Dman

A bit like 99% of those involved with our club then…?

Anything north of 40m and we should seriously consider taking the money and running. Diallo is more than suitable to replace and we could add 2 or 3 players with a bit of quality in areas we need. A very limited player aside from free kicks and as I said in another thread, we’re a better team without him playing. Unfortunately we won’t get £40m or more, though.

To sign Theo on a permanent deal, is up there as being as bad as giving Long a new deal. To make things worse, we had a try before you buy, so we knew he was shit. Just to think, between him, long and Fraser we have about 150k a week on the books doing nothing but getting in the way (although unfair on Fraser, I think he should be starting).

I’ve never said that calendar year results matter. They’re irrelevant. Ralph could win us the league, but if we’re on a prolonged poor run of form (say 38 games with 8 wins) and in grave danger of relegation the following year, he should rightly be sacked. Exactly like Leicester done with Ranieri. You can dress it up and make as many excuses as you like, just admit you’re a big Ralph fan and you won’t call for his head. That’s fair enough, own it. If this was boring old Puel, I very much doubt you’d be defending him like you do though. I however, will look at the facts. 8 wins in 38 (equivalent of a full seasons worth) of games. That’s a win %, pretty much in line with Pellegrino. You can argue performances are getting better, but results aren’t. 1 win in 9 this season having played 3 of the teams who’ll be around us this season (Newcastle, Burnley, Leeds). At what point do you say enough is enough? If 38 games isn’t enough for you to start to question if this man is right for us, then when is? This thread was started back in 2019, off the back of our first 9-0 defeat and a run of something like 2 wins in 15 games. Many questioning the managers team selection and tactics. 2 years on we’re on a similar, but worse, run of form. I don’t need to post you a link, but If you honestly think that no manager has been sacked early into the season because of an overhang of poor form from the back end of a previous season, then you are completely deluded. If and when Ralph is sacked, it won’t be solely because of these 9 games this season, it’ll be because of the last year as a whole.

This 100% isn’t true. It will depend solely on the arrangement between the 2 clubs. And will differ from player to player. Some loans will have a recall clause, some won’t. The conditions around said recall are also dependant on the arrangement between clubs.

Hang on. Some (like you 2 clowns) on here were defending Ralph last season and had an argument to keep him based on his form in 2020, which spanned across 2 seasons and was about 25 games, given the covid break. Yet as soon as someone turns it around, you now want to pull out the cherry picking card. Hypocrite. My point was that Ralphs historic win % is completely irrelevant. What should matter is our current form. His record over the past 35 games (or this calendar year, as I know that’s a favourite on here) is relegation (to be generous) form. No other premier league manager would have survived that, not one. To simply use this seasons form alone is just foolish so early into the season, although even that isn’t great. 1 win in 9. Of course we’re going to take into consideration the back end of last season.

What’s his win % over the last 35 games (effectively a full season)? That’s what we should be looking at.

In fairness you claimed Broja wasn’t better than Armstrong and Adams, so let’s take your opinion with a huge pinch of salt.

If they go on a run like we have over 30+ games and throw in 2 9-0 defeats for good measure, then yes, absolutely.

Probably because he’s not had 3/4 top premier league players, in a League One side again. Adkins will rightly hold a place in every saints fans heart and he’s a genuinely decent bloke, but he’s a very average manager. Not winning either league, with our squad, on our way up was a failure.

Who knows what we’ve offered him. It could be money. Realistically, long term, you’d have to say he has more chance of breaking through here (a team who’s main ambition is to be above the bottom 3), than Everton (a club with significantly more spending power and a minimum ambition to be top 6/7). Currently, he’s 3rd choice behind Peruard and KWP. Which is sensible for a club our size. As I said, I don’t think we’ll sign another as we have enough cover there already (excluding small). Similarly, Simeu has seemingly left Chelsea u23’s (one of the best around), to join our B team. Presumably for that exact reason, long term.

Ahhh the good old Pathway bollox again. if you’re good enough, you’ll play. If you’re not, we’ll replace or get cover in that position. Prime example being Tella. When we had a thin squad last season he was playing regularly. Now everyone is back and we’ve brought in players in his position (Theo / Armstrong & Broja), he’s not getting a sniff. Having a thin squad and relying on youngsters (not blocking the pathway), fucked us last season. So if Ralph doesn’t think that Small is good enough / ready and feels like we need cover at LB (we don’t given KWP can play there) then, yes he’ll bring in a replacement.

He had a big fall out with Ryan Fraser.

Funny enough, I remember a young lad called Sadio Mane also struggling against Sheffield United (who were in League one at the time). What ever happened to him? If I’m honest, I thought you were more intelligent than a ridiculous statement like this (and you said Armstrong has a higher ceiling, another stupid comment, don’t back track now) Everyone has bad games. He’s a young lad so naturally will be slightly inconsistent. You're clearly good at crunching the numbers, but I don’t think you have a clue about real football. If we play with a sole striker, it has to be Broja. If we play with 2 up top, it should be Armstrong and Broja.

Out of interest, and I don’t know the answer to this one, how many goals / assists does JWP have in open play? It seems a daft comparison given his ability over a free kick and the fact he takes every corner and penalty as well to boost his numbers. im also guessing that JWP has played significantly more games. The point wasn’t who’s the better player. It was that Diallo, with Romeu, compliments our game more than JWP.

😂😂 would you say this if Broja was our player, rather than Chelsea’s? Absolutely nonsense. Broja is 4 years younger than Armstrong and is already, arguably better. I like Armstrong, he’s a different kind of striker to Borja, they should both play together but Broja is going to be a top, top player. RE Adams, other than maybe Norwich, I don’t see another Premier league team he’d get in, if I’m honest. Adams is just a younger version of Shane Long, imo. Works hard, Half decent at bringing others into play but as a striker in front of goal, useless.

Well it’s only taken 1 game for me to decide that we’re better with Broja up top than we are championship strikers in Adams and Armstrong. But no, not 1 game. Diallo has played enough for me to decide he better at getting us up the pitch quicker than Prowsey and obviously we need Romeu Or we’re way to lightweight.

I think we are. He’s very good at retaining the ball, but he’s far too slow on the ball and slows our attacks down. Looking forward to seeing how Diallo develops with a run of games next to Romeu. Discuss…

I can 100% promise you, that the club have previously spoken and put feelers out to Howe. Howe has also been at every home game this season. I can’t comment on Pilchards post, but i wouldn’t be surprised (and I’ve previously said I think Howe will be our manager before the end of the year). Of course should Ralph leave the club, we may get interest from another candidate who we prefer to Howe but I know talks have taken place back in the summer. So in short, the decision makers at the club are either not switched on, or more switched on than you.

Whilst I very much think that anyone with Ralph’s recent record and 2 9-0 defeats for good measure, makes their position untenable, I also do agree that I’m not sure anyone else we could attract (I.e Howe) would keep us up in our current state. The issue is, that I don’t think Ralph will either. That being said, there will almost certainly be managers on the continent, like Ralph at the time, who are held in high regard and see us as a route to bigger things in the PL. I’m just not sure I trust our board to find them.

As I said in my first post, neither Pelle or Theo are the answer for us, I’m not advocating signing pelle and didn’t agree with us signing Theo. I will however repeat again, Pelle would offer something different. He isn’t the greatest at pressing or tracking back, I get that, but ‘different’ being the key word. Could he do a job as a target man (attack / hold up long balls, crosses into the box etc.), for the last 15 against a team with 10 men behind the ball, which were struggling to break down? Possibly, I don’t really know. He’d certainly do better than what we currently have at that though. Hence why I can understand why people would want someone like that back. My concern is that all of our attacking players are fairly similar. Relatively small, weak lacking any real creative skill and quick. Great to suit a counter attacking style, pretty poor when you’re faced with a team who stick 10 on the edge of their box. Clearly long term, pelle isn’t the answer, but it’s a role we need to fill in our squad, imo.

Yes, I do realise that a winger and a striker are different and have different roles within the team. Regardless, Theo is dog shite, absolutely not good enough and a waste of 40/50k a week to our wage budget. Him being in the squad / first team is preventing players, such as Tella, from getting a game. Clearly, absolutely no one is saying Pelle would be an adequate replacement for ings. I also like Broja (although I’m not sure he’s a traditional target man), in fact I’d start him over Adams, but that wasn’t my point, was it? As I said, he’d be a better option off the bench than Long, who’s done exactly that in 1 game this season already.

Do you honestly think there is any chance in hell that Howe would turn down clubs like Celtic, just to become the assistant of a manager who has won something like 5 in 30 games 😂 FWIW, Howe has been at every home game this season. He’ll be our manager within the next month or 2 (unless Ralph somehow turns it around).

A sensible he/she/they then, it seems. A loss to the forum if they’re no longer here. In their absence, im happy to provide a A regular reminder to the Ralph fan club, how absolutely diabolical you need to be tactically to not prevent a team scoring 9 against you.

Isn’t it mad how a team like Andorra can bring on a 42 year old CB for the best part of 70 minutes, against a top, top team like England and still not lose 9-0. Puts into perspective how bad those 2 results are, doesn’t it.