They wouldn't be. Ralph is good, but he is very culpable for our current position. Hoe many times has his tactics ****ed up he didn't really play players out if position last season...
Yes, we will likely go down. However i just hope we shift the deadwood and back Ralph rather than sack him If I was offered relegation but we keep Ralph and back him with all player sale funds vs sack him and bring in someone else... I would 100% take the former.
Bednarek is a good defender but your right the rest are poor. I hope Saints get a good holding midfielder in January at least on loan to shore the defence.
The less said the better. At least I didn’t get wet edit: Prowse is a waste of space. Armstrong looks so much better on the ball and should have been playing in the middle.
Crazy talk. We CLEARLY need the worlds slowest centre back who also cant head a football at left back
The utter twat we had playing at LB, whose recently said hes off at the end of the season, walked out before FT. Some team player.
In all my time as a saints fan I don’t think I’ve felt more disconnected or despised the team as much as I do now. There is not a single player on that pitch today who I can relate to.
Well, if I’d been him, I’d have been mightily pissed off by the way Vestergard completely ignored me every time I was in space in the first half. What’s with that? Have they had a spat or something? Saying that, it’s a shame we didn’t have Boufal on earlier. He actually looked up and played the ball forward. If the ref had been half competent we would have had a lot more of the ball through free kicks - he allowed Everton to muscle us illegally off the ball a dozen times. Jack looked decent in the middle of the defence, but our midfield is woeful. Redmond was unlucky to be subbed but he won nothing and playing long balls to his head doesn’t help at all. Do we have a defensive coach? We let them have free headers and the defending for both goals was non existent. I don’t believe changing the manager will make much difference, but I wonder where the “press” has gone. Many of the players seem to have forgotten how to enjoy themselves and the ****ing “fans” who are booing their team aren’t exactly helping. I feel that Ralph is likely to become another Puel and will probably go because of pressure from the (non existent in terms of support) board and these “fans”
I didn't think it was that bad. That said, I never expected us to beat Everton, and I've thought all along the first half of the season was going to be scary, and when we could get some help from our transfers. Djenepo looked good when could get him the ball. McCarthy was at least average. Boufal dribbled into a few too many walls but also had a lovely assist and was generally effective. Vestergaard was decent. But yeah, we do suck. No arguing that. We're just not sucking beyond my expectations. I can't say I am a fan of Gao but I still want someone to point me at what he has done wrong. He has pretty much cleaned house and put some decent money into spending. Obviously I would love to start all over with new owners and new everything but that is not going to happen. The players seem to be working hard on the pitch but from various comments they do seem to be unhappy with something. If we can fix whatever it is, we will be okay. If it's just "Everything here sucks" then I guess we are screwed.
Not sure what to say about today’s performance. How many times have we basically just surrendered the game during the first 45 minutes, then improved in the second? I would sooner see us go for broke, and try to push teams back, and go down fighting, rather than just meekly surrender the way we did first half today. Everton could, and maybe should, have been 3 up by halftime. But for all that, the game swung on the referee not seeing the Djenepo assault, at 1-1, as a penalty, which, had it been given may have given us a lead (to be lost later in the game)and the belief to see the game out. Please, next game, flat back four and get bodies in the middle of the park to make a game of it.
In defence of the fans, for once, I'm with them. This is now the 4th season of dull, turgid boring football with mercenary, overpaid players who dont care. We are wasting our hard earned money, year after year, on that pile of ****. 15 home wins in 64 games (or something like that) . That's truly shocking and I'm fed up with it. My patience and support for this group of players has gone - I expect many others feel the same.
I think I'd play for this for the next 3-5 games. Macca Cedric Bednarek Yoshida Bertrand Armstrong Romeu PEH Djenepo Ings Boufal Just a settled team, tell them to press high and counter as quickly as we can. We cant defend, even with 5 at the back, so it's time to go for it. Try and get at least 3 more points before the big spend in Jan.
Today was a blow, but hardly terminal. We've slipped up in worse games than this over the past two years (eg Cardiff at home) and still survived. But absolutely, things look bleak right now, So much rides on the Watford-Norwich-Newcastle triple-header week, which follows our next game. To say that week is massive, would be a huge understatement. Thought Vestergaard was good today. Romeu diabolical. Please stop playing RBs at LB.
Thing is, I don’t for one minute think Ralph is daft, so these odd tactical decisions have to be coming from somewhere. As someone said in a previous post, I wonder if he’s just playing people he thinks might give at least fifty percent effort. There’s a cancer at this club which starts at the very top, I’m afraid. Edit: though I don’t for a minute believe Maya wouldn’t put in a shift.
I’d go all out for - McCarthy Cedric Yoshi Bednarek Bertrand Romeu Hojbjerg Redmond Boufal Djenepo Ings