Bstokesaint

He did a great job for us, came in to a right mess with us having sold most of the first 11 and really steadied the ship. Don’t think he could have got much more out of us and the squads he had were much better than what Ralph has to work with. With Koeman now we’d be in the same relegation battle as we are but he’d be 100x more negative about the situation

So you sack Ralph, who would want to come in to a team who are likely to be relegated this season? I was banking on Norwich, Watford and Newcastle/Brentford finishing below us this season. Whoever the manager is just look at the squad and you cant ignore that 17th is a successful season. Theres a couple of good players in there but the rest is bang average and we've lost our 15-20 goal a season striker. Now that Newcastle have loads to spend and assuming they have a good January we really are in trouble. The squad are still playing for Ralph despite such a bad run over the past year and our results are about right for the squad, like it or not everyone in the league sees us as 3 points.

Haven’t been able to go to a game for a long time but sat in the Itchen listening to the line up yesterday I was thinking what a truly bang average squad that is. Players like Redmond are the forum whipping boy simply because some still haven’t realised how far we have fallen and don’t want to accept that’s our level now. 17th is a successful season. For a team that’s had such a bad 2021 I saw a lot of effort and commitment that doesn’t match up to a squad that’s supposedly had enough and aren’t playing for Ralph. With his style of high press it would be v obvious if this was the case. im fully aware it was an under strength mid table side we were playing but we played well to a plan that nullified Leeds for most of the game and I think Ralph is still getting the best out of individuals. Salisu was a beast, Livramento is even better than I thought and Romeo/Diallo bossed the midfield. For me there is some hope there that we can stay up

Relegation foder loses 3-1 to potential title challengers after dodgy sending off = manager must go?

Not really sure what people are expecting, just look at our squad! What manager wouldnt struggle with that? We are officially a team who just hopes that there are 3 teams worse than us, Jao gets his premier league money for another year and hes happy Ralph is a top manager, he has proved it at his old clubs and in purple patches at saints but we are simply here to make up the numbers now and we would be moaning about losing whatever manager we had. Going to be another very long season just without last seasons winning streak!

normally the club is very quiet about interest in one of our players which obviously leaves any Gao intervention open without making anyone in the board room look stupid. Do you think the owner of a club that needs to balance the books and who himself loaned lots of money from various sources doesnt intervene when a large offer comes in? In the JWP case i think the fact Semmens has put his neck on the line saying the player is not leaving gives me hope

The way we played last season makes me very nervous when watching games and obviously we conceded a huge amount of goals but we finished 15th and we are anything but boring (not so good in the 2nd half of the season obviously!) Would you rather be on edge with Ralph and finish 15th again or back to a boring Mark Hughes type trying to grind out a draw here and there whilst creating nothing? The squad we had last year with Ings injured so much should have finished in the bottom third so i cant see many managers doing a better job than Ralph with what he has but at least we get some excitement now and again rather than constant dross? Sad reality of football is that we are just whipping boys for the big teams with all the money so in that sense at least Ralph gives us something different

I think the issue of having an owner with large debts is that Martin Semmens can say and do the right thing but at any point Mr Gao Jisheng can jump in and go ill accept that offer thank you very much

I know he’s an emotional manager but watching the footage of Ralph at full time was a bit strange? He looked like he knew he was getting the sack or that he had just missed out on some massive financial bonus?? Obviously he was gutted we threw the win away but there was something more

Depressing reading from v reputable source. Makes me wonder about Ralph?? Why has he come here? If he hasn’t been promised a transfer pot then he could only be thinking premier league stepping stone ala Pochettino/Koeman? However Pochettino came into a good young squad with Rickie up front and Koeman had money to spend after the club had just sold most of the first team before he arrived! Ralph had a terrible squad which was then weakened (on paper) during the transfer window at a moment when we were fighting for survival. He now has a terrible squad with a load of over paid loan players coming back into it which means a summer of desperately trying to get them out whilst scraping the barrel to get players in. So if the FT and our own concerns are true, why is he here? Big bonus for finishing outside of the bottom 3?

Survival again next season I’m afraid. Anyone thinking top half of the table didn’t watch us out played by Huddersfield last week! In reality there’s huge amount of rebuilding to do and I don’t think there is the money or people at the top to do it. However if Ralph is still here at kick off for the first game we should be ok

Not trying to burst everyone’s bubble, I think the guy has worked miracles to keep us up and reminded me of my love for football. Can’t praise him enough. However...... any chairman in Europe looking for a manager next year must have Ralph in mind? He came here with us in a right mess, worst squad we’ve had for years and then got no backing in his first window with a club in relegation crisis?? In his MOTD interview yesterday he said all of the players that left must be replaced and the squad rebuilt this summer. From what I’ve seen so far from our unknown owner I’d be surprised to see significant investment and therefore why would Ralph stay? If buts and maybes I know but we’ve finally been given a bit of hope and belief! It’s the Saints way to balls it up!

Tackling Every game is like a training/testimonial match with no one tackling and every challenge is a foul. Just means the most technically gifted like city can dominate games and there’s nothing smaller clubs can do about it apart from sit deep and hope they miss all of their chances

Finally a glimmer of hope from today’s game! Just watching the Liverpool game got me thinking about Lallana and clyne who haven’t had a look in this season (clynes first start today) Lallana would suit our new style and Clyne is far better than Cedric who looks like he’d leave at the first opportunity. Obviously Spider-Man is wasted at Everton but don’t think he has the legs for this system

So even with an amazing manager where would this squad be in the table? 13th or 14th? Why would anyone good come here? Only for a season and then move on

I’m not really sure what more Hughes can do? He has a bang average squad which is where it should be in the table. Looking at our signings over the last few seasons survival is the target. We’ve always had a sprinkling of real talent but there literally is nothing left now. McCarthy has done well, Bertrand is steady, Ings will keep us up if he stays fit. Lemina/Hojberg would look ok in a better side but I think that’s about it and I imagine they will both be gone in the summer. I think the club is now working on the basis that there must be 3 teams worse than us each season

4/10 We look bang average. Worst squad we’ve had? Maybe last seasons was. Think Adkins championship team could beat this lot. Think Hughes couldn’t do much else with what little he has

UEFA ensuring no underhand financial dealings? Is that not like the Catholic Church checking there’s no peadophile priests?

My thoughts exactly, no way did we give a 29 yr old Forster a 5 year contract on near £100k a week!

Did anyone really think we were going to pay a player £100-120k a week basic?!

Loved the Micheal Svensson podcast. Absolute legend for the club such a shame injuries stopped him playing.

Arsenal seem keen to offload Olivier Giroud, would prefer him in a relegation battle than Walcott/Sturridge. Problem is finding players better than what we have that would want to come and play within our wage structure which I imagine is in the bottom quarter or at least bottom 1/3 smallest in the league. (Forget the £75m, the actual figure that’s gone into the bank this season is probably half that. That’s without our new owner dipping his hand in to pay his loan off)

How much money do people realistically think we have to spend in January? And how much will be going straight to China?

Spoilt in the way we went on a journey from the bottom of league 1 to the top half of the premier league playing a lot of fantastic football along the way. It's only last couple of seasons where we are finding our level rather than overachieving and we've played some pretty terrible football doing so. Must be what it feels like to be a mid table club in the premier league? But hey let's sack the manager after 8 games, pluck a gem out of thin air who can take us up the league playing free flowing football with an average squad whilst working with a small transfer and wage budget...... when you do that with a mid table club it's fans are spoilt

This thread New manager inherits average team that has continually sold its best players, shock horror team continues to play average football that bores fans who have been very spoilt over a number of years.....