I reckon the 9-0 will be done by Tuchel just as the managers embrace before kick off. Tuchel is gonna go all Ali G on Ralph's ass, and pull him in and say "seriously man, 2 seasons in a row and wowed, 9-zip, and you keeping you job is mad. Respect". Or something like that.
Is this the first season ever that the Premier League has had 3 German-speaking managers at the same time? It must also be the first time in quite a while that every club below Southampton in the Premier League is managed by an English manager, while only one team above us is.
That's the issue. Too many German speaking. "Ralph, do you think we will lose tomorrow by many?" "Nein"
Most people seem to think we will lose. Clearly on recent form of the two teams it would suggest it is a strong possibility (that’s not how football works, but I’ll leave that there for now)... What I’m looking for and yet to read is “If we lose this Ralph needs to go”.... I bet if we do lose this, I will be reading “7 defeats in a row is unacceptable, he’s got to go” Where are those people now? I’ve looked at the remaining games and I think we will end up on 39-44 points. So at that point I will ask those people to look back and say out of 38 games and say, “Is that ok?” It doesn’t matter really what order the points come in. It’s the end that matters. Fran Edit: Tolerable
How about 7 defeats in a row is unacceptable, but Ralph needs to stay, as a draw or win is coming, and many of the 7 losses were VAR inflicted, as they directly changed the outcome of games that were well managed by Ralph. Aside from Utd, that should never have been 9-0, the only game I thought we were clueless in was Newcastle, and maybe we were so disillusioned by the game at that point, it was just one too many. I did raise the Ralph Q in that thread after the game I think, but from a point of view of when is the right time to Q things. I'm absolutely convinced he his right for us and he must stay, but I can understand there will be a point where I expect lots of people calling for his head if we lose the next 3. I dont think he will go even if we do, as we will hopefully have more players back from injury, and those that have already returned will be back in the groove, as when players have been out a while, it naturally takes a while to get up to speed. Stuey is a great example of this. I wonder if we lost all the games up to Sheff Utd, what would happen with the pressure of that game, and dread to think what will happen if we lose it, which is a possibility. Oh, and for what it's worth, I think we will break our duck at Goodison, snatching all 3 points. Today, i still feel pretty numb about the Wolves game, and dont seem srded about this one. I also keep saying I'm not watching it. I also know come 1228 today, I'll be turning it on with excitement. Wont last long, as it will soon then to hope, and well we all know about hope...
Through these last games, I still think we had two bad games: United and Toon. Wolves we were good first half and then started slow second half, followed by the penalty incidents. Villa, Leicester, City we played well. Arsenal outplayed first half, played well second half. Liverpool was between city and Leicester I think for our last 8 games. Fine margins. I don’t like the use of the word unacceptable. If something is unacceptable there must be a consequence, so what’s the consequence?
Yeah I get that, I think unacceptable is an acceptable word, though tolerable is good too... The consequence doesn't have to be a bad thing though Fats, it could be as simple as tweaking a game plan, or making us harder to break down, it doesn't have to mean Ralph being sacked. Losing 9-0 v Leicester was unacceptable imo, and the consequence was great in that Ralph went back to what he knew and it improved him as a consequence. I was also reading, not sure if on here or SW, about going to a back 3 for this game. For me this would be a disaster, going against what we believe in. Like you and I both said, this run of 6 games, only 2 were were poor in, and we could have won the other 4 and pushing for top 4 right now. If we do go back 3, I can see us getting destroyed down the flanks, ball into the channels and stuff. Stick to what we know we are good at, as these last lot of results are a freak not an indication of the norm. Also, didnt we take 4 or 5 games after the Leicester game to win? Seem to recall we almost beat Arsenal away, and they needed 6 billion minutes of injury time until the ref let them score? Btw, you think Al will be in the squad today? I sincerely hope so...
We need a miracle today. Miracles are not as rare as all that, they’re why we watch live sport in the first place - in the hope of seeing something magical.
The sums up my thoughts entirely and is a good post. I cannot see any logic for dismissing Ralph. The blot blot in a copy book is letting Valery go out on loand and leaving us short of cover. I am not hopeful about this game but it is the kind of match we would win 1-0 following a dodgy VAR decision.
Yeah, i do get the Valery issue, but for me his defensive work was just so poor, i can understand why we loaned him out. One of the last games we played, he let someone come inside him to recoeve the ball and they scored, and I though right there, that is why he wont carry on here. To be honest, id be amazed if he wasnt moved on permanently in the summer, along with Vokins. I also am getting a feeling all is not well with the Bertrand contract situation, so perhaps moving these two on, and if Bertrand leaves, means we can afford wages for RBs replacement. I hope he stays, just a feeling im getting. And I know this will sound strange, but ive got a good feeling about the business we may do in the summer - I can imagine we can shift on the majority of the ones we want shot of, which I imagine is Hoedt, Lemina, maybe Mo Ely and possibly Fraser, and imagine Ralph can finally start building what he wants.
MATCH DAY! Come on you Saints. It's doable. Okay, unlikely, but doable. Particularly if we can dredge up some of our early season form. What we need to see today is a positive attitude more than anything, and a willingness to fight if we go a goal down. I'm going to avoid all social media if we lose, because I'll have a righteous fury going at the people on Southampton Twitter/FB saying "hE hAs To gO". As Fats says, we've actually only been genuinely poor in a couple of the recent losses. Usually that turns around quicker than it has done (cheers VAR). Maybe it turns around today. Keep the faith.