Ralph sacked as Saints manager

Yesterday wasn't on Ralph as far as I'm concerned. It's down to the players. Keep the bloody ball, failing that boot it down the other end. JWP's poor pass and decision making ultimately cost us. We were looking comfortable until that. And Broja really should have made it 2-0 early in the 2nd half, which would have sealed the game. Fine margins.

We're certainly not going to get any one better than Ralph so it's 100% stick.

 

FFS NO

 

It's so packed mid table at the moment that only small improvements will see us making big gains...

https://www.soccerstats.com/halftime.asp?league=england
We are currently 4th in the 'first half' table (so we can and do play well) but 19th in the second half!
If you split the games into 10 minute segments then our record in the last 10 minutes is 1-5 (and also 1-4 in minutes 51-60) On the other hand we're 6th in clean sheets.

So clearly, the problems are at the end of matches and to a lesser degree just after half time

Substitutions, tiredness or psychology (the self-fulfilling thoughts going through the players' minds of "we always concede right at the end")? Probably a bit of all three and maybe Ralph needs support/fresh ideas in these areas but I don't believe that replacing him is the answer.

 

As others have said perhaps he needs an assistant to bounce ideas off who may spot something during a game he hadn't

 

Rafa

That'd be a dreadful appointment.

 

This is incredibly one sided. Thought there'd be more than one vote for out.

 

Alex Ferguson joined Manchester United in November 86, and won his first trophy in May 90.
I remember that many Utd fans wanted him out, before it all clicked into place.
Not saying that we are going to win a trophy, but when you consider the restrictions that Ralph has had to face, with regards to finances, he hasn’t done too badly.
I am as frustrated as anyone, with regards to the points lost from winning positions, but much of that, imo, is down to our inability to score more goals when on top.
I think we need a “real” captain on the pitch, someone who is more vocal than JWP, who will cajole and motivate the players, when the tide turns, to squeeze an extra few percent out of the team, but I don’t think we have that player in the squad.

 

Yeah finishing somewhere around 15th is roughly where we are, so not in itself a failure.

The frustration is just that EVERY game is the same. How the manager/coaching team/players can’t fix this ridiculous pattern that we have been seeing for about a year now is annoying and definitely the reason some fans want him gone, despite the results being about par for the course with this squad

 

I wonder who that was

 

Does anyone realise that even if we were terrible (we're not), under the current ownership, we probably can't even afford to sack Ralph.

I dream even of Crystal Palace's financial resources tbh. When you consider what restraints he's working under, it's absolutely Ralph-in for me. Should we get a change of ownership and investment, and things don't improve, then is when I'd change my vote.

I do agree though that a capable assistant would do us good.

Regarding yesterday's game, in reality, though they were coming back into it a bit, there wasn't really any threat from Brighton until we (well, JWP) decided to hand it to them on a plate. Hence why he didn't bring on the likes of Diallo. There wasn't on the face of it any need. As Ralph said, in that final five minutes there were two really poor pieces of play that handed them the ball. That's on the players.

 

You see, I get that bit, I just don’t know what people want to happen. There are greater depths to every decision which we are not party to. I think we have a very good manager and an exciting management team in place at the club. We are very limited in scope due to our ownership. About half the division have big spending owners or investors now. We are boxing really clever to finish from 10th to about 14th this year. The game is the game. The playing squad is what it is and isn’t going to get drastically better without investment. We’d like better forward options but those are very expensive. If we had a more clinical forward we’d be winning more. We may still concede late goals because that’s football and it happens!

 

I'm saying nothing.

It was quite unpredictable and out of character for the poster.

 

Because it’s about as laughable reaction to a last minute draw against a good team as the suggestion that appointing Rafa ****ing Benitez is the answer.

Honestly, I cannot think of any footballing question over the last five years where an acceptable solution would be “We should do what Everton did?”

 

That is because most of the people who post on here are level headed and even if they are not they are cute enough to know that we would be very hard pressed to get someone better than Ralph who accepts our business model.

 

Voted Ralph-In, although he needs to get someone in the dugout to give him good tactical advice. His decision making in matches has not improved from last season, its his achilles heel and the club need to support him by finding someone with better game management skills because he is costing us points.

 

Pretty one sided which is not a surprise given what the alternatives would be.

Would we really want Bruce?

Or a Frank Lampard who believes he is too good for us and doing us a favour based on no evidence whatsoever

in the Twitter discussion about a goalkeeper a Chelsea fan asked if we could afford Kepa and send Broja back. Not sure why they want him back but I guess that is their version of an irrational response to a late defeat. He would still be fourth choice at best in a system where they play one up front. But if we could afford Kepa and his wages we would be spending it on 2-3 players and our squad would be exponentially improved. But we simply can’t

I’d suggest at least half the clubs in the league would be in a position to “take the hit” with regards to the goalkeeper situation and would have got a new one in the summer even if it meant Forster sitting out the whole season on his wages and not even making the bench. The position is that important. But we can’t

maybe I am wrong on that. There aren’t many other cases of a club’s overwhelming first choice getting a big contract and his form falling off a cliff

 

Most one sided poll I’ve ever seen Good to know we are all in agreement.

I’m a bit surprised actually, if you go off Twitter and Facebook you’d think the Ralph out crowd is starting to grow… so either we are all more sensible on here, or social media isn’t representative of real life - who knew?!

 

Been sh*t with Everton granted and definitely a roller-coaster of a career. But to say that Ralph is a better manager? Come off it.

But then again I'd rather Eddie Howe, Dean Smith, and practically anyone else managing in the Prem right now.

 

None of those are available so it is somewhat of a moot point

 

Twitter and Facebook- that would be your issue !

As mentioned there are Chelsea fans on there who want Broja back seemingly in response to the defeat yesterday. That is arguably more irrational than any reaction on here about yesterday