Saint Fan CaM

Would drop JWP - pointless playing him in the vain hope he will create something or defend anything. Also pointless is 5 at the back - it just invites pressure on an awfully frail defence. I would go 4-2-3-1 and tell the team to defend as one, break as one. I do think City are slightly fragile if the game is taken to them, but get their tails up if they smell blood (not hard with our squad). It will still be 4 or 5 nil to them, with a possible consolidatory goal from us. The only thing I'm looking forward to is the rugby on Saturday to be honest.

Am I the only one to see the irony in this? No more messages eh Ralph? Well how about starting with not releasing this little gem?! FFS, as if I believed this actually came from RH anyway...it so clearly came straight from some little oik in the marketing team!!!

If that’s true then surely there’s no way back for Ralph? The easiest way out for the Board is a complete change of coaching staff, although I suspect Kelv D will be kept on as he’s ‘Mr Southampton’ now and the Boards eyes in the dressing room I suspect.

Left any comment until this morning to try to remain objective. I’m numb. I called it ages ago when Reed started replacing great players with dross. Lots of dross. And then we started sacking Managers again, just like in the Lowe days. Last nights debacle is just part of the last gasp of defeat before we plummet out of the Prem and I can see us doing a Sunderland, such is the state of the ownership and general management of the club. Is there an answer? Is there any hope? I don’t think there is. I don’t think a new manager would change things as the squad is shot to pieces. Having said that, I think Ralph has been found out without Rohl by his side, so who knows that might a bit of a difference. I don’t think there’s any wiggle room in selling players...if we sold a player it would be our ‘best’ player, at a loss and then we would just buy cheap again because there’s no investment. It’s a blueprint for failure now. The only way out is releasing players from contract and buying new, but that’s a pipe dream for most clubs. The last three seasons has really drained me of enthusiasm. I love my ST but I despise what’s happened to Markus’ legacy. I miss some games because of Sky TV and I’m starting to seriously question the enjoyment and value. Last night did for me.

Left any comment until this morning to try to remain objective. I’m numb. I called it ages ago when Reed started replacing great players with dross. Lots of dross. And then we started sacking Managers again, just like in the Lowe days. Last nights debacle is just part of the last gasp of defeat before we plummet out of the Prem and I can see us doing a Sunderland, such is the state of the ownership and general management of the club. Is there an answer? Is there any hope? I don’t think there is. I don’t think a new manager would change things as the squad is shot to pieces. Having said that, I think Ralph has been found out without Rohl by his side, so who knows that might a bit of a difference. I don’t think there’s any wiggle room in selling players...if we sold a player it would be our ‘best’ player, at a loss and then we would just buy cheap again because there’s no investment. It’s a blueprint for failure now. The only way out is releasing players from contract and buying new, but that’s a pipe dream for most clubs. The last three seasons has really drained me of enthusiasm. I love my ST but I despise what’s happened to Markus’ legacy. I miss some games because of Sky TV and I’m starting to seriously question the enjoyment and value. Last night did for me.

GE would be a win-win as Tory majority would get Brexit done finally and Labour would be so humiliated that Corbyn would be ousted meaning a more credible opposition party. EVery other scenario leads to more log jam in Parliament due to political dogma from all sides.

Adams is not of Prem quality and the worrying thing is that we have Long, Obifemi and Ings all looking like very similar players that can’t score (less so with Ings). Can’t see him doing well here at all and think he might end up leaving if he’s not getting game time, meaning more wasted money.

Better all over the park...Leicester will come away with a comfortable 0-2 win. Fridays at home are not kind to us. We’re going down unless something starts to click very soon, although to be honest I do think this will be the season when the lack of squad quality will tell and Les’ deformed chickens will come home to roost.

Understand what I you’re saying, but this was the nature of the contact...Hojberg did not touch the back of the players leg or place his leg in front of the opposing players leg. No, the opposing player deliberately placed his leg BEHIND Hojbergs and simulated a trip. This was once a cynical and cheating way of gaining a foul, largely seen in foreign players and VAR was supposed to stamp such cheating behaviour. For me, there was equal if not more justification in VAR ruling out the penalty than the offside.

A decent point and better than I expected, especially when even VAR was deceived somehow by a player cheating by wrapping his leg around the back of another player and then falling over. That player should hang their head in shame, as should the VAR ref. Nevertheless we are still so slow and predictable in our build up play...we look like a poor Prem team. On a wider note, I still don’t see the point in JWP...can’t tackle, can’t deliver a decent forward pass (nearly always backwards) and most of his dead ball delivery of late is appalling. He adds so little to the side it’s laughable and I honestly believe we have better in the U-23’s. Gunn is not better than McCartney who may have made a fist of saving the penalty and got lucky with the handball decision because once again he got caught short.

Yeah I meant previous successes with Saints. Reading back I can see what I said was not clear.

If we steal a draw we’ll be lucky (fingers crossed), but I can’t see anything other than a 2-0 win for Wolves. We’re not near their level in most areas of the field, with the possible exception of Romeu. Time to take up our spot in the relegation zone.

Can’t see this appointment being anything but underwhelming. Damn it, I’ve not used that word to describe Saints for a long time! Agree with an earlier post...it does feel like a bit like rats leaving a sinking ship at the moment. There’s a massive re-build required, so let’s hope we can survive the season.

How about Danny Rohl? Seems he was making a positive contribution to the management of the 1st team and Ralph needs a hand.

It’s not Ralph...or at least with the squad at his disposal it’s not obvious he’s the problem. The squad is like an emulsion or whey that’s nearing the end of its settling period. The cream has been rising to the top and has been regularly scraped off and sold to the highest bidder. The vat has been topped up with skimmed milk and now, eventually all that’s left in the vat is a diluted, watery mess that is a pale imitation of the rich product of 3-4 years ago. Les Reed and Woss have milked their cash cow and now all that’s left for Ralph are a set of dried up, sore and barren teats.

Didn’t impress me in the last fan forum or whatever it was dressed up as...bit of an interloper. Get Mitchell back...pay him an handsome sum...could do much much worse.

There are two specific issues in my mind... 1. Do I want us to go down? ....NO - be very careful of what you wish for. 2. Do I want to retain the season ticket I waited 3/4 of my life for or save £750/year and join the growing number of armchair fans? ...JURY’S OUT! Thing is, like many I have most enjoyed the Lambert/Pelle years because it didn’t matter who we played, there was always a feeling we could win - even against the league darlings. Always hope. And because of this, there was passion...all around SMS. Now, over a succession of very poor strategic and managerial decisions starting arguably with the sacking of Cortese, that passion has been diluted to a point where many just don’t care. Yes, the corporate nimbies buying their half and half scarves have taken over. You can argue over the root cause all day and never agree an answer, but one fact exists now - the club has become a sterile version of the one that got promoted to the Championship. I would say there is only one possible saviour right now...Ralph. Both in motivating the players but more importantly, in playing the best players in their best suited positions. Choose a consistent starting 11 and only change for injury. The next home game is massive - he needs to win it for the supporters and to bring back just a little of that passion.

They’ll be too much for us. We’ll pass it around nicely for a bit, then they’ll take one of their first chances to score first and that will be it. SMS will go quiet except the boo boys who will start up. 0-2.

Looking at the game highlights this morning and Vestegard is massively out of position for their 2nd...was actually 2 yards into their half with no chance whatsoever of getting back to defend. Either the coaching for this squad is poor or the players are not listening and responding to the coaching. Either way it’s a huge problem that could root us in the relegation zone.

Totally brilliant result. Did Adams play? lol

IF he gets to play, I’ve got a feeling he’ll still not score...Pimpley will pack 11 players behind the ball and make it very difficult. We’ll carry on playing our usual pedestrian build up in attack allowing them to frustrate a decent game of football. It’ll go to pens which we could quite easily lose given the hostile atmosphere and our sapped confidence. Prove me wrong Che.

Interesting that you should mention Rohl - when he left I did wonder whether Ralph’s previous successes were largely attributable to the pairing rather than just RH and that we might start to see some cracks. What was a surprise was Ralph’s reluctance to take Friday on the chin when normally he plays a straight bat - either he doesn't like being criticised or he’s protecting someone who made the decision for him. As for Danso, I personally think he’s more of CDM type of player rather than CB (or indeed full back).

I would have to agree that Yoshida and Bednarek are our two best CB’s. Vestergard should be trying to oust one of those two by impressing in training, but then perhaps he already does that albeit in a safe training environment, hence why he gets picked. Danso does not strike me as being suited to being in a last line of defence, rather more in the mould of a Wanyama type of CDM. What he definitely is not is a RB.

2-2...lose on pens...lots of booing and gnashing of teeth, calling for Ralphs head. Then we beat Spurs 1-2 next week and he's the saviour managing the best team in the World.

Doesn’t look remotely like a Prem quality striker. In fact so far I have no idea how he managed to gain a decent reputation in the Championship...he just does not seem to put himself in a position to score a goal or have the ability to create a decent shooting chance for himself. Would love to see h8m come good, but how long does Ralph persist? Trouble is we’ve no other viable options.