Southampton Banter Mobile

22 May 2022 07:39:11
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 21st May 2022

20 May 2022 07:39:25
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 19th May 2022

19 May 2022 07:39:28
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 18th May 2022

17 May 2022 22:05:24
Defence is terrible. goalkeeper out of his depth, no full back no one commanding .

Attack is clueless

Have we seen the last of Ralph?

There needs to be major restructuring but is there a way and is there money?

18 May 2022 08:09:40
I have to applaud the successful results achieved by Eddie Howe in such a short time at Newcastle FC.Since Jan.this year NUFC have risen from 19th position in the EPL to several places and 6 POINTS above Southampton FC.This obviously indicates that Eddie’s Management Skills along with his Coaching Staff are far superior to those of SFC.Considering it was well known that Eddie Howe made himself available to manage the Saints FC but the Hierachy opted to remain with Ralph Hasenhuttl in retrospect it appears that a huge opportunity was missed by the Club Apparently he has now risen to ‘Hero Status’. among NUFC supporters and a similar repeat occurance very unlikely now that he’s established in a much Bigger,wealthier progressive Club.A large proportion of SFC Fans would hope that this error of judgement by the Board will not be repeated in the future.

18 May 2022 20:56:03
Agree with all above but just answer this if you will - how many Saints players would get into a combined Newcastle/Saints team?
I can think of 3 maybe …and the Geordies are a mid-table squad.
I was mistaken about McCarthy - he’s actually even worse than I thought.
And for light entertainment here’s an adaptation to the new Scouser anthem to the Beatle’s tune of ‘I feel fine’…
Instead of “Jurgen said to me you know, we’ll win the Premier League, you know he said so……”

“Ralph he said to me, you know, we’ll finish seventeenth you know he said so….”

It amused me, but maybe I should get out more often!

Only one more miserable weekend of PL inaction to go…

19 May 2022 08:14:59
Like you style Millertime! We have to introduce light hearted banter into our posts or we would all end up dispirited and dreary like Ralph That said it has triggered an interview on tv recently featuring Ralph after a match he garbled sentences all of which I can only remember his frequent use of JAH! .How on earth are his PLAYERS expected tor comprehend his instructions (which for some reason reminded me of SCHULZ a character in an American tv Comedy called HOGAN’S HEROES (1965-1971).If you remember or have seen an episode it will reasonate.and surely bring a smile to your face!Finally in answer to your initial question:: Maybe 2/3 players right now but possibly 9/10 back in January when NUFC were probably the. worst team in the Premiership and heading for almost certain relegation. This emphasises my point re the difference in COACHING methods and TEAM SELECTION between the two Clubs by playing players in their best positions which generates confidence and subsequently gets a little more effort enjoyment and finally a winning formulae which in turn has elevated NUFC to a Mid-Table Squad.

19 May 2022 22:11:36
Heh Johnnyst - that brings back memories and I see the resemblance!
You are spot on about how much difference a coach can make - look at Eddie now - cult hero and I too was hoping that he would join us. I had him earmarked as a future England manager - he has a lot of similar traits as Southgate - calm and dignified (most of the time) and both respected and liked by the players. Not bad tactically either!
As for playing players out of position - I make you right. McCarthy’s best position is somewhere out in the car park yet he puts him between the sticks - why?

17 May 2022 12:46:52
Regarding the goalkeeper situation if FF is leaving who are we having as our number one, I recently heard a rumour that McCarthy is being offered a new three year deal this is crazy in the extreme as he has repeatedly shown that he is not capable of holding down this position, my view is that we need to urgently upgrade this position but as we all know a keeper is only as good as his defence and this also needs improvement

17 May 2022 13:15:24
Hopefully he is being kept on as back up as a cheaper alternative to Forster. It is logically implausible that the hierarchy see that McCarthy has been dropped for Forster yet is the one of the two kept on when both are out of contract. It must only mean that he is there as #2 and Forster would be too expensive in that role.

Dragowski, Henderson, Johnstone, Strakosha (a name I mentioned a looong while ago) are the main names we are being linked to. Dragowski is young and as a Pole maybe Jan could get him onside, though Strakosha, an Albanian, may be a more difficult buy for a Serbian-owned club.

Henderson and Johnstone will probably take massive wages to sit on the bench of a top 6 club as opposed to being a PL first team regular. But any of those four would be a good signing in my opinion.

As I write I have had a thought. Since we were bought out by Dragan, Broja has scored twice in 5 months, I’m sure I’m reading too much into it but is that an Albanian protesting against our new owners? Probably not, Dragan hates his country’s regime. Anyway I’m rambling.

16 May 2022 07:39:29
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 15th May 2022

17 May 2022 07:01:14
Fraser Forster Saga.I personally believe that when Saints dropped a massive gooly was signing Forster to a long contract with outrageously high wages.This proved to be a great impediment to the Club as future signings could use these wages as a barometer.When Saints realised this blunder Hasenhuttl and the Club tried to persuade Forster to accept a revised contract with a wage cut which (.pennies from heaven) was promptly rejected.This angered Ralph which resulted (even although Forster was no.1 at the time) at him being benched for months to follow. The pleasant ending to this story with no new Contract Forster skips off into the sunset as a multi-millionaire! Note this is purely MY TAKE on this situation.

17 May 2022 10:49:56
But for Ralph not to play him because he didn’t like FF refusing a pay cut . well that sums up Ralph’s attitude. You pick your best players regardless of whether they’re in disagreement with the hierarchy.
FF wages are none of Ralph’s business .
Ralph, you should take a 95% pay cut for your fraudulent taking of 6 million a year!

17 May 2022 10:47:06
I’m sure one of the Ed’s can correct me if I’m wrong.
But it is too FF advantage to go on a free.
This means any potential new club can pay higher wages as he will have cost them nothing

{Ed002's Note - Yes.}

14 May 2022 07:39:32
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 13th May 2022

12 May 2022 07:39:14
{Ed's Note - Ed001 has posted a new article entitled, Review Of The Day 10th May 2022

13 May 2022 07:32:10
Well it’s no secret that I don’t believe Ralph is up to Premier League standard but the early signs reported from the Hierachy to bring in the long awaited quality players (6/7 at least hopefully) should ease his current shortcomings and part shield him from too many glaring mistakes- (whilst he Carrie’s on learning weekly how to avoid more pitfalls.With more quality players followed by better results Ralph should survive next season until he retires avoiding little or no severance payout by the Club and everyone comes out unscathed.ps Requesting an assistant to help Ralph would not be the answer for him ( not unlike a Private giving advice to a Major). Finally I read that Saints defenders were ranked among the best in the Premier League by the ‘Super Computer’. Is this a Practical Joke or was the Super Computer Made In China?

13 May 2022 17:44:11
It’s interesting that they are prepared to risk another year of Ralph and with more money!
Perhaps you are right, they don’t want to pay him off; I hope that doesn’t back fire.
The only possible hope is that the new players, are clever enough to ignore Ralph tactical decisions! But we all know that won’t happen. Bertrand tried telling him what he thought and ended up benched!

I know it sounds very anti Saints, but I actually can not wait to get rid of Ralph!
I think the team is not behind him anymore, even Stu who runs around and puts in a huge shift, looks disinterested.
If the man management (or lack of) he displays in public interviews, is transferred to the training ground and dressing room. I would switch off from him.

Interesting the comment about an assistant.He does have a perfectly able and experienced assistant in Rich K, but he has been designated as ‘opponent analyst’ ; I have seen him many times trying to convey to Ralph what he sees/needs changing, and Ralph just giving him a quick glance/ear.

We also have the ex goalkeeper coach as the dead ball man? Who conveys to substitutes their role in corners etc . well that really works well . not!

I can’t wait for the end of the season . can’t ever remember feeling like this. Fed up with disjointed, non entertaining, poor tactically, bad football

17 May 2022 10:43:07
I called for Ralph's head before Christmas and nothing that I've seen since has made me change my mind. Still picking players out of position and making strange substitutions. He's tactically naive and has no idea how to change. Sorry Ralph, you're a lovely guy but Saints need someone who can take us forward and not someone who seems happy treading water in the bottom 5/6 every season.