Ralph sacked as Saints manager

Having slept on it (for the hundredth time lately) I will wait and see what we do over the summer. There's definitely a staleness about the squad that has come about because we haven't been able to invest nearly enough in it or shift the high earning deadwood.

 

I still don't know what fans expect. Everything is so clear if you look at the bigger picture. Since Ralph has been in charge we have spent less that almost every other club in the league - we should have been relegated by now yet we have never actually been properly involved in a relegation scrap under Ralph.

Yes I agree that Ralph is far from perfect and has made mistakes, but he is still performing better than expected with the resources he has - it is not difficult to see that.

With Sports Republic it looks like we may finally invest into the squad, it is only then that fans can start expecting anything other than just surviving. If we spend this summer and don't improve then by all means blame Ralph, but until we invest, we cant hope for anything other than survival.

 

I'm still Ralph in but he certainly hasn't helped himself with some of his comments in recent months.

If you're going to dig out the fans and players publicly then you need to make sure you're putting out far better performances than we have for the last 12/13 matches or people are understandably going to turn. The CL final comment re last night was just plain odd too.

I think last year's collapse seemed more acceptable due to injuries and the fact we clearly went all out for the FA Cup whereas this year we've been relatively lucky with injuries and clearly treated the FA Cup as a lower priority.

I'd keep him as this is his first poor season in my view and I want to give him a chance to redeem himself in the cups after such a disappointment this season. The worry is that we're getting steadily worse rather than progressing in the right direction.


Despite all that though think there's a very good chance he'll be gone next week. New owner can't have been impressed with the collapse in form and the chants at Brentford and empty ground last night won't have gone unnoticed.

 

I do agree with that, except for the raft of baffling tactical decisions, and the maddening slowness to react and change things in game that’s infested our recent form.

I think he absolutely deserves a chance having spent a bit, and he deserves a hell of a lot more respect from some for the work and commitment he’s put into the club, but I do have concerns that there’s a staleness and malaise that might have permeated too far now. If we spend some competitive money and there’s a complete coaching overhaul, then yes, let’s see what he can do then.

 

Yeah, I have questioned some of his decisions for sure. But ultimately, what every manager should be judged on is results, and I firmly believe Ralph is achieving the very best that a club spending less than the rest of the league can expect.

Iirc Norwich are the only club over the past 5 seasons with a lower net spend... and look where they end up every season they are in the PL!

 

I suspect Semmens will stick up for Ralph which might save him.

 

But we have a really good team that is under performing!

 

Probably better to look at wages rather than transfer prices as that's a far better indicator of where a club should be than the fees they spend. No idea where we are in that table but I suspect it's not right at the bottom.

I'd say there's probably 5/6 teams who have a worse squad than us this season. At the beginning of the season everyone was talking about what a great summer we had and how Ralph finally had his own squad etc

To say now that all we should hope for is 17th and that was our target at the beginning of the season is revisionism of the highest order imo.

 

Also I’m not so sure that this seasons form necessarily goes into next season (assuming we sign a few players).

Last season we were terrible at the end of the season but we have survived this year despite being terrible for probably at least half of it again.

I’m not overly fussed about if he stays or goes but if I had to make the call I would keep him and let him spend some money and see where we are around Xmas.

 

It looks like we are going to finish 15th, which if there are 5 maybe 6 teams worse than us is exactly where we should finish based on squad quality

 

Yeah, I wouldn't say a bad run carries over into the next season. Particularly if a squad overhaul happens.

 

According to this we are 13th for wages

https://www.spotrac.com/epl/payroll/

so 13th for wages, 19th for net spend and 15th seems about average/slightly above average

 

Lost to Everton away, drew at home to Man Utd (should have won), drew at Newcastle (definitely should have won), drew with West Ham and Man City. Again, could have won those games. Like you said, we played quite well apart from Everton 2nd half.

 

Brentford, Brighton and Wolves are all punching.

 

Difference right at the start was that you could absolutely see what we were striving for, amongst a really hard set of fixtures.

Latterly, less so.

 

Point well made. I am not saying Ralph is achieving the impossible every season, but we are certainly not under performing.

 

It’s not always about spending money though. We have pissed money away on mediocre signings year after year. We have also allegedly (under Ralph), given new contracts to the likes of McCarthy and Stephens which is a joke as they are championship players at best. Given a 2 year contract to Walcott again under Ralph which has turned out to be an expensive cheerleader. We have been saying “clear the deadwood” for 3 years now.

And why do some people go on about another coach not being better than Ralph? Really?
New coaches make average squads better all the time.
Potter has made Brighton better
Moyes has made West Ham better
Lage has made Wolves better
Vierra has made Palace better
Jackson has made Burnley better
Frank has done an unbelievable job with by far the lowest paid squad in premier league.
Cooper at forest,unbelievable job
Corberan, took Huddersfield from near relegation to play off final this season.

My point is, is that of course their is a manager / coach out there, that could do better than Ralph, but their are ones that could do worse, but do we stay with this for another season?

 

For sure. watching those games was frustrating but in an enjoyable sort of way. We were excellent first half against Everton but then faded in the 2nd half and we were missing big chances against United and Newcastle to win those games. The City game was a tactical masterclass from Ralph plus a great team performance. I just wonder if Ralph gets mentally fatigued like the players suffer physically towards the end of a season. With no assistant, Ralph has to carry a huge amount of work on his shoulders. Because there's a huge difference between the Ralph of today and the Ralph at City away.

 

I think regressing on last season (or at best standing still should we beat Leicester) despite almost everyone on here agreeing it was the first time he had his own squad is underperforming in my view.

Despite the squad issues it was always assumed on here that once Ralph got some of his own players that would be more suited to his style that we'd improve but it's not really worked out like that? We're actually getting worse.

 

You say it is not all about money then go on to list managers at (premier league) clubs that have all spent way more than Saints Only one on that list I'd give you is Frank.