Which is what has made this cataclysmic downfall all the more curious. There are other forces afoot here, for certain.
I have no doubt that Ralph would be a good manager with another team. Unfortunately this team is the team he has got, that is obviously not entirely his fault and is a Gao/board issue. What is Ralph's fault is his stubbornness/inability to try and play to a system that compliments the squad he has. I would say our squad is on a par to Brighton/Norwich/Newcastle/Burnley/Sheff Utd. The main difference is the manager. All of those (maybe not Norwich, but they are doing even worse than us) have managers who's first thought is "Do not lose" and play a style conducive to that. We don't and get battered because of it. As it is all about the money/PL revenue it would hardly be surprising if Gao went down the Allardyce type route to try and ensure our survival. I am pretty confident the results would be better and we would have a far better chance of survival (and based on this season anyway can the performances really be much worse?). My opinion is that relegation would be a financial disaster which may take years to recover from, or another Markus type coming in to save the day. I would get in Allardyce if he wanted the job, accept the football will be ****e for a couple of years but we survive and stlll get PL revenue. During those years we let the contracts of the unwanted players run down making them easier to shift and then we can try and rebuild the squad in a certain way. It is like hitting the reset button and we need a safe pair of hands to try and guide us through that period and that to me is someone like Allardyce It would also complete the Sunderland cameo we are doing. According to a Sunderland supporter I know Allardyce was very good for them and he was gutted when he left to take the England job. From memory he said something like it was the first time in years the club felt like it had any direction and someone who knew what they were doing. Who knows maybe that would happen here
The problem is that Allardyce saves clubs from relegation by playing an uncompromising style, once safe, fans demand a more stylish team so Allardyce gets the push. Would be interesting to see what he does with a team not in a relegation scrap that had money to spend. I don’t think he would come here especially if no cash to strengthen. We are not the attraction we were in Poch/Koeman era.
Sort of agree, but very harsh on Brighton. They’re an expansive team these days. Oh crikey. We’d probably end up with Hughton, thinking about it.
I’d take that. I’d rather stick with Ralph, but would have no problem with Chris Hughton, who imo is not a negative coach, just a pragmatist.
Dear oh dear oh dear! What a bunch of wusses! You do realize that we're actually doing better than last season when we finished with 39 points? If you look at our games so far (8 points) and compare them with the same fixtures last season (swapping Sheffield for Cardiff) we managed 6 points. We are 25% better than last season and if we continue like this until the end of the season we will get 52 points!
Appointing Sam would be a masterstroke from Gao - Puts a huge split in the fanbase at a time when they're beginning to turn against him. #****offsamallardyce
yep. Well i can start my facts check On a wider point its clealry very bleak at present but I dont think we should give up just yet (not that anyone is of course) as history shows southampton tend to push on as the season develops A quick glance at the fixture list shows that the games through to the end of December could at least get us back in the mix as it were! Its grim today tho granted
It certainly is and made worse that the feeling of RH ‘has lost the dressing room’ comes to mind, yet I find myself arguing against the thought! Watching Saturday especially in the first half wasn’t just painful, but completely baffling as to what on earth was happening in the players minds. It was almost like someone had recruited a team of players during the morning, measured them up for shirts and sent them out to play. I agree we haven’t got the best squad by far, but surely they can and have played so much better than that? So, what’s changed or happened?