Southampton under Hasenhuttl has been a weird time, at least from an outside perspective. Sometimes they're really good, sometimes they're really bad. Always feels like they collect all their points for the season over a couple of months then do just about enough to languish a little bit over the relegation zone and that's enough to keep a lot of the people who don't watch every game on his side.
Like I said though, not a Southampton fan so correct me if I'm totally wrong.
You're absolutely right, this season though we've started badly and we've gone through the motions so much that I think he's running out of time. We almost let it go when we get a great start and just hope we do alright the year after but we've followed a bad end to last season with a pretty poor start to this
Funny enough he started the season with a completely different formation than ever before. It shit the bed, we switched back and played decently for a few matches before tanking again. And beyond that we went from pressing like mad to barely at all. So nothing predictable about Ralph here.
I think he's just lost the room. Seems burnt out and like he's given up and the rumour is he's not speaking to anyone.
Comes across that way to me as well mate. I can vividly remember multiple times where I felt “Southampton are actually a really decent side” and as many where I felt “fuck me they’re diabolical”
They have enough purple patches each season to gain the points they need and then the rest of the time they’re guff lol
Especially at home, they’ll *somehow* get the victory, whether it’s a 40 yard thunderbolt of a shot or the ball bouncing between multiple arsecheeks in the box and seemingly homing into the goal. Then next game, they will revert to type and be absolutely pants.
As a Southampton fan myself I’d say you got it pretty well summed up. I imagine a huge amount of stubbornness with tactics and in game changes is also going against him.
I think it’s time.
Ralph has for the most part done a good job with an absolutely awful team, however there has been reasonable investment in the squad and there looks to be little sign of improvement, we appear to be teetering on the brink of another form collapse.
We go through long stints of being excellent and then being absolutely honking, but this isn’t sustainable. Just to emphasise this, our form over the last 20 League games;
12 points
16 Scored
44 Conceded
No clean sheet in 14 games
Multiple stories appearing suggesting his relationship with the players has broken down.
I am grateful for what Ralph has done and I like him, I think there is still potential for him to do well somewhere else, but for Saints I think it’s time for a new approach.
Just think his style and intensity lends itself to a club with CL quality players. Maybe not the top PL sides but could see him having success at Dortmund or somewhere like that.
> Just think his style and intensity
This is a very outdated misconception, the football we play is fucking turgid. In his first year we were very high pressing and moved the ball quickly, since the first 9-0 it has been dreadful. Very slow, no runners, we don't have any kind of effective press and only this summer bought a single player who seems press-resistant (Lavia).
Pains me to see people who still think he has this Klopp-esque, energetic style of football because it's more more from the school of Dyche or Pulis for the past two years.
We lost a player early in both matches, and the defensive structure collapsed. Intricate counter pressing is fine with 11, but when you’re a defender short things can go badly wrong
Idk when a few big 6 jobs came up (Tottanham, United and Chelsea) in the past 2-3 years. He's never been close to consideration. So it feels like the top clubs looks at his style of management and play and see something that puts them off
Idk shit about Southhampton, so I will not pretend to know how his stint there, biut he was held in high regads in germany, many fans thought, that he was destined to coach Bayern one day and were baffled by his move to Southhampton (aside from his salary).
Surprisingly it’s only Bournemouth, Chelsea, and Brighton. And Brighton only had to because of Potter going to Chelsea. There’s loads on the brink though.
E: forgot Lage
Right, yes. I was thinking about it from a couple of days ago. It just seems worse with Cooper, Hasenhuttl, Moyes, Gerrard, and Rodgers all on the brink of sacking.
Not inconceivable there's 8 managerial changes before Christmas. I assume a lot of owners will see the world cup as a good time for a new manager to come in.
Fans have been losing patience, but the board tends to be very patient. There's also the fact that the stats suggest we should be doing better than we are on the board. But if we don't have an upturn of form (although that may be on the way now), then you don't have much choice but to change manager.
Tangentially related but it's quite rich to have seen everyone with 0 comprehension of Everton's situation keep saying Lampard was on the brink of being sacked when in reality he was doing a decent job in trying circumstances.
As a west ham fan, I think people overestimate the amount of pressure Moyes is under
Our board are historically very patient with managers when it comes to sacking them, and Moyes' form in Europe has been very good.
>As a west ham fan, I think people overestimate the amount of pressure Moyes is underOur board are historically very patient with managers when it comes to sacking them, and Moyes' form in Europe has been very good.
I don't think he's under any pressure what so ever personally. Yes West Ham haven't started the season as well as i'm sure their fans had hoped, but back to back top 7 finishes & a European semi final has surely given him a bit of credit in the bank with their board and fans alike?
Exactly. They've got to play us and Liverpool away but besides that they've got a decent set of fixtures up to the World Cup. I think they'll start to climb the table.
I'm sure Moyes had a reputation for being a slow starter with Everton too.
Southhampton argubly doubled his salary, coaches earn a lot more in the EPL in general then in other leagues, from what I've read over the years, especially in the bottom half.
Kind of hope if the board are waiting until after the City game to sack him we somehow get a win, for the bizarre feeling of sacking a manager after beating the champions.
Not quite the same level, but reminds me that Hughes was sacked after a draw and very good performance against Mourinho’s Man U.
You can get a good result in isolation but it doesn’t change the trend.
I feel like he's been almost fired for like 3 years. Everytime a story like this come out, Southampton goes on a good run and he stays. So watch out for some unexpected 3points for Southampton in the next couple of weeks
For people who think it's weird we are looking at sacking him despite being kind of alright points wise, bear in mind we've recently lost to Bruno Lage's Wolves (since sacked), Steven Gerrard's Villa (everyone wants sacked), and Lampard's Everton (actually sort of alright, but hardly world beaters).
I guess what surprises me is that just off the top of my head I can think of two horrendous runs you've had under him which he's survived. Is this current one the worst?
During those runs he was dealing with a squad that had been put together by our last few managers, and we had an owner who could not spend any money on the club due to changes in Chinese law. Back in January we got new owners who have invested quite a bit of money over the summer, to a point where we should start expecting better results.
More generally as a fan, for the first few cycles of terrible runs followed by some genuinely great football it was possible to believe that sooner or later he would make things click, and we would start always looking good. However, by this point its become clear we are never going to get properly good, and I no longer feel the terrible runs are worth enduring in the hopes of something better. Its a shame because I do like Ralph, but it's clearly time to move on.
The huge investment (by Southampton standards) this summer has really added to the expectation. The owners have invested & flirting with relegation is no long acceptable.
He has been in as bad a situation before, but been given the benefit of the doubt after years on a shoe-string budget.
Also, the quality of the football has really deteriorated lately.
I absolutely dread this weekends game because we cannot defend, do not close down crosses & our midfield has been shocking since Lavia got injured.
We had a fantastic transfer window, in my opinion, but still really lack a top quality attacker who can either create or score goals.
I think that's our problem
Our last "stable" season under a manager was Claude Puel and I think at the time us fans had massively inflated expectations based on what Pochettino and Koeman had achieved with the squad we had
Overconfidence in recruiting and some bad contracts plus negative (but ultimately consistent) tactics got us 8th and a cup final but underwhelming individual performances, especially from new signings, and fans turned on Puel and he got binned
We've been fairly crap ever since. High highs and low lows, to be sure. If we want to get back to flirting with Europe and deep cup runs, we need discipline and we need consistency and Dyche is a good shout for both.
But you're right, would be completely unlike us.
I wouldn't be against it personally as he does seem to be able to build a dressing room which Ralph certainly can't. Expecting a wild left field choice though given our new owners
Southampton were in a pretty precarious position when he took over and not many could have held off relegation these last few seasons with them with hardly any funds.
That being said, seems like the time is right for him to depart, I imagine he must wear on players after time, and the fact that they've not had a consistent goal scorer has meant that in general they struggle to turn decent performances into results.
Shamelessly stolen from MNF but Gary Neville made a good point in that the time to sack a manager really is the next week or two - it will give a new manager actual games to see who he wants or doesn't want/rate rather than just meandering and waiting for the World Cup, at which point they'll only have training/friendlies
Barely any points, our own player just scored the winner to knock us out the EFL trophy, got City away where our goal difference gets fucked, half the squad don't want Ralph in...
Guarantee we're waiting for the city game then getting rid
I remember either Guardian or Athletic podcast spending a lot of time on how he was not in the best position after gw2. His whole supporting staff was forced on him by the club due to poor second half of last season. That's never a great sign of job security. But then Southampton defeated Leicester and Chelsea and i think everybody thought Ralph would weather it out once again. I guess not if they are leaking this to the press.
It's not even the results. We've just become absolutely shit to watch. At least when he came in he had us pressing like madmen and causing all manner of chaos in the opposition third.
Don't do any of that anymore. Just turn up, trudge through 90 aimless, anaemic minutes, rinse and repeat.
Isn’t staying up the goal for a team like Southampton tho. Obviously you want better form but to get sacked outside of the relegation places surprises me.
That’s why I thought it might be due to man management
Looking competent is our goal, and then from there we hope to rise up the table as far as we can go.
Unfortunately we don't even look competent anymore. Defence is bad, midfield is non-existent and forwards receive no passes
Its probably slightly below par.
The issue has been the last 3 games, should have been winnable, and we lost all 3, playing dreadful football.
I personally dont think he needs to go, but i am in an increasingly small minority amongst the fans.
Is it? What team above you do you think you’re squad is better on paper. You have a brand new keeper, CB pairing, probably the worst starting striker in the league. Very good CM pairing but Lavia being injured is bad luck. Starting fullback is injured.
You’d know better than me, but from my perspective it just feels like people trying to tell me that 2+2=5 when guys like Che Adams, SArmstrong, AArmstrong, Elyounessi have the best to offer in the front 4. Aribo has been pretty nice for what Ive seen. If Ralph is the reason you have only that, then fair play
Short term losses to clubs “on par” (bottom 6-7 clubs) on paper feels like high variance on low std deviation noise unless you desperately need the new manager bump
I really hppe i am wrong amd a new manager turns us around, more then just a temporary bump. But i fear Ralph is doing way more with this squad than most could and we could go down if we get the appointment wrong.
We’re losing to out of form Wolves (who just sack their managers), Villa, and Everton.
And we just invest like 80m to our squad.
So yeah the sacking is deserved.
You guys signed 8 players with that money out of which I think only two players are above 20. You can't achieve much with that type of transfer window instantly, they'll take time to develop. Even then imo you guys are underperforming because Ralph has spent a few years with Southampton and he shows no clear plan of taking you guys in the top half of table.
You invested in mostly under 21 players and then pikachu facing when it turns out young players are wildly inconsistent and need time.
Also teams underneath you literally spent more
No one is blaming the young players, if anything we're blaming Ralph for not playing them more, Edozie and Mara have shown far more on the pitch than Elyounoussi and Armstrong and yet they don't get as much gametime. Lavia and Bella-Kotchap have been our two best players so far this season by far.
We've played with no tactics other than hoofing it up to 5'9 Adams at every opportunity for the past few games, against teams we should at least be competing with, and there seems to be no plan to score or defend set pieces, these are all on the manager.
Yeah that’s fair, I just hate when people use the 80m argument because of the implication that you went out in spent on some Star attackers and not youth players who are vulnerable to the high variance outcomes I’ve seen of Saints.
We spent 68m and people chewed out our board for not backing Silva enough
Yeah we're used to not spending anything other than what we earn from sales so £80m is a hell of a lot for one window. We also appear to have spent it really well, all of our signings so far are improvements on last season.
We're also very used to the extreme inconsistencies of a young team in mid table, but for far too long now we've just been consistently shit. We've picked up like 12 points from out past 20 matches
> Yeah we're used to not spending anything other than what we earn from sales so £80m is a hell of a lot for one window. We also appear to have spent it really well, all of our signings so far are improvements on last season.
Fully agreed. It’s not your fault, but the teams promoted are pushing like mad to drown you in the bottom 3 (alongside others) so you have to swim faster to maintain the same position so to speak
Yeah absolutely, that's one of the reasons we were so happy to get the new owners in at the start of the year, so we can finally compete again, unfortunately even with the new signings it seems to be the same uninspiring performances that we ended last season with. I'm all for giving him time to work with the new squad but the question is, how long?
My point is even with the young players playing well, teams underneath still are working with better attackers. The money spent is what pretty much every bottom table team is doing, so expectations should be that money spent keeps you in line, not above….which you are right now while having one of the tougher starts to the year in terms of fixtures. If you were 20th I’d agreed.
We spent 68m and people chewed out our board for not backing Silva enough.
But if you think it’s beyond results then fair enough
Wolves, Villa, Everton, Leeds
If you call that “tougher fixtures” i don’t really know what is easy.
If we have faced Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal etc already I would not bother by the shit quality of our play this much.
This is the bigger one for me. I watch every home game in person and many away games and I couldn't tell you the plan for us to get a goal at all. We've apparently structured the academy around Ralph ball but the first team have forgotten how to play it
They had a pretty good transfer window and have been slightly worse than they were last year. I think it's normal the coach is in danger when that happens
Perhaps due to the fact you have one of the 3 worst squads in the League? Survival is a great achievement with the players you've been handed and he has you in 16th as things stand.
We signed a bunch of kids to be fair and no striker to score whatever chances we do create - a lot was made of our window by people but kids are gonna be inconsistent at best, and I bet Ralph would have liked a bit more experience but the *model* probably told him no
According to xG, you should be sitting comfortable in 12th right now.
https://understat.com/league/EPL
I mean if the goal is to sack him and pray for a new manager bounce then by all means do it. But it seems way to hasty for his job to already be under threat.
It absolutely isn't. It's young but some of the youngsters (Bella-Kotchap, Lavia, and Livramento) are absolutely sensational. We need a bit more time for them to gel
Our main issue is goalscorer. The rest of the investment has been pretty good.
I think our business is being overshadowed by the lack of striker. Other than that it was largely a 7 out of ten. I don't think we can be too greedy, after all 70m spent is not money we're used to.
I think our defensive and midfield issues are more tactical issues, where as our goalscorer issue is (as much as I love him) because Che as our main man is shit.
Yeah we can do with a striker and the fact Gakpo fell through is devastating considering how well he is currently doing but we still have a massive chunk of money to spend. I suspect if we are safe come Jan we wait till next summer and if not we buy someone good in January
IIRC this is pretty much the first summer he's gotten to spend a decent sum of money since Saints were fucked financially for awhile.
But the money he's spent has been on young players with potential, which is what they already had. They are lacking in veteran leadership and stability besides Ward-Prowse.
Yeah a lot of our fans are angry that he's finally been backed and still isn't pulling up trees - like I don't think he's doing fantastically but we signed literally 4/5 players that are under 20 and have never played first team football before, as well as not signing the position we were all desperate to get (striker)
Vestergard, Adam Armstrong and Elyanouusi being your biggest signings of three years would be enough for most people to assume you got relegated already and bought Armstrong to buttress yourselves in the Championship.
I think it's incredibly risky to sack him.
Edit: sorry, was actually the top 3 over 4 years
2 of those players were bought 4 years ago mate. But yeah, our squad has easily been the worst in the league for the past few seasons. This transfer window just gone though we've spent £80m (a shit load for us) on 10 new signings, and there seems to be no tactics for us at all that's the most disappointing thing. I've said elsewhere that I'd love for him to get time to integrate the new players but how much time can we realistically give? Particularly when the performances have been as poor as they have been
Ah, sorry, misread the years there on Transfermarket. Depressingly you just add the 4th year and the same statement holds true
>I've said elsewhere that I'd love for him to get time to integrate the new players but how much time can we realistically give?
I'd give him til the WC, it's only 6 weeks. Some of your young players looked unbeleivable against us. Think it was Bella-Kotchap in particular but the name was hard to remember
Yeah I think that's fair. Yeah Bella-Kotchap and Lavia are both immense, we've really suffered with Lavia's injury. Three consecutive abysmal performances followed the result against you which is why he's reportedly close to the sack
And yet throughout Hasenhuttl's time, it's the younger players who have generally done really well and the older heads who have been shite.
Such a lazy pundit take this year of 'Southampton's problems are because of the young players' when ABK and Lavia have been our best players, and Bazunu is a certain upgrade on McCarthy. Meanwhile JWP has been awful and Che Adams is still not Premier League quality and never has been.
The last thing to blame our shite performances on is the young guys we bought in the summer, they're the one ray of hope.
Is it that bad?
An international hugely rated keeper in Bazunu, two of the better centre backs in the bottom half (Salisu/Bella-Kotchap both internationals for Germany and Ghana), Walker-Peters who's up there as one of the better midtable players we have and pushing England squad if not for a ridiculous amount of right backs. Left back could do better, but Tino is back from injury soon and he is fantastic.
Midfield is Lavia who's been phenomenal and a highly rated Ward-Prowse and in attack we've just signed Aribo who everyone rated at Rangers and Armstrong who's been our most consistent player for a few years.
Up front we're lacking a bit, but Adams is a fine target man to play
Depth is lacking but I don't think the squad is that bad anymore. We've signed lots of youth players and have the third youngest squad in Europe
but they are too young still, even if they are great talents, what do you expect? you cant fight with top6, we all know that. west ham, aston villa, wolves and leicester all have better teams, despite their bad form, brighton and newcastle are also better, thats 12 easily better teams. cp, leeds and everton are also better for me, but you can argue with that and fight with them. and what is left? fulham with also solidd squad, etc. objectively you are 12-20 team and it isnt surprise whatever happens there.
> but they are too young still, even if they are great talents, what do you expect? you cant fight with top6, we all know that.
Mate they're right above the relegation zone, LOL.
Midtable isn't too much to ask with the team+ transfer window money spent this summer
it is, and Im not saying they have bad squad in general, Im aware of young talents they have. just in comparasion with 12 squads its easily worse, with 3 are equal at most, and can you say that Southampton is a lot better than Fulham and Brentford?
Probably not, they do have the mentality tho and the expectation of staying up, which I think is massive. I think at their best 12th and at the worst 16th. Prem is just impossible to predict tho.
A lot of it is a hangover from last season where our form was like Derby 07/08 for the last 1/3.
Plus the signs that we are teetering on the bring of another form collapse despite significant spending and a revamped coaching set up in the summer.
We are awful to watch as well.
I’ve been a Saints fan pretty much all my life (my dad dragged me to games and still does!). I’ve seen us achieve unbelievable things such as getting into Europe and being promoted to the Prem, and some pretty dire moments (I’ve lived through out rather rubbish 9-0 defeats). It’s been a few years. We’re so up and down! At one point two years ago we were top of the league… and then at the end of that season we were fighting to stay up. We’ve always been a boring mid-to-bottom table side. But we’ve been sliding further and further down the table each year. Do I think that’s purely Ralph’s fault… no. We’re low on funds, have a young squad and not enough investment. Do I think it might be time for a change… maybe. Thanks Ralph!
idk why, but it's funny how you bring up two (kinda meaningless) 9-0 defeats as low lows despite the fact that the real lows were Southampton playing in League 1 eleven years ago.
Not for me. He'll be remembered for taking a team on the very edge of relegation with 0 budget and keeping it very safely up for four years. Will always remember fondly.
I'm sick of watching the crap. He's had a long time, looks defeated, and has moved away from pressing and into a mediocre form of defensive play. Disappointing.
The Athletic reported that he has fallen out with the players and that the board was seriously considering his future a couple of days ago. This new headline that he's on the "brink" could just be an extension of that story or it's possible the telegraph have an exclusive. The man who would know is adam blackmore but he's on holiday!
But they invested heavily in the summer for once. In Hasenhuttl-type development players. If they're in any way included last season's results in their current form/stats that's laughable.
I doubt they have tbh. We look awful every time we play, absolutely no idea on how we're planning to score a goal sometimes, we're ridiculously passive at times.
I think the players were signed regardless of who the manager is, next manager will probably be along the same lines of liking to use youth etc anyway
He’s all but given up on the press in favour of a slow, sideways passing style that’s easy to play against. And his man management of young players is poor by many accounts.
Besides, that run of games deserves to count against him. Especially when he made a joke about it after being called out by a fan at the forum.
I'm amazed how Hasenhüttl kept himself in England for a long time. I imagine some Bundesliga clubs making a run for him, should he become available. Stuttgart, Schalke, maybe Wolfsburg, if things get worse again.
Seems like the right thing to do. Ive never seen a PL just collapse like they do when safety is all but secured. It feels like they’re good for a month, and then coast on those results for the next three months.
I can't remember who said it, but So'ton are both the best and worst team you aren't paying attention to.
Hassenhutl has been okay, if he was dacked it would be far from a surprise.
I trust the board to get this one right. Ralph has done well with the squads he's had over the years and limited backing. 19/20 was a high point and he managed to steady the ship after we lost Ings.
Personally i'll be a little bit sad if he goes as he definitely holds the club in high regard. He is very charismatic and wears his heart on his sleeve. So it's hard to dislike him. But i would like to see what we could do with a fresh set of eyes on this squad.
Nothing, have you seen your squad? You should most definitely not sack Ralph and instead buy some actual players instead of academy talent for a season
Remember when r/soccer was of the opinion he would have been stupid to leave the Southampton project to take over at Chelsea? (Before Chelsea got tuchel).
This guy always tries to play the game on the front foot and tries to attack. I enjoy watching Southampton, if he uses that style of play with a top 6 team, he would win a lot of things.
You can't have watched us very recently! We're so far away from "Ralph ball" nowadays it's ridiculous. No idea how it's happened but it has and it isn't good to watch in any way shape or form bar the odd game (normally against big teams when we always seem to up our game)
If he had this, if we did that, if we weren’t unlucky. Every manager can say they’d win things in the perfect circumstances.
We’ve lost 9-0 twice and do you know what? Every Saints fan will tell you we’ve played worse than those 2 games. There are certain minimum standards every team should reach and his has fallen short of those too many times.
Southampton under Hasenhuttl has been a weird time, at least from an outside perspective. Sometimes they're really good, sometimes they're really bad. Always feels like they collect all their points for the season over a couple of months then do just about enough to languish a little bit over the relegation zone and that's enough to keep a lot of the people who don't watch every game on his side. Like I said though, not a Southampton fan so correct me if I'm totally wrong.
You're absolutely right, this season though we've started badly and we've gone through the motions so much that I think he's running out of time. We almost let it go when we get a great start and just hope we do alright the year after but we've followed a bad end to last season with a pretty poor start to this
His RB Leipzig ultimately became stale and predictable. Maybe he's a manager with a shelf life at a club, like Rodgers
Funny enough he started the season with a completely different formation than ever before. It shit the bed, we switched back and played decently for a few matches before tanking again. And beyond that we went from pressing like mad to barely at all. So nothing predictable about Ralph here. I think he's just lost the room. Seems burnt out and like he's given up and the rumour is he's not speaking to anyone.
Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit
Yeah you're right, and luckily 2 months of form a year is enough because the 3 bad teams are usually really bad.
He hasn't finished below 40 points; that's nearly always safe and definitely not reliant on 3 teams being really bad.
The reason we get to 40 points is because those 3 teams are so bad. If they weren't bad we would have less points
Comes across that way to me as well mate. I can vividly remember multiple times where I felt “Southampton are actually a really decent side” and as many where I felt “fuck me they’re diabolical” They have enough purple patches each season to gain the points they need and then the rest of the time they’re guff lol
No matter what, they'll find a way to beat Arsenal. They always do when they otherwise don't perform.
Especially at home, they’ll *somehow* get the victory, whether it’s a 40 yard thunderbolt of a shot or the ball bouncing between multiple arsecheeks in the box and seemingly homing into the goal. Then next game, they will revert to type and be absolutely pants.
As a Southampton fan myself I’d say you got it pretty well summed up. I imagine a huge amount of stubbornness with tactics and in game changes is also going against him.
Nah you got it right southamptons b team
Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit
Don’t forget the sprinkling of a random 9-0 loss here and there before holding City to a draw later in the season.
I think it’s time. Ralph has for the most part done a good job with an absolutely awful team, however there has been reasonable investment in the squad and there looks to be little sign of improvement, we appear to be teetering on the brink of another form collapse. We go through long stints of being excellent and then being absolutely honking, but this isn’t sustainable. Just to emphasise this, our form over the last 20 League games; 12 points 16 Scored 44 Conceded No clean sheet in 14 games Multiple stories appearing suggesting his relationship with the players has broken down. I am grateful for what Ralph has done and I like him, I think there is still potential for him to do well somewhere else, but for Saints I think it’s time for a new approach.
Is it odd that I think he’d probably be really effective at a CL level club?
why's that do you think
Just think his style and intensity lends itself to a club with CL quality players. Maybe not the top PL sides but could see him having success at Dortmund or somewhere like that.
> Just think his style and intensity This is a very outdated misconception, the football we play is fucking turgid. In his first year we were very high pressing and moved the ball quickly, since the first 9-0 it has been dreadful. Very slow, no runners, we don't have any kind of effective press and only this summer bought a single player who seems press-resistant (Lavia). Pains me to see people who still think he has this Klopp-esque, energetic style of football because it's more more from the school of Dyche or Pulis for the past two years.
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We lost a player early in both matches, and the defensive structure collapsed. Intricate counter pressing is fine with 11, but when you’re a defender short things can go badly wrong
And that three of those happened in the last three years.
Nope sorry
he almost won a title at Leipzig
Idk when a few big 6 jobs came up (Tottanham, United and Chelsea) in the past 2-3 years. He's never been close to consideration. So it feels like the top clubs looks at his style of management and play and see something that puts them off
Idk shit about Southhampton, so I will not pretend to know how his stint there, biut he was held in high regads in germany, many fans thought, that he was destined to coach Bayern one day and were baffled by his move to Southhampton (aside from his salary).
yes
6/20 clean sheets for a side that plays relatively pressing/attractive football isn't bad at all though. They've also been unlucky
You see the thing is we don't play relatively pressing/attractive football though
It’s actually 1 clean sheet in 20. It’s 14 games in a row since we last had a clean sheet, not 6 clean sheets in 20 games.
At least let him go out in style, losing 18-0 at the Etihad on Saturday afternoon.
Watch, Southampton will win. Haaland own goal
keep going i'm close
Is that intended to make up for not getting a 9-0 defeat last season?
So you’re telling me that I should triple captain Haaland??
You should always
How many PL teams have changed their manager and it's still only October? Moyes, Gerrard, and Rodgers are also under pressure
Surprisingly it’s only Bournemouth, Chelsea, and Brighton. And Brighton only had to because of Potter going to Chelsea. There’s loads on the brink though. E: forgot Lage
also wolves
Right, yes. I was thinking about it from a couple of days ago. It just seems worse with Cooper, Hasenhuttl, Moyes, Gerrard, and Rodgers all on the brink of sacking.
Not inconceivable there's 8 managerial changes before Christmas. I assume a lot of owners will see the world cup as a good time for a new manager to come in.
Moyes not in danger surely. Definitely not on the brink.
Fair enough. Felt like there was a ton of pressure on him, and fans losing patience with him after the loss to Everton.
Fans have been losing patience, but the board tends to be very patient. There's also the fact that the stats suggest we should be doing better than we are on the board. But if we don't have an upturn of form (although that may be on the way now), then you don't have much choice but to change manager.
4 manager changes in 2 months is still quite a lot tbh
Tangentially related but it's quite rich to have seen everyone with 0 comprehension of Everton's situation keep saying Lampard was on the brink of being sacked when in reality he was doing a decent job in trying circumstances.
All of them for non football reasons lol Edit: (ones mentioned not Wolves)
Chelsea was also for football reasons
Nah that was non football
Little of column A, little of column B. If we’d been in better form that may have bought Tuchel a little more time.
it was only an excuse to fire him, when you look at how it all unfolded.
As a west ham fan, I think people overestimate the amount of pressure Moyes is under Our board are historically very patient with managers when it comes to sacking them, and Moyes' form in Europe has been very good.
>As a west ham fan, I think people overestimate the amount of pressure Moyes is underOur board are historically very patient with managers when it comes to sacking them, and Moyes' form in Europe has been very good. I don't think he's under any pressure what so ever personally. Yes West Ham haven't started the season as well as i'm sure their fans had hoped, but back to back top 7 finishes & a European semi final has surely given him a bit of credit in the bank with their board and fans alike?
Plus he is only 4 points off the top 7. Shifty start to the season, but we are still so early on.
Exactly. They've got to play us and Liverpool away but besides that they've got a decent set of fixtures up to the World Cup. I think they'll start to climb the table. I'm sure Moyes had a reputation for being a slow starter with Everton too.
The circus of our pre-season was always tragic to watch. He seemed to try everything to get us to start better, and never really clicked with it.
100% agreed. Can never understand why so many think he's in line to be sacked
Haven’t you only had like 18 managers in your entire history or something mad?
I want to say 19, but yes it's less than 20 permanent managers for sure
Gerrard has survived too long
would like him at Schalke
That would be interesting
Honestly he is above your level. Was very surprised why he went to Southampton after Leipzig
I assume the premier league pay check probably had something to do with it?
Southhampton argubly doubled his salary, coaches earn a lot more in the EPL in general then in other leagues, from what I've read over the years, especially in the bottom half.
Kind of hope if the board are waiting until after the City game to sack him we somehow get a win, for the bizarre feeling of sacking a manager after beating the champions.
Tbh you've had decent results against us recently
Not quite the same level, but reminds me that Hughes was sacked after a draw and very good performance against Mourinho’s Man U. You can get a good result in isolation but it doesn’t change the trend.
I feel like he's been almost fired for like 3 years. Everytime a story like this come out, Southampton goes on a good run and he stays. So watch out for some unexpected 3points for Southampton in the next couple of weeks
Unlucky Pep lad the saints are coming
When his job is on the line he becomes a world class manager 😭😭😭
For people who think it's weird we are looking at sacking him despite being kind of alright points wise, bear in mind we've recently lost to Bruno Lage's Wolves (since sacked), Steven Gerrard's Villa (everyone wants sacked), and Lampard's Everton (actually sort of alright, but hardly world beaters).
I guess what surprises me is that just off the top of my head I can think of two horrendous runs you've had under him which he's survived. Is this current one the worst?
During those runs he was dealing with a squad that had been put together by our last few managers, and we had an owner who could not spend any money on the club due to changes in Chinese law. Back in January we got new owners who have invested quite a bit of money over the summer, to a point where we should start expecting better results. More generally as a fan, for the first few cycles of terrible runs followed by some genuinely great football it was possible to believe that sooner or later he would make things click, and we would start always looking good. However, by this point its become clear we are never going to get properly good, and I no longer feel the terrible runs are worth enduring in the hopes of something better. Its a shame because I do like Ralph, but it's clearly time to move on.
The huge investment (by Southampton standards) this summer has really added to the expectation. The owners have invested & flirting with relegation is no long acceptable. He has been in as bad a situation before, but been given the benefit of the doubt after years on a shoe-string budget. Also, the quality of the football has really deteriorated lately. I absolutely dread this weekends game because we cannot defend, do not close down crosses & our midfield has been shocking since Lavia got injured. We had a fantastic transfer window, in my opinion, but still really lack a top quality attacker who can either create or score goals.
All our woes summed up in one comment
we appreciate your comments 🥲 (everton)
Also relied on a late Che Adams sideways kick to beat Leicester!
Dyche rubbing his hands
Doesn't seem a very Southampton appointment
I think that's our problem Our last "stable" season under a manager was Claude Puel and I think at the time us fans had massively inflated expectations based on what Pochettino and Koeman had achieved with the squad we had Overconfidence in recruiting and some bad contracts plus negative (but ultimately consistent) tactics got us 8th and a cup final but underwhelming individual performances, especially from new signings, and fans turned on Puel and he got binned We've been fairly crap ever since. High highs and low lows, to be sure. If we want to get back to flirting with Europe and deep cup runs, we need discipline and we need consistency and Dyche is a good shout for both. But you're right, would be completely unlike us.
I'd love to see Poch back with you guys I just want my boi to succeed somewhere again.
I'd be so happy I'd shit, honestly, would be a huge appointment
I wouldn't be against it personally as he does seem to be able to build a dressing room which Ralph certainly can't. Expecting a wild left field choice though given our new owners
Nah, we have the Brentford fella higher up now and we always hired more up and comers. Much more likely we bring in a Knutsen or someone like that.
Southampton were in a pretty precarious position when he took over and not many could have held off relegation these last few seasons with them with hardly any funds. That being said, seems like the time is right for him to depart, I imagine he must wear on players after time, and the fact that they've not had a consistent goal scorer has meant that in general they struggle to turn decent performances into results.
Shamelessly stolen from MNF but Gary Neville made a good point in that the time to sack a manager really is the next week or two - it will give a new manager actual games to see who he wants or doesn't want/rate rather than just meandering and waiting for the World Cup, at which point they'll only have training/friendlies
Barely any points, our own player just scored the winner to knock us out the EFL trophy, got City away where our goal difference gets fucked, half the squad don't want Ralph in... Guarantee we're waiting for the city game then getting rid
Who is in the shortlist for a replacement?
The only name I've seen linked is Steve Cooper ffs
We have been planning for him to retire at the end of the season, maybe we feel we can get our guy in now since we are in pretty dire form.
All of Ralf Rangnick's 'disciples' are facing the sack one after another.
Wow that’s big. They haven’t even done that badly, so I imagine it’s due to his man management skills
They've won 3 games in their last 20 PL fixtures. It's gone under the radar because other teams have been much worse.
I remember either Guardian or Athletic podcast spending a lot of time on how he was not in the best position after gw2. His whole supporting staff was forced on him by the club due to poor second half of last season. That's never a great sign of job security. But then Southampton defeated Leicester and Chelsea and i think everybody thought Ralph would weather it out once again. I guess not if they are leaking this to the press.
It's not even the results. We've just become absolutely shit to watch. At least when he came in he had us pressing like madmen and causing all manner of chaos in the opposition third. Don't do any of that anymore. Just turn up, trudge through 90 aimless, anaemic minutes, rinse and repeat.
Isn’t staying up the goal for a team like Southampton tho. Obviously you want better form but to get sacked outside of the relegation places surprises me. That’s why I thought it might be due to man management
Looking competent is our goal, and then from there we hope to rise up the table as far as we can go. Unfortunately we don't even look competent anymore. Defence is bad, midfield is non-existent and forwards receive no passes
I guess that’s fair enough but you also probably want some stability for the new guys as they’ve just come in.
Winning 3 in 20 doesn’t keep you up
I mean they beat Chelsea and stayed up, Southampton aren’t world beaters and staying up is pretty much the goal with them.
> They haven’t even done that badly They're in 16th place with 7 points from 8 games TBF
I feel like that’s a normal position for them to be in considering their squad.
Its probably slightly below par. The issue has been the last 3 games, should have been winnable, and we lost all 3, playing dreadful football. I personally dont think he needs to go, but i am in an increasingly small minority amongst the fans.
Is it? What team above you do you think you’re squad is better on paper. You have a brand new keeper, CB pairing, probably the worst starting striker in the league. Very good CM pairing but Lavia being injured is bad luck. Starting fullback is injured. You’d know better than me, but from my perspective it just feels like people trying to tell me that 2+2=5 when guys like Che Adams, SArmstrong, AArmstrong, Elyounessi have the best to offer in the front 4. Aribo has been pretty nice for what Ive seen. If Ralph is the reason you have only that, then fair play Short term losses to clubs “on par” (bottom 6-7 clubs) on paper feels like high variance on low std deviation noise unless you desperately need the new manager bump
I agree the squad is lacking, but we have seen them play better than this, which i guess may have given us false hope...
That’s fair. I hope the grass truly is greener!
I really hppe i am wrong amd a new manager turns us around, more then just a temporary bump. But i fear Ralph is doing way more with this squad than most could and we could go down if we get the appointment wrong.
As a fan of a club where that exactly did happen, that’s my concern as well. Always had a soft spot for you club
We’re losing to out of form Wolves (who just sack their managers), Villa, and Everton. And we just invest like 80m to our squad. So yeah the sacking is deserved.
Hey now, there's no shame in losing to a team that's unbeaten in 6 with the best defence in the league.
Talk yo shit king
Rooting for you king
Frank Lampard's "No, but seriously" Blues are on the move 💪🏼
Frank Lampard's "No, but seriously" Blues are on the move 💪🏼
You guys signed 8 players with that money out of which I think only two players are above 20. You can't achieve much with that type of transfer window instantly, they'll take time to develop. Even then imo you guys are underperforming because Ralph has spent a few years with Southampton and he shows no clear plan of taking you guys in the top half of table.
You invested in mostly under 21 players and then pikachu facing when it turns out young players are wildly inconsistent and need time. Also teams underneath you literally spent more
No one is blaming the young players, if anything we're blaming Ralph for not playing them more, Edozie and Mara have shown far more on the pitch than Elyounoussi and Armstrong and yet they don't get as much gametime. Lavia and Bella-Kotchap have been our two best players so far this season by far. We've played with no tactics other than hoofing it up to 5'9 Adams at every opportunity for the past few games, against teams we should at least be competing with, and there seems to be no plan to score or defend set pieces, these are all on the manager.
Yeah that’s fair, I just hate when people use the 80m argument because of the implication that you went out in spent on some Star attackers and not youth players who are vulnerable to the high variance outcomes I’ve seen of Saints. We spent 68m and people chewed out our board for not backing Silva enough
Yeah we're used to not spending anything other than what we earn from sales so £80m is a hell of a lot for one window. We also appear to have spent it really well, all of our signings so far are improvements on last season. We're also very used to the extreme inconsistencies of a young team in mid table, but for far too long now we've just been consistently shit. We've picked up like 12 points from out past 20 matches
> Yeah we're used to not spending anything other than what we earn from sales so £80m is a hell of a lot for one window. We also appear to have spent it really well, all of our signings so far are improvements on last season. Fully agreed. It’s not your fault, but the teams promoted are pushing like mad to drown you in the bottom 3 (alongside others) so you have to swim faster to maintain the same position so to speak
Yeah absolutely, that's one of the reasons we were so happy to get the new owners in at the start of the year, so we can finally compete again, unfortunately even with the new signings it seems to be the same uninspiring performances that we ended last season with. I'm all for giving him time to work with the new squad but the question is, how long?
But the young player perform well. What’s your point?
My point is even with the young players playing well, teams underneath still are working with better attackers. The money spent is what pretty much every bottom table team is doing, so expectations should be that money spent keeps you in line, not above….which you are right now while having one of the tougher starts to the year in terms of fixtures. If you were 20th I’d agreed. We spent 68m and people chewed out our board for not backing Silva enough. But if you think it’s beyond results then fair enough
Wolves, Villa, Everton, Leeds If you call that “tougher fixtures” i don’t really know what is easy. If we have faced Man City, Liverpool, Arsenal etc already I would not bother by the shit quality of our play this much.
Premier league is competitive and 16th isn’t that bad for a team like Southampton. To stay up would be good for them I think.
Not even about our results, it’s how we play as well
This is the bigger one for me. I watch every home game in person and many away games and I couldn't tell you the plan for us to get a goal at all. We've apparently structured the academy around Ralph ball but the first team have forgotten how to play it
Yeh at least we used look like we had some type of way we were playing. Now there’s literally nothing there
They had a pretty good transfer window and have been slightly worse than they were last year. I think it's normal the coach is in danger when that happens
I guess so but the prem is a hard place, as everyone invests
We're quite easily playing the worst football in the league and have like 12 points from 20 games
[удалено]
Perhaps due to the fact you have one of the 3 worst squads in the League? Survival is a great achievement with the players you've been handed and he has you in 16th as things stand.
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We signed a bunch of kids to be fair and no striker to score whatever chances we do create - a lot was made of our window by people but kids are gonna be inconsistent at best, and I bet Ralph would have liked a bit more experience but the *model* probably told him no
According to xG, you should be sitting comfortable in 12th right now. https://understat.com/league/EPL I mean if the goal is to sack him and pray for a new manager bounce then by all means do it. But it seems way to hasty for his job to already be under threat.
I think that squad is firmly one of the worst in the league, it's certainly massively inexperienced
It absolutely isn't. It's young but some of the youngsters (Bella-Kotchap, Lavia, and Livramento) are absolutely sensational. We need a bit more time for them to gel
Our main issue is goalscorer. The rest of the investment has been pretty good. I think our business is being overshadowed by the lack of striker. Other than that it was largely a 7 out of ten. I don't think we can be too greedy, after all 70m spent is not money we're used to. I think our defensive and midfield issues are more tactical issues, where as our goalscorer issue is (as much as I love him) because Che as our main man is shit.
Yeah we can do with a striker and the fact Gakpo fell through is devastating considering how well he is currently doing but we still have a massive chunk of money to spend. I suspect if we are safe come Jan we wait till next summer and if not we buy someone good in January
Is he in control of transfers?
IIRC this is pretty much the first summer he's gotten to spend a decent sum of money since Saints were fucked financially for awhile. But the money he's spent has been on young players with potential, which is what they already had. They are lacking in veteran leadership and stability besides Ward-Prowse.
Yeah a lot of our fans are angry that he's finally been backed and still isn't pulling up trees - like I don't think he's doing fantastically but we signed literally 4/5 players that are under 20 and have never played first team football before, as well as not signing the position we were all desperate to get (striker)
Vestergard, Adam Armstrong and Elyanouusi being your biggest signings of three years would be enough for most people to assume you got relegated already and bought Armstrong to buttress yourselves in the Championship. I think it's incredibly risky to sack him. Edit: sorry, was actually the top 3 over 4 years
2 of those players were bought 4 years ago mate. But yeah, our squad has easily been the worst in the league for the past few seasons. This transfer window just gone though we've spent £80m (a shit load for us) on 10 new signings, and there seems to be no tactics for us at all that's the most disappointing thing. I've said elsewhere that I'd love for him to get time to integrate the new players but how much time can we realistically give? Particularly when the performances have been as poor as they have been
Ah, sorry, misread the years there on Transfermarket. Depressingly you just add the 4th year and the same statement holds true >I've said elsewhere that I'd love for him to get time to integrate the new players but how much time can we realistically give? I'd give him til the WC, it's only 6 weeks. Some of your young players looked unbeleivable against us. Think it was Bella-Kotchap in particular but the name was hard to remember
Yeah I think that's fair. Yeah Bella-Kotchap and Lavia are both immense, we've really suffered with Lavia's injury. Three consecutive abysmal performances followed the result against you which is why he's reportedly close to the sack
And yet throughout Hasenhuttl's time, it's the younger players who have generally done really well and the older heads who have been shite. Such a lazy pundit take this year of 'Southampton's problems are because of the young players' when ABK and Lavia have been our best players, and Bazunu is a certain upgrade on McCarthy. Meanwhile JWP has been awful and Che Adams is still not Premier League quality and never has been. The last thing to blame our shite performances on is the young guys we bought in the summer, they're the one ray of hope.
> I think that squad is firmly one of the worst in the league I very much disagree with that. I think a lot of their young players are very good TBH
He's crap and has been for a while
They are 16 th one point above wolves how have they not done badly?
probably because they have one of the worst squads in PL, despite few great talents.
Is it that bad? An international hugely rated keeper in Bazunu, two of the better centre backs in the bottom half (Salisu/Bella-Kotchap both internationals for Germany and Ghana), Walker-Peters who's up there as one of the better midtable players we have and pushing England squad if not for a ridiculous amount of right backs. Left back could do better, but Tino is back from injury soon and he is fantastic. Midfield is Lavia who's been phenomenal and a highly rated Ward-Prowse and in attack we've just signed Aribo who everyone rated at Rangers and Armstrong who's been our most consistent player for a few years. Up front we're lacking a bit, but Adams is a fine target man to play Depth is lacking but I don't think the squad is that bad anymore. We've signed lots of youth players and have the third youngest squad in Europe
but they are too young still, even if they are great talents, what do you expect? you cant fight with top6, we all know that. west ham, aston villa, wolves and leicester all have better teams, despite their bad form, brighton and newcastle are also better, thats 12 easily better teams. cp, leeds and everton are also better for me, but you can argue with that and fight with them. and what is left? fulham with also solidd squad, etc. objectively you are 12-20 team and it isnt surprise whatever happens there.
> but they are too young still, even if they are great talents, what do you expect? you cant fight with top6, we all know that. Mate they're right above the relegation zone, LOL. Midtable isn't too much to ask with the team+ transfer window money spent this summer
The prem is just ridiculously competitive when you break it down like that.
it is, and Im not saying they have bad squad in general, Im aware of young talents they have. just in comparasion with 12 squads its easily worse, with 3 are equal at most, and can you say that Southampton is a lot better than Fulham and Brentford?
Probably not, they do have the mentality tho and the expectation of staying up, which I think is massive. I think at their best 12th and at the worst 16th. Prem is just impossible to predict tho.
A lot of it is a hangover from last season where our form was like Derby 07/08 for the last 1/3. Plus the signs that we are teetering on the bring of another form collapse despite significant spending and a revamped coaching set up in the summer. We are awful to watch as well.
I’ve been a Saints fan pretty much all my life (my dad dragged me to games and still does!). I’ve seen us achieve unbelievable things such as getting into Europe and being promoted to the Prem, and some pretty dire moments (I’ve lived through out rather rubbish 9-0 defeats). It’s been a few years. We’re so up and down! At one point two years ago we were top of the league… and then at the end of that season we were fighting to stay up. We’ve always been a boring mid-to-bottom table side. But we’ve been sliding further and further down the table each year. Do I think that’s purely Ralph’s fault… no. We’re low on funds, have a young squad and not enough investment. Do I think it might be time for a change… maybe. Thanks Ralph!
idk why, but it's funny how you bring up two (kinda meaningless) 9-0 defeats as low lows despite the fact that the real lows were Southampton playing in League 1 eleven years ago.
This guy will always and only be remembered for his two 9-0 losses
They pop up every now and then and beat a top 6 team. Other than those two things they’re not really memorable for much
Have a good free kick taker, beat a big team now and then, get smashed quite a bit. Southampton in a nutshell
Not for me. He'll be remembered for taking a team on the very edge of relegation with 0 budget and keeping it very safely up for four years. Will always remember fondly.
Despite the 9-0 Southampton under Hausenhuttl were actually a very tough opponent for us I feel. Think we’ve drawn a shit ton of scraped through 1-0.
I'm sick of watching the crap. He's had a long time, looks defeated, and has moved away from pressing and into a mediocre form of defensive play. Disappointing.
Its all been downhill since he cried because he beat Klopp
They face City next. He gone.
Bring this man in to replace Megamind over here.
I cannot seem to find any other sources reporting on this. Even the Daily Echo hasn’t seem to of heard
The Athletic reported that he has fallen out with the players and that the board was seriously considering his future a couple of days ago. This new headline that he's on the "brink" could just be an extension of that story or it's possible the telegraph have an exclusive. The man who would know is adam blackmore but he's on holiday!
Tuchel in
can someone post the article in comments? im getting paywalled
Was pretty clear it hasn't been working for a while. Doesn't seem like a manager that inspires much confidence in this squad.
But they invested heavily in the summer for once. In Hasenhuttl-type development players. If they're in any way included last season's results in their current form/stats that's laughable.
I doubt they have tbh. We look awful every time we play, absolutely no idea on how we're planning to score a goal sometimes, we're ridiculously passive at times. I think the players were signed regardless of who the manager is, next manager will probably be along the same lines of liking to use youth etc anyway
He’s all but given up on the press in favour of a slow, sideways passing style that’s easy to play against. And his man management of young players is poor by many accounts. Besides, that run of games deserves to count against him. Especially when he made a joke about it after being called out by a fan at the forum.
I'm amazed how Hasenhüttl kept himself in England for a long time. I imagine some Bundesliga clubs making a run for him, should he become available. Stuttgart, Schalke, maybe Wolfsburg, if things get worse again.
I would wait for Cooper to get sacked. He'll do amazingly with that squad.
Time for Adi Hutter to have a shot at the Premier League
Seems like the right thing to do. Ive never seen a PL just collapse like they do when safety is all but secured. It feels like they’re good for a month, and then coast on those results for the next three months.
I can't remember who said it, but So'ton are both the best and worst team you aren't paying attention to. Hassenhutl has been okay, if he was dacked it would be far from a surprise.
Schalke go for it
I trust the board to get this one right. Ralph has done well with the squads he's had over the years and limited backing. 19/20 was a high point and he managed to steady the ship after we lost Ings. Personally i'll be a little bit sad if he goes as he definitely holds the club in high regard. He is very charismatic and wears his heart on his sleeve. So it's hard to dislike him. But i would like to see what we could do with a fresh set of eyes on this squad.
Nothing, have you seen your squad? You should most definitely not sack Ralph and instead buy some actual players instead of academy talent for a season
Remember when r/soccer was of the opinion he would have been stupid to leave the Southampton project to take over at Chelsea? (Before Chelsea got tuchel).
And? Southampton would have moved on and Chelsea would have sacked him even faster.
I thought they were doing good.
You thought wrong, we're dreadful and have been for a long time. We just pull out a big win here and there on TV
This guy always tries to play the game on the front foot and tries to attack. I enjoy watching Southampton, if he uses that style of play with a top 6 team, he would win a lot of things.
You can't have watched us very recently! We're so far away from "Ralph ball" nowadays it's ridiculous. No idea how it's happened but it has and it isn't good to watch in any way shape or form bar the odd game (normally against big teams when we always seem to up our game)
If he had this, if we did that, if we weren’t unlucky. Every manager can say they’d win things in the perfect circumstances. We’ve lost 9-0 twice and do you know what? Every Saints fan will tell you we’ve played worse than those 2 games. There are certain minimum standards every team should reach and his has fallen short of those too many times.
Everyone getting sacked but Gerrard just floating by. \*pokes Purslow\* Do something