saintwbu

Imagine Adam Lallana dealing with Turkish football crowds

Thought he was good, reads the game well and normally tells other players where to put the ball when they look lost when it arrives. Won a fair bit in the middle, set pieces were disappointing tonight. Surely with Vest in the box we should be aiming everything at him but he seems to mark the goalkeeper instead.

Brilliant performance, 3 CB's all outstanding, that tackle from Yoshi at the end was majestic. JWP did really well up against Kante I thought, Romeu also good (albeit occasionally ponderous on the ball). Never had a problem with McCarthy, in fact a big fan, but Gunn looked very good tonight - always on the front foot and positionally brilliant.

Think it's safe to say Gabbi and Hoedt are off, but I assumed Cedric was too but now not so sure! Ralph's nuts isn't he, just picks whoever he fancies whenever he fancies!

I used to think that but it's boring now

Think it was KBilly or Monk who said Boufal is actually a nice lad, just clearly didn’t know what Mark Hughes was about and got on the wrong side of him. He definitely has the ability to change a game and definitely isn’t the lazy player some people label him as. Actually found him more likely to chase down the player who’d just tackled him than most of our other players! Certainly more work rate than Tadic. As for Sims I don’t understand why he gets so much stick on here? Most games he played for us he was good, and definitely would suit Ralph’s system. Reading are an absolute shambles, plenty of players have had bad loan spells and gone onto be good players.

Echo what everyone is saying, pace has been a huge problem since Mane left. Looking at how fast West Ham broke on us for their second goal, it feels like we haven’t scored a goal like that for an extremely long time. It’s why Shane Long still plays for us, he is one of very few that brings any pace to the table.

I wish we would jump up and get in player’s faces when we get a tackle. That tackle from Kompany was arguably a red but all our lot just get up as smile and shake hands. Every time we made a foul Aguero and Silva would usher the ref over to the incident like ****ing bodyguards. Austin got taken out by someone and got up laughing and patting the player who fouled him!!

Used to membership to 'Junior Saints' that put you in a draw for every game. Just read on Twitter that not only do you pay £700 to be West Ham mascot, but also have to provide your own kit!!!

It actually struck me against West Ham how we aren't as well off in CM as I thought we were. Hoj suspended leaves just Romeu and Lemina, and Lemina is struggling at the moment. If Wanyama was available I would absolutely love him back, he's perfect in a high press just an absolute battering ram. Between him, Rom and Hoj we might have an unsuspended pairing for every game of the season!

That game was flat and a real slog, so one manager made a tactical change at half time and changed the game, the other didn’t do anything. Guess which one won!

I also thought JWP had a good game, he reads the game well so seemed to be filling in at RB quite often when we were caught out. He's not got any outstanding attributes that are going to make his standout other than arguably set pieces, but for me he is never a weakness on the pitch. The criticism he gets on here often seems to be a 'told you he was crap' type thing whereas I still maintain we are quite often better when he plays.

Spot on. A much more competitive performance than against any of the big sides pre-Ralph. Two sloppy goals before half time killed us but we tried and we had a game plan. These aren’t the games that will keep us up or send us down, but it was good to see a few fringe players.

If only his passing and judgement matched his interviewing skills

Bet he’ll give a great interview after that. Absolute ****ing idiot. Completely unnecessary tackle against Huddersfield to miss West Ham. Game’s over and he makes a stupid tackle like that to miss 4 massive games, Captain my arse, give it to Romeu.

https://twitter.com/moshirisboys/status/1078576188958916608?s=21

Does anyone genuinely think that wouldn’t be given if it was Aguero going down in our box?

Much more packed in midfield to compensate for reverting to a back 4. Obviously going to be more conservative with a lot of firepower to bring off the bench if we’re still in the game at a late stage. Could go really wrong, but i’m quite excited for this, will be interesting to see Moi start too, clearly he’s in Ralph’s plans for the future after coming on the other night too.

A lineup so random that it’s exciting! COYR!!

Didn’t McQueen make his debut out of position at left back away at City? I’m sure the lad will handle it, it’s not like he’s been plucked out the Sunday league he’s been in our squad the last two games so clearly Ralph rates him. Good luck to him, it’s got me excited for a game I was a bit ambivalent about.

Hopefully VAR will eventually replace referees rather than assist them

Anyone see that video of Peter Walton (**** ref) in the BT studio the other day talking about Salah's dive against Newcastle? 'Would you have given it Peter?' 'At Anfield I would have' [cue roars of laughter throughout the studio]. Not even subtle anymore, pathetic.

Hasn't this Ramsey got quite a lot of goals and assists at the youth levels for a RB? Valery has looked knackered a couple of times recently so maybe Ralph feels this is the game to get him a rest when we are the big underdogs and get him fit for the big games coming up after. No one had heard of Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Palace before Hodgson gave him his debut and he's since been one of the top 3 RB's in the league, I bet a lot of Palace fans were sceptical about his initial inclusion too. As mentioned, we don't know how these lads will do once they play at this level, some will rise and some won't. But not getting in the team under Hughes/Pellegrino shouldn't mean they are instantly written off. Puel gave game time to youngsters, he's doing it at Leicester too, most of the time the youngsters he played for us did just fine.

I’d much rather our defenders focused on blocking the shots rather than pussying out, then maybe our keepers wouldn’t have to worry. McCarthy has been brilliant for us, I feel calm with him between the sticks, unbelievable that people want him replaced.

Good article with PEH in The Times this morning - just a throw away comment or does this really mean Kayne Ramsey will be starting at RWB vs City? link to article: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/pierre-emile-hojbjerg-interview-pep-guardiola-is-the-most-demanding-person-ive-met-qq237mzg8 “On Thursday evening, after Southampton’s defeat by West Ham, Hojbjerg, even though he was suspended, stayed beyond the end of the game and checked with Kayne Ramsay, a young unused substitute, whether he needed a lift home. Tomorrow, as captain, he will have to check that the 18-year-old full back can cope, on his debut, with the pressure of facing Kevin De Bruyne. We have had a couple of debuts this year and I always tell them you are here because you are good enough, the reason you get this chance is because you have the quality and don’t forget that now, or in a year. Kayne is a good guy and it will be an amazing opportunity, it will be his way into the world of men. From boy to a man in one night.”