Dman

It was only a month or 2 ago where people on here were saying we had an outside chance of Europe. Had we not imploded, again (as we did last season), then maybe we’d have a chance. A slim one I agree, but certainly a chance.

We had 1 and half bad seasons under 2 really poor managers. Before that, we finished 8th and we’re a solid mid table side. A clear path to relegation is a bit OTT. Had Puel stayed, we’d probably be in roughly thr same position as we are now. As someone else said, under a worse manager we’d be relegated, under a better one we’d be top 10 maybe, at a push, even Europe. Ralph’s results have been average, imo. After the initial bounce of him coming in and improving us from Hughes / MoPo (not really a huge task), have we improved? I don’t think so. We can be great, or can be appalling, we’re consistently inconsistent.

Agree. Miles behind someone like James, but at a similar age, James was learning his trade with Wigan, not in the premier league and all the pressures that bring. I think at the minute, he’d be fantastic as a wing back in a 343, but in a back 4, he’s not strong enough defensively imo.

Strangely optimistic of a result here. Arsenal are the type of team who we can cause problems if we press well. It cannot be as bad as the last game. 1-1 I’m going for. Broja and Perrud coming in for Tino and Armstrong. Maybe Redmond or Tella for Moi

For all his ridiculous comments on twitter, Le Tiss has done less to embarrass this club than the current manager and playing staff over the last 2 years.

I don’t know if you watched yesterday, but IMO, it was equal to if not worse than both of those performances.

Doesn’t really answer my question. My point, was that the chance (header) that Werner missed from 10 yards would be harder and less likely for a L2 player to score than say, Ronaldo or any other premier league striker… especially those worth £50m.

Genuine questions, given that XG is calculated based on an average of a group of shots from each position, does it factor in quality of the striker? If not, it’s completely fucking pointless.

We already hold that record.. it’s happened twice.

How do you know this? I bet you’d not seen either of them play a minute of football. Regarding Romeu and Bednerak. It’s debatable that Bednerak is a premier league player, he plays because we don’t have any better. Not that he is much better, Ralph just prefers him (probably why we’ve shipped 9’goals twice) Romeu, just because he wasn’t playing doesn’t mean he wasn’t a good player. Hughes & MoPo preferred the big name of Lemina playing next to Hojberg. As I said, he was player of the season under Puel so clearly had hit these sort of levels before. To Ralph’s credit, he’s improved JWP. He’s added a degree of solidity to him, so credit where it’s due there.

Hahaha very good point there sir!

Bednerak, who most can’t wait to see the back of? Romeu, who was play of the season under Puel? Armstrong was chipping in with goals and still looked a real good player under Hughes. Broja / Tino are at the same level as their first game imo. Not much improvement there, they came from Chelsea, so clearly we’re good players before us. Rather biased imo.

What a stupid argument and What the hell are you going on about balances out. Someone scoring a screamer has absolutely no impact on someone missing a sitter in the same game. They’re 2 separate incidents which have no correlation to each other. It couldn’t have been less, because they literally put the ball in the net 6 times. They scored 6 which is a fact and missed 2, possibly more, really good opportunities that it’s not unreasonable to expect a £50m striker to score.

Did you watch the game? Genuine question. If you did and you don’t think it could have been more, then please can you tell me what you were drinking before, as I need some. I assume you were in the toilet when Werner missed a free header from 10 yards and Forster made a fantastic point blank save from Werner (one of which I don’t think either of the keepers who played in the 9-0 would have saved) - so that’s 8, there at least. Then there are the saves Forster made, some very very good + Werner hitting the post and a few just going wide. So yes, on another day it could have been 10.

Yep. Very average defender, which is why shoutgate doesn’t pick him… regardless of how many assists he gets.

I think we’ve had an average season, about par with what you’d realistically expect. Personally, at the start of the season I felt very pessimistic, given we were off the back of a run which saw us win a handful of games in about 30, but upon reflection and review, I’d say (given our squad) mid table is what you’d expect. I think we’ll finish anywhere between 12th - 16th, which you’d say is about par. That being said, it’s very likely we’ll go on another ridiculously bad run, that rot has already started 1 point in 5 games is it now? Amd that performance deserved another 9-0 and was arguably worse. All things considered, we’ve performed over the course of the season about par, embarrassed ourselves in a shambles of a performance, again for the 3rd season running, failed in cups with ridiculous team selections.. again. Ralph continues to make the same mistakes, in his 3 seasons in charge he’s not taken us to the next level, if anything we’re getting worse. He was an upgrade on Hughes and MoPo but we’re stall and need a change, imo.

Of course he does. He knows better than everyone.

The slump hasn’t finished yet pal….

That’s it? LMFAO

Anyone who’s watched us over the past 3 years could tell you that a slump was round the corner. I don’t think he’s underachieving by any means, probably about par, but these embarrassing results and runs of form cannot continue and under Ralph they will.

Fair comment, there were a few times he dropped in and found some space and looked tidy (he’s a different type of player to Broja in that sense), but I just don’t think he has the threat in front of goal. Id be interested to see the 2 together actually. I think the space that Broja creates would really benefit Armstrong.

It’s why we go on stupid runs imo. We find a formula, it works, we’re great. Other teams suss said formula and it takes us 10-15 of trying the same thing, until we change it up. My honest opinion is that Ralph is a very good ‘coach’ on the training ground, has a clear idea of how he wants to play amd can coach the team to implement that. He’s a terrible tactician though and at this level, terrible tacticians get found out.

Here we go again. The squad was absolutely fine a month or 2 ago, no problems at all (other than maybe the keeper).

Largely agree, except I think Howe is equal, if not better. Especially based on recent performance anyway. And whilst he’s not pretty or a big name and one I personally wouldn’t want here, but Dyche is also equal to, and probably better. Given the only real argument to keep Ralph is because he ‘will keep us in the league woth no budget’, dyche has done that season after season with Burnley who have (other than maybe 1 or 2 players) a squad that is of championship quality. Either way, that list just goes to show that the “we couldn’t do better” or “name someone better” argument is complete rubbish.

The score doesn’t even reflect the performance or how bad it probably should have been. We could have no complaints if it was 10 and that isn’t even being pessimistic. Horrific performance. Wouldn’t be surprised if it’s the last we ever see of players like Bednerak in a saints shirt, to be fair.