saintant

Ralph needs to go now. The incoming manager will face a huge task and may or may not be able to keep us up but as long as he brings a new culture and there is obvious progress shown towards getting this team back on track I think most would be happy. Relegation will hurt but it will not be a disaster provided any new manager gives the side an identity, some shape and the ability to compete particularly against teams outside the top six. If he keeps us up I would see that as a massive achievement. Should we go down and a new boss at least makes sure we do it fighting rather than the current whimper then not so bad as most of us are realistic enough to think relegation is going to come at some point unless SR suddenly start throwing big money around. The Championship is a good league and no reason we couldn't be among the promotion contenders. Who SR will opt for if and when Ralph is sacked is going to define our future. They are bound to have a list of names who they feel would fit the role. Maybe they'll decide on a young, up and coming manager and that will be a gamble. If they go down that route perhaps they should consider negotiating a short contract to the end of the season on a realistic salary and the offer of win bonuses. If the new manager does well and we stay up he gets a new contract. If it doesn't work out at least there wouldn't be a huge pay-off. Should he do a reasonable job but we don't quite avoid the drop SR can then decide whether to give him a crack in the Championship and renegotiate his contract accordingly. Whatever they decide I don't think they can afford to wait any longer because Ralph looks a beaten man who is all out of fresh ideas.

No thanks.

Four more consecutive defeats and just one goal scored. This is death by a thousand cuts. Nothing will improve until Ralph is out of the building and his playbook is burned.

But it's clearly far more than just a lack of a striker although I'm sure we all agree one was needed in the last window. We now play with no shape and no clear idea of what our style is, what we are trying to achieve and how we are going about it. It surely cannot be allowed to continue. Bournemouth sacked Parker after one humiliating 9-0 and look better for the change. A change in manager is now a must.

If Ralph remains in charge there is every chance we'll lose to West Ham at home and Bournemouth away is almost a given. The bloke is completely shot and every game he remains in charge is another nail in our coffin. I had high hopes of SR as they seemed to have good ideas and some clever people but now I'm beginning to wonder. I can't believe Dragan is happy to see his investment squandered like this. Surely he'll step in and insist this mess is sorted.

Why do you think we can't?

Doubt it.

Whereas at the moment we have both a squad and manager who are limited.

That's ok then. For a minute I thought it was another of Ralph's many poor days at the office. Carry on Ralph.

Ralph will see this as a decent result but will completely overlook the performance which has been dire, clueless and lacking in any courage. He'll then trot back on the training field next week and carry on in his own sweet, stubborn way because he is either unable or unwilling to change anything. He's as stale as a pair of old socks that are never taken off. Get him gone today.

And that must be what they are being coached to do.

Hasn't looked happy all season from what I've seen.

It's not so much about who else is fit it is more a case of wondering why we are so bad under Ralph and he seems incapable of getting the team set up to do even the basics. That is the concern and one of the reasons he should go.

Not this week I'm afraid. If West Ham beat us at home and it's another pathetic performance he might get the bullet then but I get the feeling he's teflon coated.

Bournemouth sacked their manager after a nine nil defeat. Seems to have worked quite well for them so far - maybe we should try it.

Being hammered and not had a shot on target. About as gutless as it gets Ralph.

Big half-time team talk for Ralph. The next goal is crucial.

I know and it just makes no sense to me. Wish someone could explain it. I'm sure there is a whole list of stat which prove if you mark zonally you are less likely to concede but it's never made any sense to me.

Nil, shots of any kind and nil corners is basically cowardly football.

What is the point of zonal marking? An attacker runs from one zone to another so the bloke who might have been marking him ends up marking nobody. Meanwhile the attacker has run into another zone and chances are he'll not be picked up cos nobody sees him coming. Weird system.

Get to half time at 2-0 and that's acceptable.

What is there to be scared of? We've already suffered two defeats by 9-0 it can hardly be worse than that.....or can it? Gulp!

For the vast majority of this game I very much doubt we'll even have one up front 🙂

Not much chance he'll take it easy on us and Haaland will just want to keep on scoring goals. Looking at their recent average goals per match we'll do well to restrict them to four or five.

Be interesting to see whether we manage to get through the first ten minutes without conceding. I don't think we will.