Dman

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.

Yes, it didn’t today because the keeper made some fantastic saves amd their striker missed some really good opportunities… like I said. It basically never happens in the premier league because it takes a really, really shit performance to lose by that amount. Hence why one 2 teams have lost 9-0 and we’ve done it twice.

how anyone could watch that game and come away from it with that summary, clearly has a screw loose.

Alexa, devalue any argument for XG in one post please.

He’s dropped off, but so had the whole team. Like today, the strikers were feeding off scraps, Broja has been feeding off scraps for weeks now, yet Twar calls him out continuously. Nothing said about Armstrong, who again today, looks way out of his depth.

We’ve got a mid table squad, who is currently mid table, but could, and on recent form form probably will, finish below mid table. We’ve got a squad that shouldn’t be losing 9-0 twice and having performances like today. Put it that way. Nothing to be confused about. Not sure why you’re mumbling on about Villa, but they will finish above us and probably will again next season (should nothing change).

Those start effectively every week and we’re mid table. So we’re performing to our level, nothing better maybe slightly worse come the end of the season (where’s our next win coming from?) I think there are many managers who could achieve the same with those said players.

Mate, I don’t really know what you’re trying to get at. we’ve lost 9-0 twice and today could have easily have been 10. Were actually lucky it’s not. That may be acceptable to you, but to me it’s not. No matter how you dress it.

Key word here. Very overrated imo.

Yes, in hindsight 20th was a stupid prediction. I’m happy to admit I’m on the pessimistic side, so he’s outperformed my expectations. But this is a squad with 3 England internationals and many others who were being raved about. Our squad isn’t as bad as everyone likes to make out when we’re on a bad run.