Ex Lion Tamer

This is basically it. The divide here is between people who are certain about what will happen in the future and are convinced that Ralph must go, and people who think football is unpredictable and that we should give Ralph 10 games to see if he can turn it around. Of course, if Ralph doesn't turn it around then the former camp will all say "we were right and you were wrong", when actually the rest of us never said he would definitely turn it around, just that it is worth seeing if he can

I'm worried about them saying we'll only buy players in the £10m bracket but there will be bargains this summer and I don't think it's their intention to downgrade on Bertrand

It's such a nonsense though. The manager is the most important person at the club. Invest in a quality manager and they'll get better value out of cheaper players

Having a proper attacking threat down the left like we have on the right from KWP could actually be pretty huge for our attacking play. I share your lack of enthusiasm for Minamino though

Three seems unlikely. It's pretty clear from Ralph's comments that "two in each position" doesn't necessarily mean players won't be covering more than one position

Did we really bring in Hoedt to keep Van Dijk company or is this one of those Saintsweb fictions?

He was a goalkeeper so wouldn't be able to coach the outfield players. In all seriousness, I'd still give Ralph the start of next season but if it wasn't going well then probably I'd take him. It's not a slam dunk though because although he's done pretty well at Wolves, he's had resources behind him and the rest of his career looks fairly hit and miss

I think it's pretty natural for a young foreign player to have a bit of a dip in their debut season in a tough new league. I also buy the argument that he's a bit similar to JWP and could do with a tougher player alongside him. 4 defensive CMs does seem like a lot but I'd be sticking with Diallo

Definitely worth a go but I expect the player will want to keep his options open

7 was my prediction. Can we get anything against Leeds and West Ham?

Some fans saw him as a bit of disappointment at the time because he didn't score as many for us as he did at Sunderland, but his all round play was quality and a real asset. And I'm not just saying that to make an Adams comparison

13 goals in the last 40 appearances for Che now

Why does Ralph need to try him out when he sees him in training and youth games all the time?

I agree with keeping him to the end of his contact, as long as we think he will maintain his form if he misses out on his dream top-four move. He's probably not a Van Dijjk character, but we did also see it with Beattie arguably, that players aren't always the same when you play tough with them. It sounds like Danny has handled himself well during the contract negotiations and we may feel a responsibility to take his career ambitions into account. I certainly wouldn't sell to anyone outside the Champions League

4 points on the board so far

What a player Ings is. We'll be very lucky to hang onto him

Ghosted in at the far post to score!

If we can get Ings to stay then this is the type of player who could grow to replace him in a year or two

You see, I'd say that if the club wants to move up from the bottom third then we need a third choice striker like Adams to cover for injuries. We need to build on him, not replace

I don't really like goalkeepers as outfield coaches either but if Davis is acting as the keeper and setting up situations where Adams can practice his finishing then it's not totally bonkers. There's a limit to how much you can explain to someone how to shoot, and if he's getting that from elsewhere then all that's left is for Adams to practice and ultimately work it out for himself

Someone ITK said that he has a good attitude when things are going well and he believes in the manager, but not at other times

They may have had a falling out but I also remember Ryan posting on social how good it was to have a manager with a proper plan (implying that was not the case under the previous two), so he was at least initially impressed

Ah right, sorry, we agree then. Although I wouldn't totally absolve him on the full back front to be honest - he could have insisted we have an easy option a la Cuco Martina as a back up to get us to the end of the season. It seems like we only looked at quality

This is always the big unknown but I'm sure a guy as meticulous as Ralph will be obsessively watching videos of the players the scouts identify and making clear if he doesn't want them. The club won't always be able to pull off the transfers but I think he'll be heavily involved in deciding which targets they go for. He's at the very least a vital cog in the transfer process, and I think it is showing

After what? This season?