Dusic

Whoever we end up with you have to assume that whoever is hiring him has done a lot of due dilligence as they have known for ages that a change was likely to be needed. Also if we have learned anything from the managerial speculation this season involving Forest, Wolves, Bmth, Villa etc it that until something is announced things change fast in football.

Pretty easy to summarise IMO: - Right decision to replace Ralph but they have taken too long to do it and in that time l've felt sorry for him because he deserved a more dignified exit after the admirable service. - Overall he has done a good job in a period of low/no investment where our best players have continually been sold. Especially his first year or so he really changed the feeling around the club - we were on a clesr path to relegation. Ironically we now need someone to have the kind of impact he first did. - SR has to get both of these right in order for us to avoid relegation: 1. Good managerial appointment who can get us back playing to a specific style but also to quickly get results - our fixtures after the WC are the best run of the season on paper and immediate results will be needed to avoid being cut adrift. 2. January has to see the signing of two good attackers to go straight into the side and add goals and creativity. Whoever takes charge will have little chance otherwise. The WC break gives ample time to sort something for day one of the window...get it done even if it means overpaying - its their fault we didnt address this in the summer.

Overall just doesn't have the verve he has and has lost that belief that we can challenge teams with greater resources, which shows in our performances. Specifically when asked by Blackmore about having done nearly 4 years and what his reflections were he spoke very much in a way that it was nearly the end rather than part of a longer journey. Referred to how much older he looks than when he started and that 4 years is a long time for a manager at a club. Said we have had ups and downs and opportunities for higher finishes. He didn't make any reference to the future. I think Blackmore missed an obvious follow up, "How energised are you for the future here?" Or "Whats your next goals with Saints?" Would have been interesting to hear his response as he is usually pretty honest. ----------- Redmond's Athletic interview today is interesting on Ralph, summing up most peoples feelings that we press but have little else in attack. I maintain NR was misunderstood and actually a good character who cared more than many players.

His press conference on Thursday gave off the vibe that he is on his way out soon and he knows it.

Hopefully Lavia is fit to start because we need AMN at RB.

https://www.jeunesfooteux.com/Pape-Gyeye-OM-a-des-touches-en-Premier-League_a59516.html

Watching the highlights I wouldn't place much emphasis on Mara scoring four. The defending was absolutely woeful and a couple of the finishes quite unconvincing. Ironically by far the best (free kick aside) was Payne's.

I think its a striker and a no10 type that we need. Not sure any one player will make enough of a difference. Whilst Adams misses some good chances, we also don't create anywhere near enough and really miss some quality to create.

Our forward options = relegation. Simple as that. We have lost 1-0 away vs Villa, Wolves and Palace and certainly in the latter two missed huge chances to take something from the game. The Manager is rightly questioned but any Manager would struggle to get this squad to regularly score more than one goal a game because there just isnt the quality in the final third. Palace, a club of comparable size have Zaha, Eze and Olise. None of our attacking midfield players are anywhere near their level.

Seeing as most January deals will be worked on and in many cases agreed during the WC break I hope we start to see some strong attacking links soon. Regardless of Manager its such a huge weakness in our squad and will relegate us unless sorted. Hopefully in early Jan given they have ages to agree a deal.

Believe he wore 37 unfortunately. Adjudication panel ruled this has to be a no9.

Papa for me...luckily no VAR as he looked a tad offside.

Its the last day of the season and Saints face Steven Gerrard's Barnsley needing a win to stay up in the Championship. Into injury time and with the game stood at 0-0, Olly Lancashire wins a tackle and hits a seemingly aimless ball forward which the Barnsley defenders make a total hash of... and Saints no 9 is clean through on goal. Who would you most fancy to hit the target and secure safety for Eric Black's men? Papa Waigo, Guido Carrillo or Adam Armstrong?

This. Obvious for anyone to see. The fact he has started so many games this season just highlights our lack of credible forward options. That moment today where he got onto the misplaced pass should be what he thrives on, one vs one with a retreating CB in a central area and he did what everyone expected...didnt even get a shot away. Works hard but that should be expected.

The Bmth performance felt a little like Villa's did versus us. Enough to win but not really a sign of any underlying change. However, its clear the players haven't downed tools on Ralph. Interesting times given that Villa, Wolves and possibly Leeds are also looking at the managerial market, and that the WC break is looming where surely we get a forward or two lined up and also hopefully ABK, Lavia and maybe even Livramento back available. With a kind run of fixtures immediately after the restart I am sure SR will now wait to make a decision. It probably gives Ralph the next 5 incl Sheff Weds game to show progress and if not I think they will make a change then, assuming one of those others doesn't take whoever we want.

Bottom half could be the most competitive ever judging by the start of the season. Forest aside all the teams have shown something and a few that were expected to struggle have already got a nice buffer to the bottom 3. Clear we will be right down there so need Forest to continue to struggle and quality wise after them its probably between Bournemouth, Saints, Wolves, Leeds and Everton you would think.

Telling thing is, aside from possibly Edozie its pretty hard to say that he is leaving out players who are better, or have shown better form, than those who are starting. In attack it really is a weak set of options at this level.

Someone look at our attacking options and tell me three PL sides whose are worse. Bournemouth is one. I cannot think of another. No wonder we struggle to score. We replaced Ings with a loan player who we then didn't replace and whoever is in charge will struggle to get goals out of players like Adam Armstrong, Elyounoussi etc. IMO I would be more concerned about what SR do about upgrading our attack in January than what they do Manager wise (and I'm not saying he shouldn't be fired just that a new manager won't make sub par attackers into good ones at this level).

What an odd take. I'm pretty sure most people can separate passion for a football team from impactful life events.

Bit of a worry when you look at the table, a few sides who people expected to be in the mix have already got 4-6 points more than us and of the bottom 3 Wolves and especially Leicester have got the players to end up well out of the relegation battle. Our game vs Bournemouth already looks huge - they could be 11 points ahead of us after we play them, or we could be a point ahead of them...massive couple of games coming up.

Massive transfer window approaching so whatever way you look at it the fact we are less than 3 months from that (and loads of stuff we get unofficially done during the WC anyway) and our head of recruitment is essentially banned from the club is pretty worrying. Recruitment is Ankersen's specialism so perhaps he will get more hands on, at least in the interim.

Chelsea's new owners haven't messed around in targetting the best people. In that sense it shows how good an appointment it was and his work in signing Lavia and ABK for less than £25m combined has been very high profile. The unfortunate reality is any employee, player, manager, recruitment person, will always leave for a better opportunity and this is a huge role at one of the richest and most high profile club. He would be mad to turn it down.

Could also argue that 3 of the players SR signed (ABK, Lavia, Aribo) have all been easily in our best 5 players this season so far, and possibly even the best 3.

Interesting to see which of thr coachingnstaff would remain once Ralph goes. Any decent manager wants to bring in their own people, quite understandably. Selles and Carl Martin are highly regarded in particular.

Simply because they will, rightly, be recruiting a manager to fit the club philosophy. A manager who is good at developing young players - as our clearly stated model is to buy this profile of player. Dyche usually had the oldest squad in the league at Burnley and doesn't fit what the job spec will be from a playing style perspective either. He is a good manager and will be interesting to see where he ends up next but it clearly won't be at St Mary's. Howe looks a bit like the obvious one that got away.