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Russell Martin

Kaiser Soze

By Kaiser Soze,
in The Saints

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SNSUN

SNSUN

Posted
Posted

Made good subs against Norwich last week I thought, improved us after half time today, and then there's that display against Wednesday...

For a manager that inherited a relegated team and has achieved what he has done already is brilliant. He'll make mistakes (the Gills line up) but he seems to be quite a clever cookie and hopefully he learns from them. All good so far. A vast improvement on Jones that's for sure.

 

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Ex Lion Tamer

Ex Lion Tamer

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1 hour ago, maysie said:

I like that he called out that the first half was rubbish. Our recent managers have always come up with bullshit in the same situations.

Think I might be getting a little man crush.

In fairness, if your team is losing every week then your main job is to try to keep up morale and be positive. If your team is mostly winning and scoring freely then you can afford to call out the odd bad half

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Pilchards

Pilchards

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4 hours ago, SNSUN said:

Made good subs against Norwich last week I thought, improved us after half time today, and then there's that display against Wednesday...

For a manager that inherited a relegated team and has achieved what he has done already is brilliant. He'll make mistakes (the Gills line up) but he seems to be quite a clever cookie and hopefully he learns from them. All good so far. A vast improvement on Jones that's for sure.

 

An improvement on Jones? A turd would have been an improvement!

Early days but the guy is doing well, I was one person who thought it was a stupid appointment but I love the fact he is proving me wrong.

 

 

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miserableoldgit

miserableoldgit

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Posted

From Adam Blackmore:- 

Every time Russell Martin speaks I see an authentic person.

I can't say the same about all the managers I've worked with over the years, but he shares the sort of authenticity I appreciated with Mauricio Pochettino, Nigel Adkins and Ralph Hasenhuttl.

They are all very different but all very genuine in my view. And you may ask me how am I judging that?

We all perform to a certain degree in the public domain - some more than others - but for me it's the moments most people don't see, or the small comments that might go unnoticed.

Maybe it's just an act for the microphones and the cameras from all of them.

As I'm writing this column, I'm actually doing it on a whim.

I'd planned to write about something else, but my thoughts were drawn towards the way Russell Martin has spoken this week - both off the record to me in private before our fans forum or in his latest press conference.

So this column is a sort of example of authenticity. I'm writing how I feel about something, not writing because I need 600 words. And it's actions from the three previous Saints managers I've highlighted that set them apart for me.

With Nigel Adkins it was the massive hug he gave me without saying a word when he saw me for the first time after my step-daughter had passed away from cancer in 2012. With Poch it was the pulling me into his office with his coaching team to explain things or taking me into his manager's office for a chat at Spurs after he'd moved to London. And with Ralph it was the sheer look of exhaustion and deflation and sadness on his face in the tunnel after Saints defeats. He absolutely lived and breathed the job and he couldn't hide his emotions - it mattered.

Martin's quiet confidence 'rubbing off' on players and fans

None of these managers were just 'in a job' because it didn't matter if it didn't go well. They got the club and they got the fans.

Russell Martin is quickly heading in the same direction. He's self-deprecating, relaxed and honest. During a month in which he's seeing prize assets leave the club one by one, weakening his squad almost by the day, a lesser man would be in press conferences or in front of cameras pushing his own agenda, bleating about how he's working with one hand tied behind his back, making unsubtle digs about needing to spend money or, worse, giving excuses about why they might not win a game.

He's done none of that. He's been all-in with the club's strategy, he's accepted it's a time of churn and change, and whenever he is asked about an opponent being tough or good, he makes sure he is backing his team to win, whilst being respectful of the team and manager he's facing.

It's a calm, quiet, inner confidence in himself and in his methods. And it's starting to rub off on the fans and the players. Long may it continue, even in dark times, because there will be some.

Honestly, on the evidence so far, I'll be surprised if he does change as a person, and that's to his credit. As he said to me, you want people to think well of you when you see them in the future.

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Professor

Professor

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Not going to rush to judgement on Russell until he's been here a bit longer. A pal of mine suggested he's trying to get promotion for his old club by signing all their players.  I pointed out that he's not in charge of recruitment and that one of our best additions looks like being Shea Charles from Man City.

I was a little worried about how how he praised Adam Armstrong's excellent performance against Plymouth but appeared to take the credit for it himself.   But I do approve of his possession game.  Logic says the other team can't score if they don't have the ball but we have to score goals while we have it.  We scored 4 against Norwich so we can do it.  It's also true that not all of our players have been available. If we dominate against QPR and win by two clear goals or more, I will start to believe.

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AlexLaw76

AlexLaw76

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Posted
16 minutes ago, Professor said:

Not going to rush to judgement on Russell until he's been here a bit longer. A pal of mine suggested he's trying to get promotion for his old club by signing all their players.  I pointed out that he's not in charge of recruitment and that one of our best additions looks like being Shea Charles from Man City.

I was a little worried about how how he praised Adam Armstrong's excellent performance against Plymouth but appeared to take the credit for it himself.   But I do approve of his possession game.  Logic says the other team can't score if they don't have the ball but we have to score goals while we have it.  We scored 4 against Norwich so we can do it.  It's also true that not all of our players have been available. If we dominate against QPR and win by two clear goals or more, I will start to believe.

that logic went into the bin against Norwich

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Osvaldorama

Osvaldorama

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2 minutes ago, Barsiem said:

 

I found this quite surprising!  We're having very high possession, but this illustrates we're not just passing around the back


I think it’s clear to see that the football has been better this season than in a long time. 
 

I love the bloke, I am fully on board the Martin Express

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SNSUN

SNSUN

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Not the first time I’ve said it this season… Martin made good subs. Also good to see he’s not afraid to start a 17 year old (even though we can all see how good he is) over the likes of Aribo, Djenepo etc. on top of that was a brave decision to move Charles to CB and bring Downes on.

 

10 points from 12 with his hands tied behind his back with outgoings. He’s doing a decent job so far!

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goodymatt

goodymatt

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Posted

Including his end of season run at Swansea, that’s now 10 wins and 3 draws in his last 13 Championship games. He’s had a lot of change and noise going on for his first month of the season with us and he has handled it brilliantly. Looks a great appointment so far and generally a much better watch than we’ve had to put up with for the last 2 years.

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HarvSFC

HarvSFC

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Momentum's huge in football and we've gone from a losing every week, picking up 25 points from a 38 game season mentality to an unbeaten league start, winning three of our first four. That alone deserves credit.

Then you have to consider everything that's going on behind the scenes. Started the season with JWP, got an assist against Sheffield Wednesday, his last appearance in a Saints shirt, replaced by a currently half fit Downes. We also lost Lavia from the squad, but his replacement in Charles was already here. Eased in a bit due to his age, but has looked very good since his first start last weekend. This has left us with a fairly unbalanced midfield in the recent three matches, which Smallbone's injury also hasn't helped with and we're still grinding out results.

Then today, we didn't have Adams, nor did we have his replacement should he leave, which is looking increasingly likely given all the sounds coming out of the club. So, again, we were a lot weaker in that department. Then to add, we also didn't have Tella, and again we don't have his replacement in either. An important player from the opening fixtures. Fraser's not his replacement, as stated by Martin and again, Fraser's not fully match fit right now as he didn't feature at all for Newcastle in pre-season and has been away from their first team squad for a near half a year.

Essentially, we're playing with a patched up squad at the moment, slightly hamstrung by not having replacements in through the doors, or those replacements needing to get up to match fitness and not being ready to start from day one and Martin is navigating through this amazingly. He had his doubters when he was first linked, which I think was fair given the mess of Nathan Jones and Ruben Selles last season, but long shall the Martin reign continue now and the board needs to back this man in the market before the next game.

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Farmer Saint

Farmer Saint

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Posted
On 19/08/2023 at 10:28, Turkish said:

Me too seems a good guy. Honest, knows what he wants, looks quite cool. He’s also the first vegan I’ve come across who doesn’t mention it every time he speaks. 

Or an Air Fryer!

But seriously, have you got an air fryer? They're incredible. 

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Turkish

Turkish

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1 hour ago, Farmer Saint said:

Or an Air Fryer!

But seriously, have you got an air fryer? They're incredible. 

No, we had some sausages at a friends house one morning when we stayed over and they just didn’t taste right so we’ve resisted the current fad. I understand they are all the rage at the moment 

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Sheaf Saint

Sheaf Saint

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6 minutes ago, Turkish said:

No, we had some sausages at a friends house one morning when we stayed over and they just didn’t taste right so we’ve resisted the current fad. I understand they are all the rage at the moment 

Are you sure your friend didn't just give you out of date sausages?

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Harry_SFC

Harry_SFC

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2 hours ago, Farmer Saint said:

Or an Air Fryer!

But seriously, have you got an air fryer? They're incredible. 

You do need a good one though. When we first bought one we got a relatively cheap one, just upgraded to a Ninja and it's in a totally different league. 

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Colinjb

Colinjb

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22 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

You do need a good one though. When we first bought one we got a relatively cheap one, just upgraded to a Ninja and it's in a totally different league. 

It's a game changer for cooking for the kids, just takes ten minutes now rather then half an hour. 

Hang on, have I ended up in the wrong forum? 

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