Not sure I get what Ralph did wrong today. He had to make changes from the West Ham game because the players he has are not fit, because the previous manager did not train them hard enough for the Premier League. So now he has to take this team and get them to a level that they should already be at by this time of the year, so he trains them hard, trying to save us from relegation. We are playing a team that thrashed us 6-1 and he has seen how some of the players have reacted to his high intensity training and decides to give some other players a chance to show what they can do. He should have taken from this game, that Mario cannot be bothered, Ely is not a premier league footballer, Long and Austin are not going to keep us up and that we have two good youngsters coming through. All, but an obvious penalty not given, stopped us from being one up with 10 minutes to play in the first half and could have changed the whole complexation on the game. Ralph is the breath of fresh air we needed and I will back him 100% for the rest of the season, because I see a good determined manager, willing to take risks to get this thing turned around and we all need to be behind him, every dedicated, passionate Saints supporter we can muster.
I had not expectations from the match today and thought we would lose. However, I would have hoped that we would have given them a better go - certainly for more than the last 15 minutes of the first half. I feel disappointed about today. I understand that some players need to be rested and that the likes of Ings cannot play every match due to the risk of injury. That is the sensible option. However, it was the manner with which we lost. We did not press nor play with pace yet Man City won the game at a canter. I think City should be admired by all fans. This is how football should be played,. It is inspirational football. I just keep thinking what someone like Koeman would have made from the wet-blanket of a performance that was put in to day. I don't think we should get too wound up by PEH's red. There are more issues of concern that worry me more with players such as Ely being totally superfluous. I just expected more from the Saints today. A woeful performance like that, especially after Thursday, was not anticipated.
I think he definitely wants to see what he’s got before Jan. Better idea of what he needs now and who isn’t good enough. I thought Ramsey looked useful and Oriel is getting back to his best. Mario is clearly still unwell. Not convinced by Targett and JWP and Ely can maybe start packing their bags
Just because he's saves a few, doesn't mean he should be excused from criticism around the 3 he did let in. 2 of which he should have saved.
Up until PEH got sent off I was relatively relaxed. I said before the game I'd take a two goal defeat to City - especially given we were basically playing a second XI - and a two goal defeat was exactly what we were getting. But losing PEH for four games is a hammer blow (albeit the first of those matches would probably have been a defeat any way). I'm sure he knows what he did was wrong, but nevertheless I would expect Ralph to have words with him - and maybe more. Nevertheless, he was still my Saints MOTM. I don't think we played particularly well. Generally speaking most players were just average - neither bad nor good. Aside from Romeu, who appears to be improving game-on-game, no-one really put their hands up to stake a claim in our normal XI (although JWP I think deserves some credit for the way he played when out of position at RWB). That's particularly concerning in relation to Ely. Yes we were playing City, and yes he was surrounded by sub-standard teammates, so I do somewhat want to give him the benefit of the doubt; but we appear to have spent £16m (or whatever it was) on someone who just continued to run down blind alleys. McCarthy continues to confuse me - making saves he probably shouldn't be making, and not making saves he probably should be making. But yeah, for me this was all about not getting thrashed. And we didn't. Ings, Armstrong and co are rested up, and Ralph has had a look at some other players. (PS. Clear as day to me that Cedric, Gabbi, Davis and Fraser are all available for transfer next month, and quite possibly Hoedt, JWP and Long too. We won't sell that many players - probably only two or three; four maximum - but that doesn't stop them from being available for transfer.)
Thank you. Just got back from the game and reading through, getting very confused by people thinking we played a back four. It was the same formation as the last games.
Rush of blood to the head mate, he let his frustrations show. On the one hand, yep, he’s let his team down, he’s let his...yadda yadda... But on the other, he’s shown how much he cares. It looked ****ing awful from the Chapel btw, despite being miles away.
Couldn’t disagree more. They were brilliant the first half hour, we couldn’t get near them. We got back into it for about 12 minutes, then a combination of JWP going down too easily (when he could have had an actual chance) plus a dose of horrid luck, and the game against players of that quality was gone.
Bailly just got sent off for much less than Pierre (who, by the way, was superb up until his rush of blood to the head).
If anything, that made the red card worse. We had an 85 minute display fresh in our minds of what we'll now be missing. I'd have taken some sort of two-for-one deal, where the referee sends two other players of ours off in exchange for keeping PEH on.
You know you’re no longer part of the young generation when your initial reaction to the Pierre challenge was “get stuck in lad” It’s probably a reaction to see saints defenders backing off and dangling legs like ballarinas for the most part.
Agreed. But these things happen. Strangely, his suspension may be the thing that stops Lemina being sold in January. I’d probably take Reed/Clasie back right now.
So he misses Chelsea, Derby, Leicester and Everton and then back for Palace. Not so bothered by the first two, going to be a miss for the second two, but at least he won’t miss a game against one of the bottom half teams.
