Teddeer

Wouldn't need to be top corner - anything on target after clearing the wall would certainly have been well beyond JWP's reach.

If the free kick had cleared the wall there is no way JWP would have been able to jump high enough to head it away which makes his decision all the more ludicrous.

You are doing what is commonly known as clutching at straws.

See my second post after hearing explanation on Sky.

On Sky they just checked the rule and it seems the keeper needs to have one hand on the ball for a spilt second for it to be deemed in his control. Ridiculous.

Ridiculous decision. The rule always used to be that the keeper had to have two hands on the ball. Schmeichel had only one hand on the ball so it's fair game for Villa players to go for it. Schmeichel made a big mistake and Oliver dug him out, .

Good post and a lot I agree with there. We can't continue with these second half collapses because we'll end up getting relegated. It may be or may not be this season but it'll happen. If Ralph could solve this issue he would have done so by now but we continue in the same vein.

I think we are too naive rather than too nice. Yesterday, with Brighton down to 10 men and us leading one nil, we should have been letting the ball do the work, playing possession football, making Brighton's tired players chase and leaving them feeling beaten. Instead we capitulate, panic give them a sliver of hope and lose two vital points. Ralph is the manager and him and his coaches should be instilling this mentality, this ruthlessness into the team but we continue to make the same tactical mistakes.

Does that have any relevance to our incompetence?

It was idiotic. He might have rushed out but he still left Maupay onside. What was he going to do had the Brighton player lifted that free kick over the wall? Nothing because it would have just flown over his head. Ludicrous.

Did he play Maupay onside or not? That is the only relevant point.

For me the decision by JWP to park himself on the line for that free kick was ridiculous and cost us the victory.

Unlikely to get anything from this one so Brentford at home is a must-win game.

These continuous stream of errors from all the players is why we make life so difficult for ourselves. As you point out, there was a string of panic induced schoolboy errors as the game wore on which put more and more pressure on us. Such errors need to be kept to a bare minimum.

Think the Johnstone ship has sailed as other teams are interested. Ralph is passing the buck to some extent. He is responsible for the players and, if not one of them including the captain thought to inform him that our keeper had suffered a bad injury that is down to Ralph I'm afraid. The players should be drilled until it is second nature. At this level you cannot make such catastrophic errors. Then we compound it by deciding it's a great idea to put one of our smallest players on the line for a free kick to help out our stricken keeper. How JWP was meant to do anything should the free kick have cleared the wall is anybody's guess - maybe he was expected to pull out a stepladder. You really couldn't make this stuff up.

Agree with this. No way was JWP going back towards his goal going to help McCarthy. If the Brighton player takes a good free kick that is over the wall then fair play to him and little JWP isn't leaping like a salmon to head it clear. It was a completely futile action that only served to leave Maupay in an onside position and able to smash the ball home. Thanks for nothing James, you should know better with your experience.

So you believe if the shot had gone over the wall on the side JWP was defending he'd have been able to get up and head it away? He's not 6'4"!

Watching Brighton's goal again the decision by JWP to go back towards the goal line looks more ridiculous than ever even if McCarthy was carrying an injury. The wall did its job and Maupay would have been caught offside but for that stupid action. What on earth did JWP hope to achieve? Schoolboy error.

When defending a free kick, if your keeper is struggling with an injury and it's decided to put a player on the goal line to help, why on earth would you give that job to one of your shortest players?

Exactly this. It's happening too many times to be considered bad luck - it is sheer incompetence. Time he started earning his huge salary.

Problem is Ralph is also failing to do his job or we'd be far better at game management and less inclined to surrender, back off and reduce ourselves to a panic stricken shambles. He should be drilling the players on how to manage games when we are in front but he's not capable of doing it.

Bored of his feeble attempts at game management and his inability to learn any lessons. This side should be drilled to see out games and, if they were, that would have been a straightforward victory and 3 welcome points. Instead we cede the initiative after half time in nearly every match and Ralph is incapable of doing anything about it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. Maybe Ralph's sanity is in question.

That is a statistic to shame him and he shows no sign that he is learning any lessons. people can blame the players and yes, they are culpable but any manager worth his salt knows how to manage a game when his side is in front. It might go wrong occasionally but with Ralph is is time after time with the same pattern and it's predictable. He's a nice guy but I don't think he's quite savvy enough at this level.

Thought you'd blame Broja. Spoiled your little agenda that he's not as good as Armstrong by scoring a cracking goal so you have to blame him for us pissing away another two points. Oh and Ralph needs to add game management to his little poxy playbook because he clearly doesn't have a scooby how to implement it when his team is leading.

This x 1000. If Ralph is incapable of getting messages to the players to keep calm and to use the pitch when we are leading than what is he doing on the touchline. That was as criminal as it gets and it went on and on for the entire second half with Ralph stood there looking completely mystified as to what to do. Hopeless.