Yeah he did, as did Edwards (who was better than Stephens there). It just points to Still not knowing what our best formation or players are as the main issues. Everything needs to start with settling on those 2 parts and build from there. He seems like a headless chicken.
We started Jelert against Swansea so the 3 CBs thing is entirely a tactical choice from Still, not sure why he has suggested anything other than that.
If we lose or chuck in a crap drawing display on Saturday, I feel the volume against him will be immense, though as said on Sport Republic post, that’s where a lot of the in game anger needs to be vented at.
Which clearly isn't his fault as he's only had since ****ing May to work out what he's doing. Same as poor old Spors, appointed Feb fully aware we'd accepted relegation. But yeah, give them time or something. Not their fault etc etc.
Yep, I never wanted Still to start with but thought he needs a chance, but he should have had this sorted months back. He is out of his depth.
Thing is, Röhl was always the first choice for the club but we got shafted by Chansiri. If he now goes up and works wonders at Rangers, it’s going to really stick in the craw.
Oh I really don't know. I haven't taken to Still at all. If we sacked him today, I wouldn't bat an eyelid. Or if we were to give him another game or two, then fine, but will it matter? (I hope so!) But equally, the lack of obvious options to replace him with is worrying. It's not a great time to be recruiting a new manager. There were better options available in the summer, and there might well be better options available come Christmas. Carrick, one of the few current options, is someone who knows the division and got good output both from Azaz (24-25) and Archer (22-23) - two players who we could really do with being major players for us. I also suspect our CMs would learn a lot from him (it may not be a coincidence that Boro arguably have the best CM pairing in the division). But at the end of the day, he did fail to get Boro promoted, which is a big black mark - even more so given what Edwards is now doing as his replacement. Gary O'Neill is another name, but to be honest I've never really made my mind up on him. He's a bit 'meh'. Sheff Utd accepted they got it wrong and made an early change. They've now already got more wins than us and could move level with us on Friday night. But they did have an obvious replacement to turn (back) to.
I can't help feeling that a real "football man" is what the club is sorely in need of. That may even be what most would consider a dinosaur. But a dinosaur like Warnock, Allardyce, Pardew or Bruce would surely getter a better tune out of this squad than what we are currently witnessing. That said, I hope the sighting of Ralph last night was more than just coincidence.
The only time he picked a 4-2-3-1 was with a completely different back line, GK and a DM. Then we had the good performance against Liverpool after he rotated and switched to the 3 CBs and he's played that since then. It's not too late to try the former system now with the better players that were brought in during the window but must start it on saturday. We have the squad to get to the play-offs minimum but only with the best starting XI and continuity. Russell Martin found his team after experimenting and then went four months undefeated, we need a similar reaction now.
You'd take Ralph back?, he wasn't the same manager after Rohl left and we were terrible for two seasons.
McKenna after Ipswich lost to NJ’s bunch 0-3 at home. Sound familiar? “There are two sides to the game. We need to score the goals when we have the opportunity to do so, and we've had loads of opportunities, then we've given up a poor goal and our reaction was nowhere near good enough after that. "We didn't do the fundamentals anywhere near well enough, didn't find the right response in a difficult moment, and conceded really, really poor goals in quick succession. "That bit is unacceptable and we have to address it. It was the same in the Middlesbrough game - when things went against us we went far south really quick. "We have to dig deeper individually and find more unity and togetherness to defend well when things go against us." please log in to view this image 05:32
I wouldn't blame Ralph if he was sitting there thinking "they sacked me three years ago, and yet those idiots in charge still haven't replaced Ings and have still left the poor guy in the dugout having to choose between Bazunu and McCarthy in goal". He's better off out of it.
I think my perception of where the team mentality is speaks volumes when I genuinely believe that any of the names I mentioned would offer an immediate and dramatic improvement.
Ralph being at the game wasn't a coincidence, but nor was it anything to do with us other then presumably being a good game to invite him to given it was against his former club. He was there at the invite of his old coaching buddy Craig Fleming who worked with Ralph at Wolfsburg and at Saints before that and who now works on the coaching team at Bristol City. Presumably Ralph might know their manager too.
I did wonder last night if he's under any pressure. Obviously he'll have a lot of credit in the bank, and their results in the past 15 months haven't been as bleak as ours. But they've still been awful in that period, and arguably they came into this season in a better position and with greater ambitions than us. Plus of course it can't be said that he's still early in his tenure.
Why is this considered a truth amongst Saints fans? Seems a bit of a myth to me. Ralph improved after Rohl left; that's when he hit his high points (lockdown football, top of the table etc)
I'm not up on loan conditions but can we recall Bree from Charlton if we don't have a fit RB? But failing that i'd play Edwards there and pair THB with Wood.
