Yeah I’m with Tom, i dont see anyone desperate for Ralph to fail. I for one dont, is far better we keep him and keep winning. I think we will get 3-4 points from the next two games, but if we dont and say we come our of this run with say 7 or 8 points from a possible 15, that is so good and think his position may still be under threat. after all, that would mean we would be on what - 11 or 12 points from 12 games. Not catastrophic, but certainly concerning. I do agree though that it is better for us to be playing well, but ultimately though we need to start winning games.
WDW the last three games turn a corner for me along with the draws against teams expected to beat us. I've been called a happy clapper elsewhere for having an optimistic attitude to this year's prospects, nothing evangelistic about me.
Villa putting together a shortlist of managers to replace Dean Smith after 4 losses on the bounce - sky sports
I'll get some beta blockers and similar medication that plus the Palm beer and Bourbon should get me through the game.
I think we'll get four from the next two. Draw with Villa and win against Norwich. Fact of the matter is, we have a far better squad now, and we're playing a lot better football. The goals will come. It's a work in progress, and the squad depth is what we were so massively lacking last year, so patience and *most* importantly context needs to be given. The Ralph-outers seem to be obsessing about last season (which for me was a bit of an anomaly because of the squad) when it's patently obvious we're a far improved outfit now.
Hope you are right as a draw and win would be a really good run of form: 5 unbeaten with 3 wins - 11 points from 15. Best run we would have had since we topped the league!
Thing is it's the best run of football in terms of play since we topped the league, that's the key part.
Southampton FC (First Team) v Aston Villa FC (First Team) Premier League Referee: Madley, Andrew Assistant Referee: Cann, Darren Assistant Referee: Eaton, Derek Fourth Official: Salisbury, Michael Video Assistant Referee: Attwell, Stuart Additional Video Assistant Referee: Wood, Timothy Great Madley has refereed us twice this season and we've lost both games!
Really not sure who these Ralph-outers are - are you referring to Facebook & Twitter or on here? I think we are playing far better than last 5 months of last season, and fortunately Ralph seems to have more squad depth which supports the right subs at the right time. Obsessing about last season - only thing I’d say was a lot of people who were staunch as ‘pro-Ralph inners KWP harping on at the good run we were on that spanned the second half of one season and the first half of last. That argument it kind of swings both ways, is what i am saying. That said, I think we will beat Villa and draw with Norwich - such a Saints thing to do.
Oh I get that. And yes, mainly the Facebook/Twitter mob. It does go both ways, to an extent, but the first half showed what Ralph as a coach could do with a fully fit team, the second half showed that no matter how good a coach you are, if you have a paltry squad that would struggle for starts at Carlisle, Swansea and Lincoln, you can be the reincarnation of Brian Ferguson Guardiola and you're gonna struggle. That's what I mean by context. It was pretty clear what was going on, but the reaction is always to reach for the bullet. That's so, so wrong, and I genuinely believe that this season will show that.
I wanted to also make a public apology to @ChilcoSaint - we know we don’t always see eye to eye, and as Laces pointed out so eloquently earlier ive more than made my point about stuff that went on in the past. So Chilco, I have thought long about stuff, and actually I do see and appreciate the role you undertake here, and apologies if ive been hard to deal with and plain rude at times. I’m not expecting us to be BFFs or anything, but I was always brought up in the correct way and I have taken this too far. So if ok with you, can we draw a line under it (blue line to keep it Saints related)? And on reflection, I wont bring up the other stuff again, thanks Laces for pointing that out
Yeah for sure, think we are more aligned in our thinking that I realised. I do think though that Ralph didnt adapt his ways 2nd half of last season, and he could have made changes to how we played, tactics, formations, and stuff. Great to see this season he has done this, and i have loved the way we play this season. Just felt some fo the pain of last season could have been mitigated had he been prepared to amend his ways, now I get we didnt have the depth we have now, and the injuries, but he did leave us wide open, we became so easy to play against. That said, most respect to Ralph for recognising this as it seem he has taken this on the chin and learned from it, Our interplay of tactics and formations is a joy to watch, and think in the long run it will pay dividends.
I'm not keen on the calendar year stats, happy with the end of last season position and the growth in the squad quality this term. Two wins please and then Liverpool at Anfield to look forward to.
Well, I think he could have tried different formations, maybe 3 at the back. Now maybe i missed it Tom, but it seemed to me he was absolutely set on the 4222, teams worked us out and we were easy to beat. The press always ****ed us in the first half, so teams knew to put up with this in the 1st half and we seemed to run out of steam 2nd half - the stats back this up pretty much in that we were very ineffective in the 2nd half of games. Now I’m not saying i know how to correct this btw, that is why I’m not paid £7m each year too figure it out, but the run we went on, imo, didnt need to be as bad if he had tried to change things. Look at the Utd 9-0 game, now i know we were messed around by a megalomaniac, but he really should have just stuffed every player back and got now here near the 9-0. It is telling that we hold these records Tom, and as i say I think Ralph has learned, but he isn’t without his faults, if he were, he would likely be considered for the Utd job.
That’s well said Billy, and thank you, but no apology necessary. All of us on here disagree about one thing or another occasionally, and 99.9% of the time we make it up sooner or later. Multicoloured, but mostly blue, line drawn!
