Russell Martin

[Wade Garrett]

Simple decision for Dragan now.  Has to go before he can do any more damage.

[Winnersaint]

In some ways I feel sorry for him. The fact he’s been left with a young inexperienced squad and is a young inexperienced manager. Not a league where those two characteristics point to success.

 

 

 

 

[Gloucester Saint]

Just now, Winnersaint said:

In some ways I feel sorry for him. The fact he’s been left with a young inexperienced squad and is a young inexperienced manager. Not a league where those two characteristics point to success.

 

 

 

 

I do in some ways but SR are the root issue. They need to hand the keys over to a Moyes or someone like him who understands the football industry and won’t accept trying to do Lidl-level moneyball. 

[trousers]

33 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

How anyone can still defend this fraud is beyond me

Yeah, it's amazing how some people will defend certain managers against the grain...

[Wiggles31]

Just now, Gloucester Saint said:

I do in some ways but SR are the root issue. They need to hand the keys over to a Moyes or someone like him who understands the football industry and won’t accept trying to do Lidl-level moneyball. 

Let’s be honest Moyes is never in a million years coming to Saints. Nor do I want him here. I think we need to look abroad and find someone who is more pressing that possession. That style suits an underdog as we’ve seen under Poch and Ralph. 

[Baird of the land]

2 minutes ago, Wiggles31 said:

Let’s be honest Moyes is never in a million years coming to Saints. Nor do I want him here. I think we need to look abroad and find someone who is more pressing that possession. That style suits an underdog as we’ve seen under Poch and Ralph. 

So selles mk2, because losing is fun.

[Midfield_General]

Aitor Karanka, Malky Mackay, Brian McDermott, Paul Lambert, Ian Holloway, Owen Coyle, Phil Brown, Aidy Boothroyd, Ian Dowie, Gary Megson. 

All perfectly decent managers who were good enough to get their teams promoted, sometimes very convincingly, but ultimately didn't quite have what it takes to be able to take on the elite managers of the Premier League. Based on the evidence, I think Russ probably belongs in this group. Everyone has their ceiling, and the PL is the most competitive and unforgiving league in the world. Not everyone is going to be able to succeed in it. There's no shame in that at all. 

In my opinion he comes across as a decent and likeable man. Promotion last season was amazing and he'll always, quite rightly, have a special place in the club's history for that. But for everyone's sake I think it's time to shake hands and move on now, and let's try a different approach that might give us a chance of grinding out a few results, because this just isn't working. 

[bugenhagen]

This is going to be a difficult job to improve on, even if it should be easy. The combination of the manager and the players are evidently not good enough for this division. The only thing we can change short term is the manager, so... hey-ho, let's go!

I liked the idea of how we have tried to play under Martin, and I found it entertaining when it worked for large parts of last season, but one important factor was that the qualty of our squad was better, or on par with our opponents most weeks.

We shipped a lot of goals, and our CB's are still the same this season... and relative to the quality of the league our forward players are weaker. There was probably something like a snowballs chance in hell that sticking stubbornly to our principles was going to work - but I am a man of hope, and thought maybe something would click, and some (or a lot) of the players would take the PL by the balls, I don't know... either way, the smart money was not on that outcome.

[Mr X]

We hear all the same shit from Martin.... Heading in the right direction.... Improving every game..... Brave and worthy..... World class possession..... Yet nothing changes! 

[Saint Fan CaM]

Russ and his team are a busted flush. Pointless going over trodden ground - he has to go. Oh and the promotion - that was won for him by the players he had at his disposal…if anything the squad was better than his system allowed them to be in my opinion…he held them back from their true potential.

[SaintJackoInHurworth]

Personally, I believe we must sack Martin now, but I don't believe the board have the guts to do it. We haven't had leaders that decisive at board level since Cortese (love him or hate him) left. The board will probably dither for a few weeks just like Katerina Liebherr and her board did with Pellegrino. After all, they have created a friendly match in a couple of weeks time where one side is labelled the 'Russell Martin XI'. Also, they only gave him a new lucrative contract in the summer, so sacking him will not be cheap!

If we do sack Martin (eventually), Potter is likely to be the favourite unless he has found a job elsewhere in the meantime. Who else is likely to be in the running?

I would venture a guess that we will be linked with Danny Rohl, John Eustace,  Carlos Calderon, Michael Carrick and probably also Chris Wilder. A left-field suggestion might be Michael Skubala from Lincoln because of his Man City and England youth coaching experience as well as the fact he is doing quite well at Lincoln City.

And what tactics should they adopt?

Whoever it is, I think they need to bring Bella-Kotchap in to play alongside Harwood-Bellis and need to think long and hard about how on earth we are going to get goals! Personally, introducing incisive pace into attack will help, so we need attacking players who can be responsive to that. For me that means we need Walker-Peters and Sugawara on either flank with Dibling and Amo-Ameyaw as wingers and probably Arma running through to break the lines and beat the offside trap to get on the end of telling balls from those four and Fernandes and Lallana.

My line-up would be: Ramsdale, Sugawara, THB, ABK, KWP, Downes, Fernandes, Lallana, Dibling, Arma, SAA.

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

Clueless. Only knows how to play one way. 

Keeps saying that it's his responsibility, which is admirable, but if that's really the case then admit you're out of your depth and fuck off and let someone else come and have a go. 

[Mixedkebab]

The whole set up feels wrong, not enough physicality throughout the team,unbalanced forward line whose limited strengths we don’t even play to.

No real engine room in midfield (maybe Les can still come good)

it feels like nobody has thought this through properly how to stay up and which personnel would work.

Its clear Martin isn’t the right man but there is obviously not enough nous above him either.

The only hope is to bring in a pragmatic, strong character as manager who will put players in their correct positions, get the best out of them and stop this rancid hipster bollocks 

[Sidney Fudpucker the 3rd]

The board are complete wankers for giving him a new contract b fore a ball was kicked in the Prem.

Anyone in their right mind would have said, 'let's see how you're doing after 10 games'.

Now it's going to cost about £10m to get rid of the clueless fuckwit and a small fortune to get Potter or Moyes, who I think are the only managers who stand any chance of keeping us up.

Eustace, Rohl, etc. are just as big a gamble as Martin was. 

[Tommy Mulgrew]

4 hours ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

How anyone can still defend this fraud is beyond me. That was down to him tonight, 100%. He’s put KWP, probably our best player last season, on the bench. He put one of the best young talents in the country CF when he’s been pulling up trees out wide. When someone suggested that on here, they had the piss ripped out of them, yet unbelievably Lego does it. It’s him that sets our defence up, a fucking shambles week in week out, and it’s him that makes us play with the urgency of Mrs Miggins wandering round the charity shops on pension day. Even when we’re chasing the game, we’re so fucking boring and predictable. It’s fucking horrendous, the worse style of football I’ve seen in 50 years of supporting the club. He’s sucking the joy out of the club week in week out, fucking arrogant twat. 

 

4 hours ago, Wade Garrett said:

Simple decision for Dragan now.  Has to go before he can do any more damage.

 

3 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

Aitor Karanka, Malky Mackay, Brian McDermott, Paul Lambert, Ian Holloway, Owen Coyle, Phil Brown, Aidy Boothroyd, Ian Dowie, Gary Megson. 

All perfectly decent managers who were good enough to get their teams promoted, sometimes very convincingly, but ultimately didn't quite have what it takes to be able to take on the elite managers of the Premier League. Based on the evidence, I think Russ probably belongs in this group. Everyone has their ceiling, and the PL is the most competitive and unforgiving league in the world. Not everyone is going to be able to succeed in it. There's no shame in that at all. 

In my opinion he comes across as a decent and likeable man. Promotion last season was amazing and he'll always, quite rightly, have a special place in the club's history for that. But for everyone's sake I think it's time to shake hands and move on now, and let's try a different approach that might give us a chance of grinding out a few results, because this just isn't working. 

 

3 hours ago, Mixedkebab said:

The whole set up feels wrong, not enough physicality throughout the team,unbalanced forward line whose limited strengths we don’t even play to.

No real engine room in midfield (maybe Les can still come good)

it feels like nobody has thought this through properly how to stay up and which personnel would work.

Its clear Martin isn’t the right man but there is obviously not enough nous above him either.

The only hope is to bring in a pragmatic, strong character as manager who will put players in their correct positions, get the best out of them and stop this rancid hipster bollocks 

Shells of nuts.

[Ralph Fastenbüttl]

I've remained broadly pro RM thus far. He seems like a sensible, loyal and honorable chap who doesn't get the credit he deserves on this board for achieving his sole target last season - namely, promotion. But today's clusterfuck is pushing me right to the limit. Such a bizarre selection. I can't decide whether he was trying to be clever or if he has genuinely lost the plot.

Right now it feels very hard not to crave the broad ability of a possibly dull but clearly tactically competent manager like Potter or Moyes, especially as I believe the squad ARE capable of more than we're getting from them. Perhaps I'm a fool, but I do think that in the right hands we've got the players needed to stay up. Which only makes the need for change more urgent.

I'm not sure how much longer he should be given, sadly. Things feel like they did at the end of Ralph's tenure - it's clearly not working and there's ever diminishing hope of that changing.

[Maggie May]

Southgate…

[Saint_clark]

2 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Southgate…

His stock is relatively high, not sure he would risk undoing years of making a name for himself in 6 months of losing with Saints. 

[ally_uk]

Get Moyes in ASAP and give these wet fannies a kick up the arse including Rasmus 

[Harry_SFC]

2 hours ago, Maggie May said:

Southgate…

Did not rate him as England manager but he'd get us more organised than RM. Not hard mind. Would prefer Moyes. 

[obelisk]

There's that friendly match featuring Martin's XI in a couple of weeks. They're going to probably wait until after that and then give him the Leicester game before doing the necessary. What a costly mess.

[saintstowin]

We played well at times against Ipswich and were unlucky not to win. I know there's no saying 'don't change a team that almost won' and even a win might lead to necessary changes. However I don't know what he was thinking changing positions of very effective players in the most recent game, and not starting our most calm and experienced player.

RM has now backed himself (in more ways than one) into a corner where he probably feels justified into making even more changes. Unless those changes are go back to what worked against  Ipswich I don't think this is a good plan or will end well.

[WestMidSaint]

2 Points:

 

Firstly, a friend made a good point the other day. It’s an established fact that as you go up the football pyramid, the higher you get, the less chances a striker needs to score on a like for like basis. 
 

Against this defence and this set up, championship strikers would need say 3-4 chances and they would score. In the prem, we’ve got essentially the same defence and style, but now the strikers only need 1-2 chances. 
 

It’s therefore obvious we will be punished loads more, yet he still walks blindly into the problem. All against the backdrop of the fact we already conceded a fair number last season and did struggle with errors. 
 

Secondly, I keep wondering whether there’s more to his instance about playing out then just the results???

 

If you think about it, Kompany stuck to his guns, got Burnley relegated and then was rewarded with the Bayern job. Would he have got that if he’d gone pragmatic and tried to carve out results?

 

It’s impossible to know whether Burnley would’ve stayed up and whether VK would’ve got the job. I do though wonder whether this is RM’s attempt at insulting himself from our relegation?? Perhaps he’s resigned to us going down and looking to ensure that he comes out of it with some credit (not that he should) and for us, what will be will be??

[Weston Super Saint]

You lot are so fickle!

You seem to have some crazy notion that 'doing well' means 'winning points'.  You seem to have forgotten that we have won the possession stats in every single game (except Man U) this season.

I despair sometimes that I may be the smartest guy in the room to understand this important point and that the rest of you really don't understand what football is all about.

[Football Special]

2 minutes ago, WestMidSaint said:

2 Points:

 

Firstly, a friend made a good point the other day. It’s an established fact that as you go up the football pyramid, the higher you get, the less chances a striker needs to score on a like for like basis. 
 

Against this defence and this set up, championship strikers would need say 3-4 chances and they would score. In the prem, we’ve got essentially the same defence and style, but now the strikers only need 1-2 chances. 
 

It’s therefore obvious we will be punished loads more, yet he still walks blindly into the problem. All against the backdrop of the fact we already conceded a fair number last season and did struggle with errors. 
 

Secondly, I keep wondering whether there’s more to his instance about playing out then just the results???

 

If you think about it, Kompany stuck to his guns, got Burnley relegated and then was rewarded with the Bayern job. Would he have got that if he’d gone pragmatic and tried to carve out results?

 

It’s impossible to know whether Burnley would’ve stayed up and whether VK would’ve got the job. I do though wonder whether this is RM’s attempt at insulting himself from our relegation?? Perhaps he’s resigned to us going down and looking to ensure that he comes out of it with some credit (not that he should) and for us, what will be will be??

This is all RM's audition for the Man City job which will inevitably come his way once Pep departs. 

[Farmer Saint]

7 hours ago, Saint Fan CaM said:

Russ and his team are a busted flush. Pointless going over trodden ground - he has to go. Oh and the promotion - that was won for him by the players he had at his disposal…if anything the squad was better than his system allowed them to be in my opinion…he held them back from their true potential.

What a load of crap - we had a Championship team then, and a Championship team now. 

How many of our team get into Bournemouth's team last night? Ramsdale and... 

And they're meant to be a relegation rival. 

[Galway saint]

We look out of our depth sadly. Similar to the Huddersfield, Norwich teams that came up and never looked like staying up. Ok Ipswich and Leicester haven’t won a game either but we look the least likely of the three to make a proper fist of it and I can’t see how we win a game at the moment. 

I don’t think RM is a great coach and his style of football is being shown to be naive and totally unsuited to grinding out wins when you have inferior players.someone said last year he was a flat track bully and it looks like that wasn’t far off.

Was listening to a podcast with Graeme Souness and he was talking about the need for experienced senior pros in any side  and for there to be succession planning for the baton to be handed on - who are our ‘senior pros’ ? Jack Stephens and Bednarek who were not able to cut it last time in the PL.Who else ? We are so short of proven PL experience in so many areas. 

The recruitment at the club over the last two years has been shocking and you can’t blame  RM entirely for that. The kids we signed from City have been a disaster with the exception of Lavia and I can’t believe we signed BBD and Archer when we were crying out for a top quality CF. You add to that the likes of Sulemana, TP and Orsic and it just looks like the management at the club can’t  pick a player.

We are constantly shopping in the ‘potential’ isle and for a club our size you can’t afford to get recruitment so badly wrong and expect to thrive. We are crying out for some established PL quality players and we have signed one In Ramsdale. Our only other experienced PL quality player is KwP who is now on the bench. We look so lightweight. 

We need to 4 points from Leicester and Everton but I can’t see it and we could  easily be on 1 point after 10 games.  

 

[Kenilworthy]

12 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

What a load of crap - we had a Championship team then, and a Championship team now. 

How many of our team get into Bournemouth's team last night? Ramsdale and... 

And they're meant to be a relegation rival. 

Walker Peters

[Saint-Michael]

He needs to be replaced way out of his depth . There is also an elephant in the room who has made so many wrong decisions at a higher level who needs to go.

[Farmer Saint]

5 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

We look out of our depth sadly. Similar to the Huddersfield, Norwich teams that came up and never looked like staying up. Ok Ipswich and Leicester haven’t won a game either but we look the least likely of the three to make a proper fist of it and I can’t see how we win a game at the moment. 

I don’t think RM is a great coach and his style of football is being shown to be naive and totally unsuited to grinding out wins when you have inferior players.someone said last year he was a flat track bully and it looks like that wasn’t far off.

Was listening to a podcast with Graeme Souness and he was talking about the need for experienced senior pros in any side  and for there to be succession planning for the baton to be handed on - who are our ‘senior pros’ ? Jack Stephens and Bednarek who were not able to cut it last time in the PL.Who else ? We are so short of proven PL experience in so many areas. 

The recruitment at the club over the last two years has been shocking and you can’t blame  RM entirely for that. The kids we signed from City have been a disaster with the exception of Lavia and I can’t believe we signed BBD and Archer when we were crying out for a top quality CF. You add to that the likes of Sulemana, TP and Orsic and it just looks like the management at the club can’t  pick a player.

We are constantly shopping in the ‘potential’ isle and for a club our size you can’t afford to get recruitment so badly wrong and expect to thrive. We are crying out for some established PL quality players and we have signed one In Ramsdale. Our only other experienced PL quality player is KwP who is now on the bench. We look so lightweight. 

We need to 4 points from Leicester and Everton but I can’t see it and we could  easily be on 1 point after 10 games.  

 

But who - which players could we afford considering the transfer and wage restrictions.

[Farmer Saint]

5 minutes ago, Kenilworthy said:

Walker Peters

He's not been good this season when he has played, but yes, traditionally. 

2 players getting into our relegation rivals, and at a push because Kepa is a decent keeper as well. Blimey. 

[Wade Garrett]

38 minutes ago, obelisk said:

There's that friendly match featuring Martin's XI in a couple of weeks. They're going to probably wait until after that and then give him the Leicester game before doing the necessary. What a costly mess.

I wouldn’t give 2 shits about a friendly match in a couple of weeks.

[Football Special]

13 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

He's not been good this season when he has played, but yes, traditionally. 

2 players getting into our relegation rivals, and at a push because Kepa is a decent keeper as well. Blimey. 

Walker Peters is being frozen out due to his contract situation,  Sugawara has been decent to be fair but another crazy situation where one of our best players isn't featuring. 

[Football Special]

22 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

We look out of our depth sadly. Similar to the Huddersfield, Norwich teams that came up and never looked like staying up. Ok Ipswich and Leicester haven’t won a game either but we look the least likely of the three to make a proper fist of it and I can’t see how we win a game at the moment. 

I don’t think RM is a great coach and his style of football is being shown to be naive and totally unsuited to grinding out wins when you have inferior players.someone said last year he was a flat track bully and it looks like that wasn’t far off.

Was listening to a podcast with Graeme Souness and he was talking about the need for experienced senior pros in any side  and for there to be succession planning for the baton to be handed on - who are our ‘senior pros’ ? Jack Stephens and Bednarek who were not able to cut it last time in the PL.Who else ? We are so short of proven PL experience in so many areas. 

The recruitment at the club over the last two years has been shocking and you can’t blame  RM entirely for that. The kids we signed from City have been a disaster with the exception of Lavia and I can’t believe we signed BBD and Archer when we were crying out for a top quality CF. You add to that the likes of Sulemana, TP and Orsic and it just looks like the management at the club can’t  pick a player.

We are constantly shopping in the ‘potential’ isle and for a club our size you can’t afford to get recruitment so badly wrong and expect to thrive. We are crying out for some established PL quality players and we have signed one In Ramsdale. Our only other experienced PL quality player is KwP who is now on the bench. We look so lightweight. 

We need to 4 points from Leicester and Everton but I can’t see it and we could  easily be on 1 point after 10 games.  

 

I think Lallana was brought in to add experience, Wee Man as well, but neither look capable of playing a whole match 

Just a shame we couldn't offload ABK, Sulemana and Tall Paul, wages combined just on those three could have gone a long way to decent centre forward 

Cornet certainly doesn't seem to be the answer 

[Saint Fan CaM]

30 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

What a load of crap - we had a Championship team then, and a Championship team now. 

How many of our team get into Bournemouth's team last night? Ramsdale and... 

And they're meant to be a relegation rival. 

That’s your opinion and you’re entitled to it. I’m not saying we’ve got anything more than a mediocre Prem squad, but it’s better than the results have shown. It’s the coaching that’s appalling. The recruitment has been awful too, but Russ has had his hands all over that too.

Players that could get into Bournemouth’s team are - Ramsdale, KWP (unused), Downes, THB, Suga, Cornet (if used wisely), Dibling (if used properly), ABK (unused), TP (unused). But that’s not the point - they’re receiving crap, negligent coaching and team management.

It’s utter rubbish to say Bournemouth are a relegation rival - they’ve spent better than us and have a better coaching set-up. They’re an established mid-table club who were out of sight by half-time playing quick expansive football, although I will concede Russ handed the first half to them on a plate.

[Saint NL]

It makes me laugh to see the little "hot" icon below this topic.

 

I like to think Russ pops on here, sees it and thinks to himself 

[badgerx16]

9 minutes ago, Football Special said:

Walker Peters is being frozen out due to his contract situation,  Sugawara has been decent to be fair but another crazy situation where one of our best players isn't featuring. 

Is that Russ or the Board ?

What a childish attitude to hold. Play him or not, he'll leave - do they think he won't put the effort in if he gets selected ? A half-arsed KWP is still better than our other options.

[Lee On Solent Saint]

3 minutes ago, badgerx16 said:

Is that Russ or the Board ?

What a childish attitude to hold. Play him or not, he'll leave - do they think he won't put the effort in if he gets selected ? A half-arsed KWP is still better than our other options.

Didn’t the same happen with Holjberg?

[Mr X]

He needs to go and go now! I've accepted we are going straight back down but let's not go down with Martin sucking the last bit of morale out of the club let's at least show some fight. 

I have no faith in SR making the right decision they will delay it for as long as the team delays clearing the ball from our own goal area! 

[saintant]

1 hour ago, obelisk said:

There's that friendly match featuring Martin's XI in a couple of weeks. They're going to probably wait until after that and then give him the Leicester game before doing the necessary. What a costly mess.

I'm failing to comprehend how a friendly match featuring Martin's X1 comes before our first team and their diminishing chances of survival in the Premier League. We'd be bonkers to make that a reason for not sacking him now.

[saintant]

1 hour ago, WestMidSaint said:

2 Points:

 

Firstly, a friend made a good point the other day. It’s an established fact that as you go up the football pyramid, the higher you get, the less chances a striker needs to score on a like for like basis. 
 

Against this defence and this set up, championship strikers would need say 3-4 chances and they would score. In the prem, we’ve got essentially the same defence and style, but now the strikers only need 1-2 chances. 
 

It’s therefore obvious we will be punished loads more, yet he still walks blindly into the problem. All against the backdrop of the fact we already conceded a fair number last season and did struggle with errors. 
 

Secondly, I keep wondering whether there’s more to his instance about playing out then just the results???

 

If you think about it, Kompany stuck to his guns, got Burnley relegated and then was rewarded with the Bayern job. Would he have got that if he’d gone pragmatic and tried to carve out results?

 

It’s impossible to know whether Burnley would’ve stayed up and whether VK would’ve got the job. I do though wonder whether this is RM’s attempt at insulting himself from our relegation?? Perhaps he’s resigned to us going down and looking to ensure that he comes out of it with some credit (not that he should) and for us, what will be will be??

Not sure what credit he will accrue if we go down with a very low number of points which is on the cards right now.

[trousers]

2 minutes ago, saintant said:

I'm failing to comprehend how a friendly match featuring Martin's X1 comes before our first team and their diminishing chances of survival in the Premier League. We'd be bonkers to make that a reason for not sacking him now.

Relax... Since when has the current ownership group made any bonkers decisions during their tenure...? Ah...

[saintant]

1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

You lot are so fickle!

You seem to have some crazy notion that 'doing well' means 'winning points'.  You seem to have forgotten that we have won the possession stats in every single game (except Man U) this season.

I despair sometimes that I may be the smartest guy in the room to understand this important point and that the rest of you really don't understand what football is all about.

I know that this is tongue in cheek but it emphasises the point made by the Bmuff manager before the game - when asked whether he was concerned that we might have more of the ball he said something along the lines of he'd rather have more chances than possession - and so it proved.

[Suhari]

Has he gone yet?

 

 

 

 

 

 

(Bosh. In first with this, soon to be common, gem of a line).

Seriously though. Why's he still with us?

[obelisk]

10 minutes ago, saintant said:

I'm failing to comprehend how a friendly match featuring Martin's X1 comes before our first team and their diminishing chances of survival in the Premier League. We'd be bonkers to make that a reason for not sacking him now.

I agree. Another bonkers decision among many and that's why I'd expect them to wait.

[Nogginsfc]

1 hour ago, Galway saint said:

We look out of our depth sadly. Similar to the Huddersfield, Norwich teams that came up and never looked like staying up. Ok Ipswich and Leicester haven’t won a game either but we look the least likely of the three to make a proper fist of it and I can’t see how we win a game at the moment. 

I don’t think RM is a great coach and his style of football is being shown to be naive and totally unsuited to grinding out wins when you have inferior players.someone said last year he was a flat track bully and it looks like that wasn’t far off.

Was listening to a podcast with Graeme Souness and he was talking about the need for experienced senior pros in any side  and for there to be succession planning for the baton to be handed on - who are our ‘senior pros’ ? Jack Stephens and Bednarek who were not able to cut it last time in the PL.Who else ? We are so short of proven PL experience in so many areas. 

The recruitment at the club over the last two years has been shocking and you can’t blame  RM entirely for that. The kids we signed from City have been a disaster with the exception of Lavia and I can’t believe we signed BBD and Archer when we were crying out for a top quality CF. You add to that the likes of Sulemana, TP and Orsic and it just looks like the management at the club can’t  pick a player.

We are constantly shopping in the ‘potential’ isle and for a club our size you can’t afford to get recruitment so badly wrong and expect to thrive. We are crying out for some established PL quality players and we have signed one In Ramsdale. Our only other experienced PL quality player is KwP who is now on the bench. We look so lightweight. 

We need to 4 points from Leicester and Everton but I can’t see it and we could  easily be on 1 point after 10 games.  

 

Huddersfield stayed up in their first season, finished above us. The main reason they stayed up was they were hard to beat and conceded only 58 goals, less than the 63 our team conceded in the championship last season.

They accepted they lacked quality and set themselves up in a way which gave them a chance and were hard to beat. Rather than our current approach of blindly approaching each game with the belief that we will completely dominate and control the game which just isn't going to happen however possession, xG or any other wanky stats are glossed up.

[Dusic]

I wonder how much the departure of Wilcox has impacted him? Does feel that since around that point there has been far less consistency in selection.

I also think the gap Wilcox left has surely impacted squad management. We have an absolutely ridiculously bloated squad with far too many options of a similar level and far too many players not playing which cannot be healthy for anyone and I think gives him too many options to get confused by. No PL team should be able to name 5 strikers on the bench whilst leaving out one of their best young talents (SAA).

We brought in some decent players this summer but it doesn't look well managed from the outside at that senior football level, i.e above Martin

[S-Clarke]

4 minutes ago, Dusic said:

I wonder how much the departure of Wilcox has impacted him? Does feel that since around that point there has been far less consistency in selection.

I also think the gap Wilcox left has surely impacted squad management. We have an absolutely ridiculously bloated squad with far too many options of a similar level and far too many players not playing which cannot be healthy for anyone and I think gives him too many options to get confused by. No PL team should be able to name 5 strikers on the bench whilst leaving out one of their best young talents (SAA).

We brought in some decent players this summer but it doesn't look well managed from the outside at that senior football level, i.e above Martin

Not sure we can really put anything on Wilcox specifically, he wasn't here long enough. He was in charge when we sanctioned the moves of Charles and Stewart though, just saying.

I do agree that we have a gap at that level now though, I feel all clubs need someone from a footballing background with a general overseeing of the structure. Since Wilcox has gone, they've shuffled the deck and have Martin working much closer to the decision makers, with Mark Bitcon taking on the role of football operations director. He's from a commercial background.

It does kind of sum up SR's approach, just really confused. They thought we needed a DoF so they got rid of Crocker to bring in Shields, who left, then replaced him with Wilcox, who left - and now they seem to think they don't need one. They have no real idea.

Edited October 1 by S-Clarke

[Fitzhugh Fella]

I would take a dignified relegation right now because I fear that the rest of the season, with Martin in charge, is going to be humiliating, painful and highly damaging long term.

Our recruitment yet again has been poor. Ipswich went big for Delap (a gamble that appears to be paying off) we went low for Ben Brereton. Fraser is not a PL player and neither is Cornet. Archer is unconvincing.

I don't know how much input RM had in some of these signings but he must have rubber stamped them. There was too much emotion around after the Leeds game at Wembley. Extending RM's contract was a costly mistake for example. We are not a well run football club. The comings and goings off the pitch have been destabilising. The whole summer passed without a DoF in place and I am not sure even now who RM reports to or takes advice from. Martin should be relieved of his duties. There's lot to like about him but he's out of his depth, he's making bizarre team selections and the players don't seem to be responding to him or his tactics. The mask has slipped enough to reveal a man clutching at straws and revealingly "losing his shit" in post match interviews. The writing looms large on the wall but can the Board read?

[Turkish]

10 hours ago, Winnersaint said:

In some ways I feel sorry for him. The fact he’s been left with a young inexperienced squad and is a young inexperienced manager. Not a league where those two characteristics point to success.

 

 

 

 

This is what we do as a club though isn't it. We sign young players or cheap players and hope they'll swim rather than sink, we get lucky a few times like with Livramento and Lavia but in the main they struggle and it's been rinse and repeat for years.

We bring in managers thinking they're going to be the new Pochetino because we did it once before. Martin is just the latest in a long line of appointments of this ilk, the current squad the same. We never learn do we. We sign 2-3 players for the same price as one decent one in positions all over the pitch. Then we are left with a big, shit squad that aren't good enough to play and no one wants to sign. Different owners, different managers, different players same outcomes. What do they say the definition of madness is?

Edited October 1 by Turkish