Charlie Wayman

So, you are seriously suggesting that we are a level above Celtic? Did you think about that vey seriously before you wrote it? Give praise where it is due, the lad is in a rich vein of form and playing as well as he probably ever has done. Good for him, he's a bloody good footballer and it is showing.

Lampard's Chelsea are rather English in their style of play after years of being anything but. Their kids have played us at U23 level so we should know how they play. I fancy we could win this and win it well, maybe 3-1 (two o.g's & a pen)

You paint a very bleak picture and this scenario is certainly not the one expressed by board members at the most recent Fans Forum. We may not have a perfect squad but we do have perfectly good squad and clearly the club is more ambitious than to settle for a process of gradual improvement. It is up to Ralph to deliver with the squad he has and if it is the case that he is still unsure of his best squad that may be in part because he was focusing absolutely on building a new young team and did not expect Cedric, Bertrand, Yoshida & Boufal to re-assert themselves so forcefully and show how limiteds some of the "young buck" options he was backing turned out to be. I hope he is flexible enough and man enough to admit he may have got it wrong.

Surely it didn't help when the North London Yobbos started singing their version of our song much louder than we could sing ours by sheer weight of numbers. Likely that many job our fans just gave up in frustration. You could here OWTS over the TV commentary from our people mostly in the first half.

Exactly this. It is not black & white, back him or sack him.

Simply at the time of the question Ralph wasn't fully informed. The medical people probably hadn't had time to do full tests and analysis and certainly would not speculate on the lad's condition. When people go to the Doc's and report a tummy pain, the Doc doesn't whip out their appendix without further investigation!

More Teamsheet update #SaintsFC's @OficialCedric has picked up an injury in the warm-up and will be replaced by @JVestergaard7. This was published on the Saints Twitter feed about 20 mins before ko. Why are people questioning this especially when some who attended the match saw him pull up sharply during the warm up. Since when was the Echo regarded as a reliable source?

Exactly and to think Brendan Rogers was touted to becoming here at one stage. Comparison with Ralph is perfectly legitimate and in those terms our man is not doing particularly well. Having said that Rogers has been around the PL block a few times and knows the ropes whereas our beloved Austrian rabbit whisperer is still in awe of the "bestest league in the world" where all teams are "world-class and hard to beat". Rogers knows that you get what you deserve.

If only! One day soon perhaps.

If you look at the Saints Twitter feed you'll see the team was announced with Cedric at RB. This has to be genuine surely, Cedric probably didn't feel right about something and reported how he felt to the coaches. They would have made the decision for him to stand down. Ralph would probably be the last to know and probably would just be told that the player had some sort of muscle problem. It's all speculation and we are nowhere near January.

It was diabolical. Kane was standing free for over 20 seconds as the move developed, nobody seem to be aware he was there and of course our stand-in right back was not even in the vicinity when he should have been running with him.

Strange observation when Ings completely messed up on the Boufal's penetrating cross at pace into the six yard box late in the second half which any half decent striker would have simply deflected into the net. Ings didn't read the play, didn't react quickly enough and was well over a yard short of connecting. Great chance spurned.

Silly boy. Think before you write.

If he is the next de Bruyne w won't get a sniff. Hope we haven't shown our hand too soon.

Just guessing but is Adams problem that under Ralph he is thinking too much on the ball and not letting his natural instincts take over? In the Championship he probably hit the ball first and posited the questions afterwards. Quite a few years ago I used a very experienced (and expensive!) golf pro to try and improve my swing. He began by totally deconstructing every thing that I was doing so as to begin afresh as it were. Trouble is what he then built up in my game was so alien to my instincts and body and therefore so artificial that my game never recovered. You don't always get what you hope for when you start spinning a pot.

As indeed we did at SMS last time out.

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While many of us agree with you, sadly there are elements of our society who no longer behave in the rational and restrained way that most are comfortable with. There are growing divisions in our society which seem to be reaching a point that beyond its ability to repair.

That's a bit unfair on Adam.

Many high profile nay-sayers on here have badly misjudged Cedric Soarer and quite a few will choke on their porridge rather than admit they were wrong. Many of these are the same posters that also slagged off Sofiane Boufal as a useless dilettante and have to eat humble pie once again. It seems to be a disease amongst a faction of the vocal fanbase to write off players and heap abuse on them just because they do not make an instantaneous impact. Time one thinks for a more measured and circumspect attitude towards new players.

Every other side in the League seems to be taller, more athletic, fitter and faster than any of our players

Strangely, a very similar thing happened last season when Bertie and Maya were left out early on and fans were clamouring to get them back in. As soon as they returned results improved.

...and so say most of us!

You may be over-egging Ralph's cake, another explanation as voiced by a growing number on here is that he isn't turning out to be a very good manager at this level.

This really was a disaster in every respect. Unfathomably lousy team selection first half, an inability to break down their defence and get between the lines and **** poor finishing. Where we go from here is anybody's guess, buggered if I know!