Forester

Per my comments earlier my preference is we back Ralph to change the squad. But if we won’t, or can’t, then the following who are, or probably will be, out of work I believe are more tactically astute managers who would get better results out of an unchanged squad in my opinion: Rafa, Hodgson, Lampard, Howe and Allardyce. And I think all of them would probably come here

I think this is a very fair summary. I retain admiration for the 2020 results, which was over a sustained period of time. Ultimately I think it will come down to whether as a club we are prepared to undertake the radical surgery needed on the squad to give him more of his type of players, or not. If not I have low confidence that next season will improve. My preferred outcome is that we do back him

Seems lots of people forgot Long! For my part the following are the players I would want to retain, including those I would consider loaning out. For absence of doubt, both inbound loans Theo and Minamino would be sent back to their clubs. Everyone else would be on the list to release or sell Forster, McCarthy KWP, Bednarek, Vest, Salisu, Stephens, Vokins Romeu, JWP, Diallo, Smallbone, Jank Redmond, Teller, Armstrong Ings, Adams, Obafemi This means selling, releasing or returning around 13 or 14 players which would free up substantial wage headroom. Look to bring in five or six players, specifically two fullbacks (one who can play either side), defensive midfielder, two strikers and a flair/creative ten (ideally someone like Lallana or Tadic five years ago).

Spot on. During the WHOLE of 2020 (not just a 10 or 15 game segment) he accumulated over 60 points from a 38 game period so it is not a case of proving his capability. It’s about supporting him to get back to somewhere near those levels.

This deserves preservation as the funniest attempt to belittle a semi-final appearance I have ever read! I am guessing you are one of our less experienced fans!

What an awful performance. Bednarek, Diallo and JWP awful today. Could not understand why at half time Ralph felt we needed two defensive midfielders when it was obvious Sam would park the bus and play on the counter attack. Probably would not have altered the result, but we needed an extra player ahead of the ball and fewer players behind the ball. Very much felt like “I don’t want to get injured and miss Wembley”....

Think you need to check dictionary definition of stark! As opposed to causality!

Excellent statistic. Very stark

This. I thought Bednarek was very poor against Burnley, but has probably only had two or three bad games this season and doesn’t deserve to be dropped as a knee jerk. As other have said, great chance for both starters and subs to show why they should play at Wembley.

First the negative, which for me was a lack of protection for Fraser from primarily Bednarek (who had a shocker) but also late on was disappointing that our front four amongst others didn’t work harder to cut out Burnley’s crosses and long balls that put us under pressure. That said lots of positives, the second consecutive enjoyable attacking performance, six goals in two games, and we look a real handful going forward. Great to get Theo and Ings back, and while Theo not at his best was a good assist for the third having started the attacking move too. Genuine options from the bench finally, with three subs used but Minamino, Stephens and Tella all unused which shows some more depth. Redmond back to the player that many of us see him to be when he has confidence. Clearly West Brom will be tougher match than we may have expected a few weeks back, but now it’s very credible that we could target an improvement on 11th from last season and we are in semi-final.

My preference would be for him to sign contract extension. Fully fit he is one of the best around. However, every player has his price and in the three seasons we have had him he has had injury problems in two of them. History suggests the closer to 30 players get, they rarely suffer fewer injuries. So this becomes a cold hard “every player has his price” situation. In my opinion we need to sign two strikers in the summer, assuming we will look to move Long on. This could provide useful funds to do so

I am generally a big Ralph fan, albeit critical of his in-game management which I think is his weakness. Even so I would be careful with this stat as I actually think part of the problem is twofold: - he often leaves subs too late, so not surprising they haven’t yielded many goals or assists - on several occasions I would have liked us to shore up our position in games when we are winning and be more cautious. This won’t be popular with many fans but, if I had a magic wand, I’d like to see Ralph approach for the first hour and Puel approach for the last 30 mins! So I am less interested in how many goals and assists the subs generate and more interested in the score line at the time of sub and then the end result. On that basis Ralph definitely has a big development area

Very good post and aligns to my thinking. Reckon in Ralph’s 27 months in charge he has had two poor spells of three months. Let’s ride it out

I haven’t changed my view on this over the last month, where at least four points have been accumulated which is more than the previous month as horrific as it is to say. And we have a great chance of making semi-final of FA cup. In essence, the football is poor, the results are poor and we are going backwards in games not forwards. So all in all it is woeful. However...... ....the key for me is that this is a manager who across 40 matches in an entire calendar year finishing as recently as three months ago amassed top four points. Not a good month or two, a whole year. So unlike Pellegrino, Wigley, Gray as examples of Premier League managers we have had who are clearly out of their depth it is obvious that Ralph has something about him that is capable of getting a very average squad to outperform. We all know that confidence and momentum in football is massively important, and as others have pointed out our season has collapsed under the weight of injuries, playing twice a week and therefore a permanently unsettled team. I think we will benefit from the remainder of the season being largely one match per week. Let’s get through to end of season, somehow accumulating another six or seven points, and let Ralph rebuild in the summer. I think he has earned the right to have that patience from us and the board.

A deeply concerning performance, and with Fulham looking nothing like a bottom six team, we have to inject some energy into these last few games. I personally won’t be comfortable until we get 40 points and that looks a long way off the way we are playing. As an absolute minimum we need two wins, or one win and three draws, given our goal difference and the games are running out where that looks likely. A number of players individually under performed today, particularly KWP and Armstrong who are usually two of our best and most consistent players. Minamino also anonymous, and with him and Armstrong failing to protect full backs we looked over run on Brighton counter attacks while ponderous going forward. Seemed to take until stoppage time to figure out that you can’t play easily through a defensive block of ten Brighton players and so you need to get width and whip crosses in.

We need our two 10s to get back more quickly when Brighton break. Too many overloads

I can’t complain as before the Sheff Utd game I said that this was the lowest priority of the three games. If we draw or win against Brighton (don’t forget onus is on them to catch us) it’s been a decent week. Thought Redmond, Adams, JWP and after coming on Diallo were our best players. We played some very good stuff going forward. However an admittedly destabilised defensive line up didn’t work, and for me Salisu was very poor. Wont over react to this as remember how bad Vest looked when he arrived, but in my opinion he has significant improvement needed and isn’t a fullback.

Conserve energy for Brighton and protect those returning from injury. Forster Stephens, Bednarek, Vest, Salisu, Bertrand Redmond, Jank, JWP, Djenepo Adams

Really believe that Ralph needs to think about this week in totality, with three games followed by the international break. Won’t be popular with some fans but priorities in order for me are: 1. Do not lose to Brighton. Maintain, or stretch, the gap. 2. Try to beat Sheffield United today. 3. Try to get anything from City midweek. As a result I would try to play following 4222 in both Saturday games: Forster KWP, Bednarek, Vest, Bertrand Diallo, JWP Armstrong, Redmond Ings, Minamino Then for midweek I would go 541 (or 343 in possession) and try to protect one or two. So.. Forster Stephens, Vest, Bednarek, Salisu, Betrand Djenepo, Jankowicz, JWP, Teller Adams

I think the major divide between fans on this topic is not whether or not people think the football is currently poor and the results are worse. That is obvious. Instead the divide I think is between people who feel that 2020 was a genuinely outstanding year, with Saints racking up the equivalent of top four points, and therefore see potential in Ralph to again hit heights when he has a fit squad again, and those who don’t either recognise this, don’t believe he is capable of getting the team to rise again and/or doesn’t deserve patience and support. And I haven’t even mentioned FA Cup quarter final looming. I am firmly in the former camp and find it bizarre that a matter of nine weeks ago no body would question Ralph, and yet suddenly he needs to be sacked. If you had a couple of poor months at work off the back of high performance I imagine you would hope that your bosses didn’t think you had suddenly become worthy of ditching. I accept that things can’t go on forever, but as an absolute minimum he should be given the next six games, including four fixtures against our relegation rivals and a cup quarter final. If we lost all of that we would indeed be in a precarious position, probably needing eight points from seven games. But I don’t think we will.

For what it is worth I think Ryan has been one of our very best all time Premier League players. Has been consistently one of the country’s top full backs for seven seasons, played under five managers and has been undisputed first choice under all of them. Enjoy him while you can

My flippant response would be “it hasn’t, wait until end of season”! More seriously if we get to cup final and finish say twelfth upwards then yes. If we win the cup I would say it would be one of our greatest ever. My post earlier was all about looking at the WHOLE season, not a sub section of it, as well as the circumstances.

Putting aside some of the more caustic comments this has actually been a good thread. For what it is worth Whitey had strong views back in the day in Puel which I always felt was unfair, but he has been consistent. For my part 8th and a cup final (achieved by beating Premier League opposition all the way, away from home, and not conceding a goal including Liverpool) was at the very least a good season. To do so without Mane, Pelle, and for half the season Fonte and VVD was even more impressive, as was having to handle the highest number of fixtures (because of Europe and cup run) in our Premier League history. What did for Puel is that, apart from COViD seasons, we had a record three home games in May at the end of a record long season and failed to score a goal. It turned many fans who I think over reacted to what was, I fully agree, a turgid end of season (albeit one of those was a draw against Manure). What we can all agree I am sure is that he was replaced by the most inept manager in our history, and yes I recall the Branfoot days! So what does all this have to do with today? It’s good to be reminded that you have to look at a whole season and weigh up the pros as well as the cons. I think the COVID factors behind pre season and match schedule, combined with injuries as bad as we have known for years, have to be factored in. Ralph thoroughly deserves patience and backing. And also, be careful what you wish for!

Forster Stephens, Bednarek, Vest, Bertrand Jank (assuming no Romeu), JWP Redmond, Armstrong Ings, Minamimo Mina knows where back of net is but looks too lightweight to play in one of the minefield positions so would like to see him up too with Ings for this game

No, would take a Sheffield United 2020 run of form to get sucked in. However as others have said we need to finish the season with a bit of style or it can easily bleed into next season