Charlie Wayman

If City play as well as they did yesterday, almost certainly this will be Ralph's annual 9-0 thrashing. I see no way that our centre backs can stop Haaland or indeed Foden. If ever there will be a 'hide behind the sofa' moment this coming weekend will be it. At least old Ralphie boy will go out with a bang!.⚡💥

League 2 is a good place to start if they intend to remodel and rebuild the club on solid foundations from the ground up. However it will take a couple more seasons to clear the rubble to get the new build underway.

why?

Maybe they keep turning the streams off because the football is too dire to broadcast. We are diabolical, Armstrong looks like a busted flush and JWP is not much better. Ralph just do us all a favour and resign this evening. You are an embarrassment with another awful team selection.

Better an opinion than sitting on the fence as you love to do

JWP is a very limited player and it shows up at that level. When it boils down to it, he is a one-trick pony who's one trick has deserted him this season. I can't see what he offers over the other midfielders to justify selection. Not even Southgate is a complete fool.

Creativity is not the problem for Saints, it is that lack of decent strikers that floors us.

Very true and I wouldn't mind betting that if we delved deeper these poor sods are probably on zero hour contracts as well. Still Semmens is OK with his 5% tax cut. Perhaps he might like to use the money to level things up a bit.

Hasenhüttl won't pick him anyway, at least not as a starter. The Austrian Flopp doesn't need any excuses not to play him these days. Yet another half-decent footballer coached into extinction by our dynamic coaching cadre. Everton are absolutely bottom of the Clubs that are IMO worth watching these days and the availability of tickets suggest many others are of the same persuasion. Sadly, those that do venture up there at the weekend are likely to witness yet another turgid and characterless bore of a match dominated by long ball speculative punts upfield aimed at nobody in particular from both sides. Doubt either side will have a match winning player on the pitch so 0-0 is overwhelmingly the most likely outcome but Saints being Saints our fragile defence will contrive to cock it up at least once so my money is on 0-1. On a more positive note, a 0-4 thrashing will surely hasten Hasenhüttl's exit.....

"But Manchester United, Southampton and Arsenal do not currently pay that rate to all their caterers, cleaners and stewards". No excuses at all. Even if these jobs are only part-time it is no excuse for the Club to exploit people perhaps because they might be fans also and excited to have a job associated with the Club. Stop exploiting the weak and powerless SFC!!! Come on SFC, let's have a Club Statement this afternoon saying you will stop this illegal process. I have e-mailed the Club demanding a swift and equitable resolution of this situation. Please follow suit

Maybe we can get Ralph to drive his train to Manchester?

Oh really? I assume that you are still a season ticket holder and being right royally entertained by what's being served up week on week now.

Tosh!

I'd rather be bored and win than be bored and lose. If Claude had been given the number of chances that Hasenhüttl has had we'd probably be in the top half of the table regularly by now especially when you consider what happened after his exit.

Not very successfully either!

I suppose it's about time we had a poll on here - then we would know who's for him and who wants him out. I have no idea how to set up a poll so must rely on A.N. Other. For me Ralph's time is up. Is it one or two years ago that people were saying "give him more time he has not had time yet to work with his own squad"? As many others have said "if we do the same old things in the same old way, why would we expect a different outcome"? .... and to all those who say "Well he has saved us from relegation in every season since he's been here" the obvious riposte is that the hasn't got us anywhere near the top ten and Europe either. Ralph = Mediocrity

That's not really the question. He should be dropped full stop. We have plenty of players to choose from, some just need to be given a chance. It's not only his poor on-field performances that are of concern, his leadership skills in adverse conditions are almost non-existent. We may be better off with a new captain as well as a new manager.

Ralph has reinvented long ball kick and rush at a stroke so give the man some credit. Will look good on his CV if nothing else.

Doubt it. Mara and Aribo seem out of their depth and Stuey has lost the plot

He has been truly woeful this season and the loss of Romeu must be part of the problem. He seems to be two yards too slow to every situation and his dead ball skills have deserted him. A spell on the sidelines might reignite his talent but don't bet on Ralph dropping him anytime soon.

Awful game, two awful teams heading for the relegation scrap.Clueless tonight. Draw a line under this and move on

........ or perhaps not!

ITSWM. VFATCAIHTLIUOTOS

When we do well we always seem to do well against Villa and if Ralph can sort himself out on team selection, there is no reason why we cannot do well once more. Our defence has improved but is by no means perfect, that elusive clean sheet is more often than not denied by silly errors or lapses of concentration. Even in a system using full backs as wingers surely defending must take priority because if you don't concede you can't lose. I expect those messages are being learned slowly but doubt that all the leaks have been fixed yet. The loss of Romeu has been a bigger blow than we have realised, even more so with the now untimely loss of Lavia. Oriol had a brilliant partnership with JWP at times and they could dominate midfield but the skipper has so far not linked up well with either Lavia or Diallo. We don't know yet if Larios is ready for a run out in the first team but his inclusion or more likely that of AMN or Ćaleta-Car will further upset the dynamic and need time to gel. We will struggle for control. Aribo and Elyonoussi are enigmas when it comes to creativity and do not inspire confidence (in me) but seem to be the automatic picks for AMF positions. Armstrong and Djenepo are options off the bench but arguably no better while Edozie surely cannot be ready to take up such an important role. Up front our less than dynamic duo persist in using lots of brawn with little brain but in fairness do find the back of the net from time to time and not always sitter's. Mara we are told is extravagantly gifted but so far judged not good enough to start (Boufal?) and then there is Theo... All in all this is likely to be a classic bore draw 0-0 or 1-1. Our improving defence will keep us in the game but midfield mayhem and continuing up front woes will limit our scoring opportunities.

Hasenhüttl?