Match Day Thread Southampton v Leicester City Friday night football 25.10.2019 8pm

We have a championship squad so I’m not surprised to see us get battered. Ralph has shown himself to be useless since Rohl left us, I don’t really care what happens with us from here on out. The board have made our bed over the last 4 years and it’s only so long before we pay the price for their incompetence (which many of us have been criticised for pointing out over the last 4 years).

 

I think Gao out protests are on the horizon.

 

Everyone is a tad harsh on Ralph. The game was lost as soon as we went 1-0 down. Ryan sent off, heads dropped, pissing down with rain against a pretty decent side. What the **** can he possibly do about that? The side he put out was the best we have available. Feel bit sorry for the guy.

 

Should have reacted quicker. Get organised, get an outlet like Long on, and don't concede a bucket of goals. But I'm still firmly behind Ralph. We have bigger problems.

 

How often do you see a team go down to 10 and lose 9-0? If heads dropped so quickly then that’s a damning indictment of how the group is managed, IMHO.

 

The team is going to be really lacking in confidence after such a hammering.............Ralph's set up is just not working. Taking off his best player at half time namely Ings was never going to help..........As was bringing on more defensive players. Oh man that worked..................Sorry I'm beginning to lose serious faith in the whole management team. Goa hasn't a clue nor those around him!!!!

 

In Ralph's defence, we only lost the 2nd half 4-0 and two of them were set pieces so the HT changes worked to a degree

 

Our squad isn’t good but not championship.

Bertrand
Cedric
Yoshida
Romeu
JWP
Redmond
McCarthy
Pierre
Ings

Djenepo
Boufal

Even Long has Premier League level.

Admittedly not too high Premier League quality, but our problem is not one thing. It is a combination of several things. There are several things wrong.

With the right things in place, that squad should be able to stay up all be it we’d hope for better than that.

Clearly some issues with Ralph too.

 

All I'm saying is this is 3 years worth of **** ups now landing at his door,, tad harsh.

 

I disagree with most of that list, if you think Long is a premier league (quality) player then there really is no reasoning with you.

Bertrand, Cédric, Pierre, Boufal are the only players of half that would get close to a top half team. Ings offers nothing outside of capitalising on defensive errors, he can’t run in behind and he can’t hold the ball up and create openings for team mates. Redmond has been over rated massively by Saints fans. But he was the only bright spark we had last season so it’s only natural I guess.

Edit - you state numerous things are wrong, but the only thing that matters is the players we put out on the pitch. I’ve been saying for years our recruitment has been poor but there has always been the deniers who want to trust the board. Our team is **** and if we survive this season it’ll be a minor miracle.

 

Jesus, you've become the voice of reason on here, I think I need to fall off the scaffolding as well!

 

I can only think of 1 or 2 people who have actually defended the board on here in the last 4 years, so please don’t play the martyr.

As I have said many times, sacking Ralph will change nothing. Gao and Kat need to sort their **** out or find another owner, or we are ****ed, even if they brought Klopp in. The club is in the worst position since the Lowe years.

The only bright spark is that there’s little chance of Gao popping up as a Brexit Party candidate!

 

I’m putting mine back to 2016

 

It’s a mess from top to bottom.... every single person on the playing, management, coaching and at board level needs to have a long hard look at themselves and show a reaction as passionate as those die hard fans who sang their hearts out to the last second.

The players and Ralph will be hurting and need the chance to show a reaction, but sadly I fear the players will get away with it as Ralph will pay the price within the week.

Unless we employ a football brain with lots of experience as DoF very soon, we are staring into the abyss as a club who considers themselves top flight.

 

I agree with you about the players. We have a couple of players of potential, a couple with quality and the rest are doing nothing.

I also agree that all that matters is the players we put on the pitch but who would have picked a radically different side? You just wouldn’t, we have no depth and few to no options for most positions.

In no way do I think Ralph is blameless but he isn’t on the pitch conceding 9. He would have expected a wolves performance but got that. No chance he could have prevented it IMHO.

 

Of course there is reasoning with me. Let’s discuss it before getting shirty.

I don’t rate Long as a great player but he has proved that he can be used in a Premier
League squad (if other things are correct)

Redmond maybe be overrated by saints fans but he is still proven to be a premier league player.

Ings is also a premier league player. He’s done it in the premier league.

I note you have now used the term “top half team”. You didn’t state that originally and I clearly said about a squad that should be able to stay up.

Now do we have a discussion about it or do we get shirty with each other and lose all rational though because we’ve been thumped 9-0 and having a bad time.

Re-read my post carefully and my carefully chosen words. I said a lot kid things are wrong and if a combination of things were better, we’d stay up. Hence a premier league club.

Up to you now to decide if we carry on with a proper discussion.

 

Can we go back to 10/11?


Life was much simpler when we were losing to Rochdale.

 

Oh hey, the end of the day was better than the start. I pretended not to care who won the rugby but secretly stoked to see the ABs beaten. Great performance from england.

 

Go outside and wear that England shirt with pride!

 

Good times - Dean Wilkins in caretaker charge. Bringing on Joseph Mills for Alex Chamberlain. Ahhh ...