Russell Martin

[The Kraken]

Well, not exactly an inspiring choice at first glance but I’m going to remain open minded about it all and just hope for the best. An important factor is to get someone in very early to oversee the squad overhaul and start to build a team in their mould. So that could be a positive. 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

3 hours ago, egg said:

Is passing around in our own half huffing and puffing for an opening pleasing on the eye? Watch that video of his team goal with the 50 ish passes. The team nearly lost the ball on occasions and had no idea how to break them down until the last pass for goal. If the goal didn't come at the end of it, it would have just been 3 mins of turgid keep ball. 

This ^
 

if it takes you 56 passes to get a shot on goal then I would argue something is wrong. 

[Disco Stu]

3 at the back system would have been a huge plus for Sports Republic

 

[CB Fry]

Didn't Leicester win the league on something like 40% possession 

[Lighthouse]

2 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

This ^
 

if it takes you 56 passes to get a shot on goal then I would argue something is wrong. 

As opposed to what exactly? If you go direct you will lose possession nine times out of ten and not get a shot on goal at all.

There is no system we are realistically going to be able to implement, with the players we have at our disposal, which will result in incisive, flowing football and shots raining down every five minutes.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

2 hours ago, Smirking_Saint said:

Well, he’s made a positive change everywhere he has gone, at some point a side is going to take a gamble on him, back him effectively and it’ll work.. there is no reason that couldn’t be us, we just need to have aligned vision, stability and give him what he needs

Kompany didn’t do anything extraordinary in Belgium, but has done an incredible job at Burnley

From a realistic appointment POV I’m not sure what you would have expected ?

Jaissle ? Good manager with a good pedigree but has zero experience of the english league system or the Championship

Vieira ? A career that has swung 50/50 so far between success and failure always ending with a slump

Potter ? Good manager who I believe is keeping his options open for a prem move so wasn’t available

Carrick/Corberan ? Would actually of been a choice of mine if I was to pick but both are happy at their clubs at the moment

What other options did you have ?

 

Martin wouldn’t of been my first choice, but its not a horrible choice, the bedwetting on here is a bit pathetic tbh

Not sure it’s bed wetting just a desire to make a third bad managerial appointment in 12 months. Surely that’s understandable? 
I take your point re who else is there but it is a bit depressing that the best we can get is a man who basically has nothing tangible on his CV other than beating Cardiff twice and the world’s longest goal to score. 

[davefizzy14]

What I don't get is we still have over a week to go until the end of the season. I mean there is plenty of time to interview other candidates and then make a decision. 

[Lighthouse]

Just now, davefizzy14 said:

What I don't get is we still have over a week to go until the end of the season. I mean there is plenty of time to interview other candidates and then make a decision. 

What makes you think we haven’t?

[Fitzhugh Fella]

2 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

As opposed to what exactly? If you go direct you will lose possession nine times out of ten and not get a shot on goal at all.

There is no system we are realistically going to be able to implement, with the players we have at our disposal, which will result in incisive, flowing football and shots raining down every five minutes.

Not sure your 9/10 stat is accurate. Route One still achieves success especially in the final minutes. I think it best to mix and match rather than rigidly stick to a style of play that can be tedious and unproductive. 

[Fitzhugh Fella]

8 minutes ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Not sure it’s bed wetting just a desire not to make a third bad managerial appointment in 12 months. Surely that’s understandable? 
I take your point re who else is there but it is a bit depressing that the best we can get is a man who basically has nothing tangible on his CV other than beating Cardiff twice and the world’s longest goal to score. 

 

[Crab Lungs]

Like someone said above so accurately, I think some of our fans live in a world where we’re shopping in a level above our station still - or at least harbours hope that we might at least try to.

I can only think of three managers off the top of my head that would almost guarantee a playoff place or higher - and all of them would be very, very unlikely to be persuaded to join us;

Rodgers, Potter and if he left Forest, Cooper. I think it’ll have to be a bonkers offer for any of those three to even consider a polite chat.

The rest, like Martin, will guarantee almost nothing and some of them would feel underwhelming in some respects. Mowbray, Corberan, Vieira, Gerrard, Rooney and all the others mooted fall into this category. 

The project of getting us back to the PL is attractive, don’t get me wrong - just not as attractive as what we might think it is.

[Fitzhugh Fella]

8 minutes ago, davefizzy14 said:

What I don't get is we still have over a week to go until the end of the season. I mean there is plenty of time to interview other candidates and then make a decision. 

The Championship ended a fortnight ago and starts before the PL so our close season is going to be particularly short this summer. 

[Hodgey]

6 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

What makes you think we haven’t?

Maybe, but the news Leicester may be interested I think made us hurry. That and I think SR want to make a public statement end of season that they have Wilcox / Martin / Mowbray all in position early and can talk of their new strategy.

I think there may have been other interviews in the same way there was when we appointed Jones (Ie clear favourite)

[Turkish]

Selles doesn’t appear to know pretty shabby form really

 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23534891.southampton-manager-selles-claims-interest-elsewhere/?fbclid=IwAR2LCJxdWC2mQWksNoa0y9yCFFuYN5irWf-7AuQglYg3FfDmXVKVL5IzuF8

[Whitey Grandad]

2 hours ago, Smirking_Saint said:

We sort of agree, Im not sure managers are necessarily looking to increase passing metrics just because they can. A possession based system has enough values, even beyond the old ‘if we have the ball you can’t score’ mantra

It does depend how its utilised of course but you can dissect and pull opposition shape apart and find gaps, like any system, and you’re right, you have to have the right balance of risk but if you get that right the system is perfectly viable and generally successful in a championship campaign

For it to be anything more than pointless it has to involve the whole team and all areas of the pitch. This requires the forwards and midfield to be constantly on the move trying to pull the opposition out of its defensive shape. Just passing the ball between the goalkeeper and the back defenders whilst the opposition and the crowd make their own entertainment is meaningless time wasting.

[Pilchards]

Fucking turd appointment.

Pass, pass, Z z z z 

Do me a favour and stop playing games by appointing one shit manager after another.

If Martin did work then he would be off in a shot as he offers no loyalty to any employers in his career.

 

[sydney_saint]

Hard to get excited about this one. I'm not expecting a Bosz, Gallardo type manager, but I would like a manager with a bit more status. Viera would have been perfect, but he could probably still get a prem job so fair enough, probably unrealistic. But we have a decent enough squad for this level and will have a few managers interested. Even someone like Garcia could do a good job.

Not quite sure what the obsession is with a manager that knows the Championship. It's not a league in the far off reaches off the world, it's one of the most watched divisions in Europe, with many of the clubs and players having played in the Prem. Burnley didnt bother about that. 

Still hope for the best, but I can't help but feel our most successful managers in recent times are the ones you instantly expected to be successful. Pardew came with reputation and did well, Adkins was managing in the division above and had a good reputation and was an enormous success, Poch is the outlier but there was probably some ignorance on my part when he joined as he had a reputation in Spain, Koeman huge reputation and equalled huge success, Puel with an okay status and was an okay manager, who the fuck was Pellegrino and was awful, Hughes was hated by most of the clubs he had recently managed, Ralph great reputation and was overall a good appointment, who the fuck was Jones and awful, and then who the fucking fuck was Selles and has been dreadful. It just feels when we try and get too cute, it blows up on us.

Edited 20 May, 2023 by sydney_saint

[Saint Matty 76]

3 minutes ago, Pilchards said:

Fucking turd appointment.

Pass, pass, Z z z z 

Do me a favour and stop playing games by appointing one shit manager after another.

If Martin did work then he would be off in a shot as he offers no loyalty to any employers in his career.

 

At this point we should be desperate for a manager who somebody better than us wants.

[UpweySaint]

23 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Selles doesn’t appear to know pretty shabby form really

 

https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/23534891.southampton-manager-selles-claims-interest-elsewhere/?fbclid=IwAR2LCJxdWC2mQWksNoa0y9yCFFuYN5irWf-7AuQglYg3FfDmXVKVL5IzuF8

Selles is on a fixed term contract so it's not unreasonable for us to be exploring options for when that contract ends. A bit of transparency wouldn't hurt though if he is as in the dark as he is claiming. We could argue he is 'interviewing' for the permanent post while an an interim position but he has clearly not done enough to warrant the permanent post.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

4 hours ago, egg said:

Is passing around in our own half huffing and puffing for an opening pleasing on the eye? Watch that video of his team goal with the 50 ish passes. The team nearly lost the ball on occasions and had no idea how to break them down until the last pass for goal. If the goal didn't come at the end of it, it would have just been 3 mins of turgid keep ball. 

It's the number of passes that causes the opposition to lose focus and allow the goal. It's very hard to press for that amount of time. The only team huffing and puffing is the one chasing the ball all round the pitch

Edited 20 May, 2023 by Ex Lion Tamer

[Cabrone]

Big decision. We have a small window of parachute payment opportunity and a big big task ahead of us to get out of this league.

I'll give the board a clap for getting the new man in early enough to put his ideas in place.

Not sure about his style though. Need to hit the ground running, 2 wins out of every 3 games across a 46 game season leaves zero time for experimentation.

Will this guy be able to get the momentum early enough? Don't know but I do think it will be a fun season (finally).

[Ex Lion Tamer]

1 hour ago, Fitzhugh Fella said:

Not sure your 9/10 stat is accurate. Route One still achieves success especially in the final minutes. I think it best to mix and match rather than rigidly stick to a style of play that can be tedious and unproductive. 

Martin teams supposedly score a lot of their goals in the last 20 minutes once their passing has tired out the opposition

[qwertyell]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

3 at the back system would have been a huge plus for Sports Republic

 

Ended the season playing a back 4 for the last 10 or so games - Swansea's best run of form of the campaign.

So he seems flexible. Which is probably a bonus.

[SaintsFan86]

1 hour ago, Disco Stu said:

3 at the back system would have been a huge plus for Sports Republic

 

Not really a 3 atb system to be honest, He plays a 4 and his sole DM drops into defense and creating that back 3 when we have the ball / on attack.

[InTheChannel]

Russell Martin leading the race for next Southampton manager. Check out latest blog for an insight into how Saints could look under him and why SR have him top of the list

 

https://inthechannel.blogspot.com/2023/05/what-are-sport-republic-russling-up.html?m=1

 

Thanks for reading 

[warsash saint]

Is a Nathan Jones available??  Sod passing .... apparently he likes to hoof it forward at the first opportunity.

Posters on here will lap it up!!

Edited 20 May, 2023 by warsash saint

[Wade Garrett]

I’m getting my head around it now.  He wouldn’t have even been my 4th choice but he is going to oversee us fucking smash the Championship next season.

Come on you fucking reds.

[goodymatt]

 

I’ve come across this podcast on YouTube that talks about his underlying numbers and how underfunded he was for this seasons promotion push. Video is after the January window closed but still gives interesting insight. General opinion seems positive on the job Martin was doing.

It’s good to know that the possession approach at that point had the 2nd most shots taken and 4th least shots against. Doesn’t sound like possession for possessions sake to me.

You’d hope with better players we would be able to perform closer to expected goals and points. Although Saints have similarly underperformed underlying data for a while now. Interestingly their keeper had conceded 10 goals more than you’d expect at the half way point… Banzunu vibes?

[Fabrice29]

For a forum that is so desperate to be annoyed this place continues to amaze how spectacularly wrong it can still be.

There’s legit concerns to be had by the defensive record of this guys teams yet all the standard dinosaurs on this forum are frothing at the mouth because he might coach us to put a few passes together. 
 

 

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, Fabrice29 said:

For a forum that is so desperate to be annoyed this place continues to amaze how spectacularly wrong it can still be.

There’s legit concerns to be had by the defensive record of this guys teams yet all the standard dinosaurs on this forum are frothing at the mouth because he might coach us to put a few passes together. 
 

 

who is frothing at the mouth?

[Fabrice29]

9 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

I’ve come across this podcast on YouTube that talks about his underlying numbers and how underfunded he was for this seasons promotion push. Video is after the January window closed but still gives interesting insight. General opinion seems positive on the job Martin was doing.

It’s good to know that the possession approach at that point had the 2nd most shots taken and 4th least shots against. Doesn’t sound like possession for possessions sake to me.

You’d hope with better players we would be able to perform closer to expected goals and points. Although Saints have similarly underperformed underlying data for a while now. Interestingly their keeper had conceded 10 goals more than you’d expect at the half way point… Banzunu vibes?

Don’t try mate. I showed them the stats on this earlier and people just ignore it and shout ‘zzzzz, won’t get out our own half, something wrong if you’re scoring a goal after 56 passes’

[Bad Wolf]

Case in point for me: Swansea fans are absolutely gutted.

And no Luton fans weren't gutted when we got Jones before anyone makes that point.

[Bad Wolf]

2 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Don’t try mate. I showed them the stats on this earlier and people just ignore it and shout ‘zzzzz, won’t get out our own half, something wrong if you’re scoring a goal after 56 passes’

What about that goal against Middlesbrough in The Championship where we strung a ton of passes together? Also Chelsea away on boxing day a couple of years ago? Everyone wet themselves over those BECAUSE we'd strung loads of passes together before scoring.

[goodymatt]

 

An interesting thread below this post, mixed views from other teams supporters. Sheffield United fans in particular seem to not rate him.

Btw, of course football is about results, especially for Saints trying to get back at the first attempt!

[Turkish]

3 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

An interesting thread below this post, mixed views from other teams supporters. Sheffield United fans in particular seem to not rate him.

Btw, of course football is about results, especially for Saints trying to get back at the first attempt!

So if you want results then you won’t rate Russell Martin, brilliant 🤣🤣

[Whitey Grandad]

1 hour ago, Ex Lion Tamer said:

It's the number of passes that causes the opposition to lose focus and allow the goal. It's very hard to press for that amount of time. The only team huffing and puffing is the one chasing the ball all round the pitch

Not the way that we play it. The one chasing is just that - one player. Sometimes it's a different player. 

And it's never "all round the pitch" is it. It's only ever in our back third.

[Whitey Grandad]

34 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

Is a Nathan Jones available??  Sod passing .... apparently he likes to hoof it forward at the first opportunity.

Posters on here will lap it up!!

It's nothing like that so don't try and exaggerate. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other.

[SotonianWill]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

So if you want results then you won’t rate Russell Martin, brilliant 🤣🤣

twatty modern football watchers personified. would rather win on XG than score. 

[AlexLaw76]

So, nothing more important in football than process.

Riiiight. How is that working out for saints this season?

[Whitey Grandad]

15 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

Don’t try mate. I showed them the stats on this earlier and people just ignore it and shout ‘zzzzz, won’t get out our own half, something wrong if you’re scoring a goal after 56 passes’

And that's where you went wrong. Football isn't a game of 'stats'

[S-Clarke]

23 minutes ago, Fabrice29 said:

For a forum that is so desperate to be annoyed this place continues to amaze how spectacularly wrong it can still be.

There’s legit concerns to be had by the defensive record of this guys teams yet all the standard dinosaurs on this forum are frothing at the mouth because he might coach us to put a few passes together. 
 

 

No one is frothing at the mouth, there have actually been lots of reasoned posts and some really good debates. The concerns and doubts people have are totally founded, but I wouldn't say those doubts equate to people frothing at the mouth like you proclaim.

It feels like you are sensationalising peoples views to try and make them look worse than they are.

[Ex Lion Tamer]

10 minutes ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Not the way that we play it. The one chasing is just that - one player. Sometimes it's a different player. 

And it's never "all round the pitch" is it. It's only ever in our back third.

The new manager hasn't even started yet!

[Turkish]

10 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

So, nothing more important in football than process.

Riiiight. How is that working out for saints this season?

Remember the league position doesn’t matter 

[S-Clarke]

21 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

An interesting thread below this post, mixed views from other teams supporters. Sheffield United fans in particular seem to not rate him.

Btw, of course football is about results, especially for Saints trying to get back at the first attempt!

That original tweet seems to have been posted by a family member of TWar. Lauding stats, but looking for excuses as to why those stats don't actually equal success. It does feel more and more like a metric and statistic driven appointment. With this approach we'll just keep rotating managers like Watford imo.

Hopefully we're all proven wrong.

[manji]

Where anywhere does it say we are getting Martin ? Again it wouldn’t be announced until Selles contract is finished. All the articles are littered with journalistic get out phrases. Expected, The Echo believes, it is understood, have heard, not one definitive statement.

Fucking clickbait bollocks probably agent driven. 
 

Adam Blackmore being quoted he’s not part of the inside crew anymore which would explain the rise in his criticism of Saints.

[AlexLaw76]

Just now, manji said:

Where anywhere does it say we are getting Martin ? Again it wouldn’t be announced until Selles contract is finished. All the articles are littered with journalistic get out phrases. Expected, The Echo believes, it is understood, have heard, not one definitive statement.

Fucking clickbait bollocks probably agent driven. 
 

Adam Blackmore being quoted he’s not part of the inside crew anymore which would explain the rise in his criticism of Saints.

as a Sports Republic man, are you saying there is absolutely no substance to these reports?

[S-Clarke]

1 minute ago, manji said:

Where anywhere does it say we are getting Martin ? Again it wouldn’t be announced until Selles contract is finished. All the articles are littered with journalistic get out phrases. Expected, The Echo believes, it is understood, have heard, not one definitive statement.

Fucking clickbait bollocks probably agent driven. 
 

Adam Blackmore being quoted he’s not part of the inside crew anymore which would explain the rise in his criticism of Saints.

This isn't clickbait, it will happen. Not sure why you seem to be in denial about what will be the worst kept secret ever.

[Saintscummer]

42 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

who is frothing at the mouth?

Most people are moaning and being negative from what I’m reading. 

[Dman]

48 minutes ago, goodymatt said:

 

I’ve come across this podcast on YouTube that talks about his underlying numbers and how underfunded he was for this seasons promotion push. Video is after the January window closed but still gives interesting insight. General opinion seems positive on the job Martin was doing.

It’s good to know that the possession approach at that point had the 2nd most shots taken and 4th least shots against. Doesn’t sound like possession for possessions sake to me.

You’d hope with better players we would be able to perform closer to expected goals and points. Although Saints have similarly underperformed underlying data for a while now. Interestingly their keeper had conceded 10 goals more than you’d expect at the half way point… Banzunu vibes?

Interesting point about wide men and lack of 1v1 players. 

Based on that, sounds like players like Djenepo / sulemana would be really important. 

Also found it interesting that Piroe is pretty naff in front of goal, not a No9 and is better in the 10… we’ve plenty of them, so think we should avoid. 

[Tom & Gerry]

For a manager to be successful a lot if factors have to fall in to place. We've had managers that were good elsewhere and they have been useless. Most of our best managers have done badly at other clubs. He'll either fit or he won't.