| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 10:16 - Apr 11 with 1126 views | SonicBoom |
I largely agree with the sentiment Nick. The big clubs are so much bigger these days that playing the top 6 is virtually the same as us playing a team in the lower half of the championship.
That said you do let Ralph off. He is an experienced manager now but he still makes inexplicable errors. Dave Merrington and Adam Blackmore were completely perplexed by the initial formation, then by taking off Romeu, then by the subsequent formations changes that Merrington described as baffling for him and the players.
Ralph seems to have an inability to react when things are going against us. In fact he seems to panic and just try anything he can think of without any real plan.
That said the players were abject. They almost suspect that Ralph's plan in wrong but try to enforce it but as soon as we concede they drain of confidence. What worries me is they just capitulate. We lost 6-0 and we got one booking. One. Where is the fight - or even the frustration. At least kick the f out of them!!
Salisu bothers me too. I know he's supposed to be worth 50 million or whatever but he doesn't seem to be training on. He is still naïve and casual on the ball. It's no good looking like Van Dyke for 80 minutes and Stephens for the other 10. He is being coached every day so he really should be improving by now.
I agree totally that we need to get an experienced centre back in. 4 years without it is at best reckless and at worst a wanton dereliction of duty by our recruitment team.
Finally our lack of coaching quality well again this is on Ralph. Great managers in any walk of life surround themselves with people that have different skills to them. Relying on yes men, does not help anyone. Get an experienced coach in who can support - and challenge - Ralph. [Post edited 11 Apr 2022 10:26]
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| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 10:43 - Apr 11 with 1091 views | SaintNick |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 10:16 - Apr 11 by SonicBoom |
I largely agree with the sentiment Nick. The big clubs are so much bigger these days that playing the top 6 is virtually the same as us playing a team in the lower half of the championship.
That said you do let Ralph off. He is an experienced manager now but he still makes inexplicable errors. Dave Merrington and Adam Blackmore were completely perplexed by the initial formation, then by taking off Romeu, then by the subsequent formations changes that Merrington described as baffling for him and the players.
Ralph seems to have an inability to react when things are going against us. In fact he seems to panic and just try anything he can think of without any real plan.
That said the players were abject. They almost suspect that Ralph's plan in wrong but try to enforce it but as soon as we concede they drain of confidence. What worries me is they just capitulate. We lost 6-0 and we got one booking. One. Where is the fight - or even the frustration. At least kick the f out of them!!
Salisu bothers me too. I know he's supposed to be worth 50 million or whatever but he doesn't seem to be training on. He is still naïve and casual on the ball. It's no good looking like Van Dyke for 80 minutes and Stephens for the other 10. He is being coached every day so he really should be improving by now.
I agree totally that we need to get an experienced centre back in. 4 years without it is at best reckless and at worst a wanton dereliction of duty by our recruitment team.
Finally our lack of coaching quality well again this is on Ralph. Great managers in any walk of life surround themselves with people that have different skills to them. Relying on yes men, does not help anyone. Get an experienced coach in who can support - and challenge - Ralph. [Post edited 11 Apr 2022 10:26]
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I agree with what you say, you are half right though when you say I have been a bit soft on Ralph, the lack of experienced coaching staff has to be down to the money available for salaries, he needs someone to bounce off and with our current coaching staff, Kitzbichler aside who is more data & performance related than actually a coach he seems to have no one.
David Watson & Kelvin Davis had no outfield coaching experience when appointed, Craig Fleming only at youth & non league level , there is little to inspire confidence that the players are prepared properly
Likewise the players we have, we need to accept that we need that experienced defender and leader if we are to bring the youngsters on, other wise we will just continue to get results that are topsy turvy.
Back Ralph in the transfer market and i dont mean spending £40 million on a player and get him some experienced coaches and things would improve drastically |  |
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| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:00 - Apr 11 with 1069 views | Saintsforeverj |
A good verdict Nick, mentioning most of the thoughts of fans. I look forward to your article on Ralph. The one thing not mentioned was playing Livramento and not Perraud. He should play Walker-Peters at right back and Perraud at left back. Easy after a game, but Livramento was terrible and Walker-peters was being played out of position. I also have to agree that taking off Romeu had no sense whatsoever. Romeu was the only player on the pitch who could have matched their aggression: totally unfathomable.
I have supported Ralph overall and continue to do so, but the question is as you mention, who can we get who will do any better with the same resources? At least we do have some good results and we will stay up but ofcourse these embarrassing defeats, which could easily have been 10 nil, keep happening and it's almost like Ralph and his team go into panic and just freeze on the pitch when they meet tough times. The players have to take responsibility too. There was no excuse for the way they just capitulated and let Chelsea take the p!ss. At 3 nil, we should have acted and slowed down the game and regrouped.
We have to hope that these new owners step up and provide the resources that we need, such as the experienced defender we desperately need and we need more clinical edge up front and a leader!!! I wouldn't be surprised if things are happening behind the scenes too. Ralph talked about retiring, Romeu talked about only signing a contract if the club's ambitions meets his, Broja will return to Chelsea, Salisu has been terrible ever since talks if other clubs wanting him. Who knows, but the summer will tell us which way this club is going. |  |
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| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:47 - Apr 11 with 1016 views | saint22 |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:00 - Apr 11 by Saintsforeverj |
A good verdict Nick, mentioning most of the thoughts of fans. I look forward to your article on Ralph. The one thing not mentioned was playing Livramento and not Perraud. He should play Walker-Peters at right back and Perraud at left back. Easy after a game, but Livramento was terrible and Walker-peters was being played out of position. I also have to agree that taking off Romeu had no sense whatsoever. Romeu was the only player on the pitch who could have matched their aggression: totally unfathomable.
I have supported Ralph overall and continue to do so, but the question is as you mention, who can we get who will do any better with the same resources? At least we do have some good results and we will stay up but ofcourse these embarrassing defeats, which could easily have been 10 nil, keep happening and it's almost like Ralph and his team go into panic and just freeze on the pitch when they meet tough times. The players have to take responsibility too. There was no excuse for the way they just capitulated and let Chelsea take the p!ss. At 3 nil, we should have acted and slowed down the game and regrouped.
We have to hope that these new owners step up and provide the resources that we need, such as the experienced defender we desperately need and we need more clinical edge up front and a leader!!! I wouldn't be surprised if things are happening behind the scenes too. Ralph talked about retiring, Romeu talked about only signing a contract if the club's ambitions meets his, Broja will return to Chelsea, Salisu has been terrible ever since talks if other clubs wanting him. Who knows, but the summer will tell us which way this club is going. |
It really is astonishing that at the end of every season we have the same discussions......need an experienced leader, need one or ideally 2 good CBs, need a new keeper, maybe we should bring in new coaches, a number 2, a DoF? Need a striker
We are a patch work team,. some good, some not so, some terrible and a lot not improving
Ralphs stubbornness again showing through KWP at RB Perraud at LB and Tino ahead of KWP has been crying out to be tried, has he even played that once???
Hooking Romeu arguably our most consistent performer this year
Pertsisting with Mccarthy for months on end leading to loss of 9 points at minimum
He seems to have a blind spot or just thinks he knows best
Playing expansive line ups against the best teams and getting mauled, changing the team for a big cup game
I like the guy but I think he has reached a nadir | | | |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:53 - Apr 11 with 1006 views | saint22 |
Didn't Brentford beat this team 4-1 on at the Bridge? | | | |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:55 - Apr 11 with 1005 views | Saintsforeverj |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:53 - Apr 11 by saint22 |
Didn't Brentford beat this team 4-1 on at the Bridge? |
They did but we also beat Brentford 4 1, so that's the crazy world of football. | |
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| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 12:57 - Apr 11 with 936 views | Sadoldgit |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 11:53 - Apr 11 by saint22 |
Didn't Brentford beat this team 4-1 on at the Bridge? |
Chelsea had 71% of the ball and 8 shots at goal against their 6. On another day it would have been a different score so I would read too much into that. I don’t get the constant argument about full backs either. Many Premiership managers play players on the opposite side of the pitch to their favoured foot. KWP has created more chances and scored more goals from the left than Perraud. He is a better left back than Perraud in my opinion and until recently Livramento has been excellent at right back. I am more concerned about how we get outgunned in midfield when the press fails. I don’t question the tactics as when it works for us we have played some excellent football. The problem is that we don’t have the players with sufficient quality to pull it off week after week. When the system fails it fails badly as we have seen where Spurs ripped us apart earlier in the season the way Chelsea did, plus the two 9-0s of course. I admire his commitment to playing attacking football and for trying to instil a brave mindset into the players, but this isn’t a squad full of the quality as per Man City or Liverpool where his tactics would be more likely to work consistently. It is one thing being brave on and with the ball, another to be good enough to play that way effectively consistently. I saw elsewhere a very good dissection of our seasons. He point out how streaky our form is and how we go go from being excellent being truly awful with no in between periods. It hasn’t helped that our two centre backs have folded - whether that is down to poor form or the constant pressure from the counters, maybe a bit of both? I don’t think Ralph is a poor manager but sometimes I think that he tries to be too clever with what he has to work with. Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t. If it is part of a building process and things will improve next season with a few quality additions to the squad, all well and good. But we end up getting more of the same next season then wholesale changes need to be made. |  | | |
| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 14:59 - Apr 11 with 864 views | A1079 |
None of this really addresses the basic question. What is the mindset of the players on the pitch that stops them doing the basics? Whether or not they agree or disagree with the managers tactics why did they stop doing the easy things? Even if they are having a bad day, where was the collective desire to fill the gaps, get stuck in, make some tackles, and make it difficult? and whilst we give the defence et al a deserved panning what about up front - completely toothless. Even when Che Adams had a chance all he had to do was beat the keeper and all he did was fire straight at him. Everyone said he should have scored and that too has been happening for weeks - strikers who can't hit a barn door but seem to be able to hit the guy in the middle of the goal.
Let's remember this isn't a one off. Villa away could easily have been 7-0.
As regards Ralph. I am not calling for him to go but he cannot be absolved of this repeat bad performance. It has happened too often under him and he just doesn't seem to be learning. The performance and results are ultimately his responsibility. His choices at times are bewildering and clearly whatever mindset he puts into the players it isn't one of stoic resistance when things get tough. Either the manager is the problem or we have too many players who have a poor mental attitude. Even on bad days you need your experienced players to come together and lead and yet they all vanished on Saturday. What was also interesting post match is neither the manager or the players seemed prepared to take any responsibility - we caught Chelsea on a bad day seemed to be their assessment. | | | |
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| Southampton V Chelsea The Verdict on 16:18 - Apr 11 with 793 views | SonicBoom |
Maybe it's the mindset of the modern player. They are coached to death as to what to do with and without the ball. We've all seen the endless flip charts that a substitute has to go through before he comes on for three minutes.
Maybe once the glorious plan doesn't work none of them are sure what to do? Perhaps they've lost the ability to think for themselves and adapt to the situation on the pitch. | | | |
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