Saint Fan CaM

Would still like us sign Broja on a permanent but for not more than 20m which is unlikely I guess. Not sure Aribo is in the same mould or has the same ability?

I think this guy could be really good for us - an improvement on the spine of the team and more suited to DM than Diallo, Smallbone or indeed Armstrong/JWP. Just wonder if it's actually as 'in the bag' as is being suggested on here? Have there been any reliable links?

Can’t help but have a lot of respect for Longy … put in a lot of effort and had some amazing results at times. Overall though his scoring record meant as a striker he was pretty ineffective and in the Prem that’s a luxury we cannot afford to have with our meagre resources. Good Shane and thanks for your commitment.

Will believe this when announced by the club, but if it happens then its good news as he's clearly got potential in an area we need to strengthen. I wonder if he would play alongside Romeu allowing JWP a more advanced role?

I wouldn't buy it as I don't think it's what I would call a classic design and it looks a bit cheap and ill fitting. However as others have said, if the players in it bring about a successful season playing great footie, it makes little difference.

I’ve watched him carefully and in summary, while he has the ability to score,, his off the ball positional sense is severely lacking and he doesn’t create his own chances (like Broja did). To be fair that may be Ralph’s system, but that doesn’t remove the fact that he’s not right for the team. Sell and buy a fresh player.

Quite clearly yes, as I indicated the last time I felt confident going into a new season was when we had a team that consisted of Pelle, Mane, Schneiderlin, Wanyama etc., although in some respects it could argued that team underperformed in relation to its potential. More the point, would you feel confident about the upcoming season if we didn’t sign a decent striker?

Can’t see us getting more than one new player in and past form tells me that will be in midfield…a new number 10 type who will be able to adapt to Ralph’s style (or at least hopefully will). This will leave us woefully short in the DM position should Romeu be out and woefully short of goals again because of our Championship level striker options. Despite wanting to believe in the changes made so far, I’m really not feeling optimistic about the season - feels like the previous time we ended up relegated…signs of hope ending in an 11th hour fight for survival with injuries to older players and a bunch of inexperienced youngsters to rely on. Still a bit of a shambles really compared to the season of Pelle, Mane and co.

Interesting - see I’m not sure he’s worth £75m in terms of his overall game, but he’s worth at least that in terms of Captain continuity and making a statement that clubs like Newcastle can’t rob us of our talisman players (thinking on this point, JWP is the only talisman we’ve got left). On balance it’s a no from me.

Sounds like he could start immediately. #dreamon

Somewhat irrelevant perhaps, but highly believable. Especially the top half and the mix of bottom 6-8. I think Fulham could do better than a relegation slot and unless Saints do something to improve our goal scoring forwards I truly believe this is the season we’ll drop. Let’s hope there’s some serious spending to be done. 😏

“And that’s another fine mess…” Ralph says to myself as he wistfully looks in the changing room mirror. 🤣🤣🤣

Could never quite understand it when the home fans sang “come on you reds” when we’re clearly red & white, but this is going to be even more confused! Perhaps it should be “come on you gash”, particularly if last seasons form continues into the next…🤣

Oh I agree with you - I’ve posted elsewhere that our striking options are as much if not more of a problem than our defensive woes. In fact it’s been mentioned that it’s the spine of the team that needs urgent attention and I wholeheartedly agree. Assuming we do little or nothing in the transfer market, I would favour a deeper defensive line, get another man (a true 10) into midfield to help JWP and Romeu, and spend significant time coaching different attacking options rather than the very predictable style we currently employ. I’d also be asking the players to contribute to ideas based on their strengths. But that’s just me and I’m not a PL manager.

Woah there…you have to be called out on THAT one! Are you saying 65 is too old to manage a football team?! Ageism is not a valid or indeed legal way to make hiring decisions. This chap could take the reigns very successfully for another 10 years which would far exceed many EPL managerial tenures.

I have been professionally trained as a coach. To get the best from your team you need to provide the conditions that allows individuals to flourish. With the odd exceptions when everything clicks, I don’t believe that is happening under Ralph and the evidence I see is in the way players regress generally and the constrained style of play that provides opposing Managers to easily find ways of beating Ralph’s system. Or to put it another way, Ralph’s system is not working for this group of players.

Well something had to change and these three were the fall guys. Ralph is not a strong coach in my opinion and the evidence shouts that nor were these guys. I think Kelv and co were too close and matey with the playing staff. My expectation is that someone of Stuart Pearce’s experience and gravity is brought in to be no.2 and provide continuity when Ralph heads off next summer. He’ll have a much better idea of how to mount a credible attack than his predecessors that’s for sure.

Yes, better players may produce better results however I don’t think we can underestimate the influence the Manager has on the manner in which they are to play tactically against a given team. If players are so focused trying to deliver the Managers instructions, they have less capacity to adapt and change and/or use their inherent skills to change a game. Telling a player how to play a game is NOT the same as coaching them how to win a game - he may be a decent tactician, but I don’t think Ralph is a good coach. Just my observations of how this team is so uninspired and lacking in creativity.

As has already been said, while you can expect defeats, it’s difficult to take defeats week in week out and the manner in which this happens has just not been addressed. While defensive or GK errors are often blamed for our defeats, being overrun in midfield and having little attacking threat or composure does little to create the conditions to even challenge the opposing team and provide an opportunity to win. Often we’ll score one goal and then collapse…it’s a bit like the adage “a broken clock is right twice a day”…our attacking threat is almost by accident rather than by design. I watch how others teams use triangulation, passing through channels, clever positioning and movement around the opposing box to create chances and score goals. We don’t do that. Why? Because we have Championship level strikers who scored lots of goals from wingers crossing into box, but that’s not Ralph’s playbook, so our strikers are basically rendered useless. Adam Armstrong does not have the positional awareness to make it in the Prem and Che is not much better. Long tries but gets appalling service. Broja scored a few mainly because he was capable of creating chances for himself, but then got caught up in the playbook. Lastly I would reflect on the fact that this group of players have shown they can perform, score a few goals and win a game convincingly. So for me the blame for the poor form lies with the Manager, his coaching staff and an inflexible playbook. It has to be sorted over the summer or we will be nailed on relegation fodder.

Down next season...we're going down next season...down next season - we're going down next season. Honestly, I've had a gutful of this utter, utter shitshow of a team and in particular Manager/coaching team. We look like a League One team - in fact I don't think we'd do very well in League One. And I don't care if we have got a penalty or if JWP manages to score it - we are completely rubbish. And now my stream has gone down. Bye.

Salisu at LB is a disaster waiting to happen...playing far too high and keeps getting caught heavy footed and too slow to turn. Otherwise we're not looking too bad for the money but we all know where this is headed.

I too have had a gut full of wreck it Ralph's bizarre team selections and lack of pro-active game management. This has a drubbing written all over it and I don't think anyone in the squad gives a monkeys. I'm going 4-0.

Don’t think he has it. Doesn’t have the movement and anticipation to operate at Prem level, plus he’s not got the physical attributes to mix it up with big CB’s which at least Che has. I’d say he’s worse than Long when Long was on his game. We need someone better than Che to ensure survival next season IMO.

Both teams will hardly be up for a slog so it’s likely to be a pretty boring affair. Fully expecting another defeat, but we might get away with a 0-0 draw. Expecting one of Ralph’s weird team selections too with some fringe players given a start.

We’ll that was my last game as a ST holder. I just want to say fuck you very much to Ralph for dishing up such an terribly boring event for me. There are so many issues around the squad it’s depressing but last night was a disgrace. I understand the need to set up defensively for a good part of the game, but at 65 minutes they’re not going to score 8 goals, so change it up and go for a draw! Just spineless and boring. If I didn’t know better I’d say Ralph gave Klopp that game deliberately. Didn’t stay for the lap of dishonour - feel very little for this Manager and his team now. Huge changes needed in the summer, but we all know it’s not going to happen. Think odds on relegation are pretty poor right now.