I share your concerns on Ings, just worried we’ll end up with a lower than needed appearance record for the money, and not too many goals either. But he wants to play for us, that much is clear and the back room team might just help with the regular injury record too. Just about secures my vote overall.
I think it might be prudent to reflect on things. We were totally outclassed by an excellent West Ham team back at St Marys and I don't feel they were ever going to be the walkover predicted on this thread. Some of the comments have been a bit disrespectful of a decent West Ham side. Picking the side that was selected today effected only confirmed the inedible. Today's result does temper things for me a bit over this season. There have been obvious improvements since Hughes' departure but I think a lot of the problems inherent with his team have not be resolved by Ralph. It is pretty obvious that the fringe players are not up to the required standard and I am a bit surprised that they were given another run out today when Ralph would have realised that back in January. Unfortunately some of the regulars were disappointing today too and it is not entirely the thought of the likes of Elynoussi that the result turned out as it did. Everyone was at fault for what was demonstrable a bad day at the office for the whole team. I still feel that although we have survived in what has been a poor quality bottom 1/3rd of the table, the task ahead of Ralph is not insignificant. I feel that he has only just started and the real work will now begin in the summer. The board is going to need to get behind Ralph bit time in the transfer window. Merrington was pretty damning about some of the squad and the commentary on Solent seemed to lose interest in the match at one point as the likely number of players to moved out was discussed. I think they came to a total of about 14 players! On the face of it, this might appear exaggerated but I don't think Adam Blackmore's assessment was wide of the mark. The core of the team is pretty decent yet we are lacking in two crucial areas , namely centre of defence and up front. The Solent commentary team was also sceptical that the full backs would remain unchanged in August. I don't believe that the interview in the Echo with Ralph suggesting limited changes is realistic and am convinced that the departures from St Marys will be substantial. However, someone is going to have to back Ralph to the hilt as I cannot see anyone coming in to buy the dross we have accumulated. You would imagine the foreign players going to less demanding European leagues whereas I think that we will be lucky to off load some of the British players to Championship teams. Stephens, for one, looks like Division One fodder. Elsewhere, our recruitment and scouting will need a thorough review to understand why we have frittered so much away on dross. This should not be limited to the last few seasons and goes back to the recruitment of other non-entities such as Juanmi. (Remember him?) We have added to the squad each summer yet since the departure of Koeman and only the addition of PEH and Redmond look like enhancements to the squad. Too much mediocre talent has been recruited since the arrival of Puel and I just feel that if Ralph's vision is to be realised, we are talking about rebuilding the team around 7 or 8 players who can be relied upon. I would also take a long hard look at the academy to understand why it has failed to generate anyone who is more than a bit part player. Of the recent "arrivals," only Obafemi and Valery look capable of stepping up to the level. The academy only seems to be serving Championship clubs at the moment. I think the academy needs a thorough review.
We are in good hands (manager) and Its all about next season. I think the board know they have a decent man who is realistic, so hopefully they will back as much as possible. Let's hope for a satisfying summer.
Certainly the board need to back Ralph this summer or he will be snapped up very quickly. There is a lot of work to be done.
This is utter nonsense, if you do know “just a little about football.” Moreover, I’m American. I watch MLS all the time. I would have to say that regretfully qualifies me as an expert at spotting League One mediocrity. Elyounoussi is way above League One. For that matter so was DeRidder. So was our entire promoted Championship squad most of whom looked way worse than Elyounoussi today and were terrible PL players. But I mean, big deal. They’d better be much better than League One. League One is a stupidly low bar for a PL player. I would never consider “Better than League One” any sort of endorsement for a PL. It would not even be worth arguing about except to point out how crazy people are being that they actually think Elyounoussi is that bad given that he was perfectly boringly adequate today. Much less comparing him to Ali Dia who was not even football league quality. Elyounoussi is quite obviously fast. I mean he’s not Sane (either one) fast, but he’s fast. He has to be, though. I would say his speed as a winger appears to be about average. Faster than Tadic, not as fast as Redmond or Sims. He’s also decently physically strong for his size and the position. He also has decent ball control skills and is hard to dispossess. He is not at all a bad passer, just not a particularly creative one. He appears to have an okay shot. I can think of two times where he took a decent strike from distance and was denied by a pretty good save. Those are his positives. They’re not hard to see. They’re the minimum we should expect from a winger, but nonetheless they are there so he’s nowhere near as incompetent as people make out. The major negative is he shows no signs of creativity or willingness to take on defenders at all. Which makes him kind of useless as a winger. This is the opposite problem as Boufal who was entirely too willing to dribble into walls repeatedly. The question for me is can this be fixed? I don’t know. But to me he certainly has the tools to be a better player, the question is how good and whether he will ever tap into that potential. As for Boufal, I used to defend him too. But the thing with Boufal is, he had several chances under different managers (albeit bad ones) and never did much. And then he forced his own way out of the team by being a dickhead. And got a new start at Celta Vigo where his performance has been typically inconsistent and I do not think they will buy him. Why do you not trust the manager? If Hasenhuttl felt that Elyounoussi was not even League One standard, he would not have gotten a runout today, or under any other circumstance. Hasenhuttl is not shy about getting rid of players. He sent Cedric and Hoedt away and they were first-teasers. The reason why Stephens and Elyounoussi are with the team and not on loan is because Hasenhuttl sees something in them. We can also surmise from Hasenhuttl’s failure to include Elyounoussi on in the squad even in the bench that he thinks Elyounoussi is a long shot. And maybe today was his last chance and he did not show enough. It would not surprise me. I think that is a position we will be looking to make a big splash at, so that alone might seal Elyounoussi’s fate even if he were much better than he’s shown. But he is not why we lost 3-0. He was not a bumbling incompetent out there today, just too quiet as usual. Stephens is not why we lost either. Or even Forster. The score and therefore playing the blame game today are irrelevant.
Would have liked to win naturally, but nothing has changed. We know we are improved, but not the finished article. Ain't it great to be safe.
Its a bit mean spirited to say, but I'm not happy about giving some of those players a run out. Seeing them in training must be enough to know they are getting shipped off, without carting them out at a difficult ground like WHU and giving trixster a field day. Full strength next week please, we deserve to end the season with a smile. Screw the fringe players, some of them have had ample chances! Harsh...................but fair?
*Trust the manager? Hassenhuttl didn't pick the side that he thought had the best chance of winning today. I think that much is obvious. I trust the manager 100% when it comes to games that actually matter (in which, you'll recall, Elyounoussi was never on the team sheet from January onwards). So Ralph has clearly demonstrated that he doesn't think Elyounoussi is up to grade, by omitting him for the last 3 months. If today's result mattered, Elyounoussi would not have played. Simple. **How do you know this? None of us know the reason as to why Elyounoussi wasn't loaned out in January. Maybe the manager wanted to have a look at him (understandable). Maybe no clubs were interested (also understandable). But just because he wasn't loaned out, that doesn't indicate that Ralph rates him. Again, I'd say the biggest indicator is that he never plays in games that matter.
The thing I would say about Mo El is that is absolutely not his remit to be adequate and boring, he was purchased solely to be a creator and scorer of goals and has clearly failed and has just been using up a precious squad space this season. Today was his chance to prove that he has what it takes to be that player that everyone looks to to provide chances and goals and yet again he was largely anonymous and timid, too scared to make an impression on the match and taking easy and safe options time and again. If he was ever going to have that fire in his belly it was today but he came up short yet again IMO.
We need a new transfer strategy. No more £18 - £22M mistakes. They are near impossible to shift if/when it goes wrong. We need to fish the smaller ponds, look for players who want the opportunity, not the safe contract. Even taking a massive hit, I can't see us getting rid of quite a few of the recent mistakes. Its going to be a testing summer, that's for sure.
To a large degree, if the fringe players get another chance next week then they won't really be able to win. If they do well, they'll be the argument that they were only up against the second worst side in the PL history; hardly any sort of endorsement performing well in that sort of game. If they do badly, well that's the end.
Indeed. If we are going to "go big" on a new signing, then we do actually need to realise that it's 2019. Yes without a doubt there is some quality out there for £18m to £22m if you can find it. But in the main, no; it largely just buys you a lot of bang average. Bmouth spent £30m on Ake for heaven sake. Bmouth!
Well obviously seeing them in training wasn’t enough, or why would they be playing? I’ll say it again. RH is obviously not afraid to give new players a chance or cut ties with players he does not like. If someone is on the pitch it’s for a reason. Hoedt is clearly very talented. All the skills are there, the mentality and attitude are not. But he is a guy that a new manager might say, hey let’s give him a clean start, he still looks like one of the best of a bad lot and maybe I can turn him around. But instead he was shipped out almost immediately despite our other options being known backup quality like Yoshida or unproven talent like Bednerak and Stephens. I like this about Hasenhuttl. It scares me, too. But I like it. I was all for downsizing the squad, but I thought it was a little crazy to send ALL those players away and get nothing back. Who would have thought Valery could step in as a starting back and be better than Cedric? He gave Sims a shot even though Sims wasn’t exactly setting the world on fire in League Two. He seems to be committed to Slattery getting a chance and I figured that guy was already an afterthought. It was to me pretty obvious from the moment Austin broke for the flag last game that Hasenhuttl wanted to be safe and have two games to play around with and/or get started on summer transfer stuff early. So that is what he is doing. I liked this about Pochettino, too. That even with a bad side where everyone was nervous in games, he would try to sneak young players into the game late anytime he could. Hasenhuttl is clearly thinking about next season and the seasons after that. And he has been since Day One. He’s got a vision, and if his vision sucks then we will have to sack him but I like that he is going for it anyway and not afraid of that. If the supporters are unhappy with what they saw today, he’s cool with it. If it makes the team better in the long run it is worth it.
Hoedt is clearly very talented. All the skills are there, the mentality and attitude are not ------------------- He can **** right off. The poisonous little prat.
Elyounoussi really reflected our previous (successful) strategy. They won't all work, though, and he's probably easier to shift (at a loss) than some of the others, because I doubt he's on the same wages.
Ralph also gave Elyounoussi a starting opportunity against Derby in the cup, and he didn`t impose himself. Didn`t see the game today, but it sounds a similar story. I`d love him to come good, but I doubt it is going to happen.
