Again? I thought we were aiming for at least mid-table. I think we will get close to that but we need to get this fragility sorted out by consistency in the defence. Let’s face it we’ve had 3+ managers who have yet to succeed in this, so RH has a chance to be the first to sort it out.
Yep. If he replaces Cedric with Valery, with the rest of the side remaining the same, no-one bats an eye-lid at losing. Even against 10 men. It's still Spurs away. If anything, Ralph would probably be getting sympathy for the fact that we'd have lost arguably our best player so far this season on the eve of KO, in addition to already being without Djenpo.
He didn’t choose to make it harder. In your opinion, his choices made winning harder; but that’s not the same thing, and it’s only your opinion anyway l. Ralph does make some baffling selections, granted. So did Alex Ferguson at Man Utd, often. I still have a lot of trust in the bloke, and I suspect the players do too.
Of course, it's my opinion. But here's a question: have any of the players he has used out of position had what you'd consider good games? We aren't talking about Victor Moses at Chelsea here...the players used out of position have consistently looked out of place, and it's not as if the results on the season speak to their efficacy.
No, you're correct we shouldn't be. But we had a huge opportunity today and yet again, imo the manager got it wrong. Seriously, if it carries on like this, with weird positional play etc, how long before you stop posting in blue?
I respect Ralph's judgement immensely and he has done a great job here since he has taken over. I do find it strange that Valery who was a fixture in the team, Slattery who was on the fringes and Vokins who was touted as the next big thing at LB have barely got a look in this season. Ralph's attitude towards the Academy seems to be more akin to Ronald's now rather the positive noises he was making about it at the end of last season.
Cedric pulled out before the players had even warmed up and Ralph doesn't even know why. What on earth? https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/17934237.ralph-hasenhuttl-dont-know-cedric-couldnt-play/
Mate, there's a difference in people understanding they have better players and people complaining about, yet a ****ing gain, we play players out of position. That last item seems to be the main issue with people like me. It's not bed wetting or over the top, and whilst I still trust Ralf, that is starting to wear thin. Not cos we lost, although it turns out that was potentially a winnable game, but cos he keeps playing players out of position. He also made subs far too late, but I get why he left it, as we could have scored prior to the subs.
He was unhappy that Ralph was playing everyone in position so left in the hope someone would be shoehorned into RB.
The explanation just makes it weirder. Yes, I can see wanting to have wingbacks to pressure the opposition defense given their formation's lack of width. Wouldn't that make it even more beneficial to start a lightning-fast actual wingback rather than a central midfielder masquerading as a wingback?
Considering they were up against Son, an in form Kane, Eriksonn, with Lamela on the bench, I don’t actually think our defence looked that bad today. I think we conceded two excellent goals against a very good side. We looked, as we so often have, a bit laboured in midfield, that’s where the real gulf in quality showed - and Spurs reacted so much faster to changes in possession than we did, because they have better players all over the pitch.
To be fair to Ralph, bringing in Vestergaard for Cedric (rather than Valery) is significantly more logical in my book than playing Cedric at LB rather than Bertrand. But then cutting your own hand off is more logical than cutting your own head off. It doesn't mean I'm advocating hand chopping off any time soon.
As I said, he may have made some mistakes and I haven’t questioned people saying that anywhere. The bit I question (and take the piss out of) and always will is the dive into pending doom that always happens. Not everyone, but quite a few.
Short memory. Fans wanted Koeman our throughout November, December and early January, because, shock horror, we lost some games and played badly in some. I’ll change your message to agree with it... I miss the squads of Koeman and Pochettino.
Fair enough. I find the Vestergaard in for Cedric odd, but he’ll have his reasons. It sounds like we had a decent chance today and we don’t know how it would have gone if he’d played Valley or Cedric had stayed fit.
