S-Clarke

Newcastle, I hope!

Thinking about it, there was also that crazy offside decision, where no one was actually offside - not long before Villas goal. All in all, tonight was an officials cluster fuck.

No dramas, footballs about opinions. Like you say, I don't really think our wide players are consistent enough generally. Armstrong is our most consistent outlet I'd say, but he comes from inside most of the time.

That sub said it all for me....Moussa at RB rather than Valery. Ralph has wanted rid for a while I think, when we have a fit squad he's not even near the bench.

What was the third one? The 'foul' on their keeper by Romeu? I'd have been surprised to get that in any situation, goal keeper protection and all that!

That's what I mean, our situation isn't just because of COVID! This has just made it 10x worse, we probably have to sell 5 to bring in one now!

Really? I'm not sure what people see in Redmond, honestly. He just runs to no where or goes backwards, he offers nothing other than breaking down attacks or slowing it down. Moussa at RB gave us more of an attacking outlet than Redmond did all game.

I honestly thought the delay over it was them deciding if he'd denied a clear goal...(so red card or not). I assumed the pen was a given, but obviously not. It is more insane every time you see it really. I'm struggling to see how it hits his thigh either. Weird one. One of those shitty things though. Sometimes you get them, sometimes you don't.

He just runs into blind allys doing very little. It's been his game since he's been here to be honest. Goes backwards more than he goes forwards. He had a little purple patch during Mark Hughes time and at the start of Ralphs tenure, but he's gone back to sort now.

I know it is? But we seem to be in a bit more trouble than most at this level, that's all I'm saying.

Because they're richer than Ralph.

Good point, forgot he went off. Could have to go to the depth's of valery at RB again then! Joys.

What's the point though? He'd only end up getting himself a 20k fine as 'officials are never wrong'. Seems a bit pointless arguing as you know you'll never win against the officials army.

You can have two. West Ham had to turn Benhrama's deal into a perm so they could bring Lingard in on a loan, as they'd also already had Dawson on loan from Watford.

JWP still at right back then? Assume KWP, Diallo, Theo and 1 other out - Not sure who the third player is? I can't remember anyone else hobbling.

Seems daft to loan players out if we still can't bring anyone in. It feels and sounds like we are on the brink of financial oblivion. Hope I'm wrong.

Damage limitation here. Just hope we come out with our goal difference still in the positive zone. This could be ugly, don't see anything positive with us at the moment. Onwards to Newcastle really, everything on that game to 'try' and restart and get something out of this season.

We were getting VAR decisions earlier in the season, we weren't complaining then. We're now having them go against us, you have to take it as it's part of the game. I don't like VAR and I don't think it really adds anything in it's current incarnation, but we've benefited from really iffy decisions so we were due a couple like that. Ref was dodge all night but these things happen and you just have to hope your quality comes through. At the end of the day, we didn't do enough. VAR or not. Entire attack is off form, unfit, not in sync. We're dead in the final third. Redmond is probably the only attacking player in the world who focuses his game on going backwards. If that was a requirement for a team, he'd be worth a fortune as there's no one in the world as good as him at that. Adams did improve things when he came on, but Ings has just lost his touch, he's a yard off it. He's been our only source of goals for the last 18 months/2 years, so when he hits a barren patch we are clearly going to stop scoring. Reality is...this is probably us, we overachieved over the last 40 games - helped somewhat by a curtailed/weird season. We don't have the squad to do any more than we are at the mo. We are in that realm with Newcastle/Burnley etc - middle of mid table. Villa just have more quality than us, they moved their squad forward depth wise. Not much we can do about that.

We're very Brighton-esque at the moment.

We've played alright, but we just don't have that quality up front at the moment. It dies in and around the final third after what is good build up through the lines. Not getting the rub of the green or that bit of luck anymore either, season has flipped on it's head. It was always going to happen eventually (After 40 or so games of consistent form) but it's still frustrating.

Diallo at RB is an interesting one, but I think it confirms what we think of Valery. He really isn't near the level we need and hopefully come Tuesday he won't even make the bench for us anymore. I think we've removed a good bit of dynamism from our midfield with Diallo at RB, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not surprised to see Che dropped, he has been struggling in recent weeks for me. Needed a break. Hopefully we're a bit fresher today, and at least it looks like we have a couple of options on the bench again.

And this is why Fulham are in deep shit this season.

I think it's pretty clear I don't agree with that, I think he's terrible. He's not spoken a word in 3 years since he took us over, that doesn't equal a good owner for me. Just my opinion, others may disagree. Apart from the Ralph era (we can't credit him for choosing him) we have been a terribly run outfit both on and off the field under Gao.

You've summed up Leicester pretty well there, although let's be honest....the bloody bastards copied us in the first place, disgusting thieves of our 'way.'. (copyright Les). They do have good owners though, and this is the kind of balance I wanted/want to see here. Not sugar daddys chuking billions in, just stable owners who communicate, have a plan and will help the club out if it needs it. I will say though...they do sell big (Maguire/Chillwell) but the main difference is that their big buys from those sales are wins. This year they spent big on Castange to replace Chilwell, and then used a big chunk of that to buy Fofana as well - two excellent signings who have been able to go straight into the first team and improve their squad.

Yes...not much point crowing about who was on the list (Tuchel, Nagglesmen, Ralph) when we went and frigging appointed Puel and Pellegrino. Massive fails, yet he feels like it's something to boast about.