Ralph Hasenhuttl

[OldNick]

10 hours ago, sydney_saint said:

Yeah mate, and we had one of the biggest injury lists I've ever seen during alot of that period. But sure, you wanna claim that downhill, then you also have to admit we then went through another major uphill again to get ourselves back up to 10th and effectively safe 2/3s through the next season. Who would have thought that football has ups and downs, it should be ups only right? So yeah things were pretty alright for the next year, we stayed up comfortably, and then stayed up again the next season. Many fans wanted him sacked at the end of that season. I reckon we would have gone down the next season if we had done so. 

We did what we had to do both of those seasons which is that we were never really in a relegation scrap. That's all that mattered. And if you look at our squad both of those seasons, I challenge you to find more than 5 clear EPL quality players. It was a big achievement to stay up those seasons and that's what should be reflected on. 

Sydney, you are obviously one of RH biggest cheerleaders, you will never change your tune and so I accpet that

[Turkish]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

Sydney, you are obviously one of RH biggest cheerleaders, you will never change your tune and so I accpet that

I really liked RH but anyone who thinks we weren’t going downhill under him is mad. It wasn’t just down to him of course, he has a useless chairman in Semmens and the only billionaire in China without any cash running the show, then SR spunking hundred million plus on kids, but he was done here. 

[The Kraken]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I really liked RH but anyone who thinks we weren’t going downhill under him is mad. It wasn’t just down to him of course, he has a useless chairman in Semmens and the only billionaire in China without any cash running the show, then SR spunking hundred million plus on kids, but he was done here. 

Agreed. By the end I got the feeling that his heart just wasn’t in it and he was only hanging on for the payoff. And why would he feel otherwise; as bad as his form had got he was forced over his last summer to employ a coach of the owner’s approval and seemed to be largely bypassed for what he wanted from the transfer window (“I’m totally confident we will get a striker”). Saying all that, he had been on a downward spiral for some time and didn’t look like being able to arrest it with the resources he had. The previous season had seen us finish with 9 defeats from 12 games, when Ralph was sacked we’d lost 8 from 14 and were in the relegation zone with a deeply unhappy squad who looked like they didn’t give a shit. 

What happened next was of course an even worse disaster, but that doesn’t change the notion that Ralph had run his race here.

[Miltonaggro]

1 hour ago, Turkish said:

I really liked RH but anyone who thinks we weren’t going downhill under him is mad. It wasn’t just down to him of course, he has a useless chairman in Semmens and the only billionaire in China without any cash running the show, then SR spunking hundred million plus on kids, but he was done here. 

Agree with this, the bloke looked like a husk at the end of his tenure and I think SR had made their minds up to remove him once they’d got their trotters under the desk. In the close season if they’d have spent money on what was actually needed rather than Ankersen and Shield’s schoolboy Christmas list we may have stayed up 

[Lighthouse]

Sack him and give a young, up and coming manager from the Championship a go. Can't possibly be worse than this clown.

[Greenridge]

He might have lost his mojo and maybe he wasn’t the future, but f me, he’s 10x anyone we’ve had since. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

23 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

Sack him and give a young, up and coming manager from the Championship a go. Can't possibly be worse than this clown.

Hmmm. We've tried championship level. Is there not a facially hairy League One or Two manager, who has failed before, but who has even the most tenuous ties to Man City available?

[Mr Saints]

1 hour ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

Hmmm. We've tried championship level. Is there not a facially hairy League One or Two manager, who has failed before, but who has even the most tenuous ties to Man City available?

Joey Barton.

[SotonianWill]

Has he retired? I know his pay off maybe what’s keeping him out of management but there was still that 2024 (?) retirement talk

[Lord Duckhunter]

On 21/09/2023 at 12:10, OldNick said:

I don't care he cried after beating Liverpool, it was bizarre. Ive seen many Saints managers beat Liverpool and none gone on their knees and sobbed. 

It was pure Noddy, just as bad was the way he sucked up to Klopp & Pep. Like a star struck school boy. Particularly Pep who used to pat us on the head, admiring the 20 min spell we had and then pocketed the 3 points. Our Nods lapped it up. 
 

Id much rather they hated playing us, you didn’t see Wenger or others throwing complaints at Fat Sam’s sides. Or Fergie when we chased them round the Dell 3 seasons running. We were soft as shite under Ralph, still are. 

[Miltonaggro]

On 23/09/2023 at 20:13, Greenridge said:

He might have lost his mojo and maybe he wasn’t the future, but f me, he’s 10x anyone we’ve had since. 

Another way of looking at that is that the three helmets we’ve employed since are 10x worse. That really takes some doing. 

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It was pure Noddy, just as bad was the way he sucked up to Klopp & Pep. Like a star struck school boy. Particularly Pep who used to pat us on the head, admiring the 20 min spell we had and then pocketed the 3 points. Our Nods lapped it up. 
 

Id much rather they hated playing us, you didn’t see Wenger or others throwing complaints at Fat Sam’s sides. Or Fergie when we chased them round the Dell 3 seasons running. We were soft as shite under Ralph, still are. 

And yet he managed to go to the Etihad with a team featuring AA, Moi, Bednarek, McCarthy and Redmond and come away with a point. I’ll worry about our managers reaction to beating Liverpool next time it happens.

[OldNick]

2 hours ago, Lighthouse said:

And yet he managed to go to the Etihad with a team featuring AA, Moi, Bednarek, McCarthy and Redmond and come away with a point. I’ll worry about our managers reaction to beating Liverpool next time it happens.

Perhaps you are underrating those players. I really like Redmond 

[Ted Bates Statue]

11 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

It was pure Noddy, just as bad was the way he sucked up to Klopp & Pep. Like a star struck school boy. Particularly Pep who used to pat us on the head, admiring the 20 min spell we had and then pocketed the 3 points. Our Nods lapped it up. 
 

Id much rather they hated playing us, you didn’t see Wenger or others throwing complaints at Fat Sam’s sides. Or Fergie when we chased them round the Dell 3 seasons running. We were soft as shite under Ralph, still are. 

During the mid-90s, I was put off from supporting Saints for several years after I found a match day programme, and I distinctly remember opening up the first couple of pages, and seeing the manager at the time rather pathetically proclaiming that Fergie had called us one of the best sides to have faced Man Utd that season. I'm almost certain it was Dave Merrington who made that tinpot comment, and of course we had fucking lost. We were shit, and it would have been right in the middle of a string of defeats.

But those were the good times. It's such a great shame that we're never Noddy like that any more.  All we can do is console ourselves by poncing and mincing about on an obscure corner of the internet, bitching about how we used to be soft as shite (but only over a specific era, spanning approximately 4 years) and shoehorning ponies into every post like a broken dalek, but with even less creativity. This season just feels so dull in comparison, as we swat aside the latest set of hapless fodder and having nothing of note to complain about.

PS also, did you know I fucking hate Ralph and everything is his fault because he put a curse on the stadium when it was built???

[Nemi]

On 25/09/2023 at 10:58, Lighthouse said:

And yet he managed to go to the Etihad with a team featuring AA, Moi, Bednarek, McCarthy and Redmond and come away with a point. I’ll worry about our managers reaction to beating Liverpool next time it happens.

It did always seem like we fucked up the easy games under him and then randomly we'd nab a win out of the blue against one of the big 6.

[Saint Garrett]

22 minutes ago, Nemi said:

It did always seem like we fucked up the easy games under him and then randomly we'd nab a win out of the blue against one of the big 6.

His tactics seem to have a big impact against top sides. And possibly we were more focused. It was breaking teams down where we had an issue, apart from when Ings was scoring goals for fun. 

[Sheaf Saint]

8 hours ago, Saint Garrett said:

His tactics seem to have a big impact against top sides. And possibly we were more focused. It was breaking teams down where we had an issue, apart from when Ings was scoring goals for fun. 

And this has been an issue for us realistically ever since Koeman left. It still is now, despite us dropping down a level and playing against much weaker opposition. For years and years now, regardless of who the manager is/was, our players have been stuck in this mindset of stopping, slowing down attacks, and giving the other team the chance to regroup and reset, then passing it aimlessly around in a semicircle until either hitting a long-range shot (usually straight at the keeper or into row Z) or giving it away and then being outnumbered on the break.

[disconnect]

57 minutes ago, Sheaf Saint said:

And this has been an issue for us realistically ever since Koeman left. It still is now, despite us dropping down a level and playing against much weaker opposition. For years and years now, regardless of who the manager is/was, our players have been stuck in this mindset of stopping, slowing down attacks, and giving the other team the chance to regroup and reset, then passing it aimlessly around in a semicircle until either hitting a long-range shot (usually straight at the keeper or into row Z) or giving it away and then being outnumbered on the break.

It is very annoying. How often do the players just run at goal and take a shot? It's almost like their scared to take on the responsibility to score the goal.

I seem to remember this was a common theme when we had the youngsters running around under the Dutch duo - passing it around on the edge of the box, beating a man, passing it 6 yards to someone else, pass again, get tackled, opposition break away and we know the rest...

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Sheaf Saint said:

And this has been an issue for us realistically ever since Koeman left. It still is now, despite us dropping down a level and playing against much weaker opposition. For years and years now, regardless of who the manager is/was, our players have been stuck in this mindset of stopping, slowing down attacks, and giving the other team the chance to regroup and reset, then passing it aimlessly around in a semicircle until either hitting a long-range shot (usually straight at the keeper or into row Z) or giving it away and then being outnumbered on the break.

Trying to solve this problem is exactly why we've moved away from a counter attacking game and to a posession based one under Russell Martin. Playing to hit teams quickly on the break was only working against the top teams that would attack in sufficient numbers to leave gaps behind. Any team that parked the bus would leave us out of ideas. That's also why our home record has been so bad.

The "aimless" passing is designed to wear the opposition down, draw them out of their rigid shape and force a mistake. Obviously it's not working at the moment and Russ may not be the man to deliver but the theory is sound

Edited 27 September, 2023 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Barsiem]

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23837387.hasenhuttl-explains-not-taken-new-management-job/

Hassenhuttl speaks!  Interesting he states about not wanting to take a job until his desire is back, which is what I felt he was lacking for a good year before he left us

[Patches O Houlihan]

On 21/09/2023 at 12:10, OldNick said:

I don't care he cried after beating Liverpool, it was bizarre. Ive seen many Saints managers beat Liverpool and none gone on their knees and sobbed. I nearly sobbed after the 2 9-0's Ill give you that, although really just thought typical life of a Saints fan. You lament RH gone, I lament Puel not being given a fair crack after what he achieved. It was not his team at that stage as he had'nt bought his players in. Yes I know people blamed him for not progressing in Europe but didnt we miss some sitters that would have got us through. Watch the League cup semi final and the final and watch some superb entertaining football, not many managers can say they beat Klopp hoe and away in a 2 leg cup competition. Of course RH was better at post match interviews as he could speak good English, not many on here could do an interview in a second language and be entertaining

On 25/09/2023 at 09:12, Lord Duckhunter said:

It was pure Noddy, just as bad was the way he sucked up to Klopp & Pep. Like a star struck school boy. Particularly Pep who used to pat us on the head, admiring the 20 min spell we had and then pocketed the 3 points. Our Nods lapped it up. 
 

Id much rather they hated playing us, you didn’t see Wenger or others throwing complaints at Fat Sam’s sides. Or Fergie when we chased them round the Dell 3 seasons running. We were soft as shite under Ralph, still are. 

If I remember correctly there was more than just the usual club rollercoaster going on at that moment?

Hadn't his wife been in hospital and nearly died?

And then within a week he'd pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win at Anfield with that team. Also I think Liverpool/Klopp were the only team in the PL he hadn't beaten at that point so it gave him the complete set?

Plus he had done his coaching badges alongside Klopp, and playing the same way, and with a Germanic background, everywhere he went he was called 'Alpine Klopp' which would have pissed anyone off. 

So to have achieved that result, and throw off that emotional baggage, the same week your wife pulls through: I would have welled up, and I challenge any of you critics to imagine being in that situation, and truthfully claim you wouldn't have felt properly emotional.

Week after week we hear the neg heads on hear bleating about how the players don't care, and the manager doesn't care, and the execs/owners don't care. Then when they do show that they care you pull them to pieces...  

 

[Saint_clark]

2 minutes ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

If I remember correctly there was more than just the usual club rollercoaster going on at that moment?

Hadn't his wife been in hospital and nearly died?

And then within a week he'd pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win at Anfield with that team. Also I think Liverpool/Klopp were the only team in the PL he hadn't beaten at that point so it gave him the complete set?

Plus he had done his coaching badges alongside Klopp, and playing the same way, and with a Germanic background, everywhere he went he was called 'Alpine Klopp' which would have pissed anyone off. 

So to have achieved that result, and throw off that emotional baggage, the same week your wife pulls through: I would have welled up, and I challenge any of you critics to imagine being in that situation, and truthfully claim you wouldn't have felt properly emotional.

Week after week we hear the neg heads on hear bleating about how the players don't care, and the manager doesn't care, and the execs/owners don't care. Then when they do show that they care you pull them to pieces...  

 

Yeah both him and his missus had covid and she'd been in hospital with it. 

The win was at home though, wasn't it? 

[Patches O Houlihan]

I just found the link. Yes you're right, it was at St Mary's, and I'd forgotten he'd had Covid too.

Ings's goal was in the 2nd minute. So we'd been defending heroically for 91 minutes, and we know how emotional Ralph tended to be on the touchline even in the best of times.

I'm more than happy to give the man a break. I met him unexpectedly, out of context in a shop while he was manager, seemed like a really good guy.

[Saint Gifford]

I’d have a refreshed Ralph back all day long.
 

Im sure there were a couple of big clubs considering him at one point. Man U, Chelsea, although never a front runner if my memory is correct. 

[Toadhall Saint]

2 hours ago, Barsiem said:

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23837387.hasenhuttl-explains-not-taken-new-management-job/

Hassenhuttl speaks!  Interesting he states about not wanting to take a job until his desire is back, which is what I felt he was lacking for a good year before he left us

Still being paid a prem manager wage by us helps.

[Fabrice Fernandes no.1 fan]

14 hours ago, Saint Gifford said:

I’d have a refreshed Ralph back all day long.
 

Im sure there were a couple of big clubs considering him at one point. Man U, Chelsea, although never a front runner if my memory is correct. 

I don't get why more managers don't work as coaching consultants, and clubs use out of work managers to help them. If I wanted to get a team doing a high press for a season, and we'd started but needed some work I'd be sure to reach out to Ralph, get him to sign an NDA, offer him some cash and see what wisdom he has. 

[OldNick]

20 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

If I remember correctly there was more than just the usual club rollercoaster going on at that moment?

Hadn't his wife been in hospital and nearly died?

And then within a week he'd pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win at Anfield with that team. Also I think Liverpool/Klopp were the only team in the PL he hadn't beaten at that point so it gave him the complete set?

Plus he had done his coaching badges alongside Klopp, and playing the same way, and with a Germanic background, everywhere he went he was called 'Alpine Klopp' which would have pissed anyone off. 

So to have achieved that result, and throw off that emotional baggage, the same week your wife pulls through: I would have welled up, and I challenge any of you critics to imagine being in that situation, and truthfully claim you wouldn't have felt properly emotional.

Week after week we hear the neg heads on hear bleating about how the players don't care, and the manager doesn't care, and the execs/owners don't care. Then when they do show that they care you pull them to pieces...  

 

Well first thing it wasn't at Anfield. I have no knowledge of his wife being unwell, Dave Merrington when he was our manager had a similar situation 

[sydney_saint]

21 hours ago, Patches O Houlihan said:

If I remember correctly there was more than just the usual club rollercoaster going on at that moment?

Hadn't his wife been in hospital and nearly died?

And then within a week he'd pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win at Anfield with that team. Also I think Liverpool/Klopp were the only team in the PL he hadn't beaten at that point so it gave him the complete set?

Plus he had done his coaching badges alongside Klopp, and playing the same way, and with a Germanic background, everywhere he went he was called 'Alpine Klopp' which would have pissed anyone off. 

So to have achieved that result, and throw off that emotional baggage, the same week your wife pulls through: I would have welled up, and I challenge any of you critics to imagine being in that situation, and truthfully claim you wouldn't have felt properly emotional.

Week after week we hear the neg heads on hear bleating about how the players don't care, and the manager doesn't care, and the execs/owners don't care. Then when they do show that they care you pull them to pieces...  

 

Look through the first few pages of the JWP leaving thread to see how we treat people who care. Compare that to the likes of the Lavia thread who didn't bother to turn up for a single minute this season.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, OldNick said:

Well first thing it wasn't at Anfield. I have no knowledge of his wife being unwell, Dave Merrington when he was our manager had a similar situation 

They were also shite for a couple of months that season, so it wasn’t “rabbit out of the hat” stuff his fan club like to claim. They lost home to Burnley, Brighton, Fulham & Everton as well as City & Chelsea in those 2 months. They also lost to Leicester away around that time, and the same season got dicked 7 at Villa. I don’t recall anyone else crying, perhaps they didn’t get covid or know anyone with covid as it only seemed to affect Ralph & his family. 
 

It was Noddy and was downhill after that. He’s now admitted he’s lost his desire, and people still want him back 

Edited 6 October, 2023 by Lord Duckhunter

[AlexLaw76]

I wonder if his desire returns just as his £6m per year contract expires in the summer?

[Lighthouse]

12 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

They were also shite for a couple of months that season, so it wasn’t “rabbit out of the hat” stuff his fan club like to claim

Nope, nobody is claiming that. It was a decent win against one of the leagues top teams, as he also achieved against City, Arsenal, Spurs and Chelsea, nothing more, nothing less. In fact most people don’t talk about that game at all, it’s only those who are obsessed with pointing out how ‘noddy’ it was who keep mentioning it.

[Convict Colony]

Manager beats Liverpool after a tough couple of weeks with COVID, stress etc and shows the emotion that had been building up.

Saintsweb review and criticise this show of human emotion 2yrs later, expecting footballers and manager to be robots.