Minsk

What about the effort Broja blasted over the bar when he could, and should, have rolled it across to an unmarked Redmond? I am convinced Che would have passed the ball to Redders..... As for the OP and to keep on topic - no is the short and sweet answer. JWP is our best player. Diallo has scored one goal in his entire career. Can't remember him assisting any either. JWP is streets ahead in both numbers and ability where those things are concerned. Also don't think we would have got the 0-0 results against either City or West Ham had Diallo played instead of him. Pleased Diallo had a decent game yesterday but, again, he really didn't do anything of note and it was against a much weakened Leeds. But hey, I'm sure all the JWP haters will say otherwise......

It's not the same thing at all. What you wrote implies he said we will be relegated under Ralph. What Turkish actually said was we will get relegated one day, it is inevitable, no matter who the manager is. Read his post in full again. And again, I say, if we were to be relegated then perhaps I would agree that someone with experience of gaining promotion from the Championship would be better than someone who has never managed a team in that division. But, again, maybe that person shouldn't be Howe. He only managed to do it once with Bournemouth. He failed more times than that with the same team, as well as twice with Burnley. Parker is doing far better this season than Howe did after their relegation, and look at how he faired in the prem last season...... I reiterate, I feel that appointing Howe now would increase our chance of relegation this season not decrease it. His record in the premier league is really not very good. 46 the best points tally he has ever amassed. Is that what the posters calling for him to replace Ralph really want for us?

We were certainly the better team against Wolves. I agree in that we never looked like scoring. A lot of very weak or rushed efforts. Their goal was calamitous. Bednarek being outmuscled at the same time as Salisu managed to slip on his arse. Nothing to do with Ralph's tactics or our set up. We weren't outplayed. Wolves got lucky. It was a disappointing result, sure. One that has really got under the skin of so may posters on here. Yet it neither put us in the relegation zone nor kept us there. We haven't been in the bottom 3 (yet) at all this season, and I don't think we will drop into it. You are right in that Burnley will be a good test next week. Let's hope there isn't a storm raging overhead.....

Turkish didn't say 'we will get relegated soon under this set up'. He said we will 'go down sooner or later whoever the manager is'. That implies that we are just as likely to go down under Howe as under Ralph. I am well aware that many think we will go down this year. There was a thread asking for predictions before the season started and many predicted us to be in the bottom 3 at the end (many even stating we would be there all season). Guess what? We haven't been in the bottom 3 at all this season, despite only getting our first win yesterday. If they do prove to be correct and we do go down then that would be the time to, maybe, turn to someone like Howe. Personally, I think we will be just fine this season under Ralph. It is inevitable that we will all die one day. That doesn't mean I go around doing things to make that day come any sooner. I feel that sacking Ralph and replacing him with Howe will certainly increase our likelihood of relegation.

Exactly this. I also watch almost every match with foreign commentary. The team has been playing well, all apart from the 2nd half at Everton. I believe there is a good feel in the squad. Broja even said as much in his interview yesterday. The team has vastly improved tactically since the tail end of last season. They are starting to gel. More goals and wins will come. Give it time. To change manager now, and especially in a few weeks time even if we do win all matches in between (as claimed in the OP), would be crazy.

I agree. We have only looked poor in the 2nd half away at Everton. In all other matches we have performed well, matching or bettering the opposition for the majority. We are completely different to the team that played last season. Our only real lack has been in scoring goals. Too many lazy posters keep banging on about how Ralph never changes tactics, only ever plays one formation, how his subs are always wrong, etc; without admitting that has certainly not been true in this campaign. Strangely, they are also mostly the same ones who were saying our (great) 2020 results meant nothing but keep harping on about the (poo) 2021 ones...... As well as being the ones pointing out how many players Leeds had missing while ignoring the fact we started without 4 who would normally be in our first 11 ourselves.

To all those wanting Eddie Howe because they believe Ralph could only ever get us to mid-table (at best): Howe has only ever had one top half finish in the premier league as manager. His Bournemouth finished 9th, behind Saints in 8th on goal difference, the season many on here were baying for Puel's head because of a piss poor season. Not forgetting, of course, that we also reached a cup final that season. His best points tally in the prem is the 46 mentioned above. His other seasons reaped 45, 44, 42 and 34 points. So I guess you will all be happy with us narrowly avoiding relegation year after year, at best, should he be appointed?

When did the club speak to him? Where they asking if he would be interested in taking over at that point of time? Or did they ask if he might be interested at some undetermined time in the future? If the latter, who wouldn't say, 'Sure. Come back to me when you are ready to offer me a job?' Where has Howe been sat in the stadium? Who has he been attending with? Has he been sat taking notes? Did he seem excited when we scored or when Salisu made an an exceptional tackle?

Either would probably do as good a job as Eddie Howe.

Thanks for answering. You would have started him in every game. Fine. Just pointing out that there are undoubtedly reasons why Ralph hasn't done that. A shame you can't accept that and feel the need to constantly keep bashing him for doing things differently to how you would like. Enjoy your evening.

It was great to see the lad get his first league start, and even better for him to get his first goal. I agree with you that he adds a lot with his height and pace. I believe he has a very good career ahead of him and we should enjoy him whilst he is here. However, Ralph wasn't 'forced' into starting him today. He could have easily gone with Arma instead (which was the only player I got wrong in my prediction of Ralph's starting 11 for today). Personally, I would have started both of them, with Redmond and Tella behind (you can check all this in my post on page 2 of this thread if you like). I would imagine that Ralph opted to go with Broja today because he now believes that he is ready; whereas he didn't previously. Broja wasn't match ready for the first 2, didn't even make the squad. Obviously he couldn't be selected against Chelsea either. He has then been given starts in both cup matches and brought off the bench in all other games he has been available for. It's not as if Ralph has been ignoring him. He has been man-managing a very good young player. Also, whilst he did very well today, had Armando had more composure and experience maybe he would have slipped Redmond through for a (certain) 2nd instead of blasting straight at the keeper. As I asked you before, which matches would you have thrust a young player into the starting 11 for? Given his only full professional experience in English football was as a sub in the last 5 minutes 2 seasons ago. Who would he have started instead of?

Get in! That'll do. First win under our belts.

Would have preferred Arma, or even Tella.... Oh well.

He's played well the last couple of matches to be honest.

Excellent. A good 30 mins+ here will do his match fitness wonders.

Because he's not a Saints player and Dean isn't on VAR?

Not what I said at all, but never mind deary.......

Get the fook in!! Redders to Broja, 1-0

Redmond has been our best player so far today.

This is what I was thinking as well.

Which team do you suggest? (From our current squad.)

I am confused over this Brazil players thing..... Klopp said in his presser that Liverpool's 2 Brazilian players would have to quarantine for 10 days after playing in Columbia (a red list country). That is why they decided to fly Alisson and Fabhino directly to Spain, ready for their champs league match in mid week. I also recall that the rules were relaxed for footballers playing in red list countries, but only to the extent that they could isolate anywhere for the 10 days not in a designated hotel. So why then can Raphina be available to play against us tomorrow when he also played in Columbia 5 days ago? Or is Klopp simply wrong? His quote below: "We had to sort quarantine issues and the decision we made is the boys will not be here, they will go directly to Madrid, wait there for us, hopefully be able to play against Atletico, then will come back slightly later than us, so then they can come back in our normal procedure again," said Reds boss Jurgen Klopp. "Obviously they could have flown into England but with all the quarantine stuff that would have meant they would have to isolate from their families and Ali has three kids and being away with the national teams and then 10 days in isolation with the same rubbish again... we need solutions for that and they are still not there. "They have played in Brazil so they already had four days there not in a red-list country and that's what counts. "Then another six days not in a red-list country then they can come back and start immediately so even when they go from bubble to bubble to bubble it is still 10 days and for us that is the solution."

Given that he played the full 90 a couple of days ago, and looked a bit jaded to be honest, I would probably go with KWP at RB for this match. Remember he is only 18. He will not be able to play every match. That said, no problem with him playing at all. He has been excellent for us thus far - even though we haven't won a single match he has played in (said firmly tongue in cheek). Do you not think KWP is a good RB? With quite a bit more experience?

He doesn't always 'regularly' start, granted, but he does usually get on the pitch for them. He started 2 of their 3 matches at the Euros, and was brought on a sub in the other. He started 3 of their previous 7 tournament matches, and was brought on as a sub in 2 (strangely, both against Israel). The two he didn't play in were against Faroe Islands and Serbia (he must have been in those squads as he played in matches a few days either side of both). Maybe Steve Clarke just doesn't like the idea of Stuey playing against Israel and Faroe Islands? Or maybe he isn't match fit yet?

Exactly this. All those saying Stu has to start clearly aren't thinking logically, just going with their hearts. I would love to have him back in the starting 11 too, we have missed him terribly. But as you say, he hasn't played a single minute of football this season at all. By starting him Ralph will know at least 1 sub will be taken up with his replacement when he gets knackered. Probably 60th minute at best. What if we then need to use a sub due to injury in the 1st half? Leaves only the one left for tactical reasons. And he HAS made some good tactical substitutions this season. Expect to see him, rightly, on the bench; hopefully coming on as a sub in the 2nd half. With Adams out it gives an ideal opportunity to go with Arma and Armando up front. That would be my preference, but think Ralph will play Redmond as the 2nd striker. I know he is the forum knocking boy but, to be fair, he has played well in the past couple of matches. GK, CBs and CMs pick themselves - Macca, Badnarek, Salisu, Romeu, Diallo. As usual, question marks over the fullbacks and 10s. I don't really mind whether Tino or KWP get picked at RB but, after the Wolves match, I really want to see Perraud at LB. That said, Ralph will probably stick the same back 4 as the past few matches. As for the 10s, I have a feeling he will start Djenepo for this one and probably Moi the right. Personally, I really hope Tella will be given another go from the start and I would, most likely, put Redmond on the other side (with Broja up top as previously mentioned). My team: McCarthy KWP Benarek Salisu Perraud Diallo Romeu Redmond Tella Arma Broja Team I think Ralph will pick: McCarthy Tino Benarek Salisu KWP Diallo Romeu Moi Djenepo Arma Redmond