Match Day Thread Southampton v West Ham Saturday 5:30PM

[Velcro Roy]

Oh no they've bleeding done it now,they've only gone and sent my missus a matchday experience questionnaire.
After several 240mile round trips to watch our **** games this year they send it today,the same day our lump of a captain couldn't pass the ball 2yards without losing it.The same day we had to suffer Rowan Atkinson as referee.
She's not being the nice person I know in the very long reply they're getting!
Dont think she will ever get another request!

 

[Saints Fan4Life]

Oh no they've bleeding done it now,they've only gone and sent my missus a matchday experience questionnaire.
After several 240mile round trips to watch our **** games this year they send it today,the same day our lump of a captain couldn't pass the ball 2yards without losing it.The same day we had to suffer Rowan Atkinson as referee.
She's not being the nice person I know in the very long reply they're getting!
Dont think they'll she will ever get another request?

I haven't had one since I was pretty scathing about it ...

 

[fatletiss]

Mainly because he took over a poor squad and said towards the end of the season we needed a good clear out.
.

This is a very valid point I had forgotten about. He said himself loads to go. Adam Blackmore said he’d been told 9-12 to go. Hardly any went.

Ralph must have been pissed with that. A lot of the players were probably pissed with that, knowing he thought a lot of them were crap.

Tough trying to rally and motivate in those circumstances

 

[fatletiss]

The biggest problems are at the top of the club.

 

[LincolnSaint]

Mainly because he took over a poor squad and said towards the end of the season we needed a good clear out. In reality (and we all know the reasons). we haven't been able to offload as many players as we wanted and the rebuild has to wait until we do. Our transfers under Hughes, MP2 and Puel have not worked out well. He's brought in Ings, Danso and Djenepo so 2 out of 3 good ones and Danso still in with a chance of being a top signing. So I'll support him until he's made the changes he feels he needs. If that means dropping to the Championship so be it. I think the board should stick by him.

The game was rubbish today. Too slow again. Too many players looking nervous and making silly mistakes but a couple of decent defenders in January could make a world of difference. If he keeps us up during the rebuild on and off the pitch that will be some achievement.

Fair assessment. It's quite clear from my posting history that I don't really rate him (the 9-0 for me can never be forgiven) but it appears I'm in the minority, albeit growing at the moment. Ralph comes across as a nice guy, I just wish he could instil a bit of mental resilience in the players, and teach them to bloody defend

 

[ChilcoSaint]

The biggest problems are at the top of the club.

Just caught up with the thread, didn’t see any of the game, for which I am grateful. This last post by Fats is the most sensible thing so far in the whole post mortem, for the following reasons.
1. We have all been moaning about the poorness of the squad for at least the last 3 seasons, and we have neither shifted much of the dead wood nor significantly strengthened it in the key areas of defence and midfield. Our strike force has marginally improved but is still nowhere near good enough.
2. We have tried a succession of managers following Koeman’s departure, with various degrees of success or lack of it. We might have won a cup under Puel but everyone hated him so he was sacked. No manager since Koeman has had even the core of a good team, including Ralph, who was apparently promised a clear out which didn’t happen.
3. We as fans have no idea of Gao’s intentions, and I’m betting practically no one at the club does either. That uncertainty must be having a devastating effect on morale, from board level down to the Academy.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whatever your opinion of Ralph’s ability, and I have my doubts myself, it will make ZERO DIFFERENCE to replace him, unless there is stability at the top of the club, a cash injection to improve key positions, and that much-needed removal of the complete passengers and wasters who seem to form the majority of the first team squad. I would be very surprised if any of those things happened while Gao is still the majority owner.

 

[AshbySaint]

We have good players.

Ings, Redmond, Hojbjerg, Bertrand; they are quality players. But Ralph’s tactics are making them all play sh*t.

Edit: Not Ings btw. He is our only good player right now.

No disagree! Redmond had his best time with us after Ralph joined so not sure why he isnt doing it now. I have never been impressed with Hojbjerg. Cant't blame that on Ralph and Bertrand has been suspect before Ralph joined

 

[It'sOnlyAGame]

Oh no they've bleeding done it now,they've only gone and sent my missus a matchday experience questionnaire.
After several 240mile round trips to watch our **** games this year they send it today,the same day our lump of a captain couldn't pass the ball 2yards without losing it.The same day we had to suffer Rowan Atkinson as referee.
She's not being the nice person I know in the very long reply they're getting!
Dont think she will ever get another request!

They've sent me one as well but I can't even be bothered to tell them what I think. There's a saying "I'll be glad when I've had enough of this" and I think I'm pretty close to reaching that point. I used to be in a bad mood for a day or so after we lost but now I'm not really that upset, I've come to expect it.
I'm already planning what to do on Saturday afternoons next season.

 

[Le Tissier's Laces]

Just caught up with the thread, didn’t see any of the game, for which I am grateful. This last post by Fats is the most sensible thing so far in the whole post mortem, for the following reasons.
1. We have all been moaning about the poorness of the squad for at least the last 3 seasons, and we have neither shifted much of the dead wood nor significantly strengthened it in the key areas of defence and midfield. Our strike force has marginally improved but is still nowhere near good enough.
2. We have tried a succession of managers following Koeman’s departure, with various degrees of success or lack of it. We might have won a cup under Puel but everyone hated him so he was sacked. No manager since Koeman has had even the core of a good team, including Ralph, who was apparently promised a clear out which didn’t happen.
3. We as fans have no idea of Gao’s intentions, and I’m betting practically no one at the club does either. That uncertainty must be having a devastating effect on morale, from board level down to the Academy.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whatever your opinion of Ralph’s ability, and I have my doubts myself, it will make ZERO DIFFERENCE to replace him, unless there is stability at the top of the club, a cash injection to improve key positions, and that much-needed removal of the complete passengers and wasters who seem to form the majority of the first team squad. I would be very surprised if any of those things happened while Gao is still the majority owner.

Spot on, Chilcs.

 

[milton archer]

I'll get along with anyone. "Hitler" types might be a problem for me. But I've got along with a Pompey fan. And we've laughed at how absurd it all is. There was a time though that I picked up a Southampton lad to fetch him back from Portsmouth University. And once the neighbour across the road from the lad's digs realised he and I were from Southampton, the venom was clear. It's not nice, and it takes a heck of lot for me to generate the anger to knock someone's lights out, but I had to generate it, just to be prepared. Awful feeling.

I agree but you've got to admit there is a certain edge when we play Pompey - winning feels even more important than normal and there is an anger there. Especially when backs are against the wall and we endure the abuse they hurl, only for us to have the last laugh and beat them 4 nil!

Allardyce is not the answer to our problems.

I would rather watch Saints playing in the Championship than have that gum chewing dinosaur as our manager.

Oh i agree. Ralph last year was a revelation. But now, without Rohl, he’s f*cked.

Bless him, I still like the guy. But he isn’t ruthless enough.

This may seem crazy ....but I understand Jeremy Corbyn's available...may be worth a punt?

 

[West Kent Saint]

Just caught up with the thread, didn’t see any of the game, for which I am grateful. This last post by Fats is the most sensible thing so far in the whole post mortem, for the following reasons.
1. We have all been moaning about the poorness of the squad for at least the last 3 seasons, and we have neither shifted much of the dead wood nor significantly strengthened it in the key areas of defence and midfield. Our strike force has marginally improved but is still nowhere near good enough.
2. We have tried a succession of managers following Koeman’s departure, with various degrees of success or lack of it. We might have won a cup under Puel but everyone hated him so he was sacked. No manager since Koeman has had even the core of a good team, including Ralph, who was apparently promised a clear out which didn’t happen.
3. We as fans have no idea of Gao’s intentions, and I’m betting practically no one at the club does either. That uncertainty must be having a devastating effect on morale, from board level down to the Academy.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, whatever your opinion of Ralph’s ability, and I have my doubts myself, it will make ZERO DIFFERENCE to replace him, unless there is stability at the top of the club, a cash injection to improve key positions, and that much-needed removal of the complete passengers and wasters who seem to form the majority of the first team squad. I would be very surprised if any of those things happened while Gao is still the majority owner.

That’s depressing, but I suspect true. Bugger.

 

[st_brendy]

I think what annoyed me most today - after PEH - was the period either side of HT where we reverted back to sideways and backwards passing. Given how we ditched that in the second half against Watford, and then again against Norwich, I thought we'd learnt our lesson. Obviously not.

Of course it's also what led to the goal. Redmond and then PEH not looking to go forward.

 

[Channonfodder]

I don’t get it. How can we produce such a poor first half.? We were somewhat better in the second half, but here are some other mysteries;
Why when we get a free kick in our own half, do we always pass sideways or back? Ok, if we were 2-0 up, then keeping possession makes sense, but we were not. If we don’t seem to do anything from free play, why not punt it forwards?
Secondly, why do we think that passing around the back more than one time will lead to progress? No options obvious? Then try a long ball forward.
The only positive I could take was that we have finally got the message about trying to play out of trouble from the back against teams which press. I guess I should be grateful for small mercies.
The other small hope is that the teams around us also, Bournemouth excepted, also made no progress.

 

[ChilcoSaint]

That’s depressing, but I suspect true. Bugger.

I’ll run a few names past you:
Fonte, Van Dijk, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Mané, Tadic, Pellè.

We have no one in our squad who comes close in quality to any of those players, at their best. We have zero prospect of signing anyone who comes close in quality to any of those players with the current owner in place.

 

[The Ides of March]

I’ll run a few names past you:
Fonte, Van Dijk, Schneiderlin, Wanyama, Mané, Tadic, Pellè.

We have no one in our squad who comes close in quality to any of those players, at their best. We have zero prospect of signing anyone who comes close in quality to any of those players with the current owner in place.

To think two of those started their Saints career in League 1. IMO, that League 1 squad had more PL.quality players than the present squad. The afore-mentioned two, Lambert, Lallana, Kelvin Davis.

 

[AshbySaint]

Tactically though, what is Ralph bringing to the table? He doesn't seem to be able to change a game whilst it's in progress and he sure as **** doesn't seem to be able to coach the players during the rest of the week. Why the love for him? What do fans of Ralph think he actually does that Hughes for example, didn't?

I only saw the 2nd half, but i thought we were unlucky. Antonio's goal was definitely handball and Ing's goal was extremely unlucky to be disallowed.

I have been saying for awhile that physically we are quite a small team and not physical. Does anyone else agree?

 

[Laz-ee saint]

Mainly because he took over a poor squad and said towards the end of the season we needed a good clear out. In reality (and we all know the reasons). we haven't been able to offload as many players as we wanted and the rebuild has to wait until we do. Our transfers under Hughes, MP2 and Puel have not worked out well. He's brought in Ings, Danso and Djenepo so 2 out of 3 good ones and Danso still in with a chance of being a top signing. So I'll support him until he's made the changes he feels he needs. If that means dropping to the Championship so be it. I think the board should stick by him.

The game was rubbish today. Too slow again. Too many players looking nervous and making silly mistakes but a couple of decent defenders in January could make a world of difference. If he keeps us up during the rebuild on and off the pitch that will be some achievement.

How can danso be cast as a good signing when he isn’t anywhere near the match day squad after 6 months?

 

[SaintElliot]

Hughes, 17 points from 22 games, sacked. Hasenhuttl, 17 points from last 22 games...

 

[ChilcoSaint]

Hughes, 17 points from 22 games, sacked. Hasenhuttl, 17 points from last 22 games...

Yawn.

 

[SaintElliot]

Yawn.

Ralph added to the squad in the Summer, and has had a year in charge. Pretty poor if you ask me.