S-Clarke

Well that's not great news. I'd say at least it will give Diallo a chance to bed himself in, but he's injured as well. Such a promising season has turned into the biggest cluster fuck, ever.

I think I speak for most in saying that I wouldn't want a zillionaire to turn us into City or anything crazy like that. I just want an owner who has as a clear philosophy and plan for the club, just like the manager with the first team, and is able to support the manager and provide some flexibility in moulding the squad how he sees fit in a sustainable way. What we're doing at the moment is unsustainable to the other extreme. Like you said, you can't stand still in this league for long.

We're dreadful for 1/3 of most seasons tbf. The Southampton way. The difference for me is that you can see what Ralph is trying to do. With Puel I never really understood what he was trying to implement here. In the main his football was dour and we limped to 46 points in the end, with something like 5 wins between January and May (admittedly not much better than we're on at the moment!) He wasn't helped with the sales and that was probably when our recruitment started to go to the shit, we didn't reinvest the Mane/Wanyama/Pelle money as well as we had previously. Him and Ralph are the two best managers we've had since Koeman, but I will always prefer Ralph. That's just my opinion.

Leicester pissing away their European season...

You have to judge it with some context, surely. 8th is better than 11th, sure, but 52 points is better than 46 and in my eyes tells a better story of the season.

There were some highlights, no denying that. But whilst we beat Inter, we pissed away a decent opportunity to actually progress against Hapoel at home and Sparta away. The lack of ambition at home to Hapoel was crazy. Two seasons we cocked up Europe, very frustrating. It just didn't feel right, some players came to the fore in spite of Puel....but it just didn't seem the right fit from the word go. I didn't enjoy that season as much as the previous 5 or 6 and it was all a bit downhill from there. We should have replaced Koeman with someone able to carry the momentum, we just floundered after that and in truth, bar last season, have never really recovered from that appointment and the recruitment which was forthcoming.

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.