S-Clarke

Free transfer emergency time? Surely an option to look at now?

It wasn't a 3-0 game, but how quickly our heads dropped once again is the overriding issue for me. We controlled the game for periods, without having much threat, but once we had some bits go against us we collapsed. As per usual.

But only when you have the tools to fight back with. It would have been like fighting back on the trenches with Nerf guns or water pistols, is it worth the hassle of even trying that when you know the outcome? I can't help but feel sorry for Ralph and how he's been totally hamstrung here. He's not blameless at all, but christ he's got a bad spin.

Someone much better than Redmond, Moussa or Minamino in that role. JWP isn't great at the moment, but none of those players could play his role. Not even close.

The only one I can see is Jankewitz on the bench. The others (Armstrong/Moussa/Minamino/Redmond) are attacking midfielders/wingers and should never be anywhere near the centre of midfield in a pivot role. They'd have been gobbled up.

Just to swing some positivity out there. We've got to win at Goodison at some point, haven't we? We've got to win again at some point, haven't we? The stars are aligning for something. Return to form at Goodison...when you least expect it.

I think it's for experience. Ramsay has looked like a fish out of water whenever I've seen him. Doesn't look like he's anywhere near this level quality wise. I wouldn't even say he's a wing back either, that's stretching it. He can play right sided centre back or defensive right back at a push. So he's equally a pretty dreadful option.

But then we'd have had even less of a midfield. There wasn't any real fix for today, he couldn't have changed much from the bench without having a natural full back there. The good news is that we've got it all to go again on Monday.

It's as simple as not having cover for him and those stats bare that out in black and white. Criminal really. We have to either rip apart our midfield, change our entire team shape, or move centre back partnerships around to fill his gap. He's important for us, one of our 'must not lose' types due to his importance to our style...but that's not to say another fully capable wing back style player couldn't do a job there. We just don't have that option. Christ, even Martina would do a job for us there.

Good post and very sound observations. I don't think any fans want us to go spending, spending, spending...we just need to stop being clever with our squad management. The ultimate dream for a club like us is that our academy/b team provides the depth, but it's clear to me that the quality isn't there...so we need to ditch that stupid idea for the next 5 years and actually build the squad out a tiny bit.

Who'd have gone to right wing back? The space out wide for Raphinia and Costa would have been scary had we gone 3 at the back, they'd have been on us even more. It wouldn't have fixed anything.

I think we rely on our full backs a lot, so with KWP out..our width is gone pretty much, to Tella's credit he was the only one providing it today. I think KWP is one of our biggest misses to be honest. Moving Bednarek out of the centre hasn't helped either, as it's confused the partnership which we had in there. We still had experienced players out there, but it's very much a square pegs kinda setup because we don't have the depth.

I'd say we did our usual. Played at arms length, without really creating enough meaningful opportunities. We were pressing well and winning the ball back well, but we didn't create anywhere near enough clear cut opportunities in that spell. That's been our problem for weeks tbh. We don't have the ability to kill teams when we have got them with the press. Then when they inevitable improve in the 2nd half and put some pressure on us, we crumble. It's such a horrible scenario to have every, single week. It's like groundhog day.

I dunno, other teams have had pretty bad injury spells to be honest. Newcastle for one, Wolves haven't had it too easy either with their injuries at certain points. The difference in both, even Newcastle I'd say, is the squad depth - the experience in the depth to come in and fill a hole. We just have kids. Our form derailed because of injuries, for sure....but we haven't been able to halt it because the squad is poor.

Welcome back Alex. Perfect opportunity to try an untested kid. Not. Wonderful situation.

To be fair, I do remember some people being quite nervous about what would happen if we had injuries to key players. As looking around on the bench there was nothing. Sadly that's probably what's derailed us more than anything, getting those injures to Ings, Romeu, Vestergaard at key times in the season. When we needed to stop the rot, we had to play untried kids. It's really not a good situation to be in.

I'd be surprised if he gets that level of club!

I can see why Sevilla are looking at him, he looks a shoe in for that league. Doesn't look like a PL player to me, not suited to the end-to-end physicality of the league.

I still feel the same, we're not in one yet. Our form is relegation form, without question, and we are getting dragged down incredibly quickly. Fulham aren't going to carry on getting 7 points from 9 until the end of the season. And we still have a decent cushion. It may look even more scary in the coming weeks, but we should still have enough. We have more than enough chances to obtain the 6 points we will likely need. If we don't manage that then everyone at this club should be sacked with immediate effect in May.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not fully absorbing him of blame. Everyone is to blame for the situation we are in at the moment, our run of form is disgusting. I don't think I'm being kind purposely, I guess I just feel for him a little bit. He's been dealt a tough hand with the squad he has. I don't know what the thinking was on January the 31st with Valery going out and no full back coming in. If he went for Minamino as opposed to full back cover then he should take the blame for that. However, I do feel the lack of finances played a big, big part in that situation. It wouldn't have surprised me if we had to let Valery go before we could even look for a full back. But he has even said he'd have brought in more players if we could, but 'we have no money' - he looked noticeably frustrated by that. I still stand by my view that he has polished a turd in the main and with this make up of players we will never be too far away from these sorts of scenarios. I'd still rather tread this line with Ralph than anyone else though, as he's proven what he can get from this group. Under Hughes, Pellergino etc we never stood a chance.

Don't get me wrong, I feel proper low at the moment. As low as I've felt about us for a long, long time, but people need to see the bigger picture and not just jump on Ralph. It's too quick a football fan reaction. ''New manager needed''. The players always seem to be absorbed of blame, but this bunch have in the main, bar a 12 month spell, been absolutely crap for 5 years.

Lots of chat about Plan B, but it never usually works like that. We have multiple plans during a game, but none are working at the moment. It's easier to describe it as a philosophy, and you don't have 'philosophy' b. You have a philosophy, you stick to it and you alter that in game as and when is fit. But nothing, absolutely nothing is working for us. If we do go down the 'hit it long' 'get it in the box' route, then it rips up any philosophy and everything that has been worked on - and it's not all bad.

I'll start supporting Woman's netball if that is the outcome. At least there will be a benefit to watching that.

He does post some very emotionally driven stuff to be honest. But we're all emotional because we all share a common interest/love for the same thing, so cut him some slack.

He has to be clever because we don't have the depth, that's the issue. To be fair, I think the shake up worked to a point - I liked Tella on the left, he worked quite well there. Unfortunately we still had Redmond starting. We just don't have the quality of squad, and certainly not the depth. If we have injuries or key players dropping off of form...we are struggling big style.