Well yes but football clubs often say things to placate the fanbase that aren't true. I'm not saying it's not true btw, just that we should be careful about stating something as fact which ultimately is just words. Proof will be in the pudding and at this stage we simply don't know. Personally I think that unless the loan has been paid off in full (which we'd have surely heard about if so) then that will continue to restrict us considerably.
It sounds like we will be offloading quite a few which should free up some funds and I don't think that the squad needs a major overhaul maybe just a couple of leaders and a new defensive coach.
Yep it's all supposition isn't it? You could also say that the fact they've said we'll continue to live within our means suggest it'll largely be as you were with our transfer activity. My point is that its an unknown at this time so impossible to make definitive statements on.
And we have a manager that has the ability to steer us clear of relegation, whilst being able to do so when our cloth is cut as tight as it could be. I don't think we're going to see a huge difference in our expenditure, because why would we? If we start chucking 30-40m at players, it'll mean we might end up 8th, or if we have a stellar season, possibly even 7th. But the most likely scenario is that it would shore us up around 10th-12th. So if you're Sport Republic, is that expenditure worth it (clue - no), or are you more likely to try and find Livramento style players at £5-10m that you can flog on in a couple of years for many pounds more, safe in the knowledge that Ralph is good enough to keep us in the top division, regardless (clue - yes). Sport Republic are here to make money, and the best way of doing that is keeping us in the top league, whilst uncovering sellable gems. It's not by finishing 9th instead of 11th, having spent £40m on a striker. It's also not by sacking Ralph (at great expense) on the weird notion that we might get Potter (9 wins this season) or Vieira (8 wins this season) to do pretty much exactly the same job that Ralph is doing right now. We might (might) be able to find a better manager than Ralph, but that'll mean we finish 10th instead of 12th. Who cares?
Yes, the overall points total is ok but we should really make progress on last season given the problems of the second half of it. The performance level over this season has been pretty good even if we weren't getting the results at the start but in this current poor run the level of performance has sharply decreased IMO and it needs to be rectified before the end of the season as we don't want a hangover to carry on into the next.
I’m genuinely quite optimistic about next season (when will I ever learn?), but I’d like something to get excited about in what remains of this one. Beating Brighton on Sunday would be just the ticket, imo.
I think it is a bit complicated, the Loan contract rules seemed to prevent paying it up in full straight away, but money has apparently been put aside to cover it. It was all involved in the takeover business, I can't find the details anywhere.
I don't disagree with most of that (though the idea of eternal bottom half finishes makes me want to set myself on fire) and my comments were in no way an addition to the Ralph debate. I was just pointing out that we should be careful when making assumptions based on limited knowledge and presenting it as fact.
As said last night I think entire seasons and the objectives associated are what we should judge him on (especially as we're so streaky). 18/19 - came in halfway through with task of keeping us up and did so - Success 19/20 - after good run of form at the end of previous season was expected to solidify and be safe from relegation and finished 11th - Success (albeit a hard one to judge with the covid breaks imo) 20/21 - Was expected to consolidate our midtable position. Had great start and poor end but final position was 15th with 43 points - I'd probably put that as a 'Par' overall but could see how people could lean one way or other 21/22 - Was expected to improve defensively and get us into comfortable midtable again. Largely agreed that this was his first season with his squad. I'd say we're currently at about Par with that depending on your view point but the final games could swing it either way. I think all the above suggests Ralph has done a good job without doing a brilliant one and that how we end this season is pretty key. If we collapse to the point where we finish on the same points or less as last season then I'd say we've had a poor season and the pressure could build early next with a bad start.
Yeah this really. Football is **** and has been dead as a competition for the majority of teams for years (yeah Leicester). Without significant mental levels of investment a team like Saints is never going to break the top 6 consistently. Finishing about 10th is a good season for us, but ultimately we, like 7 or 8 other teams in the league, will just hover around the bottom half until we have a bad season and get relegated. Makes you wonder what the point of it all is sometimes but that’s just the reality of the Premier League for teams like us Is Ralph doing a great job? No, I would consider that doing something similar to West Ham where we were in and around the top 6 for most of the year even if they will ultimately finish 7th/8th. Is he doing a bad job? No I would consider that to be doing something like Burnley/Everton this season. He’s doing OK, not enough for me to want him gone as ultimately we aren’t ever going to really improve much on where we are right now without something akin to Newcastle takeover happening
I would but I fear I will be too positive and branded a happy clapper and a Ralph lover. Both true, but don't like being called it
Well, that was an embarrassing performance. Not so much worried about losing (because I want Everton to go down) but more concerned by the lack of a control we had during the game, allied to the ease with which we lost possession as a result of a poor touch. Going with 3 CBs takes away our high pressing game, minimises our attacking threat and allows teams to pass through us with comparative ease. We got away with it against Arsenal, partly due to Fraser being inspired and partly due to woeful shooting by Arsenal but I hope we now bin it as a tactic, with these players. Second point is how their second goal wasn’t ruled out, as a result of the scorer using Prowsey’s shoulder as a launch pad, without which he might not have got as high as he did to score the goal. A lesson for Prowsey is not to be so honest, next time, and to crumble to the ground under the players weight. Third point. On one occasion (maybe twice) we had possession of the ball on the edge of the Burnley penalty area, when the ref stopped the game owing to a Burnley player being on the ground. When the ref restarted the game, instead of giving it to us, he gave it to Pope who launched it long, giving Cornet a potential 1 on 1 with our last defender. Surely the restart should have seen the ball returned to us?
