Ralph's demeanour at the press conference was very downbeat and he seems almost in despair of how to engineer a recovery from our current plight. It was almost like he was pleading with the hacks for ideas on what to do next. If he really has run out of ideas and hope then for sure we are in trouble. I don't recall in recent times a head coach so seemingly at loss to understand what has to be done to fix things.
Maybe he feels that they can't be fixed because the players at his disposal either do not have the guts for a fight or just haven't got it in them to concentrate for 90 minutes and leave everything on the pitch. Elite athletes that can use all their body's resources to maximum advantage and effect are not like most of us who don't have a clue about their body's potential or how to control it and extract the last ounce of brain and muscle power.
In most cases footballers are not elite athletes; yes, a few will be but most are just talented and not very bright kids and what they are being asked to do is probably beyond their understanding. It's one thing for a coach to demand this level of effort and concentration form their players but quite another for those players to understand and know how to do that.