If you look at other teams around the mid table mark (realistically all we can really expect) they have similar numbers of wins. Shows how much better the top teams are than the rest and how everyone else just takes points off each other. Man United are absolutely ****e and worst team ever according to the media and still are in the top 6, shows how **** the rest of the league is
And the fact he's leaving at the end of next season anyway. We're going to be spending the square root of **** all in the summer so it's utterly pointless keeping him
Have a think about how many of our players would attract bids from better teams (let’s say top ten) than we are. JWP KWP Salisu Err….
I get your point, and it is very much valid, but another way of looking at this is could a manager be getting more out of the other players so they were worth more? Djeneppo seems to have had any flair he has disappear - are the tactics almost ‘coached’ out of players? I mean Tino was much better first half the season, slowly but surely his runs are less adventurous (although maybe this is also as he is young?). Also, and I’m aware I’m playing devils advocate here, but isnt part of Ralphs job to make players better - as it stands today most have stagnated or got better. The 3 you list above - is that them playing better or Ralph making them better? Or maybe a bit of both? Guess I’m just a bit pissed today, and is a culmination of many many months of this. I just dont think Ralph is as good as we want him to be. Reminds me a bit of Gaston - i so wanted him to be the next Messi, instead he was all fart no ****.
I agree with this. Maybe Ralph isn’t actually as good as we think he is? He has the hallmarks of a top manager but his win percentage is 35%. Ok it’s not terrible, but lower than Puel and results suggest that he is just a bit better than average. I know you can argue Koemans squad was better etc but how else do you compare managerial performance over time? We can all agree that strachan was better than Pearson and the stats reflect that.
We’ve got plenty of good players. Broja, Tino, Stuie, Romeu are all excellent. And the weird thing is, most of the players Ralph has bought, he doesn’t even play; Adam Armstrong, Diallo, Lyanco, Perraud (when Tino was fit). This is Ralph’s squad now. Can’t be using last season’s excuse again.
In the case of comparing between Ralph and Pep as managers, the answer is the same. Even with equal budgets, are you seriously suggesting Ralph is as good as Pep?
The point is they changed their manager and they have hauled themselves out of the bottom three. Not there yet, but l was making is there are some who suggest we should not change because it will mean us possibly being relegated. So, stick with the devil you know. I am suggesting that Burnley have debunked that philosophy.
Yeah, this remains the crux of it. We have a couple very good players. We have another handful of guys who could easily win lateral moves to other anonymous midtable outfits: Stu, Bednarek, Che, Romeu, Broja. maybe Forster? And then we have everyone else. The net result is that, when any of the aforementioned decent-or-above players go off the boil, or get injured, they're being replaced by people that just haven't demonstrated that they're PL quality in recent vintage. That's pretty much the hallmark of a team in our position: a bit of quality, some solid contributors, and a whole lot of dreck.
So I’ve seen this mentioned a couple of times - what’s on the record? If true(ish) then absolutely agree with Lincs, as staying with a mgr who leaving in 12m is nuts. It’s about commitment to the club, team, philosophy, etc. How can you promote when he’s leaving? I presume this is same media trash but can someone confirm the facts. Cheers.
But more or less any team in the bottom half can say this, and we have a better squad than at least 4-5 other teams. Plus we've been very fortunate with injuries this season. So, apart from Stuie before xmas, we've been able to field our strongest team throughout the campaign; Forster Tino Salisu Bednarek KWP JWP Romeu Stu Elyou/Redmond Che Broja Sorry, but that's not a bad-looking side there. Three current England internationals, one England U21. That team should be able to compete with anyone outside the top 4. Whether a person wants Ralph to stay or go, that's up to them. But the insistence that we've got a crap squad and that no one could possibly do better than Ralph (not even Pep!), is complete nonsense.
That's the lineup of a team in the 9th-16th region and, hey, we're in the 9th-16th region. Is it possible that another manager would be better? Sure. Is it probable that such a manager would join this team? No.
We're going to finish 16th. Yippee. And, the whole no-other-manager-in-the-world argument has been made to look pretty f*cking dumb by Eddie Howe already. People on here laughed at the idea, and now look at him.
Fair. I think he is very rigid in his thinking. I would love to see Diallo come in a 3 man midfield and see how that works. I would definitely be giving Arma a chance the last few weeks. His subs are often crap. He does do weird stuff sometimes. But I personally feel like hes a really good manager working with a limited budget and squad. I remember just how bad we were before he came in. It’s difficult to find great PL managers that are willing to come to us. I feel like everyone needs to be careful what they wish for. But then again, I was gutted when Adkins was sacked for Poch, and that was an incredible bit of recruitment.
We might finish 16th. Or we might not. We're a few hours removed from being 9th in the table; where in the pantheon of midtable obscurity one finds themselves involves a lot of small margins.
