To Martin or not to Martin? That is the question. Whether 'tis nobler on the pitch to have 80% possession and suffer the slings and arrows of last minute goals...

[coalman]

As requested a poll on our manager. I voted yes btw.

Reasons for:

- We're playing decent football. Particularly in attack.

- He's taken a group of players that were lost and given them a purpose.

Reasons against:

- We offer up too many clear cut chances due to the way we defend.

- We switch off during games and revert to walking football without purpose.

Edited April 10 by coalman

[Toussaint]

Bit of a tricky one, I voted wrong man, but if we go up he'll be the right man, but if we go up he'll definitely be the wrong man because if he persists with his dogma we will be cannon fodder in the prem.. So the conflict in my head has him wrong by a majority of 2-1.

edit , I am talking about end of season, I don’t advocate changing now.

Edited April 10 by Toussaint

[Dr. Kucho]

I voted no, think with the quality we have and resources he should be doing a better job, nearer to the top 3. 

Plus this style leaves us open at the back and if we go up, we’ll get trashed every week. 

[badgerx16]

If we do go up he would need a completely different tactical approach, which he will stubbornly resist in favour of trying for the perfect 1000 pass game, ( half of them back to Baz ), and can you imagine Manning playing in the. Premiere League ?

If we don't go up we are likely to have a weaker squad next season, and given the glaringly obvious frailties of his philosophy will have more "Sunderland away" and "Millwall home" performances.. Mid table at best.

He has achieved nothing as a manager, this is by far his best league season, with the best squad he has ever managed, yet has barely broken into the top 3. His team selections continue to baffle, as do his substitutions, and God only knows what his motivational speech was before the Blackburn game.

I think SR will persist with him purely because their track record of appointments has been so poor so far. ( Please let there be 'legs' in the Brighton rumours ).

[SNSUN]

Yes, for now we should keep faith in him and besides, I don't think it's entirely Russ's fault for the predicaments we've found ourselves in this season. Our transfers have been poor bar loans. Russ came in in the summer, completely changed the way we play football after an awful few seasons and, let's be fair if we had a fit Ross Stewart (or not signed a crock) we'd arguably be in the automatic promotion places. Russ makes some odd decisions and he seems to have his favourites (which is not always a good thing) but maybe some stability is what's required going forwards.

The worry I have with not going up is that we will need another almost complete player rebuild in the summer (Probably 7/8 new players) and I worry that the possible drop in quality will hamper Russ's attempts to dominate games (possesionally) than we have been doing this season. We need the BEST Prem loans we can get and some decent permanent players picked up for little money. It's a monumental task but right now I think at least holding on to the manager will give us some sense of stability.

IFIFIFIFIIFIFIFIFIFIFIFIIFIF IF we go up, then I do hope the increase in 'quality' players that we will be likely to sign (we can only hope) will help Russ achieve the style he wants - but boy would we need that extra quality, even if KWP stays and with THB staying permanently.

[East Kent Saint]

Use of subs worth a mention !

[Convict Colony]

Gonna need to google translate this thread title before i can answer

Edit - I voted yes - we are having a excellent season in the championship, its just that 3 other teams are having ridiculous ones.

But the reason we dont have more points is we needed an actual clinical centre forward and that is on whoever - mowbray/wilcox/martin etc 

Edited April 10 by Convict Colony

[Dman]

Finishing 4th and failing to win promotion will be a failure, but not enough of a failure to warrent us sacking him. However, I would. 

His football will not be suitable in the PL if / when we get there. 

He's a good coach, but tactically far too naive imo. 

Best thing that could happen is Brighton come in a poach him, in my opinon. 

[coalman]

6 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Gonna need to google translate this thread title before i can answer

Edit - I voted yes - we are having a excellent season in the championship, its just that 3 other teams are having ridiculous ones.

But the reason we dont have more points is we needed an actual clinical centre forward and that is on whoever - mowbray/wilcox/martin etc 

I can't believe this forum, of all places, isn't getting my classical literature reference. 🤣

 

[SNSUN]

I was going to vote "I hate Polls" but I figured it was quite Xenophobic and personally I get on very well with East Europeans.

[Toadhall Saint]

Voted yes but I could change my mind in a couple of weeks.

[trousers]

I'm ambivalent.... I don't feel the need to call for his head as things stand but I wouldn't be particularly bothered if he left.

Edited April 10 by trousers

[Sarisbury Saint]

56 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Gonna need to google translate this thread title before i can answer

Edit - I voted yes - we are having a excellent season in the championship, its just that 3 other teams are having ridiculous ones.

But the reason we dont have more points is we needed an actual clinical centre forward and that is on whoever - mowbray/wilcox/martin etc 

And a better goalie. 

[Turkish]

2 hours ago, coalman said:

As requested a poll on our manager. I voted yes btw.

Reasons for:

- We're playing decent football. Particularly in attack.

- He's taken a group of players that were lost and given them a purpose.

Reasons against:

- We offer up too many clear cut chances due to the way we defend.

- We switch off during games and revert to walking football without purpose.

Ive seen this said a lot and this a myth

Last nights starting line up contained 6 players who were here last season, of those 6 Baz is just as poor, Bree & Aribo didn't get a look in, Adams is arguably no better and Armstrong was a proven championship striker before he joined us. You cant really say he's dramatically improved any of the players we have, Edozie looked good earlier in the season now cant get a game. Sully still flatters to deceive, Charles seems to have regressed since joining

I agree we have an identity now and a way of playing which we didnt seem to last year but lets not start making out he's transformed a group of players into top ones, the best ones have been those who had a significant amount of premier league experience anyway, Downes, Frazer, KWP, Armstrong the rest have been a bit of a mixed bag, there isn't anyone i look at and think what a great improvement from last season, maybe Edozie, but as stated he cant get a game at the moment anyway for some reason

[skintsaint]

If he could tighten up at the back would have no issues for him to stay. Give him a non crocked striker who could finish as well.

[The Cat]

He's been fine and overall we have played well this season.

I also think that sometimes people forget he's still a relatively young manager and will therefore make mistakes. That's surely natural.

[sfc4prem]

Consider the mess he inherited; the lack of a true spine, the weak and brittle mentality, the sheer ineptitude of some players.

He has done very well to create more of an identity and, seemingly, a togetherness on the pitch that we've been missing for a while.

His tactics and team selections are sometimes questionable, but he's managed to establish us as the best of the rest outside of the tremendous trio at the top; a team that was very close to breaking into the top two but faded away.

As always we fans want the best for our club, and we've certainly had some excellent seasons in the past decade and-a-half. I completely understand those that are reflecting on the squad he now has and how well that squad could and probably should be doing. I think it's very, very fine margins, though.

The grass isn't always greener.

Edited April 10 by sfc4prem

[coalman]

15 minutes ago, Turkish said:

Ive seen this said a lot and this a myth

Last nights starting line up contained 6 players who were here last season, of those 6 Baz is just as poor, Bree & Aribo didn't get a look in, Adams is arguably no better and Armstrong was a proven championship striker before he joined us. You cant really say he's dramatically improved any of the players we have, Edozie looked good earlier in the season now cant get a game. Sully still flatters to deceive, Charles seems to have regressed since joining

I agree we have an identity now and a way of playing which we didnt seem to last year but lets not start making out he's transformed a group of players into top ones, the best ones have been those who had a significant amount of premier league experience anyway, Downes, Frazer, KWP, Armstrong the rest have been a bit of a mixed bag, there isn't anyone i look at and think what a great improvement from last season, maybe Edozie, but as stated he cant get a game at the moment anyway for some reason

I'm not saying he's transformed players into top ones. Just that the team is more cohesive than the end of last season.

[Turkish]

1 minute ago, coalman said:

I'm not saying he's transformed players into top ones. Just that the team is more cohesive than the end of last season.

to be fair that isn't really a great achievement

[coalman]

2 minutes ago, Turkish said:

to be fair that isn't really a great achievement

Having watched Ralph's swan song, the madness of King Nate and nice guy Rubens - it feels like it's something.

[Miltonaggro]

My position last May was that the worst thing that Sport Republic could do is overthink the Championship and on reflection they’ve done just that. Martin on experience and track record was a left field gamble and so were our critical signings, whilst sticking with others who clearly struggled last year. We might still go up of course but this looks in the balance with a brittle squad lacking in character when it comes to seeing out games or finding another gear. THB, Downey and Fraser are top players in this league but there will be a reluctance to fully buy in from experienced loan players like Brooks and Rothwell, and that’s perhaps foreseeable. Plus Martin’s tactics and selections would likely see us destroyed in the league above, even if SR made funds available. Knowing Sport Republic if we choke the playoffs they’ll stick with their man at least until midway next season when we sit solidly in mid-table treading water, by then you’ll be looking at a 2.5 season rebuild. To be fair to Martin he would never have been my choice so hard sell, but he seems committed and overall a decent man, I just don’t think he’s right for Southampton.

[Colinjb]

He has not been able to address the two issues that saw us relegated last year.

We are still defensively fragile (Despite having THB) and cannot reliably take our chances. If he had resolved these, we would be up there with the top three. Yes, there was a club record unbeaten spell which indicated he had cracked it, but he choose to destabilise that by shoe-horning Stevens into the side. It was not broken, no need to fix it.

So, a negative review from me. He thinks he is cleverer then he is.

Edited April 10 by Colinjb

[Holmes_and_Watson]

I quite liked them.

 

[Dr Who?]

The proof will be in the pudding come what May. 

If we do not go up, then we will I’m sure reassess in the summer. 

As fans I feel this is not the time to be getting on his back, or players backs but getting fully behind them. We are in the playoffs we still have a very good chance of going up, as the others in the playoffs are hardly blowing opposition away! 

[Lord Duckhunter]

A poll at this stage of the season is ridiculous. 
 

The blokes a cock, brought in to deliver promotion. If he does that, there’s no debate. If he doesn’t, then that’s the time for a poll & I’ll probably be in the “fuck off” camp. Hopefully I can have both, he gets us up and Brighton are so impressed with that incredible achievement they pay us a large wedge of compo for him. Fuck me, with him & Lallana in the dressing room, they’ll need new hair dryers & mirrors fitted. 

Edited April 10 by Lord Duckhunter

[warsash saint]

Looking at the voting, it just proves those that are noisiest on this forum are again in the minority!

No manager is perfect & I can obviously question some of the decisions but after the shite served up for the last 4 or 5 years, I have really enjoyed this season under Martin.

He has brought the team together after a turbulent summer of 2023 & playing football that i am loving to watch

Hoping he is still here next season no matter what league we are in.

Be careful what you wish is all i can say!!

Edited April 10 by warsash saint

[The Cat]

16 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

A poll at this stage of the season is ridiculous. 
 

The blokes a cock, brought in to deliver promotion. If he does that, there’s no debate. If he doesn’t, then that’s the time for a poll & I’ll probably be in the “fuck off” camp. Hopefully I can have both, he gets us up and Brighton are so impressed with that incredible achievement they pay us a large wedge of compo for him. Fuck me, with him & Lallana in the dressing room, they’ll need new hair dryers & mirrors fitted. 

He's a cock? Right ok, that's nice of you. Glad you have decided that.

Him and Lallana in the dressing room, new mirrors. Hilarious.

Obviously REAL men like you don't comb their hair, wear nice clothes or have time to check they look ok because they are too busy calling football managers childish names on the internet.

 

[Hayling Saint]

10 minutes ago, warsash saint said:

Looking at the voting, it just proves those that are noisiest on this forum are again in the minority!

No manager is perfect & I can obviously question some of the decisions but after the shite served up for the last 4 or 5 years, I have really enjoyed this season under Martin.

He has brought the team together after a turbulent summer of 2013 & playing football that i am loving to watch

Hoping he is still here next season no matter what league we are in.

Totally agree with you.

[kitch]

4 hours ago, coalman said:

I can't believe this forum, of all places, isn't getting my classical literature reference. 🤣

 

I thought it was a great title 😄

[Farmer Saint]

18 minutes ago, The Cat said:

He's a cock? Right ok, that's nice of you. Glad you have decided that.

Him and Lallana in the dressing room, new mirrors. Hilarious.

Obviously REAL men like you don't comb their hair, wear nice clothes or have time to check they look ok because they are too busy calling football managers childish names on the internet.

 

LD in his natural habitat... 

 

[aintforever]

He’s not perfect but is doing a decent job. We don’t have some sort of divine right to be above Leeds and Leicester and we still have a chance of promotion. If we fail to go up obviously we have to decide if he is the right man in the summer, much will depend on finances I guess. I don’t fancy our chances much if we have to work on a shoestring.

[Challenger]

4 hours ago, The Cat said:

He's been fine and overall we have played well this season.

I also think that sometimes people forget he's still a relatively young manager and will therefore make mistakes. That's surely natural.

Nothing wrong with making mistakes as long as you only make each type of mistake only once.

[Saint Matty 76]

4 hours ago, sfc4prem said:

Consider the mess he inherited; the lack of a true spine, the weak and brittle mentality, the sheer ineptitude of some players.

He has done very well to create more of an identity and, seemingly, a togetherness on the pitch that we've been missing for a while.

His tactics and team selections are sometimes questionable, but he's managed to establish us as the best of the rest outside of the tremendous trio at the top; a team that was very close to breaking into the top two but faded away.

As always we fans want the best for our club, and we've certainly had some excellent seasons in the past decade and-a-half. I completely understand those that are reflecting on the squad he now has and how well that squad could and probably should be doing. I think it's very, very fine margins, though.

The grass isn't always greener.

Yeah, pretty much word for word agree with you here.

It's funny how back in the Summer there were a large amount of people on here who seemed to think we'd do well to make the play-offs with the mess we were in. Fast forward to doing that with ease, whilst also looking like we'll put up a number which would've achieved automatic promotion in almost any other season, yet he should be sacked? It's actually a 50/50 on the thread below of people thinking we'll either be mid-table or promoted.

Martin has plenty of flaws, and I'm of the belief that the season will be a failure if we don't go up in the play-offs. However, I think there's been enough to warrant him getting another go at it next year, in a hopefully less historically strong league. We'll still have a strong group of players, which combined with a solid utilisation of the 5 PL loans (we'll still be one of the most desirable moves), I'd fancy us to start the season as one of the favourites.

If we do go up this year, you'd be a fool not to worry based on how our style would match up to the PL, but let's cross that bridge when we hopefully get to it.

[Toussaint]

I don't get the comments on both RM threads that he inherited a shit show,. As far as I can see he was given a clean slate;  all the worst players from last season shipped out, a new coaching team in place , new DoF, PL standard loans and aquations giving him  pretty much a team of players who have played in the premier league,  playing  in a league which is now light years below the standard of the premier league, the full backing of his philosophy throughout the club. I would say he was given  the tools to succeed in achieving promotion from this league.

[Gingeletiss]

Voted no, get rid off. Facts, with this system we would get murdered every week in the premiership.

[Lord Duckhunter]

2 hours ago, The Cat said:

Obviously REAL men like you don't comb their hair,

What hair? 

[the saint in winchester]

7 hours ago, coalman said:

I can't believe this forum, of all places, isn't getting my classical literature reference. 🤣

 

I got it from the start, in the list of titles, and was chuckling as I opened it. I share your concern. My hipster son talks about XG, possession stats etc but back in my day it was all about trying to score goals and stop conceding goals. Possession is not a factor in itself - last night Millwall has just 27% possession and yet still beat Leicester. It's not how much you have, it's how you use it.

Getting to your issue raised, I'm undecided, like many. I don't think his tactics would work in the Prem, and I fear they may not work next season in the Champo. But let's see what squad he has, as I fear we won't get up through the play-offs in the end.

[Tamesaint]

Pleasantly surprised by the way this poll is shaping. If it was confined to contributors on the match thread I think there would  be a different outcome. 😁😁

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Martin's whole set up was to prevent the outrageous fortune of being the subject of a sacking poll. But the fans sleep, perchance to dream of the Premier League.

We still have every chance of going up via the playoffs.

If we do, we've enough players leaving to reinforce his system. Need to see if that happens before knowing if it will thumped every week.

If we don't, then the club can assess his deliverables for the season, the players coming back and the style they want to proceed with, before trying to move them all on again/ bring others in. He may well get next season as well.

Seems a bit early for the poll.

[Convict Colony]

4 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I don't get the comments on both RM threads that he inherited a shit show,. As far as I can see he was given a clean slate;  all the worst players from last season shipped out, a new coaching team in place , new DoF, PL standard loans and aquations giving him  pretty much a team of players who have played in the premier league,  playing  in a league which is now light years below the standard of the premier league, the full backing of his philosophy throughout the club. I would say he was given  the tools to succeed in achieving promotion from this league.

Bit harsh on Tino, JWP and Lavia 

Edited April 10 by Convict Colony

[Patrick Bateman]

1 hour ago, Tamesaint said:

Pleasantly surprised by the way this poll is shaping. If it was confined to contributors on the match thread I think there would  be a different outcome. 😁😁

I voted yes.  I've enjoyed a lot of the football I've watched, the team seems more of a "team" who play for each other and communicate.  Yes some of the backwards play can be tiresome and yes it would be lovely to see more counter attacking, but we can't have it all.  I don't actually think he's a bad bloke either, he comes over very well and isn't a complete stuck up penis. 

I don't know who could've done a better job tbh and if the club (can I blame Wilcox?? 🤣) had bought a decent striker who was FIT from the start of the season, many more of the chances the team create would've been goals.  Yes those 4 matches in September were horrific and he looked way out of his depth then, but what I've seen since has mostly been decent.  Just get a bloody fit goal scorer in ... 

[Toussaint]

7 minutes ago, Convict Colony said:

Bit harsh on Tino, JWP and Lavia 

True, but you get my point?

[Bad Wolf]

He's doing a good job. Maybe not an amazing one but a good one.

[Dark Munster]

2 hours ago, Tamesaint said:

Pleasantly surprised by the way this poll is shaping. If it was confined to contributors on the match thread I think there would  be a different outcome. 😁😁

We've just come off a win. I wonder what the poll results would be like if we'd lost yesterday?

[Lord Duckhunter]

1 minute ago, Dark Munster said:

We've just come off a win. I wonder what the poll results would be like if we'd lost yesterday?

I think people are realistic enough to realise sacking him now would be ridiculous, let’s see an end of season poll if we fuck up the play offs. 
 

 

[egg]

Neither of those options suit me. I don't think he's doing a good enough job, but he can't go now. I'd vote "keep until the end of the season then take a view". 

[Give it to Ron]

We have just spent 15m on sacking managers we can’t keep doing this.

There are some big pluses with him but also some things that drive me nuts like his like for like subs just changing personnel rather than shape when clear not working 

[notnowcato]

5 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I don't get the comments on both RM threads that he inherited a shit show,. As far as I can see he was given a clean slate;  all the worst players from last season shipped out, a new coaching team in place , new DoF, PL standard loans and aquations giving him  pretty much a team of players who have played in the premier league,  playing  in a league which is now light years below the standard of the premier league, the full backing of his philosophy throughout the club. I would say he was given  the tools to succeed in achieving promotion from this league.

You said it yourself…. Loads of new things had to happen because the club was absolutely fucked. Broken. New things take a while to work, time to bed in, time to change the direction of the previous 18 months. 

[Micky]

6 hours ago, Toussaint said:

I don't get the comments on both RM threads that he inherited a shit show,. As far as I can see he was given a clean slate;  all the worst players from last season shipped out, a new coaching team in place , new DoF, PL standard loans and aquations giving him  pretty much a team of players who have played in the premier league,  playing  in a league which is now light years below the standard of the premier league, the full backing of his philosophy throughout the club. I would say he was given  the tools to succeed in achieving promotion from this league.

Exactly this.  He was given all the tools to succeed yet we find ourselves out of the auto promotion places with 10 games to go.  Even if he gets us up through the playoffs I still think that it's time to 'mag to grid', harsh maybe but the same pretty much happened to Nigel after he got us to the Prem. 

Edited April 10 by Micky

[SaintBobby]

I voted to keep him. Our points per game is higher than I’d have settled for at the start of the season - it’s just unfortunate that 3 other teams have been brilliant whilst we have just been very, very good.

I don’t buy that we will be “mid table at best” next season if we don’t get promoted. We’d likely start as favourites or 2nd favourites, I’d think…depending on the finances and number of key players we lose.