Dman

Could it be that Newcastle are just better than us at the minute? Over the season, has wood out scored Broja?

I mean he finished 5th in his first season, so errr yeah, absolutely shite.

What relevance does that have? Still digging out Broja for no apparent reason then… your obsession is unhealthy. How many has Armstrong scored in that same period of time?

Martinez, another manager to achieve more than Ralph (FA Cup). De Boer, likewise, another manager to achieve more. Southgate, literally England’s best performing manager since 66… absolutely crap.

This is all relative though. Ralph took Lepzig to 2nd and in the champions league with a side that was far greater than expectation many of which the players have moved on to top clubs. Ralph, has also managed to embarrass the club on 2 (arguably 3) occasions now in 2 record 9-0 defeats. Something Howe hasn’t come close to. Not much in it imo, you could argue both have different strengths and different weakness.

Their 2 big signings have hardly played, so their money has been spent on Burn, Wood and Target. None of which would get in to our side.

It’s a weird argument to right someone off purely because they were relegated. Martinez took Wigan down, now manager of the number 1 side in the world (Belgium), poch got sacked whilst Espanyol were bottom, even Southgate, took Middlesbrough down amd has since out performed any England manager since 66. It’s a ridiculous way of looking at things, however, as we know, mr War isn’t capable to interpreting anything outside a spreadsheet.

Funny in the week where we had someone arguing how Trent was the best thing since sliced bread because of his progressive passing stats (just behind the LB at RB), he got absolutely exposed against city and James had a blinder against Madrid. It turns out, if you didn’t know already, football in fact isn’t played on a spreadsheet.

He took bournemouth from the brink of relegation to the national league, to the premier league and kept them up for 4/5 seasons. As it happens, when he started to spend some money, is when it went tits up. He’s come in and done a very good job at Newcastle, transforming them from a side who hadn’t won 1 game under Bruce, playing a very, very negative style, to a solid mid table maybe even top half, side. He in his career has achieved just as much as Ralph has.

Didn’t they say that we’d pretty much continue to operate the same, sustainable, model. Therefore any incomings will need to be balanced with outgoings.

Someone needs to tell glen hoddle about confirmation bias. Those chances only had an XG of 0.5 and 0.4. But what does hoddle know about w chance that should be taken, he only played for England in the World Cup.

wouldn’t it just be fantastic if we signed Pompey’s best player this season. by all account, supposed to be a top top keeper. More likely City will loan him again than sell.

Emery doing what Emery does in Europe. Wonder if he fancies another stab in the PL, wouldn’t mind subbing Ralph out for him.

All I know is if Adams was on the end of that Modric pass, it’d have been straight at the keeper… regardless of the XG.

Yep. Nephew to a few of the lads (Masons) who play for for Sholing, for anyone that’s interested in non league football.

And the keeper, Brad Collins, who’s now at Barnsley is a Southampton lad. Having been involved in high level grassroots youth football in the area, you see more Chelsea scouts than you do saints, or at least did 2 or 3 years back. A very wide net and I know saints lost out to them on 1 or 2 players (that I know of, definitely will have been more).

I agree with this. It was actually Twar who was arguing that we were unlucky to concede 6 given their XG was 4. Anyone reasonable and who actually watched the game can tell you that is nonsense.

Fuck me. Head against a brick wall. there are many external factors. Some being; - Time and situation of the game - less pressure at 80 minutes when you’re 6-0 up, than it is 0-0 in a relegation battle. - pace and accuracy of the pass / cross (specifically for these type of chances). - finishing ability of the striker. Regardless of what XG says, there are some strikers who are better than others. Anyway, agree to disagree, I cba to continue to go over the same stuff.

His evidence is based on XG, which I’ve disputed the accuracy of due to a number of external factors, which simply cannot be quantified. You’ve not been able to answer or satisfy those questions. As I’ve always said, there is certainly a place in the game for stats, used correctly, they can be a valuable tool, but also a degree of your own analysis needs to happen along side said stats. anyway, this is a long way off the thread. I maintain, on another day (let’s say Lukaku was fit), the score would very likely have been more than 6.

I guess it must be true if ‘James Tippett’, from ‘football critic’ says so. Amazing that United have spent a fortune bringing in Ronaldo, when they could have just asked Glen Murray out of retirement.

And if you’re striker is better at taking said chances (I.e a better finisher), they’ll score more goals… or are you arguing that is not correct? Or in Brighton’s case, where they have a high XG compared to goals scored (I think), chances don’t win games because their striker(s) / forwards aren’t very good…

Aye? You’re massively overthinking this. I can only assume you’ve watched the moneyball film or a few YouTube videos and think you’re some kind of genius. Clearly, a striker who score 1 of 2 chances he gets in a game, is better than one who scores 0/8. ‘Chances’ don’t win you games, goals do.

I haven’t watched much of Ronaldo, I was using him as an example as being one of the best strikers in the world for many years. But you’re missing the point completely, as per. The quality of the striker impacts the likelihood of the chance going in. XG doesn’t factor that in.

Let me clarify. What XG is good at demonstrating… “we’re playing well, creating a lot of ‘good chances’, but not putting them away. I.E Brighton. or, as an example more relevant to the film… “we need a goal scorer, adams has many qualities, but his record is x compared to his XG of x. He’s not a great finisher” What XG isn’t good at demonstrating… “We were unlucky that was was 6, their XG was only 4”. Stick Ronaldo on the end of a few of those Werner chances and he doesn’t miss. Especially the free header from 10 yards. XG is an average and there are many variables to that average, the main one being the quality of the finishing of striker. Every time someone like Werner or Adams miss from 10 yards, it brings the XG for that chance down. It also doesn’t factor in, as Chez pointed out, external pressures that simply cannot be accounted for in statistics. In short, if you watched that game and genuinely thought we were unlucky to concede 6, then You clearly have very little understanding of football.

Those claiming we shouldn’t sack Ralph are the same ones who were calling for Puel’s head. He faced the same restraints as golden boy Ralph’s arguably even worse given the players we lost that summer, finished 8th got to a cup final and yet was hounded out. his 1 season here was far more successful than any of Ralph’s 3.