nta786

Bit of an oxymoron that!

The argument is that a good coach is the reason why Mings/Konsa look better than Bednarek/Vestergaard, or why El Ghazi has more goals than Redmond etc etc Perhaps Raphinha/Bamford are having the seasons they are because of Bielsa - he has found a structure for them and it plays to the squad’s strengths. If Raphinha was with us, who knows he might only be on 1 goal too. A majority of the the players you mentioned above were not the finished article i.e. Shaw, Lallana, Clyne but had successful seasons as the manager got the most out of them Sadly with Ralph, in the past 4 months almost all our players have regressed. Could another coach/manager improve these players? The other argument is perhaps not- some of these players will have burnt through 3-4 coaches and haven’t shown any permanent improvement.

I point you to the below image- do you really trust our club to find/appoint a suitable replacement? Because in my mind I have no doubt if Ralph went we would go for a left field appointment like Remi Garde or Pepe Mel or even Felix Magath or similar - despite the other unemployed names currently out there. This is of course subject to debate, but from the 19 players we have bought in the past 4.5yrs, around 7 to 9 have been okay buys. I'll tell you now that I live in hope that Ralph can find a tune out of these players again, it's the tried and tested (and currently backfiring) option over the unknown.

I agree partly with what you are saying but let's rewind back to November 2020 when we were doing well etc etc Imagine someone posting at that time 'we are going to be in a relegation battle' / 'the rot has set in' ; you would be called a wind up merchant or similar. A fair few (ignoring the "elephant in the castle") did acknowledge that we would revert to type and that our run was simply good form than anything consistent. No one envisaged our form to drop off like a cliff, not to the extent that it has in 2021 anyway. I think questions do need to be asked of Ralph for the last 6-8 games for sure, but I don't understand why when we were doing so well some of us were expected to predict that this team would suddenly become so hopeless and misfiring.

I think one important thing to note too is Leicester play tonight, and then play us 4 days later. Therefore, we will have had an extra 5 day's rest over them. It wouldn't be just Ralph's tactical nous I'd be questioning if they look so much fitter than us, but: a) his coaching/fitness methods and b) whether the players are either on the beach or simply not giving Ralph their all

Some depressing results against these at home - the 4-1 defeat in 2017/2018 was the one we were all calling for Pellegrino's head if I remember correctly. I can only see this going one way too sadly; I think we will start strong but without Ings we're toothless and so come second half when we try to go for a win, they'll see us off on the counter attack easily Saints 0 - 2 Leicester

Didn’t Gao increase our value to £250m when we were doing well? Perhaps, this is all some 4D chess by Ralph and the board to do terribly now and lower our value to hopefully attract more prospective buyers I can imagine Gao as being someone very stubborn/with pride and not wanting to sell at any sort of a loss to save face. It may come home to roost sooner rather than later the longer he puts up with us.

Agreed! Do you remember when JWP scuffed the penalty mark in the Iceland away game at the start of the season which they ended up missing? I think JWP came out and said ‘sometimes in football it is also important to master the dark arts to win games!’ as if he had turned football into a Hogwarts lesson. What has happened to that? Now we seem to be as gentle as a lamb!!!

I think someone like Lampard/Gerrard would consider us for sure- we are still a PL club with players who on paper to outsiders are average to decent (to shit) - a mgr will think there is enough to put his stamp on this squad. Plus, we have capability of offering up to £6m salary wise which equates to £115k a week so money will unlikely be a problem. I’d love to throw £8m to Benitez or something (yes I am dreaming a little but Newcastle had him in the Championship!) However, this is the thing- are Lamps/Gerrard still inexperienced? We know our choices are limited to unemployed managers, and there some biggish names out there. If this rot carries on into next season it would be stupid not to act- no one should be deemed un sackable - we took a contingency loan out which could help.

Lighthouse, or any Mod, let’s do a poll surely? Something like this? a) Ralph in no matter how this season finishes - to manage us in 2021/22 and beyond - he has proven what he is capable of with his 2020 calendar record b) Ralph in but only because I do not trust the board to find a suitable alternative no matter what happens this season so he should stay for next season c) Ralph in until end of season and beyond but if we do not exceed 40/41pts this campaign then sack him at end of season d) Ralph out now ——————————————— Or if simpler: Have a Ralph in for 2021/22, or Ralph out for 2021/22 poll Feel free to adjust or add suggestions to above

1st half we deserved 2-3 goals 2nd half they’ve been all over us but haven’t tested McCarthy that much. Yet, we lose. Story of 2021.

We ask this all the time- Macca vs Newcastle, last home game before lockdown

Yes- infused with some grass from the St Mary’s turf!!!

Ffs 2-1 Spurs

Bale ffs 1-1

Hmm Tella must be going up top then with Adams Armstrong, Walcott in the No. 10s

Perhaps because it leaves us open defensively? Sunday felt like we were trying our best to make sure the game was always within our reach where instead we should have went gung-ho at the end. Also, our first half performances have generally been good! Let’s see what the second half conjures up- we will tire and Spurs can’t be this bad surely.

INGSSS

Ah that’s who it was did sound familiar. Cheers.

I have to say I’m not sure who the co-commentator is but he has been very complimentary about us so far 😂 Has he not seen how terrible we have been in 2021 but I guess it’s nice to be positive

You are right but Adams when he has time to think tends to fluff his lines. He is good at his instinctive best- this one he should have buried for sure tho

I think if Liverpool have said (behind closed doors this is), that Minamino will definitely return to Liverpool, then no point playing him and let’s give someone else the game time. Although might be silly because if Minamino plays well and scores- he could give us valuable prize money! But Ralph obviously seeing different. I will assume this is the same case with Jankewitz. If Ralph doesn’t have him in his plans for next season, then no point playing him. However, the alternative viewpoint albeit unlikely is to give Jankewitz some minutes to put him in the stop window- but something must have happened behind closed doors as Ralph might well have just frozen him out.

So surely after these last 48 hours the only winners from here on will be the lawyers? [MLG Note: yes we know that the fans/clubs/players etc etc have won too if this does all get disbanded]

This lot are losing 7-1 away to Leicester’s U23. The rot is setting in top to bottom. These results wouldn’t be such a problem if they were providing us players for the first team but none of them are good enough or have been frozen out. Part of me would love to bulk up the squad and let the likes of Diallo, Salisu, Tella, Valery (though on loan) play more and get some minutes in that league- maybe even taste what winning feels like before promoting to the first team but with our thin squad we can’t do that. For reference; this Leicester U23 are also near the bottom ffs

People interested in these sorts of things- Ralph 22/1 to be next Spurs manager. For context Scott Parker is 14/1.