Badger

You mean he comes across as reasonably intelligent and articulate rather than some of the gum chewing types that are often rolled out in front of the cameras ? Not sure Ings has any more gravitas about him to make him a better captain than JWP, probably not to be honest. Don't necessarily disagree with you about MF being an ideal position to influence things on the pitch (Ball and Case being obvious examples), but I recall an interview with Keegan saying that in his view defenders were the best placed to lead as they were constantly trying to organise on the pitch. . He also suggested this is why they made better managers than forwards - his view at the time before he took the Newcastle job. Chris Nicholl was the example he used

Good, detailed analysis Dusic. Thanks for putting some context around the recent results.

Interesting point, what’s the answer though ? Allow him to bring in another coach of his own choice perhaps. not sure what his sidekick’s (Bitchkicker or whatever) area of expertise is, but does seem a defensive coach wouldn’t go amiss.Attracting one mid-season though might be difficult.

No but if you say it quick enough, getting rid of Gao, seems a easy and plausible route to go... just wish it was that simple. No not particularly scarred by MLG, just know certain issues and comments will bring him hurtling out of his cave !

I did point this out to my sons when we went top in October. I didn’t expect it to come back as a prophesy to bite me on the arse. It shouldn’t and I hope it doesn’t but every season someone seems to drop like a stone.

In the past some of the best captains have been experienced, or just respected by the rest of the squad. Not sure “respect” for anyone else is something the modern footballer understands as a concept nowadays. Which is why I mention Ball and the 11 millionaires in the post above. More likely they look at whose got the biggest 4x4 or most tattoos on an arm.

Does he normally play on the left though ?

How do the club “get rid of Gao”? He’s not going to ‘sack’himself as our majority shareholder is he ? Apart from that, yes keep Ralph, and pray for divine intervention and someone better to buy the club (whilst accepting that the Almighty might have what He considers more deserving cases for intervention in the pending tray at the moment). (Have I just set MLG up for a rant about divine intervention?)

Agree totally. Honourable mentions to Fonte and VVD even, but I’ve not really seen any driving leadership on the field since Jimmy Case left. I always thought Schneiderlin might be destined for the role but obviously not. One thing that occurs to me though is how modern professional footballers would react to someone like Ball giving them an on field bollocking on the pitch whilst playing together and if they’d respond and step up, or just think “oh, fuck off, not taking that from you” and downing tools further. Remember it was Ball who told the story of his time at Man City and looking round the dressing room at half time thinking ‘what’s the point ? I’m talking to 11 millionaires here, they’re not interested”.

I raised a similar point to this in another thread earlier in the week (possibly the Ralph thread). There’s are great deal of talk about ‘plan B’ but very few managers we’ve had have been able to implement one. As in the previous thread, I think Hoddle was the last manager who we had that was considered able to change a game tactically with a sub or a switch. But he failed spectacularly to do this at Tranmere. The plan B we’d like is to defend a lead. I’ve lost count of how many times this has been our undoing, yet other teams seem to defend a lead against us for half a game or more, or when down to 9 men.

Don't agree with you. You've seen the calibre of managers we've had since Koeman left, and Ralph is an upgrade on all of them. Why would the Brentford manager be interested in us ? He's working at an ambitious and well run club, perhaps that's the key as to where things have gone wrong.

To be replaced by ??? This is not an attractive job for any manager with ambition given our current ownership and finances. Like many I'd like to see RH given the resources to build his own squad, but that seems unlikely at present. Did an excellent job at Leipzig although he did have the steadying hand of his DoF, Rangnick, there as well.

Interesting statistic, especially after today. How many did FF save for us out of interest. My recollection was that FF was a lot less agile than McCarthy but I was reminded the other day that he had saved one at Anfield.

McCarthy for me. Big question though is if FF remains our GK for Cup matches, does Ralph keep him in for the semi-final, then final should we make it through to the semi or beyond, when he's publicly stated McCarthy is his No 1 ? Would seem harsh to drop FF if he's performed well in previous rounds, but then he would be criticised if he doesn't play what he considers the strongest team.

JWP free kick will sort it. We have history of free kicks winning quarter finals.

He also changed the game when he came on against us at Molineux during their first season back and beat us 2-0. Mind you, Mark Hughes was our manager at the time. If the opposition had brought Norman Wisdom on as a sub midway through the second half it would have left Hughes floundering.

Also the lowest ranking team left in the draw. Assuming we've given on Barnsley of course.

I remember reading that we had to seek Liverpool's agreement to Keegan signing for us as they still held his registration in England. To their credit they kept quiet on this without leaking to the press as that would have spoiled the impact of his signing for us.

I think that route is now closed and only the winner can qualify through the Cup.

Bournemouth, Sheffield Utd ?

At least we now know for cetrain that Salisu exists and is in the country. Hope he can play as well. I'm a little surprised that Bednarek starts ahead of Vestergaard , but perhaps Vestergaard isn't fully recovered and ready for a full cup tie. Redmond.... about time he delivered something. Hope we can win it in 90 minutes because there's not a great deal on the bench to replace tired legs.

Can you see anyone else offering more ?

It was Les Reed who negotiated the deal don't forget.

Didn't realise about Ceefax although don't know anyone who had it or spoke about it then. Fully accept your comment wasn't in MLG spirit... £400,000 or £440,000 sticks in my mind. Think this was our joint or record signing at the time, Osgood £275,000, and Charlie George £400,000.

That remains to be seen. In an ideal world FF will come back in as he did in Koeman's last season and capture that form and effect on the defence to see an upturn in form until the end of the season. That's nice in theory but In the real world though we've seen FF's limitations all too often to think these might have been eradicated from his game. McCarthy fucked up at Newcastle as he did at home to Arsenal last season with a pass out, but the prospect of FF dealing with the ball at his feet whilst giving the impression of playing in Size 11 wellington boots scares me shitless as well. Can only hope for the FF of 2015/16 or whenever it was but can't bank on it. Agree with you, new GK required although unlikely to be a priority.