Saint86

Trying to give an unbiased view of the game today. First half was a tight affair where we matched Leeds, second half Leeds made some tweaks and started very well, whilst we started poorly. But... Ralph conversed with the coaches and acted decisively to Immediatley get us back into it. Last season we would have lost that game for sure. That right there is him doing something we've all wanted last season - I.e. Having access to / listening to good supporting coaches and using them to make good tactical changes in games. And the players clearly were still there playing for him given that comeback... Also, United have just given us all a perfect example of what an unhappy squad looks like. Ultimatley, we've lost to spurs and drawn with Leeds. In response, every single day so far has people calling for him to be sacked. Any talk of giving this young team of new players a fair chance this season seemingly out the window? 🤷‍♂️ As for the formation. I don't think any of the fans likes the 3-5-2 / 4-3-2-1 Formation. I do think 3-5-2 has its uses and we've implemented it well historically - But not with these players (young / new), our injuries at wing back, and the strikers we currently have. It just doesnt work (for me) - we invite pressure and under utilise our attackers. Maybe Ralph will realise it isn't working after today, or maybe he'll stick with it 🤷‍♂️. But eitherway, I will reserve judgement on that until we see what happens in the next game. There was promising signs today if people care to see it. Fwiw, I don't think we would have lasted fitness wise if we'd tried to play our 4-2-2-2 pressing game for 90min vs Leeds in that heat. We've seen Ralph do more defensive first halves before, before going for it when the oppo tires. Maybe that was part of the plan today, but it went astray and we changed it? But who really knows for certain just yet... We're only 2 games in at the end of the day.

Another good point. Its hard to say we were only set up "not to lose games" last season - basically every week we get the "points dropped from winning positions" stat thrown in our faces 🤣. Didn't see much sign of that team not trying today - but i think we all know that 3-5-2 formation needs to be used as an exception, not the norm. That or significantly tweaked. Some exciting promise for the season ahead at any rate - provided we stick to our 4-2-2-2 yolo pressing.

Spot on. KWP was superb as well. We've just outplayed and outlasted a very fit Leeds sides in pretty ridiculous heat, and in doing so we secured a very credible comeback point. We saw so many of the summer changes come together today - the new coaching support for Ralph that has been sorely missed in previous years, and numerous new players demonstrating what they can offer.

Or he spent last seasons with Kelvin Davis and Dave Watson for support and decided things needed to change 😉 Reality is that first half was okay, start of the second half was dire, and the rest of the half was superb. We absorbed a lot of what Leeds through at us, they got tired, and then we stepped it up and put them to the sword.... or, he finally realised the 3-5-2 doesn't work for us and wastes our attacking players whilst relying on our wing backs to do everything.

Boom - 4-2-2-2 lets go!

This formation and tactical setup is so bad.

Every single corner has gone to the near post for leeds - and they've won basically all of them with a header on goal...

Important the fans back the team.... But who knows what it will look like 🤣

Not good!! https://www.itv.com/news/meridian/2022-08-12/holidaymakers-told-avoid-popular-beach-as-large-fire-breaks-out

And to think, Openda was right there for less than £10m ☹️

It wasn't quite that bad...

Eh? What's more consistent.... putting together regular wins of consistent form, or showing no signs of progress/potential by flip flopping between losing one week and winning the next? You're either happy with the table at the end of the season or you're not... Everyone knows that Ralph is streaky... consistently streaky in fact.

"Made a move"? 🤣

Really does highlight that whoever leaked this was out to somehow damage the club. Which in itself is interesting.

Can he play wing back?

Also agreed. Bazunu, aribo, lavia etc are still good players / prospects regardless of the manager. And imagine we'd hire a manager to suit the style. Don't think it's particulary shambolic to give Ralph a chance with this team - he has earned it in fairness. But it has to be his last chance. Your last point indicates that its only going to be fringe players, and almost certainly the ones we're trying to shift. Says a lot that we can't even manage that 🤣😭

Yes agreed, we are where we are and patience is the order of the day - at least for a while yet. Although I do think no wins in August will likely seal his fate in reality (when paired with fan sentiment). But regardless, you won't find much patience on here atm. With the best will in the world, the reality is we have some very vocal fans with strong views - and right now some of them have truly had enough of Ralph and are always going to go in hard after losses this season. I suspect that even say a draw at spurs and win vs Leeds wouldn't have made a difference to the die hard Routists come the next loss 🤷‍♂️. Once a football fan's mind is made up, its ofte. terminal 😅🤷‍♂️ But as fans we need to now show patience and give this new look team of young players a chance. SR clearly aren't afraid to make changes, so imagine that if the time comes they'll pull the trigger regardless of the fans. But if we jump straight on the toxic bandwagon now, we will create a terrible atmosphere and damage confidence for the entire season. We're saints fans and we've got a young promising team to support this year. That's bread and butter for us - even (especially?) if we end up being shite 🤣😢.

The list of players writes itself, and the general saintsweb collective wants rid of basically all of them except Adams anyway 😅😂🙄. Timing of this after the positive noises from the fans forum is interesting though. Charlie Austin style shithousery from certain players / persons with an axe to grind - but without the balls to actually put their names on it. Leaking it does nothing but destabilise the club. If you take the assumption that key players who've improved under Ralph and are still playing for him are supportive of him, the logic here as well is that these "disgruntled players" have gone over JWP's head aswell to speak to management - which implies divisions in the dressing room. Regardless of what you think of Ralph, I sincerely hope the board shift all of these players out PDQ.

Fixed it for you 🤗

I think its obvious that the club want to sell Adam's if the right offer comes in. Semmen's didn't deny that last night tbh. What he did say (at the Fan's forum) was that "Che won't be going to Everton on loan"... The athletic ran a piece before the fan's forum saying we would reiterate a stance that we weren't actively looking to sell him, but that behind the scenes the stance is he'll be sold at the right price. Now unless that is complete make believe from the athletic (which has not been the style of Dan Sheldon, Carl Anka, or Jacob to date), that information can only have come from sources in the know - and we will likely see Che Adams leave (subject to interested parties). I don't for one second think we'd sell Che and not have a replacement lined up either. So in summation - I think the only reasons anyone should be stressing over the Che Adam's rumours, is if they are either scared about us keeping him for the season, or about our ability to replace him adequately.

Watkins is a good player and would be well priced at £25M-£30M.... but is he significantly better than Che Adams? i certainly don't think that selling Che for £15M and purchasing Watkins at £30M would be justified.

Yup, I think no wins by the end of August and he'll be gone or going.

Should be signing Sarr...

Agreed. A better way to handle it would be for a supporter to stand up and highlight the fans' concerns over the spurs loss - the lack of defensive nous, the mistakes, the ease with which spurs played through us etc. and then ask Ralph for his thoughts, and whether he's concerned, what he thinks are the core reasons behind it and frankly the perceived lack of progress over it, and whether he has considered a different formation or how he plans to address it. Frankly - someone should ask some polite, intelligent, but more awkward questions - i'd expect BBC solent to do this but for whatever reason Adam blackmore doesn't OR won't. Regardless, Ralph doesn't deserve abuse, but many more games like spurs and his clock will be running low - and tbf i bet he knows it and feels the pressure as well. Some of his more recent decisions do smack of a man who is under the kosh and the pressure is stopping him making proactive or correct decisions.

Tessem will find his feet i'm sure, but missed Merrington today.