JibMcdo

Good performance, same intentions as every game this season including the Bristol City game, but Cardiff afforded us more space and we took advantage. Playing the way we do allows us to look that dominant when we are allowed, and control games and grind them down when we aren’t. Hopefully in those tougher moments people will understand why we are doing what we are doing and support the team. I think it’s great to watch. As I posted after City I do think the Sulemana injury will be a blessing, we will be more effective and should allow Manning to play better too.

I’m in the minority it seems. I like watching us dominate, it does take balls from the management and players to play that way and over the long term that is the style that wins games and trophies these days. We play it well currently and will only get better. I think Martin should get great credit for the switch to a diamond for the second half as well. It occupied Bristol City’s back 5 (7 at times) and we looked good. Think the injury to Kamaldeen may be a blessing in disguise. Re the interview, we’ve just won a game against a team that had zero intention of committing more than 2 players forward at a time, played well second half, 10 unbeaten, and Blackmore’s focus literally 3 seconds into the interview is about the fact they had 2 chances in the first half? Teams are allowed to have a shot, a counter attack - Blackmore’s expecting a perfect 3-0 game every time with total domination and literally zero shots against? It seems to be dominating interviews and press conferences at the moment and I understand why his opening question may have irked Martin.

No way Bednarek is going to be a backup in the Championship so with this signing and the Wood rumours I’d say he’s definitely off.

Nobody who watched that Forest game could rationally believe he was the right man for the job. Outsiders will think fans have overreacted but it was the most inept performance by a PL team in history. Tactically what were they trying to achieve that evening? It was madness. I’m usually against fans turning on their own teams but if it actually achieved something in this case fine. Didn’t like his interview, especially the part where he said we dominated Forest! Yesterday was much better but you can’t tell me it was an evolution from Forest to Palace to City, and a process of building and time. Last night was a revolution in terms of how they tried to attack. Hopefully he’s got a few things off his chest and can act more professional going forward, because last week’s reaction was justified.

It’s mad. I thought Downes stood out like a sore thumb when we played Swansea. It was a really impressive performance and anyone who took half an interest in that game would have taken note of him. I’m sure if you go back to the match thread, instead of commenting on the game people were just frothing at the mouth about Ralph’s team selection for 120 minutes.

I’m all for data but xg is clearly crap. A quality international footballer unmarked 22 yards out only scores that once in every 25 attempts? That’s bollocks.

Don’t have the full details but I doubt it. Issue unrelated to his calf injury.

Heard 3 or 4 weeks ago that McCarthy is out for the foreseeable future, so if Forster is let go we may need two new keepers.

Ralph’s aggressive tactics made him a better player as it sort of made up for his lack of pace as he was always on the front foot. He was obviously good in the air and very good on the ball. He’s have probably been a part of our squad for many years to come but looks as though he is playing himself out of being in the Premier League.

Fans always want a scapegoat and as we have improved recently it looks as though Bednarek is next on the list. I think he’s underrated by most. Ralph likes his centre halves to be ultra aggressive in their marking and try to restrict the ball getting to a striker’s feet and this is definitely his main strength. - probably why he’s been a mainstay since the manager’s arrival. He’s good in the air and he can put in a great last ditch block. No he isn’t perfect, he can be weak running towards his own goal a la Jimenez against Wolves, but he’s a big part of an improving back line and he’s worth way more to us than £15m.

He’s f*cked then isn’t he.

I still find it absolutely mental people can watch our team and think the manager isn’t right for us. We’ve played similar to that today for quite a bit of this season. Sometimes we’ve conceded 2 and gone on to lose. But Jesus this bloke is and always will be our best asset until he leaves.

Mental. So many people just haven’t got a clue

Think Dean Smith is a below average PL manager. What are his teams good at? What’s his style of play? They were a Hawkeye error away from going down in their first season having spent £100m+, and were heading in the same direction again this season having spent similar. Think he had a lot to thank Grealish for as to being in that job so long. Lets be honest we have battered Villa in every game we’ve played them in the last 3 seasons, even if we somehow lost at home last year, because we have a manager on another level to Smith who was tactically outclassed every time. I was happy to see he’d gone to Norwich and would expect us to play well on Saturday and have every chance of beating his side again.

This is 100% a new, deliberate tactic of ours this season to slow games down. We have lost way too many points from winning positions not to try something new. It also means that we can get more rest in between our effort to press.

JWP plays Ralph’s 6 role very nicely. It’s his and Romeu’s job to recycle possession between the two centre halves and wait for an opening to hit the two 10s or play a ball to a full back in space. They often are seen both dropping in between the two centre backs at the same time. Sometimes it means playing short passes where it looks like they’re not going anywhere and fans will think they’re slowing the game down but it’s all part of the team’s tactics and both CMs do the job well. Diallo is a good addition to the squad, but he’s not as accomplished on the ball as JWP and I think the fact he can dribble away from players in transition with a bit more pace than Romeu or Ward-Prowse often catches a supporter’s eye. He won’t be replacing the 2 in the middle unless an injury occurs.

Just want to bring this back up after his wonderful right footed goal and his ridiculous headed miss.

Lyanco isn’t going to play. Promising game last time but he doesn’t need to be rushed into a huge game. He was also blowing pretty hard the last 15 minutes of each half. Let the bloke bed in and he will get a run of league games when there’s an injury.

Guys, come on, lighten up a bit

Jesus Christ. Deserves a permanent ban.

It’s a shame you have to spend your time typing out the bleeding obvious, anyone with a brain knows the above two paragraphs sums up the keeping situation. We are spending £130k+ a week on two goalkeepers and won’t shift them before their contracts expire. Those trying to argue points about Ralph being responsible blah blah are arguing for the sake of 1) an agenda, or 2) being an arse.

Of Che Adams’ last 33 career goals, 32 have been with his right foot and one with his left (Chelsea away last season). I only know that because his last season with Birmingham I read he scored all his goals with his right foot and it’s not been hard to keep track! Who knows, there’s a chance he’s never scored a header in his career? If he could improve his headed and left footed finishing I think he could actually become a 15+ goal a season striker.

I avoid the forum when we are on a losing run, just to avoid the absolute shite posted on the last few pages of this thread. Ralph is the best asset this club has and the form we showed in 2020 with this group of players was miraculous. We’d be in the Championship right now if it wasn’t for him. The brand of football, the intensity of our play, totally suited over the course of a 38 game Premier League season in this modern era to maximise a below average squad to perform above their station. Not playing the U23s when we have injuries? That’s because, new contracts or not, Ralph knows their crap. He knows it, deep down all the fans know it despite being desperate enough to use it as a stick to beat him with - they can’t be trusted as the United game showed. Not surprised there hasn’t been a post in this thread since Saturday, we beat bottom of the league after all! Fickle, indeed.

Hoping Ralph leaves to stick 2 fingers up to Gao. Questioning why we haven’t got the squad depth to cover for injuries to 4 or 5 key players. Asking why we aren’t competing for the top 4 after we had such a positive start. ... standard stuff all in one morning, impressive. We are Southampton - we will win some games, we will lose some games, we will struggle when players are injured, we will sign some good players who move on, we will sign duds that stay until the end of their contracts. Just try and enjoy the good times, such as when we have a manager like Ralph, and engage brain when you’re asking why we aren’t competing with billion of pounds at the top of the Prem.

Ignore