Super_Uwe

I am assuming NJ will be relieved of his duties soon, even after I posted last week it's gone even further downhill😄 I personally would see if Adkins would take the role till the end of the season. We need a manager who is available in the first instance (seeing as we'd be paying compensation to two bosses). But most importantly we need someone who the fans can unite behind. Ordinarily I don't think this would be as big a priority, but given the toxicity right now it has to be THE top priority. There is huge respect and love for what he did with us, but also I think a lot of people forget that he actually had started to turn things around before we appointed Pochettino. His career since has been very average, but you cannot deny that fans would be desperate for him to do well. IMO we have absolutely no hope of staying up unless we can get into a situation where St Mary's is rocking for every game till the end of the season (think the spirit of Dellhurst Park in 1999).

He hasn't really had time. A couple of months is nowhere near long enough for any manager. And he's now been given some new players to work with. However he's done absolutely nothing to build bridges with the fans since he joined. Which will ultimately be his downfall in my view.

This season is all about staying up, whether that's 14th, 16th or 17th place it doesn't matters in the slightest. If we stay up I think NJ will be given time to build something (and in all fairness he will deserve that). If we get relegated I think the relationship with the fans will be so toxic that he'll have to go. Doesn't matter how good his record has been in the Championship. It's already bad enough because there is a real disconnect and almost lack of trust from the fan base. That's not normal for a manager who's been in charge for two months.

Have no particular names in mind, but ideally we need to buy the 2023 versions of Chris Marsden, Hassan Kachloul and Marian Pahars in the January window. Hope that helps.

Whoever we hire needs to hit the ground running. We are struggling to score goals and we are letting in plenty once again. We have a lot of inexperienced players and senior pros like JWP who are not as effective as they have been. We look pretty disorganised. We are in real danger of being relegated this season.

Sad to see Ralph go but as it seems inevitable I hope we go for either Thomas Frank or Sean Dyche. Frank is obviously in a job but I think he's done an incredible job at Brentford. Likewise Dyche did amazing stuff at Burnley with really tight resources. We have a lot of inexperienced younger players and senior pros who aren't playing well. Right now we need someone who understands what being a Premier League manager is all about. Both would fit the bill nicely in my view.

Feel sad the way it's going to end, he's done a decent job overall the past 4 years. But absolutely no choice now, it's clear things aren't going to change. Players need someone new to come in and switch it around. I think it's absolutely disgusting that his sacking (or not) is being discussed in the media. If he's going to be sacked the board should do it the proper way, their silence so far speaks volumes. I accept it may not be their fault entirely if someone is leaking stories, but they must have seen the stories coming out last night and should have responded accordingly. Show a bit of leadership, not too much to ask is it?!

All about the 3 points, a scrappy win will hopefully do the players' confidence good. 4 points from W Ham and Bournemouth exactly what we needed. I really want us to do well under Ralph, I like the bloke. Just so frustrating that he struggles to put together a team with any sort of consistency.

Stig Johansen, remember thinking he'd be great in partnership with Ostenstad. If we were really lucky, maybe we'd found another Norwegian gem like Tore Andre Flo. Nah.

I fancy us to nick it 1-0 with a goal from A Armstrong. Don't ask why, I just do😄

I don't mind Ralph trying something different, but he needs to get a proper grip of our defence. He has been our manager for nearly 4 years now. Teams like ours cannot hope to do well if we keep shipping goals left, right and centre. We are not good enough in the attacking third to be able to rely on scoring 3 goals to have a chance of winning games!

Just my opinion but I think we'll really regret not signing him. £30m (if that's the correct fee) is no longer crazy money in the Premier League, although I accept we probably don't have that sort of money to spend either. For a 20 year old, he already has all the attributes to become a top striker. Needs to be consistent and develop that focus that the best players have. Otherwise nothing stopping him.

The UK being out of the Single Market entirely (save for the arrangements under the NI Protocol) is clearly having an all round impact. I work in a small wine shop, our suppliers are finding ordering stuff now from EU countries takes significantly longer than pre-1 Jan 2021, and it varies from country to country. It isn't solely down to being out of the Single Market and customs union (as you say the pandemic and disrupted supply chains have had global impacts), but it is exacerbating the problems because it is no longer as free flowing as it was before. That extra time translates into cost, whatever way you look at it. And it's not just for the UK but also for the EU too, their high inflation figures aren't a cause for celebration as it further proves the fact all of our economies are interlinked.

Definitely an exciting signing, whether he can have a "Tino impact" from day one remains to be seen. I think it will push McCarthy on too, I don't think he will want to settle for being benched just yet!

I cannot believe the absolute pelters McCarthy gets from some fans. He's a solid keeper, as is Forster. Both been in and around the England squad over the years. The club realistically isn't going to renew both contracts, they are both of an age where they need to be playing regularly. FF has done well this year, I never really thought we'd see him back in a Saints shirt, so it's been nice. He'll have a chance now to get one more decent contract going on a free, hopefully he gets a nice reception against Liverpool

So still lots of possible outcomes, but the main thing is Burnley and Leeds lost! I don't think any of us expect Saints to get anything against Liverpool. Should that be the case, Burnley would have to get 3 points from their next two games, and Leeds would need 4 points from their next two games to take it to the final day. If either fail, we are safe.

Agree we are closing in on that scenario now. Still too early to rule it out mathematically, but assuming they lose against Arsenal, they would have to pull something special out of their last 3.

Burnley and Leeds will both be on 37 points if they win their game in hand. Everton will be on 38 points if they win their two games in hand. So all things equal, we would be 3 points clear of 18th with 3 matches left. Leeds have a significantly worse GD than the other teams, so they are effectively a further point adrift. So we're almost there, but I personally feel 40 pts will be far too close for comfort. A draw against Brentford will suit both teams tbh.

Increasingly likely 40 points will be the bare minimum to stay up this year. We'd be incredibly unlucky to see all the teams below us catch up, but we are out of form at the wrong time (yet again).

We still plod on. Obviously now we have many new elements of the new trading relationship to deal with in terms of customs formalities for imports from the EU. It's pretty clear this will start to bite at some point in the not too distant future, arguably for both sides as EU exporters have more hoops to jump through to get their products to the UK market. It's all very sad tbh, not sure there is much else to say.

I have posted on this thread many times that a Norway style relationship will likely be the end game for the whole of the UK (not just the special arrangements in NI for Single Market alignment under the Protocol). You can't keep defying gravity. At some point the penny has to drop.

Quietly excited about him signing, let's see how he manages to settle in and make an impact early on. I am assuming the club hasn't paid £5 million for him to sit on the sidelines all season!

The only reason the club should have to sell JWP is if they are offered absolutely ridiculous money. I'm talking £60-70m. It needs to be way in excess of his market value to give us half a chance to rebuild. But I would like to hear our board come out and say he's critical to our future and not for sale. Nobody is indispensable but he has a real chance to become a one club legend.

It's more the fact players like Carrillo, Hoedt etc delivered painfully little for the fees AND wages we spent on them. Thankfully we did recoup some money via loans, but I've no doubt we have suffered financially even with VVD's sale. We aren't a club that can afford to spend £15-20 million on players (plus their wages) and they turn out to be crap or amazing once every 10 games. Ralph has borne the brunt of this in the transfer market. He's not blameless with some of his decisions this season, but he deserves to have some money to work with this summer. We might not have to sell at all, there may be some money available. I've no idea. My point was purely that we might consider moving a few players on if a decent offer comes in, if only to mix it up a bit.

Great post. I have to be honest and say I hadn't really thought about the limitations he's had to work with in the transfer market. The club needs to give him some backing this summer. We need a few new faces and maybe move a few on as well. I totally get the club is still paying the price for the 2016-2018 recruitment disaster, we spent big money on several players who delivered very little. But we need to freshen up otherwise I fear next season will be a relegation battle.