S-Clarke

Wigan took that tbf, they've vanished into no where land now though. I'd be interested to know how their fans feel now. They will always have that FA Cup to their name, but they're decades away from the top level and may never get there again. Price to pay.

Fraser has taken the mantle of being a better player the longer he's out of the side. The fact is that none of our keepers are great, they are all bog average and capable of cock ups and stupid slips. We are putting more pressure on them due to the way we play (from the back) which can highlight their lack of ability sometimes. McCarthy is probably the best we have with that. Would anyone trust Fraser playing short front he back? Really? He struggles to move his feet in between his goal. This is an area that is in serious need of investment, but once again our shit show recruitment department lumbered us with another 'same' player in Angus Gunn. No different to what we had already. I really hope we've seen the last of our recruitment disasters because it's killing us.

My problem with our second half is the lack of intent to score a goal, we seem to be clueless when we are chasing a game in the final few mins of a game. Absolutely clueless. We don't know what to do. That is on Ralph IMO, he needs to have another plan up his sleeve for situations like that as we cannot continue the normal patient build up. However....bad decision or not on the penalty, we shouldn't let our heads drop as much as we do. This isn't a new thing, this has gone on for at least 4 years with this makeup of players. It's a fundamental problem within the core of this team and it won't be changed without changing out some of the players, or at least supplementing the squad with some more leaders.

Lost 9-0 twice in a year (or just over a year) and lost 6 in a row for the first time ever. I think that's an immediate stand up. I'm not knocking the individual quality of some of our players, it's just the makeup of the team. It's not right and hasn't been for years. It's the worst makeup of a team we've ever had. No leaders in it at all.

To be fair in the first half his off the ball movement, runs and positional play were good - it was causing them problems. But whenever he has the chance to do something with the ball he fails, almost all the time. Mis kicks a shot, passes out of play, runs into a blind ally etc. He's certainly another player who shrinks when the going gets tough, but is happy to hog the lime light when things are rosy. Where did he go second half when the chips were down?

Ok fair enough, can you at least elaborate as to why you think my points are wrong? Do you not agree that we have a bad makeup with poor mentality rife throughout the squad?

Exactly. That decision was shit, it happened. But it didn't then force us to play shit for an entire 45 mins. We barely tested them, then inevitably went behind. If people are saying that because of the bad decision our heads dropped....then it just confirms the team is too mentally weak to compete at this level consistently.

No, he's not a captain in the slightest. I think that shows you the lack of options in the squad to be honest, JWP is as good as an option we have.

Our game management does leave a lot to be desired, but it also left a lot to be desired under Hughes, Pellegrino etc. I think we have good individual quality in this side in certain areas, but you cannot coach mentality and leadership - that's part of your make up. You don't even need to be technically amazing to show mentality and leadership, but we don't have anyone in our side who really comes out screaming and barking orders. Did you hear Cody for Wolves? That's proper leadership. Barking orders, moving people around, organising. Yes, we can play a good pass out of defence, do a nice tidy pirouette in midfield, but we have no one who sits there barking orders and giving anyone a kick up the backside. We're too nice to each other and too nice to others. That won't ever change with these players. I'm repeating myself here, but teams with a good mentality do not lose games 9-0 once, let alone twice. Ralph must know it, but he has no flexibility to fix it. I'd be radical and totally shake this squad up, bring in some bigger personalities.

You missed my point. I'm not on about individuals making up the team, as there is no doubt we have much higher quality individually than at many times in our history. But I'm on about the team makeup - mentality, professionalism etc. This has got to be the worst makeup we've ever had, we're setting the wrong records all over the place for losing leads, losing games 9-0 and the likes.

We overachieved, riding on the crest of a wave. Our default position is where we are now and losing leads like we always do.

Why are people even speculating that he should leave? Why can't anyone see the bigger picture here? He got this squad overachieving MASSIVLEY, he polished a turd. We still have the same core as we did under Hughes, Pellegrino etc. Redmond, Bednarek, McCarthy, JWP, Romeu, Ings, Bertrand - the core has never changed, so why is anyone surprised when we hit these terrible patches? We have TERRIBLE leadership on the field, absolutely diabolical. Terrible mentality. Look at the stats for how often we lose leads...that tells you all you need to know about the mentality and leadership of this team. Technically we have good players, but winners they are not. In an ideal world we need to rebuild the spine and provide Ralph with the flexibility to do that. Then I'd really judge him.

I think we need to start talking about a big change up in the squad and afford Ralph some flexibility in the market. I don't think he's the issue to be honest, sure he has flaws and we are very 'Plan A' - but the makeup of the players he he's having to make do with is all wrong IMO.

You don't lose 6 games on the bounce and have two 9-0's over two seasons because of bad luck. You do that because you have a bad team. Let's not focus on the 'decisions'. It's gone beyond that.

You could argue that this team is the worst team in our history. Might sound quite a brash statement to make, but this lot have lost 9-0 twice and have just lost 6 games in a row - the most this club has ever lost in a row in any league. We are mentally weak, fragile and lack any sort of leadership. When the chips are down we wilt, every single time. That won't change without significant changes in the playing squad, which is something we can't do as we have an owner who doesn't support us. Long and short of it, we are fucked. No idea where we are heading.

Armstrong is great. His running with the ball is under estimated, he has quite a surprising acceleration when he puffs his chest out and gets going. He's excellent.

Good 45, can't ask for much more than that to be honest. Good control in the middle, good defensive shape and defensive distribution (welcome back to Vesterball). Minamino has been very quiet I have to say, struggled to get into the game so far. Redmond has worked hard and has pulled into some great spaces, his runs and off the ball play have been excellent. It's just a shame what happens whenever he gets the ball and has to do something with it!

It feels and looks like the strongest 11 we've been able to put out for months. Bench has a bit more meat on the bones as well.

I'd stick Thiago up there as the worst signing of the season. He has ruined Liverpool as much as VVD missing has. He looks completely at odds with this league.

I'd go with Minamino and Armstrong in the two wide slots. They seem pretty well suited to then coming inside as required and operating as a number 10. I reckon, if available, Minamino will play every game for us - I think there are some financial incentives to suggest he does (we pay less if he plays games, I think it could end up being a free loan if he plays all our remaining games)

Being truthfully honest, we've not had to defend in any of those games really. Wolves had one shot yesterday. I'm not going to be hanging out the bunting for Forster yet. McCarthy is our PL number 1 as far as I'm concerned.

Can't class Djenepo has a hit. I'm still waiting for him to turn up to be honest. 2 years in and he is still in and out of the side. Yesterday was an opportunity for him but he didn't really do anything. I think he's been massively disappointing overall.

Makes zero difference if it's home or away at the moment.

That's what they just mentioned on BT Sport, no idea if true or not. He lives near so it makes sense for his fingers to be all over that pie.

South coast derby is on. Best draw possible to be fair. Won't be easy though.