saintwbu

Sulemana came after Ralph had gone. Ralph got Edozie and Mara as attacking options that summer if I remember rightly. SR have picked up some great talent since their arrival, but they’ve got a complete blind spot when it comes to forwards it seems - Mara, Edozie, Sulemana, Tall Paul, Brereton-Diaz, Ross Stewart, Cameron Archer all making little to no impact since their arrival. Also to add Alcaraz was replaced by Fernandes really, which I think most would agree is a substantial upgrade.

Rohl was only in charge for the 4-0. Given we sent Shea Charles to him on loan i’d imagine it suggests we like him/the way he sets his teams up as seems Charles had more than one option.

Some theories that he was the one who cocked up for the Leicester winner, as hasn’t made a squad since until tonight - guess he lost a lot of trust if true, was poor against Bournemouth also so not sure he’s the messiah people on here portray him as.

I personally would be a massive fan of chucking a 21 year old defender with no games for 6 months, in for his debut in a game we’re most likely to get slaughtered. A huge confidence boost opportunity missed ffs.

Big Les has been a huge disappointment - no formation in the world will make up for such a lack of physical presence for a big lad, or playing the game at a pace about three times slower than everybody else. Was really hoping we’d found a great partner/cover for Downes, but the search goes on.

I’m amazed he made a PL appearance, I was sure he’d be let go in the summer back to a Championship team, especially after being bombed from the first few squads. But your suggestion that he plays because he’s Russ’ mate is utter, utter bollocks.

What excuse did he need? He could’ve started the first game and it would’ve been fair as he’d been our LB most of last season. We’ve been decent in every game since he came back into the team, so why would he drop him?

Manning who got binned from the squad entirely until 4 games ago, not even making appearances in the cup? yeah he’s completely undroppable!

We’ve taken the lead first in every game he’s started apart from City away 👍

There’s also been some complete re-writing of history suggesting our goal against Everton was some abandonment of ‘russball’ and it was a rapid counter attack. Fernandes stopped and played the ball backwards, accompanied by a collective groan that you can hear on the highlights, got it back and waited for all Everton players to get behind the ball and then played it back to THB again. THB then plays the ball forward to Sugawara to put the ball into the box and we score.

I’ll be absolutely shocked if he doesn’t get the boot if we beat them. Despite people on here convincing themselves they’re only below us because of an impossibly difficult run of games (they shipped 5 against Brentford and 6 against Chelsea…), they haven’t won a game since beating Luton in April.

For all the talk about messing about with it at the back costing us goals, have we conceded one of those since Brentford in game 3? I can’t remember one… Most of our goals conceded are down to poor defending from set pieces, which isn’t a result of the style of play from what I can see…

So what you’re saying is that there are 3 other mid sized teams (i’d say 4 as you forgot Brighton) who are successfully playing a possession based game in the Premier League? That seems at odds with all these esteemed pundits like Tony Cascarino, Jamie O’Hara all categorically deciding that possession based football isn’t for minnows like us, because Burnley were shit last year.

Two of the ones I can recall THB doing well with from corners were delivered by Manning - against Everton and hitting the bar vs Leicester. Think Fernandes took the Stoke one? That of course was also good.

Some of them will be doing so with an informed view, i’d be pretty confident that Tony Cascarino won’t have watched us play a single 90 minutes this season that wasn’t on Sky (United and Bournemouth). Most decided from watching Burnley last year that no team will ever be able to play a possession based game without getting relegated - ignoring that there have been several mid table teams doing so in recent years.

Does Martin demand our players regularly blast crosses into the first defender or float it into the keeper’s arms? A game that sticks in the mind was Brentford at home under Selles - I reckon we could still be there now and we wouldn’t have put in a remotely decent cross. We’ve not added a good crosser of the ball since really. Ironically the only two players i’ve seen put in a good cross on a half regular basis is probably Manning and Fraser, who get absolutely slaughtered on here. Our crossing of the ball is utterly woeful.

Was just wondering what Tony Cascarino thought actually. Anyone got a report of the game from Tim Sherwood, Garth Crooks or Clinton Morrison?

Personally there isn’t a world where i’d be putting Sulemana on the pitch ahead of him, I wonder if Leicester had been different if we’d put Arma on instead.

The Northam was better on Saturday, having been a bit underwhelming so far imo. However, shoving the away fans in the corner has definitely quietened them I think. I’m closer to them now but I forget they’re there for a lot of the game.

I’d say since the Bournemouth disaster he’s pretty much settled on his best 11, with a couple of tweaks depending on fitness/availability. Taking out Bournemouth, we’ve actually played pretty well from Ipswich onwards, but people ignore it because the results don’t reflect it - yesterday the result arrives and now it’s all about the performance instead 🤷‍♂️

In the summer, in dire need of an attacking boost, we signed a striker who last night managed to muster up 6 (SIX) touches of the ball in over an hour against a lower end Championship team. Yet people think a change of manager will solve our problems…

If Jamie O’Hara told me it was hot outside i’d wear my coat. He knows absolutely fuck all, and i’d be amazed if he’s watched a single game of ours this season. He said on the same show ‘what’s happened to the academy’ whilst naming about 4 players we’ve produced over a range of 40 years (MLT, Walcott, Bale, Lallana) whilst clearly not realising we currently have an 18 year old starting every game for us at the moment.

Arma who scored nearly 30 games in the Championship, and Archer who scored a hatful when he had a season in there too? Seems pretty potent to me.

Peter Walton v Leeds Kevin Friend v Liverpool Anthony Taylor v Leicester The hall of shame..

He’s just had his red card overturned, so minus 3 is your answer.