SNSUN

With Leicester starting the season slowly, no signings and possibly having players sold and United getting spanked by everyone, our next two fixtures aren't looking as tough as they did two weeks ago! Still...

Didn't Ralph say something in the Fans Forum along the lines of the 3 CB formation being here to stay but he might occasionally play 4-2-2-2? It was mentioned on here - in which case 3 CBs isn't going anywhere fast. Ralph is stubborn and even with today's late formation change I wouldn't put it past him to keep playing 3 CBs. And when one of those is Jan, Jack, Valery or Lyanco we need an upgrade in quality there. If he does change his ways and resort to 4 at the back then we don't need another CB, but I'll believe it when I see it!

I hope Saints as a whole don't think we're suddenly good enough from that comeback that we don't need the extra players. Impressive bench cameo from Aribo and Mara aside, we still need two attackers (AM and Str), a FB and, if we are to persist with Ralph and his 3 CB formation, another CB. It is good to hear the new signings are coming good though. It shows that if we are to get a post-Ralph era, and the new manager doesn't come in and play Ralphball, then we stand a chance of survival if not more.

Y'all can thank me for that second half performance as I fell asleep at half time so bored was I and just napped through it all. Wow, who'd have thought Ralph would eventually do what we've all been crying out for and play a formation to our strengths. Honestly. I guess reading about it it seems like one point gained but maybe with a different formation we wouldn't have been 2 nil down in the first place. (Apologies for 'y'all'.) It'll be interesting to see where we go from this comeback. Whether SR pull the trigger anyway and give a new manager some transfer window time or Ralph lasts way longer than he should.

I might've been too generous when I said 1-1. Hopefully Ralph can make some successful subs...

Bompey won't be the first team steamrollered by City this season.

Just home from work. Have I missed much?

Delap I wonder...

We haven't coached the good out of him yet. 😁 I'm glad to see ABK over Valery, that's an improvement, but no Aribo or Romeu and we're still 3 CBs? At home? I really hope this works...

They've done OK with their defence but their midfield is weaker than ours and their attack is non-existent. They are definitely relegation fodder unless they invest before the window is out.

One more Villa goal and we're off the bottom!

It was during the Koeman era that we got the right idea (mostly) by signing the best players from "lesser" leagues like Tadic, Mane, Forster and Pelle, and a couple of players that had previously been good but were overlooked by their clubs like Alderweireld and Bertrand. The following summer, bar Van Dijk and Romeu who ended up good, we brought in Austin, Clasie, Martina, Cedric (ish), Caulker and Juanmi and our transfer woes really stem from there. onwards. Thankfully the youth product of JWP came good when he did or we might not have been in the Prem this season.

Aston Villa playing a weird 4-1-2-1-2 formation, Everton have Iwobi in central midfield and no strikers. Interesting tactics from two of the best former midfielders the Premier League has ever seen.

I believe there is supposed to be one when we finally sign Rudi Skacel.

Yay, gameday. That's not a good feeling to have - it should be Yay, gameday! Surely we have to be better than last week. Judging from the Leeds game they were full of energy and a few of their new signings clicked straight away (namely Aaronson, Adams and Kristensen) but it's still early in the season and judging from their forum they think it will take a few weeks for their signings to properly gel. IF Ralph puts the right team out (the one most of us can see is our best team) we could win this, but I'm not holding my breath. Please no Valery or Armstrong - we have to try ABK and Adams and hope for the best. A draw would be a poor result in what is probably already a 6 pointer but right now I'd take it just to get a point on the board. I think Ralph will go for (although we know what he's like): Baz, ABK, Bednarek, Salisu, KWP, JWP, Lavia, Romeu, Djenepo, Aribo, Adams. It still doesn't look particularly strong creatively or in attack (perhaps lose Romeu for Armstrong?) but grinding out 1-0 results may be key to our survival this season so if we can keep the defence tight, we could nick it. Still I'm not going to change my earlier prediction - 1-1.

Lis our number 2 then?

A draw no. These are our relegation rivals, a draw would be a poor result at home. A win would breathe a bit of positivity into the club with (apparently) some transfers yet to come but it doesn't change the last 6 months of poor decisions etc. If he won the next 3 or 4 I might change my tune but I can't see it. I can't even see us winning tomorrow tbf.

Would 30,000 pissed up football fans urinating on it do the same job? 😋

It’s like he thinks we’re better than we are. ‘Oh it’s only little old Watford, I can play some fringe players and we’ll still win.’ Even now most of us can see how weak the team/squad is in certain areas and he’s playing Valery at CB in a 3 and Armstrong on his own up front. I worry the club, and Ralph, feel we’re immune to relegation because we’ve avoided it for the last few years but this league is stronger this season and teams that should be in a relegation battle are strengthening well. Sports Republic are not going to want to see their investment go down so hopefully if we do start lingering like a bad smell near the bottom, the trigger will be fired. It takes a lot for me to turn on a manager and I’ve always quite liked him, especially after the car crash regimes of Pellegrino and Hughes, but that bad run of form and consistent poor decisions and excuses have shown me that his time with us must be coming to a close. And yes I think we should have pulled the trigger in the summer… we could have still signed the youngsters but given them time to get used to a new manager and new tactics. Now we’ve had our pre-season and the season is underway and we may possibly be looking to bring in a new manager meaning everyone needs to get used to the new manager whoever it is. Is it too little too late? No but we have to hope the new signings (and new signings yet to come) bed quickly. And if we are going to sack Ralph it needs to be done before too much damage is done.

Gawd help Ralph if we're losing at half time, they'll hear the boos from space. It would be a huge morale booster to get an early goal or two. With Leeds players still settling in this is a good time to play them but they've already won which isn't good. We could already be six points behind our relegation rivals after two games so we definitely need something from this game. I still think 1-1 but it depends on the line up I guess.

The same Elyounoussi that there were rumours we were going to give a new contract to not so long ago?

...and then by the time they do get up to speed, Ralph could be sacked for poor results and we bring another new manager in with new ideas and potentially tactics and the players then have to get up to speed with those. That's if the current players are fancied by the new manager, who may wish to bring in his own players in the January window. By which time we're roughly 2/3rds of the way into the season with players who are still getting used to one another.

I believe Ralph said in pre-season he likes Romeu further forward - fair enough then play 4-1-4-1 with Lavia in the DM role that he's natural in - heck Lavia could even drop back more defensively if the full backs get forward and almost make a third CB and BOSH there's the 5-3-2 Ralph wants to play. (Sorry too much FM).

5-3-2 or whatever it is is all very good if coached well AND we have the players to play it. We need 3 good CBs, which we don't have. It also stunts the attack more because we lose a player in attack. Even if you cement ABK and Salisu in the back 3, you're still having to pick a third CB between Bednarek, Stephens, Lyanco and Valery. Or Simeu unless he goes back out on loan. I seem to remember we had this issue around the time we first got smashed 9-0. We were playing 3 at the back for a while and then got tonked, before Ralph started playing 4-2-2-2 and results picked up.

What all 38 of them? 😜