It’s too early to completely write Jones off, but I feel it’s unlikely to work. Happy to be proven wrong. SR hired lots of young inexperienced players with potential and they haven’t yet stepped up to PL level. Now we’ve hired a championship manager and our survival depends on him stepping up. It’s a weird appointment at a weird time. Fans bemoaned the idea of Dych, and we get a manager with no experience in the PL and lots of potential. I’m hopping mad and I want something in the middle!
I was being a bit juvenile, as he said it’s been a long time. I personally wouldn’t boo him, it was fun taking the piss after he left though.
As the remaining forum optimist/realist may I just add amongst the predictions that we won't win a single game under this manager and we're definitely going to be down, possibly for a double relegation (all said in this thread), we are also just a couple of wins off thirteenth place. Vin
Mitoma cost Brighton £2.5m. What a signing that looks. Their recruitment is now what ours used to be. Hats off to Tony Bloom.
We are nowhere near as clever as our board/directors/ recruitment team think we are. The club is a mad house. Barmy decision after barmy decision. I have just seen on Twitter that the last time a Nathan Jones side played against Fulham, they lost 7-0. So at least he has some experience for the next game when they batter us by a similar score line.
I`ve thought that Jones will be either an inspired appointment, or a dismal failure - nothing in between. It`s too early to form a conclusion. But I thought yesterday it was as if he hadn`t watched any Saints games this season. Likewise against Lincoln, it was as if he hadn`t watched the Sheff Wed game. We haven`t had a new manager bounce - the opposite, in fact. Any ideas he has been trying to impose over the last 5-6 weeks don`t seem to have been implemented - do the players believe in what he is trying to do ? - doesn`t seem so on yesterday`s showing. I agree with other posters on here - the centre of midfield is the main problem - that needs sorting desperately in the window. I would have DCC and ABK as my CB`s. Baz is young and will make mistakes - maybe take him out of the firing line for a while and bring back the much maligned McCarthy, who is better IMO than many give him credit for.
There one or two others in the optimist camp, myself included, who approach each game with a winning attitude.
I definitely thought this was the risk of getting rid of Ralph. It is one of the reasons I didn't want him to go - as I knew that there was no one out there that I knew of who would be of a similar calibre and a record like his for keeping us up through thick and thin. I thought we might get someone with a bit more PL experience but a bit of a dinosaur - another Mark Hughes water-treading exercise. Fans forget that the club don't fire a manager and then come and ask their fans who they want, money no object. As someone said above, be careful what you wish for - and certainly once you get the wish, I feel those wanting rid of Ralph now need to give the whole thing a chance, not start losing it again immediately. I imagine you learn pretty quickly in the PL, and we have the advantage of a window upon us. If SR genuinely want to give us a fighting chance, they can do that to an extent. But maybe this is a longer-term approach, and a cyclical refresh and reboot period in their heads? I've no idea, but I'd agree it seems a huge risk to take with us.
Quite honestly we could have lined up 5 forwards in the old fashioned way, put 5 at the back and miss out the midfield altogether as yesterday nothing came from those with job title, mid-fielder, probably same result.
New manager bounce is a bit of a myth - off the top of my head, Man U didn't get one from Ten Hag, Newcastle didn't from Eddie Howe, and Leeds didn't from Jesse Marsch. I don't think I can recall a new manager ever having been dropped into as deep an end as NJ! I don't actually think he can take a single bit of blame atm. All he could have done is reject the job offer.
For the talk about Jones not seeing out the season, I wouldn't be banking on O'Neill still being in place come May.
The only thing I would say is that starting Mo El, Diallo and Moussa together is unlikely create much for themselves or the lone striker and I hope that he learns quickly that they are squad back ups at best and starting ABK and DCC would help too. But i'm with you, the end of January is probably when we can call it a Jones team.
Elyounoussi isn't a back up player. He started plenty of games for Ralph and he's started every game for Jones. He's also a Norway international. He's not brilliant but on his day he's one of our better players.
