We surely have better squad options than Diallo, Mo El and Djenepo to start though. They have been tried and tested and largely failed and also failed to get into even the struggling team of last season. Ralph is really not helping his cause with his selection and surely Aribo has proved enough already to be a starter.
I don’t think Aribo was fit to start. For some reason Ralph doesn’t trust Armstrong. It seems like the plan was to sign someone who would take Ely’s starting space for certain and it didn’t happen. As mentioned the squad was left woefully short in the deeper central midfield positions - and seemingly always is. Letting Romeu go without a replacement was a mistake but probably not Ralph’s. And if AMN was the replacement then it seems that was either and incorrect assessment or he isn’t ready. But perhaps he might be deployed more advanced?
All I saw on Friday was a depressing last season performance from a mostly last season starting XI and that to me did not show any progression. Ralph picks the team and he is responsible for the way we play ultimately and we need to get back to high press, high energy football and not try to be too clever with the new 5 subs rule. Start with your best players with a clear attacking plan would be the way to go imo.
Simeone saves his best player for the last 30 mins to be fair https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/62970313
It would make sense, he’s been given a small chance and performances haven’t been great. I would imagine the board considered replacing him in the summer but couldn’t get the right candidate.
Yes, a small chance before the new signings have had the chance to settle in properly. It wouldn't make sense at all. He should either have gone in the summer or give him until the WC break at the earliest.
He’s had 7 games, that’s not no chance. Several of the signings hit the ground running. Maybe the board feel they’ve seen enough? Much of the fan base have. Like I say, if someone they like is available then it would make sense. I suspect they wanted to change in the summer but couldn’t get their man. Ralph isn’t terrible and hasn’t lost the dressing room so they didn’t need to get shot quickly. I don’t hate Ralph and am not desperate to see him frog marched out but based on our history I don’t think he’s right for us. I expect to see him replaced in the next 2 months.
If things follow the traditional Saints way, Ralph will somehow conjure a sneaky win against Everton and be sacked the following day?
But do you honestly think he's done badly enough from these 7 games to deserve the sack? I don't. Hence why he deserves to be in charge until the international break IMO.
On those 7 games alone, no. But taking everything into consideration, over 4 seasons, there hasn’t been enough improvement. The fact that after all this time people are drawing comparisons with Pelegrino speaks volumes.
That's more down to the fact we were owned by Gao. It's pretty much impossible to improve in the PL without substantial investment in the squad. We had to sell our best players just to buy mediocre ones. That just isn't sustainable and it showed on the pitch. Which is why Ralph deserves a decent shot under the new owners after a summer transfer window. 7 games isn't that. We could have had Guardiola managing us over the least few years and he wouldn't have an awful lot better. Very harsh to pin the lack of improvement over the last 4 seasons on Ralph.
We have better players on the bench, Yet he starts mediocre ones, he hasn't been awful... but to blindly just not say he isn't the one to be judged despite him picking the team is rubbish. The improvement falls on Ralph, and if it weren't for thr fact that our Recruitment had signed these already class players in ABK, Lavia we'd probably be on the same points as Leicester.
His team selection has been questionable for one game this season. That's it. Don't forget he threw Lavia and Tino in straight away. We don't see what goes on in training. I also want to point out the Villa team selection wasn't much different from the Chelsea game. Only difference was Djenepo in for Lavia. But no one's criticising his team selection for that one are they?
I just don’t believe that nobody else could possibly do any better, particularly during our dreadful run. Yes the squad was not great, but the players were not motivated and under performed.
Odd isn’t it. I get that he’s a nice guy and comes across well, but all the evidence is there to suggest that he is a mediocre manager. All the bad stuff gets explained away and he can do no wrong.
