I agree, the disappointment was huge, and suffering this sort of thing twice in 4 days is not fun at all.

The only issues for me is that we've been concentrating on 'what we do next'/'put it right'/'make sure it never happens again' for months if not years now and you've got to assume that Ralph has been trying his best to do that.

We've got to keep trying but can this manager actually do it or are his obvious tactical and game-management flaws so fundamental that we are flogging a dead horse expecting the answer to lie with him?

I think if JWP had played the ball up the wing for our two forwards to chase, as he should have, instead of trying to play it to their feet, we'd all be talking about a win not complaining about a draw. Poor decision by JWP nothing to do with manager.

Well done Nick - I thought you were taking your time and I know as a guy who loves this club you must have been bitterly disappointed by the events on Saturday.
Once again a fairly promising first half for the Saints marred as always these days by the failure to score a second goal and relieve some of the pressure a 1-0 scoreline inevitably causes especially with our record. After the first few minutes of the second half I donr think we had another shot at goal and we retreated deeper and deeper as tired legs invited Brighton to seize their opportunity. The fact that this equalizer was conceeded against 10 men makes it even harder to bare.
It is pointless discussing individual performances amongst our players. They are all star performers one minute and villains the next. I can understand all the reasons for having another pot at keeper McCarthy, but the manner of the assault was unacceptable in my view, and just served to distract from the real perpetrators of our downfall.
I have read many attempts by Saints fans to defend our manager and I will always respect the views of loyal fans. However I am now adding poor man managemnt to the other issues that I have with Ralph, which include his team selections, match tactics, use of substitutes and extraordinary post match explanations. I've just realised that this doesn't leave much left to be satisfied with!!
I wish there was another solution but I am inclined to call for an immediate end to Ralph's longish managerial reign at St Mary's to give the new guy time to get to grips with what I thought was a very talented squad of footballers. Unless our Board have an Ace up their sleeves I would call in Frank Lampard for the rest of the season and please, please, please lets have a fresh approach and an end to the countless disappointments and excuses we are being served up.
When Nick is obliged to write - "It has taken me two days to get up the enthusiasm to write this piece, it absolutely flawed me this was more disappointing than any other game this season." it merely confirms my conclusion that it is time for an immediate change.

We are the hare to the totoise. Ralph needs to work on 90minute game plans for changing circumstances. We absolutely panicked on Saturday as Brighton threw caution to the wind and the goal seemed certain.
Teams have worked out to allow us to play first half and then pressure us in the second. We
Marathon not a sprint Ralph.

I have been a huge supporter of this squad and Ralph because they have given us some great entertainment over the last few months. And at the same time I do appreciate that players are flesh and blood, play brilliantly a lot of the time but equally do cock it up occasionally. That’s all part of being a fan. I get that.

But…

I’m afraid that Saturday’s second half performance - for the first time for a long long time - really pissed off me off. They never stopped faffing around trying to be clever, particularly when it came to throw-ins and goal kicks and clearances, time-wasting like there was only thirty seconds to go. And surprise surprise, they threw it away. OK it didn’t help that AM being unfit led to the goal, but it was the attitude up to that point that was the root cause. They were for large periods somewhat, if not very, over-confident - and even more so when BHA went down to 10 men - which is utterly unforgivable and they should be ashamed of themselves.

I only hope that Ralph gives every single one of them a serious bollocking, because, from now on, even if other results over the weekend tended to go our way, I think we we are going to struggle unless:
1. The entire squad gets it into their heads that they are no better than most, if not all, the teams in the bottom half of the PL and cannot afford to fart around as if they were top of the league;
2. They start to realise PDQ that they have to really graft in every match for the full 90 plus minutes;
3. Because, if they don’t, forget about where we’ll be at the end of the season, THIS TEAM IS GOING TO LOSE THE FANS…

I totally agree with Salisbury Saint every facet of the late equaliser was down to JWP.
To play the ball into back into a danger area with less than 2 minuntes to go was crazy.
This he then compounded by playing Brighton onside.Its hard to criticise after so many had decent games.I often have a to at Nathan Redmond but i thought he was very good.Tella is
improving just needs a bit more work on his final ball.Broja was impressive,pity his price tag will be too rich for us.

Our tendency to self destruct is becoming as frustrating as it is criminal. How costly these thrown away points on Saturday and against Norwich are going to be will only time will tell. To simply assume we are better than 3 teams come May is very dangerous. Saturday was simply bizarre and you do wonder what sort of mentality and mind set now pervades throughout the club? It is all very well demanding improvement and better concentration levels, but be it Ralph getting it wrong or our players simply not turning up, this has gone on too long for it to be a blip. We keep being presented with an opportunity to pull away from the bottom and every time, we throw it away. Very frustrating and very worrying.

The alarm bell has already wrung and the decision makers have ignored it and gone back to sleep. An injury hit Brighton, down to 10 players - got a result against a full strength Saints. Ralph needs to trust the players to do the right thing but he has turned them into frightened robots. As you say Nick this group of individuals is better than the position suggests. Why isn’t higher up the table? The buck stops with the manager. Ralph is too close to the problem to see it for what it is. He seems to alienate people who do not agree with him. Stuart Armstrong is by far our most creative player – he needs to be encouraged to express himself not play in one predictable way. Every game is the same – energetic first half followed by a second half slump. Why wasn’t McCarthy subbed when in the last 30 minutes? Are the players too frightened or programmed to speak to the manager. Yet more speculation from a club who either do not communicate or prefer to speak in riddles.

All managers have their shelf life in the modern era where the highly technical coaching in a given system fades from surprising the opposition for a season or two until it gradually becomes predictable. The top teams can cope with this by having the best players in the world who can change games independently. A team like Saints does not have this luxury. The players are petrified to do anything than stick to the one way of playing regardless of the circumstances. They need to enabled to rediscover independent thought and be confident in their own decision making rather. Ralph will not allow this.

We have dropped too many points over the last month which we needed to win to stand a chance of not having to worry about a relegation battle. We blew them. Ralph still does not know what his best team is. Your match reports highlight the same frailties every week – with the goal scoring issue getting worse without Ings. We’ve got 5 difficult games coming up this month and I cannot see where the points are coming from. There are 3 big questions 1) are there 3 worst teams than Saints in this division 2) will Ralph still be here on January 1st ? 3) If so how do you and others see Ralph turning things around ?

A good manager would have brought on Diallo and shored up the middle unfortunately we don’t have one

Nick, I completely understand your disappointment which is shared by all of us, and there's nothing to be gained from being critical of each others opinions, which we're all entitled to. But I have to take you to task when saying for most of the game the players did what they're paid to do.
I'm really not sure where you were for the second half? The body language, the application, the lethargic approach was so apparent from the start of the 2nd half. Time wasting at home to BHA from the 46th minute when we're only 1-0 up???? Really!!! It was embarrassing. Yes, the players have to be accountable, but with so many poor performances after HT, surely you must recognise that part of this, if not most of this approach, must be coming from the manager. If it isn't, well, he's right on the touchline, so he can certainly make his feelings known. If he was unhappy, why wait until the final 12 mins to change things. To then blame AM was shameful. Surely the dug-out must have realised there was a problem when CHs are taking goal kicks.
We are top of the table for over 2 years now for points dropped from a winning position. That's why RH is now desperate to find excuses and someone else to blame. I've always wanted him to be the person to turn things around, but sorry, it's not going to happen....

It's all very well heaping the blame on JWP for the free kick, but Romeu was as much to blame - his tackle in that position was really poor.

But both of them had put in massive shifts in the game and both of them seemed very tired to me. That's when mistakes occur. And the fact that Ralph made only 2 subs, the first on 81mins, and neither of whom helped JWP or Romeu, was I think a contributory factor in what happened.

So much better than this fixture last year, at least this year we deserved to win against a quality opponent, last year we deserved and got nothing.

Last year RH was leaving the subs to late then he changed that for a while this season but not in this game.

Diallo or Smallbone (he needs to come back some time) for anyone of Tella / Oriel / JWP would have been the sub to make after 65 mins in my view.

So bottom line the team looked well coached to me, but the same issues with tactical nous that are an issue. To me RH is the man for the job but we need a way or a person to help with in game management.

Not content with three years of team selection, tactics and substitutions which even Albert Einstein wouldn’t be able to understand, we are now actively assisting the opposition with their free kick routines for pity sake.

Since Ralph took up his appointment we have lost 71 points from winning positions, suffered English League record home and away 9-0 defeats, had the worst run of consecutive defeats in the club’s history and played in a Cup Semi Final where the opposition keeper didn’t have to make one save.

Is there just the slightest possibility that he’s proven beyond all reasonable doubt that he’s not exactly the man for the job? Just asking for a friend.

Dorsetlan, all I do know is that if Redmond had made that pass from JWP that gave the ball away in such a position, this article would have one running theme....For some reason, too many on here, not all, but too many, are in the same camp as RH, and that JWP can do no wrong....I watched him closely in the 2nd half, and the game was simply going on around him, making very little impact... With BHA down to 10 men at the end, surely keeping the ball was priority... Diallo should have been on early in the 2nd half .

I sat through the second half for once not really thinking or worrying they were going to score. I can't say I had any idea AM was injured, when Lyanco took the one goal kick I just thought it was because he could kick further than AM. I think Ralph probably went OTT with the criticism but I guess at the time he was unbelievably hacked off. The poor pass from JWP created the situation, however It seems to me this is part of how Premier League teams play. The players are under instruction to keep the ball come what may. There was a situation in the second half where Salisu headed the ball sideways to try and keep posesion slightly mis-directed it and set up a Brighton attack. Pretty sure in the past it would have been headed back towards the Brighton goal. This is part and parcel of the two yard goal kicks taken inside the six yard box these days. If you think about this allows AM not to worry about kicking the ball up-field after he sustained the injury.

Where do we go from here. Clearly we have a difficult task at Arsenal next Saturday, but we would have had one anyway. The squad is now almost certainly bigger and apart from the keeper situation capable of putting up a decent show next Saturday. It is going to be a difficult and long slog until the end of the season. I think Ralph should be told to get on with it a re-asses at the end of the season.

This match does seem to have acquired enormous significance. The league table isn't disastrous and we didn't lose but still even Nick is finding it hard. I think the problem in a nutshell is that, apart from Liverpool and Newport, every one of our games has gone into the last 10 mins either level or with one goal in it. This obviously leads to jittery finishes. Even the three we won (two of them games we dominated) had good late chances for the opposition - after all, even PL teams playing poorly will get one or two good chances.

The answer is, of course, fairly obvious. Ralph's 'golden age' in post-lock down and at the start of last season (August-Novemberish 2020) saw us on quite a few occasions getting a SECOND and even a few times a THIRD goal. 2 or 3 up and that goal at the end is a consolation. Players are less nervous and fatigued at 3-0. My fear is that, although even the best do wobble a bit at the end, these problems seem set in stone now under Ralph. If Brighton/Norwich proves more the norm than Villa/Leeds/Watford then we are in big trouble. I have the feeling in my bones that the turn against Ralph might finally be happening. I am reluctant to jump to 'Ralph Out' but I fear that's the way it is going. Arsenal, as long as we keep it decent, will be an "acceptable" defeat but Brentford is now massive. 1-0 up with five minutes to go in that one would be an experience!!

On McCarthy - yes he, and the whole team, particularly the skipper, are at fault but ultimate authority rests with the manager. How in the hell did he not notice?

Finally, I do wonder if Ralph's response to this result reflects anxiety over takeover talk. If we are taken over his job security goes at the stroke of a pen. New owners, new manager is a fairly common thing...

Rabbit Hutch by name and Rabbit Hutch by nature. Do not our falling attendances warn the club that the fan base is disillusioned with fruitless years of bright bushy tailed first halves followed by 'rabbit hutch' second halves of scared and caught in the headlights panic, that just leads us down the relegation rabbit hole. All continuously orchestrated by our Mad Hatter manager.

I’m scratching my head with the Armstrong substitution when you’ve got a master of runing a game down in Shane Long , if he can make the bench every game that means he’s fit & upto the task , I don’t want Ralph to go but he really needs a proper right hand man coz he’s proving every week theirs a side of management he doesn’t understand… he’s got no plan b

I missed all this game. Tell me what happened? Were points thrown away through poor game management and who did the manager blame this time?

The tactics, the mentality and game management are all Ralph's. As mentioned, the players are not allowed to think for themselves, seen every week as Ralph can be heard coaching and ordering the pass to make from the technical area. This removes freedom of expression and individuality from the players. Ralph is still yet to learn from the Utd game last season when at half time he decided we would outpass a class team in our own half.. Confirming to the oppo we have stopped trying to score more..
We have not had a two goal lead in any Prem game this season and 71 dropped points shows that this issue is now, as already mentioned, set in stone.. Ralph is so stubborn that he won't see it and won't adapt..
He knew Mccarthy could not kick long yet left him on the pitch then blamed him..
Weak management all round on Saturday and I don't know where we go from here except Frank Lampard who I think has all the attributes as shown when we played Derby, he sussed us out at half time and did us...

Ralph, Romeu and JWP are far too comfortable in their roles with no threat of repercussions if they fail, and this is the top level of sport.. They need genuine pressure, key to performance at the top level and it isn't there. Definition of madness is repeating the same processes and expecting a different outcome.. Enter our manager and staff.. Can Lampard really do any worse.? We've missed out on a couple of other suitors and he's the only one left atm who looks competent and with enough Prem experience, albeit as a player.

OK OK sit down because I actually AGREE with 99% of what Nick wrote lol... The only bit I'm not sure on is the "Panic" part... for me, the team have looked they have been panicking for the majority of the season (especially 2nd half). Calling out McCarthy sends the wrong message to the players, Inc WP who hasn't exactly been filled with confidence of late anyway. He would have known the issue and I'd imagine why he helped cover and as captain, would have also had a responsibility to say something. So no, 2 people doubting themselves, potentially making it toxic (especially as 2 disgruntled keepers have nothing better to do now- remember VVD and the crap that caused?)

The players and supporters know Ralph is useless at tatics and decisions (proven over and over) and now know he will also just throw you under the bus for an issue HE should have A noticed and B fixed. Its not going to get better, 3 yrs is more than enough for improvement... we're not beating the lower or mid table teams and only 5 pts clear... if Ralph isn't gone by Jan, we will be relegated... it really is that simple.

Even the pundits (who know JS) say pressing causes us to run out of steam in the second half. It's no mystery, the players are not suitable for Ralph's preferred style of play. Ralph isn't a suitable manager for our playing squad.

Get rid of Ralph, Semmens, before it's too late!

If Saints were a boxer we'd be Amir Khan.
Quick, skilful, get in front, land a few nice punches then.. boom.. down we go. Quickly unravel with no answers. Again and again and again.
Still blame the players more than the manager though.

I watched impassively and with some trepidation at St. Marys as the clocked ticked over the 70 minute mark.
Just putting aside the Ralph/Alex debacle for a moment..
To play Ralphs high-pressing game in two halves you need higher fitness / concentration levels and certainly more technical ability. Would say we only have 1 or 2 at that level.