Ex Lion Tamer

Vokins and Valery aren't good enough. It's madness that people think they would have changed anything. The problem was that the club wasn't able to bring in a replacement. Armstrong started in place of Diallo in the last game, so perhaps that is the solution, although he's hardly a Romeu replacement. Clearly Ralph doesn't think Jankewitz is up to it - I haven't actually seen him play properly but I wouldn't be judging on a Swiss u21 appearance, and none of us know what is going on behind the scenes.

No one disputes that we're in a really bad run of form. But losing KWP and Romeu, along with our lack of depth at full back, have been massive contributors to that run

It is hard to see how things are going to change this season, to be honest. But there's really no value to pulling the trigger now, and strange things can happen. I still think that what could change over the summer is Romeu could get fit and we could sign an attacking left back, and suddenly Ralph's system works again

I make it that we're 14th over the past 6 months

It all depends if the club have scouted a great manager that we've never heard of. If they have, that might influence their decision

This is where I'm torn because I'd like to give Ralph the start of next season with a fresh squad, but this run of form is testing even my patience and I wonder if we'll get a better manager in the summer then if we wait until mid season

Well the transfer window doesn't open until the summer, but to be honest I think his recruitment has been good, within our financial constraints

I agree that it could be that other teams have worked us out, which is why he will have to go if results don't improve. But it could also be that he needs Romeu back and a decent attacking left back. The run of games without a proper RB may also have hurt our confidence and we need time to get it back. Given the amount of doubt, I think we need to stick as long as possible rather than lose someone who gave us the best spell of football since Koeman and who could possibly do it again

We don't actually disagree that much. We're on a terrible run and I was expecting results to pick up when we had our fullbacks back. I do still feel that with some squad additions in the summer he could turn it around and make his system work again, but he's got to show something in the remainder of this season. It's just too risky to get rid before we have to, given how brilliant 2020 was

I literally already explained that to you, do you have memory problems or something? He was trying to play 3 at the back and needed to go back to 4222. Yes he is tactically one dimensional, but that one dimension is really good when it works

If Mark Hughes had a specific system and style of play, which had been shown to work wonders both for us and for other clubs in the past, but which didn't seem to work in a compressed season when we suffered from a terrible injury crisis and lack of squad depth, and we were safe from relegation, then I'd absolutely be giving him as long as possible to turn it around. Don't get me wrong, if we fail to get any more points this season then it will probably be time for Ralph to move on. But if he does I think there's a big chance he will transform another club and we'll be left rueing that we didn't give him more time. Hughes ground out enough points to save us from relegation but there was never really anything to suggest that he had a vision or a plan that would do anything except have us clogging away at the bottom of the table

Exactly. The supposed fanboys are actually the ones who are seeing both sides of things, the good and bad. The real ones wearing blinkers are those who can't acknowledge that he got us playing well for a long period and that this justifies giving him as much time as possible to turn around the current terrible run

It was because he was trying to play 3 at the back, and couldn't make it work

He might well be like Bielsa, who has a history of getting teams playing amazing for much of a season and then falling apart at the end. Leeds might not have got promoted if the season hadn't been paused for Covid. Oddly Leeds seem to have managed to buck the trend this year

Others may have better memories but I swear there was a period where we were grinding out wins. I remember thinking how we seemed to have got rid of the old fragility when defending leads.

I agree all the clubs are in a similar boat but I don't think it's as bad as people are making out. There's still plenty of money to be made in football, all that needs to happen is serious deflation in transfer fees and new contract terms for a few years

Norwich spent £8m in total last time they came up

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