Ralph Fastenbüttl

Great post, Francis - I hope we hear more from you in the weeks, months and years ahead! Honestly, while failing to sign a striker this window would obviously be a massive pain, I think the signing of a central defender is more crucial. With the likes of Aribo and Mara looking so bright from the little we've seen, I would hope that they, along with what we've already got, might just be enough to see us through to January, when our recruitment team can have another crack. Still, there's two weeks left in this window - plenty of time to get something done. And you'd hope the board will have planned for this outcome, right...

Big call. Fair play.

Oh. And there I was expecting us to be all happiness and rainbows. Damn.

One would suspect that guarantees we're 4-2-2-2 from hereon in. Thank fuck.

Ralph turned it around and saved the day today! Right? RIGHT?

Dude, why do you this? Just fucking let it be, man, jesus.

Dude, c'mon. That their background filler blurb isn't completely 100% anally retentive and correct in its every detail means says nothing about the source or the info they're claiming to know.

I think this is probably the fairest and most reasonable assessment of the situation I've seen on here. 100% agree.

I honestly think Tella has a bit of something about him, so some regular game time seems like a sensible idea.

I'd take Benrahma for sure - feels like exactly what we need? Oh, as well as a striker and two CBs, of course...

Yeah, it's mental. Folk actually pondering if Ralph is "deliberating choosing crazy lineups to get sacked", 'cos that's that's totally what a normal person in the real world would actually do. Especially when they work in one of the most globally popular sporting leagues in the entire world and their every move is publicly scrutinised. Definitely checks out.

I find critical positivity far less worrying than the endless shrieking and whining we get on here. The reason some folk are still pro Ralph is that for all the faults, struggles and frustrations, we can and have played some incredible football under him. After years of getting nothing from the big teams, he has at least made us into a team that can get points from the big six. Of course that doesn't render all the negatives meaningless, but it is a legitimate reason to try and be balanced. We've had a transfer window unlike anything seen at the club for some time. It's perfectly logical to want and see how Ralph gets on after that, and it's insane to judge that from one game... even if that one game is supremely frustrating because we lost for all the same reasons we've been losing for months. On balance I'd say I'm a pro Ralph'er, albeit a very tired and irritated one. Seeing names like Djenepo, Valery, Stephens and AA on the team sheet was massively deflating after what felt like an exciting window. And I fully concede that this run can only go on for so long and I'm sure everyone is in agreement - SR included - that if there isn't some positive change very soon, the time will have come for Ralph to leave us.

I was in favour of backing Ralph with a decent summer, and I'm not gonna wet my pants after one game... but fuck me these defensive performances are spectacularly tedious.

At least Lavia and Aribo look great, as does JWP and... shock horror... Djenepo. I hate to say hit but Adam Armstrong is looking especially poor. Off at half time I'd guess.

That's not what I meant at all - I totally agree with everything you say. I was referring to his supposed frustration with Ralph and what was ultimately a surprise move to a mid-tier club (all of which could be debated, of course).

Of course we all like Che - nice lad, incredible work rate and attitude, and definitely the best striker at the club. But there's no denying that he scores nowhere near a sufficient number to carry us. Obviously I'd much prefer to see AA leaving, but if someone's willing to part with £20m+ for Che and that money gets us a double figures per season striker then I would understand the move.

Pretty gutted about Delap so this would be amazing if true. I have no idea why anyone thought Danny would want back, considering the manner of his departure.

TBH I was talking more about the tone of the actual write-up. And yeah, you're right - 14th would be entirely acceptable.

Quite a downbeat assessment of our chances this season here: https://www.football365.com/news/predicting-positions-other-14-premier-league-clubs 14) Southampton: Over the course of their last 12 games of the 2021/22 season. Southampton won just one match and scored nine goals, while conceding 30, dropping from 9th place in the table to 15th in the process. It’s now been five years since Southampton finished above midway in the Premier League, and they finished 15th or lower in four of those five seasons. Southampton may well be preparing for spending another season with one eye looking over their shoulders at those below them in the table. The arrivals of Gavin Bazunu and Romeo Lavia from Manchester City for £27m are certainly adventurous. These are young players with considerable potential. And Southampton have retained the services of James Ward-Prowse for at least another year, which gives them one of the greatest goalscoring threats in the division from set-pieces. But there have been times since his appointment at St Mary’s when it’s looked as though Ralph Hassenhuttl was living on borrowed time and it’s not particularly surprising to see him near the top of betting lists for the Premier League’s 2022/23 Sack Race. Southampton only finished five points above the relegation places last season, and it’s difficult to see where substantial improvement upon their 15th-placed finish last season will come from.

Quoted for truth. Just fucking imagine if this had been a Gao window. We'd be sitting here watching the club fail to shift dead weight like JB/MD/NR and we'd perhaps have managed to scrape together the pennies for one or two youngsters. The Championship would be looming super fucking large. Instead, we've at least got hope - hope that some of these signings may 'do a Tino', hope that the increased competition will inject some oomph into these fuckers, hope that with the new coaching setup the team might have something new about them, hope that Ralph might step up now that he knows he's got 'til Christmas to prove himself and the hope that we may at least get to enjoy some entertaining football in the months ahead. That all sounds pretty good to me.

Perhaps this explains our problems up front. Imagine the dent your morale takes when you're facing the might of Jack Stephens and Yan Valery in training every day. Being totally shut down and unable to penetrate their unrelenting presence day in day out is gonna mentally wear you down.