Ralph Hasenhuttl

[Chewy]

Whereas I think we should be finishing above at least Palace, Brighton and Brentford. We are not far off where we should be in terms of position, but off nevertheless. The lack of progress Ralph has made now he has his own squad (or a lot closer to it) is a concern. And the bizarre absences of certain players for unfathomable reasons suggests his management style is rather dictatorial.

If we were top ten I’d say he’d earned that right, but we aren’t. I’m pretty tired of Ralph now and get the impression a lot of the players are too. 

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, Chewy said:

The lack of progress Ralph has made now he has his own squad (or a lot closer to it) is a concern

 

45 minutes ago, RobM said:

Ralph got the signings he wants... so has no excuses

What gives you guys that idea? We've signed players we can afford with what we make from selling our better players. I doubt Ralph's dream signings were Championship players, unproven kids and loans.

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Smirking_Saint said:

The problem is mate, this Ralph team that does have extreme swings in form is all well and good until we find ourselves into a season that our positive results do not outweigh our negative results, and then we are bang in trouble

He plays this high risk high reward football, its great to watch at times but struggles towards then end of the season, I suppose fatigue plays a part and not only removes the effectiveness of the press but starts to cause us more mental mistakes... Romeu hasn't been able to get around the pitch to his imposing level since probably christmas time(ish), the defence are making mistakes in and out of possession (could be a symptom of Romeus poor form), our 'press' and final third 'traps' aren't as effective

Ultimately Ralph needs to adapt or find a way to ensure that we can carry on with our primary tactics because otherwise we'll be found out and unfortunately we don't have the cash to fund depth to the levels required

I completely agree with you. My point is People are moaning about Ralph, too open, too streaky, too many bad losses. People moaned about Puel, too boring, too defensive. However both managers end result is pretty much the same. Midtable and a decent cup run. Puel got us to a cup final and 46 points, Ralph has got us to a semi final but also had a season where we got more points. Ultimately both managers did about as much as a club like us can expect to achieve with our budget and stature, one did by supposedly sending everyone to sleep (which is BS) the others done it by high risk high reward, fans aren’t happy with either style. So what other options are there?

Edited 1 May, 2022 by Turkish

[Whitey Grandad]

5 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I completely agree with you. My point is People are moaning about Ralph, too open, too streaky, too many bad losses. People moaned about Puel, too boring, too defensive. However both managers end result is pretty much the same. Midtable and a decent cup run. Puel got us to a cup final and 46 points, Ralph has got us to a semi final but also had a season where we got more points. Ultimately both managers did about as much as a club like us can expect to achieve with our budget and stature, one did by supposedly sending everyone to sleep (which is BS) the others done it by high risk high reward, fans aren’t happy with either style. 

No, it’s not BS. That was the worst season at home, ever. Some others got close but that was the worst.

[Charlie Wayman]

10 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I completely agree with you. My point is People are moaning about Ralph, too open, too streaky, too many bad losses. People moaned about Puel, too boring, too defensive. However both managers end result is pretty much the same. Midtable and a decent cup run. Puel got us to a cup final and 46 points, Ralph has got us to a semi final but also had a season where we got more points. Ultimately both managers did about as much as a club like us can expect to achieve with our budget and stature, one did by supposedly sending everyone to sleep (which is BS) the others done it by high risk high reward, fans aren’t happy with either style. So what other options are there?

Not that long ago we had very good teams playing attractive football under Strachan, Pochittino and Koeman, when our relative position and stature in the league were little different to now. Isn't that why people are moaning. 

[RobM]

Leicester, Villa, for sure. 
Burnley’s recent form may leave them on par with us, especially since they have a game in hand. 
Leeds have been poor all season but may finish just a few points away, certainly not night and day between us. 
Brentford are about where they deserve to be given their resources and squad. Same points as us, 9-goal better GD. 

I do appreciate the point about no striker and our overall squad but that proves one of my points - Ralph got the players he wanted. This is his squad. The strikers are of his choosing… and he keeps them on the bench in favour of a player he let leave on loan recently! Even in a game where we had no clue what we were doing in attack and needed some sort of spark. 

[Turkish]

34 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

No, it’s not BS. That was the worst season at home, ever. Some others got close but that was the worst.

So you think it was worse than the Branfoot years, the relegation season in 2005 & 09, most of the seasons in the championship, arguably most seasons the around 94-98, the Pellegrino/Hughes season. It’s not even in the top 10 worst in the last 35 years. 

Edited 1 May, 2022 by Turkish

[Whitey Grandad]

He’s frustrating because just when we get some impressive results he’ll go and change our starting formation and then leave it too late before making corrections. Starting Smallbone in the Watford game was bizarre. If he wanted to give him a run out then it should have been later in the game if circumstances allowed.

Yesterday he started with Long and Tella up front with Borja and Adam Armstrong on the bench.

At Burnley we had nothing to offer up front and five at the back and paid for it defensively.

When he’s good he deservedly gets the credit but he seems to insist on changing things around just for the hell of it. 

[Turkish]

14 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Not that long ago we had very good teams playing attractive football under Strachan, Pochittino and Koeman, when our relative position and stature in the league were little different to now. Isn't that why people are moaning. 

Yep and people moaned them too. Pochetino had no plan b, couldn’t win a Game if we didn’t score first, didn’t take the cups seriously. Koeman had people calling for his head when we went on an awful run around Christmas time in his second season. Did worse in Europe than Puel did with one of the worst performances I ever seen in the game in Denmark. Fans moaned and bitched  about selling players and not buying adequate replacements. Pelle was booed on his home debut, mane should fuck off back to where he came from. Sheffield United away was the worst display ever, etc etc it wasn’t all the halcyon era of SFC you’re making it out to be. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

So you think it was worse than the Branfoot years, the relegation season in 2005 & 09, most of the seasons in the championship, arguably most seasons the 94-98 Pellegrino/Hughes season. It’s not even in the top 10 worst in the last 35 years. 

Yes I do, and I was ever-present throughout all those. You are only looking at the position in the table. It’s called bottom-line management. You might as well watch our games on Teletext. Or not bother going to the expense of paying for a ticket and just look up the results in the next day’s paper.

Branfoot was indeed bad, but at least we had Le Tissier to entertain us and even Shearer for a while.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Yep and people moaned them too. Pochetino had no plan b, couldn’t win a Game if we didn’t score first, didn’t take the cups seriously. Koeman had people calling for his head when we went on an awful run around Christmas time in his second season. Did worse in Europe than Puel did with one of the worst performances I ever seen in the game in Denmark. Fans moaned and bitched  about selling players and not buying adequate replacements. Pelle was booed on his home debut, mane should fuck off back to where he came from. Sheffield United away was the worst display ever, etc etc it wasn’t all the halcyon era of SFC you’re making it out to be. 

How do you work that one out?

And don’t forget that Puel had nothing to do with us getting into Europe.

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Yes I do, and I was ever-present throughout all those. You are only looking at the position in the table. It’s called bottom-line management. You might as well watch our games on Teletext. Or not bother going to the expense of paying for a ticket and just look up the results in the next day’s paper.

Branfoot was indeed bad, but at least we had Le Tissier to entertain us and even Shearer for a while.

So was I and we were bloody awful in those times. Don’t remember too many fans boycotts, stadium sit ins and organised fan protests when Puel was here

how you can say Puels season was worse than when we got relegated twice is to be blunt laughable 

Edited 1 May, 2022 by Turkish

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

How do you work that one out?

And don’t forget that Puel had nothing to do with us getting into Europe.

Because Koemans team served up one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in Denmark in a qualifying round. 

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, Turkish said:

Because Koemans team served up one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in Denmark in a qualifying round. 

That was one game. Yes it was awful but Puel’s offerings were no better.

Yes, I was there at Midtjylland, where we scored nil, and I was also at Milan, where we scored nil.

[nta786]

45 minutes ago, Turkish said:

I completely agree with you. My point is People are moaning about Ralph, too open, too streaky, too many bad losses. People moaned about Puel, too boring, too defensive. However both managers end result is pretty much the same. Midtable and a decent cup run. Puel got us to a cup final and 46 points, Ralph has got us to a semi final but also had a season where we got more points. Ultimately both managers did about as much as a club like us can expect to achieve with our budget and stature, one did by supposedly sending everyone to sleep (which is BS) the others done it by high risk high reward, fans aren’t happy with either style. So what other options are there?

I agree with you but what I do think that Puel didn’t have on his side is that we fans had expectations through the roof. I do think now in last 2/3 years we’re coming back down to earth and PL survival is the norm ultimately.

Having finished 6th, we went from 63 pts to 46pts, so looks like someone who declined badly.

On the other hand, Ralph took us over following a shit start with Hughes and has been made to look a saviour by keeping us up. 

We then had that 2020 calendar year which  we had the 5th best record in the division which bought him more goodwill and sympathy following the first mauling.

Last season’s ending was put down to lack of depth, but this latest run is really leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

[Lighthouse]

3 minutes ago, Turkish said:

So was I and we were bloody awful in those times. Don’t remember too many fans boycotts, stadium sit ins and organised fan protests when Puel was here

Home games after Virgil was injured:

Saints 0-5 Arsenal

Saints 1-3 West Ham

Saints 0-0 Bournemouth

Saints 3-1 Palace

Saints 0-3 Man City

Saints 0-0 Hull

Saints 0-2 Arsenal

Saints 0-0 Man United

Saints 0-1 Stoke 

To put it simply, I just didn't want to go to games by the end of that season.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Lighthouse said:

Home games after Virgil was injured:

Saints 0-5 Arsenal

Saints 1-3 West Ham

Saints 0-0 Bournemouth

Saints 3-1 Palace

Saints 0-3 Man City

Saints 0-0 Hull

Saints 0-2 Arsenal

Saints 0-0 Man United

Saints 0-1 Stoke 

To put it simply, I just didn't want to go to games by the end of that season.

I thought a season lasted for 19 home games plus cup games, Why haven’t you included any before Van dijk got injured? Or the away games, like the win at Anfield which was many saints fans will say was one of the best nights in their lives. 

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, nta786 said:

I agree with you but what I do think that Puel didn’t have on his side is that we fans had expectations through the roof. I do think now in last 2/3 years we’re coming back down to earth and PL survival is the norm ultimately.

Having finished 6th, we went from 63 pts to 46pts, so looks like someone who declined badly.

On the other hand, Ralph took us over following a shit start with Hughes and has been made to look a saviour by keeping us up. 

We then had that 2020 calendar year which  we had the 5th best record in the division which bought him more goodwill and sympathy following the first mauling.

Last season’s ending was put down to lack of depth, but this latest run is really leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

Puel took us over after the two top goal scorers had been sold, our best midfielder had been sold and Fonte and Van Dijk wanting to leave, but no allowance made for any of that 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

I thought a season lasted for 19 home games plus cup games, Why haven’t you included any before Van dijk got injured? Or the away games, like the win at Anfield which was many saints fans will say was one of the best nights in their lives. 

Away games are of no use to the club financially.

 

[Turkish]

7 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That was one game. Yes it was awful but Puel’s offerings were no better.

Yes, I was there at Midtjylland, where we scored nil, and I was also at Milan, where we scored nil.

Guess you missed the home game against Milan then which was a brilliant night. We also played much better in Milan than we did in Midtjylland

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Puel took us over after the two top goal scorers had been sold, our best midfielder had been sold and Fonte and Van Dijk wanting to leave, but no allowance made for any of that 

Maybe Fonte and Van Dijk didn’t want to play for him

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Away games are of no use to the club financially.

 

So you don’t support saints when they play away then?

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, Turkish said:

Guess you missed the home game against Milan then which was a brilliant night. We also played much better in Milan than we did in Midtjylland

I was there too. We scored nil in Midtjylland and nil in Milan.
 

Koeman got us into Europe. Puel got us out of Europe.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

So you don’t support saints when they play away then?

That’s a weird supposition.

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

That’s a weird supposition.

Well you said away games are of no financial benefit. Which is a weird thing to say 

[Turkish]

4 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I was there too. We scored nil in Midtjylland and nil in Milan.
 

Koeman got us into Europe. Puel got us out of Europe.

Yep we lost both but one game the reaction was how didn’t we win, the other was what a dire performance. Then we beat Inter at home, we didn’t beat Mitjyllland over two games. 

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Well you said away games are of no financial benefit. Which is a weird thing to say 

Not at all. Bringing in money is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club. Bums on seats.

[Whitey Grandad]

1 minute ago, Turkish said:

Yep we lost both but one game the reaction was how didn’t we win, the other was what a dire performance. Then we beat Inter at home, we didn’t beat Mitjyllland over two games. 

I was querying your assertion that Koeman did worse in Europe than Puel.

[CB Fry]

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Not at all. Bringing in money is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club. Bums on seats.

It's not 1983 anymore.

So that's where 8th place and a Cup Final comes in incredibly handy, if, as you believe, "bringing in money is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club". Didn't he do well?

[Turkish]

6 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I was querying your assertion that Koeman did worse in Europe than Puel.

Yeah but then you also think a season where we finished 8th in the premier league was worse than one where we got relegated from the championship and went into administration 😳

[Whitey Grandad]

10 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

It's not 1983 anymore.

So that's where 8th place and a Cup Final comes in incredibly handy, if, as you believe, "bringing in money is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club". Didn't he do well?

No

[Whitey Grandad]

4 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yeah but then you also think a season where we finished 8th in the premier league was worse than one where we got relegated from the championship and went into administration 😳

Once again, you are banging on again about finishing 8th, which was a fluke. Equal on points with Bournemouth for what it’s worth.

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

Once again, you are banging on again about finishing 8th, which was a fluke. Equal on points with Bournemouth for what it’s worth.

How was it a fluke? How is finishing top half in the premier league a worse season than getting relegated from the championship?

[Whitey Grandad]

25 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Puel took us over after the two top goal scorers had been sold, our best midfielder had been sold and Fonte and Van Dijk wanting to leave, but no allowance made for any of that 

Going back to this point, don’t you think that Puel’s decision to exclude Fonte from every European game would have had a strong influence on Fonte wanting to leave? And if Fonte had played don’t you think that we might probably have done better?

[CB Fry]

 

11 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Yeah but then you also think a season where we finished 8th in the premier league was worse than one where we got relegated from the championship and went into administration 😳

But we got more "bums on seats" and definitely brought in more money in those administration days and in the Championship, right? After all, bringing in money and bums on seats is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club, so I'm told.

Edited 1 May, 2022 by CB Fry

[Turkish]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Going back to this point, don’t you think that Puel’s decision to exclude Fonte from every European game would have had a strong influence on Fonte wanting to leave? And if Fonte had played don’t you think that we might probably have done better?

The point is you said Puels season was the worst ever. Was or wasn’t it worse than when we got relegated from the championship and from the premier league?

 

[Whitey Grandad]

Just now, Turkish said:

How was it a fluke? How is finishing top half in the premier league a worse season than getting relegated from the championship?

The fluke is finishing in 8th position on 46 points with a goal difference of -7.

Once again, you only ever look at the league table. Not how we got there.

I look at things differently to you. I look back over a season of home games and think “Did I get value for money”. I don’t sit at games watching our league position and to be frank, I don’t care about our league position.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, CB Fry said:

 

But we got more "bums on seats" and definitely brought in more money in those administration days and in the Championship, right? After all, bringing in money and bums on seats is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club, so I'm told.

It’s very confusing. Away games don’t appear to count as they don’t benefit the club financially. Someone should tell Liverpool they don’t need to turn up on the 17th May as it doesn’t benefit them financially 

[Whitey Grandad]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

The point is you said Puels season was the worst ever. Was or wasn’t it worse than when we got relegated from the championship and from the premier league?

 

In terms of entertainment, yes, by a long way.

[Whitey Grandad]

3 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

 

But we got more "bums on seats" and definitely brought in more money in those administration days and in the Championship, right? After all, bringing in money and bums on seats is the fundamental purpose of a professional football club, so I'm told.

Don’t be so petty and childish. You’re better than that.

[Turkish]

Just now, Whitey Grandad said:

The fluke is finishing in 8th position on 46 points with a goal difference of -7.

Once again, you only ever look at the league table. Not how we got there.

I look at things differently to you. I look back over a season of home games and think “Did I get value for money”. I don’t sit at games watching our league position and to be frank, I don’t care about our league position.

Well if you’ve been a regular fan for as many years As you claim then you’d know supporting saints doesn’t always equal value for money 

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, Whitey Grandad said:

In terms of entertainment, yes, by a long way.

So you found it more entertaining being relegated from the championship?

[CB Fry]

4 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Don’t be so petty and childish. You’re better than that.

I think the point is you are.

On any metric anywhere that season was not our worst season ever, and we all know you don't even believe that yourself. 

You're just too petty to back down from it.

Edited 1 May, 2022 by CB Fry

[Whitey Grandad]

19 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Well if you’ve been a regular fan for as many years As you claim then you’d know supporting saints doesn’t always equal value for money 

Two season tickets since Branfoot for what it’s worth. Value for money is relative. I was not thinking of Saints as compared to other teams but rather Saints from one season to the next.

[Whitey Grandad]

21 minutes ago, Turkish said:

So you found it more entertaining being relegated from the championship?

I found the football more entertaining, certainly. Personally I don’t care about league position. Usually the better we play the higher we finish but I accept that for some people playing ’better’ can mean something different to me.

[Whitey Grandad]

21 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

I think the point is you are.

On any metric anywhere that season was not our worst season ever, and we all know you don't even believe that yourself. 

You're just too petty to back down from it.

On my metric is was the worst ever, and that’s all that matters to me especially as I am the one forking out the money to watch us play. You might have different views.

[Smirking_Saint]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

I completely agree with you. My point is People are moaning about Ralph, too open, too streaky, too many bad losses. People moaned about Puel, too boring, too defensive. However both managers end result is pretty much the same. Midtable and a decent cup run. Puel got us to a cup final and 46 points, Ralph has got us to a semi final but also had a season where we got more points. Ultimately both managers did about as much as a club like us can expect to achieve with our budget and stature, one did by supposedly sending everyone to sleep (which is BS) the others done it by high risk high reward, fans aren’t happy with either style. So what other options are there?

I don’t really know what the answer is but I am getting to the point where I wonder if Ralph has the ability to find any consistency over a 38 game season, especially as the wheels fall off when we really need that momentum for cup runs, relegation avoidance or European place pushes

[Sarisbury Saint]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

So you think it was worse than the Branfoot years, the relegation season in 2005 & 09, most of the seasons in the championship, arguably most seasons the around 94-98, the Pellegrino/Hughes season. It’s not even in the top 10 worst in the last 35 years. 

Branfoot by far the worst. He makes Ralph look like Koop.

[qwertyell]

FWIW I think Hasenhuttl's football is shite most of the time.

If the press doesn't work, or we're too knackered to play with the required intensity, there's fuck all else to us. Just slow sideways and backwards passing with little in the way of creativity. Set pieces are our only real hope.

It's crap and predictable. 

I think he's done his time. We're not progressing. We look stale. Handshakes, thanks for the memories, and move on.

[Charlie Wayman]

10 hours ago, Turkish said:

Yep and people moaned them too. Pochetino had no plan b, couldn’t win a Game if we didn’t score first, didn’t take the cups seriously. Koeman had people calling for his head when we went on an awful run around Christmas time in his second season. Did worse in Europe than Puel did with one of the worst performances I ever seen in the game in Denmark. Fans moaned and bitched  about selling players and not buying adequate replacements. Pelle was booed on his home debut, mane should fuck off back to where he came from. Sheffield United away was the worst display ever, etc etc it wasn’t all the halcyon era of SFC you’re making it out to be. 

Sure, but we were right royally entertained and enthralled, verbs that are not often in evidence today and we finished quite high up in the table regularly if my memory serves me right.