Not an ideal game, but must be good for Fraser to play in a real game again. Ralph must have seen something during training and wanted to give him a chance....especially as he may be our back up goalie next season. I have noticed that Forster has looked happier in shots of training so perhaps he is coming out of a tunnel.
If we win and Burnley lose, only needs a 1 goal advantage as they will be -21 and us -20 We have same amount of goals scored, so I suppose we want a 0-0 draw from them and a 1-0 win from us I love it after last year that me having to work out if we finish 15th or 16th is the most exciting thing to do on the last game of the season
Very true. I think the reason I found Saturday so disappointing was that I’ve been doing similar calculations these last few weeks and at one time we could have finished 12th just by taking more points off the teams around us. That and conceding goals on the break has been the downside of the run in. On the plus side, the football in general has been much better to watch than anytime since RK was here.
This post really nails it for me. I totally agree that the football played under Ralph is a marked improvement upon everything since the departure of Koeman but it is interesting to see this expressed in such as brutal fashion. There is a lot to be done to turn the club around and finishing fifth from bottom, albeit by a very healthy margin, should not be seen as acceptable. The lost of points against both lowly opposition and winning positions is something that needs to be given prominence in rebuilding the club. This has not been good enough. The real task at hand has not really commenced - in blunt terms, all Ralph has done is stop the not inconsiderable rot and started to fulfil the potential of key players which previous managers had failed to realise. When you look at the points tally in this light, you start to appreciate that this was no easy task given the ability of resources he had available , especially with regard to the defence. If Ralph gets the recruitment right, I think the future is going to be optimistic but there is certainly far more to be done that he might have envisaged when he took on the position. Curious to see up linked with another midfielder in the Echo but I am sure that the club recognises that there are other positions that are more of a priority.
My first visit to the Olympic stadium which is poor as i live in London. Have to say dont care for it much as splitting the away support whilst clever, gives no atmosphere. Funny how they are trying to imitate Arsenal - playing London's Calling pre match and putting all the trophy wins on the stand. Unlike Aresenal it doesnt go around the ground though!
I think Ralph would agree with you on most of those points. He knows the size of the task ahead and knows exactly what needs to happen and in what order. By accident or design, the failure to strengthen the squad in January did not leave us relegated as some feared, but merely confirmed Ralph's status as a man motivator and a damn good coach. He has won over the fans, the players and his bosses. Now he'll get the backing for a complete rebuild (albeit on a modest budget). I actually think he is more in tune to the Southampton way than even RK and MP1 were. He's already preparing us for the loss of the next Mane and VVD even though we havent signed them yet!
Ralph must be pleased by the way the team responded, but also deeply frustrated (like us) with the lapses that cost so many points...ignoring the West Ham result (losses can happen) we lost 4 points unnecessarily in the 2 games prior to that. He must have learnt so much since he took over about the team and what is needed. He probably won't be able to solve everything as he'd like, but hopefully he gets a couple of players that integrate into what is already quite a good team. As Mowgli said...he does seem to understand Southampton and how we rock (or would like to).
A most galling result. Losing 3-0 to Manchester City is one thing, but losing 3-0 to a team we should be alongside?
To be fair to them, they have sorted themselves out this season, and with better recruitment, they look a decent team.
Anyone up for doing the final thread of the season, with the proviso you might have to do every game next year? #invincibles
SaintsWeb seem to think Gallagher was meant to start this one, but picked up an injury in training. What a shame for him.
I think Ralph will have learnt that he has a team that needs every player to be playing at 8/10 to be able to compete with teams that have more skilful players, that can compete with us when they are playing at 6/10. In terms of pace and creativity, too many (not all) of the team are generally pedestrian, with occasional moments of brilliance. That Ralph has managed to get so many improved performances from individuals and the team as whole, shows, IMO, that he is a very, very good coach and people manager. I hope we can bring in the players he wants, to move us forward, but I am expecting another season of inconsistency, simply because his target transfers will be fairly young/inexperienced.
Hopefully we will improve next season, but it may take longer than that to get us back to where we hope to be....the best of the rest (a reasonably high target for now*). I really hope that Ralph turns out as good as we think and that he hangs around to complete the job...the latter bit being the part we struggle with. *I put a 'reasonably high target for now' because some fans (mercifully mainly on Saintsweb) jump on you if you even suggest that your expectations are less than winning the league....saying we lack ambition and middle of the table is mediocre. Unless you have money coming out of your ears or you strike lucky and get several great players all on top of their form at the same time...7-10 in a top league like the EPL is an achievement.
Sunday 12th May 2019 15:00 KO Southampton v Huddersfield Town Referee: Lee Probert Assistants: Andy Garratt, Mark Scholes Fourth official: Peter Bankes
