Saint Fan CaM

When we’re in the Championship, he’ll be great....maybe. If he scores more than 1 goal this season I’ll apologise for getting it wrong, but as much as I would love him to ‘come good’ he’s shown nothing to suggest he’ll do anything other than run around a lot. He’s just not good enough.

Another loss at home on the cards. We might take the lead, but there’s every chance we’ll capitulate in the end. We’ve beaten the two teams worse than us...just...the remainder will not fall quite so easy. 0-2 West Ham.

Yes, I have written him off. Not just because of the lack of goals, but due to the lack of mobility, the lack of a strikers instinct, the lack of dribbling skill, the lack of a passing game, the lack of any semblance of a footballing brain befitting of the Prem. He’s just not good enough and a waste of how many millions?

Cedric not at the races, but I suspect he is being put in the shop window to create funds in Jan. Add 10% to the games of Redmond, Long, Hojberg, JWP, Stephens and Bednarek and we might not be losing these games. Too damn complacent after scoring one goal.

We’ll be hard pressed to buy someone of Longs experience and Obafemi is not as good as Long, or at least not yet...he is still unproven IMO.

I think Crocker will be a positive, but it’s only a small part in the jigsaw. The key is to keep hold of excellent coaching staff (to nurture the raw talent) and keep hold of the Manager to ensure the entire strategy stays the course. We’ve done neither over the last five years...a slow dismantling presumably because we can’t afford to meet the wage demands of those doing a great job?

Well it looks like some good news at last, but there’s more important work to get done...an assistant manager/coach of Rohl’s quality and three new quality players in the Jan window.

Well it looks like some good news at last, but there’s more important work to get done...an assistant manager/coach of Rohl’s quality and three new quality players in the Jan window.

1-2...last gasp goal mouth scramble in which Saints players defend valiantly but ultimately incompetently to lose the game in the 94th minute.

This x 10.

Where is he coming from?

Much better performance but Cedric really screwed up big time with Obifemi waiting in the box 1 yard out...it was a very very simple pass to make and he failed spectacularly. Redmond and Djenpo also had big chances and failed. Thought Ralph messed up bringing on Boufal when 1-2 up away from home...should have been Romeu surely? Ralph has a diliemna...either he plays a bias of attacking players and hopes we score more than the opposition or he plays more defensively and risks not scoring at all. It was better today, but conceding late will be the cause of relegation.

Oh dear this could be another embarrassing afternoon. I predicted 4-0 initially and I see no reason to change that, although I would not be surprised if it’s worse. Just don’t understand why a Ralph plays a defensive side at home and a defensively weak side away to one of the better attacking teams in the league. Quite baffling, other than to confirm that while he may have a fully fit squad, he also has few options selecting from a sub-standard group of senior players - basically it probably doesn’t matter who he picks...they are all equally incompetent.

Absolutely this. Been privileged to spend time with Laurie - he’s a really great man who has Saints written through the middle of him. He deserves to be revered as much as Ted Bates in my opinion.

4-0 or being optimistic 3-0.

I think Ralph has been found out without Rohl (or someone of his quality).

Stupid, stupid decision by Spurs. He will not be coming here...much as many of us would love it...he’s not the type to go back and he’ll have much bigger offers.

Is there any foundation in this? Not seen any credible links. Could work well.

I agree with most of this. The only thing I would change is rotating Redmond with Boufal or Djnepo depending on performance. The disturbing thing is this is probably the strongest side we’ve got and that there is very little quality coming off the bench to change a game. I definitely agree that JWP needs to be dropped...he’s just not providing enough defence or attack...and even his fabled dead ball delivery has been poor.

And we started the ‘easier’ run with an awful performance against Everton, so not really looking like this team is capable of finding the performances that will boost confidence and put some points on the table. Everything about the style of play and (lack of) quality on the pitch screams we’re in deep, deep trouble. The only way out that I can see if they’re really going to stick with Ralph is to have a fundamental change of coaching staff. I’d get Rohl back in a heartbeat.

Would not surprise me if there was something in that...perhaps strip the parachute money and invoke relegation release clauses in player contracts. Then rebuild. Crazy but who knows, it makes as much sense as any other suggested strategy!

My view is that all current players are not competent at Prem level with the exception of McCarthy, Bertrand, Romeu (just) and Ings. The rest of them range from Championship level at best and below....such is the lack of investment over the last 3-4 years. You can get away with 2-3 Championship level players in the 1st team if they’re among Prem level players in the main. The club has been systematically robbed of talent and lately even the back room staff have been whittled down in numbers and quality. It’s looking dire.

Did anyone really think the club have a cohesive and competent master plan? And one that involved keeping to the DoF story spun to supporters? They must think we’re mugs. I think many of us were when we believed the Board might actually rescue the situation three years ago, but time has run out...goodwill has been worn thin...nothing short of a miracle will rectify the current demise. And the sad thing is we’re not even at rock bottom yet, but if the players heads are anything to go on it’s just around the corner. I’m probably not alone when I say I’m almost at a point where I just don’t care anymore.

5 points from the 15 on offer. That is realistically where we are right now. Not good enough...relegation form. An Everton win (nothing less) will help to set the stage however and is therefore is hugely pivotal. Ralph needs to play a blinder.

I have very little confidence that the club have what it takes to resolve whatever issues are lurking and have been clearly festering for three years now. We’ve danced a very fine line between survival and the drop - the chances of being lucky again are lower this season and if anyone needs reminding why, I would suggest they take a close look at the individual performances across the team in the Leicester game...the result is bad enough, but a deeper view of the patterns of play, positional sense, passing accuracy, etc. is shocking. Here’s a prediction. By the end of January we will have papered over the cracks...there will have been a couple of passable game results. And Ralph will start to once again to become a target for dissatisfied supporters. We will not have signed players that walk straight into the first team to improve our chances. We may have a new DoF, but that person will not be in a position to have made any appreciable difference - too little too late. And we will still be flirting with the relegation zone. Anyone disagree?