S-Clarke

Actually this season we haven't been as reliant on Ings as we were last year. We would be on around 20 pts without Ings goals, but that's not saying someone else wouldn't have scored them...!

Only thing I heard was 'hamstring'. No idea. Doesn't look a particularly good one if I'm truly honest.

I think people were nervous about injuries, I think we all knew we were a few injuries away from dropping off due to our squad. Sadly proven to be correct, although I don't think anyone predicted we'd be hit this badly. Full backs particularly. Two massive parts in our game, esp KWP, so if he is missing again I fear for us. I reckon we will end up going 3 at the back with Moussa as RWB. Hence why I fear for us.

The club have obviously given him an 'open book' to implement his ideas club wide, so they obviously trust him as much as most of us fans do. Now he needs to be trusted in the transfer market. Please Gao, just give him a tiny bit of flexibility to add the missing ingredients to this team without having to sell off half the squad before hand. We feel so close, yet so far at the same time.

Is it all on Ralph though? He can only do so much with the group he has, and let's be honest it's largely what he inherited from day 1. This team struggled to hold onto leads under Pellegrino and Hughes as well, that facet isn't new. And the core of the side is still the same. I do believe Ralph has worked wonders to even get us competitive to be honest, that's why some of the calls for him to leave (and I know you're not saying that) are totally and utterly wrong. Re-watching games from the last 5 years could be interesting, I'd imagine you will see exactly the same traits in all of them under 3 or 4 different managers and 3 or 4 different systems. I don't think I could put myself through that though.

Yeah, he was dreadful. Didn't do anything, didn't get involved. Forgot he was playing at times to be honest. Seems another 'shy' and quiet type! Redmond was much more active than he was in the first half, that's for sure.

Yeah we had long spells in that 04-05 PL season not winning, but we always separated it with a draw in an amongst it. The most losses in a row we had under Port was 4...believe it or not. So yeah, this team has set another new record. Good times.

That's Redmond in a nut shell for you. His decision making and final pass/shot is more often than not absolutely diabolical. He's sometimes the oppositions best defender. He seems to overcomplicate everything and I don't know why. It's not a new thing either, this has been 5 years. This is Redmond, it won't ever change. I'd happily sell and reinvest his money.

I'm sure we've gone on really long spells not winning, but we've probably thrown a draw or two in an amongst the 5 or 6 games etc.

I've thought about that, but he's another one who seems to suffocate under pressure. Doesn't strike me as a captain to be honest, when the going gets tough he just becomes a mess. It's not all about being vocal, although that's kinda important, it's being able to direct and lead other members of the team and pull them up if they need it. I don't see any of our players automatically doing that by habit. It's not in any of their make ups. All of our players seem scared to take the lead. If we go back to last season, PEH was another example of a poor captain. When the chips are down you need your captain to stand up and show an example, I remember in the final throws of a game we needed a breather...he had time to just bring the ball down and play it out...but he skied it up in the air in our penalty box and put us under pressure. That was our captain and it's no different now.

I dread to think what would happen to us if we got relegated. I don't think it would be pretty.

Absolutely nail on the head. We don't have anyone who is a leader in this side. I never hear our guys shouting, but I heard Coady today in the Wolves back 4 barking orders all game. JWP as others have said...is kinda there by default really as there isn't anyone else in the squad with those attributes. Vestergaard? Nope, doesn't strike me as a leader. Another technical player with the ball at his feet, but doesn't seem to have a 'nastiness' to him. Bertrand? Been there, done that. Not a captain Romeu? - Could argue he has the most 'nastiness', but he's still incredibly quiet on the pitch and doesn't strike me as a leader. Those are prob your only other options bar JWP. Pretty poor all round and that is why we struggle to hold onto leads and why we struggle when we hit adversity. I reckon we'd be a better 'team' if we lost one of Ings/JWP and replaced them with a Coady type of leader. We'd then have a bit more about us and I'm sure we'd see more games out. At the moment teams know if they get us on the back foot, we will fold 9/10. A really poor show for a team to be honest. It's a shame we'd have to sacrifice starters to get those sorts of players though, but that's where we are. Ideally we'd supplement what we have, but we can't do that.

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.