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Posted

Taking the logic of planning with less than a third of the season over that we are already relegated in order to get promotion next season that Martin is the manager to return us to the Premier League. Taking it a stage further at that point he should be sacked as he is out of his depth in the Premier League.

Personally I think he should have been sacked already and a manager that can use what resources we have plus the transfer window to give it a good go in the last 26 matches. Martin's tactics are a busted flush.

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Posted
5 minutes ago, derry said:

Taking the logic of planning with less than a third of the season over that we are already relegated in order to get promotion next season that Martin is the manager to return us to the Premier League. Taking it a stage further at that point he should be sacked as he is out of his depth in the Premier League.

Personally I think he should have been sacked already and a manager that can use what resources we have plus the transfer window to give it a good go in the last 26 matches. Martin's tactics are a busted flush.

What is most astonishing is that despite having been a PL defender not that long ago, his teams concede an average of 2.5 goals a game.

And he doesn’t see not being able to set up the basics of a defence as problem. For a promoted side to concede 60+ goals is shocking, even with Bognor Regis Town’s goalkeeper for most of the season.

I don’t have anything against him as a bloke, I just don’t rate him at all at what he gets paid for, same as Branfoot and Pellegrino. Nathan Jones was dislikable but his teams’ defensive records are miles better.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Football Special said:

Last I heard was Martin had been assured he had the backing of the board, could have changed last few weeks but I really think they're going to keep sticking with him

I think it’s simply a case of “rabbits I the headlights”, they just don’t know what course of action to take. SR lost two successive directors of football, it seems now the biggest error was in not replacing Wilcox as a matter of urgency. From what I can see there is no meaningful footballing knowledge above Martin’s, which is possibly why they are buying his line that it will all click and come good. I don’t believe for a minute they are happy with the romanticised concept of relegation and returning stronger that seems to be a view held by some on here. 

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Posted
Just now, Toussaint said:

I think it’s simply a case of “rabbits I the headlights”, they just don’t know what course of action to take. SR lost two successive directors of football, it seems now the biggest error was in not replacing Wilcox as a matter of urgency. From what I can see there is no meaningful footballing knowledge above Martin’s, which is possibly why they are buying his line that it will all click and come good. I don’t believe for a minute they are happy with the romanticised concept of relegation and returning stronger that seems to be a view held by some on here. 

Completely agree, they're out of their depth and also sacking Martin brings more attention on the board,at least for now he'll take the brunt of the criticism 

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Posted

They'll not sack him as long as he is meeting targets, i think we'd have to underperform for them to pull the trigger.

We're exactly where we were predicted to be, most games we've been within 1 or two goals of the opponent, and we've only lost one game by a 3 or more goal margin, not sure anyone else could have done any better than that.

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Posted
1 hour ago, Hemp said:

Everyday i come on here hoping there may be a snippet from someone ITK that the board are not happy with the situation,rumours of us considering other avenues etc but the silence is deafining from the club. 

So it appears they are quite content to keep losing, quite happy to keep collecting unwanted records and quite happy for us to have a very good chance of becoming the worst premiership team in history. 

Lot of talk about hate on hear. I dont hate anyone but i hate the way our club is being run and i hate the fact that we are a premiership team with a manager who has failed abysmly and seemingly has the green light to continue failing.

We have sacked managers of a far higher calibre than martin in my lifetime for a lot less than 4 points from 36. 

Why is the club not doing something to at least try and change this horror of a season 🤷

 

I can only come to the conclusion that they haven't got a single Idea what to do. I can't see any other reason.

  • Like 1
Posted
8 minutes ago, pingpong said:

They'll not sack him as long as he is meeting targets, i think we'd have to underperform for them to pull the trigger.

We're exactly where we were predicted to be, most games we've been within 1 or two goals of the opponent, and we've only lost one game by a 3 or more goal margin, not sure anyone else could have done any better than that.

So, according to this narrative the preseason discussion with the Board went something like.... Russell, by the end of November after a series of easier fixtures at the start of the season we would like you to aim to be adrift at the bottom of the league, with half the points of the nearest side, with the worst goal difference and to have only a third of the points of the previous relegation debacle. Oh, I nearly forgot please try to make sure that your tactics are derided by every pundit and journalist worth his salt. 

That will be all.. 

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Posted
1 minute ago, lambtiss said:

So, according to this narrative the preseason discussion with the Board went something like.... Russell, by the end of November after a series of easier fixtures at the start of the season we would like you to aim to be adrift at the bottom of the league, with half the points of the nearest side, with the worst goal difference and to have only a third of the points of the previous relegation debacle. Oh, I nearly forgot please try to make sure that your tactics are derided by every pundit and journalist worth his salt. 

That will be all.. 

You've missed the most important metric of possession.

People keep harping on about those completely irrelevant points things...

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Posted
3 minutes ago, Andy Hill said:

Can we pls swap RM for the current Swansea manager ?? 

To be fair, the Swansea ball retrieval team would probably be more tactically aware

Posted (edited)
23 minutes ago, pingpong said:

We're exactly where we were predicted to be

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

Edit. I think my sarcasmometer may not be working. Long day…..

Edited by The Kraken
  • Like 4
Posted
Just now, The Kraken said:

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

Well, the poster called pingpong apparently

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Posted
Just now, The Kraken said:

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

After spending millions on Ramsdale and paying him many thousands of pounds per week....

Dumb people like Farmer Giles claiming this is all part of the cunning plan, but the exact same result could have been achieved without spending a single penny in the transfer window, let alone arranging loans.

  • Like 1
Posted
8 minutes ago, Weston Super Saint said:

After spending millions on Ramsdale and paying him many thousands of pounds per week....

Dumb people like Farmer Giles claiming this is all part of the cunning plan, but the exact same result could have been achieved without spending a single penny in the transfer window, let alone arranging loans.

Thats a very good point, obvious now you say it, but what would be the point of spending a single penny. We could have sold every player with a tangible value and played the U23’s which would have achieved only slightly worse points total. 

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Posted
13 minutes ago, The Kraken said:

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

Edit. I think my sarcasmometer may not be working. Long day…..

Yeah, I don't think anyone foresaw it being this bad. I thought we were favourites for relegation, and with less points than last time due to a far worse team, but yeah, it's been rubbish.

But where the strategy seems to be that we covered our bases financially to mean relegation doesn't matter, I guess we'll just have to suffer longer.

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Posted (edited)
8 minutes ago, Toussaint said:

Thats a very good point, obvious now you say it, but what would be the point of spending a single penny. We could have sold every player with a tangible value and played the U23’s which would have achieved only slightly worse points total. 

But we needed to pick up players for next season in the Championship with the pull of the PL. We probably wouldn't have signed those players had we waited for next season to sign them as they wouldn't have been interested.

It doesn't surprise me that Weston is misunderstanding it, I've tried to explain it many, MANY times but he is either willfully ignorant or thick as shit, as well as being an despicable cretin of a human being. I think it's a mixture of all 3 tbh.

Edited by Farmer Saint
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Posted
2 hours ago, notnowcato said:

Hate is such a strong word, especially when it's based upon a perceived opinion -

 

Can an opinion be perceived?
 

Can hate be considered a strong word when talking about this arrogant  cock? 

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Posted

Quick look at the swansea forum just now. Posted yesterday, sound familiar.

When will Russell Martin learn on 07:33 - Nov 25 with 433 views Dr_Winston

If Russell Martin was capable of learning then he wouldn't be Russell Martin. Six years of management and he's still setting his defences up to fail.

As to why people keep bringing him up, considering he wasted two years of our time, resources and a pretty good squad on trying to make himself rather than us look good, then had the temerity to try and blame someone else for it even after he'd left, personally I intend to revel in his every professional failure from here on in. Especially one as much fun as this.
 
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Posted
4 minutes ago, Hemp said:

Quick look at the swansea forum just now. Posted yesterday, sound familiar.

When will Russell Martin learn on 07:33 - Nov 25 with 433 views Dr_Winston

If Russell Martin was capable of learning then he wouldn't be Russell Martin. Six years of management and he's still setting his defences up to fail.

As to why people keep bringing him up, considering he wasted two years of our time, resources and a pretty good squad on trying to make himself rather than us look good, then had the temerity to try and blame someone else for it even after he'd left, personally I intend to revel in his every professional failure from here on in. Especially one as much fun as this.
 

Pretty much sums it up. Out of his depth, cares more about himself than the club, can't organise a defence, blames other people.

  • Like 8
Posted
42 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

But we needed to pick up players for next season in the Championship with the pull of the PL. We probably wouldn't have signed those players had we waited for next season to sign them as they wouldn't have been interested.

It doesn't surprise me that Weston is misunderstanding it, I've tried to explain it many, MANY times but he is either willfully ignorant or thick as shit, as well as being an despicable cretin of a human being. I think it's a mixture of all 3 tbh.

Bless the thick Farmer.

Posted
17 minutes ago, Oldandtired said:

Right now I wish we were Leicester…

Leicester have appointed three managers in the time we've had Martin and all three are better than he is.

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Posted
46 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

he is either willfully ignorant or thick as shit, as well as being an despicable cretin of a human being. I think it's a mixture of all 3 tbh.

Someone's been on the Scrumpy.

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Posted
49 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

But we needed to pick up players for next season in the Championship with the pull of the PL. We probably wouldn't have signed those players had we waited for next season to sign them as they wouldn't have been interested.

 

No, you're absolutely right. If we had not signed a single player this Summer, banked the PL cash for the season, there wouldn't have been a single player available for us to sign for the Championship next season. Not one. They would all be 'unavailable'.

Good job we acted when we did. We'd never be caught with our pants down. No siree!

 

  • Haha 6
Posted
54 minutes ago, Farmer Saint said:

But we needed to pick up players for next season in the Championship with the pull of the PL. We probably wouldn't have signed those players had we waited for next season to sign them as they wouldn't have been interested.

But we're staying down for two entire seasons this time right? 

I've been led to believe that is, in fact, the masterplan?

No surprise those players snapped our hands off for that irresistible offer of 92 guaranteed Championship games to have the chance to be selected for.

 

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Posted
2 hours ago, Zorba said:

I think you are seriously over-rating RM comparing him with any of those managers above (including HR and SD). He is much more comparable with Billy Davies and Paul Jewell. Just as some players are just not good enough for the Premier League, so are some managers. Both of those managers (BD & PJ) achieved promotion with different clubs to the Prem but failed miserably as PL managers at every attempt (although I think Jewell managed to keep Wigan up by the skin of their teeth - which probably makes him a better manager than Russ on paper). The pair finally combining in a joint venture that consigned Derby to the history books.. A record that looked set in stone until now. 

RM may come good for someone in the future (I don't think he will) but we need change now and the bottom line is RM doesn't know how to win games at this level.. just like he won't do in two years time if we stick with him and manage to fluke another promotion.

Re-read my post, I wasn’t comparing RM with any of the managers. 

Posted (edited)

At the moment we are the second worst team on the south coast. If we go down we could end up being the worst. Think about that, having to tip our hats to Pompey…..

That should awaken the fighting spirit at St Mary's. What a hideous prospect.

Edited by Charlie Wayman
Posted
13 minutes ago, CB Fry said:

All joking aside, the idea that we could have missed out on signing Nathan Wood really doesn't bear thinking about.

And as for Kuryu Matsuki, if we hadn't acted so quickly and decisively we could have easily missed out there.

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Posted
2 hours ago, The Kraken said:

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

Edit. I think my sarcasmometer may not be working. Long day…..

When people say this what do they actually mean out of interest? Cant be arsed to get into a debate about the team btw, just what's the math behind this?

Posted
23 minutes ago, notnowcato said:

Re-read my post, I wasn’t comparing RM with any of the managers. 

Ok, you refer to relegated managers (not the “titans”) that have bounced back, inferring that sticking with RM might be beneficial in the right circumstances. This worked for Bagpuss and Dyche because they knew how to adapt to win games. In contrast, RM always reverts back to his possession obsession ideology and it has failed consistently this level. 

I don’t have a personal vendetta against RM. I wish he would adapt his game to suit our players. Not try to adapt our players to suit his game. If our players were capable of that, they’d already be playing for Pep.

 

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Posted

So what's the overall gameplan? 

Get relegated and hope Martin returns us to the Prem? 

Then what ? 

Rinse and repeat is he suddenly going to turn into a Premier league capable manager 🤣

Definition of insanity....... 

Who every extended contract is a absolute Melon! 

 

 

  • Like 5
Posted
3 minutes ago, ally_uk said:

So what's the overall gameplan? 

Get relegated and hope Martin returns us to the Prem? 

Then what ? 

Rinse and repeat is he suddenly going to turn into a Premier league capable manager 🤣

Definition of insanity....... 

Who every extended contract is a absolute Melon! 

 

 

I find it bizarre anyone would think this is the plan and the same goes for anyone who suggests "get someone in now so we can prepare for next season". Completely forgetting the last time we were in this position we sacked 2 managers by the end of the season in an attempt to stay up and then sacked the 3rd because he too had lost a lot of games. I don't think the owners would be afraid to make that call if they felt it was right, for whatever reason they obviously don't think it is right at this stage (presumably because unlike those 3 managers, this manager is still clearly getting good buy in from the players).

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Posted

My view of SR and the Board is that Martin will be seen as the best hope of re-shaping the squad and pushing for promotion again. My view of the chance of success is that it will be worse than our last shot because the squad will be weaker and less able to work Russball, plus more teams will be aware of ways to beat Russball. Think we’ve got Championship footie to look forward to for at least two seasons.

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Posted

Perhaps the club's view is that keeping RM in post and hoping things will finally 'click' or maybe that he can be cajoled into changing or at least tweaking his approach gives us a better chance than the cost and upheaval of replacing him and his staff.

Yes it would likely require one step back to move forward under a new manager and coaching team who don't know the squad and would necessarily need to implement a different tactical approach, perhaps that one step back is considered too large to take now. There was a window to replace him, has it already closed?

Posted

As a decades long Saints fan it's gut wrenching to watch this team now.

We're throwing away games playing this high risk low reward football in and around our own area. Yes, encourage the opposition to press, but it's barely apparent to me that we have the ability or much intention to break through the press with any kind of regularity. Why don't we play higher up the pitch? Mistakes happen so lets not make them in our own box at least we'll be punished for them less often.

It's infuriating and incredibly boring to watch the ponderous way we play when we have the ball, this constant re-cycling when we do get into advanced positions - aargh! Where's the "bravery" then? Where's the risk taking in the oppositions third? It's almost like RM has only implemented half of his game plan, namely stop the opposition by playing keep-ball in our defensive third. How can we hope to win games with this lack of pressurizing the opposition goal?? It also seems we've totally disregarded our own coordinated press as a tactic.

Surely the players can't be happy with what they are being asked to do. RM is making them look like chumps.

Rant over!

  • Like 11
Posted
7 hours ago, Fabrice29 said:

I find it bizarre anyone would think this is the plan 

Then you haven't been reading Farmer Giles's posts as this is exactly what he is telling us the plan is.

Not only that, but we also spent millions on players in the summer ready for our championship push next season.

It's definitely a bold plan.

  • Like 4
Posted
8 hours ago, ally_uk said:

So what's the overall gameplan? 

Get relegated and hope Martin returns us to the Prem? 

Then what ? 

Rinse and repeat is he suddenly going to turn into a Premier league capable manager 🤣

Definition of insanity....... 

Who every extended contract is a absolute Melon! 

 

 

If he fails in the premier league he’s more likely to succeed next time

Posted
10 hours ago, CB Fry said:

But we're staying down for two entire seasons this time right? 

I've been led to believe that is, in fact, the masterplan?

No surprise those players snapped our hands off for that irresistible offer of 92 guaranteed Championship games to have the chance to be selected for.

 

Remember the Goa days when he was trying to deliberately relegate us so he didn’t have to invest as much on us? He failed but SR seem to be nailing the long held aim of the club to get relegated managing it not once but twice. 

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Posted (edited)

How many times must we have this same old discussion this season, we go round and round in circles just frustrating ourselves and getting nowhere, just like Martin and his troup of circus clowns.

Folk should just disconnect, stop going to matches and let the idiots upstairs at SMS just get on with it. They clearly regard it is as their club and not ours so why should we worry? Being a loyal supporter for 40, 50, 60 or 70 years proves only what gullible fools we have been.

It's hard to quit but it's proving even harder to stomach this insanity.

Edited by Charlie Wayman
  • Like 6
Posted (edited)
4 hours ago, Sunnyside Saint said:

As a decades long Saints fan it's gut wrenching to watch this team now.

We're throwing away games playing this high risk low reward football in and around our own area. Yes, encourage the opposition to press, but it's barely apparent to me that we have the ability or much intention to break through the press with any kind of regularity. Why don't we play higher up the pitch? Mistakes happen so lets not make them in our own box at least we'll be punished for them less often.

It's infuriating and incredibly boring to watch the ponderous way we play when we have the ball, this constant re-cycling when we do get into advanced positions - aargh! Where's the "bravery" then? Where's the risk taking in the oppositions third? It's almost like RM has only implemented half of his game plan, namely stop the opposition by playing keep-ball in our defensive third. How can we hope to win games with this lack of pressurizing the opposition goal?? It also seems we've totally disregarded our own coordinated press as a tactic.

Surely the players can't be happy with what they are being asked to do. RM is making them look like chumps.

Rant over!

"high risk low reward football" - well phrased. 

Meanwhile up front rather than the use lightening counter attacks to open up defences that would exploit the pace of Archer and Armstrong and the creative flare of Lallana and Dibling, we pass the ball about until the other defence is organised. It is Martin's vanity that is preventing us winning games! All he has to do is tweak things.

Edited by Sergei Gotsmanov
  • Like 6
Posted
11 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Yeah, I don't think anyone foresaw it being this bad. I thought we were favourites for relegation, and with less points than last time due to a far worse team, but yeah, it's been rubbish.

But where the strategy seems to be that we covered our bases financially to mean relegation doesn't matter, I guess we'll just have to suffer longer.

 

11 hours ago, The Kraken said:

Are we?

OK, hands up. Who said in pre season “come December we’ll be on course for the worst points total in Premier League history”.

Edit. I think my sarcasmometer may not be working. Long day…..

I made a thread after the Forest game saying we're going to beat Derby's record. I got called a drama queen and a bed wetter and the thread was closed.

Its been painfully obvious that Martins football, which only managed to get us to be the 4th best side in the championship, would be a disaster in this leauge with the level of player we had. 

  • Like 2
Posted
1 hour ago, Weston Super Saint said:

Then you haven't been reading Farmer Giles's posts as this is exactly what he is telling us the plan is.

Not only that, but we also spent millions on players in the summer ready for our championship push next season.

It's definitely a bold plan.

You’re right I didn’t read them but there’s a difference between that plan and this which I did spot from Farmer which seems a perfectly valid business plan. 
 

But where the strategy seems to be that we covered our bases financially to mean relegation doesn't matter, I guess we'll just have to suffer longer.’

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Posted

I cannot decide if Martin is doing a good job for Sports Republic or they don’t have the funds to remove him.

In a good job I mean that Sport Republic want to make money and care less about our club. So far they are on course to make huge profits on Dibling, Harwood-Bellis and Fernandes, and that’s their main goal. So, in their perspective, who cares about the league table and let’s make money. Then at the end of the season drop down a league and buy or intro new talent. Being in the Championship means players are cheaper and all they have to do is get promoted within 2 seasons. All Martin has to do is play City football and shop potential buyers that our players can play their brand of football. 

Just buy/retain a group of players who are top Championship players like Fraser, Armstrong, Stephens etc and have young talent making up the numbers and hope they are good enough to make a healthy profit on. The good championship players will make sure you end up near the top of that league and then it’s simply one, maybe more if we are lucky, seasons in the Premier League shop window for the talented young players to show their talent and be sold.

Apologies this must sound far fetched but I just don’t have a clue what Sport Republic want and their main goal is (except making money).

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