Match Day Thread Southampton v Everton Saturday 9/11/2019 15:00

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Ian Thumwood said:
During Ralph's first few games at St Mary's we were far more expansive and the team appeared to press more often. Yesterday the criticism on Radio Solent was that the attacks were not happening with any pace and I recall this being the same issue with MP2. There were moments last season which strongly suggested that , given a decent defence, the team would do well this season. In fact, the opening matches against Man Utd and Liverpool may not have garnered the expected points tally, but the performances were decent enough.

Ralph's attributes last season were not only steadying the ship but also improving the performances of players like Redmond, PEH and JWP. on top of that, the likes of Obafemi and Valery genuinely looked like players who would be significant this season. In fact, under Ralph, JWP looked like achieving his potential at last and he was becoming the player many had predicted. This doesn't appear to have happened since September. JWP and PEH have been poor , Danso looks like a fringe player who will be lucky to get a match and Valery has lost his mojo. The major acquisition of the summer appears to be lacking in confidence and Ralph's ability to muster improved performances has clearly not worked with him. On top of that, attacking players like Djenepo and Obafemi have been injured which has not helped. I don't think this latter problem has helped but whatever was done to improve the players last season has not happened this time although I strongly believe that Ralph should put more confidence in Boufal and he will get the results.

For what it is worth, I am still undecided about Armstrong. I think he needs to be picked in the correct position as I am certain we have not seen the best of him by a long stretch. It is almost a case of wondering why we bought him in the first place but I would be very interested to see what he can do, As for Callum Slattery, he seems to have disappeared off the radar although there was a lot of talk pre-season with him being the break through player this year. Maybe we need to mix things up a bit more although I think the options with the defence as a major stumbling block. We a decent back four, I think that the bones of a decent squad are there but it just seems to be that there are too many there who are not playing for Ralph and maybe those who are not fully committed should be moved on in January.
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Which is what has made this cataclysmic downfall all the more curious.

There are other forces afoot here, for certain.
 
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Le Tissier's Laces said:
Which is what has made this cataclysmic downfall all the more curious.

There are other forces afoot here, for certain.
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I have no doubt that Ralph would be a good manager with another team. Unfortunately this team is the team he has got, that is obviously not entirely his fault and is a Gao/board issue.

What is Ralph's fault is his stubbornness/inability to try and play to a system that compliments the squad he has. I would say our squad is on a par to Brighton/Norwich/Newcastle/Burnley/Sheff Utd. The main difference is the manager. All of those (maybe not Norwich, but they are doing even worse than us) have managers who's first thought is "Do not lose" and play a style conducive to that. We don't and get battered because of it.

As it is all about the money/PL revenue it would hardly be surprising if Gao went down the Allardyce type route to try and ensure our survival. I am pretty confident the results would be better and we would have a far better chance of survival (and based on this season anyway can the performances really be much worse?). My opinion is that relegation would be a financial disaster which may take years to recover from, or another Markus type coming in to save the day. I would get in Allardyce if he wanted the job, accept the football will be ****e for a couple of years but we survive and stlll get PL revenue. During those years we let the contracts of the unwanted players run down making them easier to shift and then we can try and rebuild the squad in a certain way. It is like hitting the reset button and we need a safe pair of hands to try and guide us through that period and that to me is someone like Allardyce

It would also complete the Sunderland cameo we are doing. According to a Sunderland supporter I know Allardyce was very good for them and he was gutted when he left to take the England job. From memory he said something like it was the first time in years the club felt like it had any direction and someone who knew what they were doing. Who knows maybe that would happen here
 
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The problem is that Allardyce saves clubs from relegation by playing an uncompromising style, once safe, fans demand a more stylish team so Allardyce gets the push. Would be interesting to see what he does with a team not in a relegation scrap that had money to spend. I don’t think he would come here especially if no cash to strengthen. We are not the attraction we were in Poch/Koeman era.
 
If Ralph gets the boot we will end up with someone like Coleman. Fat Sam wouldn't even come to us.
 
Saintmagic said:
I have no doubt that Ralph would be a good manager with another team. Unfortunately this team is the team he has got, that is obviously not entirely his fault and is a Gao/board issue.

What is Ralph's fault is his stubbornness/inability to try and play to a system that compliments the squad he has. I would say our squad is on a par to Brighton/Norwich/Newcastle/Burnley/Sheff Utd. The main difference is the manager. All of those (maybe not Norwich, but they are doing even worse than us) have managers who's first thought is "Do not lose" and play a style conducive to that. We don't and get battered because of it.

As it is all about the money/PL revenue it would hardly be surprising if Gao went down the Allardyce type route to try and ensure our survival. I am pretty confident the results would be better and we would have a far better chance of survival (and based on this season anyway can the performances really be much worse?). My opinion is that relegation would be a financial disaster which may take years to recover from, or another Markus type coming in to save the day. I would get in Allardyce if he wanted the job, accept the football will be ****e for a couple of years but we survive and stlll get PL revenue. During those years we let the contracts of the unwanted players run down making them easier to shift and then we can try and rebuild the squad in a certain way. It is like hitting the reset button and we need a safe pair of hands to try and guide us through that period and that to me is someone like Allardyce

It would also complete the Sunderland cameo we are doing. According to a Sunderland supporter I know Allardyce was very good for them and he was gutted when he left to take the England job. From memory he said something like it was the first time in years the club felt like it had any direction and someone who knew what they were doing. Who knows maybe that would happen here
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Sort of agree, but very harsh on Brighton. They’re an expansive team these days.

Oh crikey. We’d probably end up with Hughton, thinking about it.
 
Dear oh dear oh dear!

What a bunch of wusses! You do realize that we're actually doing better than last season when we finished with 39 points?

If you look at our games so far (8 points) and compare them with the same fixtures last season (swapping Sheffield for Cardiff) we managed 6 points.
We are 25% better than last season and if we continue like this until the end of the season we will get 52 points! :)
 
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yep. Well i can start my facts check

On a wider point its clealry very bleak at present but I dont think we should give up just yet (not that anyone is of course) as history shows southampton tend to push on as the season develops

A quick glance at the fixture list shows that the games through to the end of December could at least get us back in the mix as it were!

Its grim today tho granted
 
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jonny 'hasen' shuttle said:
yep. Well i can start my facts check

On a wider point its clealry very bleak at present but I dont think we should give up just yet (not that anyone is of course) as history shows southampton tend to push on as the season develops

A quick glance at the fixture list shows that the games through to the end of December could at least get us back in the mix as it were!

Its grim today tho granted
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I know, and we ain't even up North.
 
jonny 'hasen' shuttle said:
yep. Well i can start my facts check

On a wider point its clealry very bleak at present but I dont think we should give up just yet (not that anyone is of course) as history shows southampton tend to push on as the season develops

A quick glance at the fixture list shows that the games through to the end of December could at least get us back in the mix as it were!

Its grim today tho granted
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It certainly is and made worse that the feeling of RH ‘has lost the dressing room’ comes to mind, yet I find myself arguing against the thought! Watching Saturday especially in the first half wasn’t just painful, but completely baffling as to what on earth was happening in the players minds. It was almost like someone had recruited a team of players during the morning, measured them up for shirts and sent them out to play. I agree we haven’t got the best squad by far, but surely they can and have played so much better than that? So, what’s changed or happened?
 
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