Russell Martin

[AlexLaw76]

55 minutes ago, St. Ciervo said:

Ill give you credit, you said this would be shite all last year.

To me it was so obvious as Martin had no pedigree and anyone could easily see he is woeful at managing a defence, which would get you annihilated in the premier league.

many people got giddy about the 25 game unbeaten run, but when that run came to an end we made 0 points on the top 2.

Into this season, the Forest home game, like Nathan Jones’ forest game, was very alarming, and just got worse when we went to Bournemouth.

Yet, people even last week were defending his tenure at the club. 
 

[CB Fry]

23 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

To me it was so obvious as Martin had no pedigree and anyone could easily see he is woeful at managing a defence, which would get you annihilated in the premier league.

many people got giddy about the 25 game unbeaten run, but when that run came to an end we made 0 points on the top 2.

Into this season, the Forest home game, like Nathan Jones’ forest game, was very alarming, and just got worse when we went to Bournemouth.

Yet, people even last week were defending his tenure at the club. 
 

Exactly.

The hype and hero worship of the guy on here was off the scale. We got promoted via play offs and countless managers before Martin have achieved that from Ian Holloway or Iain Dowie to Rob Edwards or Steve Cooper. All of those named had smaller budgets and more constraints that Martin got.

But the Martinettes tried to make out their guy was different, a magical manager set for far greater things at bigger clubs and at a higher level because Vincent Kompany and stuff.

Some of us could see that two nothing seasons at Swansea (following two nothing seasons at MK) suggested a different career path. I think it is pretty nailed on that Russell Martin has already had his biggest job in football. But what if he had better players etc etc I think we will discover that this was his best ever opportunity.

But we'll see. Top 6 here he comes, right? After all he's loads better than crappy old Mark Hughes. 

Edited 19 December, 2024 by CB Fry

[Wade Garrett]

The way we played at times last night told me that the Martin vanity project is directly responsible for our pathetic 5 points this season, and my complete apathy.

[Midfield_General]

This whole thing about ‘he would have done better if he had better players’ is just mental to me. Any manager can say they would do better with better players, that’s just obvious. 

Good managers make the players they have, better, and find ways to make them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s literally what makes them good managers.

Martin never got that, and literally made the players he had worse by forcing them to do stuff he wanted to do but that they weren’t comfortable with or capable of. The absolute opposite of good management. 

[notnowcato]

2 hours ago, AlexLaw76 said:

To me it was so obvious as Martin had no pedigree and anyone could easily see he is woeful at managing a defence, which would get you annihilated in the premier league.

many people got giddy about the 25 game unbeaten run, but when that run came to an end we made 0 points on the top 2.

Into this season, the Forest home game, like Nathan Jones’ forest game, was very alarming, and just got worse when we went to Bournemouth.

Yet, people even last week were defending his tenure at the club. 
 

Who is good enough and will come to us?

[Pamplemousse]

From Richard Keys's blog (apologies if already posted)

 

It was Benjamin Franklin who said ‘nothing is certain except death and taxes’. I’ve re-worked that famous phrase many times and I’m going to again.

Nothing - except that Russell Martin was going to get the sack. The only surprise for me is that Southampton waited so long.

They’re already down. And that’s not because they weren’t ever good enough for the PL. It’s not because Martin was stubbornly principled, but because he was stupid.

He cut a comical character every time he did post match interviews following another Saints mauling.

He’d bang on about ‘the group learning’. About wanting to stay true to his principles. About playing ‘the right way’. Oh fuck off. What a load of nonsense. Ask Saints fans if they believe their team have been playing ‘the right way’.

Of course they haven’t. They’re rooted to the bottom of the league. They’re going down after a miserable attempt to re-join the big boys. The only thing we don’t know yet is if they’ll make history as the worst ever PL team. Right now they’re on course, but the new guy might give them a fighting chance.

More than anything that’s what they need - a bit of fight. To play ugly and win a few games. Get the ball into areas where they can cause the opposition damage - not themselves. Pass. Pass. Pass - goal to the opposition. What’s clever or ‘right’ about that? It’s certainly not good coaching.

No. A good coach would find a way. He/she would adapt to the circumstances their team found themselves in. There’s a reason players play for teams like Southampton - because they’re not good enough for top teams. So don’t ask them to play like top players. Even City are being found out because they don’t have a plan B.

I noticed Graeme Souness - in his column in Saturday’s Mail - warning that we’re boring our game to death right now (we speak all the time!) and I agree with him. I sense fans have had enough of it.

They want excitement. They want to see chances created and goals scored. How long have I been saying this for? Good luck to the new guy at Southampton. I hope he reads this - or Graeme’s piece. They’re much the same. 😂

[Wade Garrett]

21 minutes ago, Pamplemousse said:

From Richard Keys's blog (apologies if already posted)

 

It was Benjamin Franklin who said ‘nothing is certain except death and taxes’. I’ve re-worked that famous phrase many times and I’m going to again.

Nothing - except that Russell Martin was going to get the sack. The only surprise for me is that Southampton waited so long.

They’re already down. And that’s not because they weren’t ever good enough for the PL. It’s not because Martin was stubbornly principled, but because he was stupid.

He cut a comical character every time he did post match interviews following another Saints mauling.

He’d bang on about ‘the group learning’. About wanting to stay true to his principles. About playing ‘the right way’. Oh fuck off. What a load of nonsense. Ask Saints fans if they believe their team have been playing ‘the right way’.

Of course they haven’t. They’re rooted to the bottom of the league. They’re going down after a miserable attempt to re-join the big boys. The only thing we don’t know yet is if they’ll make history as the worst ever PL team. Right now they’re on course, but the new guy might give them a fighting chance.

More than anything that’s what they need - a bit of fight. To play ugly and win a few games. Get the ball into areas where they can cause the opposition damage - not themselves. Pass. Pass. Pass - goal to the opposition. What’s clever or ‘right’ about that? It’s certainly not good coaching.

No. A good coach would find a way. He/she would adapt to the circumstances their team found themselves in. There’s a reason players play for teams like Southampton - because they’re not good enough for top teams. So don’t ask them to play like top players. Even City are being found out because they don’t have a plan B.

I noticed Graeme Souness - in his column in Saturday’s Mail - warning that we’re boring our game to death right now (we speak all the time!) and I agree with him. I sense fans have had enough of it.

They want excitement. They want to see chances created and goals scored. How long have I been saying this for? Good luck to the new guy at Southampton. I hope he reads this - or Graeme’s piece. They’re much the same. 😂

Very perceptive piece.

[lambtiss]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

This whole thing about ‘he would have done better if he had better players’ is just mental to me. Any manager can say they would do better with better players, that’s just obvious. 

Good managers make the players they have, better, and find ways to make them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s literally what makes them good managers.

Martin never got that, and literally made the players he had worse by forcing them to do stuff he wanted to do but that they weren’t comfortable with or capable of. The absolute opposite of good management. 

Nailed it 

[Colinjb]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

This whole thing about ‘he would have done better if he had better players’ is just mental to me. Any manager can say they would do better with better players, that’s just obvious. 

Good managers make the players they have, better, and find ways to make them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s literally what makes them good managers.

Martin never got that, and literally made the players he had worse by forcing them to do stuff he wanted to do but that they weren’t comfortable with or capable of. The absolute opposite of good management. 

Perfectly put.

[trousers]

38 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

Who is better than Martin and will come to us?

My nan 

[coalman]

5 minutes ago, trousers said:

My nan 

Can we afford her release clause?

[ChrisPY]

12 minutes ago, trousers said:

My nan 

Has she got a beard?

[trousers]

15 minutes ago, coalman said:

Can we afford her release clause?

 

8 minutes ago, ChrisPY said:

Has she got a beard?

She died in 2019, so difficult to tell....

[Doctoroncall]

32 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Very perceptive piece.

Really? there was many on here that foretold this season. 
 

Now, SR have to somehow navigate a way out of this mess, but there is clearly enough evidence with the same people in charge that is unlikely to happen. Will Saints be the new Stoke or Sheffield United ‘24 for next season?

[coalman]

1 minute ago, trousers said:

 

She died in 2019, so difficult to tell....

So she meets the unobtainable criteria for Rasmus sending 3 months trying to re ruit her then.

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 hour ago, Pamplemousse said:

Good luck to the new guy at Southampton. I hope he reads this - or Graeme’s piece.

Some of our Nods need to as well. 

[Turkish]

13 hours ago, lambtiss said:

Russell Martin’s Southampton philosophy was a self-defeating brand of stupidity

 

https://apple.news/ADKj8AtuNSDyXACWHipGzoA

that's a really good article, cannot disagree with any of it. As for Martin himself, he has failed upwards. 

 

Yet Martin’s overall record invites scepticism. It is harsh to say he has failed upwards, but he has been given bigger jobs on the basis of style, not substance. He finished 19th and 13th in League One with MK Dons, 15th and 10th in the Championship with Swansea. Southampton had one of the three biggest budgets and best squads in the Championship last season and came fourth. Now their group of players might be superior to Ipswich’s, but they are seven points behind Kieran McKenna’s savvier team.

[stknowle]

3 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

This whole thing about ‘he would have done better if he had better players’ is just mental to me. Any manager can say they would do better with better players, that’s just obvious. 

Good managers make the players they have, better, and find ways to make them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s literally what makes them good managers.

Martin never got that, and literally made the players he had worse by forcing them to do stuff he wanted to do but that they weren’t comfortable with or capable of. The absolute opposite of good management. 

Bang on the money. Didn’t mind him as a person but he is/was a dreadful DREADFUL Premier League manager.

Edited 19 December, 2024 by stknowle

[Wade Garrett]

2 hours ago, Doctoroncall said:

Really? there was many on here that foretold this season. 
 

Now, SR have to somehow navigate a way out of this mess, but there is clearly enough evidence with the same people in charge that is unlikely to happen. Will Saints be the new Stoke or Sheffield United ‘24 for next season?

When he talks about football becoming boring that really resonated with me.

[Midfield_General]

53 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

When he talks about football becoming boring that really resonated with me.

I used to find watching La Liga boring as a kid. Very slow, very tactical, not as much tackling, just nowhere near as fun to watch as the 100mph blood and thunder of English football. 

Now there are hardly any English coaches/managers at the top of the English game, and most top clubs here have foreign coaches, it makes sense that the overall style of play throughout the league has changed too. It's generally slower and more possession-based now because the foreign managers have brought that with them, not only by playing that way themselves but also by influencing how others then think the game should be played. It's slowly turning into La Liga. Which may be more technically pure, but the focus on 'control' means it's far less fun to watch, in my opinion. Give me a tactically inept end-to-end three-all ding-dong any day. 

Edited 19 December, 2024 by Midfield_General

[Hayling Saint]

1 hour ago, Midfield_General said:

I used to find watching La Liga boring as a kid. Very slow, very tactical, not as much tackling, just nowhere near as fun to watch as the 100mph blood and thunder of English football. 

Now there are hardly any English coaches/managers at the top of the English game, and most top clubs here have foreign coaches, it makes sense that the overall style of play throughout the league has changed too. It's generally slower and more possession-based now because the foreign managers have brought that with them, not only by playing that way themselves but also by influencing how others then think the game should be played. It's slowly turning into La Liga. Which may be more technically pure, but the focus on 'control' means it's far less fun to watch, in my opinion. Give me a tactically inept end-to-end three-all ding-dong any day. 

Agreed.

[Toussaint]

6 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Who is good enough and will come to us?

Someone who wants to earn millions of pounds, who wants to be challenged, who sees it as a fantastic opportunity, who will raise their profile managing in the most watched league in the world. I'm sure there are several other motivating factors and more worth candidates than you could shake a stick at. We'll find out very soon who that person is. I'm just grateful its no longer the terrible egotist,  Russel Martin.

[notnowcato]

1 minute ago, Toussaint said:

Someone who wants to earn millions of pounds, who wants to be challenged, who sees it as a fantastic opportunity, who will raise their profile managing in the most watched league in the world. I'm sure there are several other motivating factors and more worth candidates than you could shake a stick at. We'll find out very soon who that person is. I'm just grateful its no longer the terrible egotist,  Russel Martin.

Are you busy writing a list or concocting another magic mushroom drink?

[skintsaint]

One of RMs last training sessions was caught on camera it seems..

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GZxt9p8QV/

[coalman]

5 minutes ago, skintsaint said:

One of RMs last training sessions was caught on camera it seems..

 

https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1GZxt9p8QV/

That's more commitment than we ever showed in the tackle under RM. Tick for possession given away cheaply and offering no threat to the goal.

[Whitey Grandad]

6 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

I used to find watching La Liga boring as a kid. Very slow, very tactical, not as much tackling, just nowhere near as fun to watch as the 100mph blood and thunder of English football. 

Now there are hardly any English coaches/managers at the top of the English game, and most top clubs here have foreign coaches, it makes sense that the overall style of play throughout the league has changed too. It's generally slower and more possession-based now because the foreign managers have brought that with them, not only by playing that way themselves but also by influencing how others then think the game should be played. It's slowly turning into La Liga. Which may be more technically pure, but the focus on 'control' means it's far less fun to watch, in my opinion. Give me a tactically inept end-to-end three-all ding-dong any day. 

Agreed. That was the problem with Pellegrino. All he was worried about was controlling the game before anything else.  Unfortunately we never got that far.

[John B]

11 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

This whole thing about ‘he would have done better if he had better players’ is just mental to me. Any manager can say they would do better with better players, that’s just obvious. 

Good managers make the players they have, better, and find ways to make them greater than the sum of their parts. That’s literally what makes them good managers.

Martin never got that, and literally made the players he had worse by forcing them to do stuff he wanted to do but that they weren’t comfortable with or capable of. The absolute opposite of good management. 

Our players are pretty poor in comparison to others I have seen over the past fifty years and most of the other teams seem to in general better players with other teams having some outstanding ones so to me it pretty obvious we were on a hiding to nothing before the season started.

 

If you disagree with me tell me who currently is a really class player even Nathan Redmond would shine in todays team

[SaintsBarry74]

10 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Who is good enough and will come to us?

We should take a punt on a foreign coach imo. What do we got to lose?

[Gingeletiss]

6 minutes ago, SaintsBarry74 said:

We should take a punt on a foreign coach imo. What do we got to lose?

So, another foreign coach who has been bought up on possession football. Thanks, but no thanks.

[spyinthesky]

Fair play to Russell.

He's invited Swansea fans to stay over at his gaff in Winchester on New Year's Eve before heading down to Fratton Park for the New Year's Day game v Pompey.

He and Lucy will provide a hearty breakfast using part of his compo from his exit deal with Sports Republic.

[HarvSFC]

https://twitter.com/DMTkeepers/status/1178065486006890499

Saw this quote Tweeted today. Russell Martin's trusted goalkeeping coach from MK Dons, Swansea and here, so slightly awkward...

 

 

Edit, still struggling to embed Tweets, so:

For me hitting an area consistently in the opposition half is an art from the GK. Now every 1 believes they should pass 5 yards to the CB for a 20 pass move for a goal. Absolute nonsense

 

 

 

Edited 19 December, 2024 by HarvSFC

[tdmickey3]

Last sighting of jack and Russell

[revolution saint]

Where do we reckon RM will end up?  I'm going for Norwich, or possibly Peterborough.

[coalman]

4 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Where do we reckon RM will end up?  I'm going for Norwich, or possibly Peterborough.

Real Madrid. RM to RM means it's destiny. He'll finally have the players to play his system.

[Dman]

4 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Where do we reckon RM will end up?  I'm going for Norwich, or possibly Peterborough.

Could see Leeds maybe taking a punt if they don't go up. 

Failing that, he'll find his level in the middle of the championship, no higher. 

[Crab Lungs]

Norwich beckons.

[CB Fry]

5 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Norwich beckons.

Feels absolutely nailed on.

[Fabrice29]

Somewhere in Netherlands.

Edited 20 December, 2024 by Fabrice29

[Dr. Kucho]

19 minutes ago, revolution saint said:

Where do we reckon RM will end up?  I'm going for Norwich, or possibly Peterborough.

Pompey, he wants to stay in the area because of Lucy. 

[saintant]

Is Lucy Pinder still a Saints fan? Asking for a friend.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

35 minutes ago, Crab Lungs said:

Norwich beckons.

I got a stare when I suggested this to my Norwich supporting dad. 🙂

[trousers]

32 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I got a stare when I suggested this to my Norwich supporting dad. 🙂

Closely followed by this I assume...? 😁

 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

6 hours ago, trousers said:

Closely followed by this I assume...? 😁

 

Still not over Farke's passing it out from the back. To put people through that again, with no hope of it changing...

[Pamplemousse]

Norwich is an absolute shoe-in at some point. It may work for them, I suspect their expectations are a little lower than ours 

[danjosaint]

Wherever he goes he can take the championship keeper of the season with him

[Kermitzasaint]

I want Ivan to succeed just so a journalist can interview Russell Martin afterwards and ask him about how his style was a miserable failure and the sole reason Saints were struggling. 

 

[Turkish]

Well in less than a week Rusk has got us looking far more solid than Rusty ever did 

[Weston Super Saint]

14 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Well in less than a week Rusk has got us looking far more solid than Rusty ever did 

But, but, players something something.

[benjii]

On 20/12/2024 at 09:23, Fabrice29 said:

Somewhere in Netherlands.

Feyebored

PSV Eindcoma 

Den Draaaaag

 

[Lord Duckhunter]

20 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Well in less than a week Rusk has got us looking far more solid than Rusty ever did 

Frigging under 21 manager as well. Shocking indictment of Lego, and his ridiculous “process”. What was it he said “I’m not here to grind out results”. The Nods who defended him must be feeling very stupid now.