Hodgey

On the Tino front - he started great, but only started due to a promise in order to get him. That’s not fair on anyone, since then Ralph has backed himself into a corner, everyone can see Tino needs a break but that is ultimately admitting you were wrong, and he played KWP lb as he feared losing one of our better players. Dropping Tino should be an option - he’s been poor the last few games so in a meritocracy someone else deserves a chance. Now I think our right sided n 10s have been awful so I’d argue he deserves a chance there, but if arrogant Ralph doesn’t think so then he has to drop him. Basically this is going to end with all 3 full backs losing confidence. Tino from either being dropped or continually beaten by wingers, KWP for being dropped for a rookie and then failing on the wrong flank, Perraud from being judged worse than an out of position right footed full back. Utter mess

Yesterday the spine of the team was a 40yr old gk training with a l1 club, Bednerak, an out of sorts JWP, Redmond and a young Chelsea loaner. That spine belongs in the championship. Even with a fully fit side there isn’t a great improvement. Anyone expecting anything other than bottom 6 was always going to be disappointed. That said Ralph is currently making it worse - dropping KWP was a mistake he’s yet to rectify, he’s got no idea who his best cfs are , has acquired a load of sub par no 10s. On top of that we’re still dealing with dreadful recruiting decisions which Ralph has compounded - Djenepo ?, Perraud (won’t play him), Walcott (ridiculous signing) and 3 of our top earners are rightly not in the 1st team. It’s a mess and the brief for this season was to find a new goal scorer, a left back and centre back - failed on all fronts so far. Newcastle and Leeds will overtake us as both will have far superior teams second half of the season, leaves us in a dogfight with Burnley, Norwich, Watford and possibly Brentford (although I suspect they will be fine). Do I think Lampard would do better ? Maybe, my worry is that the players have lost faith in Ralph’s system - in which case a change is needed. I’d re-evaluate after next 4 games as Ralph deserves a final stab at putting it right - but 2 wins/performance uplift required.

He needs a strong number 2 to say ‘sorry Ralph - but I disagree’, surrounded by inadequate yes men, I’d even go so far as to say he’s been given far too much power. We’re never going to fire him as we can’t afford to - also can’t see us attracting anyone better so we’ll continue to squander chances and tire/ get figured out 2nd half. Just got to hope we’re better than 3 others each season. Also aside from JWP I’m struggling to think of a player he has improved.

McCarthy is the new whipping boy, and I do agree he’s at best bottom 5 keepers in the league, but some of the criticism is ott. The first - yes a top keeper might have claimed or pushed wide but it was far from easy, the second he had no chance - not sure who blames a gk when a striker is shooting unopposed at him from 5 yards. Meanwhile he made a world class save from Barnes and did very well against Vardy for the 1 v 1 - didn’t go down early, rushed at right time and made himself big. He’s had a few bad games but yesterday wasn’t one of them.

Che will always be held back by his inability to use his left foot, he’s also poor in the air. He can be very instinctive (on his right foot) and should be good for 8-10 pl goals a season. I’d put Armstrong in the same bracket (although he can use both feet, he’s a little blunt in that he always shoots no matter what). In itself that’s enough to stay up - but it requires a tight defence and goals coming from elsewhere - which is a problem for us.

I get it’s a free hit. But 3 up front suddenly against Liverpool is a bit mad - wonder if this is Ralph’s subtle way of showing that our no 10s are all sub par. Not sure playing strikers there is the answer but in his defence he’s got a load of championship options throughout that attack so is trying to find a solution. Feel that Tella sub was unfair - can’t have done the lads confidence any good and is setting him up to fail.

Give the decent volume of criticism I watched JWP carefully yesterday to see if any of it was justified. So it wasn’t all good - corners were average and a couple of times he gave the ball away in dangerous areas. But overall I thought he was excellent. I saw more forward than sideways passing, including a superb cross field ball on a sixpence for KWP. Great technique and shot for a very good save, good free kick finding Adams head for another excellent save. A couple of crucial tackles and interceptions, and hard running and closing down throughout. I was looking out for the much accused slowing everything down and square balls, and he did a lot more of that in the 2nd half which was sensible as we were being overrun. In injury time he bought a cheap foul from Villa reducing pressure further. I know this is one game, but I think this was his performance level throughout last year. So my position hasn’t changed - he is a massive asset to this team and we should do everything we can to keep him. BTW even the goal came from his forward pass to Adams ! (Although it was a bit of a long ball)

Looks to be a combination of things to me 1) throwing out the 4222 playbook 2) buying in a couple of quality youngsters from other Prem teams 3) promoting a few youngsters who are talented enough and ready for the step up 4) playing a few older players with experience Well done the club for finally sorting it - did take far too long though. Hope they can challenge for a place in the top league

Also people thinking we will reinvest the whole amount in the squad - what’s that based on ?. Given we have a £75m debt to repay and can’t make ends meet outside of that - why do you think we would reinvest the whole amount ?. So let’s say it’s £50m - and we reinvest £30m - removing loyalty bonus / signing on / agent fees etc how are we going to upgrade 3 positions ??. Then the increased jeopardy of us going down (even if our scouting team miraculously spot a bargain in January, how long before that player gets up to speed ?). I can see an argument for selling in July (but not one I personally think will help us) but in January ??.

I don’t think this is a serious story - but I’m amazed anyone would think this is a good idea. Nothing so far this season suggests safety is assured, we desperately lack goals yet should sell one of our top scorers ?, not only that but sell him to a relegation rival ?. Remind me of the financial risk in going down.. and for a club with well publicised financial issues. I’ve never understood the negativity towards JWP on here, the accusations seem to be that he’s just a set piece specialist (who apparently is no good at that anymore) who slowly passes the ball sideways and is a bottler - if you look at his all round stats that simply isn’t true. If you actually watch him when he plays it isn’t true. He is one of our few top class performers. Finally what are we going to do with the hypothetical £50m we get in January ?. Who is going to be available and want to come ?. What happens when Ron or Diallo are injured / suspended ? selling JWP is a bad idea, selling him in January to a rival would be incompetence . Thankfully I don’t think our board are.

I mean it has worked for us before - Chris Baird excelled there, as of course did Bertrand. I just think if you played a team with a proper centre forward, not Havertz, they’d quickly find a weak spot. Baird was composed, read the ball well and surprisingly good in the air - I just don’t see Valery as a centre back. Still the fact he didn’t look totally out of place tonight might mean I get proved wrong (and I’d be happy for that to happen !!)

Great performance against a quality team - although I’d caveat getting too excited by that as Chelsea struggled in the previous round and won on pens too. There is consistent defensive improvement - and I think you have to credit the coaching staff and system as well as the player for a strong Lyanco (and Valery) performance. Credit to to the board and Ralph for improving the squad and providing genuine competition for places. Now the big negative - I’m still not seeing many goals in this team, and think aside from Broja we have a load of championship level strikers and attacking midfielders. Let’s see how we get on against Watford - but realistically I think success this year will be avoiding relegation and hopefully a couple of those at mid and strikers become genuine Prem talents. Result is annoying - it’s one of those winnable trophies for teams like us. But not faulting Ralph for team or subs (although the Walcott signing was ridiculous - you can’t not play a fit £70k a week player you have just signed in a league cup game against at weakened opposition).

I had to re-read that, he would be utterly dismantled in the Prem league playing there. I can’t think of a single attribute he possesses that would lend itself to that position. For prem cb I’m thinking composure, reading the game, strength, Ariel prowess, perfect tackling, mental strength, determination, awareness. Anyone else get a picture of Valery from those characteristics ??

Absolutely - it’s a great loan and well done the club for being pragmatic enough to recognise that our principles around loans simply won’t work in our current state. A frightening thought is that 2 players who have instantly become some of our best were miles away from Chelsea’s first team (and based on talent)

I’ve just seen Redmonds miss - what is so scandalous about it is that he tries and use his right foot - stick your left foot out and it’s a goal, much easier than attempting it with your right. It’s unforgivable for a top level player to be unable to use both feet, favouring one is fine. What do our coaches do to stop this ? Same with Adams - he’d have double the goals if he had any faith in his left foot. They train every day, there is simply no excuse.

Yep EKS - I would have loved to see us lift the cup but I’m not that old (but old enough) - but to answer perhaps your question I want to see us win something (either cup), appreciate those who put a higher price on top 8 prem finishes etc but I just want to see us win something - for me that is what sport is ultimately all about.

I’m as frustrated as anyone with our lack of silverware. Let’s be clear - in my lifetime supporting Saints we’ve won nothing of note - and (sadly) we’re talking 40 years. But Adkins job wasn’t to win trophies - his job was to get us to the Prem, which he did in 2 years, he was a huge success. I’m more annoyed with Poch for throwing away some great chances in the cups with an unbelievable team.

You can certainly argue we should have won l1 with the richly assembled squad we had, but to go straight through the championship was a great achievement. Also we were outside the drop zone and improving when he was sacked. In reality he was ahead of his time in terms of motivation and tactics with us - but everyone else caught up hence his lack of success.

I think there is some unfair JWP criticism going on again. Let’s be honest that was a terrible Leeds performance with all their quality players out, Romeu and Diallo had freedom of the park to play and a tell tale sign of a weak team is Redmond standing out. That said JWP clearly hasn’t played to his own high standards this season for whatever reason but the fixtures have been tough - would Diallo playing instead of JWP seen better results than draws against City / Utd / West Ham where the midfield is properly contested ? I’m not convinced…. but happy that Diallo played well today.

No we are not. I get the question as for whatever reason this season he has been average so far, but he is proven quality and has carried us at times. Diallo and Romeu have more limitations. Agree on Broja though - he’s got qualities Armstrong and Adams will never have.

There is of course a way out (aside from an increasingly unlikely buy out). It involves actually getting a couple of high quality youth players through each season to replace a couple of 1st team sales. Sadly this is a part of the club that has been criminally ignored for a good 5 years and I’m not seeing any improvement although the plan B of getting disgruntled youth players from other teams for relatively high amounts but potential big returns is a good but short term idea.

My go (and showing age here) Shilton Golac Wright Van Djke Bale Wallace Case Williams LeTiss Moran Lambert Bench: Niemi, Marsden (yep CMFG - some of my happiest memories), Mane, R Wallace, Armstrong (David), Tadic, Long (ok that’s a joke - Pahars)

Think Newcastle would finish above us anyway as they have Wilson and ASM. This takeover means they can keep them and buy a couple more creative mercenaries. We are most certainly in the group of teams at the bottom - just hope we are that bit better than Norwich, Burnley and Watford

We don’t have the players to beat teams we need to break down - our no 10s are not creative and we have no finishers. Still think we will just about stay up as we are an ok team at defending and breaking. What do people expect when you sell your top goal scorer and talisman ?? (Not blaming anyone for that but it’s a fact). More worrying is Long back in the first team and one injury away from a totally unknown cb in Lyanco. Worried about JWP though - our only other genuine PL quality player doesn’t look right.

But playing devils advocate with that. You’d be just as well placed not bothering investing in the academy at all and have more money / time to get disillusioned youngsters from the top 6 and promise them 1st team. We make a big thing of our top class facilities and A status, but if you can’t produce any players it’s all completely pointless (and as things stand it’s not even as if we can flog a couple to the championship for a few hundred thousand, they all end up in league 1 or below on a free).