Russell Martin

[AlexLaw76]

Further down in the replies, about the number of goals we are letting in

 

Edited April 2 by AlexLaw76

[Jack]

He’s lost the plot for me. Overcomplicating it for no gain whatsoever. Play your fucking full backs at full back, your centre halfs at centre half, and your best players for those positions. 
 

No way that KWP gets done for pace and gets a red card, and he probably gets closer to their man in our RB position for their winner. Stu was done after an hour but he couldn’t see it, Bednarek was clearly injured and we already had 2 CBs on the pitch, why not get KWP on for Janny B and go to a normal back 4, really bizarre game management. I wasn’t at all shocked to lose it from there, you could sense it was coming. 

Edited April 2 by Jack

[Whitey Grandad]

52 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Further down in the replies, about the number of goals we are letting in

 

Our defence has not been playing as a cohesive unit. When you have a settled back four they play and position themselves by instinct. For some time now we have had gaps between players all across the back. A common feature of all three goals last night was the amount of time and space that we allowed them to have.

Middlesborough’s goal on Friday illustrated the same disarray. Defenders playing like an under-nines games. All running around chasing their own individual targets. 

[Toussaint]

2 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

I’ll give credit to Ralph for getting Stephen’s and Bednarek out and criticise Martin for his loyalty to them fwiw.

Anyway, you lot are insane. Some of you need to enjoy it more, it’s actually quite fun when you’re not desperate to be outraged by the manager. Let it play out and waste your summer being angry about it if we don’t get promoted.

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

[Whitey Grandad]

29 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

I’m with you in this.

[Turkish]

56 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

Really? When it works it’s great. The second goal yesterday was excellent. At times this season we’ve played the glorious stuff. First halves v Leeds and Swansea for example. The problem with it is that when it doesn’t work we look terrible. We’ve very easy to play against, we concede far too many goal, Many of them avoidable and we stick to it rigidly whatever which is costing us points. 
 

this is the problem with a philosophy. On paper it’s great, when you’ve got the worlds greatest players doing it usually against inferior players and you’re regularly playing clubs with a budget 1/5 of yours then it’s a lot easier to implement, when you’ve championship level players playing in a combative league it’s much much harder to make it work. 

I don’t mind Russball if I was a neutral but as a Saints fan it’s not going to win us promotion. 

Edited April 2 by Turkish

[danjosaint]

The problem is the 2nd goal wasn't russ ball , 2 passes, stu running directly for 50yds with a great pass at the end, great goal,not 1 sideways pass, when we are direct and aggressive like Blackburn Swansea Leeds we do look good but we revert to this painstakingly shit keep ball that we're not actually great at with a piss weak mentality and players seemingly not knowing where there supposed to be, we are always a yard away, the last 4 goals have showed us that, RM needs to go if Upstairs want any sort of success at sfc

 

 

[danjosaint]

The problem is the 2nd goal wasn't russ ball , 2 passes, stu running directly for 50yds with a great pass at the end, great goal,not 1 sideways pass, when we are direct and aggressive like Blackburn Swansea Leeds we do look good but we revert to this painstakingly shit keep ball that we're not actually great at with a piss weak mentality and players seemingly not knowing where there supposed to be, we are always a yard away, the last 4 goals have showed us that, RM needs to go if Upstairs want any sort of success at sfc

 

 

[notnowcato]

The 2nd and 3rd goals we conceded were not down to any particular philosophy.

Che missing countless goals, is not down to any particular philosophy.

The players have to take responsibility, the 2nd half performance yesterday showed their mental attitude and it's nowhere near good enough.  When you compare it to what they achieved in the first half shows just how flaky they can be.

[Toussaint]

12 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Really? When it works it’s great. The second goal yesterday was excellent. At times this season we’ve played the glorious stuff. First halves v Leeds and Swansea for example. The problem with it is that when it doesn’t work we look terrible. We’ve very easy to play against, we concede far too many goal, Many of them avoidable and we stick to it rigidly whatever which is costing us points. 
 

this is the problem with a philosophy. On paper it’s great, when you’ve got the worlds greatest players doing it usually against inferior players and you’re regularly playing clubs with a budget 1/5 of yours then it’s a lot easier to implement, when you’ve championship level players playing in a combative league it’s much much harder to make it work. 

I don’t mind Russball if I was a neutral but as a Saints fan it’s not going to win us promotion. 

I have highlighted the reasons above that confirm my opinion.

[coalman]

1 minute ago, notnowcato said:

The 2nd and 3rd goals we conceded were not down to any particular philosophy.

Che missing countless goals, is not down to any particular philosophy.

The players have to take responsibility, the 2nd half performance yesterday showed their mental attitude and it's nowhere near good enough.  When you compare it to what they achieved in the first half shows just how flaky they can be.

I think we lose intensity over the course of each half. We start brightly and create a few chances. Then possession becomes for the sake of possession, chances dry up and we lose intensity across the pitch.

If there is any minor shift in momentum we're then there for the taking.

[S-Clarke]

2 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

The 2nd and 3rd goals we conceded were not down to any particular philosophy.

Che missing countless goals, is not down to any particular philosophy.

The players have to take responsibility, the 2nd half performance yesterday showed their mental attitude and it's nowhere near good enough.  When you compare it to what they achieved in the first half shows just how flaky they can be.

Somewhat agree, but I also believe a lot of the nervousness and instability has been brought on by the inconsistent 11's. We had a period when we were unbeaten where you could name the 11, now it's a guessing game to see where he shoe horns Stephens in and who misses out to accomodate that.

I find his role in the side incredibly odd if I'm honest, this kind of floating CB/CM with licence to go left back, right back, CM, CB, Number 10. It feels like nonsense. He's not even a particularly good passer of the ball in my opinion. It's like the madness of inverted full backs taken to a new extreme, there was no need for it - it hasn't added anything else to our game apart from goals against.

[Lighthouse]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

I can’t for the life of me get my head around that. Nathan Jones tenure here was the very worst I’ve seen from any full time manager, there was not one redeeming feature about it. Ugly, route one football which produced appalling results, including defeats in pretty much all our winnable fixtures. The guy didn’t score a single point at St Mary’s in his entire tenure.

 

So called Russball is like any other philosophy; people like it when we’re scoring goals and winning. If Bednarek’s header had been a foot lower and gone under the keeper yesterday it’s 1-3 and the game finishes completely different. Suddenly everyone’s talking about it being a highlight of the season.

[LGTL]

4 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Somewhat agree, but I also believe a lot of the nervousness and instability has been brought on by the inconsistent 11's. We had a period when we were unbeaten where you could name the 11, now it's a guessing game to see where he shoe horns Stephens in and who misses out to accomodate that.

I find his role in the side incredibly odd if I'm honest, this kind of floating CB/CM with licence to go left back, right back, CM, CB, Number 10. It feels like nonsense. He's not even a particularly good passer of the ball in my opinion. It's like the madness of inverted full backs taken to a new extreme, there was no need for it - it hasn't added anything else to our game apart from goals against.

Let’s call it for what it is - insanity. Bringing JS back into this team and breaking up the consistent back 4 has probably cost us promotion. The worst GK in the league also needed that consistent selection to appear in some way competent. I don’t really blame Stephens either, he’s not been horrific or anything. But it was a suicidal call by Martin and should cost him his job at the end of the season. 

Edited April 2 by LGTL

[Toussaint]

11 minutes ago, Lighthouse said:

I can’t for the life of me get my head around that. Nathan Jones tenure here was the very worst I’ve seen from any full time manager, there was not one redeeming feature about it. Ugly, route one football which produced appalling results, including defeats in pretty much all our winnable fixtures. The guy didn’t score a single point at St Mary’s in his entire tenure.

 

So called Russball is like any other philosophy; people like it when we’re scoring goals and winning. If Bednarek’s header had been a foot lower and gone under the keeper yesterday it’s 1-3 and the game finishes completely different. Suddenly everyone’s talking about it being a highlight of the season.

The NJ comparison was hyperbole I will concede, but I honestly don't care how ugly the football is if it gets (got) us out of this league. 

Edited April 2 by Toussaint

[Wade Garrett]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

Same.  No way am I buying another season ticket while that arrogant chump is manager.

[Sunglasses Ron]

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I'm glad you enjoy it, I really don't. I can't stand watching Russball. I can't relate the the guy in any level, I didn't even feel like that about Nathan Jones.  I can't face another season in this division, especially with the diminished resources we will have. If we don't go up, and they stick with Martin, we won't be getting sell outs next year and resources will  be further weakened. 

I'm very surprised by this comment.

Regardless of our failings, we've generally been thoroughly entertaining this season at home no?

Last season was a complete disaster from start to finish.

[Osvaldorama]

He doesn’t react in games. 
 

You can argue that he’s a good coach and has improved some of our players. 
You can also argue that he has done pretty well overall. 
 

But he is not reactive enough at key moments in games and it’s cost us promotion. His inexperience in big games has cost us. 

It was obvious to all that without a focal point in attack, we invite pressure. It was obvious KWP should have replaced the knackered Bree. It was obvious stu atmstrong was knackered. 

All these things later on in games, Martin misses, consistently. 
 

Litmus test: swap managers around yesterday and we would have won. 

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I have highlighted the reasons above that confirm my opinion.

Yes I get that I don’t hate it, the idea of nice but the reality is it won’t work. Team that win things don’t concede many, we do.

[Micky]

1 hour ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

I'm very surprised by this comment.

Regardless of our failings, we've generally been thoroughly entertaining this season at home no?

Last season was a complete disaster from start to finish.

Why surprised?  Yes, agreed,  we have been really good this season, some great entertainment home and away.  But the bar was set at promotion, that's what we had to achieve, so we built the squad to do that.  Unfortunately it doesn't look like we will get to the bar, and so we will look much different next season, and ultimately much weaker. How will you feel when we start to struggle in the championship in a half empty SMS, not quite so entertaining then. 

[S-Clarke]

2 hours ago, LGTL said:

Let’s call it for what it is - insanity. Bringing JS back into this team and breaking up the consistent back 4 has probably cost us promotion. The worst GK in the league also needed that consistent selection to appear in some way competent. I don’t really blame Stephens either, he’s not been horrific or anything. But it was a suicidal call by Martin and should cost him his job at the end of the season. 

Absolutely. I also don't want to call out JS either as like you say he's not been bad at all, it's just what he's being asked to do and how it's unsettled the 11 which is bonkers.

I'm sure Martin will defend it to the hilt, but the stats speak for themselves - since he started arsing around with the 11 to fit JS into it we have conceded way too many goals to be in the mix. We went away from what got us back to 2nd and that is what will always bug the life out of me, we had it in our hands at the end of Jan - but it's a self-inflicted drop off.

[Lymington Saint]

I can't ever remember a more frustrating season.  On the plus side, when plan A is working well, we are good to watch and teams struggle to live with us.  Apart from the lack of a goal-scoring centre forward, the problem is the lack of a plan B for those teams that stifle our normal Russball.  And a seeming lack of game management from 60 minutes onwards.  Substitutions that disrupt the team structure, and an inability to see games out.  RM seems to lack any kind of flexibility, which good managers need.  Plus he clearly has his favourites (Manning, Stephens, Brookes)

In 2011/12, we were blowing teams away up until Christmas, then got worked out by Bristol City at the end of December.  NA, bless him, changed things around in the New Year and we got promoted.  If we don't get promoted this year, then I can see next season being a rerun of this season.

[Weston Super Saint]

3 hours ago, notnowcato said:

The 2nd and 3rd goals we conceded were not down to any particular philosophy.

Che missing countless goals, is not down to any particular philosophy.

The players have to take responsibility, the 2nd half performance yesterday showed their mental attitude and it's nowhere near good enough.  When you compare it to what they achieved in the first half shows just how flaky they can be.

So, we're back to the scar tissue thing from the beginning of the season?

Isn't it the coach's job to instill mental resilience?

[coalman]

1 minute ago, Weston Super Saint said:

So, we're back to the scar tissue thing from the beginning of the season?

Isn't it the coach's job to instill mental resilience?

I'm pretty sure we're developing an entirely new set of scar tissue now.

[Wade Garrett]

Does he regularly give his best lentil chef the night off and let Jack Stephens do the cooking at his Vegan restaurant?

[coalman]

9 minutes ago, Wade Garrett said:

Does he regularly give his best lentil chef the night off and let Jack Stephens do the cooking at his Vegan restaurant?

Wait what? There's a vegan restaurant I haven't heard of? Now I have to update my list of places that are full of sanctimonious twats.

[Tommy Mulgrew]

When on song we are great to watch and that applies as much to our usual slick but not-getting-anywhere-fast passing game as to yesterday’s unusual quick, incisive passing-led goals.  The trouble is that we do the former 99% of the time and the latter 1% of the time.  And we do the former 99% of the time in our half and our penalty area.  Inevitably we lose the ball sometimes and, instead of our DMs and defenders setting themselves in a solid defensive formation, our fullbacks play tucked into the middle of the pitch, leaving huge gaps that opponents’ wingers and fullbacks can exploit.  Most goals we concede come from that; yesterday we saw two examples of it (maybe even three - I can’t remember enough of the build-up to the second goal) and the Middlesbrough game was similar.

Even in our unbeaten run we exhibited the same weakness but managed to outscore most teams or at least get a draw.  Now we face better opponents who are fired up to achieve promotion or avoid relegation our frailty is exposed more starkly.  If we stop gifting space in No-Mannings Land and on the RHS as well, we shall be more difficult to score against, even with Stephens playing. Unless RM sorts out our defensive shape we won’t succeed in our efforts to get back to the EPL.  What is needed is for our DOF to emphasise that as an imperative or else… . Oh we seem not to have a DOF!  The Board should let rip at RM in no uncertain terms.

I agree dropping KWP was disastrous and playing THB out of position was wrong.  And the other points above about strange subbing decisions.  But IMO the main problem is the wrong defensive shape. The rigid adherence to our way of setting up and style of play makes it worse.

The red and white future is not looking as bright at present as it should do with our squad of players, who are easily good enough to achieve promotion.

[malcolm waldron]

23 minutes ago, Tommy Mulgrew said:

When on song we are great to watch and that applies as much to our usual slick but not-getting-anywhere-fast passing game as to yesterday’s unusual quick, incisive passing-led goals.  The trouble is that we do the former 99% of the time and the latter 1% of the time.  And we do the former 99% of the time in our half and our penalty area.  Inevitably we lose the ball sometimes and, instead of our DMs and defenders setting themselves in a solid defensive formation, our fullbacks play tucked into the middle of the pitch, leaving huge gaps that opponents’ wingers and fullbacks can exploit.  Most goals we concede come from that; yesterday we saw two examples of it (maybe even three - I can’t remember enough of the build-up to the second goal) and the Middlesbrough game was similar.

Even in our unbeaten run we exhibited the same weakness but managed to outscore most teams or at least get a draw.  Now we face better opponents who are fired up to achieve promotion or avoid relegation our frailty is exposed more starkly.  If we stop gifting space in No-Mannings Land and on the RHS as well, we shall be more difficult to score against, even with Stephens playing. Unless RM sorts out our defensive shape we won’t succeed in our efforts to get back to the EPL.  What is needed is for our DOF to emphasise that as an imperative or else… . Oh we seem not to have a DOF!  The Board should let rip at RM in no uncertain terms.

I agree dropping KWP was disastrous and playing THB out of position was wrong.  And the other points above about strange subbing decisions.  But IMO the main problem is the wrong defensive shape. The rigid adherence to our way of setting up and style of play makes it worse.

The red and white future is not looking as bright at present as it should do with our squad of players, who are easily good enough to achieve promotion.

Are you referring to yesterday's game specifically???

[Tommy Mulgrew]

22 minutes ago, malcolm waldron said:

Are you referring to yesterday's game specifically???

No; sorry that I did not express myself more clearly: the THB at RB problem was before the Ipswich game.

[Roger]

I’ve really liked Martin and was happy to support him but shoehorning Stephens into the team has ruined our season. Madness and to leave our best player out yesterday for him and then the problems come down the right and then saying that wasn’t reason we lost has done me. Shea Charles is our only other number 6 so to see him left out vs hull and Millwall was awful too. 

[Toussaint]

3 hours ago, Sunglasses Ron said:

I'm very surprised by this comment.

Regardless of our failings, we've generally been thoroughly entertaining this season at home no?

Last season was a complete disaster from start to finish.

On occasions yes we have been entertaining, but on other occasions also incredibly boring, weak and frustrating. My Southampton supporting friends and family are probably evenly split on their love /  hate / ambivalence. I held the view that this season was an aberration, one year out of the prem, rebuild and come back stronger. 

[notnowcato]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

So, we're back to the scar tissue thing from the beginning of the season?

Isn't it the coach's job to instill mental resilience?

No, not scar tissue. Just piss poor decisions / reactions or quality of finishing from individuals. 
 

[Convict Colony]

I get we are conceding more than we want to but i still contend that if we had a goal scoring centre forward to compliment A Armstrong then we would of scored more goals and won more, thats the main issue for me.

Random fact leciester have had 12 pens this season, 2nd place has 6, we have had 4.

[Mr X]

38 games in and does he know his strongest team? 

[skintsaint]

His tactics sure do have a good way of teasing us with nearly being a few goals up, but instead end up drawing or losing games.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

6 hours ago, danjosaint said:

The problem is the 2nd goal wasn't russ ball , 2 passes, stu running directly for 50yds with a great pass at the end, great goal,not 1 sideways pass, when we are direct and aggressive like Blackburn Swansea Leeds we do look good but we revert to this painstakingly shit keep ball that we're not actually great at with a piss weak mentality and players seemingly not knowing where there supposed to be, we are always a yard away, the last 4 goals have showed us that, RM needs to go if Upstairs want any sort of success at sfc

 

 

What exactly is Russball? I'm sure he doesn't want us to pass 100 times, get to the opponents penalty area then pass our way back to Baz.  It's almost like Russball is defined as a sideways pass or backwards.

Personally, I agree with Toussaint. Can't stand his smugness and how he's almost trying to be too clever. He needs to get his head out of his arse, stop blaming players for defeat and get this team motivated to look for more goals once we've taken the lead.

I genuinely think we've got the best squad of players in this division and our best 11 should beat any team.

[James]

I was a big Martin fan earlier in the season. I thought he had learned from our rough start and tightened us up but recent form has been disastrous and some of his decisions are absolutely perplexing. 

Shoehorning JS into a random and unnecessary position in the team has been nothing short of suicidal but RM doesn’t seem to recognise that or show any desire to go back to what made us successful. If anything I’m worried the team selections will get even more bizarre from here to the end of the season.

Can anyone recall a modern day team that successfully employs any player in a defensive free role, let alone a player as limited as JS? It’s not as if John Stones pops up in the number 10 role is it? His position is at least defined (not that we should be attempting to replicate Man City).

I really struggle to see us getting out of this league whilst we are this open and easy to score against. Even if we did go up we would be absolutely murdered by better PL standard attacks. 

[ErwinK1961]

20 minutes ago, OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint said:

What exactly is Russball? I'm sure he doesn't want us to pass 100 times, get to the opponents penalty area then pass our way back to Baz.  It's almost like Russball is defined as a sideways pass or backwards.

Personally, I agree with Toussaint. Can't stand his smugness and how he's almost trying to be too clever. He needs to get his head out of his arse, stop blaming players for defeat and get this team motivated to look for more goals once we've taken the lead.

I genuinely think we've got the best squad of players in this division and our best 11 should beat any team.

We’ve got the best squad… yet also allegedly have the worst GK in the league, a shite left back, a club captain that no-one wants to see play, a £10m DM who people moan about everytime he’s played, a CM who can’t tackle and only passes sideways, a record signing who doesn’t score or assist, a striker that can’t head the ball into an empty net from half a yard out and another striker who isn’t good enough to displace him.

 

 

 

 

 

[Weston Super Saint]

3 minutes ago, ErwinK1961 said:

We’ve got the best squad… yet also allegedly have the worst GK in the league, a shite left back, a club captain that no-one wants to see play, a £10m DM who people moan about everytime he’s played, a CM who can’t tackle and only passes sideways, a record signing who doesn’t score or assist, a striker that can’t head the ball into an empty net from half a yard out and another striker who isn’t good enough to displace him.

 

 

 

 

 

But other than that, fabulous hair.

[The Curse of St Mary's]

5 minutes ago, James said:

I was a big Martin fan earlier in the season. I thought he had learned from our rough start and tightened us up but recent form has been disastrous and some of his decisions are absolutely perplexing. 

Shoehorning JS into a random and unnecessary position in the team has been nothing short of suicidal but RM doesn’t seem to recognise that or show any desire to go back to what made us successful. If anything I’m worried the team selections will get even more bizarre from here to the end of the season.

Can anyone recall a modern day team that successfully employs any player in a defensive free role, let alone a player as limited as JS? It’s not as if John Stones pops up in the number 10 role is it? His position is at least defined (not that we should be attempting to replicate Man City).

I really struggle to see us getting out of this league whilst we are this open and easy to score against. Even if we did go up we would be absolutely murdered by better PL standard attacks. 

Martin's two biggest failings have been his blind faith in Bazuna and shoehorning Stephens back into a side that went 25 games unbeaten largely without him starting most of those games. We were relatively solid defensively during that run.

We now have a bloated squad especially in attacking positions. I don't think Sulemana had done anything to warrant starting against Boro but got zero minutes last night yet Edozie stunk the place out when he came on. The inconsistency in RMs selection policy must grate with some of the players. 

[Sunglasses Ron]

1 hour ago, Toussaint said:

On occasions yes we have been entertaining, but on other occasions also incredibly boring, weak and frustrating. My Southampton supporting friends and family are probably evenly split on their love /  hate / ambivalence. I held the view that this season was an aberration, one year out of the prem, rebuild and come back stronger. 

Fair do's! I'm going to my first game this season later this month, so hoping for some entertainment.  Have only been a few times since Covid and that was mainly due to the sheer dross that was being served up.

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

32 minutes ago, The Curse of St Mary's said:

Martin's two biggest failings have been his blind faith in Bazuna and shoehorning Stephens back into a side that went 25 games unbeaten largely without him starting most of those games. We were relatively solid defensively during that run.

We now have a bloated squad especially in attacking positions. I don't think Sulemana had done anything to warrant starting against Boro but got zero minutes last night yet Edozie stunk the place out when he came on. The inconsistency in RMs selection policy must grate with some of the players. 

Baz was in the side when we went on our unbeaten run and kept a few clean sheets. Not only introducing JS but then trying him in different roles to see where he could fit has been the biggest destabiliser and our biggest problem and yet RM persists on doing it. We had a pretty stable starting 11 before then. And leaving out KWP for the Ipswich match was nonsense. I'm off to Blackburn on Saturday and what could have been a real moral booster has turned in to a dead rubber.

And I'd also pick Edozie over Sulemana anyday.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, Mr X said:

38 games in and does he know his strongest team? 

This is the most damning thing imo, particularly on the back of a good run with decent defensive performances. Keep it ticking along, with a couple of tweaks for injuries. But no, he had to be a clever dick. 

[captainchris]

This is the sort of thing that really is worrying about RM. He thought Bree played really well….. He didn’t…

Bree had a miserable night at Portman Road, losing possession 18 times, misplacing eight crosses and winning just two ground duels, while his night was compounded when he got sent off in the 84th minute.
 

Which game was RM watching ?

Edited April 2 by captainchris

[CB Fry]

I think Russell is in a spot of bother because he can't twat on about "scar tissue" any more. He can't blame his failings on"what came before" because it's April now and it's all on him.

[Challenger]

Is achieving exactly the same here as he did at his previous clubs, SR must be delighted that he's not disappointed.

Not going to take this team any further than he has.

[Whitey Grandad]

22 minutes ago, Challenger said:

Is achieving exactly the same here as he did at his previous clubs, SR must be delighted that he's not disappointed.

Not going to take this team any further than he has.

Maybe he doesn’t have the nerve to take us further. Maybe he’s not brave enough. Maybe he’s the Billy Liar of the division, chickens out when it looks like he might get what he wants.

[Andrew Watson]

Martins awful team selections and failure to ditch the tippy tappy dross in games when we are struggling have cost us automatic promotion. We will lose to WBA in semis and finish in mid table next year if we persevere with him,as the idiots running the club are seemingly happy to keep him in charge. A bit of the grit shown by an average Ipsich side last night would not go amiss, they stayed in the game and we folded like a pack of cards when it came to the crunch.

[Badger]

1 minute ago, Andrew Watson said:

Martins awful team selections and failure to ditch the tippy tappy dross in games when we are struggling have cost us automatic promotion. We will lose to WBA in semis and finish in mid table next year if we persevere with him,as the idiots running the club are seemingly happy to keep him in charge. A bit of the grit shown by an average Ipsich side last night would not go amiss, they stayed in the game and we folded like a pack of cards when it came to the crunch.

And yet at times yesterday we played some good, and neat, passing stuff moving the ball forward well (perhaps the last bit is a little uncharacteristic of how we often play though).

The tippy tappy at the back gets on my tits though.

Agree with you about the lack of grit, and weak spirit when needed. All it needed was for someone to put a foot in, or clear the ball at the end. (Incredible the Ipswich player had time to fall over, and get up to toe pike the ball in, with what seemed like three Saints players stood around watching).

[Forester]

Lots of histrionics on here.  Like everyone else who travelled to Ipswich last night, I was gutted at the end but it’s mad to begin calling for the manager to go.  We have 78 points with eight games left, there is every chance we will finish with two points per game which is promotion every year, but sadly not this one.  I will take the play offs if that is what it is to be.

I have enjoyed the football this year, but I think Russell can get better.  I personally think we can still play “Russball”, but would like to see two holding midfielders and one ten, whereas we play one holder and two tens,  it’s a small adaptation, but we have conceded too many on transition from being very open.  So still play out from the back, still give licence to defenders to go into creative spaces, still play with two wide men.  It’s a compromise that I think sees us concede ten goals fewer in a season and probably pick up an extra 8 to 15 points