Neef

Interesting to see what happens here with Fraser, and what the club have told him about his role. Seen a few people say he has come for depth, but I doubt he's dropped down a league to be a bench player. Tella / Sulemana were always likely to be off. This seems to indicate that.

Last year was a recipe for disaster for any young player trying to develop. Played under 3 managers with 3 contrasting styles - all of which weren't that effective. For Baz he had a continually changing, largely inexperienced backine infront of him. The one thing that stood out to me was the quality of chances we would conceded. I always remember Brentford away where the goals were conceded largely unchallenged, and deep into the penalty area. Horrific for any GK's confidence, yet alone a 19 year old. That being said, he of course made quite a few mistakes and really struggled for form from Jones onwards. The thing is, the mistakes are to be expected of young players. It's part of the gamble. It just so happened that because of our position, every mistake carried huge stakes. All in all, he didn't play well for large stretches - but the environment he stepped into was not at all conducive for a young GK. There have been signs of improvements this season (he seems a bit more confident etc), but also signs of the same brittle defence in front of him. We seem to concede a lot of chances, and a core of Bednarek / Stephens doesn't fill me with optimism. Hopefully a CB arriving and more time for RM to implement his style will ease some of those issues.

Feels like the Che situation has left us in limbo. Hard to see us buying another striker when there isn't clarity on Adams leaving / if Everton can afford to pay.

McCarthy not left a chance for those 3 goals. Horribly exposed as Baz has been all season. We seem to consistently concede so many unchallenged goals from deep in the penalty area.

I think they'd conceded relegation after the Jones appointment. Squad confidence was on the floor, form was terrible and the squad quality is poor too. Think they felt that committing to another proper manager, who they may then have to pay compensation to again at the end of the season (when we were already likely to go down) might do even more financial harm in the long run. Of course, we as fans would want to maintain hope about what was possible at that stage. But I do think business have those really cold conversations at a senior level.

Wolves at home and Brentford away. The worse I've seen us.

In all seriousness, it seems the investment at youth level has been good. A number of talented players in that B Team / u18 squad now.

1. Lack of investment in the frontline - This is the key one for me. We're starting games with AA, Ely, Walcott. It's genuinely a Championship front line. It's not suprise we rarely threaten or create anything. We needed two strikers/attackers of real quality when Broja left, yet somehow we ended up in a weaker position. The amount of games we've lost 1-0 or failed to create anything is no surprise when you consider it. If Gakpo or Ramos got over the line in the summer, you'd think we'd be in a different position. Instead we had to panic buy in Jan. The results have been disastorous. Tall Paul clearly not up to the level needed, and who knows what happened with Orisic. 2. Nathan Jones Appointment The whole thing was bizarre. We'd bought plenty of young players who were technically proficient and comfortable on the ball (Lavia, Bazunu, DCC, Mara). Then we went for a mananger who is tactically the complete opposite. Bringing in an untested Championship manager into a relegation fight was a poor, poor decision. Teams around us hired high quality, European level managers (Wolves, Villa) and we didn't. The PL is so different from the Championship. You're facing tactically astute / class managers nearly every week, it's a massive step up. If Jones ever was going to be the answer, he would've have needed a preseason and a transfer window to really shape the squad. I was a Ralph fan, but can accept him leaving. But I never imagined us letting him go and replacing him with a signifcantly inferior manager. The drop off in performance was stark.

Baz has struggled this season. But also, that goal is yet again another example of us giving up 'free' chances in the box. A free header/chance inside the penalty area has happend on numerous occasions this season. It's alarming when you look at the goals we concede, and the lack of pressure on the ball/player during that final action.

Bazunu has struggled for sure. But it feels like we do concede alot of shots/chances from deep into the penalty area/just outside the 6 yard box. It feels like with alot of goals our defenders really don't give him a chance. (Brentford away springs to mind). It feels like we're quite easy to create cear cut chances again. When our defence has been at its best/most resilient (United at home springs to mind) he seems like he's able to set up (at times). At the end of it, we should never have had an inexperienced GK with an inexperienced defence. It hsa to one or the other.

Moi plays - especially in these games - because he's one of our only attackers who has the ability to receive the ball in tight spaces without losing it. He's a frustrating player, especially with his final ball. But having somebody comfortable and calm enough to receive and recycle the ball in the middle/final 3rd in a game where you know possession is going to be scarce is vital.

Were we actually ever in the running for Pope? Feels like Newcastle would have always been the 1st choice over us. Re. Bazunu. He has struggled at times. He clearly has potential too. I think the big flaw was having him step in 1st choice in a struggling defence. Young players need support and experience to settle in. But it feels like we've thrust him into a burning building. The same thing happened with Gunn.

The criticism is justified. I liked Ralph but the relationship had reached its end. With a new manager you want to see an improvement in results and performance. We havent had either. We've actually got worse. There would have been grace if the fixture list had been unkind to him (and there was grace for the Liverpool game). But the reality is we've played Brighton (H), Fulham (A) & Forest (H) and have 0 points to show for it. In addition to that, the results reflect the performance, we didn't deserve to win any of those games. If you sack a manager you want to see an improvement in whoever replaces him. I don't think that's too much to ask.

The one thing I don't understand about the appointment is this: In the summer we brought in a bunch of players whose main qualities were their ability in possession. A big plus for signing Bazunu was his composure with his feet and his ability to break lines with passess. Lavia is another, as is DCC. Jones has as style of play at complete odds with this. He needs a Target Man upfront, and his tactics seem to negate the strengths we shopped for in the summer. It's the same reason a Dyche wouldn't be right for this squad. The team and the manager seem to have completely different profiles.

Issue isn't just our strikers, it's our all round attacking line up. If you have a lack of quality in strikers, then hopefully you can make up for it with the supporting attackers / wngers / #10s etc (like maybe Brighton do) If you have a lack of quality in supporting attackers, then hopefully you can make it up with a quality striker (like we did with Ings, and to an extent, Broja) Problem is we have a real lack of quality in both areas (potentially Aribo is the exception for the supporting attackers). And that's not to say Ralph should stay because of it. But it's a critical issue that needs to be addressed - even if a new manager comes in. We seemingly tried with Gakpo - it feels like missing out on him/someone else is hurting us.

True, but we never made it past the qualifiers under Koeam. So it's not exactly the same.

Puel situation was nuanced. We had to adapt to the added burden of European football for the first time, so I give him some grace there. He also lost VVD & then Fonte halfway into the season, which hamstrung him in a way (I think it ultimately cost us the final at Wembley). Still think he had a stronger squad than Ralph though - Tadic, Hojbjerg VVD & Fonte for the 1st half of the season, younger versions of Bertrand & Romeu too. But the 8th placed finish clouds judgement. We finished on 46 points that year. For context, in his full seasons Ralph has finished on 52, 43 & 40. The difference is marginal, and he's had to contend with extremely limited funds & a weaker squad (until now). So I don't think Puel did a better job, and tbh think we may have actually been relegated if he was managing this side over the past 3 years.

Wolves have a multi-billionaire owner who has pumped hundreds of millions into the club since taking over in 2016 or so. Completely different ball park to us. Think they've stated that their aim is to ultimately become a CL club, and they've had the means to push towards that.

Yeah, the squad is bloated. Re the CB's, I think the most damning statement is that if this takeover had come a year ago, we wouldn't have signed Lyanco, and Stephens wouldn't have signed a contract extension.

We still need an established CB, badly so. I'm happy with the ABK signing, but that needed to be an addition to a solid CB. Ralph clearly doesn't trust him to start, which is fine as he's young. But then we are still in the same position as last year - and have started the season with a back 3 of Salisu, Bednarek & Valery. We are playing 3 at the back to protect a weak core - but an established CB alongside Salisu would have solved that surely. You compare it to CM, where Lavia is coming into the team with relatively little pressure because we already have two good & experienced players in JWP / Romeu in his position. Essentially, we aren't pinning our hopes on him having a great season as there are other players in his position who can step up.

I'm not mad at the line up tbh. We need the whole squad fit for the new season, not just the starting XI. I imagine that there'll be plenty of rotation throughout the game.

Part of thinks the formation switch is becuase of the tough start we have. Set up quite solidly and try to grind out a few draws against the Top 6 clubs we face early doors.

Why would Winks want to leave from being a bench player at Spurs to being a bench player at Saints?

I don't fully understand where this idea of KWP being disgruntled at playing LB has come from? Didn't he say at one point that he actually liked it? Also imagine he ahs a better chance of getting into the England squad if he shows that he's an option on the left, as well as the right.

Part of me thinks they are investing heavily this year, and then starting to sell next year when the squad beds in and some of the young players have become lucrative assets. You'd imagine one of JWP/KWP are gone next year. Maybe Tino the year after, and if the signings progress as hoped, then we'd be selling the new boys at some stage too - hopefully for good money. Reinvest that in young players, and the process starts again. Outside of fringe players who can go, the only big assest we have is JWP. And it feels as if the team couldn't cope with his absence this year.