austsaint

I think you are doing an injustice to Romeu and Hoj. If we persist with the idea that Ward-Prowse is a midfielder or an automatic selection...we are going down. As for the posters citing statistical support for JWP; just watch the games....that will tell you everything - if you have an objective gaze.

I think you are doing an injustice to Romeu and Hoj. If we persist with the idea that Ward-Prowse is a midfielder or an automatic selection...we are going down. As for the posters citing statistical support for JWP; just watch the games....that will tell you everything - if you have an objective gaze.

Boufal really should start v Everton alongside players like Ings, Redmond and if fit, Djenpo. I don't trust Ralph to see it this way though.

Ralph's playing of Ward-Prowse for every minute of every game - where essentially it deprives us of an attacking player is the thing I cannot understand. Furthermore, having JWP bang in a hundred or so corners and free kicks and eventually having one of them headed in does not make an assist laden midfielder. Our predicament isn't all down to Ward-Prowse of course, but his "automatic selection and retention each game, irrespective of performance, really highlights how threadbare the squad is. I thought Danso did well; as did an out-of-position Hojbjerg - McCarthy should be our first choice keeper. Felt sorry for Boufal - he needs a chance to play among Redmond, Djenpo, Ings, Adams etc.....not being limited to 45 minutes with Long for company when the Manager has 8 behind the ball and is trying for damage limitation.

Can we just see a Saints team this season run out without Ward-Prowse? It would allow an attacking player like Boufal or Armstrong to add something, since WP has not offered an attacking or defending attribute to the side. Oh, and surely Obafemi or Adams instead of Long.

Attention to the weaknesses at CB and FB is clearly urgent, but there is also a pressing need to deal with the static, undermanned midfield. If the Club doesn't add pace and creativity to the midfield, the game is up. PEH, and Ward-Prowse in particular must be improved upon.

At least Hughes had the good sense to drop Ward-Prowse from the side. That's one of my biggest complaints with Ralph - he has played Ward-Prowse for every minute of every game this season!! It just makes no sense.

Easy way out for some very poor players isn’t it?

Nice assist by WP for the Vardy goal.

Selecting players like Gunn, Ward-Prowse and Valery week after week is going to end very badly for Ralph...and us.

Yes, would have been the right player to assume the AM role we have lacked for so long. Romeu, Hoj and Maddison would be a pretty good midfield.

Agree. At home, we need to be playing a 4-2-3-1 with Djenepo, Redmond, Boufal combining with Ings - and Romeu and Hoj in midfield. That is clearly our best attacking formation.

Even though he lost the ball a couple of times - Boufal immediately made us look more of an attacking threat - he should have been on earlier. The Wolves Manager made two attacking changes - one of them at half time - which changed the momentum. Wolves defence looked suspect today but with only ings and Redmond as attack minded players, the situation called for Boufal on earlier. Once again Ralph kept JWP on for the whole game despite him being anonymous throughout - apart from the well taken free kick. A good point which could have been three.

Romeu, Hoj, Bertrand and Redmond all good so far. We only have two attack minded players with Ings and Redmond - would love to see Boufal on to run and stretch their defence - which looks shaky.

Yes, I think your last sentence nails the problem. We are astonishingly light on in mid-field depth. For what it's worth I don't see JWP as being out of form - his performances this season have been reminiscent of most games I've seen him play. The goals you talk about were a few penalties, a set piece free kick and a couple of open play goals - his overall tally from 240 appearances is very light on.

In my book Ralph loses a lot of credibility if he continues to play Ward-Prowse.

I'm fairly confident your evaluations of JWP and PEH are the wrong way round.

It's grossly unfair to lump Romeu's performances in with those of Ward-Prowse and Hojbjerg. Yes, as a collective midfield there is a lack of pace, movement and cohesion, but all season Romeu has carried the other two, particularly Ward-Prowse!!! When is Ralph going to drop him out of the starting 11? He has to try Romeu/Hojbjerg with Boufal as the attacking midfielder linking with an Ings, Moussa, Redmond/Adams front three. Today at 3-1 down a pro-active Manager would have subbed Long and Ward-Prowse for Adams and Boufal. To drop Boufal after his recent performances and then delay meaningful change until the 81st minute was painful to watch - what the feck has happened to Ralph? If Gunn and Ward-Prowse continue to start there is something seriously wrong.

Two obvious changes need to be made at h/t. Long and ward-prowse off for Boufal and Adams. Will it happen? Probably not.

How can he play Long and even Prowse in front of Boufal...on current form? Losing some trust in Ralph.

True enough - but for a Club our size, the recruitment of the last 2-3 years has been abysmal; and whether you measure it according to financial year outlays or the motley style of Football played post-Koeman, Pochettino, it reflects badly on the Club recruiters/decision makers.

Spare us the contrarian outrage. Blind Freddy can see the Club has spunked tens of millions on crap players and Reed L. and Wilson R. have been at the heart of the decision making.....it's a reasonable complaint.

True enough, but having two specialist FB's and Yoshida/Bednarek would have given us more chance.

. There was nothing clever about playing Ward-Prowse at RB. Son exploited the weakness ruthlessly

The main problem with the second goal was RB Ward-Prowse being out of position since he had charged up field and then couldn't recover in time with the Spurs counter. Ward-Prowse was also beaten repeatedly by Son - hard on JWP since he is not a RB but a mistake by Ralph in not replacing Cedric with Valery.