The posts from the first few pages are now pure comedy gold! Mine included. I'm enjoying reading them with a beer in my hand.
Considering we've been hindered by not having a proper striker, the bloke is doing incredibly well in my opinion. I think he's proven that his system works, and looking ahead it's all about bringing in the players who can create/put away chances. The good thing is that hopefully the team will just get better and better the more we play this way. Finally, the players clearly like him. Comes across as just a really nice guy.
Last time I posted this I called him an arrogant ****. He must have a ****ing crystal ball. That's the only rational explanation.
Must admit I was in the out camp. Didn't think there was anyway he could turn it around. So happy I was wrong. Think he has brought a real togetherness and fighting spirit. It's actually a good time at St marys now. Long may it continue.
A bit off topic but Nigel Adkins seems to have transformed tranmere, really good luck to the bloke. As for Martin, the performance and results don't lie and he is up for the fight.
I can’t see my opinion on him changing tbh. I’m still very much in the “we have a squad too good for the league” camp rather than “the manager is the reason why we are doing so well” He clearly has his way of playing, and he was right that once the players learnt it we would be much better than in the opening games. But I’m putting that down to this squad of players being too good for the majority of the league and you could play virtually any way and be successful. Im not saying he should be sacked or anything like that, just that I find it very hard to judge him as a manager atm. He might be brilliant and I’m being incredibly harsh, or he might actually be **** and is getting by because of the talent in the team, I really think that both those options are possibilities, and everything in between
I am pretty sure it is a combo of both. As it should be. Good players are **** without a good manager and a good manager is **** without good players. Teamwork makes the dream work.
Can we change the thread title to Martin In? So so glad to be proven wrong. He is a great bloke and a great manager to turn the ship around like this.
The togetherness is there to see, and you can tell by the odd interview here and there by the players. They are enjoying it, and this is in part is down to his man management skills. Credit to him.
We all bemoan the lack of goals but only 4 teams in the league have scored more than us - the top 3 and Norwich. If we actually had a proper goal scoring striker we could well be top 2. I would love to see us transition from defence to attack at more speed, as we did second half yesterday. That seems to be the difference between us and the top 3 who are all very good at breaking quickly.
We're a work in progress, we are progressing. We've come a long way from the dark days there will always be room for improvement.
TBF this unbeaten run all started with a fantastic first half against Leeds. He got it spot on that day against a team boasting just as much quality as us.
Yeah on the back of 4 awful performances, maybe he made some adjustments, maybe the team clicked that day. As I say I just can’t work out if we are winning because of or in-spite of him. Tbh I don’t think I’m ever going to know. If we go up this year then we will get battered next year in the PL with him in charge unless he changes his style hugely which he has shown no indication to do. But that doesn’t make him a bad manager either, just a stubborn one who has a ceiling. I’m sure if that were to happen there will be people calling him useless and calling for his head by November or whatever next season
If we go up this season I expect us to come straight back down again, but that’s not really due to the manager. This squad is not ready for promotion, maybe after another season playing together and with some additions, we will be.
