Saint Fan CaM

If you’re offered three shit sandwiches and your life depended on eating one of them, which shit sandwich do you chose to eat? Probably the one that looks the most nutritious and beneficial without making you throw up.🤮

Watched the forum this morning and I have to say I thought it was better than I’d anticipated. A smart move having the woman’s team Manager on the panel and despite the moneyman attending, there were no outright boring financial questions. There were some challenging questions, so I didn’t feel there was advance scripting going on but time pressure meant there was little opportunity to dig deeper on a particular subject. I thought Semmens answers were acceptable and made sense - with the ever rising financial clout of the top 8 clubs (just in the uk), our model has to be different by necessity and we’ll not be spending £50m on one player. I don’t have a problem with this. We create experience in the players that choose to stay with us, like JWP, Romeu etc. and bring in youngsters that can perform at close to the same level as the £50m players. I don’t think there is animosity with Ralph, but he’s his boss and there needs to be a level of ‘distance’ between them. I thought Ralph to a degree wore his heart on his sleeve - clearly a passionate man that has the best interests of the club in mind and someone who is still living and breathing his time at SFC. You can’t help but want to get behind the guy and to be honest it’s debatable if there better fits to the clubs strategy and aspirations…always a risk getting into the managerial merry-go-round like Lowe did. The one question to Ralph that was not asked (which amazed me) was, “do you accept that we are too one dimensional in our forward play, hence the lack of goals and if so, what are you doing to address this?”.

Is this on the radio and if so, where? Not on Radio Solent.

Agreed. If it were me I would play ABK and Salisu as a no.1 pair and let them gel…it might take a little time for them to get it right, so get the GK, fullbacks and midfield playing to their strengths. The key thing is show the trust to develop together , rather than continually experiment with player combinations that have previously not worked.

Trouble is, he’s far from the full picture when it comes to recruitment. We’ve got limited funds and no-one can say work has not been done to alter the CB options - we’ve got 7 senior CB’s, but I’m not sure Ralph knows his best pairing even after a full pre-season with the squad…(let’s face it, his selections tend to prove this). So yes, our attacking prowess is a significant part of our ability to defend…for example Ralph has said that he expects Romeu to play further forward and he’s the guy we rely on to break up opposition possession, which typically needs to happen when we’re on the back foot as the ball is given away too easily in the final third after we tip-tap it around looking for a non-existent opening. Our forward players are not really that good against EPL teams and some of that is due to one dimensional Ralphball being found out.

Apologies for stating the obvious, but lets set out some basics - Ralph (and his team) determine the ‘playbook’ (tactics, strategy) that the playing staff work with. He determines which of his fit squad members are to be selected. He motivates and enthuses the squad. He prepares the team for matches in terms of research done on the opposition and the strengths and weaknesses. He makes decisions during a match with regards substitutions and of course re-instructs players in tactical play if things are not working (or at least he has the opportunity to). Let’s be clear, even this squad of players has been capable of some great wins - even after losing Ings. There appears to be a particular point when results just tumbled away. Why is this? Lack of consistency obviously, but in what element(s) of the above and what is stopping Ralph from reversing the decline? I don’t believe it’s solely down to the players - I think it’s a combination of… 1. Ralph’s inability to motivate in the shadow of his premature retirement announcement and a lack of trust in his coaching staff to provide him with advice. Incoming staff can get infected by the same mentality. 2. A lack of mental and physical stamina in the team with exception of 3-4 players such as JWP. 3. A lack of tactical experience and variety of play, which of course leads to bewildering decision making by Ralph. 4. A recruitment philosophy that is out of step with the demands of a group of players trying to enact a playbook that suits a more expensive and capable squad. Yes, we definitely need two new capable strikers, but if Ralph can’t find a system that works for this group of players then it’s regrettable but inevitable that he must be moved on. Yes it’s only one game into the season, but there is scant evidence in the performances we’ve seen that anything has changed since the end of last season. The ultimate concern is that the squad is damaged beyond repair and a new Manager will still fail, so there cannot be too much time spent deciding whether Ralph is the man to arrest this alarming decline.

Interesting to hear from the happy flappy denial brigade - it’s all ok because we’ve only played one game. WARNING! Wake up call incoming - we’re sat bottom of the league after a tonking by Spurs. Not a surprise, especially given that we ended last season looking equally as bad. What IS a surprise is the failure by the coaching team to address the reasons for the lack of goals and inept defensive errors AND the Boards inability to bring in the required quality players to replace the departed etc. and raise result expectations.

No. Doesn’t match our squads profile and I hate the way he talks. But if he can score us 15 goals this season then it’s big thumbs up from me.

It’ll be the same old shit…”how pleased are you with…” or “are you happy with the…”. I’m not going but if I was it would be “Ralph, now the early optimism of new signings has been shown not to have had a positive impact on the manner in which the first team performs, can you help us understand how you will turn a 14 game losing streak around?” or, “Ralph, would agree that the tactics and style of football we play is responsible for our long streak of losing games, rather than the players themselves?” or, “Ralph, how long will you persist in playing players out of position in the hope they will be able to change our terrible run of form?”. You get the idea!

To be honest I don’t think Adams or Armstrong are the answer to our lack of goals, however as it’s stands Adams is our best striker so it seems crazy selling without a replacement. As has been said, the only explanation is that he’s put in a transfer request or we need to sell to buy. Time is running out and frankly I can’t see us getting the required 2-3 strikers into the club before the window closes which means a very miserable season ahead and likely relegation. All of a sudden the early optimism has bled away and the club looks to be in a tailspin.

Can see Ralph doing the Ralph thing and dropping Salisu and putting Bednarek and Stephens in place. Possibly even switching back to McCarthy in goal. Other than that, I just think we’ll lose this game…there’s no fight, no urgency, no spirit in this squad anymore and it’ll take very little time for that malaise to infect the new players. 0-2 Leeds.

Is Hudson-Odoi the answer? Not as a striker but he would immediately upgrade our attacking prowess beyond Redmond and Elly. We really should be all over this.

In some respects it doesn’t matter what formation is played within reason as it’s the style of play that’s letting us down - i.e. our movement in attack is ponderously slow, predictable and easy to break down because we move the ball too slow. Too many times this leaves 2-3 players tip tapping short distance passes right on the sidelines trying to squeeze past too many defenders who’ve had the time to re-group. To combat this we need to move the ball faster out of defence, moving up as a team, instead of having typically 4 players way ahead playing a flat front line, waiting for a through ball that never comes because the defence and/or DMF is sideways/backwards passing due to no-one offering themselves in space. This ends up with a risky ball being played and an inevitable turn-over. To play to the strengths of the current team I think 442 or preferably 433 would help achieve this more.

I’ve said it before when we’ve lost games, it’s not the defeat itself that’s a concern, but the fact that over time nothing changes in our style of play. Attacking build-ups are extremely slow…we don’t push-up fast enough as a team and don’t move the ball fast enough. It’s simple in a sense (it’s never this easy I know) - if you can’t stop the opposing team from scoring then ensure you’re able to score more. We can do neither. When we do score first, we don’t know how to capitalise on that position via attack…we sit back and hope to soak up the pressure…but then the impetus has gone, the opposition sense this and find composure to put pressure on our weak defence. Whatever the model is that Ralph and co are attempting to work to, is just not working (hasn’t done for months now) and so the regrettable consequence is a need to change manager in the hope that new coaching ideas and tactics win the day. If SR are really interested in ensuring Prem survival then spending significantly and wisely on at least one, if not two excellent forwards is of imperative importance now. I have grave doubts that we’ll see any of these changes, but of course would love to be proven wrong.

For his Ralphy bonus?

Unfortunately this was on the cards - new players maybe, but same tactical shite from Ralph. I honestly think a better Manager gets more from this squad, but we desperately need a much better striker or two…not bargain basement. Good to see Ralph has done the obvious and brought on a defender when 4-1 down. FFS.

Why is that not a red for a reckless challenge on Romeu - not even a fooking yellow?!?!

We could pinch a draw here with a goal - if only we had a striker or two on the pitch or even on the bench to score it. Oh.

Better than Armstrong!

FFS - too slow getting out to stop the cross and Bednarek a statue.

Armstrong is like a statue - no anticipation of what the next play will be - no strikers instinct.

That deserves a red, but we know it’ll not be given. We’re dominating midfield but too slow in attack to take advantage.

So you agree Forest are a rival club then? Potentially every club could be a rival, depending on the situation…if Saints found themselves 1 point behind Man City and played them in the next game, we would rival them for that specific league position. It could be argued every club is a rival of every other club at least twice a season.

It’s difficult to know how he’ll get on in a side that has seen a few changes and changes in the coaching team too. A lot will depend on the service he gets and the number games Ralph bestows on him (anyone’s guess!).

Surely every team in the EPL is a rival. Can you imagine Ralph’s team talk at a top six club match starting “guys, we’re not going to win this, so just conserve your energy and just ensure they don’t put 6+ away”! If that were the case we wouldn’t have seen some decent results against the top teams, even in last seasons dire performances! Forest are most definitely a rival especially when it seems most money is on Saints finishing somewhere in the bottom 6.