Match Day Thread Spurs vs South4mpt0n 28/09/19 KO 3pm

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Saints Fan4Life said:
Too many people are blurring the lines between criticising Ralph , and wanting him out.
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Because we know what a bunch of ****ing idiots many football fans are. That’s not just Saints fans btw; see the Spurs fans who have been calling for Pochettino’s head (yeah, really).

And because some of us know how lucky we are to have Ralph, maybe that makes us defensive of him.
 
garysfc said:
Hurrah finally. Sorry a bit flippant but yep totally agree. Ralph had his plan A which got screwed just before ko & then had to implement plan X - not sure I agreed but he’s the one with all the day2day insight. Subs were a bit late if I’m being a bit picky.
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Subs were a bit late maybe, but the options we had on our bench, compared to those Spurs had on theirs, tells it’s own story.
 
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Archers Road said:
Because we know what a bunch of ****ing idiots many football fans are. That’s not just Saints fans btw; see the Spurs fans who have been calling for Pochettino’s head (yeah, really).

And because some of us know how lucky we are to have Ralph, maybe that makes us defensive of him.
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We are very lucky to have Ralph. I love him, but hes not immune to criticism.
 
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Saints Fan4Life said:
Too many people are blurring the lines between criticising Ralph , and wanting him out.
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Like who? I’m not.

Firstly, a couple of people have suggested it’s time! Nuts eh?

Secondly, I’m just trying to point out that there could be any number of reasons for Ralph’s decisions and people are criticising them without knowing the reasons behind them and just because people don’t understand the decisions, it doesn’t mean they have no validity. A couple of people have now put some plausible opinions forward on it.
 
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Saints Fan4Life said:
We are very lucky to have Ralph. I love him, but hes not immune to criticism.
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He’s not. I have said I found it odd what he had done with FBs.. but I don’t know his reasons.

Look back to read my view on here about Vestergaard, yet the manager still picks him. However, some people will just see me as defending the club or the manager as blind faith, despite the fact that my comments are there in black and white (though sometimes in blue @billyvegas :) ) because I will point out if I feel that the criticism is heading to snowballing complaints without fair hearing.

Sometimes “Ralph got that wrong” isn’t true, even if we lost a game. That’s an assumption it would have been different if he’d taken a different option, but usually an assumption based on a belief that he did something different to what a fan would have done.

Yesterday there was a swelling of complaint against Ralph for his decisions and a belief that different ones would have lead to a different outcome.

I’ll always offer a flip side.
 
fatletiss said:
He’s not. I have said I found it odd what he had done with FBs.. but I don’t know his reasons.

Look back to read my view on here about Vestergaard, yet the manager still picks him. However, some people will just see me as defending the club or the manager as blind faith, despite the fact that my comments are there in black and white (though sometimes in blue @billyvegas :) ) because I will point out if I feel that the criticism is heading to snowballing complaints without fair hearing.

Sometimes “Ralph got that wrong” isn’t true, even if we lost a game. That’s an assumption it would have been different if he’d taken a different option, but usually an assumption based on a belief that he did something different to what a fan would have done.

Yesterday there was a swelling of complaint against Ralph for his decisions and a belief that different ones would have lead to a different outcome.

I’ll always offer a flip side.
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and I've always agreed with you about Vest.

you may say this is irrelevabt, but Ralph got hugely fortunate to beat 2teams this season, I can't overlook that in line with other results we had.

I'm going to leave it another month, six weeks, and am aware there's snuggling on at t he club, and hopes settled on a line up...
 
fatletiss said:
Are you saying that no matter what he plays, these fixtures don’t look like we’ll get anything from them?

Cool. A few more games where it should be ok for Ralph to experiment then. Anything he pulls off is a bonus, right?

:emoticon-0105-wink:
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The points tally might not be any different. But the goodwill towards Ralph might be.

He's easily our best manager since Koeman. So it would be a shame if, come late November, we're in or around the bottom three and Ralph has continued to "experiment" throughout. Because in that situation, many would no longer see him as our great hope. And, worse, some of the players themselves might cease to see it too. Our squad isn't particularly great as it is, so we really do need most of them on the top of their game - and a number of them have gone through sizeable dips in the form in recent years, under questionable management.

And besides, just because the fixtures look tough doesn't mean that as a manager you just write them off. You still kick off at 0-0. As I said, if we have a full squad available next weekend, I think we can get something against Chelsea. But only at full strength.
 
I must admit that I have felt that Ralph should not be immune to criticism and last season there were moments when I wasn't entirely convinced that the hagiographical treatment he was receiving from some quarters was balanced. A lot of the favourable assessment is obviously due ton the fact that he has followed two incompetent managers and another manager whose style of football was not appealing to the fans. However, he must have something about him to have had the impact upon the performance of players like Redmond, JWP, Bednarek and now Boufal. I share the frustration with Bertrand and Cedric being dropped and hope this has been rectified.

If I am honest, I would not have expected anything from the Spurs game but feel we should have been better against 10 men. The Bournemouth match has rightly raised some questions over Ralph's judgement which, for the first 45 minutes, was spectacularly poor. In his defence, I do not feel that the club has really supported Ralph in player recruitment. The loaning out of too many players as opposed to getting them off the books is a mistake as it has impeded new signings and there are still players of the likes of Stephens, Armstrong and Vestergaard who I would have liked to have seen moved on to bring in new blood. On Radio 5 yesterday lunchtime the fate of Man Utd was discussed and their success under Ferguson was ascribed to recruiting players who improved upon those already at the club. Can anyone really say that this has happened too often with Saints , especially with regard to the central defence which has need a vast overhaul since the days of VVD and Fonte.

Ralph is not perfect and , like other managers, some of his decisions have been perverse. In addition, I am not a fan of his use of zonal marking. I do strongly believe that the club has not really backed him up quite as much as they should have done and maybe a fairer judgement can only be made when the necessary strengthening in some departments gives Ralph the tools to do the job. I still think it is very much early days with him and he needs to be given time. Some of the criticisms that are applicable to Ralph could also be made at Eddie Howe yet he is not receiving the same amount of criticism. We will be mid-table this season but unless the board backs Ralph with some decent defenders, opportunity for Ralph to unlock our potential is going to be limited.
 
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st_brendy said:
The points tally might not be any different. But the goodwill towards Ralph might be.

He's easily our best manager since Koeman. So it would be a shame if, come late November, we're in or around the bottom three and Ralph has continued to "experiment" throughout. Because in that situation, many would no longer see him as our great hope. And, worse, some of the players themselves might cease to see it too. Our squad isn't particularly great as it is, so we really do need most of them on the top of their game - and a number of them have gone through sizeable dips in the form in recent years, under questionable management.

And besides, just because the fixtures look tough doesn't mean that as a manager you just write them off. You still kick off at 0-0. As I said, if we have a full squad available next weekend, I think we can get something against Chelsea. But only at full strength.
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<laugh> God, I wouldn’t want to live inside your head. It doesn’t seem a very comfortable place
 
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