Been back a while but really over this. As you may know I am normally so positive that happy clappers think they need to call the Samaritans. Well, we are going down this year. There is no other outcome. Not Ralph's fault entirely, but I'm afraid as children of the 80s would say, we are down and that's Blockbusters. (Those born after 1975 google Bob Holness and Blockbusters)
Ralph now has a 30% win ratio for Saints. Portlviet got sacked after one win in 14 homes games in January 2019. We won 5 out of 13 home games under Ralph in 2018/19. We have not won any in the 6 matches played in St Mary's this season. Our last home win was on 13th April which means we have not won in the last 9 home games. Under Hassenhutl, we have won 5 games in total at home since his appointment. Pelligrini was widely ridiculed as inept by Saints fans and had little credibility in his coaching skills. Despite this, his win record was 23.5% and is therefore only marginally worse than Ralph. Most Saints fans did not like Claude Puel's brand of football yet he had a win ratio of 37.7%. Even Paul Sturrock at 38.5 was miles more successful than Ralph. I think Ralph's enthusiasm was infectious but lets not get carried away that he is some kind of technical genius.
Regardless of Ralph's performance this season, he was a ****ng miracle worker last season. Let's not forget that.
You're a very reasonable poster so I always listen to what you say. You acknowledge the players have given up, you acknowledge, he's been given a bad hand, that the players aren't good enough, you acknowledge that he hasn't been backed, that we don't have the youth reserves, you acknowledge that changing managers has and is leading us into disaster... yet your response is to sack the manager. I do agree with almost everything you say but that final piece of sacking Ralph - it's not very well reasoned to me. Sack Ralph and you will still have to watch Vestergaard, Cedric, Bertrand, Redmond, Romeu, Long doing what they have done under 3 -4 managers but somehow believing this time it will be different. This mob we have been stuck with know what will happen and that they will still be driving Bentleys whether they lose 1-0 or 9-0. there's an element here that don't care about you and don't care about the club. Stick with him, back him and you could see him deliver the kind of football he delivered in Germany.
NZ Thanks for your comments. I am really upset that Ralph has not delivered this season. We have had too many managers and too often we have taken risks with unknown "talent." Even when we have chosen established names like Redknapp, Burley and Hughes it has proved to be a disaster. This is why I would not be happy with BFS. I feel sorry for Ralph and would back him but for the fact that the issues like zonal marking, conceding from our own set pieces, being unable to press, etc have all contributed from the problems this season. It is like Ralph has become a different person. There were moments when we really appeared to have upped the ante last season and I was really optimistic about establishing ourselves in the top half of the table with proper recruitment. . However, I am really starting to query how much of last season's success was due to Rohl and how much was attributable to Hassenhutl. Ralph looks and sounds beaten. The team are clearly not playing for him and something needs to be done short term because we will be cut adrift if we do not pick up some points sooner or later. I think Merrington counted something like 13 players likely to be bombed out in the summer and we hardly addressed the issue of getting rid of some of the bad apples. I really think we need to totally new set up next summer and try to recover the kind of spirit within the club that we had under Nigel Adkins. We have lost that belief and understanding within the club. The overhaul next season needs to be substantial but we can make a start in January by Gao dipping in to his wallet.
Ings, Boufal, Djenepo and Armstrong were good today, even with Djenepo and Armstrong being played out of position. The rest of the team, with maybe Stephens the exception, were flat, lifeless and didn't look like they had an idea between them. At least Stephens tried to galvanise them, but it just seemed too much for them. JWP was a complete waste of space again, and captain? Do me a favour. I went with my pal who is in a wheelchair and I so wanted a positive response from Saints for him, and the other disabled fans we sit with. No chance that was happening today, and the look of frustration and sadness was hard to take. Some of them didn't want the free scarves, just a good game of football to cheer to. I heard one young lad say to his mum "They might at least try. I would if I could" Says it all really.
Totally agree. I just really hope that Ralph is here in January and that he is backed with new signings and new staff. We could be great going forward with our talent but we need so many new players to make the midfield and defence click. 2 LB, 1 RB, 2 CB, 1 CDM. Its not all going to happen in January and there are a lot of games to lose between now and then. In the Summer we were off and running we were an attractive prospect again. That's all disappeared. Whatever happened with Rohl and the club indications are that the apple cart was well and truly upset and hasn't come right.
Hughes was never as bad a manager as we thought he was. He had Tadic and Gabbi though. Ralph doesn’t.
The reality is it is Ralph’s responsibility to sort. That is a managers job!! Why has he been playing so many players out of position? These are the majority of players that played their hearts out a few months ago. It is a bad workman that’s Blames his tools!!
I do remember quite a few (including myself) praising Hughes for the turnaround. He kept us up. And the club also thought so, giving him a 3 year contract. The 2 sets of results are similar.
I think I felt give Hughes a go, but I couldn’t think of anyone better at the time to be honest. We got lucky with Hughes with Swansea capitulating, and my gut says that Ralph achieved more when he came in last season. Regardless mate, it’s all a bit ****!