Joe Ralls

I honestly think Ralls has been one of our better players so far and I believe he has stepped up to the premier league well and all the flak he’s getting off our fans baffles me.
He’s playing a role that he’s not used to, having to play deeper and more defensive. He does so much work on and off the ball that doesn’t get noticed or appreciated and the same was true for last season.
I think the red on Saturday was a bit harsh as I don’t think it was a dangerous tackle and it didn’t stop a clear goal scoring opportunity but it is his second bad challenge (the gundogan one was worse)
One of the things I like about Ralls is because he is playing a defensive position if one of the defenders charge forward to supplement the attack he will stay back to cover where that defender was. He’s also very composed on the ball in his first premier league season and I think he’s more than good enough to stay in this league.
I’ve seen posts on here and twitter calling for him to be dropped and it baffles me.
Gunnarson has his chance now to keep Ralls out of the team but the way he played at the tail end of last season when he came back from injury (and somehow kept Grujic our of the team) was terrible.
So I still think Ralls, Arter and Camarasa is our best midfield trio.

Ralls is a top end Champ player but nowhere near good enough for Prem, he’s slow, easily sussed out, lethargic and his tackle on Saturday was an absolute disgrace, he’d have got his head booted in he did that on a park game on a Saturday, he delib nailed the Spurs player, simply no need for it, tarnishes the beautiful game and gives media more inclination to bad mouth us. I like the lad but he needs to step up or step aside.