Ralph Hasenhuttl

[warsash saint]

14 minutes ago, Bob76 said:

Absolutely this, first sign of madness is doing the same thing again and again when it's not working.

We have no right back, I think Valery would have been good as a wing back, so why keep trying to play with one. Newcastle down to nine, keep paying it about in front of them.

Man needs to learn to adapt good plans to our and the games situation.

Is that the same Valery that cannot get in to a Birmingham team?

[captainchris]

12 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

The main difference between Wotte/Port/Pellegrino/Hughes is that we didn't even have good times under those, it was all bad. They'd never shown anything. It was all rubbish. There was no philosophy, nothing.

I think most fans appreciate that Ralph managed to get this squad overachieving for large parts of this season and last season, he's shown he is steadfast on a philosophy which I believe is the right one - might not look like it now, but it's much more suited to this league than Puel's was. That's why I'm not calling for his head, he's shown that he has a plan and with a better array of players that plan would be working much better. There is a fine line between winning and losing. Not bringing in a full back and then losing your first choice full back for two spells is kinda illustrative of that line, but also the clubs incredibly complacent stupidity.

I just hope we can plug those gaps in the squad during the summer.

There are fine lines for sure but Ralph doesn’t seem to make the best decisions when these lines present themselves.

Ralph has shown he can be slow to recognise when a game is changing tactically or the direction of a game changes.

Ralph has failed to arrest the second half collapses which we see week in week out.

Without getting into more specific detail Ralph is not adaptable enough in his strategies and stubborn in his philosophies and also at times with his favourites in the team.

Ralph has issues which often hold us back. We are predictable now and teams just ‘play’ us.
 

Blind loyalty is one thing but a failure to admit Ralph is not the God that some seem to worship come what may is not going to cut it for too much longer.

Yes he is a ‘nice man’ and we have played some ‘nice’ football at times however there are some serious flaws going on here. 

 

 

 

[S-Clarke]

3 minutes ago, captainchris said:

There are fine lines for sure but Ralph doesn’t seem to make the best decisions when these lines present themselves.

Ralph has shown he can be slow to recognise when a game is changing tactically or the direction of a game changes.

Ralph has failed to arrest the second half collapses which we see week in week out.

Without getting into more specific detail Ralph is not adaptable enough in his strategies and stubborn in his philosophies and also at times with his favourites in the team.

Ralph has issues which often hold us back. We are predictable now and teams just ‘play’ us.
 

Blind loyalty is one thing but a failure to admit Ralph is not the God that some seem to worship come what may is not going to cut it for too much longer.

Yes he is a ‘nice man’ and we have played some ‘nice’ football at times however there are some serious flaws going on here. 

 

 

 

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

[wild-saint]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

I agree with this entirely. jeez, imagine if we sacked him now who we would end up with.

[Teddeer]

1 minute ago, S-Clarke said:

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

Nothing wrong with a bit of get it long football to mix things up a bit and make your opponents think. Leeds caused most problems for us when they went longer and bypassed the midfield. The idea is to create chances and get up and around the oppo penalty box - doesn't matter how you do it. We are too fixated with playing one style so the teams we play know exactly what is coming.

[MAY-Z]

7 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

You are 100% convinced Ralph is faultless, that’s fine that’s your opinion, but your comments about the bench are just wrong

 

for instance in the away game to wolves you could see the game turning and Ralph did nothing despite Diallo being a perfect break up option, then when wolves did score he brought long on for Djenepo.

 

a week later against Man U, again winning, the game changes and again he brings long on for djenepo

 

the Newcastle game. Against 9 he keeps his defensive players on way too long has Djenepo and tella on the bench but brings neither of them on despite them being far more suited to how the game is actually being played at the time 

 

so even when there are obvious options to take in game he doesn’t take them 

[S-Clarke]

6 minutes ago, MAY-Z said:

You are 100% convinced Ralph is faultless, that’s fine that’s your opinion, but your comments about the bench are just wrong

 

for instance in the away game to wolves you could see the game turning and Ralph did nothing despite Diallo being a perfect break up option, then when wolves did score he brought long on for Djenepo.

 

a week later against Man U, again winning, the game changes and again he brings long on for djenepo

 

the Newcastle game. Against 9 he keeps his defensive players on way too long has Djenepo and tella on the bench but brings neither of them on despite them being far more suited to how the game is actually being played at the time 

 

so even when there are obvious options to take in game he doesn’t take them 

No, not at all, he's not 100% faultless. Not saying he is! No one is, everyone needs to take some of the blame for this absolute abomination of a season.

He has made weird choices sometimes without question. But a lot of the time his hands have been tied.

[MAY-Z]

2 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

No, not at all, he's not 100% faultless. Not saying he is! No one is, everyone needs to take some of the blame for this absolute abomination of a season.

He has made weird choices sometimes without question. But a lot of the time his hands have been tied.

I don’t think his hands have been as tied as he makes out

 

Cleary the backup right back / left back thing is a complete and utter balls up (would love to 100% truthfully know what went on there) but a lot of the time there are other options that might work but we never know as he rarely makes a change, and the biggest thing then is our opponents also know this, they know we never play the long ball, or send one over the top to chase etc so they can set up exactly as they want as they know what is coming

[beatlesaint]

Things you can’t blame Ralph for - 

the injury situation, players poor choices during games, players unable to hit a barn door when shooting, VAR and dodgy ref decisions, no backing from the owner re bringing in players.

Things you can lay at Ralph’s door - 

wanting a small squad, consistently poor substitute choices, inability to change the game for the better when things start to go wrong, being out thought by managers like Steve fkin Bruce, stubbornness regarding selection of some players.

 

[Bob76]

54 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

Is that the same Valery that cannot get in to a Birmingham team?

I am saying that he would be better as a wingback than a center half played as a fullback.

If you think that Ralph being wedded to his 4:2:2:2 which relies on mobile forward thinking fullbacks and using immobile center halves at right back is the way to go then we just have to disagree.

I think he needs to look at formations that suit the available players. 

 

[captainchris]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

I’m afraid there is little evidence to suggest that Ralph is Champions League standard.

I don’t want to get into too much detail  but Ralph is not performing well.

His style certainly comes across as very autocratic which is just about ok in the good times but a disaster when things are going badly. 
 

 

 

[nta786]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Feel like I'm repeating myself, but how can he change things? He as a very small opportunity to react or alter games as the squad isn't there, add injuries to it and it's even worse. Some games he doesn't even bother making subs, because what's the point?

You'd argue that he needs to bin his entire approach and just go back to basics for the rest of this season, then use the summer to build a squad sustainable for this style of football, but I don't think he'd do that (nor do I think it's the right thing to do).

My hunch is that he'll walk in the summer and he'll be managing in the Champions League in a couple of years whilst we're languishing with Paul Cook at the bottom half of the Champ playing 'get it long' 'get it in the box' style football. I don't think we realise what a good manager he is. He had this rabble finishing 3rd in the league over a year-based-season FFS. That's genius.

Yep exactly the way I see it.

I am also inclined to give Ralph some benefit of the doubt- this is an odd season with short turnaround times between games which makes the way we want to play and the distances we want to cover each game even more unsustainable.

Of course, he isn't faultless- there does seem to be a stubbornness to the way he wants us to play which isn't working in his favour. However, I don't see any alternative options over Ralph at the moment in the market and nor do I trust the board to even find a suitable replacement. 

Ralph needs to go back to the drawing board for sure, but this run isn't entirely down to him- there are numerous factors.

[Toussaint]

48 minutes ago, beatlesaint said:

Things you can’t blame Ralph for - 

the injury situation, players poor choices during games, players unable to hit a barn door when shooting, VAR and dodgy ref decisions, no backing from the owner re bringing in players.

Things you can lay at Ralph’s door - 

wanting a small squad, consistently poor substitute choices, inability to change the game for the better when things start to go wrong, being out thought by managers like Steve fkin Bruce, stubbornness regarding selection of some players.

 

I see it exactly as you do, I'm Just not convinced with the idea he should be replaced at this stage. All the valid points you make in the first paragraph will exist for his replacement. It could get worse. I don't think we will go down, if I did I would say get him out now as we would have to do something, anything to stay in the prem. Saints need a reset,we are paying the price now for the moneyball strategy which started under the extremely arrogant  Les Reeds tenure. 

I know he wanted a small squad, but that was his naivety in coming to the premier league. With or shoestring budget, good know what sort of calibre of players we could add to the squad anyway?  We had that under the last few managers, a bloated squad full of mediocrity. 

 

[Greenridge]

1 hour ago, beatlesaint said:

Things you can’t blame Ralph for - 

the injury situation, players poor choices during games, players unable to hit a barn door when shooting, VAR and dodgy ref decisions, no backing from the owner re bringing in players.

Things you can lay at Ralph’s door - 

wanting a small squad, consistently poor substitute choices, inability to change the game for the better when things start to go wrong, being out thought by managers like Steve fkin Bruce, stubbornness regarding selection of some players.

 

I would say there are definitely questions regarding injuries. Are our weekly sessions and preparation 'correct'? Are our Sports Science staff up to the job?

Appreciate the season is compressed this year and several clubs are having challenges with injuries but there are plenty who aren't. Some will be masked by greater squad depth I take that but I do question whether 'we' are somewhat to blame for our inability to get 11 decent players on the pitch each week. 

[Teddeer]

2 hours ago, Greenridge said:

I would say there are definitely questions regarding injuries. Are our weekly sessions and preparation 'correct'? Are our Sports Science staff up to the job?

Appreciate the season is compressed this year and several clubs are having challenges with injuries but there are plenty who aren't. Some will be masked by greater squad depth I take that but I do question whether 'we' are somewhat to blame for our inability to get 11 decent players on the pitch each week. 

I think part of the reason for these injuries is that we are in a spell when our passing is sloppy and nowhere as accurate as it needs to be. As a result players are having to lunge and stretch to try to retain possession (leading to the risk of injuries) when a little more care with the pass in the first place means that doesn't have to happen.

[SaveloyMush]

Note that Liverpool under Klopp, who shares the same philosophy as Hasenhuttl, are having a season at least as disastrous (by their standards) as Southampton.

This suggests that the rigid, Teutonic, approach to management doesn't work when opposing teams have worked out how to counter that philosophy.

Contrast with Guardiola, who mixes up his tactics constantly and is now running away with the Premier League again, despite suffering with injuries to key players too.

[OldNick]

13 minutes ago, SaveloyMush said:

Note that Liverpool under Klopp, who shares the same philosophy as Hasenhuttl, are having a season at least as disastrous (by their standards) as Southampton.

This suggests that the rigid, Teutonic, approach to management doesn't work when opposing teams have worked out how to counter that philosophy.

Contrast with Guardiola, who mixes up his tactics constantly and is now running away with the Premier League again, despite suffering with injuries to key players too.

I suggest comparing Pep's squad to our situation is a tad far fetched as his resources are better than anyone elses. I agree that we have been found out, but that was the case under Poch. Halfway through the season players are shattered and need a rest. 

Diagonal cross field balls completely take us out of the game, but again this was pointed out under Poch.

Personally I think Wolves play it the right way, conserve your energy in the first half and then use it in the 2nd, hence their amazing run of results due to 2nd half performances.  

We also need the players to be coached how to play simple balls, the amount of times we look tidy and then just give a easy pass straight to the opposition.

Armstrong beats 2 or 3 players gets to where it really counts and then passes straight to a defender, it really does annoy

[Lord Duckhunter]

7 hours ago, Block 5 said:

Just imagine if Puel or Hughes or Pellegrino or Wotte/Poortvliet had presided over our current run... 

 

Mole Country Stores would be all out of pitch forks. 

 

#justsaying 

Exactly. 
 

Puel took loads of clog, yet he managed to get a back 4 that contained Yoshida and Stephen’s behind a midfield of OR & JWP to defend properly and with a structure.
 

He went to Liverpool in a semi final with those 2 at centre half, OR, JWP, & Steve Davis in midfield, with Redmond, Tadic and JRod up top. Only Tadic is a miss and he couldn’t defend for toffee. 
 

From Jan till the end of season Claude took clog, yet he won 6 games in the second half of the season. We need to win another 6 from 13 to match that, and need 16 points to match the pitiful (in most supporters eyes)total of 46. All this without VvD, a centre half pairing nobody would pick now, and whilst taking us to a cup final. Let’s see how Ralph does, but he’ll be going some to match that. The cry was that a lack of entertainment and goals were killing the club, well we’re certainly seeing a lot of goals lately. Unfortunately, they’re in the wrong fucking end. 

[Turkish]

5 minutes ago, OldNick said:

I suggest comparing Pep's squad to our situation is a tad far fetched as his resources are better than anyone elses. I agree that we have been found out, but that was the case under Poch. Halfway through the season players are shattered and need a rest. 

Diagonal cross field balls completely take us out of the game, but again this was pointed out under Poch.

Personally I think Wolves play it the right way, conserve your energy in the first half and then use it in the 2nd, hence their amazing run of results due to 2nd half performances.  

We also need the players to be coached how to play simple balls, the amount of times we look tidy and then just give a easy pass straight to the opposition.

Armstrong beats 2 or 3 players gets to where it really counts and then passes straight to a defender, it really does annoy

What amazing run of results? THey've only won 4 of their last 15 league games. Up until they beat us there wasn't much between us in terms of sh1te form

[SaveloyMush]

9 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Exactly. 
 

Puel took loads of clog, yet he managed to get a back 4 that contained Yoshida and Stephen’s behind a midfield of OR & JWP to defend properly and with a structure.
 

He went to Liverpool in a semi final with those 2 at centre half, OR, JWP, & Steve Davis in midfield, with Redmond, Tadic and JRod up top. Only Tadic is a miss and he couldn’t defend for toffee. 
 

From Jan till the end of season Claude took clog, yet he won 6 games in the second half of the season. We need to win another 6 from 13 to match that, and need 16 points to match the pitiful (in most supporters eyes)total of 46. All this without VvD, a centre half pairing nobody would pick now, and whilst taking us to a cup final. Let’s see how Ralph does, but he’ll be going some to match that. The cry was that a lack of entertainment and goals were killing the club, well we’re certainly seeing a lot of goals lately. Unfortunately, they’re in the wrong fucking end. 

Exactly indeed.

Puel was (and is) a pragmatist; as such he got a tune out of a mediocre squad of players at Southampton. Moving to Leicester was a mistake for him, as they had a squad capable of a more swashbuckling football and their fans and board (rightly) expected to see a style of play more befitting the qualities of that squad.

Bielsa is perhaps the ultimate proponent of swashbuckling-and-to-hell-with-the-consequences football. It looks like he has got away with it, at least for this season (and let's not dwell on last night's game...).

Is Ralph's style of football entertaining? When everyone is firing on all cylinders, certainly, although the opposition has largely worked out how to nullify his tactics. Otherwise, I would contend not.

What is more important - entertainment or results? For the ever-fickle football fan, that is the unanswerable question.

[Toadhall Saint]

18 hours ago, qwertyell said:

Highest paid manager in our history.

Heaviest home defeat ever. Heaviest away defeat ever. Longest sequence of defeats ever. One dimensional robotic football-on-rails that falls to pieces catastrophically at the first sign of adversity - while the manager does nothing on the sidelines to adapt to any and all unexpected developments other than look vaguely constipated. 

The players have been out on their feet since December. And yet the manager won't or can't change his inflexible approach to reflect that. We're still trying to press like madmen. We're still obsessed only with working against the ball. But the players just can't cope with the physical demands anymore. It's sad to see us run out of steam earlier and earlier in games. Imagine the hidings we're going to get when we can't even rouse ourselves for at least the first 45 minutes. It's heading that way.

One win in thirteen games, and only seven goals scored - the manager's one, solitary idea is a busted flush and he looks almost as clueless as Pellegrino. Or Pellegrini. Whichever one it was.

And the club have given him free rein to implement his shallow, unsustainable "philosophy" across all the age groups. So that's something to look forward to for future generations of League One subs...

The most overrated manager we've ever had. 

 

 

Funny how not that long ago people were saying we were playing some of the best football in years.

[hackedoff]

10 hours ago, beatlesaint said:

Things you can’t blame Ralph for - 

the injury situation, players poor choices during games, players unable to hit a barn door when shooting, VAR and dodgy ref decisions, no backing from the owner re bringing in players.

Things you can lay at Ralph’s door - 

wanting a small squad, consistently poor substitute choices, inability to change the game for the better when things start to go wrong, being out thought by managers like Steve fkin Bruce, stubbornness regarding selection of some players.

 

Pretty much sums it up.

[Lord Duckhunter]

10 minutes ago, hackedoff said:

Pretty much sums it up.

If the injuries are a result of overplaying them , bringing players back too quickly from previous injuries,  or not training them properly, whose fault is that? 

Edited 24 February, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, nta786 said:

Yep exactly the way I see it.

I am also inclined to give Ralph some benefit of the doubt- this is an odd season with short turnaround times between games which makes the way we want to play and the distances we want to cover each game even more unsustainable.

Of course, he isn't faultless- there does seem to be a stubbornness to the way he wants us to play which isn't working in his favour. However, I don't see any alternative options over Ralph at the moment in the market and nor do I trust the board to even find a suitable replacement. 

Ralph needs to go back to the drawing board for sure, but this run isn't entirely down to him- there are numerous factors.

He wasn’t out thought by Steve Bruce. Their 3 goals came from 3 cock ups, with 10 and then 9 men they simply stuck everyone behind the ball and defended well and we weren’t good enough to break it down, it was hardly a work of tactical genius. 

[egg]

19 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

If the injuries are a result of overplaying them , bringing players back too quickly from previous injuries,  or not training them properly, whose fault is that? 

Yep. Add to that continuing to play a high energy game with players who are struggling to cope with the demands of it. 

[AlexLaw76]

The elephant in the room is Ralphs failure to get a tune out of Adams.  He looks like scoring as much as Long did.

[egg]

8 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

The elephant in the room is Ralphs failure to get a tune out of Adams.  He looks like scoring as much as Long did.

Hardly the elephant in the room for me. Adams is not great truth be told. It's Ings who is out of tune. 

[AlexLaw76]

21 minutes ago, egg said:

Hardly the elephant in the room for me. Adams is not great truth be told. It's Ings who is out of tune. 

Either way, Ralph seems totally incapable of stopping the rot.  Usually, that means the manager is spent/done/finished.

[Whitey Grandad]

35 minutes ago, egg said:

Hardly the elephant in the room for me. Adams is not great truth be told. It's Ings who is out of tune. 

I find it disappointing that Adams can’t kick with his left foot. That’s not good enough for a Premier League player.

[egg]

2 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I find it disappointing that Adams can’t kick with his left foot. That’s not good enough for a Premier League player.

I agree. He is very limited. Has a lot of heart and energy, but so did Long. Judging Ralph on his inability to get Adams firing is a bit daft. 

[Archers Road Stand]

It's quite alarming that Ralph said the players gave up last night, that is a sign of a manager who has lost or is losing the dressing room imo. Shows a lack of respect. 

[Ex Lion Tamer]

Assuming we can do enough to stay up this season, I'd still like to see Ralph have a go at next season with proper fullback cover and a less hectic fixture schedule. The good times have been good enough that we should show faith in him now. We're not close enough to the relegation zone that we need to pull the trigger yet.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

7 hours ago, SaveloyMush said:

Note that Liverpool under Klopp, who shares the same philosophy as Hasenhuttl, are having a season at least as disastrous (by their standards) as Southampton.

This suggests that the rigid, Teutonic, approach to management doesn't work when opposing teams have worked out how to counter that philosophy.

Or that their philosophy takes too much out of the players in a hectic fixture schedule. The similarities are striking, and I'd back both to bounce back next season

[qwertyell]

23 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I find it disappointing that Adams can’t kick with his left foot. That’s not good enough for a Premier League player.

He can't head either. Can't fault his efforts, but Championship is his level at best.

[Streaky]

7 minutes ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

Assuming we can do enough to stay up this season, I'd still like to see Ralph have a go at next season with proper fullback cover and a less hectic fixture schedule. The good times have been good enough that we should show faith in him now. We're not close enough to the relegation zone that we need to pull the trigger yet.

We can't afford to sack ralph even if the club wanted too. Should have enough to stay up this season but Ralph needs to do better next season thats for sure.

[Sideways Jim]

I wonder if the club is looking at Lucien Favre as a potential replacement, available at the minute but i wonder how long for 

[Turkish]

20 minutes ago, Sideways Jim said:

I wonder if the club is looking at Lucien Favre as a potential replacement, available at the minute but i wonder how long for 

Great manager, great style of play but think bigger clubs than us will want

[danjosaint]

9 hours ago, SaveloyMush said:

Note that Liverpool under Klopp, who shares the same philosophy as Hasenhuttl, are having a season at least as disastrous (by their standards) as Southampton.

This suggests that the rigid, Teutonic, approach to management doesn't work when opposing teams have worked out how to counter 

Klopp had exactly the same at Dortmund as well , they went from top of league for 2yrs  to at one stage near relegation and finishing 7th

[Chris cooper]

58 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Great manager, great style of play but think bigger clubs than us will want

Rate this guy ..unfortunately nothing in the pot to offer him to work with and bigger clubs will swoop for him anyway .

[Jeremy]

4 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

I find it disappointing that Adams can’t kick with his left foot. That’s not good enough for a Premier League player.

Surely a decent scout or manager would know that before signing-up the player? Also, isn't that a bit worse for a striker needing a quick reaction if a half-chance to score happens? Needing to move the ball to the favoured right foot must be a big disadvantage. I've seen Messi score some crackers with his right boot on YT.

[SKD]

5 hours ago, Jeremy said:

Surely a decent scout or manager would know that before signing-up the player? Also, isn't that a bit worse for a striker needing a quick reaction if a half-chance to score happens? Needing to move the ball to the favoured right foot must be a big disadvantage. I've seen Messi score some crackers with his right boot on YT.

Adams isn’t messi though. In fact, I’m not convinced he’s any better than Shane long in front of goal. 
 

He’s shite, need to get rid whilst he has at least some resell value. 

 

[SuperSAINT]

 

[Master Bates]

Has there been a falling out between him & Ings?

[S-Clarke]

47 minutes ago, Master Bates said:

Has there been a falling out between him & Ings?

Don't think so, it's easy to micro-analyse all these things during a slump like this.

In simplistic terms I think Ings has had a very stop/start season, he's obviously been a tiny bit unsettled by talk of his future and that combined with the injury he had has meant he's not got into any sort of rhythm this year.

He's also got the added problem of the players around him being out of form - such as his strike partner, who was key in creating the space and openings for him last year.

All sorts at play, but I'd say he still has the full backing of the coaches, players and hopefully the fans. He's a professional and will just want to score goals, I have no doubt about that.

[hackedoff]

20 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

If the injuries are a result of overplaying them , bringing players back too quickly from previous injuries,  or not training them properly, whose fault is that? 

Not VAR or the referees

[Red]

Quotes from Ralph - "If you had given me one that was possible to sign and that we were able to get then we would have done it. You can be sure of that," he said.

 

"You can be sure that we tried everything to get players in, within our limits that we have," he continued.

"It was not possible to find an alternative. We were chasing players until the last minute but they decided not to let them go - so we took Takumi Minamino instead."

Interesting - seems he is not in the total control of all things that some on here seems to think. Also, why leave it to the last minute to "chase players" and take Mino just because we couldn't get any defenders?? Last pick in the school kick about? Yet at the same time we decided to let Val go on loan for a pittance - he is better than the options we have currently. Are we that much of an amateurish outfit these days?

Something clearly not right at the club at present

[Fan The Flames]

5 hours ago, Red said:

Quotes from Ralph - "If you had given me one that was possible to sign and that we were able to get then we would have done it. You can be sure of that," he said.

 

"You can be sure that we tried everything to get players in, within our limits that we have," he continued.

"It was not possible to find an alternative. We were chasing players until the last minute but they decided not to let them go - so we took Takumi Minamino instead."

Interesting - seems he is not in the total control of all things that some on here seems to think. Also, why leave it to the last minute to "chase players" and take Mino just because we couldn't get any defenders?? Last pick in the school kick about? Yet at the same time we decided to let Val go on loan for a pittance - he is better than the options we have currently. Are we that much of an amateurish outfit these days?

Something clearly not right at the club at present

He's under the same constraints as any manager, he hasn't the ability to go above a certain wage or transfer limit, he's not in control of what players other clubs will release and he can't do anything about players who don't want to come here. 

We don't leave it until the last minute to chase players, the players we can get will leave it until the last minute to see what options come in. And if a player, like Minamino, that you hadn't considered before get's offered to you it's worth taking a look.

This is standard stuff and doesn't point towards there being something wrong at the club.

[Turkish]

6 hours ago, Red said:

Quotes from Ralph - "If you had given me one that was possible to sign and that we were able to get then we would have done it. You can be sure of that," he said.

 

"You can be sure that we tried everything to get players in, within our limits that we have," he continued.

"It was not possible to find an alternative. We were chasing players until the last minute but they decided not to let them go - so we took Takumi Minamino instead."

Interesting - seems he is not in the total control of all things that some on here seems to think. Also, why leave it to the last minute to "chase players" and take Mino just because we couldn't get any defenders?? Last pick in the school kick about? Yet at the same time we decided to let Val go on loan for a pittance - he is better than the options we have currently. Are we that much of an amateurish outfit these days?

Something clearly not right at the club at present

Obviously he’s not the one contacting the clubs and negotiating the finances so not really sure what you mean by not being in control of everything, he doesn’t clean the bogs either.

[Toadhall Saint]

8 hours ago, Fan The Flames said:

He's under the same constraints as any manager, he hasn't the ability to go above a certain wage or transfer limit, he's not in control of what players other clubs will release and he can't do anything about players who don't want to come here. 

We don't leave it until the last minute to chase players, the players we can get will leave it until the last minute to see what options come in. And if a player, like Minamino, that you hadn't considered before get's offered to you it's worth taking a look.

This is standard stuff and doesn't point towards there being something wrong at the club.

Absolutely 

[saint1977]

15 hours ago, Red said:

Quotes from Ralph - "If you had given me one that was possible to sign and that we were able to get then we would have done it. You can be sure of that," he said.

 

"You can be sure that we tried everything to get players in, within our limits that we have," he continued.

"It was not possible to find an alternative. We were chasing players until the last minute but they decided not to let them go - so we took Takumi Minamino instead."

Interesting - seems he is not in the total control of all things that some on here seems to think. Also, why leave it to the last minute to "chase players" and take Mino just because we couldn't get any defenders?? Last pick in the school kick about? Yet at the same time we decided to let Val go on loan for a pittance - he is better than the options we have currently. Are we that much of an amateurish outfit these days?

Something clearly not right at the club at present

For context, Valery was a 90th sub for relegation-threatened Birmingham in the division below (good win v QPR for them, selecting a RB who can be bothered to defend helps) and Vokins didn’t get on at all for League 1 Sunderland who drew at Crewe, having had a nightmare first couple of appearances.

It might help the first team manager if planks at the club stopped giving out 4 year contracts like confetti as soon as an academy product makes a couple of first team appearances. Make them earn it like Shearer, MLT, Maddison and Franny had to.