CanadaSaint

Ralph Hasenhüttl's style requires role familiarity and very high fitness levels - both on a level most of the players have never experienced. For him to have made this kind of culture change in not much more than four months is little short of amazing. The dropped points are frustrating but understandable to a degree. I think we're as good as safe, and I can't wait to see what Ralph does with the current squad after having them for a full pre-season. He clearly knows which players suit his style, and he's earned a lot of credibility, so I'd imagine he'll be given the opportunity to bring in a player or two of his choosing. Whether he can do anything with Boufal and Carrillo remains to be seen, but success on that front would enable us to focus more on strengthening the back row.

I fricking hate these corners taken by opposite side full backs.

I'm still trying to figure out whether he's leaving of his own volition or being (gently) pushed. An NHL team might want him now to prepare for the entry draft (June 21), and/or to hire a new head coach - normally the GM's job. There are several head coaching jobs open and a few really good coaches available, so it's an act-fast situation for those with vacancies. However, it wouldn't surprise me if the Saints were thinking of combining Reed's and Kreuger's jobs, and making Hasenhüttl a more powerful force in transfers. Reed covered for Kreuger's lack of football knowledge, and Kreuger was there to protect the owners from Cortese-like excesses. In the end it didn't really work - but we seem to have survived. If that's what they're aiming for, Kreuger is probably being pushed and they have someone lined-up for the senior role. Hasenhüttl has already shown a damn good eye for a player - by turning a number of sows' ears (under Pellegrino and Hughes) into something at least vaguely resembling silk purses.

He's extremely well regarded in the hockey world, and is solid general manager material. With the regular season over, numerous teams are looking for coaches or GMs, including the Edmonton Oilers, who fired him as head coach some years ago. Quite a few here, me included, would like to see him back as GM. He is a highly intelligent, deeply principled man. God knows how he ended up in sports management.

I agree with you. It's frustrating that we loaned him out to get some match experience, but he didn't really get it. With hindsight he was always unlikely to get much time in a league where physical stature counts for a lot. He's a really thoughtful, intelligent player who reads most situations very well, and his shortcomings seem more related to lack of experience and maturity.

There's a whole new dimension to the window compared with the last two years. The emphasis is less on how good we think players are right now, and more on what we think Ralph can make of them. He's transformed half our squad already. Real quality players have become unaffordable for a club of our size - and very risky, judging by our buys over the last two years. Buying potential and letting Ralph develop them is likely to be much cheaper and much more effective. I'm ready for some guys I've never heard of.

Losing him for three games, including Tuesday against Cardiff, may be even worse than the result for Brighton. He should have gone in the first minute of the Palace game but there was no avoiding it today.

Well that's interesting considering that we haven't replaced Reed. Any idea who's compiling the list of targets and priorities, or has there been a Ralph-centric change in approach?

He's a totally different player under Ralph and a huge part of the team, and I'd probably pick him as well. But not by a country mile. Hojberg has been excellent, and has become a real leader on the pitch - something we lacked. Beyond him, JWP has contributed a key role and not just key goals, and it's no coincidence that our backline improved significantly when Yoshida came back into the reckoning after being inexplicably omitted for so long. And it's great to see the old Romeu back.

It seemed to me that Ralph's early-game plan was to absorb pressure, try not to give up clear chances, and hit them on the break with fast movement and slick passing. I love seeing those angled passes through defences. Phase two, if they could get a lead, was to consolidate in midfield and force everything wide. On a side note, how snakebitten is Yoshida? He could be sitting on 10-15 goals for the club but has been denied by woodwork and crazy saves.

It's indicative of the job that Ralph is doing that you could make a credible case for five or six players as MoM. I was sitting here thinking we need Romeu->Sims and Long->Ings, and two minutes later he does it. Huge change from the WTF subs we've seen so often in the last three years.

https://www.thesportsman.com/articles/2019-premier-league-table-man-city-dominant-saints-the-surprise-package-but-where-do-liverpool-rank

One of Ralph's first priorities will be to assess during pre-season whether some of that is currently out on loan - no transfer budget needed. He has already turned around several careers (JWP, Redmond, Sims and even Romeu after his poor last year). Even if he just improves them to sell them it's progress.

And two of those losses were brain f*rt losses to Cardiff.

It will be interesting to see what Mark Clattenburg has to say. He called Atwell out last week but Friend's blown calls were far worse - especially the violent conduct that happened right in front of him. And then there's Lee Mason - yet again. It needs someone like Clattenburg to really ignite the discussion about the abysmal standard of English referees. It's no coincidence that we had no ref at the World Cup for the first time ever.

We see enough of reviews over here to realize that they even disrupt games that have a lot of natural breaks - baseball, hockey, (American) football. I hate the idea of introducing them to (proper) football, where one of the attractions is the constant flow of the game. It's even more annoying that a good 80% of the need results not from really close plays but from weak officiating - not keeping up with play (Jon Moss), the well-known big team bias (Atwell), and complete and utter incompetence (Friend, Mason). But today's performance from Friend was on a whole new level. He's been sh*t for years but today he 'graduated' into dysentry.

Diving. I thought he'd ditched that habit.

Until this season he wasn't opening defences up much - constantly opting to circle back, but he's doing it regularly now. The next level for him is finding a moment of composure after he's created the opportunity. If he can do that he'll be a 10-15 goal man.

Oops! He's my other candidate for "Biggest **** With a Whistle". It was a Friendian Slip.

Sims is a great fit for Ralph's style and I'm really glad he's had a chance to show it. Excellent half time adjustments transformed the team. Valery's doing a better job defensively and finding the knack of popping up in the right place up front, and JWP's goal was stunning - again. Without the two denied penalties last week we could have picked up 6 points from Man U and Spurs. How that tw*t Lee Mason is given a whistle every week I'll never know. Two early bookings to make key tacklers nervous, no free klck for Vertongen's high boot, and no red card for Sissoko's head butt - both right in front of him.

I'd like to know WTF is going on in the player health/fitness department. We're fragile mentally (better under Ralph) but we seem unable to keep key players fit, and the injuries last for ages. And now Obafemi has done his hammy again. One who isn't fragile and can be counted on to be a mental presence and a physical presence is Yoshida, who - inexplicably - wasn't picked. Again.

IMO there has long been a big problem with the goalkeeping coaching at the club. Weaknesses seem to remain unaddressed. Forster's were glaring, Gaza had a decent skill set but needed guidance he clearly wasn't getting, and McCarthy's game is now on a downward trajectory), so god knows what they work on. For me it's time to pick Gunn and stick with him, but weak coaching will end up producing the same result with him. For those who sit close enough to hear, what's the communication at the back like? I seldom see McCarthy doing much shouting, and a lot of our errors seem to come from lacking awareness.

I agree with you, but if it's a choice between Obafemi and Long I'd go with the kid every time. I actually thought we played reasonably well today until we hit the final third - again. There's nobody to get on the end of an early ball, and nobody looking to play one. That back row will continue to leak stupid giveaways until Yoshida's back in it. He won't make us solid but he's a much better reader than any of the others. FWIW I think Armstrong was a big miss today - he has an ability to be more direct in the final third, and to take a decent crack every now and then.

Whoever would have thought that we'd be left pinning our hopes on 18 year-old Obafemi?

Strike options of Long or Austin or Gallagher will leave you over-elaborating around the box trying to create the un-missable - lots of passes, lots of possession, f*ck all to show for it. Add that to mistakes at the back and a tentative keeper and it's a recipe for disaster. Whether the manager is Hughes or Hasenhüttl.