saintant

Unless the new coaches are some kind of miracle workers and can over ride some of Ralph's stubborn decisions I fear we are in for a struggle to rise above the bottom six. Whether that translates into relegation I'm not sure but maybe we are running out of lives. It's getting harder to compete with those who spend a lot more than we do so maybe our expectations should be low. We've shelled out a bit this summer but it will be hard to rely on so many untried youngsters especially if we make our usual very slow start to the season. Still time to bolster the squad with some proven class but not sure the owners are going to go down that route so it's all a gamble on unproven youngsters - be lovely if it works, if it doesn't prepare for a car crash.

You make some valid points but, if you feel that the midfield is sorted now and we just need forwards, why are we not creating chances? How will new forwards solve the fact that we don't create chances? The lack of chances is surely the problem that needs to be sorted first. You can't judge how good or bad your forwards are if you aren't providing them with chances.

Fans have every right to express their concerns - one goal in 3 games plus very few clear chances created is not what you want with just two weeks until our opening match against Spurs. So far we have shown few signs that we have fixed the problems we saw in the run-in last season and all the indications point to us making the usual very slow start again. Hope Ralph, coaches and players prove me wrong and I do get the fact that these are only friendlies but I did expect to see more from us than I have.

As others have already said...if you don't create you can't expect your forwards to score. It's a chicken and egg situation and whilst I agree we need strengthening up front maybe the real problem is a compete lack of creativity. Blame your forward when they are missing a hatful of chances.

Just for balance I think we should factor in his terrible injury which set him back just when he was beginning to show promise. I wouldn't agree that he's had enough chances and we'll never know how he'd have done without the bad injury.

Ryan Kent would be perfect as a moneyball type signing - as Ally McCoist says he just needs to improve his gaol scoring record. Very good player and well worth a punt in my opinion.

Is he Jonno quick?

Spain much the better side in the first half. England need to step up a few gears.

Moise Kean looks good 🙂 Didn't work out on loan at Everton, not sure why.

Ralph arrived and took on a squad that was disgracefully unfit and totally lacking in confidence. To achieve the points haul he did is nothing short of a miracle. I do not include his first match away to Cardiff as he was merely an innocent bystander but since then he has averaged 1.45 points per game. Over the 36 played so far this season this would have had us sitting in 8th position on 52 points. Remarkable considering that most of us would admit that our squad is not over blessed with natural talent. Hats off to you Ralph and I'm looking forward to seeing what you can achieve with a full pre-season and maybe some additions to the squad in place of the dead wood.

Without Yoshi's pace this was always going to be a difficult game against their speedy forwards. Just hope Ralph can work some magic or we may not get back into this.

Without Yoshi's pace at the back this was always going to be difficult against their speed up front. Hope Ralph can work something out at half time or we will not be getting back into this game.

Not that well, they have had zero shots on target and only 1 off target. If that is playing well then it sums up why they are probably going down.

Hope I'm wrong but it looks like 3 at the back with JWP as a wing back a position he is obviously not suited to as it requires pace to get up and down the line and the ability to tackle.

A lot if people claiming Wolves were the better side. From what I saw they were lucky to get away with only a 3-1 defeat.

Hughes is a dinosaur. He's old school and has not bothered to move with the times. Why he was given a 3 year contract is completely beyond comprehension.

If Ralph had been here at the start of the season we would now have 52 points based on his average and be sat in 7th spot 5 points ahead of Leicester. I exclude Cardiff away because he had no time to influence that game. The man has worked miracles.

Someone claiming Wolves played us off the park yet we won 3-1 and missed a couple of sitters. You can play all the nicey nicey football but the only thing that counts is putting the ball in the net. Wolves may have looked prettier at times but we were by far the more effective of the two sides. Ralph is not one for possession for possessions sake and he likes to get the ball into dangerous areas rather than fannying about.

Excellent win. We are very lucky to have Ralph. 4 wins out of the last six games and the 2 defeats were an unlucky loss at Man Utd and Liverpool at home when we gave them a scare. Good wins against Spurs and Wolves. Ralph has the knack of giving even the big sides a game and getting good results against teams we expect to beat. He is a breath of fresh air after the dross from previous 3 managers.

Maybe you should take a look at Cardiff's remaining fixtures. It might help allay some of your fears.

I'm guessing your 61 year old warehouse operative from Enfield had just been pointing out to his mates that effing Hugo was only effing covering one effing side of the effing goal and therefore a well struck free kick towards his effing right hand would effing leave him effing too much effing ground to make up. And so it effing proved. Goalkeeper's positioning for free kicks from the centre of the pitch is a constant bone of contention.

Just looked at Cardiff's run in and hadn't been aware that, of their remaining 8 matches, only 3 are at home. Two of those home games are Chelsea and Liverpool whilst the other is Palace which will be tricky. Away games for them to come at both Manchester clubs, Brighton, Burnley and Fulham. Despite beating us at St Marys their away record is horrendous. I can't see them mustering many points from those fixtures. In comparison we have home games against Liverpool, Wolves, Bournemouth and Huddersfield whilst we travel to Brighton, Newcastle, West Ham and Watford. We sit two points in front of Cardiff with a vastly superior goal difference so, in conclusion, we should be confident of avoiding the drop. This assumes that Fulham and/or Huddersfield are not suddenly going to rise, Phoenix like, from the ashes.

As I stated in the after match thread yesterday I would not tend to include the Cardiff game as I don't think Ralph was really involved so he's accrued 21 points from 14 games at an average of 1.5 points. Had he been our manager for all 30 games and achieved the same average we would be sat below the big six teams in 7th position on 45 points. Considering what he's got to work with in terms of our squad I think he has performed miracles.

Amazingly, if you take Ralph's 14 games in charge (I exclude Cardiff away as he had not worked with the team) we have taken 21 points. Average 1.5pts per game so, in theory, had he been here at the start of the season and achieved that average, after 30 matches, we'd now be on 45 points and sitting in 7th spot. Food for thought and quite an achievement given the squad we have. Hats off to you Ralph.

I think two more wins should see us safe as I cannot see Cardiff getting 10 points from their last 9 fixtures which include Chelsea, Liverpool, Man City and Man Utd.