really? I’m surprised because the low scoring nature of football makes it really hard to predict what will happen. I’m feeling very much at risk and I bet the club are as well.
You keep bringing up Palace, they had something like 10 first team players from last season. Vieira had to bring in a whole new squad and has done brilliantly in such a short space of time, incomparable to Ralph
Dear Ralph, I'm not sure how to start putting my feelings into words. This is the most confused i've felt since the day Mauricio walked out on me. I've loved you since the day you walked into my life. Your Austrian accent and jokes about washing machines swept me away from day one. The way you swan around in your tight training bottoms, with your finely chiseled features and hipster beard has left me breathless at times. The honeymoon was fantastic and after a couple of disastrously boring relationships you made me feel alive again. Since then it's been a fairly rocky relationship with massive ups and massive downs. A couple of times you've been close to getting me a new cup, but it's never quite happened, but i know the thought was there. At times you've left me all at 6's or 7's (or 9's!!) and i've found those moments really tough to cope with, especially as they have been played out so publicly. I feel we're at a real crossroads in our relationship now and i'm just not sure where to turn. I love your passion, your belief and your dedication to the relationship but at the same time i can't help but feel that we could both find a better future elsewhere. I never thought i'd get to this point and it's killing me inside. After much soul searching and against better advice from all my friends in the Cowtown and Lincoln areas i have decided to give us one last chance. I'm hoping that now you have been adopted, your new parents will give you the backing and emotional support that you both crave and need to make this relationship a success. I know you care deep down and have the tools to make this a success, but you need to take time over the summer to come up with some foundations on which we can build on and move forward. I'm listening to my heart and not my head and i want you to grab this opportunity and prove my head wrong. There are many out there with godlike thighs that would love to see you fail. Let's embrace this last chance and prove the doubters wrong. Take a few days to get things clear in your head and i'll meet you at St Mary's a week on Tuesday. Yours hopefully, Lambertissier x
Mauricio Pellegrino: 28 pts from 30 games = 0.933 avg pts per game. Ralph 21/22: 40 pts from 38 games* = 1.05 avg pts per game. *Predicted. Obviously we will probably beat Leicester and Liverpool. Ralph has had nearly 4 years and he is only just averaging a slightly better points return than Pellegrino.
Sorry, but what? I never ever want Saints to lose and I've been patient enough with Ralph. I withheld any judgement of whether he should stay or go until Christmas, at which point I said he should stay. Even up until the game yesterday, I was RalphIn. Only just changed my vote. Would love to see him turn it around. Beat Leicester and a performance against Liverpool and I might just change back. And if you are familiar with my posts, I'm one of the last people to get into spiteful tit-for-tats with other fans (Saints or otherwise), so I'm definitely not one of the 'I-told-you-so' brigade, (who exist more on the RalphIn side, by the way). Seems like you've read one or two comments and jumped to a big (and very wrong) conclusion.
This is the thing isn’t it? I think Ralph flatters to deceive. He has all the hallmarks of a top manager. Charisma, passion, press love him, fans love him, players love him, he has a great name. The list goes on. Everyone wants him to do well, but his record is similar to the worst manager we’ve had in recent years (since those two Dutch guys). You just can’t ignore it.
Sacking the manager before Liverpool so we can get smashed by one of the best club sides in football with a different bloke sat watching is such peak football fan strategy. I can’t wait for the season to be over so some of our fans can find something else to do for a while! As I said on my post before, I don’t think our squad is that good and I think the slow bleed we’ve been going through financially under Gao had an end result of relegation at some point, no matter who was in the dugout. It was only a question of time. The handcuffs force us to recruit players with obvious problems but potential upside (like Adam Armstrong). If the club were targeting 10th this year then RH obviously hasn’t hit that and I’m interested to see the response of the new ownership. I think the situation is a lot more complex than directly comparing him to Pellegrino though. Shocking, I know.
Im not saying get rid off him now (as id keep him till final game then he can go), but we have as much chance of getting smashed by Liverpool with Ralph as without him. In fact, id argue right now we have more chance of this with him. Another manager coming in would, whilst unlikely win, would make us harder to get beat by lots of goals. If Adam A has potential upside (and I agree he does), then why the **** has he been playing Shane Long ahead of him. And Broja, who is hopelessly out of form and likely doesnt want to be here next season, ahead of him. Utter stupidity, arrogance, and stubbornness. Our squad, whilst not being great, is likely better that 17-18 place. That is on Ralph.
It probably makes no difference if Ralph goes now or not. Depends on what’s going on in the dressing room. If Ralph has lost the dressing room then he needs to go now, we will loose to Liverpool either way. Why is the Pellegrino situation different? Apart from obviously different squad and he wasn’t here for 4 seasons. Edit: you could argue we had a stronger squad; Bertrand Cedric yoshida hojberg Tadic.
The signs seem to be there that he has lost the dressing room. From recent press conferences, he has made statements to the affect that the players are simply not playing to his instructions. That, together with the lack of fighting spirit, strongly suggests to me the players no longer buy into leadership.
Whether he stays or goes we must go back to our original philosophies Attractive football Uncover hidden gems in transfer market Give youngsters a pathway to first team football Take cup competitions very seriously It concerns me that the only youth players to make it into the first team this season were cameo appearances in the cup. Tella, Valery and Smallbone all were around last season. It does not look good for the quality players coming through. Many our so called big names for the future have now disappeared - Jankewitz, Jeremy Rodriguez, Ramello Mitchell... ... with Small, Simeu, Watts, Ferry, Vokes, Ramsey all loaned out or back with U23s
I'd say our squad now is better. Back then it was full of mavericks like Hoedt, Lemina, Austin and Boufal, plus VVD didn't want to be here.
The view of the squad isn’t worth debating because it’s subjective, I don’t think we’re that good. Ralph not using AA could be for so many more complex and nuanced reasons than him being some kind of despot lunatic so I don’t see why we can draw that conclusion. Generally the club are tight lipped about everything and for good reason. Is he not putting it in in training? Are there personal issues? Fitness concerns? There’s obviously something wrong there but I don’t think it’s simple problem of the answer is a Shane Long who is months from likely retirement. Again, I don’t see the value in “maybe we’ll get beaten by less” in a meaningless, one-off game.
Maybe, but it is Ralphs job to get all players playing well - he simply has failed. The squad thing is of course subjective. If you want to keep him then great, but i dont and I’m not convinced he will be here next season, if he is, i doubt he will make it to Xmas. The Shane Long example though is valid. He simply should be trying as manager to get the most out of players that still have a future here, unless he doesnt, like Long who is likely to be released in the summer. Why did Ralph give Theo a 2 year contract in the summer? Totally baffling., And now he says the team isnt good enough. He is basically blaming everyone else but himself. If we dont have the team to play the way he wants, then you play to the teams strengths that are at your disposal, Im not sure over the whole tenure we have done that. Ralph has had some good moments with some good form, and overall his average points per game is for me, below average. He is, on paper, marginally better than MP2. And the Liverpool games isnt meaningless, one off game. We have a manager who has presided over the EPL’s 2 worse results, and multiple other total failures. He also oversaw our worst ever run of form. I mean, i hope your right that we cant be caught, if that is what you mean by meaningless, but this apathy is part of why we are in this mess - thinking games of football are meaningless. What about the other 37 games - they meaningless too?
Agree with most of this. they say the table doesn’t lie and it’s undeniable at the stage of the season. We are so close to 10th and equally close to 17th. The squad is what it is and they have failed to deliver in the last 13. Are they better than 10th place? No, they didn’t get the points. Are they relegation material? Not really, just a bit better than that? Is it just about The manager? Not for me.
Of course, just like all the other abject failures. I mean for balance he also gave us some great results and performances, just overal i think he has underachieved, and the bar wasnt even set that high.
