TWar

Yeah like similarly would we be having this conversation if any of Vestergaard, KWP or Ings had remained fit and we had won an extra 2-3 games in the league, or if we hadn't had a couple of weeks of shitty refereeing in the league and had picked up a couple more wins, or if Jankewitz would have kept his head and we struggled with 11 against united to a 3-0 loss rather than 9-0. All big what ifs, that's why we have to assess over a longer period than a couple of months as luck plays far too big a role and creates a tonne of varience.

Exactly, clubs care about long term changes, long term vision, developing players over time, and building an identity. Ralph has done all those things and basically saved the career of JWP, Vestergaard, Ings, Armstrong and many others. Sacking him off after a few bad months, most of which we were blighted by injury, is a fan move, not a club move.

Great perspective. I think people who consider Ralph failing need a sense of perspective and a more realistic set of goals. With our squad quality and spending power safety will always be the goal. 34% winrate is safety every season, as long as Ralphs average stays in and around that he's killing it. People have been spoilt by the now managers of PSG and Barca in the same way everyone compares all our CBs to VvD and all our attacking mids to Mane, we ain't a champions league side guys, get some perspective!

But you are not only as good as your last game, its a silly saying which no one actually believes. Tuchel didn't become the worst manager in the league when they went 5-2 against Brom, or klopp when they lost 7-2 vs villa. People who say "you are only as good as your last game" have no idea of the concept of statistical varience. The real saying should be "you are only as good as the average of the largest possible dataset of your games controlling for extenuating factors, such as a change in team and/or league" but that's not as catchy. As for Howe, he did well in the lower leagues as have many lower league managers before him, made some shit signings with the piles of money he was given (£25m on Lerma, 20m on Ibe, 18m on Solanke, billing (£15m)), struggled over and over and got relegated. Howe had a net spend in the prem of 135m over his 4 years in the prem including spending £80m in one summer alone with just an £18m in sales. He had a win % in the prem 29.83%. Over the same window our net spend is in the positives and Ralph has comfortably secured safety two seasons on the bounce and has a win % of 34. I know which I prefer.

What do you mean last season (14th)? You know we finished 11th last season?

Nail on the head really. Far too sensible for this forum to be honest who will only judge a manager by their most recent 20 or so games at most. No ability to step back and see the bigger picture. Fortunately I have no worries, there is no way our board is that reactionary.

I think we need to start Djenepo more. JWP has to run around so much as he's covering every position and is key to the press, clearly its taken its toll. I think we need more players who are good against the ball and energetic. Theo is a liability against the ball and his sloppiness on the ball costs us a lot of possession, he also doesn't track back well enough so whatever side he was on (he switched multiple times) was the side they seemed to have overloads, KWP was being doubled up on a bunch. If there is one thing that game convinced me of, it is that we shouldn't offer Theo another contract. I know it is a little off topic given this thread is about the CM partnership but control in the midfield and pressing isn't just on those two and Theo really isn't up to it.

I agree that JWP and Diallo don't have their partnership sorted yet, but it will come with time, a good preseason will help with that. As for turning it around, we need one or two really good first team signings (LB and GK) and four or five depth signings, also replacements for any first teamer who goes, in order to push on for europe. If we go into next season with this squad as is I think we finish about 10th-14th again as that is about our quality. We are ok at the moment, our team is pretty midtable, higher if we can stay fit and firing, but we won't kick on without key investment in depth. And I think JWP being so knackered is a symptom of that. He used to be both the 3rd CB and an attacking mid, it's why he ran the most in europe last season, but it isn't sustainable and we need a back up we can trust who can rotate with him in the cups and when injured and we don't have that right now.

JWP is clearly knackered, has played too much this season and cannot muster up the same stamina he had at the beginning. This "good boy" nonsense is complete bullshit, captains don't scream at their team mates on the pitch, it isn't 2002 anymore, can anyone think of a single captain in the league who has "digged out" his team this season on the pitch in front of all the fans? Captains lead with their actions and JWP did that by being the hardest working player in the europe last season (top 5 leagues). He is now completely run down, you can see it in the way he runs around now, lad is fatigued, it showed in the lacklustre pen too. The massive concern is, as others have rightly pointed out, why isn't he getting a rest? We have Jankewitz waiting in the wings and Stephens and Armstrong can both do an average job there, he needs to have a game or two off for his own sake and it shouldn't be the FA cup semis. Regarding Diallo, I thought he was fine. Not the ball winner that Romeu is but he turns well in midfield and is quite press resistance. Walcott, Armstrong, and Ings were out main culprits for giving the ball away, him and KWP were the only players who seemed reasonably consistent with their passing. Infact in the game Diallo had an 87% pass success rate, highest in the whole team (except Adams who completed 2 of 2 for 100%). JWP was second on 85% to be fair. Our massive issues came from players like Armstrong on 75%, Walcott with 71%, and Ings with 53% who continuously gave it away. Diallo also had the most recoveries in the game, but mainly because we kept giving the ball away just in front of him.

Wins are wins, you can't discount a run of over a year as a "purple patch" but then base all your arguments on a 3 month period. Over his full time he has good stats, that is still true, individual losses won't change that.

Maybe enough to actually put us in danger, which hasn't happened all season.

34% winrate is mid table to top half form, converts to somewhere like 40-45 points depending on number of draws. Do you think this team should be achieving that? When like 12 teams in the league have bought players worth over £40m and our record spend is under half that. I think you gotta be more realistic.

It's impressive how often it needs to be pointed out to you Ralph didn't take over 15 games ago.

We are a midtable team heading for a midtable finish. I don't know what you expect but across the season we are performing at or above our quality. It's a shame the wins and losses are clustered the way they are but there is a reason we are not in the bottom 3.

Why do you mention the 9-0 in every thread about once every other day?

Not true at all, we are probably the least consistent team in the league this season. We can basically divide our season up into runs where we are amazing and runs where we are shite. We haven't had a consistent quality all season.

Sums up his performance today, as with half of the team, lack of effort. Really felt like they were just playing by the numbers, they celebrated safety after Burnley and now they are just going to lazily coast in.

Being safe from relegation and being in the semis of the FA cup with this squad has gotten my faith in Ralph. We will have bad losses, as will any team, but in general we are fine. The manager is performing equal or better than the squad at his disposal and will hopefully be getting a boost in the summer with a few signings. Lets not make knee-jerk decisions over these things based on a few bad results. There is a reason why we are safe and basically have been since Christmas.

We need to be more consistent, I don't think anyone disagrees with that but people calling for the managers head right now are bedwetters of the highest order.

We had a bad game, it was a pretty irrelevant game given the circumstances, and the other team played well. No need to shit yourself.

Bad day at the office, one team full of confidence and fighting for their lives, another playing for nothing and minds on the cup. Felt like a traditional end of the season game where midtable sides are on the beach, sloppy and lazy in a lot of ways. Looked a lot better in the second which is a positive but damage was done by then unfortunately. Bednarek is my main worry, has looked bad for months now.

Bad day at the office against a team full of confidence and everything to play for vs a team with nothing to play for. Can't blame Ralph for individual sloppiness, it just felt like a lack of focus. We were much better in the second but damage was done by then. We are safe, we made FA Cup semis, that's enough for me to call this an average season at worst. People calling for sacking the manager if he doesn't make the FA cup final are, predictably, mental.

Walcott, but I'd rather fit Che in to be honest with you if possible. Djenepo is also a great asset with his workrate and directness. It's a nice problem to have.

Only Maddison by the looks of things is fit but not playing from their best 11. They have CL still to compete for though. Not mid table like us.

I imagine the championship will be raided heavily this summer, a lot of championship sides are suffering a lot with comparable sized stadiums to lower down prem sides so comparable loss in ticket earnings but a much smaller amount of money from TV deals and sponsorships. I think that any club that narrowly avoids promotion will be raided heavily and lower down sides will lose their top players too. We are already linked with Danjuma, Henry, and a couple of lads from Bristol.