S-Clarke

I don't think we'd have gone for someone like Raya. I wouldn't have thought Rasmus will have any input into the day to day like this anyway.

The prob is that he's not going to take a massive pay cut to stay here, he might take a little cut...but we'd still be paying someone who is 35, and pretty average, an absolute mini fortune. We need to start again with our GK's as the previous incumbents in charge of this stuff made a right old mess of the situation. This summer is our opportunity to reshape our GK's with some young blood.

Not going to lie, I was a bit underwhelmed by the January loan we made for him. Felt like a cheapo option. He wasn't particularly rated by anyone at the time and Spurs wanted rid etc. But looking back now his signing was the start of our massive scouting improvement. I guess after years of Ross Wilson and co I had no trust in our scouting, but I think the new lot know what they're doing. Matt Crocker has a huge say in these 'young' signings as he'd have seen them all/worked with them in the English age groups over the years. I think even Lyanco was someone he crossed paths with in the youth setup, as he was in the Brazilian youth teams. It's kinda exciting to see what we will do this summer, as I'm sure we're looking at players not even in our consciousness atm!

He's got his call up, alongside Mitchell. Well played KWP!

I'd hope we have money available before we sell, after our new takeover I'd be disappointed if we didn't have a £30m ish figure available 'today' to improve the squad. Add maybe £20m for Bednarek and you're not far from that £60m figure. (And the enormous wage bill savings from Forster leaving) There are players like Dael Fry who will be chepish, and even Tarkowski who'd be available on a freebie if we wanted to go down that route. Loan market is very viable as well. I didn't think we'd do much last year, but we did bring in 6 players. I can see a similar influx this year in the other area's that need it.

I'd personally look at Dael Fry instead if we're looking at champ CBs. Decent age, English, ticks a lot of our boxes. A year left on his contract in the summer, could be a decent deal to be had come the summer if Boro don't go up.

I didn't see this as being a possibility, so I'm pleased the club are actively looking at improving this position. Salisu's development will be much more rapid with a capable CB alongside him. The 3 we have (Bednarek, Stephens and Lyanco) are all backup quality CB's, none should be a starting CB for any team serious about progressing. Glad the club agree. Feels like Bednarek is being shown the door in a round about way.

A strange way to call him out like this, but Ralph has history of doing this. He did the same to McCarthy because he didn't tell him he was injured, and unsurprisingly he hasn't been seen since (although injured, but it's gone on a bit)

A really odd take on the game for me. We were right up at them from the first min, caused them all sorts of problems. I don't remember much fannying around at the back, we were actually quite direct and forceful in our play. Our counter press was as good as it's been all season today, we didn't give them a second. We were just done by better finishing in the last 15 mins once our legs had tired. Oh, and they could bring on Foden and Mahrez. How that's not 'going for it' is beyond me. We didn't go as weak as I feared, so I was pretty comfortable with the team apart from maybe Broja starting. To be fair to Long and Armstrong they played their roles in that first half and pulled the City centre backs around, so in that sense their tactical inclusion was validated because they pressed from the front.

We need to shake up the goal keeping positions this summer, no doubt about it. Let Forster go, spend £10-15m on a new first choice keeper and we'll be laughing. As long as it's not an Angus Gun style £10m signing. (but I'm more confident in our scouting nowadays)

Armstrong had some good movement to be fair, but he does seem very limited technically. It's like he panics whenever he gets a chance, I don't know if that's him or if he's nervous. He'll get a handful of goals a year at this level in a good season, but he's not much cop all told. I'd have started Broja as I think him offering power on the break would have given us more, he did struggle to get into the rhythm as a sub.

That's Adams in a nutshell though isn't it, and Adam Armstrong to a degree. They're outstanding Championship players, and you can get away with those misses in the Champ as you'll get another chance soon after. But they have always needed 2/3 or more chances to get a goal and that doesn't happen very often in the PL, you've got to take the one chance you get and they're just not capable of it as harsh as that sounds. They're decent as support to a better striker, but neither should be 'main men' for a progressive PL club. Broja wasn't much better when he came on, but he is the player who seems capable of scoring with the one chance he gets (as he's done that on quite a few occasions for us this season). The area which frustrates me the most is our number 10's, I thought Elyonoussi played well....but if he just had a bit of pace it would open it up so much more, we could be much more threatening on the transition. Having Tella back should help on that front, but I'd still look for a quicker number 10 in the summer and ditch Moussa. Palace, Leicester, Villa, Wolves, Newcastle etc all have that bit of star quality in their wide areas/number 10 area's which can win them games out of nothing, even when they're playing shit. We don't have that at all, which is why we struggle to pick up a single point when we don't play well.

What game did you watch if you've come to the opinion that Man City didn't even have to try?

Very flattering score in my opinion, we more than held our own. The quality is what does it, we had no answer to their subs really (Mahrez and Foden). Stephens, in a technical sense, is absolutely horrific. But you can never fault his commitment or his application to the game, he is just incredibly limited. I still don't think he's a bad 4th choice to have around the place, we do need a better 2nd centre back though. Cash in on Bednarek is what I'd do as there's more value in him, but the chances are slim to none I'd have thought. Tino was quality,although tired as the game went on. Armstrong and Long ran around a bit, but lacked any real quality. I'd have started Broja, he struggled to get into the game when he came on and would have been more useful from the start. That chance is what you get from Adams, that's why it's bog average. I don't have a problem with him at all, but that finish summed up the limitations to his game. Overall I kinda enjoyed watching us today, as weird as that sounds. We just need to make sure we get ourselves 15 or so points over the rest of the season so we can end up in the 50's and I'd say that would be a decent effort all told. New GK, CB and number 10 needed in the summer for us to progress to anything other than a bit of a nothing team though.

For a club that has a single FA Cup to it's name, which is so depressing, we should take every cup game seriously. To give ourselves the best possible shot we need to play our best players, we're not exactly blessed with world beaters. I can understand the loyalty Ralph has to players such as Long etc, seeing as he got us through against Swansea, but this time last year he was away at Bournemouth and pretty much done as a PL player. We didn't care too much for him then. You need to be ruthless, not just play players because they're good lads. I had the same complaint about Poch when he pissed up the league cup against Sunderland, that season was a huge chance for us too. I want to see a core of Forster, Broja, KWP, JWP, Romeu, Adams, Salisu etc all starting. Otherwise what's the point. You can't even use the 'Resting for PL' argument here, as we don't have another fricking game until April.

That's a new one. I prefer 'the cult'.

If last night was bad for the bottom 3, you'd have to say tonight is a first nail in the coffin!

I think it'll be changed around from what I can see, certainly no need to go 'weak' given that we have no PL game, but I think Ralph is keen to reward those who are patient in the background. Lots and lots of media this week from Willy, Stephen's has done a piece and some gumf about Moussa as well kind of suggests where we are going imo.

They were pretty dreadful, agreed. Terrible game all in. Not a great advert for the 'best league in the world'.

That's a big blow for the current bottom 3 in my opinion. I haven't seen a way out for the 3 of them for months.

Do you know who was also on our short-list as an alternative at that point? This made me weep. Raul Jimenez. But we thought Carillo was a better choice. The whole point of a 'Transfer Guru' is that he can stop a manager buying a dud or just buying his mate, he was as guilty as anyone in pushing it through.

It will be an interesting watch tonight, I thought they'd shuffle themselves away from it, I didn't expect them to lose to Wolves. So, if they also lose this one it does look pretty tough for them. They do still have better players than Watford and Burnley though, that isn't always enough...but having Richarlison or DCL does make it a tiny bit more likely that they'll grab the odd win here and there when you least expect it.

Brighton are so similar to us, not so much in style of play, but just how they 'are'. They do things in a 'different' way and follow a modern/progressive approach with their coach, but they also go on crazy runs of polar opposites. Little bit more quality/investment in both clubs and we'd be laughing, as we both do it the right way I think. We just don't have enough quality to sustain anything over a season.

Calm down Monk! This isn't a club appointment anyway, it's someone who joins the Sport Republic Brand. He may have an input, but he's nothing to do with us day to day.

The big clubs will be laughing, this will give them lots of opportunities to put their mega bucks players on the pitch. Our stance may be a bit different now that we have a bigger squad, but I still think it generally favors the big clubs. All of a sudden those 'Top 6' games become a degree harder.