Ralph Hasenhuttl

[Matthew Le God]

Some say Ralph Hasenhüttl looks like the Governor from The Walking Dead.

 

St Mary's technical area on Friday...

 

 

 

Shame the torrential rain didn't put out the fire!

[DT]

It's the players, not the manager. We've signed **** players, who don't follow Ralph's instructions, because they're stupid and not good enough. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for Ralph? No. We need better quality players but we are skint. So basically all Ralph is doing is trying to hammer the same info into the players during training... For it to fall of deaf ears. The same **** players then begin to poison the dressing room. Sacking Ralph isn't the answer. It's banning the ring leaders from the dressing room.

 

My guess: Cedric, Long, Stephens, maybe even Redmond and Bertrand. Ralph also seemed amazingly reluctant to use Yoshida when he should have played. He’s not helped things by weird choices and formations. We need heart and togetherness or we’re already done

 

 

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[Noodles34]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2019/10/26/ralph-hasenhuttl-given-southampton-backing-board-decide-players/

 

Correct decision I think.

 

high press game ???

 

would love to see that

[Maggie May]

While you're taking the mick and while I'm not RH's biggest fan, I could actually see this happening and would thus keep him. He is a bit one-dimensional; I've said it before when I compared him to BFS, but he will work hard, adapt as best as he can and get things going in the right way again. Nice to hear the club want to keep him. And it's good he has pride in his work and himself; that's why we should keep him: he'll want to get it right.

 

I'm not taking the mick. I think it will happen.

[OldNick]

I read on here earlier that the players should be coached to be better, you cannot coach pace, heart and will to win or not be humiliated. The buying of this squad has been appalling and I cant see how we could improve this bunch.

[DT]

high press game [emoji23][emoji23][emoji23]

 

would love to see that

 

We play the “highly depressing” game instead

 

 

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[pimpin4rizeal]

It's the players, not the manager. We've signed **** players, who don't follow Ralph's instructions, because they're stupid and not good enough. Is there any light at the end of the tunnel for Ralph? No. We need better quality players but we are skint. So basically all Ralph is doing is trying to hammer the same info into the players during training... For it to fall of deaf ears. The same **** players then begin to poison the dressing room. Sacking Ralph isn't the answer. It's banning the ring leaders from the dressing room.

 

If this is true though.. how come they haven’t received the Lemina treatment and been frozen out?

My biggest gripe with Ralph at the moment is he seems to have really poor judgement in player selections, majority of the forum was in agreement boufal had been good and looked creative what’s the reward for that gets dropped, jwp slow doesn’t really offer anything from attacking standpoint defensive standpoint or physical standpoint but gets thrown in cm, attacking wide position, left back, defensive midfielder it seems to Ralph it doesn’t matter as long as he’s on the pitch.. then you have Gunn and vestergaard playing crap but he keeps using them.. Danso signed with Ralph’s final say but yet doesn’t try him..

 

It just doesn’t feel like Ralph is seeing the obvious things everyone else can and he seems stubborn in continuing to pick his favourites and yielding the same poor results

[sadoldgit]

If this is true though.. how come they haven’t received the Lemina treatment and been frozen out?

My biggest gripe with Ralph at the moment is he seems to have really poor judgement in player selections, majority of the forum was in agreement boufal had been good and looked creative what’s the reward for that gets dropped, jwp slow doesn’t really offer anything from attacking standpoint defensive standpoint or physical standpoint but gets thrown in cm, attacking wide position, left back, defensive midfielder it seems to Ralph it doesn’t matter as long as he’s on the pitch.. then you have Gunn and vestergaard playing crap but he keeps using them.. Danso signed with Ralph’s final say but yet doesn’t try him..

 

It just doesn’t feel like Ralph is seeing the obvious things everyone else can and he seems stubborn in continuing to pick his favourites and yielding the same poor results

 

What he sees that we don’t see is the players training all week. I am not saying you are wrong, but he is a very experience manager and must have reasons for making his team selections.

[stevy777_x]

I see Spurs fans are calling for Poch to be sacked. So so fickle as usual and ungrateful at what he did last season.

Yes they haven t made the best of starts but that doesn’t warrant these calls to be sacked.

 

Which mirrors fans here who are ungrateful of the work Ralph did last season to avoid relegation.

[Turkish]

I see Spurs fans are calling for Poch to be sacked. So so fickle as usual and ungrateful at what he did last season.

Yes they haven t made the best of starts but that doesn’t warrant these calls to be sacked.

 

Which mirrors fans here who are ungrateful of the work Ralph did last season to avoid relegation.

 

Not seen too many fans want Ralph sacked, do not sure what point you’re trying to make. Most realise our problems run a lot deeper than the manager.

[The Odd Guy]

Make no mistake what ever crap bargain buys we have bought, no matter how bad the defence is, no matter how bad or potless the majority owner is,

no matter what excuses are put forward...no professional football team should get beat 0-9 at home in any top flight league match EVER.

[Dark Munster]

It's the players and the crap going on behind the scenes, completely rudderless in the board room and player scouting department. None of which is Ralf's fault and you can clearly see that he is frustrated with the players not doing their jobs.

 

He took responsibility for Friday, but the manager can only do so much and it was a completely gutless performance from professional players who just capitulated.

 

He's a good manager, he has a proven record of making clubs over perform but those clubs bought into his philosophies, clearly we haven't, he needs help, he needs time to get the players he wants in and who work hard, but 3 years of inept signings has hamstrung that side of it and we have an owner who doesn't want to invest to help sort it out.

 

We need like 3-4 transfer windows to sort this mess out, we need some more leadership at the football level behind the scenes, we need a complete overhaul of the backroom staff who have pretty much consistently failed for the last 2-3 years.

 

Honestly I think Ralph is probably our best asset right now, changing the manager has done nothing, we need to build around him and overhaul the players/support staff IMO.

What's Nigel Pearson up to nowadays?

[GarrettIvo]

I thought when we sacked Puel the only way was up to trophies and glory.

Oh to relive those glory days of defensive stability and comfort.

[Mr X]

Like others have said you have to ask the question, if Ralph clearly knows we haven't got the players to play the style he wants then why is he not capable of adapting? Why would you stick with the same tactics/style when you know you can't implement it with the players available?

 

I initially said get rid but after reflection I am prepared to wait till Xmas & see if we are still in the relegation zone, I do agree he has been dealt a bad hand at saints but he really hasn't made the best of it.

 

The thing thats worrying is he hasn't been enthusiastic about things for months, & after a 9-0 whipping and likely another whipping from Man city how are things going to change?

 

Where will he suddenly get enthusiasm & motivation from?????

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[doddisalegend]

I thought when we sacked Puel the only way was up to trophies and glory.

Oh to relive those glory days of defensive stability and comfort.

Ah Claude the worst manager saints ever had...

 

I miss those days when this place was awash with posters being unimpressed with an 8th place finish and a cup final. The Hylacon days when not going further in Europe was embarrassing....

 

 

 

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[doddisalegend]

Like others have said you have to ask the question, if Ralph clearly knows we haven't got the players to play the style he wants then why is he not capable of adapting? Why would you stick with the same tactics/style when you know you can't implement it with the players available?

 

I initially said get rid but after reflection I am prepared to wait till Xmas & see if we are still in the relegation zone, I do agree he has been dealt a bad hand at saints but he really hasn't made the best of it.

 

The thing thats worrying is he hasn't been enthusiastic about things for months, & after a 9-0 whipping and likely another whipping from Man city how are things going to change?

 

Where will he suddenly get enthusiasm & motivation from?????

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Adapt to what style though? There are a core of players in this squad that couldn't adapt to Puel ball, or MoPe ball or Hughes ball and now they can't adapt to Ralph's game either.

 

Four different manager four different ..err...styles and yet the players still can't find a style they can play successfully.

 

They can't keep possession, they can't pass very well, pass and move is a mystery to them, pressing is beyond them, they can't shoot very well, most them can't tackle, they can't win a header and on top of all that hard work and professional pride don't even seem to be in their make up.

 

I'm at loss as to what style and tactics would actually suit these players that have so few decent attributes.

 

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[captainchris]

What he sees that we don’t see is the players training all week. I am not saying you are wrong, but he is a very experience manager and must have reasons for making his team selections.

 

Training doesn’t matter... If you are crap in a game time after time then you should not be in the team - simple as that. What this says is that Ralph has favourites and this seems to cloud his judgement to the detriment of the team which in turn messes with team morale which has looked low for a while now. Of course there are other factors too...

[Mr X]

Adapt to what style though? There are a core of players in this squad that couldn't adapt to Puel ball, or MoPe ball or Hughes ball and now they can't adapt to Ralph's game either.

 

Four different manager four different ..err...styles and yet the players still can't find a style they can play successfully.

 

They can't keep possession, they can't pass very well, pass and move is a mystery to them, pressing is beyond them, they can't shoot very well, most them can't tackle, they can't win a header and on top of all that hard work and professional pride don't even seem to be in their make up.

 

I'm at loss as to what style and tactics would actually suit these players that have so few decent attributes.

 

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I do agree with you there that we are limited in what we can do but even a basic manager knows that if you are struggling you start with making the team hard to beat & grind down & then you go from there, RH doesn't even seen to be interested in making the defence at least know what they are doing ie all in the right positions with a clear plan

 

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[doddisalegend]

I do agree with you there that we are limited in what we can do but even a basic manager knows that if you are struggling you start with making the team hard to beat & grind down & then you go from there, RH doesn't even seen to be interested in making the defence at least know what they are doing ie all in the right positions with a clear plan

 

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That's point though these players don't seem to actually take any coaching on board. Whether they are just thick, or so up their own arses, they don't think they need to pay attention because they already know it all, is hard to say.

 

Either way week after week we are undone by the players limitations in even the basics of football constant mistakes, brain farts and lack of focus see the players shoot themselves in the foot every game.

 

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[sadoldgit]

Training doesn’t matter... If you are crap in a game time after time then you should not be in the team - simple as that. What this says is that Ralph has favourites and this seems to cloud his judgement to the detriment of the team which in turn messes with team morale which has looked low for a while now. Of course there are other factors too...

 

If training doesn’t matter why bother with it? Of course it matters. If he has “favourites” I assume it is because those players put the effort into training and take on board his instructions. Do you really think that any manager would constantly pick players who put in no effort during the week? Sadly we seem to have a bunch of players who crumble at the slightest set back and don’t have the will to fight, especially at home. If players are not performing weekly it makes you wonder what the others are like if they don’t get selected.

[DT]

As soon as you lose the dressing room, the manager is nearly always the casualty. Saints saying he won't be smacks of not having enough cash to pay him off. Won't end well.

[kermitsaint]

What he sees that we don’t see is the players training all week. I am not saying you are wrong, but he is a very experience manager and must have reasons for making his team selections.

Puel, Pellegrino and Hughes were experienced too. Experience means little.

 

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[captainchris]

If training doesn’t matter why bother with it? Of course it matters. If he has “favourites” I assume it is because those players put the effort into training and take on board his instructions. Do you really think that any manager would constantly pick players who put in no effort during the week? Sadly we seem to have a bunch of players who crumble at the slightest set back and don’t have the will to fight, especially at home. If players are not performing weekly it makes you wonder what the others are like if they don’t get selected.

 

I think you are taking things out of perspective there. It’s easy to beat a few cones in training but performing under pressure in a match is entirely different. Some players cannot do it when in a competing environment. So, no matter how god you are in training it means nothing if you cannot produce in the Premier League. If Ralph is like you and allows his judgement to be influenced by training effort only he will make the wrong personnel decisions and in fact has been...

[OldNick]

I thought when we sacked Puel the only way was up to trophies and glory.

Oh to relive those glory days of defensive stability and comfort.

We didnt score many goals and so the football was boring……...ohhh. A very unlucky man to hve lost his job, much like Chris Nichol he was judged after following a top manager and so was not properly appreciated

[doddisalegend]

Puel, Pellegrino and Hughes were experienced too. Experience means little.

 

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Just give the job to the cleaning lady then...

 

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[doddisalegend]

I think you are taking things out of perspective there. It’s easy to beat a few cones in training but performing under pressure in a match is entirely different. Some players cannot do it when in a competing environment. So, no matter how god you are in training it means nothing if you cannot produce in the Premier League. If Ralph is like you and allows his judgement to be influenced by training effort only he will make the wrong personnel decisions and in fact has been...

 

Go on then which ones is he getting wrong?

 

With the exception of the goal keeping position and take into account injuries who should be in the matchday 11

 

Jack Stephens? Certainly not better than our other CBs most likely worse.

 

Central midfielders we have one option Armstrong will he make much difference based on performances so far I doubt it.

 

Would you replace Ings with Long or Adams given Ings has at least scored some goals?

 

So that basically leaves Boufal who despite people respiration still has no end product.

 

Our squad is horrible, just horrible, in most case when you look at choosing a matchday 11 it's liking asking yourself to pick between getting syphilis or gonorrhea..

 

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[Give it to Ron]

Go on then which ones is he getting wrong?

 

With the exception of the goal keeping position and take into account injuries who should be in the matchday 11

 

Jack Stephens? Certainly not better than our other CBs most likely worse.

 

Central midfielders we have one option Armstrong will he make much difference based on performances so far I doubt it.

 

Would you replace Ings with Long or Adams given Ings has at least scored some goals?

 

So that basically leaves Boufal who despite people respiration still has no end product.

 

Our squad is horrible, just horrible, in most case when you look at choosing a matchday 11 it's liking asking yourself to pick between getting syphilis or gonorrhea..

 

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Would you have put JWP to left back and not Yosh, Danso, Vest or evening Hojberg who has actually played there this season?

I wouldnt have carried on with 5 at back and swamped midfield bringing on Danso and Armstrong? At 3 down damage limitation.

Long for Ings at least legs up front

Our squad is horrible but picking Hojberg and JWP is madness every week and Romeu can’t do on own

 

 

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[sadoldgit]

I think you are taking things out of perspective there. It’s easy to beat a few cones in training but performing under pressure in a match is entirely different. Some players cannot do it when in a competing environment. So, no matter how god you are in training it means nothing if you cannot produce in the Premier League. If Ralph is like you and allows his judgement to be influenced by training effort only he will make the wrong personnel decisions and in fact has been...

 

They don’t just play against training cones though do they? The play against each other to practice various set up and systems. Granted those sessions will not be as intense as a proper game but let’s not pretend that they don’t have to show the manager what they are about by going round a cone or two.

[sadoldgit]

How do you know that Ralph bases his judgement on training sessions. He is a very experienced manager. Don’t you think he would weigh up his options based on both training and match performances? Neither you nor I have ever managed a professional football team. Whatever you think of his choices and tactics he will base those decisions on what he believes his squad/team can deliver. As you say, they don’t always deliver what they practice during the week, but then doesn’t that happen with most teams every match day?

[Give it to Ron]

How do you know that Ralph bases his judgement on training sessions. He is a very experienced manager. Don’t you think he would weigh up his options based on both training and match performances? Neither you nor I have ever managed a professional football team. Whatever you think of his choices and tactics he will base those decisions on what he believes his squad/team can deliver. As you say, they don’t always deliver what they practice during the week, but then doesn’t that happen with most teams every match day?

 

You don’t need to have managed a professional team to know you can’t play 5 at the back with 10 men and 1 being JWP at left back having not one player within 10 yards of their best midfield player all night even you could see that???

 

 

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[OldNick]

They don’t just play against training cones though do they?

they stopped doing that as they haven't beaten them for 6 weeks

[captainchris]

Go on then which ones is he getting wrong?

 

With the exception of the goal keeping position and take into account injuries who should be in the matchday 11

 

Jack Stephens? Certainly not better than our other CBs most likely worse.

 

Central midfielders we have one option Armstrong will he make much difference based on performances so far I doubt it.

 

Would you replace Ings with Long or Adams given Ings has at least scored some goals?

 

So that basically leaves Boufal who despite people respiration still has no end product.

 

Our squad is horrible, just horrible, in most case when you look at choosing a matchday 11 it's liking asking yourself to pick between getting syphilis or gonorrhea..

 

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If we just take your suggestion in Gunn then that is bizarre on its own. You appear to be super defensive of Ralph’s team selection and it’s difficult to imagine why you would be given this season’s odd team selections. Still that’s your prerogative and I wouldn’t wish to deny you that...

[SaintsLoyal]

Im sure Ralph will walk, if we lose the next three games and the total frustration of having so many poor players and not being able to change that for numerous transfer windows.

[doddisalegend]

If we just take your suggestion in Gunn then that is bizarre on its own. You appear to be super defensive of Ralph’s team selection and it’s difficult to imagine why you would be given this season’s odd team selections. Still that’s your prerogative and I wouldn’t wish to deny you that...

So no actual answer then...

 

I left out the goal keeper because it's the most obvious player swap in the entire team and I imagine everyone would swap McCarthy for Gunn. Not because I'm suggesting Gunn should keep his place.

 

After that though I'm really interested to see which players, not playing right now (and not injured), would improve the matchday 11, that Ralph is making a huge mistake on, because I don't really rate any of them any more than the ones playing. Clearly you think some of the unused players are better options so which ones?

 

 

 

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[sadoldgit]

they stopped doing that as they haven't beaten them for 6 weeks

 

To be fair our cones are in the top four of the training cones league.

[The Odd Guy]

The problem is if Ralph is as good as we thought he was but loses 0-9 at home what does that tell us if we can't get new players (don't laugh) until January.

There must have been worse teams and players then the one on display Friday night and in the 131 year history of the Football League but none of those managers lost a match 0-9 at home.

Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history.

The facts are there and so is Ralph neither of which are going to get any better.

[sadoldgit]

The problem is if Ralph is as good as we thought he was but loses 0-9 at home what does that tell us if we can't get new players (don't laugh) until January.

There must have been worse teams and players then the one on display Friday night and in the 131 year history of the Football League but none of those managers lost a match 0-9 at home.

Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history.

The facts are there and so is Ralph neither of which are going to get any better.

 

Does losing one game by lots of goals mean you are a worse manager than say, Pellegrino?

[The Odd Guy]

Does losing one game by lots of goals mean you are a worse manager than say, Pellegrino?

 

Depends how you read my post but Pellegrino didn't preside over a 0-9 home game in fact no manager has in 131 year history

of the football league. Apart from that Ralph has a 13% win ratio over the past 15 PL games. Make up your own mind if he is

worse than MP2.

[tobes8]

To be fair our cones are in the top four of the training cones league.

 

Ralph mixed it up today and arranged a practice game behind closed doors. There was some improvement but the cone 11 still ran out comfortable winners against the first 11.

[Kenilworthy]

Depends how you read my post but Pellegrino didn't preside over a 0-9 home game in fact no manager has in 131 year history

of the football league. Apart from that Ralph has a 13% win ratio over the past 15 PL games. Make up your own mind if he is

worse than MP2.

Lawrie lost 7-1 to a lower division side. All managers have freak results at some stage. The next few games will show us if Ralph is any good or not

[stevy777_x]

Depends how you read my post but Pellegrino didn't preside over a 0-9 home game in fact no manager has in 131 year history

of the football league. Apart from that Ralph has a 13% win ratio over the past 15 PL games. Make up your own mind if he is

worse than MP2.

 

LOL at even contemplating the idea that Ralph is worse than the clown.

What the hell have you been smoking?

[The Odd Guy]

LOL at even contemplating the idea that Ralph is worse than the clown.

What the hell have you been smoking?

 

I didn't mentioned Pellegrino in my OP, you and another poster are contemplating that idea.

I merely pointed out what I read "Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history." I went on to say no other Saints manager including Pellegrino has lost a game 0-9 at home.

"Preside over" can mean 1 or more games. I take it to mean 1 game you took it to mean more. It's not that difficult when read in context.

[The Odd Guy]

Lawrie lost 7-1 to a lower division side. All managers have freak results at some stage. The next few games will show us if Ralph is any good or not

 

I agree about freak results and that some team had to set a record for the first time in 131 years but the next few games will show us if the players are any good or not.

I daresay some on here will know the answer to that as well.

[OldNick]

Lawrie lost 7-1 to a lower division side. All managers have freak results at some stage. The next few games will show us if Ralph is any good or not

Also 8-0 and 7-0 wasnt there a cup game where one of his teams lost by 7. We have been caned many times over the years.

[Saint Troy]

I didn't mentioned Pellegrino in my OP, you and another poster are contemplating that idea.

I merely pointed out what I read "Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history." I went on to say no other Saints manager including Pellegrino has lost a game 0-9 at home.

"Preside over" can mean 1 or more games. I take it to mean 1 game you took it to mean more. It's not that difficult when read in context.

 

preside over can mean 1 game or more games but only in this context if that is in fact the amount of games the manager has in charge overall. If a manager has 100 games of which 99 are great you cant simply judge him as a manger on 1 game and claim that is his ability whilst he presided over saints, thats obvious

[baggytrousers]

I think the one positive about getting an absolute hiding is it highlights the pointlessness of some of the risk mitigation that Ralph has been engaging in.

 

For me the most worrying moment of the season was before kickoff in the Spurs game when Ralph chose to replace a warm-up injured Cedric with Vestergaard and move JWP to right back even though Valery was on the bench. This highlighted a real concern over our central defence and a willingness to sacrifice our shape and attacking elements to try and cover for it.

 

The 9-0 has exposed this as being self-defeating. Far better to accept the fact that we ‘ve got a leaky defence and play our preferred system (4-2-2-2) in the hope that we will cause problems going forward and out score the opposition and that a settled centre back pairing with a settled centre mid pairing will gradually start to iron out the rickets.

 

Hope Ralph starts to have the courage of his convictions and really goes with the system that was so successful for him at Leipzig. Not all our players are as poor as some on here would make out but we do have obvious deficiencies defensively. Sometimes the best form of defense is attack. Time to drop the third centre back and get Boufal/Djenepo back on the pitch

[doddisalegend]

I think the one positive about getting an absolute hiding is it highlights the pointlessness of some of the risk mitigation that Ralph has been engaging in.

 

For me the most worrying moment of the season was before kickoff in the Spurs game when Ralph chose to replace a warm-up injured Cedric with Vestergaard and move JWP to right back even though Valery was on the bench. This highlighted a real concern over our central defence and a willingness to sacrifice our shape and attacking elements to try and cover for it.

 

The 9-0 has exposed this as being self-defeating. Far better to accept the fact that we ‘ve got a leaky defence and play our preferred system (4-2-2-2) in the hope that we will cause problems going forward and out score the opposition and that a settled centre back pairing with a settled centre mid pairing will gradually start to iron out the rickets.

 

Hope Ralph starts to have the courage of his convictions and really goes with the system that was so successful for him at Leipzig. Not all our players are as poor as some on here would make out but we do have obvious deficiencies defensively. Sometimes the best form of defense is attack. Time to drop the third centre back and get Boufal/Djenepo back on the pitch

Interestingly, in the hindsight, considering Valery's performances since coming back into the team Ralph might have been on to something. Valery has been pretty awful since he came back into the matchday squad regularly.

 

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[benjii]

GAO OUT.

[The Odd Guy]

preside over can mean 1 game or more games but only in this context if that is in fact the amount of games the manager has in charge overall. If a manager has 100 games of which 99 are great you cant simply judge him as a manger on 1 game and claim that is his ability whilst he presided over saints, thats obvious

 

What I read and quoted "Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history." was in context with that game. If you have decided it wasn't and have made up your own mind fair enough.

I can live with that.

[Saint Troy]

What I read and quoted "Officially Ralph is the worse manager to preside over a Saints team in our 134 year history." was in context with that game. If you have decided it wasn't and have made up your own mind fair enough.

I can live with that.

 

im trying to understand whether you think he is the worst manager or that was the worst performance. Related perhaps but certainly not the same thing. That quote simply cannot be purely in the context of one game - the subject is ralph as a manager and not the overseeing of an individual game.