. As he has done every time he's played there. I guess he's had to play there out of need as Lavia and AMN (i guess) are injured. When Lavia and AMN are fit I'd expect him to be 4th choice for the 6, but he can play in the more advanced positions - but his lack of physicality is still a problem as he gets brushed off the ball too easily.

It's going to kill us, luckily there aren't too many games between now and January, but as it stands today we are weaker in attack than we were last season in both numbers and personal. The fact we're starting with Adam Armstrong says it all really. Need to fix that in January otherwise I don't see how we survive, I can't see any goals in that attack.

No real debate, I can't remember watching any worse. Another good achievement for us, losing the worst game in PL history.

I really don't know what we were trying to achieve today. It's time to stop trying to persist with Elyounoussi and Adam Armstrong. They're not up to it and never will be. Edozie, Aribo, Mara - get them on, get them involved, get them experience. We're just witnessing groundhog day with those current attackers, throw some kids in there who can actually have a bit of directness. For a guy who prides himself on blooding young players, he puts way too much faith in the likes of Elyounoussi/Armstrong ahead of young players.

He didn't have any space to operate in today, and he needs a lot of space because he doesn't have pace, strength and his touch isn't tight enough. The 3 things you need as a PL player really. If you get tight to him and are physical against him, like Villa were, then he's a fraud of a football player as he'll just get brushed off it every time, or loose it because his touch is too heavy when he's crowded. The worst thing I can say about tonight is that he played like a Villa defender and killed most of our attacks. I don't know why he stayed on as long as he did, I'm still scratching my head now. If he gets a new contract I'm done with football.

Terrible, sadly. Had some decent attributes at the start but his physicality always worried me and sadly it's come to the fore. Too weak, too meek. We've got him in there for the foreseeable though with Lavia out.

Because he's been pretty crap for us since day 1, and I'm confused as to why he has a new contract that's all. Not singleing him out, JWP had the best disasterclass I've ever seen.

Forget scoring, we wouldn't have even managed a shot or a pass in the box.

Did we offer him a contract based on a couple of ''good efforts'' at wing back? He was back in his supposed natural position tonight, as a wide attacker, and that 2nd half was as bad as I've ever seen a footballer play. We've done some good things in recent years, but contracts for the likes of this guy and Theo just border on daft.

One of the worst games I've football I've had to endure, and we lost it. Two inept football teams, truly inept. But we just managed to be even more inept. This was as bad as Brentford away, West Brom away and Villa away last year. I cannot think of a single good thing to say about that utter shambles. The players we started with in attack are not enough to sustain a PL team, so we really need to hope Mara, Edizoe and Aribo make a difference otherwise we are done for. We've waited 2 weeks to watch that absolute mess. I wouldn't even class that as a football match, there was very little football played. I've seen better quality at the park on a Sunday and I'm not even joking. They should all be back in tomorrow and the day after to practice touch, and pass - the two most basic principles of football at any level, which we failed to do at all. Time to have a weekend off of football I think.

It's like Bazunu thought we had pace and quality up front to take advantage of those long clearances. We don't.

We have, but I still feel our season (Well, first half) is going to be dictated by our failure to get in a 'proven' game changing attacker. It has the risk of making all the other positive work null and void if we're not careful.

You won't see an attack when we persist with 'those' attackers. It's like Elyounoussi is playing as Villa's front sweeper and stopping all our attacks.

Probably one of the worst football matches for some time, two inept sides. We are just a tad more inept sadly. Attacking wise, hopeless. Adams isolated, Armstrong, Elyounoussi light weight nothing players. Moussa swapping sides with no real purpose. Midfield lightweight as they get. Back 4 solid enough, but in an attacking sense we are utterly hopeless as was expected really. Not sure how many chances Elyounoussi needs to get before he's consigned to the charity shop. The first half of this season is pretty much hanging on Edozie being a superstar. Need to see him at HT as well as Aribo.