Ralph Hasenhuttl

[Toussaint]

6 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

And that's fine.  I don't feel any different either, which is an ongoing sense of apathy.

Seems to be a pendulum effect with a lot of people though, who seem to love him or hate him depending on what week it is.

I do flip flop to a small degree, I’m not his greatest fan, the annual drubbings are unacceptable, the repeated brain farts are inexcusable. But we could, and have done worse. While I’m on a moaning roll I don’t like him celebrating a victory like he’s just one the champions league either, I find it embarrassing. 

Edited 19 April, 2022 by Toussaint

[Sunglasses Ron]

3 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I do flip flop to a small degree, I’m not his greatest fan, the annual drubbings are unacceptable, the repeated brain farts are inexcusable. But we could, and have done worse. While I’m on a moaning roll I don’t like him celebrating a victory like he’s just one the champions league either, I find it embarrassing. 

Yeah, this is my take on it.  Ralph has had several monumental failures, plus a few notable successes, in his time here so it's not unexpected that the tide can turn very quickly on him.  Conversely, there is undoubtedly a group who can't stand him due to the 9-0s etc. which is totally understandable too.

I'm still broadly in favour of him, but getting trashed at home to Chelsea like that pushed me closer to the edge I have to say.

[Matthew Le God]

 

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

It’s a shame we haven’t been able to capitalise with results against the Other 14 to have a bigger impact on our league standing.

Summer will be a  good time to work on what is needed ready for next season which will be split for the WC and the big six club players will be busy. 

[Sarisbury Saint]

1 hour ago, Matthew Le God said:

 

That’s impressive, but equally it shows we’ve not raised our games equally in the other games.

Goes to prove we are more than capable of finishing higher.

[The Cat]

Wasn't that long ago we hadn't beaten a big team for ages, I remember people banging on about it on here.

Edited 21 April, 2022 by The Cat

[Baird of the land]

Not clearly in out or in camp. Will say i'm getting very sick of this 'look very good in a handful of big showcase games' but go through spells of looking clueless.

Same tactically at times you'll think Ralph is getting better and then you have games like today where you think Ralph's IQ is subpar.

 

[Harry_SFC]

As far as I'm concerned it's time for a change. That was possibly one of the most inept tactical displays I've seen from a Saints manager in years. 

[jawillwill]

Think he needs to go. Get someone (admittedly, no idea who...) in before the end of the season and give him a ring of games to get to know the players before the transfer window opens.

I like Ralph and his passion but we can't keep going on terrible runs like this and expecting to progress to the next level.

[S-Clarke]

He overthinks, tries to be too clever and out thinks himself and the squad sometimes.

Some of his struggles here have been down to the squad, the lack of quality, injuries etc - but tonight was on him. Tactically flawed, you do not play with those defenders against Burnley - even my dog wouldn't have picked Valery today, it was clear he'd be bullied off the pitch.

Where was Valery playing at the end? up front, number 10? wide? It was a mess. It was truly horrible to watch. We had Adams on the bench who made us look immediately better when he came on, he's the sort of attacker you need against Burnley - someone who will use power and strength to bully himself, Broja was isolated and frustrated on his own, pretty much as you'd expect when you've got the tippy tappy Elyounossi running around like a headless wally behind you - you've got no chance.

There's no denying that we have some dreadful players in key positions, but we had better options on the bench today which would have been far more suitable for a game against Burnley. I've been one of his staunch supporters, but that sort of tactical own goal was awful to see.

Edited 21 April, 2022 by S-Clarke

[SaintsLoyal]

We need a manager that can organize the team !  

[Dman]

I’d love to know what the cults excuse is this season. 

Last year, it was blamed on injures. We have a full squad with no injuries, yet still go on a pathetic run to end the season…

Almost as if it’s ingrained within this manager. 

[Whitey Grandad]

I’ve had enough.

[Matthew Le God]

8 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I’ve had enough.

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

[ErwinK1961]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

Lack of investment is one thing. Continually not picking the best XI and/or formation is another.

[Dman]

5 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

And the past 2 months…. In fact, pretty much all season other than a 10 or so game spell. 

[Lallana's Left Peg]

2 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

I agree.  After our transfer activity last summer I'd have been elated to be told that by mid-April we'd have 39pts and be comfortably safe.  If we had achieved that points total by beating the teams around us and losing to all the bigger clubs we'd probably all feel a bit 'meh'.

The up and downs of our performances are interesting though.  It's happened too often now.  The outcome is fine over the course of a season, but I think it is a pattern and it is a concern.  How can these players play like Championship players one week and Europa League contending players the next?

Is it their mentality / consistency as footballers that is the issue?

Is their confidence so fragile and is that down to their ability as professionals or the management and coaching?

Why can't Ralph solve it?  Consistency is the most important thing in football to have a career at the top level.

 

As the owners of this club, you can't accept inconsistency as it wrecks plans and confidence.  I think it was fine when we were scrabbling around for money and our goal was just to exist in the league.  If you have a little more means and ambition, you won't accept these sort of performances.  Ralph has earned the right to be backed.  But he needs to figure some things out quickly - either as a Manager or in terms of his squad (maybe both) or he won't be around much longer.

[TWar]

Ralph out is an incredibly poor take and he is performing well well over our spend HOWEVER very poor management right now. Sticking with a winning team doesn't make sense when the two challenges are so different. Also Broja has been dogshite for ages and is a loan player, what do we possibly get from playing him right now?! Play Armstrong, play Tella, play Shane Long for all I care.

On top of this, poor set piece defending, the scheme clearly wasn't right. Poor management of the midfield.

Ralph is still comfortably our best option but this result was as much on him as any player and should be criticised.

[Dman]

Ralph has done the bare minimum imo.
 

People bang on about how lucky we are to survive, but those same people also say how our squad is better than those below us. 

player for player, our squad is probably 5/6th give or take, worse in the league. 
 

Keeping us up isn’t the huge achievement that many make out. Loads out there could do the same. 
 

it’s been a decent few years with Ralph but we’re stale as fuck. We and he need a change. 

[Daft Kerplunk]

As long as we don’t go down, the senior managers at the club won’t really care that Ralph is as inconsistent as lumpy custard. They still get their nice bonuses, the Premier League club on their CV and no need to be anything other than the very ordinary to achieve the reflected glory, and wedge. 
 

How the new ownership reacts, and whether they provide a war chest this summer will let us know how committed they are to us getting better. 

 

[Lighthouse]

So….

None of our goalkeepers are really up to it.

All of our centre halves are at best limited and at worst substandard.

We have nothing to mix it up in central midfield, beyond playing JWP and Romeu every game

Armstrong aside, our creative players are all, TBH, sh*te.

None of our strikers have scored since Adams got one goal against bottom club Norwich 2 months ago.

Despite all of that, Ralph has us comfortably midtable on a Championship budget. I’ll keep him thanks, despite his faults.

[Dman]

1 minute ago, Daft Kerplunk said:

As long as we don’t go down, the senior managers at the club won’t really care that Ralph is as inconsistent as lumpy custard. They still get their nice bonuses, the Premier League club on their CV and no need to be anything other than the very ordinary to achieve the reflected glory, and wedge. 
 

How the new ownership reacts, and whether they provide a war chest this summer will let us know how committed they are to us getting better. 

 

I agree, however the concern is how many more seasons can we rely on a freak run of 10 games to keep us up being pathetic in the other 30? It’ll bite us on the arse one season. 

[Dman]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

So….

None of our goalkeepers are really up to it.

All of our centre halves are at best limited and at worst substandard.

We have nothing to mix it up in central midfield, beyond playing JWP and Romeu every game

Armstrong aside, our creative players are all, TBH, sh*te.

None of our strikers have scored since Adams got one goal against bottom club Norwich 2 months ago.

Despite all of that, Ralph has us comfortably midtable on a Championship budget. I’ll keep him thanks, despite his faults.

Genuine question, do you think our squad is in the worst 3 (ability wise) in the league? 

[nta786]

28 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

Lack of investment is one thing. Continually not picking the best XI and/or formation is another.

The problem is, what is our best team?

Is it the 4222 that got us our great results against Spurs/City/WHU etc etc?

Or is it the same team that lost spectacularly to Villa, Watford and Newcastle, including getting pummelled on aggregate 10-1 by City (FA Cup) and Chelsea (PL)

By nature, we have hugely inconsistent players and that is why they play for us and not Liverpool/City etc, who have players that can do bi-weekly games in PL and CL.

[The Kraken]

Just now, Lighthouse said:

So….

None of our goalkeepers are really up to it.

All of our centre halves are at best limited and at worst substandard.

We have nothing to mix it up in central midfield, beyond playing JWP and Romeu every game

Armstrong aside, our creative players are all, TBH, sh*te.

None of our strikers have scored since Adams got one goal against bottom club Norwich 2 months ago.

Despite all of that, Ralph has us comfortably midtable on a Championship budget. I’ll keep him thanks, despite his faults.

Really? Forster has been brilliant.

As for all the rest, agreed (not sure on the accuracy of the championship budget, but it sure as shit isn’t going to have us competing in this league).

[beatlesaint]

36 minutes ago, Matthew Le God said:

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

In your efforts to be a smart arse you have once again spectacularly missed the point.

The tactics tonight were totally wrong, that’s on him. The personnel was wrong, that’s on him. We have players and a system that could have competed with Burnley much better. But hey knock yourself out cos like Ralph you are never wrong are you?

[Lighthouse]

11 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Really? Forster has been brilliant.

As for all the rest, agreed (not sure on the accuracy of the championship budget, but it sure as shit isn’t going to have us competing in this league).

He’s been good in patches but overall I’m not convinced. When you’re selling your best striker and only spending half of it on a replacement from the championship, because you need the money to plug holes elsewhere… I said championship budget but really we don’t have one as such. We’ve just been spending what we can sell for 5 years.

[TWar]

17 minutes ago, Dman said:

Ralph has done the bare minimum imo.

Ralph has done the bare minimum yet you thought we were going to finish 20th? That doesn't make sense...

[Dman]

1 minute ago, TWar said:

Ralph has done the bare minimum yet you thought we were going to finish 20th? That doesn't make sense...

I thought we’d finish 20th because of him. Not the players. 
 

which I’ve said in hindsight was a bit silly given how bad some of the teams are. 

Edited 21 April, 2022 by Dman

[TWar]

Just now, Dman said:

I thought we’d finish 20th because of him. Not the players. 

Then clearly he hasn't done the bare minimum and has outperformed your expectations considerably

[trousers]

40 minutes ago, Dman said:

And the past 2 months…. In fact, pretty much all season other than a 10 or so game spell. 

At least that's an improvement on "a few games"

[ErwinK1961]

11 minutes ago, nta786 said:

The problem is, what is our best team?

Is it the 4222 that got us our great results against Spurs/City/WHU etc etc?

Or is it the same team that lost spectacularly to Villa, Watford and Newcastle, including getting pummelled on aggregate 10-1 by City (FA Cup) and Chelsea (PL)

By nature, we have hugely inconsistent players and that is why they play for us and not Liverpool/City etc, who have players that can do bi-weekly games in PL and CL.

Forster, Perraud, Salisu, Bednarek, KWP, Romeu, JWP, Stu, Moi or Redmond, Broja, Adams. 

That team hasn’t played since Old Trafford.

Sure, you can stick a 3-5-2/5-3-2 against the big boys, but the above (for me anyway) is our best team and formation. 

Edited 21 April, 2022 by ErwinK1961

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, TWar said:

Ralph has done the bare minimum yet you thought we were going to finish 20th? That doesn't make sense...

I think you should repeat this at least 19 times a week, just in case people miss it the first 18 times

[Dman]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

I think you should repeat this at least 19 times a week, just in case people miss it the first 18 times

He already does. 

[TWar]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

I think you should repeat this at least 19 times a week, just in case people miss it the first 18 times

You can't go round saying "Ralph has been average" after predicting our finish as 20th. When DMan stops doing it, I'll stop pointing out the obvious contradiction.

[The Kraken]

He started it, Miss.

Bloody hell.

 

[Lighthouse]

20 minutes ago, Dman said:

Genuine question, do you think our squad is in the worst 3 (ability wise) in the league? 

Without getting bogged down with every squad below us, my combined XI from tonight’s game would feature JWP and KWP and the rest Burnley. Perraud and Romeu would be maybes.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Without getting bogged down with every squad below us, my combined XI from tonight’s game would feature JWP and KWP and the rest Burnley. Perraud and Romeu would be maybes.

I'd add Forster, based on tonight. Pope stopped one straight at him and saw  a JWP free kick over. Other than that he just stood there as if he had nothing to worry about. 🙂

[Wade Garrett]

His tactics are like a broken clock that has to be right twice a day!

His substitutions aren’t even that good!  Why wait so long to make a change last night?  The formation and personnel was clearly not working.  Major changes should have been made at half-time.

Not a chance that I will get a season ticket next year if Walter Mitty is still in charge.

[Christophenburg]

The biggest issue seems to be confidence, we cave so easily and heads drop the second things get tough. That's surely on Ralphs softly softly no consequences style of management.

I think it's probably time for a change, but who? Nuno's stock is pretty low in England right now. Favre's style matches the playbook but he's been out of work for two years and would be hard to lure to us. AVB was always perpetually linked to us but seems he's keen to retire (again). Rudi Garcia? Javi? Leonardo Jardim? Farke yo-yoed with Norwich. Mark van Bommel seems like a Saints-like appointment but had a rought stint at Wolfsburg. 

[AlexLaw76]

If forest don’t go up, would happily take their manager in place of Ralph. 

[trousers]

15 hours ago, TWar said:

When DMan stops doing it, I'll stop pointing out the obvious contradiction.

With all due respect, that's the sort of thing that a 9 year old would come out with when confronted by a teacher about a playground spat with another kid....

"I'm right"

"No, I'm right"

"No, you're wrong"

"No, you're wrong"

"Ner ner ner ner ner"

"Wah wah wah"

[TWar]

Just now, trousers said:

With all due respect, that's the sort of thing that a 9 year old would come out with when confronted by a teacher about a playground spat with another kid....

"I'm right"

"No, I'm right"

"No, you're wrong"

"No, you're wrong"

"Ner ner ner ner ner"

"Wah wah wah"

Except "how can you say we are underperforming when you rated us as the 20th best team in the league?" is an actual argument and not merely "I'm right".

[Dman]

9 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

If forest don’t go up, would happily take their manager in place of Ralph. 

Agreed, linked with him towards the back end of last year weren’t we?

 

would know Crocker from time at the FA as well. 
 

An ugly bastard though, so won’t go down well with the hipsters

[trousers]

11 minutes ago, TWar said:

Except "how can you say we are underperforming when you rated us as the 20th best team in the league?" is an actual argument and not merely "I'm right".

Maybe try rising above it rather than resorting to the playground-level intellect of asking the same question over and over again when you know you won't get a different answer?

Edited 22 April, 2022 by trousers

[Whitey Grandad]

17 hours ago, Matthew Le God said:

13th and only 2 points off 9th place not good enough for a team that has had no investment for circa 5+ years? If anything he is over achieving despite how shit it feels after abject performances like tonight.

That's the 'bottom line' attitude to management, all that matters to such folks is the league position at the end of the season. Football means a lot more than that to me. I want the team that I support to go out and have a real go at it in every game they play. I want to feel that we have a chance of scoring some goals in every game that we play. I want some excitement now and again. The league position is not something to be targeted in itself. Take care of the formation and performances and the league table will take care of itself.

And we're not 9th in the table, we're 13th with a goal difference of minus sixteen!

[Golac's Cunning Stunts]

4 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That's the 'bottom line' attitude to management, all that matters to such folks is the league position at the end of the season. Football means a lot more than that to me. I want the team that I support to go out and have a real go at it in every game they play. I want to feel that we have a chance of scoring some goals in every game that we play. I want some excitement now and again. The league position is not something to be targeted in itself. Take care of the formation and performances and the league table will take care of itself.

And we're not 9th in the table, we're 13th with a goal difference of minus sixteen!

I'm hoping we ditch ralph in the summer mainly for the reasons you outline here. Yeah its always a risk to replace a manager but he says he is retiring season after next so really why wouldn't we get rid on that basis alone?

[Lighthouse]

4 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Football means a lot more than that to me. I want the team that I support to go out and have a real go at it in every game they play. I want to feel that we have a chance of scoring some goals in every game that we play. I want some excitement now and again.

Isn't that what we're getting from Ralph? We won at Spurs, beat West Ham twice, unbeaten against United and City, even beat Arsenal when we're playing crap. Isn't that the kind of excitement we can reasonably expect from Saints? If we were doing that AND consistently beating the lower teams in and around us, we'd be a Champions League team. If you can suggest a manager who'd be willing to come here and do that, for a modest wage with basically zero transfer budget for a sustained number of years, I'd be interested to hear who.

[harvey]

45 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

Isn't that what we're getting from Ralph? We won at Spurs, beat West Ham twice, unbeaten against United and City, even beat Arsenal when we're playing crap. Isn't that the kind of excitement we can reasonably expect from Saints? If we were doing that AND consistently beating the lower teams in and around us, we'd be a Champions League team. If you can suggest a manager who'd be willing to come here and do that, for a modest wage with basically zero transfer budget for a sustained number of years, I'd be interested to hear who.

That's bollocks!.....so we can be motivated enough to beat top four teams but hot teams lower than us?.....that sums Ralph up in a nutshell.

[Dman]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Isn't that what we're getting from Ralph? We won at Spurs, beat West Ham twice, unbeaten against United and City, even beat Arsenal when we're playing crap. Isn't that the kind of excitement we can reasonably expect from Saints? If we were doing that AND consistently beating the lower teams in and around us, we'd be a Champions League team. If you can suggest a manager who'd be willing to come here and do that, for a modest wage with basically zero transfer budget for a sustained number of years, I'd be interested to hear who.

This is a really fair argument. I do get the point that we’d rather have the ‘ups’ we get under Ralph even if we have to suffer some ‘downs’ along the way. 
 

However, for me, I think I’d rather a degree if consistency. That way, I’d have faith we can actually improve.