Ralph Fastenbüttl

Lucas Moura is possibly available from Spurs. There's another dream signing that has 0% chance of happening. He'd be great for us.

Anyone saying Eriksen would be a bad buy is just too far gone to be dealing with. He's a class player and certainly good enough for every team in the league (which is why we have no chance).

This would be quite hilarious.

I think Minamino would potentially not be the worst signing, but we'd have to play him differently - he's very much best as part of a front three and not in midfield. Still, reckon the money could be wiser spent.

I'd love to say no, but... well, Saints.

Thanks for that insight. Sounds like precisely the kind of middling, unremarkable performer Ralph likes.

I mean, I'd love to see Henderson at the club if we're not making a move for (or cannot afford) Pope. I reckon Duffy and/or Diop would be a defensive upgrade for us, and I still think Lewis has a little something about him. I know Winks is much maligned but, again, I fail to see him not improving our team. And Barkley, too, would surely be a step up on what we have now.

Time to put this to the test!

fwiw, last season Redmond ranked in the top 10% across Europe's five largest leagues (per game) for passes into the penalty area, crosses into the penalty area and clearances. He was in the top 20% for blocks, touches in the defensive penalty area + was in the top 30% for assists, through balls, crosses, defensive and attacking third presses, successful dribbles, carries into the attacking third and recoveries. In the interest of balance, however, he also ranked very highly for the number of blocked passes and passes to offside players, offsides + was in the top 4% for miscontrols and possessions lost. Not that I'm a Nathan fanboy by any stretch. But on paper parts of his season actually looked very good. He ranks significantly better in every offensive stat, although Ely trounced him in the defensive stats where he was actually one of the best performers in Europe, shockingly (top 2% successful pressures, and top 5% midfield tackles!). All of this is on FBref.

Being a colossal cunt, if past form is anything to go by.

OK, that's one tick!

Hmm, on reflection... perhaps yeah 😀 (I meant three figures in reference to the amount of millions... so a nine figure sum!)

On balance I think I remain in the 'Pro Ralph' camp, but that's conditional on the new owners doing three things: 1. Replacing the coaching staff. All of them. They're fucking shite. 2. Forcing Ralph to get an Assistant Manager. Ralph is capable of getting us playing good football, but he needs a knowledgeable and experienced partner to help him in the situations in which he struggles, and to provide other plan B options when shit on the pitch ain't working. 3. Investing a good nine figure sum into the squad. We need first team ready signings, not just promising youngsters, and of course a reliable, quality striker. Also, let's get some proper Prem experience in the heart of defence and midfield - a couple of 30 somethings who've maybe even won stuff or at the very least challenged for honours, and are perhaps looking for their last decent contract. Then we build around them with youth. If the above isn't going to happen then there's clearly no point sticking with Ralph, as three years in he's still struggling to achieve any progress with what we've currently got.

Well, on balance I think I remain in the 'Pro Ralph' camp, but that's conditional on the new owners doing three things: 1. Replacing the coaching staff. All of them. They're fucking shite. 2. Forcing Ralph to get an Assistant Manager. Ralph is capable of getting us playing good football, but he needs a knowledgeable and experienced partner to help him in the situations in which he struggles, and to provide other plan B options when shit on the pitch ain't working. 3. Investing a good three figure sum into the squad. We need first team ready signings, not just promising youngsters, and of course a reliable, quality striker. Also, let's get some proper Prem experience in the heart of defence and midfield - a couple of 30 somethings who've maybe even won stuff or at the very least challenged for honours, and are perhaps looking for their last decent contract. Then we build around them with youth. If the above isn't going to happen then there's clearly no point sticking with Ralph, as three years in he's still struggling to achieve any progress with what we've currently got.

Overall I think this board is far too harsh on Ralph, but I can't argue with this. You're right 😪

Calm down, folks. Nearly all of us would have taken 1-2 before kick-off.

I started writing a reply to this, but it's wasted energy, isn't it? The fact that as soon as I saw the news, my first thought was "Turkish is gonna be all over that"... and then I see you being the first to share it... and then I see the other posts of yours on this page (I'm not digging back into the thread)... so instead I'm just gonna wish my best to Jake. Let's hope he feels better for it and perhaps helps some other folk feel a bit better about themselves too.

I hate to be harsh, but Macca as our no.1 going into next season just isn't acceptable. We've not been good enough between the sticks for several seasons now and it needs sorting. It's the easiest problem to fix, too - whereas, say, a good CB might not be able to fix an otherwise weak defensive line, a keeper is a lone appointment. Get it right and that's one problem solved. Frasier's been a fantastic servant for us but the time has come. We need a proper Prem quality no.1, a genuinely promising youngster with some Prem experience (or even cup experience for a Prem club) as no.2, and then I think Caballero's a decent enough back up at no.3.

Just popped in to see what's going on in the thread.

This is an interesting thought exercise, actually. My take, fwiw: World Class: <big empty space> 'Big Six' Quality: JWP, KWP Solid Starting XI: S Armstrong, Romeu Good Potential: Livramento, Broja, Salisu ---------- Acceptable Squad Players: Che, Redmond, Forster, Bednarek Could Yet Prove To Be Decent: A Armstrong, Diallo, Perraud, Tella, Small ---------- Probably Not Up To Scratch: Djenepo, Elyounoussi, Long, Lyanco, Stephens, Cabellero, Smallbone, Lewis Get Rid: Valery, Walcott, Macca ---------- Written down, it doesn't look great. If everyone with potential comes good then we have a team that should be able to avoid relegation and fight for good Top 10 finishes, but that doesn't feel likely. In truth, Ralph is probably getting all he can from what we've got. He's not really over-achieving in the way that Poch and Koeman did, but certainly he's a step above a lot of the shite that followed. Essentially it's a problem that can only be solved with cash, which we haven't had for ages. And still may not have now, who knows?

A second season on loan would be great. Even if we did sign him, it's not like we'd be able to keep him for more than a season or two until someone came in with big money and we'd have to sell (either due to finances or the player wanting a move to a big team).

I met John Terry at a launch event for one of the PES games (I worked in the games media for years). Fucking prick. A thick yob. Everyone's right in picking out Fernandez. Colossal, whiny twat. Just got one of those faces you want to slap, right? Vardy can do one, too. I agree with the poster above - every part of me wants to hate Ronaldo, but sadly I'm forced to respect him for his achievements, ability and work ethic. Zaha, too, is a comedy villain. As for older players, I'm surprised the vile Ryan Giggs hasn't been mentioned (unless I missed it). I would also have named Gary Neville had you asked me a few years back, but I shall admit that he's won me around.

At least in a few years time when Broja's scoring in the knock out stages of the Champions League, we'll be able to reminisce about the days he spent with us.

Indeed. Paying a word monkey £10 a piece to pump out endless stories to up your page views and maximise click revenue becomes quite appealing from a business perspective when paying a professional reporter a professional wage to write perhaps one professional story per day results in the same or fewer clicks. The whole advertiser local news model is completely broken. There's a reason why the best sports reporting (arguably) can be found on The Athletic.

I don't think uneducated journalists is the problem - it's more the inability of local news outlets to pay for original reporting. If you pay for a proper professional to get out there and talk to people, and to form the sorts of relationships that result in scoops in genuine reporting, you'll get good journalism. However, if you pay for someone to sit at a desk and scan RSS feeds, you won't. Unsurprisingly the latter is far cheaper, and with people being largely unwilling to pay for news anymore, this is where we end up. You've gotta make money if you want to pay a journalist. Local news is virtually dead at this point.