Dman

And when Koeman was linked with Everton…. Villa isn’t a step down anyway. We’re probably level in terms of ability and he’ll get more financial backing. What he won’t get, is free reign to run the club with very little pressure of getting sacked though. Ings and Ralph’s relationship all but broke down towards the end of his time here, so it’d be pretty funny if he did end up there.

If / when he goes to Villa, who do we fancy? lucien favre, for me. If he’ll come.

Danny will be absolutely delighted if Ralph ends up at Villa… we might even get him back as part of the deal.

Tonight sort of sums up why we throw away so many leads and are down the bottom end of the table rather than the top. Outstanding first half, partially down to Villa being diabolical, and a lack of composure in front of goal (thinking S Armstrong) meant we made things hard for ourselves. Second half was very poor though and not for the first time. We seem to just run out of energy, which is a big concern. Fair play to Ralph he did change things up which seemed to help. A win is a win but I won’t get too carried away. If ings was playing tonight I don’t think we win that game. Credit where it’s due, we won against what seemed like 12 men (who was that idiot with the whistle??). I’m not one to blame the ref, but he was very poor tonight.

Agree both played very well tonight. Lead from the from and probably the best I’ve seen from Adams in a saints shirt. I do still Have my doubts about their composure in front of goal and for that reason I still think we should play Borja with probably Armstrong. But credit where it’s due, both very good and either could have been MOTM for me.

Yes, he done a fantastic job with Bournemouth and achieved a significant amount more than Ralph has with us. He took a tiny, tiny club from bottom of league 2 on -15 to a premier league club. I don’t know if you’re too young to remember. For every season they stayed in the premier league, that was a success. You’re judging a manager on 1 bad season out of about 10 (but aren’t for Ralph despite having an appalling record for 30+ games). His downfall was recruitment and bringing egos into the dressing room. He won’t have that issue here as we don’t have money to spend. Unemployment was/is his decision. He’s waiting on the right opportunity. Hence rejecting Celtic at the last minute in the summer (around the same time we spoke to him by the way). For what it’s worth, I wouldn’t have Howe. I don’t think he’d sort our problems.

Because I know someone involved with the club at a pretty senior level. Well to be truthful, they’re no longer at the club but still have friends / former colleagues who are. I also know a few, now former, players. I’m not crooker or semmens, so I can’t tell you the reasons why we like Howe, but at a guess I’d say; Cheap Keen on the job Done a good job with bournemouth Considered a good coach within the game He fits our profile to a tee.

Yes. (why the hell would they be too busy to help out now and again? They do hardly anything). Yes. Many footballers discuss things with close family / friends. They’re much more likely to tell friends than the press. I can’t comment on the end of October stuff or Ralph / the players knowing that he was on the brink (although I wouldn’t be surprised), however I can 100% with complete certainty say that we have spoken to Howe about taking over. Howe is very keen on us and we’re very keen on Howe (that’s pretty obvious, though). The bit about Ralph changing things up in training would also make sense as I know a number of players, one being a key player who’s just left (that’s a different convo though - as someone said towards the end of last season, we had some real poison in the squad… who’ve now moved on), weren’t too impressed with him. All that being said, we won’t sack Ralph (my opinion) if results / performances continue as they have been and probably rightly so.

Nice stat m8. ‘Just for clarification’: JWP’s 2 England goals have come against the mighty forces of, errrr, San Marino and Andorra. One of which was a penalty. Regarding Diallo being more of a goal threat, he’s not. To be honest, JWP is probably our biggest goal threat at the moment (Borja aside) all because of his free kicks (this says more about our attacking options than anything else though). In open play, neither a going to be Frank Lampard and chip in with 10 goals (from open play) a season. Diallo however; is better at driving us forward, moving the ball and getting us the pitch quicker. For me (this is a forum based upon opinions), this is what makes us a better team with him in it next to the ball winner in Romeu. With JWP in the team, we’re very slow in possession which allows teams to form a decent defensive shape and low block, which we struggle to break down. For me, with the squad we have (very quick, but very limited technical / creative ability) we need to be playing on the counter attack getting the ball forward as quickly as possible. This is not a thread to debate who’s a better player. JWP is clearly better at the moment (he’s 5 years older with about 7 years more experience in the PL), it’s about who suits our style of play more. For me, that’s Diallo.

This is the same geezer who said that Armstrong and Adams had a ‘higher ceiling’ than Borja because their XG or XA bollox was higher in a higher league (championship - Dutch league). I’m not convinced he watches the games rather he just sits on stats sites afterwards.

What sort of argument is this 😂😂😂 Have you ever played a game of football In your life? In fact, did you even watch the game? I thought JWP was pretty average all game to be honest.

Diallo, last season, only really got a half decent run in the side when Romeu was out injured and that was playing alongside JWP or Armstrong and we as a team we’re absolutely dog shit with significant injures. He was mainly brought on as a sub to sure the game up a bit (even coming on as a 10 a few times, if I remember rightly) or being played in a role he’s not all that suited to. To be honest, this table is absolutely pointless and all it shows to me is the importance of Romeu. I’d be very interested to see that table again for this season. Where it would be a little be more of a level playing field.

A proven premier league manager who has experience in working with and improving lower mid table teams on a tight budget. What’s not to like? Moyes would be a fantastic appointment for a club like us. As proven with West Ham. The trouble is, he’s not got a good haircut and isn’t a good looking bloke, so the football hipsters and press (like the athletic) won’t like him.

West Ham are a really, really good team aren’t they. Id love to see the reaction on this place if we appointed someone like Moyes. A real shame he wasn’t given the time Ole has been at United as it’d have been interesting to see how things would have panned out.

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.