SWLondon Saint

Well yes, all fixtures are hard given we have one of the weaker squads, but our fixtures were still way easier than Ipswich or Leicester. I think we had the 4th easiest schedule to date and the 2nd hardest over the next 5-6 games or something. So it gets harder not easier. I'd also add that one of the best ways to stay up is for an established PL team or 2 to implode during the season. That happened when we went down 2 years ago for 3 teams, it didn't at all last year. It looks like possibly Wolves, Palace, Everton could be in trouble this year so it's a huge opportunity to stay up with a weak / mediocre squad and one Martin hasn't shown he's up to yet. Can't help but think even a decent manager like Ralph would have us more competitive.

Well sure, but then you can't ignore that against the teams that actually did get promoted, he had a less than stellar record of 4 losses out of 4. And do you honestly think Ipswich's squad was better than ours last year? I think where RM looks particularly bad is that Ipswich and Leicester, with squads of a similar quality to ours, have been much more competitive in their games this season. They've looked close to getting results a number of times and actually have done. Other than Ipswich, did we? Against Forest we were utterly helpless against their press, our xG was a miserable 0.2 goals for the whole game. Brentford was similar though we had a couple chances, more so when they sat back at the end though. You could argue Arsenal was a step in the right direction - but the goal we scored was nothing to do with Russ' possession-based style, it was pure counter-press - lose ball in midfield, win it back, quick pass forward, score in transition. Prior to that we'd mostly defended in a low block. The attempted short passing out did absolutely nothing for us except give the ball away in our defensive third. So for me, if Russ can adapt and get results, then fair play to him. But if he continues to play to our weaknesses and the oppositions' strengths, which will result in loss after loss, then he has to go.

Just on the whole 'No decent English coaches' thing, saw this article came up again - good read if you're at all interested in the technical and coaching side of the game. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2021/jan/28/why-i-left-england-and-moved-to-spain-to-become-a-football-coach I've heard the ex-pros get an easy ride through the system here as well. Not to mention as this guy found, if you're not an ex-pro you'll find it hard even to get on the UEFA B course ...

I think most managers would be wary of taking over a team in such a bad position, unless you have something else to offer like a greater amount of control or a project to sell them. If I recall, that was part of the pitch to Ralph when he took over, that we'd play his way through all the age groups. That doesn't seem to be the case / plan anymore? But perhaps we could tempt someone like Edin Terzic who apparently fell out with the club leadership over control issues I think.

The biggest problem with your argument is that when you look at how Martin asks his team to play and his teams' strengths and weaknesses, those simply have not changed over his managerial career. If he was learning and adapting, you'd expect to have seen defensive improvement at some point - he'd figure out how to structure and prepare the team to get most of what he wants at lower risk. But no. Last season he unquestionably had some of the best defensive resources in the Championship but our defensive record was mid-table standard. He never springs a surprise with playing style, for example going direct into the channels or fast on the counter. Pretty much just says 'it is what it is, live with it' and carries on regardless. The fact is he started as a player-manager, hasn't stopped since then, and while he clearly has some strengths in keeping players happy and team building, he also clearly has never seen a top-class manager at work - when could he have? He's reached the limits of his current ability and he needs to reflect and learn. I don't think that will happen when he's here.

Come on, this team is clearly better than anything in the Championship right now. You can argue it's one of the worst PL teams, sure, but it would piss all over the Championship. Even our relegation team from 2 years ago was a level above the best Championship teams.

I think Downes is a decent player who can play as a single pivot in the Championship, but let's be honest - he is being asked to do the same in probably the hardest league in the world, against some of the best managers in the world, by a manager who is giving him (and the rest of the back 6/7) absolutely zero help out there. There's a reason it's pretty much just Rodri who does that for Man City. It needs a world class player. The closest comparison for Downes is Declan Rice - both of them are more an aggressive pressing, ball-winning 8 than a solo pivot 6, and need someone alongside them in a double pivot at this level. They can't shield the defense adequately on their own, and they can't play that crucial link role just getting, giving, retaining on the half turn. It's just not their game.

I mean, sometimes you just need to whack it to your #9 and hope he holds it up. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that and Arsenal did it plenty. You could see when the ball went into Stewart or Tall Paul and it stuck everything gets easier, you're further up the pitch with more space and options.

What is incredibly frustrating about all this is I think there is a decent side in there somewhere, but the manager is actually making them perform worse than they probably could. It's just bloody vanity. Even Pep's teams don't try and pass it around their own area after just getting it back off the opposition, they're perfectly happy to move quickly onto the counter. But we don't! On the counter, on transition is the best way to score for ANY team. Yes, we are seeing a lot of individual mistakes. But when it's costing us an average of 2 goals a game, and coming from nearly every single member of the back 4+2 midfielders, it's very clear the problem is either the system or how it's being communicated. Too much scrambled thinking, too much 'extreme possession' indoctrination has the players doubting their instincts to sometimes get rid of the ball long or medium distance.

Archer was actually playing wide left when Tall Paul came on and looked perfectly fine.

Just put your foot through it 😑😑😑😑

It's ridiculous how much better we look with a proper centre forward on and pace on the flanks. Just makes TPs long exile before this seem all the more ridiculous.

Sorry, but that VAR is complete bollocks. The player in the centre is clearly involved in play.

To be fair to RM, he has set up to try not to get beat. A low block with KWP as a 2nd left back when it's with Saka, then he has a kind of free defensive role when it goes left and KWP has actually mopped up quite a lot of potential danger. The problem right now is we have literally 0 threat. Stewart was clearly on to try to hold up the ball which he was doing OK at up against 2 class CBs. So why the heck replace him with Archer, who is clearly a channel runner / ball in behind type?! Would make more sense to have BBD or Tall Paul in surely?

The Arsenal line up clearly says they don't believe we have any threat in behind so they're going to be a 3-3-4 and press hard onto our back 4. Unless we're going to play mid length passes into Stewart be prepared to see us lose the ball a LOT in the danger zone.

I can only assume he wants Manning and KWP to double up on Saka or he is actually trying to lose by double figures and get the boot.

Absolutely, who wouldn't enjoy watching the opposition cough up the ball for some easy goals!! 😂 The way they pressed with 5/6 against PSG, they could pretty much score at will if Russ does his usual amount of homework / prep as evidenced so far. If they're serious about the title they ought to be thinking they have a huge chance for a cricket score and then hopefully the manager gets changed before we play their title rivals.

Interestingly, the thing that turned Spain from possession kings who never won anything into the title winning juggernaut they are now was actually adding what you've just described to their traditional PB game. The work out of possession is arguably Pep's hallmark, I don't get why everyone focuses on the tiki taka bit when actually they probably score more in transition than after long periods in possession. The whole point of the 'counter press' thing is kind of choosing the areas where you take risks and lose possession, then winning it back in those danger areas and scoring very soon after. It's basic stuff and I just don't get why someone with a UEFA Pro license like Russ is getting flat-out schooled in it by all the other PL managers so far.

Honestly, with world-class players I'm sure Martin would still be shipping goals. That's a question of defensive organisation and he just can't do it, he never has. What I don't get is what bloody metric anyone involved in the hiring process was looking at? The fact his teams concede so many surely should have been a red flag?

'Mikel Merino says he is seeing football in a different way after his first month or so under Mikel Arteta at Arsenal.' https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/oct/02/mikel-merino-arsenal-training-methods-mikel-arteta Call it a hunch, but given RM's teams long history of shambolic defending, I'm guessing our training isn't at that level...

Watching the PSG game, Arsenal are actually quite direct a lot of the time. They are quite happy to send it long then win the 2nd ball or counter-press to win it back high. It's kind of the Ralf Rangnick Red Bull template. Several times Arsenal smacked it into the corner then had 5 players press. That would basically destroy Russball if they just did it all match....

I think the reason we always seem to concede a 2nd after the first is that after conceding, the other team tends to press as hard as they can to try and secure the advantage. Because we try to keep possession rather than playing direct / positional (the traditional ' get and keep the ball up their end') we actually invited pressure instead of exploiting the old 'teams are vulnerable after going ahead' truism. So it's a double or triple whammy of the more passive style adding to pressure/ increased confidence for the other team.

Watched the whole 2nd half and saw highlights of the 1st. Nothing has changed from the long post I wrote a few matches back. RM is just out of his depth - there's nothing personal about that, he just doesn't have the knowledge or experience. It looks like what he needs is some time away when he finds a way to go observe, say, managers like Alonso, Gasperini, Simeone, Inzaghi. He has never played at that level or been managed by anyone that good. All the experienced PL managers have set traps for him and he's walked the team into them with absolutely no self awareness whatsoever, and you can see it in the players. They don't have confidence in the structure, the setup, so they simply can't perform. The biggest thing is that he seems completely clueless that teams are going to press the crap out of us because they know they will get goals out of it. You can't simply say 'Be brave and keep possession lads!!!', you have to have a plan about how to beat what you know is coming. He's shown absolutely no signs of adapting to the challenge of outsmarting the press he knows is coming. And let's not get started about the defensive shape and set pieces, we made exactly the same mistakes about leaving the top of the box totally unguarded several games ago now. When the only thing a manager can say is 'we need to play harder' that's usually a sign they're out of ideas.

Well, if I remember right we were warned about this by Swansea fans when he came, so not much reason to think a light's suddenly gonna switch on in his head... Just can't see the logic in Wood over ABK or Edwards.

Think that's a bit unfair on Yoshi, who while not on VVD / Fonte level was a 'lower-middle' class Premier league defender IMO. Also that season Fonte did seem to be increasingly and alarmingly error prone if I remember correctly. I feel Stephens has this uncanny knack of making whoever he's playing with look crap! It's something to do with the way he loses attention and drifts away from whoever he's meant to be marking and then the other CB is left desperately trying to cover...