Billy the Kidd

I was questioning his game management before the brain fart. I could understand if we rarely struggled in second halves of games, but it is rare if we don’t struggle. I think it is very relative to question Ralph’s game management, considering we have lost 71 points from winning positions That said, we weren’t as bad yesterday but we can’t keep dropping point against teams we need to be beating, it ends in relegation. It just seems all a little too predictable, if we don’t have the players to work in Ralph’s system, he needs to change the system until he has the players. I agree the players need to shoulder some of the blame for this, but so does Ralph, as the farce at the end he could have known about with the injury to Alex.

You have a point about the 2nd half and I get you can’t always dominate the game for 90 mins, but Ralph rarely makes any attempt to change stuff when opposing teams and managers change stuff. I agree the players let him down, but that was mainly from 90 to 98 mins, what about the other 45 mins before where we didn’t really change stuff or try to play in a different way? JWP brain farting and using that as the excuse is papering over the cracks imo. As good as I think we were against a better Leicester side, Brighton we’re poor and we couldn’t beat them, and barely reacted to this in the second period. So correct not a capitulation but hardly a ringing endorsement for a tactical masterclass from Ralph either. Put simply, he barely blinked second half.

Well I don’t think we need to play like Puels team to be more effective than now. Watching Saints do so for 40 years is irrelevant. Maybe we need to play to the strengths of the players we have. Rangnick was interviewed the other day and asked about Ronaldo. He said you have to play a way to suit the players. We are doing the exact opposite and have done for 4 years under Ralph. At times it has been ok and worked well, and others it has been a disaster. We have done ok and Ralph has kept us up, that doesn’t mean we can’t do better or worse, but Ralph for sure has an arrogance about him and doesn’t like saying he got it wrong. Not wanting to drag up the Puel shit, it wasn’t all bad, boring shit under him, maybe the last 6 weeks but I didn’t mind him personally, and it was never as bad as people made out.

Just so we are clear, what expectations are on here? That we don’t capitulate in 2nd halves? That we player more consistently, that we make better subs more often. Im not sure these are so moronic. I’ve always been keen to keep Ralph, but im very confused about him, and likely not as confused as he is about how to change things.

It fucking beggars belief, what an absolute disaster of a game. And poor management. The worst part of it, was most of us knew how this would end. With how Ralph reacted at the end, I wonder if he is under more pressure. And rightly so. Ive always been happy to stick with Ralph, but don’t honk it is getting better and concerned it is going to get worse. I don’t but I to this bollocks of no one else being available, same ha been said for years no matter who the manager is, same was said of ‘Poch who’ when they sacked Adkins, same when Ralph took over from Hughes. For me, I’d be amazed if he saw Xmas day as Saints manager, only thing that may save him is the takeover that may be going on in the background.

Are you saying Ralph knew Alex was injured, or the players? Amateurish whatever, and I can’t accept Ralph doesn’t shoulder a large part of this.

Sorry I’m not sure what you mean. How did we largely draw due to Alex? how about the 44 minutes of relative inactivity and lack of input from Ralph? I’d suggest that was more why we didn’t control barely any of that second half. sure, JWP should have cleared lines. I don’t accept the bollocks about the free kick, all 11 players should know if we have used all 3 subs, and should have alerted the manager, who also should have noticed something wasn’t right

He is right to be unhappy, but we didn’t draw due to Alex not going off. Ralph is slightly deflecting attention from another poor second half display under his stewardship. It makes me wonder if Ralph is finally feeling the heat.

Nah, he is fuckin’ nails.

To be blunt, and not playing the waving of a red card, but I dont understand how he hasn’t been removed from the place. Near on every post is angry, twisted, confused, and beggars belief. I mean, I may be a cunt, but he didn’t have to tell me so, the other day 😂

Yeah, i guess it was. Still similar output of goals for him and Broja though. Not that it matters, we should have won today. And I still say that is on Ralph.

I thought AA has scored 2 this season. Everton and Villa.

Problem? Off you trot…

No, Ralph did fuck all, and we drew 1-1.

JWP shouldnt have gone back to goal for the free kick, but this one sits squarely with Ralph, and I’m getting sick of our 2nd half displays. They were there for the taking, they weren’t even very good, but they were better than us in that second 45 mins, and Ralph must surely be under threat now.

Haven’t they made all their subs already?

Ralph has got to change this, i may be watching on a poor stream and getting it wrong but this isn’t going so well.

So, what is the tactical answer for this - the way we are playing could go counter attack - maybe AA for Broja, and Moussa (if a sub) for Tella.

Good job the decision on club manager is down to the Board, and not fans.

Thought TSP (via Dan Sheldon) last episode said he had signed it, although I hadn’t seen it anywhere official.

Looking forward to the Brighton game, should be a good game between two sides of similar quality. Think we can nick it, hoping they dont get out of their rut at our expense - they are quite capable of pulling this off. Weirdly, I wonder if we concede first (in the 1st half) if that would help us build momentum and have a better 2nd half. Whilst I didnt think we were as awful on Weds as we often are in the second period, it is still a bit of a concern, and I do wonder if with Ralph's automations if he does almost preset what changes are going to happen instead of reading the game. Sounds odd, and he has been generally better than last season with subs, tactics, and formations but still work to do. I mean surely he doesnt automate the subs and stuff, right?

Fair enough, i can see why some think that, I just think he could have done better. I’m not even blaming him for us dropping points or anything like that. Other than this incident, thought he was actually ok, made a great save near the end, and it isn’t like we have a prime Lev Yashin on the bench waiting to take over. I’d stick with Alex going forward until we buy a new No 1. Sticking Fraser in really isn’t going to suddenly generate much of a different performance.