He never does, i posted this earlier in the season , I have never seen a striker try and contest so many headers with centre backs while constantly keeping both feet rooted to the ground
He is reading some of the posts. You’d think we had some football experts on here all of a sudden. He was genuinely fine yesterday. It’s not just about goals, which seems lost on some. He created a different dynamic yesterday, gave Swansea a different type of problem to deal with. He was only on the pitch for 10 minutes (5 of which was injury time). Yes he probably hasn’t produced what everybody was expecting during this loan spell. But yesterday he did alright.
I just watched the highlights and certainly, in the first half, we were lucky to only go in 0-1 down by what I saw on chances created. Having said that I did think it was a penalty and Bowen telegraphed where he was placing it but should have scored. A great run in the first half by Turbo and if he had finished off would have been one of the goals of the season IMO. Bowen certainly made amends for his penalty miss, and his 2nd goal was rather special. Stewart certainly looked more assured in midfield, and it would not be any slight on Batty, as he has been great this season, but probably could do with a rest for a few games and let Stewart get a bit of a run in the team. Campbell as always looked effective, but Martin really should have put that chance away late on. Overall by the looks of it a wonderful second-half performance.
Some people stick to their views no matter what the evidence. Martin clearly has a very good record at this level but he hasn't been good enough at this level. It doesn't make him a scapegoat or people having a go at our players he just hasn't been good enough. For all the good work he does his primary job is to score goals and he missed a sitter. People often say that isn't all a striker is for but they often say that when he isn't good enough in front of goal. He has won us two penalties but very little other than that. If Grosicki missed the chance Martin did there would be uproar that he wasn't trying, now January is here he is wanting out, we pay his wages he should care etc....
Chris Martin's job on Saturday was to defend our lead and that's what he did. He was our outlet and him, Evandro and Bowen held up the ball in their half for a good three or four minutes of the remaining time. Being just outside the box with two defenders and a goalkeeper in front you isn't missing a sitter. I thought he did what was asked of him by the manager and did it well.
Outside the box, I assume this was an error in typing? Pretty certain he was 8 yards out with a keeper and defender lying on the floor and one on the line. It was a poor finish, a finish that would have finished off the game. The best way of defending the lead was for us to get another goal, Martin had a clear goal scoring opportunity (As described by Opta) and he missed it. He could have held the ball up, but we score that goal and the game is over. End of. Also, neither you or I have any idea what Adkins told Chris Martin to do, so lets not speculate. I was discussing the overall role of a striker which he has done poorly. Chris Martin has played 721 minutes without an assist or a goal, we can debate his performances all you like but that isn't acceptable. (Source of minutes https://www.whoscored.com/Teams/214/Show/England-Hull)
All our strikers have done poorly, its why we're in the bottom half of the Championship. We are what we are, but we're getting better. It was fairly obvious from watching the match that Evandro, Martin and Bowen were told to try and keep the ball on the wing in their half of the pitch to wind down the clock.
Campbell and Bowen are both on 8 goals, putting them joint 14th the top goal scorers in the league this season.
Grosicki missed a worse chance after that excellent run. His 1 mile an hour toe poke from the same position with only the keeper to beat was worse than Martin's which was firmly side-footed, but unfortunately blocked by one of the three bodies in front of him. Unfortunately, the "if Grosicki did it" situation that you describe is exactly what we're seeing here. It's only because it's Martin and people already don't like him that this is even a big talking point. Most players would get away with a single miss in a single game, it's not like he's been starting every game and missing loads of chances after all. We always do this with strikers at City. They're written off if they aren't prolific straight away. Apologies for using the same comparison again but it's like Marshall in 2016. Everyone decided he was the reason we were struggling simply because the goals against count was very high, but he hadn't actually made many errors. When he did make a bad error against Everton halfway through the season people made out like he'd been costing us points all year and was this awful keeper, just because it fit the ongoing narrative.
If you add the two of them to the 14th top goalscorers spot you get 16. If you double the 8 goals each you get 16. Which just happens to be our current league position. Spooky or what. Bloody X-files stuff. Also it will probably be the number of players we will have left come February 1st. It must mean something. Only what...?
Grosicki has 2 goals and 3 assists in 16 appearances so far this season, Martin has 0 goals and 0 assists in 14 appearances so far this season, the contribution each has made are a million miles apart.
But a lot on here have been slagging off Growshitski all this time now he's ok. Cos we have a new target. That **** Stewart has started to play well. So... It's all rather annoying. Bit of luck Campbell gets injured and Martin plays a full game then we can really have a go.
Scapegoat is a **** word, I hate it , you are not allowed to not rate a player anymore , if you don't rate them the word scapegoat gets lazily thrown about . Grosicki and Stewart etc get slated when they are poor and righty so, but then when they pull their socks up they are rightly praised . Sure Martin will get the credit if and when it's due .
Have we ever had such a chalk and cheese, mercurial larker as Grozzer? You never know whether he'll pump it miles beyond the last man or thread it into the bottom corner. It''s clear why he catches the eye of other big clubs, but equally apparent why they never come in for him.....consistently inconsistent. Also this turbo thing....does he ever really burn the full back for pace and leave them standing? Seems more often than not he doesn't have the legs and the FB manages to get a foot in and slide it out. Agree re Marshall. Some on here need to hang their heads on shame re the rubbishing they dished out to him.
So what exactly are the two penalties that were awarded and converted for fouls against Martin in the box? You criticised Martin specifically for his performance on Saturday, when he actually played well in the 10 minutes he was on the pitch. Probably doing exactly what was asked of him by Adkins. Occupy the Swansea defence, bring others into attack and keep the ball in their half.
