Ex Lion Tamer

Only Everton and the big 6 have been in the Premier League longer than us right now. I do think we belong in this league but we have to be realistic that clubs of our size get relegated sometimes

The game has moved on and he hasn't adapted. I wouldn't take him here

Spurs, Fulham and Leeds are all coming off a short turnaround so being honest I doubt we'll get much from them. Maybe a point from Fulham. But Liverpool are struggling at Anfield so let's say 3 there, and 3 from Palace, so 7 total, taking us to 43

Another snarky post from Turkish. Just what this forum was needing.

The point is that you don't get rid of someone who is capable of the good results that Ralph has had unless you are absolutely sure that the situation is now terminal. If this form continues into next season then yes, he'll absolutely have to go

Indeed there are plenty of managers who have been sacked after winning their last game and even after winning trophies. Because (good) club boards take a long term view

Let's summarise: 16 wins in 8 draws in 34 games in 2020 = really excellent 11 defeats in last 14 games = really bad but there's always the hope that Ralph can turn it around Two 9-0s = embarrassing but it's more important to look at the longer term trend rather than individual results. There's definitely cause for concern but I still think it would be premature to lose Ralph now

"A few good performances". We were brilliant for a whole year

Come on you're smarter than that. The point is it's easy to take your off the ball before a big cup game, and then put in a much improved performance. I'll admit it's said more in hope than expectation though

In 2003 we lost 6-1 to arsenal in the game before the cup final, before losing 1-0 in the actual final. We can only hope that a similar effect was at play today

Imagine having an addiction problem that is destroying your life and you are trying give up gambling, but every time you turn on the TV you are bombarded with gambling advertising. It's not going to help is it. Yet banning it will have no impact on the rest of us, so why not just do it to help other people.

I think people are underrating Bertrand. He may not be able to get up and down enough for our system but against Liverpool, KWP got all the plaudits for scrapping with Mane when on the other side, Bertrand didn't give Salah an inch

If we can improve the squad and push him down to third choice striker then that's all good but I don't see the point in getting rid

MLG is making a very narrow point about what is best for Saints' chances of moving up the league and being "best of the rest", when actually as football fans more broadly many of us would just like a bit more variation at the top rather than the same old monopoly of the top six

The two fullbacks had to go out on loan to release funds to bring in a new full back. Then we didn't manage to get one so we got Minamino instead. I'm not sure about this, but regardless, I wonder if the plan was for JWP/Diallo to cover at fullback, only for that option to be kiboshed by Romeu getting injured

Interesting method. Transfermarkt seems to store historic values and had Pelle's at just £5.8m at the time, though I guess you're right that it would be higher now

It could happen once a season for the next five years and it wouldn't be sufficient reason on its own to sack Ralph, as long as other results are much better

The reason why people like Martin Semmens are good at their jobs is they base decisions on the long term rather than one-off events

Last season we played badly until Ralph realised 3 at the back wasn't working. Then we played amazing. This season we played amazing until the hectic fixture list affected the players' ability to press and caused an injury crisis which exposed our lack of cover at full back. There's every reason to hope that next season will be different and we can be playing amazing again

We've signed several players for around the £20m mark in the past. The worry is whether we can get someone of Ings' quality even for that amount. There should be bargains about at least given every clubs' financial problems

You need a Roy Keane type to watch the game with you

I'd say that Saints losing 9-0 to Man Utd having had a player sent off in the 2nd minute is about equivalent to Chelsea losing 5-2 to West Brom after having a player sent off in the 29th minute, given the relative quality of the teams. I also think the Chelsea game is further proof that teams which rely on a pressing game seem unable to function when they go down to 10 men

We had a terrible injury crisis and we didn't recruit properly at full back. But that doesn't change the fact that football is a team game and you need the right personalities. How many times have we seen teams with talented players underperforming because they don't have a team ethic? Our best hope of surviving and prospering in this league is by making the team greater than the sum of its parts

We know that if a player's attitude isn't right then Ralph will go hard on them, regardless of ability. One of his first tasks was to change the team culture and get rid of the bad eggs. Wasn't there a story about Cedric getting roasted for looking at his phone in the treatment room instead of talking to? We've also seen rumours about Hoedt, Slattery, Obafemi, Lemina etc, all of whom are now out of the picture. It's confusing for us as fans because we don't see what's going on in the dressing room but Ralph may well have his reasons for not picking Jankewitz

Branfoot points per game: 1.13 Ralph points per game: 1.35 Puel: 1.37