saint michael

I would like to understand what Ralph’s play list is all about. What I see cannot be what he really wants surely. unable to defend against direct ball, unable to defend against crosses, all of which gets worse as the game goes on starts with high energy closing down and this declines as game goes on loss of midfield ideas as game goes on and more and more of recycling and tippy tippy around loss of width and any balls behind opposition defence as games go on, with more and more tapping around in front of an opposition defensive shape. waiting for the opposition long ball counterattack sucker punch and goalkeeper error. I don’t believe this style suits us and also seems that individuals are coached in their role, but I don’t see defensive team, midfield team and attack team showing enough connection. Ralph then comes out and bemoans bad luck or individual mistakes but generally looks satisfied things are on plan. Although started to complain about the lack of depth of squad. for me we should play tactics to the team we have and develop and build around this not have a set of tactics and relentlessly continue with this and then say we haven’t got the squad to play this or the money to build in what is needed Please sack Ralph he is truly clueless and unable to recognise he is out of his depth. Shaking his head when the inevitable described above plays out

Two new young centre backs who are getting the easiest game of their lives. No wonder Koop said he was confident of them

I think our defence is poor due to injuries i think we lack composure up front due to injuries I think we pass the ball backwards and sideways because of injuries

Can you explain what you believe Ralph is adding to the team performances please. I believe everyone should be given chance to turn things around and think he has had that time. The biggest sin for me is not the results but the lack of team set up and tactics. I’ve never seen worse defensive coaching in all my time supporting saints. If you can’t defend you can’t win. That’s the cycle we are in. Our forwards scoring lots and great form helped earlier on. We now have the combination of a very poor defence and extra pressure on team to score lots just to be in a game. That’s why I believe a change is necessary

There is a difference between reporting and controlling....Ralph reports poor performance and doesn’t take accountability for the performances, nor does he change anything about them. We just keep rolling out the same stuff and Ralph says we were not good enough... ignore the table positions, I’ve not seen a performance that gives me hope that we can make a sustained change to the way we play. I also don’t believe that it’s all player related.. yes we have some poor players, but they are not being pointed in the right direction. As has been said many times.. the definition of madness is to keep doing the same things and expect a different result. This is the most worrying thing for me. There is no coaching that suggests we are going through a bad spell and will suddenly pull out of it.

I don’t know why it’s so surprising. Its the mirror image of majority of games in this half of the season. who sat there at HT and thought we would win? I would like to hear the manager talk about what specifically he has been wanting them to do that they are not. If he believes the tactics are right, if he believes the training is right, then something must be wrong.... what is it. If he believes it’s the players try something new, it can’t be any worse than this surely....what could be worse than 9 0 i truly believe the players aren’t as bad as this but the coaching, tactics, match set up and management stink

How many of the players we have bought have been improved. We need to invest in coaching quality and structure. We never improve what we have. Technical coaching and tactical coaching serious weakness

Absolutely no game changers.... well in a positive way anyway

Really strange with all this press and tippy tippy football feels like we have lost our identity. I’m not sure what they are really attempting to do that’s not working as it is supposed to...cat defend..can’t score...can’t pass forwards...

I wouldn’t let Ralph spend a penny in the summer until he can show he can coach a defence. This is absolutely shameful and no excuse

I know there is a lot of talk about buying players but I would like us to invest in a top top defensive coach. I think throwing more players into the mix is not going to solve our issues. I know we let 9 in to Utd which scews things but only WBA have let in more than us. We show no real pattern of how to defend. Every cross we look like the keystone cops with people diving in. We seem to use the zonal system for set pieces which sees people standing and watching and also the smallest player marking the biggest. Just is farcical. Think big progress on coaching basics needed before spending more on defenders.

With our defending we are always vulnerable. Even if we manage to get in front it will no5 be comfortable.

Whether we go down or not will not be down to us. The points we have may or may not be enough. It will all depend on whether Fulham, Brighton or Newcastle can get ahead of us. we are literally in free fall and hard to know if we can get another win. I haven’t seen a worse defence than ours. We are clueless when we have the ball. We are like rabbits in the headlights in attack. I can’t see anything negative about changing Ralph. We can’t get anything less than we are.

Defensive coaching IS Ralph’s responsibility. Ou4 defending shows no understanding of the basics of defence and no improvement. That buck stops with Ralph.

Absolutely fucking clueless defending. I’m sick of watching the same thing again and again

Reflects how football is now that Ralph was pleased with result and all but said we couldn’t win because they are world class and won 21 on the trot. Yes I know he saved side to play Brighton and he saw today as free shot. Another feature of modern football. That defensive performance was almost as bad as we have seen. You just don’t just turn this on and off 3 of those defenders likely to be in for the Brighton game. Stood ball watching, no positioning, no movement, no talking, a real learned helplessness from them all. As I said, you could say this match really doesn’t matter or you could show how you are developing. I honestly do not see any development or improvement. just feels like an incredible low in the club, and I’m old enough to have seen many, but few felt like this...

Who is our defensive coach. Would love to hear his views and strategy.

why do we take risks at the back small passes around them we seem to be happy winning ball back and then unsure what to do with it. absolutely no shape or clue upfront Go behind here and we will crumble Get in front we will sit back

We are always shit in the 2nd half so we have lulled Everton into a false sense of security and now ready to play brilliantly.... or answer B

Should be interesting HT talk from Ralph..... where on earth would you start

I think he is right that the youngsters aren’t good enough and he needs bigger squad. Wasn’t he the on3 though that said he had too many senior players in squad and only wanted 20? The only thing I’m amazed at is that it seems to have come as a surprise to him when he works with squad ever day and has been part of Orem league for some time.

Agree should have been Adam’s

6 losses on trot is more than bad luck

It’s like watching kids play

We just look so robotic. We have a plan when it fails we have to rely on set pieces we seem totally incapable of defending as a team when the tide turns against us