Because it is an indicator of what type of manager he is. You can’t just ignore the bits you don’t like. Pretend it never happened.
They don’t. Oriol is 30 years old, and wanted, asked indeed, to go home to Spain. The club honoured that. Stop trying to manufacture something that doesn’t exist.
Not only was our starting XI packed from players from last season, but some of them weren't even getting into the starting XI last season! That line-up was regression, not progression.
Anyway. Whilst I am in this surprising good mood after a loss, I am going to bid you good night. For real. Unlike Lincoln who said he was going but we just knew he wouldn’t and was desperate to come back to rant about Ralph.
That was a ****ing disgusting, disgraceful abject performance How Djenepo & Elyounoussi both lasted as long as they did is a ****ing mystery, and starting them both at PL level should be a sackable offence.
Djenepo has been good on the left side this season, he was played out of position today id give him a break. Elyounoussi though has been a non entity since our form tanked last season, Stu Armstrong vastly superior on the right and unsure how hes not ahead (or Aribo if we are playing a 10).
I'm willing to put that one down to one of those games, where both teams deserved to be docked three points each for being so bad. I mean, nobody could pass the ball more than five yards. It reminds me of one of the Boxing Day games we had against Norwich. Those games do happen. But...but...but...I don't want to see it again, or I'll get seriously concerned. And I really don't want to see that starting line-up again. As has been noted, it's odd to see us relying so, so heavily on the presence of an 18 year old, but there we are. Much as people were bemoaning the lack of experience in our squad, it was our (more) experienced players that were the worst tonight. Ralph definitely over-thinks things sometimes, and tries to be a bit too clever. I think the five subs and the starting/finishing eleven thing needs to take a back seat for a while, and just go back to playing your best team, trying to get the opposition on the back foot from the off (particularly when they're as bad as Villa) and then letting the rest sort itself out as it happens.
My big issue with Ralph is that he has changed his style, the one that he has forged his reputation on and has become a much more negative coach as a result. I liked the fact that we would get in teams faces from the whistle and even if we were drawing or losing we knew that we would keep going until the end. We used to lose a few going for the extra points but we would also win the extra 2 points as well. I've been waiting for us to get back to that gung-ho exciting football but it appears to be long gone despite a good result against Chelsea.
This season so far: Spurs (a) 1-4. Not unexpected. Also ABK didn't play in this one - didn't know how good he was Leeds (h) 2-2. Good fightback from 2-0 down. Decent point and Ralph's subs made a big impact Leicester (a) 2-1. Excellent win after going behind. Ralph's subs changed the game again. Man United (h) 0-1 Desperately unlucky to lose. Really good performance. Chelsea (h) 2-1. Super performance, super win after going a goal down Wolves (a) 0-1 Unlucky not to get a point - Che failing to score with a legal body part from a yard out. Tough ground to go to, decent performance Villa (a) 0-1 - ****ing awful. If you look at this season game by game, only tonight and maybe the Spurs game did we look poor. Leeds made us look poor for a period of the game due to them playing well but we responded well. Up until tonight, this season has been absolutely fine. These games are far more relevant than any game last season. And I include the good games in that (Spurs away for example).
No shots on target. No chance, no idea, and an Oxford comma, no sense, or even nonsense, that we might get back in the worst live game on tv this season. No wonder we are last on motd. At least Trevor Hebberd got a medal playing for Oxford,,,,,,, .
