Ralph Hasenhuttl

[danjosaint]

On 01/11/2021 at 15:11, TWar said:

From my perspective I usually moan when people blame Ralph when recruitment is the issue. So in this circumstance I feel obliged to point out that, whilst Ralph has done well integrating them, a huge amount of credit needs to go to whoever scouted out and recruited our two best players this season, Salisu and Livramento, both for under £16m combined, and with an average age of just over 20. Excellent, excellent work.

I'm pretty sure livramento and broja were recommended by a Chelsea coach who worked with Ralph in the past poss at leipzig, 

[pimpin4rizeal]

4 hours ago, Charlie Wayman said:

The point you have missed completely is that Ralph does not have an abundance of world class players at his disposal, the players he has cost very little and he is trying to juggle them around as best he can to find effective combinations. Indeed it would be remiss of him not to explore all the options at his disposal.

None of the players you mention are bad players as you seem to imply, they are the sort of players we can expect to attract in our current stringent financial circumstances and is indicative of the pecking order in PL football. Of course if he had Ronaldo & Messi he would no doubt get better results.

I have an up and down relationship with our Austrian friend but there are signs that something different has happened recently, confidence seems to be growing and results are coming. If we beat Villa 3-0 tomorrow no doubt even you might be prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt.

To suggest Koeman or Nunez could do more with our squad is hypothetical nonsense. These people would be faced with the same problem of "clearing the deadwood" - as they would see it - and recruiting the types pf players that would fit their respective styles of play. Rome was not built in a day, Nunez built Wolves success over a number of seasons and with a quite respectable budget. In effect he was allowed to go out and buy the Portugeuse national team.

Be very, very careful what you wish for.

I disagree, redmond elyounoussi and Walcott are all poor.. but Ralph and the club have done little to address it.. we do have better options that are not starting, the likes of tella or livremento playing in the ten positions (livramento  in front of kwp) also could be a lot more exciting, S Armstrong is way better too is he fit enough to be starting or does Ralph prefer the others?

Then you have Ralph even shoehorning his love child redmond in as  a striker over the likes of che and arma..

as for koeman he didn’t spend insane amounts when here either. He had to replace talisman like players like lallana and lambert and lovren but using his knowledge of Dutch league we ended up way stronger with pelle tadic Toby/vvd etc. he did an absolutely superb job here is Ralph even in the same league ?

[Minsk]

12 minutes ago, pimpin4rizeal said:

I disagree, redmond elyounoussi and Walcott are all poor.. but Ralph and the club have done little to address it.. we do have better options that are not starting, the likes of tella or livremento playing in the ten positions (livramento  in front of kwp) also could be a lot more exciting, S Armstrong is way better too is he fit enough to be starting or does Ralph prefer the others?

Then you have Ralph even shoehorning his love child redmond in as  a striker over the likes of che and arma..

as for koeman he didn’t spend insane amounts when here either. He had to replace talisman like players like lallana and lambert and lovren but using his knowledge of Dutch league we ended up way stronger with pelle tadic Toby/vvd etc. he did an absolutely superb job here is Ralph even in the same league ?

Here we go again.....

Livramento has been nominated as player of the month, at the age of 18 and having only ever played 10 premier league matches in his career, for his incredible performances as a RB. Yet instead of Ralph being praised for putting faith in him and playing the young man in his preferred position, in which he is clearly excelling, Ralph gets bashed for not trying him out in an unfamiliar position.

As for Stu Armstrong, quite clearly he has been out injured and has been working his way back to full fitness. He has looked quite rusty when coming on as a sub, even against Watford last time out. 

I like Tella and think he offers a significant threat when we are attacking on the break. Not sure he adds that much against the ball or when we have to break teams down.

Redmond has put in many good performances this season. As has Moi (who is joint top scorer in all competitions). Agree Walcott has been poor this season.

 

[Toadhall Saint]

24 minutes ago, Minsk said:

Here we go again.....

Livramento has been nominated as player of the month, at the age of 18 and having only ever played 10 premier league matches in his career, for his incredible performances as a RB. Yet instead of Ralph being praised for putting faith in him and playing the young man in his preferred position, in which he is clearly excelling, Ralph gets bashed for not trying him out in an unfamiliar position.

As for Stu Armstrong, quite clearly he has been out injured and has been working his way back to full fitness. He has looked quite rusty when coming on as a sub, even against Watford last time out. 

I like Tella and think he offers a significant threat when we are attacking on the break. Not sure he adds that much against the ball or when we have to break teams down.

Redmond has put in many good performances this season. As has Moi (who is joint top scorer in all competitions). Agree Walcott has been poor this season.

 

Wasting your energy Minsk 

[Minsk]

18 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Wasting your energy Minsk 

I know....... 

[Bob76]

Got to say as one of his critics that he seems to be learning, the changes tonight were spot on and helped us win the game.

Changing to three at the back was needed and stopped villa from creating chance after chance.

Fair play to Ralph, keep it up.

Edited 6 November, 2021 by Bob76

[Streaky]

10 minutes ago, Bob76 said:

Got to say as one of his critics that he seems to be learning, the changes tonight were spot on and helped us win the game.

Changing to three at the back was needed and stopped villa from creating chance after chance.

Fair play to Ralph, keep it up.

Exactly the same as I've felt last 6 months but Ralph has proved me wrong and happy with that. He's adapting to in game situations and with matt crocker back and making good decisions in the transfer market things are looking bright again.

[Lord Duckhunter]

13 hours ago, Bob76 said:

Got to say as one of his critics that he seems to be learning, the changes tonight were spot on and helped us win the game.

Changing to three at the back was needed and stopped villa from creating chance after chance.

Fair play to Ralph, keep it up.

Yep. We’d have lost that game earlier in the year. Villa’s 15 min spell just after half time would have resulted in a goal and then we’d have crumbled like big girls blouses and lost 3-1. 

[Charlie Wayman]

Having watched the lamentable performance of ManU today, can't help thinking they'll be in for Hasenhüttl this week. He is a perfect fit for them. Yep.

 

I fear you'll be crucified for sexism LD

"We’d have lost that game earlier in the year. Villa’s 15 min spell just after half time would have resulted in a goal and then we’d have crumbled like big girls blouses and lost 3-1"

Edited 6 November, 2021 by Charlie Wayman

[Chapel End]

2 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Having watched the lamentable performance of ManU today, can't help thinking they'll be in for Hasenhüttl this week. He is a perfect fit for them. 

Why? Any real reason to post that or just more silliness 

[AlexLaw76]

27 minutes ago, Charlie Wayman said:

Having watched the lamentable performance of ManU today, can't help thinking they'll be in for Hasenhüttl this week. He is a perfect fit for them. Yep.

 

 

😂😂

[Totton Saint]

On 01/11/2021 at 13:48, Mr X said:

I still think he is prone to crazy decisions, formations and tactics but yeah it would be silly to replace him at this stage of the season, I will never be his biggest fan but if he can continue to keep us clear of the relegation zone after xmas then all good & happy to recognise he has improved us defensively at least.  

Some of the football I saw from Sts first half yesterday was nearly as good as I have seen. Quite scintillating and and mesmerising in patches.  Don't say I am easily pleased

[TWar]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Yep. We’d have lost that game earlier in the year. Villa’s 15 min spell just after half time would have resulted in a goal and then we’d have crumbled like big girls blouses and lost 3-1. 

Miraculous what a better defence will do. Vestergaard/Bertrand is so so much worse than Salisu/Livramento (with KWP moving over to the left). Almost like it was probably down to resources at the time and not just the manager  

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, TWar said:

Miraculous what a better defence will do. Vestergaard/Bertrand is so so much worse than Salisu/Livramento (with KWP moving over to the left). Almost like it was probably down to resources at the time and not just the manager  

Perhaps the manager should have played Salisu over Vesty last season then. Mind you, this is the bloke that played Redmond instead of adams up front in a semi final. 

[TWar]

3 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Perhaps the manager should have played Salisu over Vesty last season then. Mind you, this is the bloke that played Redmond instead of adams up front in a semi final. 

He was injured for the first half, then had to get up to speed and learn the system, and then finally was needed to play at LB for the final month or so because Bertrand wasn't available. But don't let context get in the way.

Edited 6 November, 2021 by TWar

[Diabolus Ex Machina]

5 hours ago, TWar said:

Miraculous what a better defence will do. Vestergaard/Bertrand is so so much worse than Salisu/Livramento (with KWP moving over to the left). Almost like it was probably down to resources at the time and not just the manager  

Does work the other way around too though - our good form is down to the better quality of players available and not just the manager. I personally believe Ralph could have done better with what he had last season during our terrible spell from January onwards and that a number of his decisions actively hampered us during our worst spell. To his credit a large number of those he's resolved this season - a greater focus on defense, being more decisive with subs and making them early when required, seemingly deciding on his no.1 keeper for just a few examples.

We look to be on the up and Ralph has certainly played his part in it. I'm interested in seeing how we do when a poor run of form inevitably comes (as they do for any team). Ralph's time with us has been very 'streaky' where we have had long periods of good form as well as long runs of poor form so i'd like to see if we can break that habit when things start turning the other way again.

[TWar]

6 minutes ago, Diabolus Ex Machina said:

Does work the other way around too though - our good form is down to the better quality of players available and not just the manager. I personally believe Ralph could have done better with what he had last season during our terrible spell from January onwards and that a number of his decisions actively hampered us during our worst spell. To his credit a large number of those he's resolved this season - a greater focus on defense, being more decisive with subs and making them early when required, seemingly deciding on his no.1 keeper for just a few examples.

We look to be on the up and Ralph has certainly played his part in it. I'm interested in seeing how we do when a poor run of form inevitably comes (as they do for any team). Ralph's time with us has been very 'streaky' where we have had long periods of good form as well as long runs of poor form so i'd like to see if we can break that habit when things start turning the other way again.

I think Ralph has traditionally been very streaky because we had a thin squad and a high tempo style. This led to big problems with injury and fatigue that our squad couldn't deal with. Either important players were out or they were underperforming from being rushed back.

This season our depth is pretty nice, we have genuinely great competition all over the pitch (Livra/KWP/Perraud, Broja/Arma/Adams, Redmond/Armstrong/Ely/Djenepo/Tella, JWP/Diallo/Romeu). This should mean we are much less streaky as our team can be rotated a lot more.

Edited 7 November, 2021 by TWar

[whelk]

Do other managers get substitutes to warm up at half time rather than hear the team talk? Baffles me why Ralph does that as surely if he is highlighting tactical shortcomings of opposition or what we need to do more of from his first half observations then surely the subs would benefit from hearing it?

Does he think warming up on sidelines is not enough?

 

[Toadhall Saint]

Yes they do

[Lord Duckhunter]

10 hours ago, Diabolus Ex Machina said:

I personally believe Ralph could have done better with what he had last season during our terrible spell from January onwards and that a number of his decisions actively hampered us during our worst spell. To his credit a large number of those he's resolved this season - a greater focus on defense, being more decisive with subs and making them early when required, seemingly deciding on his no.1 keeper for just a few examples.

 

Spot on.

He’s now doing what most of his critics wanted him to do. Bringing  more defensive solidity, using  his substitutions better and showing a bit of tactical flexibility  . It’s disingenuous to not acknowledge that and praise him for it, but it’s also disingenuous to try and make out he couldn’t have done so last season. 
 

[whelk]

7 minutes ago, Toadhall Saint said:

Yes they do

They are all stupid then!

[TWar]

11 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Spot on.

He’s now doing what most of his critics wanted him to do. Bringing  more defensive solidity, using  his substitutions better and showing a bit of tactical flexibility  . It’s disingenuous to not acknowledge that and praise him for it, but it’s also disingenuous to try and make out he couldn’t have done so last season. 
 

Maybe the defensive solidity comes from better defenders? And better depth in defence?

Maybe the better substitutions come from having a better bench?

Maybe the better tactical flexibility comes from having more options to choose from for his tactics?

Nah, I bet he just went to a secret manager school in the interim and they told him to do subs earlier. Whats disingenuous is that fans who knew what they were on about said "keep him and invest in squad depth and he will do better" and the club did, and he did. And now you are trying to say "I wasn't completely clueless, he just became a better manager out of nowhere and it has nothing to do with the squad". Right...

Edited 7 November, 2021 by TWar

[trousers]

We were top of the league this very day last year. Hope we don't go back to those dark days...

#banter

[TWar]

4 minutes ago, trousers said:

We were top of the league this very day last year. Hope we don't go back to those dark days...

#banter

We were banging last year before the injuries set in, and when they did we weren't good. Now we are doing well again with good squad depth.

Sensible fan: "Well, I guess our back ups last season were crap and our first team was good unless they were being rushed back too soon from injury, lucky we have more depth now! Good work club for backing Ralph"

Duckhunter: "Actually Ralph was a good manager at the start of last season, then forgot how to do it for the second half, and now has remembered again, funny how that happens"

Edited 7 November, 2021 by TWar

[trousers]

17 minutes ago, TWar said:

We were banging last year before the injuries set in, and when they did we weren't good. Now we are doing well again with good squad depth.

Sensible fan: "Well, I guess our back ups last season were crap and our first team was good unless they were being rushed back too soon from injury, lucky we have more depth now! Good work club for backing Ralph"

Duckhunter: "Actually Ralph was a good manager at the start of last season, then forgot how to do it for the second half, and now has remembered again, funny how that happens"

Please don't besmirch the good character of Lord D. I'll have you know he's never been wrong or wide-of-the-mark, ever. Not once. I'd rethink your aspersions smartish if I were you, sonny Jim. 

Edited 7 November, 2021 by trousers

[AlexLaw76]

21 minutes ago, TWar said:

We were banging last year before the injuries set in, and when they did we weren't good. Now we are doing well again with good squad depth.

Sensible fan: "Well, I guess our back ups last season were crap and our first team was good unless they were being rushed back too soon from injury, lucky we have more depth now! Good work club for backing Ralph"

Duckhunter: "Actually Ralph was a good manager at the start of last season, then forgot how to do it for the second half, and now has remembered again, funny how that happens"

Ah right,  He just forgot how to manage in a good way for around 5 months.

[Suhari]

4 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Ah right,  He just forgot how to manage in a good way for around 5 months.

I lost my car keys once, and wandered around the house for 10 minutes searching for them. Then realised they were in my hand.

These things happen.

[Lord Duckhunter]

55 minutes ago, TWar said:

 

Duckhunter: "Actually Ralph was a good manager at the start of last season, then forgot how to do it for the second half, and now has remembered again, funny how that happens"

I’ve never said he’s a good manager. I don’t think he is particularly, you just made that up. He’s an average manager that has good spells and some damn awful spells. 
 

I know you’ve gone weak at the knees over beating  Villa, Watford & Leeds but I suggest we see where we finish this season before wetting our pants over him, again. 

Edited 7 November, 2021 by Lord Duckhunter

[suewhistle]

27 minutes ago, trousers said:

Please don't besmirch the good character of Lord D.

"Good character"? I haven't heard that in connection with L.D. before!

@Chez is a poster whose opinions I respect and, like T.War, I see that he surmises that the use of substitutes last season was very much in the context of their quality. No manager, apart from Bare Bones 'Arry, is going to ruin morale by painting this fact too explicitly in public. This season we have more options (at the moment..) and are able to rotate and rest players. I'd like to see Livramento given a rest on the bench after the targeting by Villa, and have him available to bring on to  hopefully nail Norwich's coffin down. As for playing him further forward, now is not yet the time. From full back he runs into space made by others and playing him further forward is not going to automatically strengthen that side.

[TWar]

1 minute ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

I’ve never said he’s a good manager. I don’t think he is particularly, you just made that up. He’s an average manager that has good spells and some damn awful spells. 
 

I know you’ve gone weak at the knees over beating  Villa, Watford & Leeds but I suggest we see where we finish this season before wetting our pants over him, again. 

So what changed between last season and this one? Or between the first half of last season and the second? 

Was it a better starting 11 or does Ralph's managerial ability swing from good to bad almost at random? 

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 minute ago, TWar said:

So what changed between last season and this one? Or between the first half of last season and the second? 

Was it a better starting 11 or does Ralph's managerial ability swing from good to bad almost at random? 

He made many mistakes last season, picked the wrong side too many times, was too inflexible tactically, and was too slow with his substitutions. It looks to me like he’s gone away in the summer and had a look at himself and addressed these failings.
 

If you want to believe he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season I suggest you get your head up from the latest spreadsheet and pay attention. 

[TWar]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He made many mistakes last season, picked the wrong side too many times, was too inflexible tactically, and was too slow with his substitutions. It looks to me like he’s gone away in the summer and had a look at himself and addressed these failings.
 

If you want to believe he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season I suggest you get your head up from the latest spreadsheet and pay attention. 

Easier to address things if you have the players to do so. Hard to be tactically flexible when you have like 12 good players. This stuff should be obvious, thinking Ralph is the factor that has changed after the number of players we brought in and sold in the summer is pretty dim

[trousers]

9 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He was too slow with his substitutions of better players on the pitch for worse players on the bench 

This.

Lord D hits the nail on the head yet again. Never doubt the person that is never wrong.

In my eyes, Lord D is a legend, and he does even cry. 

 

Edited 7 November, 2021 by trousers

[Minsk]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Spot on.

He’s now doing what most of his critics wanted him to do. Bringing  more defensive solidity, using  his substitutions better and showing a bit of tactical flexibility  . It’s disingenuous to not acknowledge that and praise him for it, but it’s also disingenuous to try and make out he couldn’t have done so last season. 
 

Wrong, as usual. (Or, to put in words you might understand, PONY!)

It is disingenuous to not acknowledge the reason he couldn't make adequate substitutions during the latter half of last season was because of the options he was forced to have sat on the bench and, in many matches, in the starting 11. You don't want to do this because it doesn't fit your mantra.

If Ralph is as poor as you claim how come we had such an impressive start to last season, as well as an excellent finish to the previous one? How come he turned a team around, who had 9 points from 16 matches and were sat in 18th, to one that earned 30 points from the remaining 22, to finish 16th, matches all without signing a single player?

I'm not expecting you to actually answer those questions. Just as I'm not holding my breath while waiting for you to grow a pair and answer the question you yourself posed in the Ralph/Howe thread (or other questions asked of you). You always fail to answer questions posed to you. Maybe you're a politician? I know you're definitely not a football manager/coach and sincerely doubt you have any managerial/leadership qualities at all - most certainly not where the female gender is concerned.

[Lord Duckhunter]

11 minutes ago, TWar said:

Easier to address things if you have the players to do so. Hard to be tactically flexible when you have like 12 good players. This stuff should be obvious, thinking Ralph is the factor that has changed after the number of players we brought in and sold in the summer is pretty dim

If you think last seasons horrendous results weren’t down to Ralph in any way ,there’s no hope for you. If you think he didn’t make any mistakes, then you’re “pretty dim”. We were a fucking shambles half the time, that’s on the manager, nobody else. 

 

[trousers]

4 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

If you think last seasons horrendous results weren’t down to Ralph in any way ,there’s no hope for you. If you think he didn’t make any mistakes, then you’re “pretty dim”

Name one person that thinks Ralph didn't make any mistakes last season. No rush, I've got all day. 

Alternatively, name one person that doesn't think that our injuries, coupled with squad depth, wasn't a contributory factor in the second half of the season decline....

Edited 7 November, 2021 by trousers

[TWar]

38 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

If you think last seasons horrendous results weren’t down to Ralph in any way ,there’s no hope for you. If you think he didn’t make any mistakes, then you’re “pretty dim”. We were a fucking shambles half the time, that’s on the manager, nobody else. 

 

I never said Ralph was perfect. But if a team under a guy is top half of the table competing for europe and then after an unprecedented number of injuries drops to being relegation form the obvious assumption is that the injuries cost you not that the manager lost his mind. You couldn't make that link in January which was a bit dim.

Flash forward 6 more months and the injuries are sorted and depth has been added, suddenly the team is doing well again. The obvious answer is to say that confirms the injuries and squad depth were the issue not that the manager suddenly un-lost his mind. You can't make that link now which is very dim.

I'll make it simple, the things you moan about:

- Not making good subs: easier to do when you have Broja on the bench over N'Lundulu, Perraud on the bench instead of Valery, Diallo on the bench (and not on the pitch due to Romeu's ankle injury) or Jankewitz...

- More defensively stable. Livramento and Salisu are miles clear of Bertrand and Vestergaard its not even funny

- Tactical flexibility. Well you can change how you play up top if you have three quality talented strikers (four if you bare in mind Redmond has massively improved) who all have different skillsets. Last season it was "play Ings and Adams or play dross". This year we have a genuine other option in Broja. Furthermore we can be more flexible between a back 3 and back 4 when we don't have 2 fit CBs like we did for a chunk of the run in. Finally with three fit prem quality mids you can play a 3 man midfield, this wasn't possible with Romeus broken ankle.

From this you can easily see that the reason Ralph can do the things which you are crediting him for now isn't because he suddenly, out of nowhere, decided they were good ideas. It's because our team got fit and we signed well.

The big benefit of this thread is it shows the casual onlooker how stupid the "failures and successes are on the manager and no one else" mentality is with a good working example of how - surprisingly - having a better playing squad does matter a bit.

Edited 7 November, 2021 by TWar

[Dellman]

I am just thankful Ralph has been given the time to get rid of other people's unwanted baggage and replace with young talent he can coach into his style. It's happening!

[wooley7]

The biggest difference this season for me are the options available to Ralph. It would have been difficult for any manager last season but I did feel Ralph didn’t do anything to really change things when we started to struggle.  Although his options were very limited I felt he could have tried to do something different with what he did have, just anything.

I think Ralph is a decent manager but his style of play needs a decent squad more than 11/12 players, not just injuries but fatigue. The players we did have available last season were knackered or being rushed back from injuries. 

The lack of recovery pace from Bertrand and Vest. Didn’t help with our style either. As boring as it might have been something like a low block and play more on the counter.

Happy with what I have seen from Ralph so far this season, the defence is a load better and with time I hope to see us develop our attacking play too.

[SFC Forever]

2 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

Spot on.

He’s now doing what most of his critics wanted him to do. Bringing  more defensive solidity, using  his substitutions better and showing a bit of tactical flexibility  . It’s disingenuous to not acknowledge that and praise him for it, but it’s also disingenuous to try and make out he couldn’t have done so last season. 
 

The sad fact as I see it is that last tail end we did not have the players that we now have. Our bench was terribly weak and that is why I believe Ralph struggled as severely as he did when making substitutions.  Now having replaced seriously poor players with more quality we are able to react positively with our subs. Salisu is far better than any of last season's defenders. Tino is also a massive improvement and KWP is still one of our best players. 

For anybody to say that the improvement in quality has less to do with Ralph's improving substitutions needs to wake up. Not having competition for places leaves players feeling safe in the knowledge that they will be playing week on week as long as they are fit.

[wooley7]

Just now, SFC Forever said:

The sad fact as I see it is that last tail end we did not have the players that we now have. Our bench was terribly weak and that is why I believe Ralph struggled as severely as he did when making substitutions.  Now having replaced seriously poor players with more quality we are able to react positively with our subs. Salisu is far better than any of last season's defenders. Tino is also a massive improvement and KWP is still one of our best players. 

For anybody to say that the improvement in quality has less to do with Ralph's improving substitutions needs to wake up. Not having competition for places leaves players feeling safe in the knowledge that they will be playing week on week as long as they are fit.

This is a good point too, competition for places makes a big difference.

[Lord Duckhunter]

4 minutes ago, SFC Forever said:

The sad fact as I see it is that last tail end we did not have the players that we now have. Our bench was terribly weak and that is why I believe Ralph struggled as severely as he did when making substitutions.  Now having replaced seriously poor players with more quality we are able to react positively with our subs. Salisu is far better than any of last season's defenders. Tino is also a massive improvement and KWP is still one of our best players. 

For anybody to say that the improvement in quality has less to do with Ralph's improving substitutions needs to wake up. Not having competition for places leaves players feeling safe in the knowledge that they will be playing week on week as long as they are fit.

He played Redmond instead of Adams up front in a semi final. That’s not down to lack of resource, that’s down to lack of judgement. I’ve also read that Vesty & Bertrand’s lack of pace was a problem playing Ralph ball, that’s down to him. Insisting on playing a way that doesn’t suit the players available, is a  lack of judgement again. There’s plenty of other examples, Stephens in midfield, the after you Claude goalkeeping policy. In some games we were a complete and utter shambles, that’s not resources, that’s not being set up properly and a lack of flexibility.

Anyway, let’s hope he has learnt and adapted, because if we believe the cult, and he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season, it won’t take too many suspensions/injuries before we’re on another horrendous run. 

 

[TWar]

I'd say 90% of the time if a teams quality dramatically drops for a sustained period of time its an injury to a player (or multiple) or drop in form of a player (or multiple) who was more key than people thought, if it comes back when the player returns then that goes up to 99%. The very rare times a manager tends to make an impact of that size it is a positive one with change of formation or giving some new lads a chance.

People love "sack the manager" as it is an easy thing to grasp and get your head around but it rarely is the root of the problem (occasionally is, but pretty rare). Dean Smith is an example, he's the same guy who managed them the last 3 years, the thing that has changed is they lost their most important guy. Obviously if they can upgrade on him they should (same with any manager ever) but some fans are calling for him to be replaced by John Terry or Frank Lampard and I just feel like, his team isn't that good right now, that needs to be addressed primarily.

[trousers]

3 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

"the cult"

[Diabolus Ex Machina]

1 hour ago, TWar said:

The big benefit of this thread is it shows the casual onlooker how stupid the "failures and successes are on the manager and no one else" mentality is with a good working example of how - surprisingly - having a better playing squad does matter a bit.

Agreed that it is a silly mentality as it is a combination of things that go into any teams successes and failures. Having a better squad will also obviously help with results/performances unless you are a truly dire manager (which I don't believe Ralph to be).

A lot of this talk seems to skirt around my main issues with Ralph last season though so let me try putting it this way...

During last seasons poor run do you believe that - when you take into account injuries, squad depth, covid and all other factors - Ralph did the best he could with what was available? Do you think the performances, results and points return over those last 20 games from January onwards was the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances?

I'm not looking for a discussion about what options were available or what outside factors were at play i'm purely interested on how people think Ralph reacted to and dealt with these issues. Did he do a good job when a bad hand was played to him or did he fumble when his back was up against the wall?

My personal opinion is that - again having taken all other elements into account - we still under performed due to the manager in that he was unable to do anything to overturn our bad form and that decisions that were made actively hampered us in some cases. It would appear that many think he did well enough or at least not bad enough for it to be a problem but it's hard to get a judge on this as the discussion is always shifted to the other factors rather than to Ralph himself.

In the end though he still did enough over the course of the season to keep us up and both him and the squad look to have improved greatly this season. Perhaps last seasons poor run is something that can be looked at as a one off and left in the past but it has left doubt in my mind as to how he can deal with adversity when it does arrive.

 

[TWar]

2 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He played Redmond instead of Adams up front in a semi final. That’s not down to lack of resource, that’s down to lack of judgement. I’ve also read that Vesty & Bertrand’s lack of pace was a problem playing Ralph ball, that’s down to him. Insisting on playing a way that doesn’t suit the players available, is a  lack of judgement again. There’s plenty of other examples, Stephens in midfield, the after you Claude goalkeeping policy. In some games we were a complete and utter shambles, that’s not resources, that’s not being set up properly and a lack of flexibility.

Anyway, let’s hope he has learnt and adapted, because if we believe the cult, and he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season, it won’t take too many suspensions/injuries before we’re on another horrendous run. 

 

Thats one decision you disagree with, in a vacuum. Maybe Redmond had been better in training, maybe Adams was carrying a knock or a tight muscle, maybe he felt (correctly) the game would be pretty cagey and that he needed more creatively and that Redmond could provide that. Who knows. It was one choice.

How is Vesty and Bertrands lack of pace down to him? He didn't sign them? He clearly wanted a quicker CB thats why we brought in Salisu and Salisu would have been playing much earlier if it wasn't for injury. That's down to poor recruitment pre-Ralph as Vest was basically never good, Ryan should have been replaced way before he was and Ralph clearly wanted fullbacks in Jan and we didn't give him any.

Stephens in midfield was again due to necessity due to injuries to Romeu and Diallo coupled with Armstrong being needed further up, Smallbone being out, and Jankewitz being not up to the level. The goalkeeping thing was clearly to assess his number one for the following season after we were safe, similar to how top teams give youngsters a run out near the end of the year. I didn't like it but it had logic.

Flexibility comes with having more players, you can't be flexible if you don't have options.

It will take a lot more injuries and suspensions as we have a lot more depth, that is literally the point. 

[TWar]

5 minutes ago, Diabolus Ex Machina said:

During last seasons poor run do you believe that - when you take into account injuries, squad depth, covid and all other factors - Ralph did the best he could with what was available? Do you think the performances, results and points return over those last 20 games from January onwards was the best we could have hoped for under the circumstances?

 

I think he did pretty well, Pep/Klopp might have done better, Howe/Ole might have done worse. He did what I would expect a top half prem manager to have done in that sort of situation. Stylistically, a manager who didn't play his high tempo style wouldn't have been as likely to have had so many injuries but on the other hand, such a manager wouldn't have had us soaring so high considering how little we spent pre-injury.

It's also worth noting such a thing is hard to judge, given the massive constraints of fixture congestion and recovery time our team was placed under the freak COVID season. I think it hurt high tempo teams disproportionately and we saw Liverpool struggle a bit too. Similarly massively blighted by injury.

Edited 7 November, 2021 by TWar

[wooley7]

12 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He played Redmond instead of Adams up front in a semi final. That’s not down to lack of resource, that’s down to lack of judgement. I’ve also read that Vesty & Bertrand’s lack of pace was a problem playing Ralph ball, that’s down to him. Insisting on playing a way that doesn’t suit the players available, is a  lack of judgement again. There’s plenty of other examples, Stephens in midfield, the after you Claude goalkeeping policy. In some games we were a complete and utter shambles, that’s not resources, that’s not being set up properly and a lack of flexibility.

Anyway, let’s hope he has learnt and adapted, because if we believe the cult, and he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season, it won’t take too many suspensions/injuries before we’re on another horrendous run. 

 

Like I said above, his resources weren’t great but the high line and constant press with Vest and Bertrand in defence was a error from the manager.

He was too stubborn last season in my mind.

 

[miserableoldgit]

2 minutes ago, TWar said:

Thats one decision you disagree with, in a vacuum. Maybe Redmond had been better in training, maybe Adams was carrying a knock or a tight muscle, maybe he felt (correctly) the game would be pretty cagey and that he needed more creatively and that Redmond could provide that. Who knows. It was one choice.

How is Vesty and Bertrands lack of pace down to him? He didn't sign them? He clearly wanted a quicker CB thats why we brought in Salisu and Salisu would have been playing much earlier if it wasn't for injury. That's down to poor recruitment pre-Ralph as Vest was basically never good, Ryan should have been replaced way before he was and Ralph clearly wanted fullbacks in Jan and we didn't give him any.

Stephens in midfield was again due to necessity due to injuries to Romeu and Diallo coupled with Armstrong being needed further up, Smallbone being out, and Jankewitz being not up to the level. The goalkeeping thing was clearly to assess his number one for the following season after we were safe, similar to how top teams give youngsters a run out near the end of the year. I didn't like it but it had logic.

Flexibility comes with having more players, you can't be flexible if you don't have options.

It will take a lot more injuries and suspensions as we have a lot more depth, that is literally the point. 

Wait for the "Yeah, but no, but....." from Lord Ducky. He really is coming across as a sad, bitter individual who is desperate, now that things are looking up a bit, to find something/anything to placate the "Anti-Ralph Coven".

[S-Clarke]

1 hour ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

He made many mistakes last season, picked the wrong side too many times, was too inflexible tactically, and was too slow with his substitutions. It looks to me like he’s gone away in the summer and had a look at himself and addressed these failings.
 

If you want to believe he’s managing exactly the same way as he did last season I suggest you get your head up from the latest spreadsheet and pay attention. 

Every single one of your points can be put down to squad depth.

''Too inflexible tactically'' - didn't have the right mix of players to do anything radically different.

''Too slow with substitutions'' - he turned around and saw N'Lundulu, Valery, Watts and Obafemi on the bench and probably thought what's the point.

''Picked the wrong side too many times'' - What with injuries and suspensions he was having to play with numerous squad pegs in round holes to get us through games.

It's amazing how he's suddenly better with substitutes now he has viable options to choose.

Edited 7 November, 2021 by S-Clarke