Most teams have injured players, and every team has tired players. What disappoints me tonight is that there was no sign of desire, or fight. You can blame injuries etc but 1 point from 27 is relegation form. If Fulham pull of a surprise win in their next 3 and we lose to Sheffield Utd, Man City and Brighton, then yes we should be worried about relegation as we will truly be in a relegation battle then.
Is it guaranteed we'll lose the semi then. Sorry I forgot football was played on paper, Leicester Everton & Chelsea are all beatable, especially as we'll have players back by then. Want that bet yet? You ran off when I suggested it last week.
Okay, I will make a bit of an effort. Take a look at the predictions thread. EVERYONE (bar me and Tom, and that was probably blind faith) thought we would lose tonight by 2,3,4 goals. We didn't, so there's no point everyone getting surprised and upset by the result. It's actually better than expected. We're being crippled by exhausted players and injuries at the moment. I have always thought Redmond gets too hard a time from people on here, but to be honest he was bloody awful tonight and needs a drop to the bench for Tella. On the flipside, it's pretty easy to see why Ralph gave him a run up top, because Che isn't at the races at the moment either. And neither is Danny tbh. That's what being exhausted will do to you, and having a ridiculously inexperienced and small squad so that you can't effectively rest people. Thank the lords that Diallo and KWP are back soon - both of them (and Stu) have an innate forward momentum to them, and it'll make the world of difference. The Beddy at RB experiment just doesn't work, and if I do have a criticism of Ralph, it's that he will stick to things that aren't working rather too stubbornly (but then who doesn't do that if they think it'll come good). Confident that things will turn around soon. Beddy and Vesty should be our CB partnership. I really like Salisu, but we need to have a steady bit of experience at the back now. I'd keep Fraser in for the next few games too, for what it's worth.
Other that the fact that those very same players/coaching staff/manager gave us a run over a calendar year that was the fourth best in the league. So yes. There's absolutely plenty of evidence.
Well there is. The 2020 results. But why let that get in the way if your pessimistic outlook on life. Look below. 5% chance of rain. Will you need an umbrella or not if you go out?
I actually felt we were, relatively speaking, better for those insufficient minutes after Redmond was taken off, how on earth can we hope to create goals when a key player like him goes missing for long periods and mostly gives the ball back to the opposition once he does manage to get hold of it. The initial defence set up advertised our weakness once again, I thought it looked better once Bedders was back where he should be. The next few games will probably be similar in all aspects until we get the quality we actually have back on the pitch. It's tough to take but still reckon we can just keep out of real trouble.
Hmm. There's the first half of the season to suggest it. Just saying. What goes on in the team that we play so badly in the first 85 minutes and suddenly tjhink we might be able to score if we start shooting at their goal with 5 minutes left? I have no answer. The pace and penetration was there yet was failed to bring it to the game. Is it down to individuals? Fraser brought a decent defensive performance in with him. We've been ****e going forward since Redmond took over from Walcott. We did get infinitely better when he was gone.
Side for Sheff Utd then: ——————-—-Forster————————- -Ramsey-Bednarek-Vestergaard-Bertrand- —————Diallo (pls)—Prowse————- -Armstrong————————-—-Tella——- ——————Ings—Training Cone———- Try an RB in RB, Bednarek just looks so uncomfortable there. Salisu is only edged out for CB by virtue of Bednarek and Vestergaard having previously been a strong CB partnership before the injuryocalypse. If Redmond was a horse his feet would be a gluey consistency by now. I would actually give NLundulu a start now, however my enthusiastic forward selection is based on previous feedback to my suggestion that he couldn’t be any worse than Adams at this moment in time.
I love Ralph but he just spoke a load of ****e in that interview "Our 2nd half performance was one of our best this season" was it f*ck!!
We were too casual tonight, seemed to be playing knowing we had another game on Thursday, and it nearly cost us at the death. You’re on a **** run, but there’s no chance you’ll go down.
The only reason Ralph isn't in danger of being sacked is... Nope, can't think of any. Surely all teams are tired, why are we more tired? I guess the tiny squad is perhaps the answer, but still