Toussaint

To be fair, they really haven't had the opportunity to do anything at this stage, other than to assess what they have, and it's only right they have taken the time to do that. You'd think they'll want to protect their investments and relegation would not be part of their business plan. I will reserve judgment on them until the end of the summer transfer window.

Add the Leicester game and its a third of a season (just over), but still equates to 15 points over the season, what's more is i can't think of any unlucky losses in those 12 games but we did have a very lucky win against Arsenal. It's absolutely dire

I agree totally regarding the Norwich game, we won, but Smith had a plan to nullify us and hit on the counter, it nearly worked. Its at that point I think we were widely worked out by other clubs and thereafter nullified. I'm not so sure about the burnout argument, if it is burnout is not purely physical burnout in my opinion. The good players must be just as exasperated as the fans are with team selections, tactics, substitutions and game management. I sense a lot have had a gutful and minds are now elsewhere. I don't really want to Ralph to be backed, I just prefer him to go now, I don't trust him with the rebuild and I don't trust him to rectify his own grave shortcomings. If its true he is intending to retire then why persist anyway? I have a feeling he may go after Leicester, as stated by another poster, that may well have affected things recently.

Kitchbicher = Smithers

I think you maybe right, there is definitely an air of something significant going on, we haven't experienced dysfunctionality in a long long time.

Maybe Ralph should be the right hand man, he is way out of his depth as a premier league manager, he would probably make a good number two (take that last bit whichever way you wish)

Has he gone? I was told last night he has completely left the club?

So these are the automisms Ralph speaks of lose from winning positions, automatically concede goals, automatically concede from headers?

, 🤣

Still 0-0, all good in da hood

I massively prefer him to the whingey, whiney, wokey, wankey, angry, Adrian Durham to be fair.

They are still extremely strong without those players, still much stronger than most of the teams we have lost or drawn to over recent weeks. If we do raise our game to get something out of this, that in itself raises questions given our run of abject performances.

Our final league position isn't the issue for most people who have lost patience with Ralph, as is well documented above and just about every game thread so I won't bother repeating them.

I would say his stock maybe and aspirations are too high for us, although I would be in favour if we could get him. I guess it would depend on our level of investment, he wouldn't want his career to regress which it could well do without the necessary investment.

Given it’s a significant game for you I hope we win, with the proviso I don’t have to watch Ralph either cry or celebrate like we actually have one the champions league. Do we have a deal?

Why, are they stranded in Benidorm?

Whilst trying not to spill their cocktails

One thing that gives me hope is Saints are always excellent after a week off. If they are anything like me they’ll have put on a stone in their holidays, so they should have adequate fat reserves to bolster their stamina. im not sure of the formation and selection for this one, but Ralph has had a long time to consider his damage limitation strategy, which historically has proved invaluable. So I expect to see 11 players, some of whom will be chasing shadows whilst others will try to make themselves invisible. The score will be whatever Liverpool decide to settle for. nb . those readers sensitive to cynicism and sarcasm should not read the above text.

He may be, but what I have noticed is he has lost the initial burst of pace, which is what happens when you get older. In his case too old to be effective at his game, he doesn’t have much else in his locker to be of value in any other role. And no to coaching, we owe him absolutely nothing, that would be yet another sentimental decision.

Therein lies a big part of the Problem, no one else would have been cut the slack Ralph has if we hadn’t had a succession of duds prior to him. We could do worse and have done, worse seems to be a common theme.

I have my suspicions, someone had been equally prolific recently, but with a modified persona

They fiddle with all sorts they shouldn't! That's why they are the way they are.

It’s nauseating listening Alan “interesting” Smith pleasure himself over Lukaku’s current form.

After Burnley and Leeds respective results on the weekend I no longer think there is much possibility of us going down, but, I had no idea how important it would turn out when we secured the absolutely freakish win against Arsenal.

I hope we never lose 9 - 0 in my lifetime, oh, wait...