TMC I would have to look back and see what goals we conceded which he played a part in. Today, against championship opposition he didn't look comfortable. I was there.
I understand what you're saying, but anything anyone ever say is just an opinion and should take it as such no matter how it's written. The annoying ones I tend to try and ignore lol.
But surely an opinion should be based upon actual evidence of things that actually happen, and I was just merely asking for some evidence to support his opinion - reasonable enough I'd have thought. The fact he can't come up with any occasions where he has actually cost us - he can't even think of any off the top of his head even from last season against championship defences that should really be fresh in the memory - would suggest (to me at least) that he's already made his mind up and is happy to stick with his opinion despite the fact he can't explain why. His prerogative entirely and if that's how he debates then fine, it's just not the way I do things myself and I would always prefer people to back up their opinions with at least some actual evidence, that's all
I've been saying this for ages. The trouble is Martin seems to be a nice bloke and a good club captain. Many posters seem to in my view let sentiment get in the way. Trouble is I'm not sure I'd pick him first as RB. I guess in 3 months time we're know if he's good enough/
I hate to break it to you but sometimes, just sometimes, club managers & international managers get it wrong. Even AN will get it wrong at times. It doesn't make them bad managers, just human.
Of course they make mistakes, but if they make the same mistake week in week out, trust me, they don't stay as manager very long!
Hate to tell you this as well, but I can tell you for a fact lots of fans/supporters also get it wrong - in fact I'd say they get it wrong a lot more often than club and international managers. Ridiculous notion to assume that people who rate him as a CB can only do so out of sentiment, that's almost as arrogant as the statement from Kemp earlier that rattled my cage in this particular debate. We had the tightest defence in the division under AN last season, Rusty was a constant in that at CB and for the umpteenth time he was voted (by whom I'm not entirely sure) as one of the two centre-halves of the year in the championship last season. Once again I'm basing my argument/opinion on actual facts, I would suggest that perhaps some people need to take their blinkers off and make their minds up based on actual evidence rather than some preconceived idea they have that they won't budge from (for some reason I don't quite understand). Also I don't really understand why "we'll have a better idea if he's good enough in three months" - he's played almost 200 games for the club, a large chunk of which he's been at CB - how much bigger a sample size do you need? And are you honestly, hand on heart saying that if he plays well and makes no mistakes in these three months then you'll change your opinion on him? From what I've seen you say about him in the past I genuinely don't think you will personally, I would guess that you won't comment on him again until he does make a mistake at some point down the line when you'll trot this out all over again (but of course I could be wrong )
There you go again twistering someones words to suit your own needs. I never said that people who rate him as a CB can only do so out of sentiment. Those are your words not mine. It would help maybe if you started accepting sometimes others have valid opinions, even if you disagree with them. Kemp is entitled to his view, even if you don't agree with him. In fact he's entitled to his view even if everyone else (including me) disagrees with him. He doesn't need to evidence anything. Like him I know there were numerous occasions last season when Martin made mistakes that cost us. Just because I can't reel off a list doesn't mean it wasn't the case. Yes managers get it wrong, but my comment was only in response to canary dave responding to Kemp's post by posting Well we don't actually know if AN thinks Martin should be our first choice CB in the Premier League and even if he does he may well change his view after a few weeks. After all AN has no experience of the Premier league. As I've said loads of times before I don't think Martin is a quality Premier league CB and we need to buy someone who is better, but I accept I might be wrong. So as I said I guess in 3 months time we will know.
I would also add in evidence, If Martin is such a great CB why hasn't there been a rush of Premier League manager beating down our door with silly bids to buy him.
Martin played as CB in nearly all of our best victories namely conceding just 2 goals in the play off matches and a clean sheet in the final . He was iffy when paired with Turner and the other cb s but since Seb came back the defence has been excellent. One gaf in a friendly and he's all of a sudden dog **** ?. Strange views.
But then there are many good players out there that don't get attention from other premier league clubs, doesn't mean they're not good enough. But Newcastle reportedly were interested in Martin a few years back if that helps make him a better player? lol
He also played as CB in most of our poor performances as well. Great so Martin is only any good as a CB if he's paying alongside Bassong. So if Bassong gets injured we are well & truely f**ked.
Also sorry to break it to some posters but we tried getting Toby Alderweild last time and he wasn't interested , Van Dijk will be the same if Spurs Sunderland and Saints are after him too then we are 4th choice plus he will be about £8 10m worth . Neil is happy with his captain and will play him first game as center back in my opinion, we were relegated because we couldn't score or create chances our defense was the least of our problems.
Has anyone been hammering down the door for any of our players with silly bids? So none of them are good enough then, is that what you're saying? Anybody is entitled to heir own opinion, of course they are, I've never said any different so please don't try to put words into MY mouth. However I am also just as entitled to point out when someone talks absolute nonsense as well, and sorry but in my opinion that is just what you are doing
Surely the fact that we have tried to sign other CB's and failed supports the view that managers who have played Martin at CB don't think he's good enough for the premier league.
How many poor defensive performances were there last season? We conceded four against Boro (a game Turner played instead of Bassong) but apart from that we didn't lose any game by more than a single goal, and had the best defensive record once AN took over and played Rusty and Seb at the back, making them effectively the best CB partnership in the division.
What If Seb gets Injured or Martin ? It's called covering your arse and evolving the squad , If we sign a decent center back I will be delighted but we don't always buy players because the existing ones are sub standard . Miquel Cuellar and possibly Turner will leave because they are not good enough it would make sense to replace them.
This was one of the key stats last season , ALL of our losses were 1 goal away from a point other than Boro away where we got done . Adams was naive but also incredibly unlucky during our blip we were on top for most of our losses too.
