S-Clarke

Great draw, this is what the cups are for - getting to places you haven't been before.

It's a fair point, it does make you stretched down the flanks, but it doesn't help when one of the sides in particular is covered by someone who can't defend. Valery didn't help KWP at all either. It only takes a couple of players being a bit shit to show up all the flaws in any system to be honest. I can see ABK and Perraud coming in at the weekend, might be wrong but I can see us going with it again.

I agree, I don't think he came across particularly well at all to be honest. I'm sure he'll look back at that tomorrow and have some regrets!

This is why I think we'll see ABK come into the team this weekend, he's perfect as a third CB in this formation just on his attributes alone. But the lack of threat up top kinda echo's what Ralph was saying - we need that player up front who can make the difference, which we don't have at the moment. Everyone at the club has been pretty certain on the chances of that happening, we're obviously looking at the right level of players if 40-50-60m is being quoted (As in we can't pay that), so we'll just have to see how sit on the 2nd and I have full confidence that we'll look much better. Whether that confidence is misguided, we'll have to wait and see!

SuperSAINT mentions Moi....but also Fraser, he was on loan at Celtic and did eventually forge a place in our side as a first team player. But true, it doesn't happen too often - certainly not with the young players. I find when we loan out a 'young' player it's almost the start of their slow exit from the club. Vokins, Ramsay, Slattery, Reed, Gallagher to name just a few.

It was a strange vibe, but I think maybe negativity from the fan base fed those feelings? There was a genuine defensiveness from Martin though and I hadn't seen that before. I also don't think an hour is long enough if they're going to merge the women's game into it. They either make it a longer forum or split the women into a dedicated one, as I think we didn't have enough really pressing questions on the ownership and their long-term plans of the 'group' project.

One of the criticisms fairly labelled towards Ralph has been his stubbornness to change the formation, notably his stubbornness to move from a 4-2-2-2. He's looked at last season and has clearly decided things need to change, so he's trying to create a more stable structure first and foremost which should allow for a better structure in both defending and attacking situations, but as with all these formational talks it does ultimately boil down to the quality of player you have in the positions across the pitch. The weekend was a frustrating one, there were things in the 5-3-2 which showed why we tried it. For example I don't think Lavia would have had such an impressive game in a 4-2-2-2 for example, so that 5-3-2 allowed him to show up as well as he did. Our problem, in my opinion, was our wing backs and the passive nature of both the wing backs and the centre backs to come towards the ball when we were defending. We let too many crosses into the box, didn't defend them well enough when they did and sadly a player like Moussa (who isn't a defender) was ripped to pieces by a very, very good wide right player. I don't think one game is a reason to rip up every blue print and try all over again, but there will still be tweaks along the way with the overall aim of trying to combine the best of both worlds, and there will still be games where we feel 4-2-2-2 is the best fit for the opposition we're playing - we'll probably even change mid-game in some weeks. Fan's can't moan about his lack of change one week and then criticise him for changing the next.

So he didn't say he'd abandoned 4-2-2-2 then. If you listen back the explanation from the horses mouth was quite clear. 4-2-2-2 is difficult for new players to adjust to, providing a 5-3-2 structure makes it a little easier for them to ease into the team. I know some fans are looking at just the number 4-2-2-2 and saying ''any player should have been playing that as a kid'' - but it's not just about the tactical number, it's what you do on the ball and off the ball in that system which makes it unique. Things like pressing triggers are much more apparent in a 4-2-2-2 which take time to learn. As we all know, if you don't press together in an aggressive press such as 4-2-2-2 then you are destroyed, so everyone needs to buy into it and be ready for it. I know it's a bit weird saying that as we went 5-3-2 at the weekend and still got thumped, but that wasn't due to an over aggressive press it was us being too passive in the wide full back positions and allowing way too many crosses into the box.

Exactly that. Why are people changing what he said to make him sound worse, it's doing my head in.

Tella moving on loan makes sense for everyone. There are clearly some more attackers coming in, his game time is going to be limited and he stagnated massively last year as it was. And let's be honest, he's not really good enough to make a difference for us at the moment - so I'm glad we're looking to move those guys on, to create space for players who can actually improve us at this moment. I'm not sure if he'll ever make it as a PL player, but he needs game time. Getting regular football at a club aiming for promotion is a positive for him, look forward to seeing how he and Smallbone do.

It wasn't great, there were some good questions but some absolute time wasted on nonsense like JWP's testimonial. I've always been impressed with Martin, but tonight I sense he was very irked by the mood and maybe the atmosphere. He was very defensive not just in vocal tone but his body language, he was ready to confront fans pretty much. Not the look you really want, I'm sure he'll look back at tonight and be a little disappointed at how he came across. Ditto Toby, I thought he dodged a few questions and then got quite defensive when his responses were challenged. Ralph's answers were full of truth, they were full of the passion we know he has. They didn't answer much I'd say, the reasoning behind Armstrong starting was loose to say the least. There has been some re-writing of his words on this thread though, not at a single point did he say he'd abandoned 4-2-2-2. 5-3-2 is going to be used in some games, and we'll also see 4-2-2-2 used as well. That's what he said, I have no problems with people having opinions but don't make up shit to add weight to your own argument. Overall it was a bit of a damp squib of an event I thought. The lack of questions around the ownership and the plans for the future was shocking, it waited until the end for a somewhat useful question on that - but I expected more, although I'd have also liked to have seen one of the ownership group sat at the table as well to maybe prompt those questions and give us an insight from that side of the fence.

It's impossible not to assume Rasmus is smart given his impact at Brentford.

I doubt there are any takers for Adam Armstrong though, that's the prob.

There's no smoke without fire though, this Che Adams leaving stuff doesn't seem to be going away. Plus he didn't play at the weekend and he didn't really feature in pre-season, something is up - weather that's born out from him wanting a change or ourselves needing to raise money. The people who run SR are smart though, I can't see them leaving us in a weaker position. Sept 2nd will tell all.

A loan makes no sense because we'd need two strikers if he left, but we wouldn't have any fee from Adams so our financial muscle is then limited in order to buy 2. That would confuse the hell out of me.

I did squirm when I saw that happen, he seemed to walk it off ok at the time, but maybe an issue caused by this has come to light after a few days rest. Great timing. Valery it is then, as I can't see us throwing a new signing in for Saturday (Even if we do make them in time).

I don't know if I could deal with the pre-liebherr years under Wotte, Wilde and Portvillet again though.

Doesn't feel like it was that long ago. I remember the stories broke from nowhere on a Sunday night, some ITK's on a Bristol Rovers forum started posting some info on it and then the papers in Bristol picked it up. Exactly the sort of signing we needed in L1. Someone suited to that league, probably the best goal scorer at that level and it set the tone for the calibre. I don't think anyone expected him to continue his journey with us to the PL and play for England though, that is true fairy tale stuff. The years supporting this team with Rickie in it were the most fun I've ever had as a football supporter.

Exactly the same as said last time. We were going into the game at their place on the back of a pretty tough night against Bournemouth, so most were expecting us to get done. But even if we didn't play great and don't have 'amazing' players, we're still levels above that lot. Even Redmond looked like a world beater.

It's a bit of a mess. Stephens isn't a good player, I know fans clamour for him because of his passion and all that stuff, but just watch him positionally for a game. Inept is the only way you can sum him up. Gets pulled all over the place, has no idea where to be. Not a PL CB, never has been, yet for some reason he's existed here for many years. Bednarek is pretty tosh, but he's also a victim of the setup in the sense of how exposed he is. He's very slow, not very mobile, so when the midfield gets done and the oppo are running directly at him he will look like Bambi on ice. Because he hasn't got pace, and he knows that, he commits early to try and win the ball and often ends up on his arse and makes us even more exposed. He also struggles in the box against quick players who turn, due to his lack of agility he can get done very quickly over a short space. What happens then is you've got Salisu as the last line of defence as the only one with pace. Salisu has the right attributes, pace, height, strength. But lacks experience at times, it feels like he needs a bit of guidance through some situations but a lot of the time it feels like we put all our eggs in the Salisu basket as he is the last line of defence once Bednarek is left on a heap on the floor. Bella-Kotchap is another one with the right attributes, but obviously experience is going to be an issue here. Salisu and ABK as a pair 'could' be ok, but there will also be some pretty horrible moments born out of inexperience. Obviously, you only get experience one way and that's by playing, so I'd still be tempted to pair him with Salisu. Valery isn't a CB. End of. Lyanco shouldn't have been signed. Really annoyed by that signing to be honest, we should have been a bit wiser and got a loan for the season or something. He's too rash for this league. Simeu will be one who lives out on loan I imagine. I don't see the problem with us signing a freebie player to bolster the u23's, but he looks like a decent lower league player to me and nothing more. So, we certainly could do with one more once we shift a couple out. Someone mid 20's with a bit of experience would be ideal. I know people talk of Bednarek and Stephens offering the experience, but they're very limited players so it doesn't really help a great deal.

I'm fairly sure Selles was brought in with a view to take over at some point, as he seems to be heading on that trajectory (following the Thomas Frank journey). But....this season would be too soon, I'm sure the club will explore that at the end of Ralphs deal, but if they have to change up before that we'd have to go for an established manager.

Were you asleep during our £58m outlay on 7 players before the start of the season, and even before pre-season in most of the cases? That's certainly not something you can wave at the club this summer.

I do now remember a link to Leicester, the talk is that they wanted a new keeper to replace Kasper - but that new keeper would be more rotational/more backup, as they're looking at Danny Ward to be the new number 1. Given that Brendon seems to love shopping here so much, maybe we can do a special deal and include Bednarek as well? Buy 1, get one free.

There was talk about Lis moving on loan, and our 3 keepers being McCarthy, Bazunu and Willy - but apparently Lis doesn't want to leave on loan, so maybe we still need to shift one of the keepers - would make sense to shift McCarthy as it would save us a bit on wages. Getting £1-2.5m for him is a win in my books, just so we don't have the risk of him playing in goal.

If we get the scouting wrong then we're done for, no beating around the bush on that. The next signings we make will make our break our immediate future. But I think the club are looking for better than Che and are using this opportunity to maximise return on him. Let's see how it looks at the end of the window.