I think he’s been better than Stuart Armstrong so far this season. I don’t get the Ely hate at all, at worst he’s consistently average, but he works hard and he certainly isn’t the only player to give the ball away a lot. The problem in the first half yesterday, was that every time we did lose the ball we got overrun, because one thing Palace did really well was get forward quickly. They have a front three who’d trouble any side in the league tbh. When Mainland-Niles came on btw, that stopped happening.
The thing which is really worrying me this season is other teams who are around where we are/expect to be are snatching wins in unlikely places. Leeds yesterday being a good example. I can't see us under Ralph ever getting a last minute winner at Anfield. In fact I can't remember when we last scored in the 85+ minute. I think we're in real real trouble this season. Yes our first team are pretty **** (and it's clear this summers window has been on the face of it really poor) but the only thing we can realistically change is Ralph. We're not getting 11 amazing players in Jan so Ralph has to go
So far this season we’re averaging 0.92pts per game, 23% wins. We’re on course to get 35 points, so you could be right.
4 wins in 27. Let that sink in. Yes, Ralph was promised a striker he didn't get. But that stat in itself is damning towards Ralph and why he has to go. We sacked Pellegrino for less. I feel like we just keep finding excuses for him now. He had no financial backing under Gao, or His coaching set up wasn't his, or His playing staff wasn't his. All true, and yes we addressed all of that over the summer and I still see no improvement. But now i hear he's missing a striker. Well, yes he is, and the board ****ed up, but one player won't make a difference to the turgid football being offered up right now. We might have a couple of extra points but we wouldn't be massively better off.
Exactly, al;ways an excuse for Ralph, but none for the other managers we sacked for pretty much producing better results.
4 in 27 is bad. Agreed. However, since the transfer window, Played 13, won 3, drawn 3, lost 7. For the gloom and doom merchants, let that sink in. No where near as bad as 4 in 27. We are unbeaten in 46% of our games and we have played Spurs, Man U, Chelsea, West Ham, City and Arsenal in those. Not good I agree, but with a new team, a few injuries, what do we honestly expect? We aren’t Man City. Also proves that anyone can manipulate stats to prove or disprove a point
And we have beaten Chelsea, drawn with Arsenal and West Ham and gave Man U a run for their money. The teams you quoted have also had truly dreadful results as football is like that - you always get points form unexpected areas.
But this is the problem. It’s alright taking the odd point of the top 8 but then taking few of the bottom 10. Been our problem for a couple of seasons.
I agree, but surely part of the problem is that we are the same level of the teams about us, so there are fine margins in the result against them? Take yesterday for an example, they missed shed loads in the first half and if Che was slightly better we may have won - fine margins. Lost to Villa where we were awful and so were they. They get scrappy goal, nothing stopping us getting one. Wolves away, they get one goal we bombard them - a bit of luck and we would have won 2-1 or 3-1. What i am saying is that yes, we need to beat those around us, but as we are as crap as each other, then there are fine margins to beating them.
So far this season we’re averaging 0.92pts per game,23% wins. We’re on course to get 35points. It’s still really bad and likely to get us relegated.
35 point has kept people up. Also a slight improvement gets us to magical 40? I know what you are saying, but it isn’t the 4 in 27 (yes that is a fact) skewed to prove a point…as is my stat!
Agree, but this is the problem, under Ralph we are failing when it comes to the fine margins. Including the 4-0 away to Villa in March (which is when this alarming form started) we have lost to VILLA X2 / Palace X2 / Everton / Wolves / Brentford / Burnley / Watford / Leicester / Newcastle plus a few games against the top 6. We have won only 2 of our last 9 home games, and one of those was Arsenal way back in March.
So i've finally and with a heavy heart changed my vote to out as I have lost faith that Ralph will ever get the team playing as they were in the first half of his reign. Sometimes things just run their course and it's best for all parties to make a change, even Arsene Wenger lost the Gooner fans in the end. It makes perfect sense for Ralph to remain in charge until the WC break and the new manager time to get accustomed to the coaching team and squad. I'm grateful to Ralph for the job he has done and some of the football and results in his time have made me proud to be a Saints fan and put a smile on the fan's faces after the disasterous Pellegrino/Hughes period here.
Agree with all of this. We have had some great results and played some fabulous football, but the last 9/10 months has been dreadful (mostly). It’s time for a fresh input and ideas. All managers run their course eventually, even Klopp at Liverpool is starting to.
