captainchris

A good point. I think most of us can see that Watson has has a negative effect on all our goalkeepers. Doesn’t he do of the defensive coaching too which is also dire.... He should have gone in clear out.

I am one her constituents. Wtf does she think she is doing ... She does does the sum total of nothing in her own constituency and finds time to waste talking to a foreigner in another constituency- typical of her incompetence. What about the massive pollution in Hamble lady? What about looking after some important issues on your own patch like planning on the overcrowded over polluted Hamble peninsula just being waved through and wrecking the environment and quality of life??? Leave Saints alone ...!!!!

This is a very good point. However to compound the problem our full backs are too advanced and in particular Valery which leaves our midfield bare with no width and their full backs are then pushed too far back leaving no room for our forwards to make runs in behind. What also happens is our forwards end up coming deep to help the midfield and just to search out the ball which meant that on the odd occasion we did get it wide there was no one in the box to cross to. The three at the back system requires attacks to be built with full backs giving the midfield width deeper than they are so that you build the run in behind or the overlap.

Agree very promising indeed but needs good coaching and if it is Ralph’s specific instruction he is working to then Ralph needs to look at himself and get this right because it is seriously messing up our whole flow.

I like the way you study the game in some detail Mr. Whilst Valery may have been left isolated on the ball a couple of times he was dreadfully exposed to either poor coaching or being very poor out of procession himself. He was constantly too far up the pitch and therefore marked by their left back which effectively blocked off the run into the channel from our forwards and also ensured Valery was not available to pass to all in one bag..... Valery really only did two or three noteworthy things in the whole game and people are noticing that and nothing else. Long was poor and this wasn’t the game for him but pushing Valery so far forward really hampered Long’s game and come to that Redmonds too. I was a bit concerned by Ralph’s lack of attention to detail in this game and his apparent inability to change things for 75 mins. Ralph saying it’s not tactics that affected the game is also concerning. Ralph was poor and culpable in this match against a very poor Cardiff.

Not sure which game you were at? He was always far too advanced to overlap or receive a pass.

Apart from one run he was/is dreadful! Has no positional sense at all. Spent the whole game ‘marking’ their back when we had procession and needed him to be showing for a pass. Terrible end of.

The main reason we couldn’t get it wide on the right was Valery who was too advanced and doesn’t show for the ball. He spent the whole game apart from one run ‘marking’ their left back - hopeless player... Or maybe decent if coached properly!

This is very true !

Ralph was completely out thought by old Neil Warnock today. Three at the back was a tragedy and should have been changed after 20 mins of repeat repeat tippy tappy between our Centre backs and not enough numbers in midfield. Width was none existent particularly on the right where Valery is completely out of his depth. He was far too advanced and sat right in their left back. This meant there was no outlet from the midfield on the right hand side of the pitch as he didn’t drop 15 yds to be available for the pass. Additionally this pushed their left back back towards their back three leaving no space in behind for the ball into the channels. Valery is not intelligent enough to drop and receive. Ralph was too slow to see what was happening and change it which is very concerning indeed. Hodge was all over the place and his foul in injury time which lead to their winner was a very poor mistake to compound a very poor day at the office for him. Long has now shot his bolt and cannot be tried again. This game was made for Austin - another poor decision from Ralph. JWP played well despite being outnumbered in the middle and Rom was decent. Heard Ralph’s interview after the game where he said we didn’t lose because of tactics - Well I have news for you Ralph we did lose because of tactics and coaching and you are at fault for that.

Surely not another minutes silence...

This. Very uncomfortable about the personal mourning of celebrities. The emotional over reactions for people who are not personal acquaintances or relatives and have died is baffling.

Some of us want to be self employed and are not ‘entitled’ so leave out the self employed violins please. No one is forced to do anything !

Emphasis on not turning your back on shots would be good to fit in somewhere..... How about turn your back once and your training with the under 10s for a month.... ?

Have to agree there... Worrying without Hodj but hey we had him against Palace and struggled so positive thinking....

Imo Gallagher is just not up to our standard. He’s so far been too much of a ‘plodder’ He doesn’t make things happen where as Chaz does. Between the two I’d choose Austin all day long unless Ralph thinks he can change Gallagher significantly then best to sell him as another loan is pointless. Of course if we can sell both great but then we need at least one striker in.

Talk about doomongering ! Hilarious..

Six months not long enough!!! Really...

Nothing gets by Ralph. He doesn’t miss a single thing unlike the last three plodders. It was noticeable in particular about Armstrong who has been 5% short of the other’s but Ralph saw it and JWP jumps ahead of him despite Armstrong’s popularity with a section of the fans. The only thing that slightly surprised yesterday in my view was that Gallagher made the bench ahead of Austin. Ralph’s attention to detail is everything you would expect of a Premier League Manager but rarely see in fact except from at the very top of the league. He doesn’t appear to have favourites either which is again very professional. 10 out of 10. This guy is the business.

Isn’t ‘hoping for new signings’ saying the present ones aren’t good enough? Just a twist on the same criticism. Just saying .....

I think you have misunderstood about the firefighting. Ralph was referring to when we have a back Four there is not the fifth or extra man in a central three defence to firefight. Nothing to do with Romeu at all...

Very good accurate first paragraph......

He was poor. That’s not a mentality it’s a criticism. Barely got above walking pace and didn’t chase back. Slow movement. Will not make it at this level.

Have to say the effort wasn’t really there last night. Derby closed down more, busy a gut to get forward on the break and wanted it more. First half again we did not press nearly as much as Derby and we didn’t get players busting a gut to get into the box during our sttacks. Second half we often had too many players ahead of the ball - lazy play with little effort to track back. We see what happens when we apply maximum effort we do very well but when we don’t apply that effort we lose. It’s as though Ralph took his eye off the ball last night. Admittedly however he had four or five players who were seriously short on the required skill and effort levels last night. On the goalkeeping front, are we seeing another decent keeper in Gunn being totaly messed up with poor coaching at the club? The club reallydo need to address this matter. Our goelkeeper coaching is obviously not good enough.

Aweful