MAY-Z

This is the one thing I will never ever criticise Ralph’s ability to do, that is make people believe our players would be lucky to get a game in the Outer Mongolian 73rd division. He is an expert at that. if you look at almost every player in the squad (probably KWP & JWP aside) they have all looked far far better when they start with us than they are now. Salisu has gone from the looking like the most promising defender in the league to a liability Bednarek goes ok for Poland, was ok early for Ralph and now no good. Diallo, people were calling on him to replace JWP after his suspension last season, now he offers nothing all the forwards looked ok and provided goals and assists early for Ralph and then stopped (Djenepo, Walcott, AArmstrong, Broja, Ely (once back from Celtic, Tella had a good season before last) you can’t have all these player regressing purely coincidentally

Based on things I had read about Charlie I wasn’t sure about talking to him, but at Townsville airport after their game against Aston Villa he couldn’t have been friendlier and spoke complementary about the club and his time before it ended.

This reminds me of Joe Root and the end of his captaincy, all the experienced players were being dropped out of the side so no one questioned his poor captaincy, and when people called for him to give up the captaincy everyone said there are no other options. everyone on here says there are no other options for Ralph and it’s all crap players fault. Now look at how the test team are going with a new set up

That might be a reason for not starting Che (although the fact every single person on here before the game said it wouldn’t work with Armstrong like it was, he would be isolated with no service and that’s exactly what happened, so if we can all see it, how can he not) what is the excuse for not bringing him on at half time instead of Stu?

How did he outperform out other strikers? less goals than Che, less assists the Che and A.Armstrong less goal contributions per minute than Adam Armstrong who is apparently the worst player to ever play for us

This is the bit that makes me think there is something in it, he hasn’t had many minutes in pre season and he is the best option we have as a lone striker. clearly this is a chance of happening, personally I wouldn’t be getting rid of him but Ralph has funny ideas sometimes

For me the interesting thing is; compare Ralph’s comments re Mara after a poorish half with Pep‘s comments re Haaland after a very poor full game. I know which manager is displaying more faith in their player publicly

Exactly 7 goals (8 really if you include the Man U “goal”) + 3 assists last season vs Broja 6 goals + 0 assists

Yep Charlie is at Brisbane roar now, was speaking to him at Townsville airport yesterday

Yeah it’s in Strachan’s book, Lowe apparently offered him 5k a week when he should’ve been offered around 15k and Lowe didn’t like his attitude towards that

Yeah I like this set up with the squad we have

Could we end up buying him for rb, and playing kwp further forward? Might be a more affordable way to change up our attacking mix?

Don’t hate that

5 for me if you asked me after his first month or so it would’ve been 9 but far too many games where the opposition manger changes tactics and it tears us to shreds far too many games where the starting line up looks weird and the game plays out accordingly far too many games where the substitutions are left too late far too many games where the substitutions make no sense far too many players (especially in the forward half look good and get worse every week Far to often tries to shoehorn players into his system rather than play a system that suits the players he has

Mightn’t be an over exaggeration to say that may be the most influential matches a single person has had in the clubs history. That win was so important to automatic promotion so who knows if we would’ve ever made it back up without it

Quite a few similarities with us I think a manager who had been there a while, had a slide in the previous season and was unable to arrest that slide going into 2021/22, they were top 10 2019/20, then dropped to 17 with 39 points in 2020/21, but as he was respected there by so many he was kept on longer than he should’ve been

Yep that stood out to me too just like Bertrand when he left last year

I know it said in jest but this mightn’t be the worlds stupidest idea, clearly he has some ability but clearly he also has massive limitations. the main role of a manager is to get the best out of the playing group, this doesn’t happen enough right so something radical like this may be a solution of sorts

Have a look at his history. He is a winner cue people to say he hasn’t done it in a big league, but you can only do what you do where you are, I don’t care where he has done it, I care about the way he has done it and where he is going, every job he has taken has been a step up and every time he has been a success

I find it hilarious that whilst he playing vestergard was considered no good and a reason Ralph couldn’t get the most from the squad, now it seems because we sold him it’s a reason Ralph can’t be faulted

Dont forget earlier this season lots of people were suggesting we should start him above JWP, another player who has fallen away this is why I don’t buy the narrative from the Ralph defenders that this is the worst squad ever, and we should be lucky to get any wins at all. so many players have shown so much more than what we get out of them now

Just look at all the attackers djenepo was really exciting when he arrived, now useless walcott pretty decent when he arrived, now nothing Adam Armstrong a couple of goals and a few assists early, now nothing tella was showing promise, now hardly anything ely looked good when getting back from Celtic, going backwards now redmond gone from serviceable to nothing broja looking 30m+ when he first got into the team, now looking a shadow there has to be something about the coaching that is stifling all these attackers, even S Armstrong is well down on previous seasons

If we need something from the final day I would think about a change before that match, plenty of examples of a change bringing a result

You realise there are more than 1 game in a season don’t you?

It only takes a few less points from Ralph and we are gone, so you can play that both ways. anyone who has seen any game this year, or really any game under Ralph, knows Ralph doesn’t make the most of the resources by picking some poor sides and being useless at substitutions