S-Clarke

Where have I said anything about league position? Why judge a season on league position, rather than points? Surely that's going to lead to an incredibly skewed view of the success (good, or bad)? I'm basing Ralphs success on the points accumulation, not where he finished. He achieved 52 points and sat in 11th, whereas Puel achieved 46 points and sat in 8th. That's in black and white and is fact. It doesn't take much to work out which was the better season. The points tally is the most revealing factor of a good season, and in most cases that will also lead to a decent position in the league. 46 points and 8th was total freak. We were 2 points behind Stoke all the way down in 13th. It was insane we finished top half. That was certainly not a good judge of a season and I still hate it when people jump up and down and say ''You hounded out a great manager, he got you 8th, in a cup final''. You try and sit watching his games for an entire season. I was dying inside watching his team and so were thousands and thousands of us.

Points wise, he did. 52 points over a single season compared to Puels 46, which looked better than it was in truth. It was pretty clear to most that Puel was the wrong man for this club and league. It just didn't fit. Ralph does fit, what he's trying to do isn't at odds with this league or the fans - maybe just the squad.

He's performed better with this squad than any of the previous managers did. He's in the main using the players the previous managers bought in, they are still a bad mix IMO. In the main we've struggled with this group of players under multiple managers, the first manager we've had to bring some sense of cohesiveness to the rabble is Ralph. I'm not making excuses for him, I'm just stating the facts. It's not great at the moment, clearly not, but don't let this spell cloud his entire tenure - which in the main, has been good.

I agree, I think it is a little bit dangerous. I don't think it's ever sustainable to build a club around a single entity, but maybe we feel that his methods are easily transferable to the next manager in the future - this is just a blueprint etc. Hard to know without seeing the finer detail of it all. The local aspects of the board we have are backing him to the hilt, that much is clear. They know what he's about and Martin doesn't strike me as someone who makes silly or rash decisions. I'm sure the board are hoping for new ownership as much as the rest of us. There are probably no amazing owners, no faultless owners, they all have bad points but they will also bring their good points or at least something to the party. That automatically trumps Gao, who brings nothing to the party.

I think all 3 were backed considerably more and had much more flexibility than Ralph has had, in my opinion. Obviously the primary reason for that is because we haven't had mega sales to top up the kitty, which has made it more difficult. Puel had money available and was able to bring in Boufal, Gabbiadini, Hojbjerg, Redmond, McCarthy in the two windows he was with us. 60m in one season. We afforded too much money to Pellegrino and it still makes me weep. He bought in Lemina, Hoedt, Carrillo, Bednarek. - Just under £60m across two windows. Hugues also had more flexibility. Vestergaard, Elyonoussi, Gunn, Armstrong, Ings. (loan at that point, but it was already permeant and the fee was committed bar the ink). - About 55m in a single window.

He has signed 5 permanent players in the 3 years he's been here, about £40ishm over 3 years. 3 of those were this season. And anyone we have signed has been a very creative arrival by having to raise the funds by working out who to sell/move on first, hence why we are now in the situation we are in with our squad size. Where we are in the table is a fair reflection of our squad, 11th was the top end of our capabilities. That's not disputing that we have a 'decent' core which 'could' challenge for the top half if they were all fit and healthy, but the reality is that over a season you need a squad as it's not sustainable overwise. And we don't have a squad, nor has he been able to build one. So, no, he certainly hasn't been backed. Not at all.

Didn't mention top clubs, any club really. If he gets pissed off then he won't be out of a job before long. Maybe he could build his reputation at a club which allows him the ability to grow as a manager, as all we are doing is stagnating him.

It's true, they have athletic players. Much more than us. Our squad has always been at odds with the style Ralph wants to implement in my opinion, that's why it's so up and down. We'll have moments but ultimately the squad just isn't suited. We need to make a choice really - back him and allow him to build a squad that works to his methods, bit more athleticism and power in there, or let him go and bring in a manager who can get us ticking along with an average miss-mash bunch. Either ways costs money, which we don't have. So it's certainly a case of better the devil you know for me, he's shown he can get this squad performing for 'periods' so that's why he gets that backing. But in general terms, we don't have the squad to be sustainable in his approach over long-term seasons.

A club would snap him up before long. I think most football people recognise his talents. It really depends on if he fancies more pre-seasons working with Martin to try and re-invent ways to improve the squad, who can we let go first etc. It must be very tiring.

Don't think so, it's easy to micro-analyse all these things during a slump like this. In simplistic terms I think Ings has had a very stop/start season, he's obviously been a tiny bit unsettled by talk of his future and that combined with the injury he had has meant he's not got into any sort of rhythm this year. He's also got the added problem of the players around him being out of form - such as his strike partner, who was key in creating the space and openings for him last year. All sorts at play, but I'd say he still has the full backing of the coaches, players and hopefully the fans. He's a professional and will just want to score goals, I have no doubt about that.

Interesting we've agreed that already. I imagine that means we expect to stick with Fraser and McCarthy for next season. (I think Fraser still has a year or 2 left?)

I feel Ralph knows he's got the backing, the only worry we have is if he feels he's had enough and just walks. That's very possible, especially if the on-going lack of investment and lack of flexibility continues. Look at the note in that article about focusing on the free transfer market. That says it all doesn't it. He's not going to want to work with that, surely? What a true waste of his talents. That's the most frustrating thing for me, he hasn't ever been afforded the opportunity to build his own squad here. For what it's worth I have no blame on the board - Martin and Toby etc are fine, they've worked wonders for me and are having to re-invent the wheel every time we want to make an addition. The problem is the absent/non-existent ownership by someone who for me isn't part of this club, he unfortunately just holds the purse strings and has closed the door to finances. Basically, whilst he is here, we are teetering on the brink and I hope we get him shifted sooner rather than later before Ralph, Martin etc get pissed off and leave, because then it would all come crumbling down incredibly quickly - and it wouldn't be long until we're sat back where we started before Markus.

Who do we target? We have no players of that make up, which is a bit odd really - as quite a lot of squads have at least a single target man they can call on if required, but we've totally deserted that approach. So, it wouldn't work. We'd be flying long balls up to Redmond. He can't control a ball on the deck, so he will be even more ineffective in that sort of game. Ings isn't any cop at that sort of game either. Closest we have probably got is Nlundulu, but he's way too raw and inexperienced. There is a valid argument for all squads having a traditional target man centre forward, not always a starter, but at least to call on. Then you get the likes of Redmond, Minamino, Ings, Moussa all making runs off of him if required. I guess that's as close to a 'plan b' but it's bordering on the ''get it up'' ''get it in the box' tactic that is very dinosour-esque.

Wanted to get Fonte in there as well, so I've gone with 3 at the back. JWP has to be in there for me, the amount of appearances he's made and the set piece record he's hitting. He's been one of our most available players in recent times. Toss up between Lallana and Tadic, but Lallana did more for us over a decent period and we achieved much more under him (promotions etc) Niemi Fonte - Svensson - VVD Clyne Bridge Morgan - JWP Lallana Mane Lambert Subs - Davis, Toby, Wanyama, Ings, Bale, Bertrand, Beattie

I think that would be an unnecessary risk. He's still getting to grips with this country as it is, sticking him in midfield wouldn't be great. He's looked a tiny bit rash with his challenges etc (so far, he's still learning the pace of this league). That's just another square peg in a round hole really and we'd probably get over run as he probably has no idea how to play that pivot position. I'd stick Alex Jakewitz in there tbh. More of a natural fit as a midfielder - could even be a shout for Caleb Watts, but that may be a bit lightweight. Ramsay at RB is questionable as I'm fairly sure he's a centre back by trade himself, but can play right back. And I've never been impressed when I've seen him, he couldn't even get a game in L2. It's genuinely shit it's come to this, just because of 1 or 2 first team players missing.

What is wrong with that bunch? Why have they taken all those comments by Ralph (in that opening post) as personal attacks at them? What was wrong about saying 'there are one or two clubs out performing at the start for a short term' - he was spot on, about us more than anything! How was that a dig at Everton? Where are they now exactly? Oh yeah, they dropped off. Chips on their shoulder or what.

We always seem to leave a glaring gap in the team. Some years it's been CB, other years CM, now full back. Not sure why we have these brain farts sometimes. It's a real toss of a coin and this time it's failed us as the first choice is injured.

No, not at all, he's not 100% faultless. Not saying he is! No one is, everyone needs to take some of the blame for this absolute abomination of a season. He has made weird choices sometimes without question. But a lot of the time his hands have been tied.

That sums up our current depth right there. Not good enough throughout the club. Academy has dropped down multiple levels, even they're being bum-fucked by 7 goals in games. Feels like the entire club is imploding at the moment and there is just no quality coming through.

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point? You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do). My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

Are they being toned down again in the summer transfer update?

The main difference between Wotte/Port/Pellegrino/Hughes is that we didn't even have good times under those, it was all bad. They'd never shown anything. It was all rubbish. There was no philosophy, nothing. I think most fans appreciate that Ralph managed to get this squad overachieving for large parts of this season and last season, he's shown he is steadfast on a philosophy which I believe is the right one - might not look like it now, but it's much more suited to this league than Puel's was. That's why I'm not calling for his head, he's shown that he has a plan and with a better array of players that plan would be working much better. There is a fine line between winning and losing. Not bringing in a full back and then losing your first choice full back for two spells is kinda illustrative of that line, but also the clubs incredibly complacent stupidity. I just hope we can plug those gaps in the squad during the summer.

Sheff U A Brighton H Burnley H WBA A Palace H I'm looking at 7 points min from those games. That's less than half the available points, so still not amazing form - but that's not too much to ask is it? I've even factored in some horror show defeats within that lot. That'll take us to 37 points by the start of May. So, it goes to show we still have quite a bit of margin for error until you can say we are in a real relegation battle. If by the end of that block of fixtures we are on 30-32 points, then yes, we are in a relegation battle proper for the final month of the season as we'd be sat on 16 games without a win. I reckon we'll finish mid 40's point wise. We have Fulham H, Leeds H too - get another 3-6 points from May's available 15 (again, still not great form) and we'd be mid 40's. Feels a long way off saying that now, but we can't go on being this bad for ever. All teams have spells like this and they manage to get over it eventually and sneak a couple of wins via someone's backside. (usually against us, TBF - maybe we can play ourselves?)

Where has it come from that he's our highest paid manager?

Fair enough. I just think the make up is all wrong to be honest. Take some of the players out and put them into other teams, they'd probably looked decent - as individually I think they're talented, but the makeup has been wrong since Puel came in and we lost the likes of Pelle/Fonte/Morgan/Mane/Wanyama etc. We didn't get the same sorts through the door in terms of their replacements. (Not just quality, but personalities). We looked at individual quality/are they good at passing etc and ignored every other factor. It's the same core we had under Puel, Pellegrino, Hughes and now Ralph. We've had our two worse results under this lot. Something stinks.