Nemi

Got to agree with the GK situation, that is really unforgivable as they been clearly below par for years and years. And there’s some decent and cheap options on the market too. The same applies to the whole midfield too though (though I’d admit it’s harder to identify replacements here). For some reason the fans are satisfied with years of average or poor performances from JWP and Romeu (and they’re meant to be our best players according to some!) And we all know our attacking mids are weak with v little end product.

Should of been brave enough to sell a few more really. New signings looking the best players today but let down by the same stale shite that has plagued our club for years. And that’s without going into the terrible mentality this squad has.

Sunderland fans raved about Danny Rose. They think he’s one of the best left back they’ve ever had.

For me it’s because his positioning and composure aren’t up to par. Too often he receives the ball facing home and passes straight back to the CB, or he drops in as a third centre back but then it just goes side to side as there is no-one in midfield to pick it up. How often do we see him pick the ball up in between the lines on the half turn ready to play a quick pass forward? Very rarely. Disappointing because he does it very occasionally and it works well (I remember Ings scored against Palace in the 3-1 after a quick JWP pass into Adams). And he has the technical ability to do it more but crucially I don’t think mentally he’s strong enough.

Sell, sell, sell. His defensive record at Saints speaks for itself - atrocious. And honestly we looked far more solid at the back with Bednarek and Salisu when he got sent off v Leicester and that was with 10 men!

Personally I’d have a look at Simy Nwankwo if we’re on a budget - £7m apparently and scored 20 in Serie A last season.

Had/has long Covid so hasn’t been able to play at all recently

Jesus Christ

Yeah exactly sort of deal we should be going for but inevitably won’t.

People don’t like the knee because it makes them uncomfortable. But that is the whole point. And it’s not going to be solved until there are uncomfortable discussions and conversations. Unfortunately it’s pie in the sky thinking of someone thinks that racism can be solved without something that’s highlights the issue - and taking the knee has been very successful at getting people to at least talk about the problem, though clearly people (as evidenced here) are still uncomfortable. I grew up in SE London from a pretty young age which was an incredibly uneasy place to grow up in during the early 90s. There were marches and demonstrations all the time and inevitably, as a result, violence too. Short term it was a mess but thank God it happened because we went from black kids being murdered for just walking down the wrong street to now a very multicultural area where people can interact rather peacefully. But there is still a long way to go even here, and that’s why these uncomfortable discussions still have to happen and will continue to happen as long as people feel uncomfortable about something like taking the knee.

Nobody leads Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter is the name of a movement and a network. You’re acting as if there is some sort of leader of a binary/formal group, when Black Lives Matter is network/movement of hundreds if not thousands of worldwide groups and organisations. Protesters adopted it as a symbol, but there is literally no-one who can unilaterally or formally declare this is a symbol of Black Lives Matter because there isn’t a leader, there isn’t a hierarchy and Black Lives Matter isn’t even trademarked.

I’m not really sure why people even think this so-called “organisation” Black Lives Matter solely invented taking the knee and its their symbol/gesture. Colon Kaepernick invented taking the knee - a gesture that had be used by Martin Luther King before. This is why he chose taking the knee: "After hours of careful consideration, and even a visit from Nate Boyer, a retired Green Beret and former NFL player, we came to the conclusion that we should kneel, rather than sit, ... during the anthem, as a peaceful protest," said Reid. "We chose to kneel because it's a respectful gesture. I remember thinking our posture was like a flag flown at half-mast to mark a tragedy." Not sure what the political baggage is here? Just because some people then used that symbol at Black Lives Matter protests doesn’t mean that this gesture belongs to Black Lives Matter - it isn’t even really an organisation, it’s a network - they never invented it, and can’t even own it as it isn’t even a trademarked gesture. It was just a symbol people copied from Colin Kaepernick whilst at protests. So why there is this idea that kneeling belongs to Black Lives Matter, I really don’t know? It was just something copied by a few protestors and had now been copied by footballers.

He’s 20 and just had a serious injury

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/marcus-rashford-tops-sunday-times-20651287.amp

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/marcus-rashford-tops-sunday-times-20651287.amp

They effectively act as a fundraising network, then distribute money to different local groups who actually do the on the ground organising. So as far as I understand there any demonstrations/on the ground action won’t be organised by Black Lives Matter/Black Liberation Movement but by the local groups who get funding from the money raised by BLM UK. So there isn’t a political group called BLM UK so to say but they use the influence of the name Black Lives Matter to act as a network/funding channel for local groups and whatever actions they may want to achieve.

Neither of you are wrong: Elliott Cooper confirmed to the Guardian that Black Liberation Movement UK was the group’s new official name, but said it would continue to organise under the name Black Lives Matter and in collaboration with the wider BLM movement. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/23/blm-uk-gains-legal-status-with-renaming-as-black-liberation-movement-uk

If anything, there isn’t actually a group that has trademarked itself as Black Lives Matter. As far as I understand it Black Lives Matter is the name of the movement which sets out the goals and acts as the network for the various local organisations around the world - but there isn’t an actual centralised group Black Lives Matter - everything is done by these local organisations working to the wider movement of Black Lives Matter. Either way, taking the knee was Colin Kaepernick’s idea that was just copied by the BLM protests.

I heard that Ralph’s playbook was actually just a copy of Das Kapital for each player.

This is spot on really. He’s no more than a fairly decent player with exceptional free-kicks which get the headlines rather than his numerous limitations. He’s decent player for the level we are at - we benefit greatly from his set-pieces and pressing but he’s also a large part of why we are so toothless, especially when we’re chasing a goal because he doesn’t move the ball fast enough and doesn’t get into positions to pick up the ball from defence and connect us to attack quickly. It won’t happen anyway cause he’s not worth £40m but he really wouldn’t suit Villa anyway - they need a midfielder who can get the ball to Grealish quickly and that really is JWP’s biggest weakness. Don’t think he’d be that popular there after a year.

Quite hysterical that apparently a fews blokes kneeling before a match is going to lead to the downfall of capitalism

Honestly I agree to an extent. Has definitely been a bright spark to the season but people calling for him to play every game and thinking the result would be different are deluded. He had the potential to be a brilliant player, and I hope he will be, but he has a lot to work on especially with his end product - and sometimes players just aren’t capable to improving that side of their game. Fingers crossed he can but it could go either way in my view.

This and then shifting two of them would be the ideal outcome. Where they get shifted to though is the difficult part.

A lot of interesting stuff here, thanks, though it does also remind me why stats only tell a small portion of the tale. Ward-Prowse is the prime example for me. A very good player when we’re on the front foot, pressing high and getting turnovers high up the pitch and those stats reflect that. My issue is that when the press starts to fade he doesn’t get into the right positions to pick up the ball between the lines and too often play goes backwards or sideways when he is on the ball - his role in our transition from defence to attack when we have lots of possession is too slow and predictable. Unfortunately the stats don’t pick up on that. I’d say the only reflection of this is that much of our opportunities come early in the game when our press is high compared to later on in games when we tend to struggle. For me it shows why he is an important player for us when things are going right, but I think he is part of the problem when they aren’t. I think the reason Ward-Prowse works better with Romeu is that he can press a bit further forward, while Romeu can clear up behind and in my eyes he’s the strongest midfielder at positioning himself to transition the ball from defence to attack which negates Ward-Prowses deficiencies here (maybe that’s why his passing accuracy is a bit lower because he is taking on riskier passes compared to JWP and Diallo). I would say the same applies to the centre-backs. Positioning in my view is the most important attribute, and and I think Vestergaard and Bednarek are pretty atrocious at it: which again obviously doesn’t get recorded in the stats book. What those stats really show is or lack of creatively in all areas. Would be interesting if it was possible to see what sort of positions/what sort of goals we scored from (e.g. set pieces or headers from crosses) as I think it would show the goals we scored are very similar to one another.

Will be a great signing for when we’re back in the championship in 2022