SKD

Well done? 7 yards in an open goal hahaha

A front 2 of Adams and Redmond is so far below the level we need, It’s beyond a joke.

Lol. I prefer not to speak 😬

Rubbish. Armstrong left him 2 men to deal with.

Not pressing anywhere near as high or frantic as we usually do. Credit to Ralph, seems to have a plan here rather than the usual let’s just Chuck out the same 11 and hope for the best. we’ll probably still get a pasting, but it’s a positive sign he’s willing to change.

Have to say I agree with Bertrand at RB given the situation. ralph obviously thinks (and I don’t blame him) of our CB’s that Salisu at LB is the strongest / best option. Stephens and Bednerak have been appalling there, so pointless trying that again. Right footed players play LB, so no reason why a left footed player can’t play RB.

The comparisons aren’t lazy though. Both, as goal scorers, are absolutely dreadful. They share similar traits in that, they’re hardworking, pretty handy at holding the ball up (without being anything special at it) and their goal return per season for us is pretty similar and awful for a striker. As for Technique, I agree it appears that Adams can probably strike the ball a bit better than long. However even Long, in his prime, scored some pretty decent goals. Id argue that Redmond has a better ‘technique’ than Che but also has a similar issue of not showing it enough. Yet Redmond gets dogs abuse on here whenever he makes a mistake and Che doesn’t? Id throw your comment on it’s head and say that Che’s best spell was when we (Ings) was playing well. I don’t think it was Che that turned our form around. Interested to hear why you think 8 goals a season is easy achievable for him, when he’s only ever achieved 8 or more twice in his career (once being in League 1). No excuses for him now. Has to kick on, 6 winnable fixtures coming up and likely to be the main man if ings is out.

The ‘Gash’ Shane Long served up, kept Adams out of the side for large parts of last season...

Yep, exactly right. This was my point around keeping the likes of Elyounossi and lemina if the alternative option is to loan out. Without either being great, they are both solid options for a PL team. It’s clear Ralph wants a bigger squad and it’s also clear we’re not going to have cash to buy a replacement, so we may as well had use them for a season, even if that’s to sit on the bench. Who knows, they may win us a game (Like Lemina today). If we go into next season with youngsters, who aren’t yet good enough or ready to be a PL player, we could find ourselves in a bit of trouble like this year.

Fair play to him, a very good strike. At least he’s proven me wrong in that he might scrape a goal or 2 in the championship. Still nowhere near what we need though at this level. Against a better team, his simple 1 on 1 would cost us. Today pretty summed the bloke up for me. Give him time to think about what he has to do and he’s useless. Absolutely no composure. But he can actually hit the ball pretty hard, so when it’s not straight at the keeper (1 out of 100 times) he’s got a chance of scoring. let’s hope he kicks on now, the next couple of weeks will determine if it’s a lack of confidence, form or if he’s just shite. My money is on the latter and 1 good strike doesn’t change that for me 👍

why wasn’t that a red card? Must have been last man and Tella was about to pull the trigger?

Imagine this place if that was Redmond LOL......

I disagree about Jan, Raphina absolutely tore his arsehole out defensively and he offers nothing going forward. Hard to argue when you look at our record with KWP not playing. Valery certainly isn’t the answer, though. We agree on that. I don’t buy all of this blocking path nonsense. Ultimately, if you’re good enough you’ll get a chance. Id say 1 maybe 2 of our youngsters will be good enough (Tella looks handy). The trouble we have had this season is our squad depth isn’t deep enough, lads who clearly aren’t good enough (Nlundulu, for example) are being thrown in as we have no other options. Ralph himself has said our squad isn’t deep enough. I’ve not seen anything from Smallbone to suggest he’s ready to play in the no6 role for a premier league club. Likewise with Jantewiz, and same with Ralph I’m guessing which is why he’d rather play Armstrong there. A player like Lemina or Elyounossi would cost £10m in transfer fee + 50k in salary, so if we want a deeper squad, then it would be cheaper to keep them then buy a replacement (if we loan them out). Id rather either of those, who have top league and Champions league experience, coming on than that young lad Watts. I’m not suggesting long term answer and we can sell, then get shot ASAP and reinvest to improve. But if we’re shipping out on loan to save a few quid on wages and weakening ourselves in the process, then that’s just stupid.

Is Valery included in that list? - No. (would he be better than Jan at RB, you could argue either way. Jan has been shocking at RB). Coulda Lemina, despite being an absolute cock, cover CM, when we had none (or allow JWP/Diallo to go RB) - Yes. Is Elyounoussi better than some of the youngsters we’ve had to rely on - yes. so, yes, I’d say it is better.

If this season has proven anything, especially given out limited budget, surely it’d be better to keep these around rather send them out on loan and leaving us short if we get an injury?

Right manager, wrong time who took the job and signed a new contract, knowing exactly what he’s dealing with.

Apart from the goal and every header after, you’re right.

Yep, spot on. If you look at his career, he’s only really ever had 1 good season in terms of goal return. like you, I liked him when he arrived, thought he had a bit about him and just had a bit of bad luck. I always, until this recent run, thought he was tidy in terms of build up. It’s deeper than just a bad run of form or lack of confidence as he’s been like it since the day he arrived, nearly 18 months ago now. If Long or Redmond had missed as many simple changes as Che, they’d have had absolute pelters. He doesn’t strike me as the type of player who is a natural goal scorer, especially at this level. A lot of short memories. Easy to forget that Long was keeping him out the side last year, which is what effectively earned him a new contract. Im not making him a scapegoat, just sick of seeing constant abuse directed at certain players (I.e Redmond, some warranted, some not), when others just as bad but get a free pass 🤷🏻‍♂️ long story short, if we’re relying on Che to get us goals next season, we’re fucked.

Seems to get off lightly as all the flack is aimed at Redmond, but what an awful footballer is Adams. Absolutely not up to the standard of the premier league and seemingly getting worse. I gave him the benefit of the doubt before as his work outside of the box was pretty tidy, I assumed he lack of goals was a bit of bad luck as he seems to find the right position, but even that’s gone now and the less said about his finishing the better. I cannot believe that I’m in a position of wanting Obafemi back from injury, just to get this idiot out the side. I’d rather we played with Redmond through the middle if I’m honest. Is he any better than Long? I’m struggling to see what he brings that long doesn’t. Let’s hope a championship club feel like they can get him scoring and we recoup some of our investment on him.

Gao doesn’t need his hand forced, he needs a realistic, interested party. It’s widely been reported that we’re for sale and have been for some time.

Are you okay Hun? Ralph isn’t going to shag you mate.

Who do you bring on instead of him then? Tella? what about for Adams and Djenepo who are both equally as shit. no ones sleeping with Ralph, he just has no fucking options.

I don’t know what team I expected given the injuries, but actually seeing it on paper is demoralising. Let’s pray Everton have an off night and we walk away with a 3-0 Loss.

The issue with VAR is it’s not being used just for the clear and obvious mistakes. If it was, then they wouldn’t need lines or 3/4+ reply’s to make a decision, if they do, it’s clearly not an obvious decision. For me, VAR should only be used for the absolute howler (Gabbidini’s offside goal in the cup final. Hand of god x 2. A blatant dive or blatant foul missed etc.). You’d get some decision go for you, some against you. Trying to get every single decision right is killing the game and imo, they’re still not getting them right. Things I’d do to improve from a fans perspective; - Restrict to 2 reply’s, max. - Remove the offside lines. - Improve the standard of referring and remove Mike Riley from PGMOL. - Get tougher on diving. Seems like regardless of a dive, if there’s contact any contact, regardless of if they’re going down, they give a penalty (Martial, for example). Seemingly getting better at this in recent weeks

Hahahahaha idiot. arguably more of an idiotic post than your suggestion to play Redmond CM.