Midfield_General

My money's on Plymouth after they sack Shrek

Literally feels like no-one is really running the club at the moment. The days off, not even bothering to consider a managerial contingency plan until Dragan saw first hand how shit we were and phoned up at half time to say ‘sack him’. It’s amateur hour. Given that Rasmus and Co’s only jobs are to run the football clubs under their stewardship, you have to wonder what they do all day if they aren’t getting ahead of basic operational stuff like this. It’s basically negligence at this point. If I was Dragan and it was my money, I’d be cleaning house about now and starting again with a whole new team. The current lot have failed at every conceivable level this season. As a ‘leadership’ team they aren’t fit for purpose.

Sky TV hasn't had any connection with Sky Bet since 2018. They sold their remaining stake six years ago and now they're completely separate companies.

I'm ambivalent about Corberan but what's more alarming in that story is this bit, if accurate: "Saints are still in the early stages of seeking a replacement for Russell Martin, who was sacked on Sunday after an emergency meeting of the board, in the wake of the 5-0 home defeat to Tottenham. That performance hastened a decision that the Southampton board were reluctant to take and, as such, the club had not been actively working on finding a successor." I know everyone thinks SR are a bit shit, but are we really to believe they hadn't even thought to start putting the feelers out until half-time on Sunday?

If that’s accurate then I’m sold. Get him in. (Apparently this sort of simple competence is the depressingly basic level to which my standards have been lowered)

Quite. I don't think we ask for much, despite hearing a few times that we are somehow deluded or entitled as a fanbase to expect better than the shit show that this season has been so far. The general gist seems to be that we've basically all accepted we're going to get relegated, and that's life, we just don't want to look like cunts doing it.

I would like a manager who: - Thinks passing to a defender who is under pressure and a few yards away from his own goal is suicide, and tells his players not to do it - Doesn’t sneer at the concept of a newly-promoted team considering finding ways to ‘grind out results’, in order to put a few points on the board Not too much to ask is it

Really? Well that’s a newsflash, you should have mentioned it.

Which is weird, considering their keeper has just been voted the best in the world for the second successive year.

It sounds basic but we could do a hell of a lot worse. We are extremely lucky to have a talent like Dibling. He is basically the only player we have who makes things happen every time he gets the ball and that the opposition are clearly afraid of. Telling the other dross to just give him the ball and let him run at people would draw the opposition towards him and create space for others (like Fernandes), and let us win more free kicks in dangerous areas and just generally have teams on the back foot more. We’re so average everywhere else that we should absolutely make him the focal point of everything we do going forward, as he’s not going to stick one in the top corner from 40 yards like Le Tiss did (though who else could do that), but he’s the only real potential game changer we’ve got, and the only one who repeatedly runs directly at people and gets them backing off which can actually to damage to a defensive shape.

So this OP was bullshitting then GOSH THAT’S A SURPRISE

And of course the legendary Knightwood Lounge*, where for just £300 you can step into a space where the sophisticated hues of emerald green and rich forest tones immediately transport you to a serene woodland. A beautiful pitch facing space, thoughtfully designed with wood elements and natural light, captures the essence of nature while maintaining an air of opulence. (* Brought to you by Costa)

Random internet twat known for being a wind-up merchant breaks major nationwide sports news story before any news outlet, the club or the betting industry. Yep, seems plausible 🤪. Why on earth hasn't this been locked, it's very obviously a lie.

Not going to try changing anything then? Just keep doing the same thing, and trust it'll come good. Cool.

Zero shots on target, and if they hadn't been so inept in front of goal it would have been 3 or 4 nil. Can't wait to hear Melchett smugging on about how much he enjoyed it, the cunt.

Oh no you haven't

On comes Muffin the Mule, terrific

Defensive mistakes leading to a goal: one. Shots on target: zero. Another superb half of football under this dickhead.

I'm feeling about it the way one might feel about an impending colonic irrigation appointment. Not expecting to enjoy it in any way, but morbidly curious to see just how awful what gets produced will be.

Yep, been one of the few who has actually been consistently decent, and also one of the few who can actually play the "system"* reasonably effectively, receiving the ball in tight spaces and playing on the half-turn. So let's drop him. (* By which I mean "guaranteed defeat process")

Opposing managers coming out with these identikit statements each week before we obligingly let them beat us without breaking sweat is just another part of the running joke that he has turned us into this season. That's what really hurts to be honest. I can take losing football matches every week, but he's turned us into a fucking punchline, and I can't forgive him for that.

—Martin on his style of play, 2021.[76] Bearing in mind he only had significant playing spells for Wycombe, Peterborough, Norwich and Scotland, presumably he can only be talking about Norwich as this team who were dominant with the ball? They were relegated twice while he was playing for them, much of which was as captain. So that’s apparently the experience he ‘loved’. He’s a loser. It’s baked into his DNA.

Martin saying that he's spoken to PGMOL and Webb has apologised and said that the disallowed goal against Brighton should have stood. Is that two apologies we've had now - didn't we also get one for the penalty not given against Leicester? If so, then that's PGMOL admitting that they've cost us between 3-6 points so far, depending on how you think the Leicester game would have panned out if we'd been given (and scored) the penalty. Absolute jokers.

I haven’t been keeping up but I was surprised to see the Middle East being brought up in a thread about Russell Martin. I know he’s made a few questionable decisions but it seems a bit harsh to blame him for the situation in Gaza.

Matt Bianco would also like a word