Hasenhuttl ...can we criticise him yet...

[saint lard]

If the club have any sense they will be instructing their legal team to attempt to get a few of the players/staff to sign NDA’s.

I think there will be some harsh words about certain individuals and the club in general.

Let’s see if they can keep stuff under wraps.

 

 

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[pimpin4rizeal]

To lose Ralph would be suicide. He is clearly a brilliant manager who is edging his bets a little with good will. He needs our support more than ever and given time, albeit probably 2 years while we continue to shift dross, will come spectacularly good I have no doubt

 

problem is how do u know we are not gonna sign more dross in the meantime? i think this poor recruitment talk that keeps getting trotted out on here is a bit tiresome.At the end of the day we are not paying high transfer fees compared to a lot of the teams in the league, so whats makes us so special that we will sign much better players then the rest of the league on the cheap? you cannot expect every signing to be van dijk or mane standard and even if they are they will be taken and we will be left with the mediocre ones no one wants again

[Heisenberg]

Look at Leicester. Arguably weaker with the sale of Maguire but with the right manager flying again

 

Ralph hasn't had the same impact here (Yet) but he's probably the best we could hope for just now.

[OldNick]

Let’s get rid of him, we haven’t had a new manager for at least a year. It’s so boring not having the excitement of having another new face.

[OldNick]

We should get in Big Sam eh. Lump it forward to the big man

 

Will you be happy then?

 

Why don't you just support the manager and stop rating him game by game

 

Bigger picture buddy. Get some perspective

good post Heisenberg. Football fans in the main are so fickle and knee jerk. That’s social media for you.

[Heisenberg]

Let’s get rid of him, we haven’t had a new manager for at least a year. It’s so boring not having the excitement of having another new face.

 

Reading the match thread and post match hysteria ..only one man would satisfy the SWF experts thirst.

 

[OldNick]

I doubt many other PL fans would want any of our players in their team apart from Redmond. We have little real quality. Personally after watching the 90 minutes on game of the day on Sky that we were pretty decent but unfortunate that Kane decided to have his best game of the season and we have little cutting edge at the centre of the attack

[Yorkshire Saint]

Listening to Rasio 5 and the geordies.. I will definitely stick with Ralph

[sadoldgit]

Summed up perfectly, I find his very late substitutions baffling.

 

I like RH, so much better than the dross of the past few years, but I'm starting to assume that it was RH and Rohl together as a package that sorted us out and now we've lost 50% of that

 

He is not the only manager who makes very late substitutions. I guess managers do it to waste time and disrupt the rhythm of the game if they are winning or hanging on for a draw. If you are chasing a game it makes more sense to bring someone on when they have enough time to have an effect on the game.

[Badger]

Look at Leicester. Arguably weaker with the sale of Maguire but with the right manager flying again

 

Ralph hasn't had the same impact here (Yet) but he's probably the best we could hope for just now.

 

Interesting comparison as Brenda was touted on here for some time, but dismissed by most owing to his time at Liverpool and comments after recruiting our players.

 

I'm not convinced that Rodgers is a better option than Ralph but major differences are that a)Rodgers, as far as I'm aware, was able to bring his own coaching staff with him, b)he inherited a better squad, including a bloke who can score goals (Vardy), and a decent midfielder who turned us down , Maddison, and a better squad overall.

 

The sale of Maguire hasn't seen them collapse in the way VD's departure did, and they invested some of the expected Maguire money in advance on signing Tiliemans (or whatever).

 

In short, better squad, and better recruitment that doesn't have Les Reeds fingerprints all over it for the last three seasons.

[CB Fry]

Perfectly happy with Ralph for now, but I was a big believer that Rodgers would have been a great appointment for us.

 

Leicester will have a fine season, and with Chelsea, United (and to a lesser extent, Arsenal and Spurs) in some strife they might even trouble the Champions League again.

[OldNick]

Perfectly happy with Ralph for now, but I was a big believer that Rodgers would have been a great appointment for us.

 

Leicester will have a fine season, and with Chelsea, United (and to a lesser extent, Arsenal and Spurs) in some strife they might even trouble the Champions League again.

would he have left Celtic to join us? I suspect that he saw owners at Leicester who would spend money and the squad was better than ours. Why join us with a mundane squad and owners who nobody really knows their motives

[Dalek2003]

We are a bottom 6 club whose idea of success is to finish in the top 3 of the bottom 6.

 

I am surprised that so many have taken so long to realise.

[qwertyell]

.

 

The sale of Maguire hasn't seen them collapse in the way VD's departure did, and they invested some of the expected Maguire money in advance on signing Tiliemans (or whatever).

 

.

 

Actually they planned excellently for Maguire's inevitable departure by signing two highly rated young centre backs the previous summer (Soyuncu and Benkovic) and letting them acclimatise to a new country and league under the radar for a year. It's worked out swimmingly.

 

 

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[Badger]

Actually they planned excellently for Maguire's inevitable departure by signing two highly rated young centre backs the previous summer (Soyuncu and Benkovic) and letting them acclimatise to a new country and league under the radar for a year. It's worked out swimmingly.

 

 

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They've obviously stolen the "Southampton Way" that we were credited for in 2014. But of course we all know the person who took the plaudits for that at the time has since been exposed and that the recruitment - Pelle, Tadic, and Alderweirald - were largely down to the manager not Mr Smug whose incompetence we are still paying for.

[CB Fry]

would he have left Celtic to join us? I suspect that he saw owners at Leicester who would spend money and the squad was better than ours. Why join us with a mundane squad and owners who nobody really knows their motives

Not really relevant now is it. The point is he was and is a capable manager who some on here couldn't get past because waah wah wah he stole Lallana off us.

[doddisalegend]

Perfectly happy with Ralph for now, but I was a big believer that Rodgers would have been a great appointment for us.

 

Leicester will have a fine season, and with Chelsea, United (and to a lesser extent, Arsenal and Spurs) in some strife they might even trouble the Champions League again.

 

I'd hazard a guess if the roles were reversed Ralph would be doing better with Leicester's squad and Rodgers would be struggling with our squad right now.

[CB Fry]

I'd hazard a guess if the roles were reversed Ralph would be doing better with Leicester's squad and Rodgers would be struggling with our squad right now.

No doubt. And people on here would be saying that Hasenhutl would have never come to us because he's been in the Champions League and Leicester have more ambition than us.

[Turkish]

Perfectly happy with Ralph for now, but I was a big believer that Rodgers would have been a great appointment for us.

 

Leicester will have a fine season, and with Chelsea, United (and to a lesser extent, Arsenal and Spurs) in some strife they might even trouble the Champions League again.

 

Agreed, he’d have been perfect for us but I seem to remember our geniuses didn’t want him because he’s only ever won things in Scotland and said something not nice about us 5 years ago.

 

As for Hassenhuttl he’s doing the perfect job. We’ve improved, he’s done a decent job but not a good enough one that he’ll get bigger clubs banging our door down any time soon.

[Saint Billy]

Ralph is the best we can hope for atm, we are not credible enough to temp anyone better.

We haven't got a Cortese selling the bright future to a potential managers any more, just some unknowns offering nothing but self sustainability.

[OldNick]

Not really relevant now is it. The point is he was and is a capable manager who some on here couldn't get past because waah wah wah he stole Lallana off us.

Well I suppose we all have eyes on managers who we would like who we had not a cat in hells chance of getting. Personally I believe he has shown he is a good manager and if we had snared him it would have been a coup, not that I particularly like his morals but he may have done well.

[TWar]

He is an excellent manager with an ok squad, somewhat underperforming. Last week we should have beat Bournemouth by all stats and didn't because we couldn't finish. A manager can't help that. This week against spurs we were away against a top 6 side and were very close to leaving with a point, owing mainly to a goalkeeping error. Again a manager can't help that. We just have to keep faith, stop moaning, get a comfortable 9th-14th finish which we are well on track for and try to sign a good rb and cm in the summer and lose our tonne of dead weight. Then we should be back to competing for top 8.

[egg]

He is an excellent manager with an ok squad, somewhat underperforming. Last week we should have beat Bournemouth by all stats and didn't because we couldn't finish. A manager can't help that. This week against spurs we were away against a top 6 side and were very close to leaving with a point, owing mainly to a goalkeeping error. Again a manager can't help that. We just have to keep faith, stop moaning, get a comfortable 9th-14th finish which we are well on track for and try to sign a good rb and cm in the summer and lose our tonne of dead weight. Then we should be back to competing for top 8.

We did not loose to Bournemouth because we couldn't finish. We lost because we went 2 nil down as the manager chose to play half of his defence out of position, and the awful Vestergaard. To use your words, the manager could help that. Against Spurs, whatever happened with Cedric we don't really know, but we had Valery on the bench as a straight swap but instead he changed to a back 3/5 bringing in Vestergaard and again not playing a proper right back. Our left side was exploited time and time again by Son and Rose and were part of the reason we lost the game.

 

Ralph has had shockers in the last two league games, I'm staggered anyone would argue to the contrary.

[tajjuk]

Comparisons with Leicester are a bit stupid, they have a much much better team than us that has been developing nicely for a good few years now and is starting mature with the youngsters starting to hit their stride coupled with their few more experienced players still maintaining their form. The likes of Chilwell, Maddison, Barnes, Ndidi have improved a lot whilst the likes of Vardy, Schmeichal and Evans are still at the tops of their games. Rodgers is a good manager and I would have been happy to have him here but I doubt he would be doing much better because the differences in the squads are massive sadly.

 

We are very much a work in progress, remember the guy has only been here half a season in reality, he's had one full pre-season, one transfer window, Rome wasn't built in a day yada yada. If you look at his previous clubs he steadied the ship but it still took another year or so to make proper progress, and we have the extra problem of having to overhaul a squad that has been built on the back of like 3 years of poor recruitment.

 

We have also played 7 games, 3 of which have been against Spurs, Liverpool and Man Utd, some perspective is needed. (Yes Spurs was against 10 men but not only were we a bit unlucky IMO not to at least get a draw 2nd half, but it played into their hands, they were a big team under pressure for results, they were expected to win with 11 and had that pressure on them, but going to 10 took that pressure away and allowed them to basically play on the break which they have very good players for).

 

Results and performances have of course been mixed, poor away to Burnley in conditions that suited them more than us, decent vs Liverpool but failed to take our chances, ok vs Brighton but helped by the red card, decent vs Sheff Utd (who showed away to Chelsea and at home to pool they are no mugs especially at home), decent vs Man Utd and probably would have won it without the red card, poor first half vs Bournemouth who finished all their chances but dominated them 2nd half but the damage was done, decent in the two cup games and finally I would say an expected loss to Spurs but should have done more with them down to 10 but still a bit unlucky.

 

For a young team, that has had a few injuries playing almost half their games against top 6 teams so far, has it really been that bad? Not IMO, it's been more as a I suspected, inconsistent.

 

Has he made a few choices that are difficult to understand? Yes, but we don't know the overall plan and what he sees on the training ground. I think we will come good and long term what Ralph is doing will improve us but it will take time.

 

I also don't think we will find a better manager.

 

I think there will also be a lot more ups and downs as well, as I said in another thread, our first 13 games will see us play all of last years top 9, so that needs to be taken into perspective as well.

[Mr X]

He is an excellent manager with an ok squad, somewhat underperforming. Last week we should have beat Bournemouth by all stats and didn't because we couldn't finish. A manager can't help that. This week against spurs we were away against a top 6 side and were very close to leaving with a point, owing mainly to a goalkeeping error. Again a manager can't help that. We just have to keep faith, stop moaning, get a comfortable 9th-14th finish which we are well on track for and try to sign a good rb and cm in the summer and lose our tonne of dead weight. Then we should be back to competing for top 8.

What are you basing your statement that he is an excellent manager on?

 

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[S-Clarke]

Are people honestly having this debate? What on earth is wrong with fans?

 

Just go onto our OS, have a look through our squad page, and then tell me how you'd do with this mismash of players. It will take a good few seasons to sort the squad out and rebuild this, we have been ruined by awful transfer windows over the last 3 years and we have been left with such a dreadful team - not just in quality, but with glaring gaps in positions.

 

People criticising the manager are just clueless really. Do you expect this group to go and beat teams like Spurs? Because I don’t, we’re not very good – face it. Until we revamp this squad, we will continue to be pretty rubbish. We can't really revamp it though as we have no money, so we might as well back the manager who has performed bloody miracles to even get us where we are.

[shurlock]

Largely happy with him. There’s a method and order in the way we play that should win us points. Would like to see us a bit less predictable (remember when the forum geniuses used to criticise Poch for lacking a plan B). But until Ralph can shift the dross and bring his preferred players in, I guess he’ll always have one hand tied behind his back (excusable) or be tempted to fit square pegs in round holes (less excusable).

Edited 30 September, 2019 by shurlock

[Dig Dig]

Are people honestly having this debate? What on earth is wrong with fans?

 

Just go onto our OS, have a look through our squad page, and then tell me how you'd do with this mismash of players. It will take a good few seasons to sort the squad out and rebuild this, we have been ruined by awful transfer windows over the last 3 years and we have been left with such a dreadful team - not just in quality, but with glaring gaps in positions.

 

People criticising the manager are just clueless really. Do you expect this group to go and beat teams like Spurs? Because I don’t, we’re not very good – face it. Until we revamp this squad, we will continue to be pretty rubbish. We can't really revamp it though as we have no money, so we might as well back the manager who has performed bloody miracles to even get us where we are.

 

I think Ralph is good for us in the whole and he has done a great job to date all things considered. Yes, there are clear deficiencies in the squad but that said, there are a number of growing questions around man-management and the knock-on effect on team selection. Despite the squad failings, the recent strange team selections seem to be self inflicted.

[tajjuk]

What are you basing your statement that he is an excellent manager on?

 

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Maybe his excellent and proven track record of making clubs overperform? Including taking on this relegation threatened team and steering them comfortably clear of relegation in his first 6 months?

 

The guy has only had one window and 3 actual signings that he has had any say in FFS, one which has been injured for most of the time and one of the others came in at the last possible minute so is probably not up to speed yet.

[Mr X]

Maybe his excellent and proven track record of making clubs overperform? Including taking on this relegation threatened team and steering them comfortably clear of relegation in his first 6 months?

 

The guy has only had one window and 3 actual signings that he has had any say in FFS, one which has been injured for most of the time and one of the others came in at the last possible minute so is probably not up to speed yet.

This is true, I wasn't saying he is a terrible manager just interested to see people's thoughts on why they feel he is excellent, for what it's worth I think he is a good manager but time will tell if he can become excellent, I don't personally think he can unless he is allowed to spend money on proven players rather than ones for the future ie Adams & danso

 

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[Micky]

I'd hazard a guess if the roles were reversed Ralph would be doing better with Leicester's squad and Rodgers would be struggling with our squad right now.

 

Probably it in a nutshell. You can only work with the tools you've got - Pep would struggle to get us any better results with the players at the club.

[Give it to Ron]

Are people honestly having this debate? What on earth is wrong with fans?

 

Just go onto our OS, have a look through our squad page, and then tell me how you'd do with this mismash of players. It will take a good few seasons to sort the squad out and rebuild this, we have been ruined by awful transfer windows over the last 3 years and we have been left with such a dreadful team - not just in quality, but with glaring gaps in positions.

 

People criticising the manager are just clueless really. Do you expect this group to go and beat teams like Spurs? Because I don’t, we’re not very good – face it. Until we revamp this squad, we will continue to be pretty rubbish. We can't really revamp it though as we have no money, so we might as well back the manager who has performed bloody miracles to even get us where we are.

 

So him not changing the formation against Bournemouth and bringing on Bertrand was fine by you until 2 down not after the Var disallowed goal? Playing Danso left back then right back out of position is fine by you?

Valery our number one choice now what number choice even behind JWP is fine by you?

You call me clueless!!

I think he has a terrible squad to work with but he isn’t helping with brain fart selections at full back this season.

3 centre halves against ten men until 79 mins?

A good manager yes but why can I not question some poor tactics when I see it rather than be a gushing lickspittle?

 

 

 

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[DuncanRG]

Just go onto our OS, have a look through our squad page, and then tell me how you'd do with this mismash of players. It will take a good few seasons to sort the squad out and rebuild this, we have been ruined by awful transfer windows over the last 3 years and we have been left with such a dreadful team - not just in quality, but with glaring gaps in positions.

 

I agree wholeheartedly that the criticism is overblown but this bit was done with Ralph's approval.

[captainchris]

problem is how do u know we are not gonna sign more dross in the meantime? i think this poor recruitment talk that keeps getting trotted out on here is a bit tiresome.At the end of the day we are not paying high transfer fees compared to a lot of the teams in the league, so whats makes us so special that we will sign much better players then the rest of the league on the cheap? you cannot expect every signing to be van dijk or mane standard and even if they are they will be taken and we will be left with the mediocre ones no one wants again

 

A couple of things here:

High transfer Rees do not always relate to great players.

Why waste money on complete dross just because we cannot afford or be willing to pay 80m for a player.... You cannot justify the second by saying we cannot afford 80m.

We need to be a lot cleverer than we have been in recent times.

Clearly some players we paid 15 to 20m for were not worth 5m and one or two not worth 1m so it is not unreasonable to suggest we have been spending large because money was burning a hole in our pocket and procurement wasted the cash. I

[S-Clarke]

So him not changing the formation against Bournemouth and bringing on Bertrand was fine by you until 2 down not after the Var disallowed goal? Playing Danso left back then right back out of position is fine by you?

Valery our number one choice now what number choice even behind JWP is fine by you?

You call me clueless!!

I think he has a terrible squad to work with but he isn’t helping with brain fart selections at full back this season.

3 centre halves against ten men until 79 mins?

A good manager yes but why can I not question some poor tactics when I see it rather than be a gushing lickspittle?

 

 

 

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It just feels like a common fan reaction and it frustrates me. Little bit of trouble and the knives are out, if I'm honest he has earned a hell of a lot of margin for error here given how he's made this dross squad perform. He's trying to find a solution in what is a horrible, horrible squad.

 

And whilst he may have 'approved' the squad, I imagine it was reluctantly. He can't be happy with this team and the lack of backing he has had, let's be honest. I feel frustrated as I know he can do better with better players, but the ownership of the club won't let that happen, so he's having to find solutions with the crap he has. So we can either back the manager and let him carry on how he's doing, reality is that we're not a top half team. Or we can stamp our feet and demand more when the reality is that we're at our level right now.

[Charlie Wayman]

Look at Leicester. Arguably weaker with the sale of Maguire but with the right manager flying again

 

Ralph hasn't had the same impact here (Yet) but he's probably the best we could hope for just now.

 

Exactly and to think Brendan Rogers was touted to becoming here at one stage.

 

Comparison with Ralph is perfectly legitimate and in those terms our man is not doing particularly well. Having said that Rogers has been around the PL block a few times and knows the ropes whereas our beloved Austrian rabbit whisperer is still in awe of the "bestest league in the world" where all teams are "world-class and hard to beat". Rogers knows that you get what you deserve.

[tajjuk]

 

Comparison with Ralph is perfectly legitimate.

 

No it isn't when Leicester have a vastly better squad than us, I reckon Ralph would have Leicester probably doing even better, but at least as well, he'd be a dream manager for Vardy.

[Give it to Ron]

It just feels like a common fan reaction and it frustrates me. Little bit of trouble and the knives are out, if I'm honest he has earned a hell of a lot of margin for error here given how he's made this dross squad perform. He's trying to find a solution in what is a horrible, horrible squad.

 

And whilst he may have 'approved' the squad, I imagine it was reluctantly. He can't be happy with this team and the lack of backing he has had, let's be honest. I feel frustrated as I know he can do better with better players, but the ownership of the club won't let that happen, so he's having to find solutions with the crap he has. So we can either back the manager and let him carry on how he's doing, reality is that we're not a top half team. Or we can stamp our feet and demand more when the reality is that we're at our level right now.

 

I can still back the manager AND question his poor tactics and team selections doesn’t mean knives are out. It means I think he got it wrong and could have done better in those games.

Bournemouth second half proved that only to revert back on Saturday.

He is stuck with this lot and I believe if he plays players in right positions we can do better than our current position that’s not wanting him out just pick the right team and shape.

We signed Danso as a Centre half.....yet has played more time at full back and a fish out of water is that good management or helping the player?

 

 

 

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[Charlie Wayman]

I can still back the manager AND question his poor tactics and team selections doesn’t mean knives are out. It means I think he got it wrong and could have done better in those games.

Bournemouth second half proved that only to revert back on Saturday.

He is stuck with this lot and I believe if he plays players in right positions we can do better than our current position that’s not wanting him out just pick the right team and shape.

We signed Danso as a Centre half.....yet has played more time at full back and a fish out of water is that good management or helping the player?

 

 

 

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Exactly this. It is not black & white, back him or sack him.

[Archangel]

Exactly this. It is not black & white, back him or sack him.

 

Which is black and white...

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I don't think the knives are out. I also don't think there is one Saints fan who would want him gone, but that doesn't mean to say everything is hunky dory at the present. Something does not quite feel right. The Soares incident has not been fully explained yet and there was the kerfuffle with Bertrand plus the departure of Rohl. Hopefully Ralph has the ability to ride the storm like someone says we must remember we are a work in progress and have a long way to go to erase the influence of Lou Reed (sic).

[ally_uk]

Our fans are a bunch of wet sandwiches.......

 

Our team currently is in a transition it's going to take a few transfer Windows to rectify the rot caused by Reed and Co......

 

Yes agreed Ralph needs to stop making baffling decisions with the way he sets up the squad. However I currently think he still doesn't know what the strongest line up is.

 

But overall Ralph is light years ahead of managers such as Hughes and Pellegringo....

[Give it to Ron]

Our fans are a bunch of wet sandwiches.......

 

Our team currently is in a transition it's going to take a few transfer Windows to rectify the rot caused by Reed and Co......

 

Yes agreed Ralph needs to stop making baffling decisions with the way he sets up the squad. However I currently think he still doesn't know what the strongest line up is.

 

But overall Ralph is light years ahead of managers such as Hughes and Pellegringo....

 

Has anyone said any different?

 

 

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[tobes8]

To be honest I don’t know what people expect when we have an owner with very little ambition and an unwillingness to dip into his pocket. The squad is probably at the ceiling in terms of being as good as it’s going to get. Nothing will change with gao unfortunately. Think Ralph is doing ok and an upgrade on our last 3 managers but has made some weird decisions lately.

[Forester]

Two season ago we finished 17th. Last season we finished 16th. If we finish someone between 12th and 15th I would take that as positive progress. The thing is, inevitably if you are finishing around that place wit say 43 points you will at some stage of the season appear to be a relegation candidate and looking at the next five fixtures I think we may be in the drop zone or close to it at the end of November. But then from the Watford game onward we have a good set of fixture which hopefully will see us north of 20 points at the halfway mark which is minimum target.

 

I imagine we must have one of the youngest teams in the league and so the hope should be we will improve year on year

[Toussaint]

To be honest I don’t know what people expect when we have an owner with very little ambition and an unwillingness to dip into his pocket. The squad is probably at the ceiling in terms of being as good as it’s going to get. Nothing will change with gao unfortunately. Think Ralph is doing ok and an upgrade on our last 3 managers but has made some weird decisions lately.

 

In answer to your first question, which you go on to answer in part, the minimum I expect is to play the best players in their best positions, drop out of form players and try to find a way to get along and get the best out of premier league egotist footballers. I'm not a Ralph out man, or anywhere near it, and I haven't really noticed anyone suggesting that he should go. What I see is a general frustration. I'm starting to think he has found himself out of his depth in the premier, but I do think he is capable and will find his feet. I am also concerned that 6 of the 7 points we have could be considered very fortunate. There is also a general air of Saints fatigue and frustration, its been a tough few years since Ronald.

[Saint Troy]

In answer to your first question, which you go on to answer in part, the minimum I expect is to play the best players in their best positions, drop out of form players and try to find a way to get along and get the best out of premier league egotist footballers. I'm not a Ralph out man, or anywhere near it, and I haven't really noticed anyone suggesting that he should go. What I see is a general frustration. I'm starting to think he has found himself out of his depth in the premier, but I do think he is capable and will find his feet. I am also concerned that 6 of the 7 points we have could be considered very fortunate. There is also a general air of Saints fatigue and frustration, its been a tough few years since Ronald.

 

The bold bit is sometimes the hard bit i think! best players arent always the best attitude ,especially around transfer windows! Agree about finding his feet - it took Pep a year to really get to grip with the prem with a team of world class players so what chance ralph with our lot! He needs time and our support i agree

[Archangel]

Having watched what has been happening in recent weeks I do wonder if there is a problem in the way the club is handling players, and that is costing us results.

 

It's all very well side-lining a player because they have broken the rules or perhaps has not been as focussed as Ralph would like. To then drop players and play others out of position is very odd and weakens us even more than we already are.

 

Surely the most important thing is to field our strongest team with everyone playing where they best fit, no matter what is going on behind closed doors. Issues, if there are any, should be dealt with once the match is finished. I find it hard to believe that we have a lot of disciplinary issues in our squad, to the point where it is forcing re-deployment of players into unnatural positions.

[Charlie Wayman]

Two season ago we finished 17th. Last season we finished 16th. If we finish someone between 12th and 15th I would take that as positive progress. The thing is, inevitably if you are finishing around that place wit say 43 points you will at some stage of the season appear to be a relegation candidate and looking at the next five fixtures I think we may be in the drop zone or close to it at the end of November. But then from the Watford game onward we have a good set of fixture which hopefully will see us north of 20 points at the halfway mark which is minimum target.

 

I imagine we must have one of the youngest teams in the league and so the hope should be we will improve year on year

 

You paint a very bleak picture and this scenario is certainly not the one expressed by board members at the most recent Fans Forum. We may not have a perfect squad but we do have perfectly good squad and clearly the club is more ambitious than to settle for a process of gradual improvement. It is up to Ralph to deliver with the squad he has and if it is the case that he is still unsure of his best squad that may be in part because he was focusing absolutely on building a new young team and did not expect Cedric, Bertrand, Yoshida & Boufal to re-assert themselves so forcefully and show how limiteds some of the "young buck" options he was backing turned out to be.

 

I hope he is flexible enough and man enough to admit he may have got it wrong.

[kyle04]

Well unlike the previous 2 managers, despite a similar stuttering start to the season, I do believe in Ralph. He has tried a few different options, some have failed and cost us points, thats football, I think if a tactic or selection isn't working he will alter it, not always successfully but at least we have someone willing to try different options until it gels. We may still not yet have the personel to achieve what we all want, time will tell. Djanepo has been a revelation, Adams has not so far despite a fair run in the team. We've had good wins so far, gave the European champions and the runners up a run for their money, and gave the Skates a bloody nose on their own turf.

Chin up chaps, we will be OK.