After more than a season of virtually faultless performances at right back, Russell Martin - having been asked to deputise there due to injuries to Ayala, Ward and Whitbread, now looks totally assured at his unaccustomed centre back role, and has forged a tremendous understanding with Leon Barnett. Ritchie de Laet made 3 (4 if you count MK Dons) costly mistakes at the start of the season, but despite it not being his favoured position, I can't recall Martin putting a foot wrong He is fast acquiring legendary status at the club, and playing a starring role in our progress. Keep it going, Russell
De Laet needs to go back to Man U................R Martin is up there with Tierney as my favourite player so far..
de Laet's mistakes are so frustrating, because he is such a talented defender, I remember against Wigan he gets robbed of possession and concedes a penalty (Harshly so) and later in the match he blocks a Wigan shot on an open goal. I hope gets another chance in the team, and I hope he takes it.
I think we must be the only 100% all Britain all stars 11, if you count Canada and USA as ex colonies then its just Ayala and De Laet who don t speak English as a first language...... That has to be an advantage for communication? To understand English is one thing but to follow Lambos Glaswegian accent must be a nightmare.
Cromer - was tempted to write a similar post. I am so impressed with RM. He could have been forgiven for dropping his head after losing his place to Kyle Naughton after his exploits last season but he has taken his chance with both hands. I also always like hearing what he has to say. Even at 25 and by his own admission he is one of the 'old heads' in the dressing room. He speaks very well (for a footballer) and clearly would run through walls for Lambo. A model professional - even if he did celebrate winning promotion last season in his y-fronts!
Very impressed once again proves hard work gets you somewhere. If Martin muscles up a bit more I think he'll be a very handy choice for our Centre Back, he reads the game well, can tackle and passes a ball well his like Whitbread really. Fullback for Martin is a certain no for me as his pace up against the wide players and formations in this league which favour forwards being played wide will cause us trouble.
The advantage he gives us is we have two different types of centre back. We have Barnett who is more of a get it clear at all costs type defender, while Martin, due to his role as an attacking full back last season, is more of a ball playing defender. They compliment each other well and the way he's playing at the moment I can't see how Ayala, Whitbread, Ward or De Laet are going to shift him out of the starting XI
My only quibble Cromer would be with that "unaccustomed". I think you'll find that RM has history as a CB. His Wikipedia entry starts like this: "Russell Kenneth Alexander Martin (born 4 January 1986 in Brighton) is an English-born Scottish footballer, currently playing for Norwich City. He is a right-back. However he is capable of playing as a central defender." Unless you added that "However" bit in the last few weeks (!) I think it (correctly) implies that playing CB is actually not such a new experience for him. This also means that Paul Lambert knew perfectly well what he could expect putting RM in at CB, 'cos he'd seen him playing there before.
Plus Martin is blessed with health, zero injuries last season playing every game .........I maybe shouldn t tempt fate
The combination of the bruiser Barnett, winning headers and making crucial clearances, with Martin, the more intelligent footballer who can pick a pass, skip through the midfield and defend excellently is an amazing combination. Brilliant combinational play between them too. Long may it last...
