CB Fry

If you go back to the end of the summer transfer window, the general consensus was that it was a very good one and we were much stronger at the end of it. Now because things haven't worked out like that, the story changes to how he hasn't had the backing.

I don't think anyone on this thread is saying we shouldn't have sacked Puel. It was a decision that made sense and if we'd replaced well that incoming manager had a reasonable platform to build on and some money. But the comparison between Claude's season and this one is a very interesting one. If we choke this cup QF and stutter away in the league then I'm sorry there will be little that distinguishes our Ralph with some of our most average managers. Dave Jones 97-98 12th place anyone?

It's mainly a response to your post above. We've been to two major cup finals in my lifetime as a Saints fan, but you seem to very aggressively reject the very mention of it. Which is the behaviour of an absolute twat.

That was a reference to Wembley not Milan. Was that boring for you too?

In fairness I can remember standing in that massive beer garden place near the ground thinking what a boring disaster it all was.

I was there and clearly this is bullshit.

It's an interesting comparison to look at what was happening at the same point in the Puel season. Back in Feb 17 Match 25 was our 4-0 victory at Sunderland and Match 26 first week of March was our 4-3 win at Watford. Our 26th match is on Monday. Then, as I was checking I wondered for a second why there was such a big gap between those games in Feb and March. I wonder if anyone can remember what we were doing in that last weekend of February....? What a disaster.

Redmond not getting a look in these days, of course.

Absolutely cannot wait to see whether the same dinlows swooning over unstoppable winning machine Fulham (22 points from 25 games, bottom 3 all fucking season) would have the same confidence were it Southampton Football Club in that same position. 4 wins all season. 21 goals scored in 25 matches. Oh I wish we were Fulham, I wish we were Fulham I wish we were Fulham.

Yes, in the context of comparisons with Puel (8th, 46 points) - we've gone below that in the minds of some, already: there's people shitting themselves about relegation (not many, and they're fucking idiots, but they're there) whose ambition is now Pellegrino levels.

Not sure what you're arguing to be honest. Anyone who genuinely thinks we may get relegated automatically believes Ralph can't get the 36 points that Hughes finished the season on having picked up from Pellegrino. That is a pretty damning assessment of Ralph especially as this is two and half years into his project.

There are people on this forum wittering about how we are in the relegation scrap who think we can't get the 36 points achieved by Pellegrino and Hughes. So they're saying Ralph is worse than those two, let alone 46 point, 8th place Puel.

It seems the SaintsWeb expert answer is "it's not Ralph's fault he was saddled with the same shit players from the Puel era" but at the same time "Puel only did okay because he had a much better squad than Ralph has". Forum logic at its best.

.....weren't we also quite fortunate to play in front of no fans at home for a significant part of last season. We'd been choking in front of our own fans for a long time. Ralph was lucky to be spared that. Whether we genuinely have got over our shit-at-home issue has yet to be tested.

Who said anything about a top job? He can get a big contract at, say, Newcastle or Wolves or Palace or whatever. Yes sure you can say "well thats not a step up from Saints etc etc" but so what. "Multi-million pound" contract, decent jobs would be available and he's done enough to get a job like that no bother.

At another club. If he walks away (as he has a history of) then he'd get a decent job elsewhere. Puel got a second chance in the Premier League so I see no problems for Ralph on that front. Why do you think he wouldn’t get another decent job?

Exactly. This is why there is no need to panic. This time last year, with 25 games gone we were sat on 31 points. A whole point better off than now. I don't think there has been a team in the last 10 years that have sat on 30 points after 25 odd games and been relegated. And, as been said several times by me already - if only the nutcases convinced that we are relegated showed the same faith in Southampton as they do in Fulham, who have a much bigger mountain to climb than the piddly six or seven points we need from 14 games. One season in the future we may be in Fulham's position, and I will be fascinated to see how those people respond to that.

Jesus wept.

Well, all you need to do is next time we're on a fucking great winning run like we had during the back end of 2020 is make sure you make your voice heard and ensure that this forum spends its entire time not enjoying those wins but discussing how weak and terrible the team is just to cover itself for situations such as now. I guess really what we should be doing right now is all discussing how fantastically brilliant the team, players and manager is so you don't have to berate us as hypocrites when we do eventually start winning again.

Not sure why you keep persisting with this idea that nobody thought our good form would stop. Yes, there were people twatting on about us winning the league but at the same time plenty who knew it was fleeting good form and we were a mid table team only a couple of injuries away from crisis. Plenty of posts along the lines of "if we didn't have (eg) Ings we'd be in trouble" and worries about our squad depth and so on. Why do you need to pretend that everyone here all thought we would go on winning forever?

I don't think Ralph is going to exceed the 46 points achieved by Claude Puel this season.

Oh well at least some people on here can get on with the proper task in hand: blaming the referee, VAR, the pitch and every other reason that we're the unluckiest most hard done by team in football history. Anything to avoid the notion that we are incredibly ropey at the minute, and clearly in this game the better team has won.

We are never, ever, ever going to score.

We missed the opportunity to bring on Alex the nutcase into midfield

In fairness, if you're Leeds you'd be thinking you should be 2 or 3-0 by now. So hopefully we can punish that.