I think I am going to have to refer to Martin as Rishi from now on. His footballing policies are designed to appeal to the few (himself and the board) to the detriment of the masses (the fans). His workforce (the players) aren’t sufficiently trained to carry out his policies, leading to the structure of the team to fracture and crumble (a bit like raac), giving unacceptable performances and results. He selects players who are compliant with his needs over those who are better suited to do job (Adarma in midfield and Aribo ahead of Alcaraz). When results are bad he immediately blames the players, who were playing to his instructions, taking little or no responsibility and (I would expect) creating some unrest in the ranks (although they are all currently showing a united front). And like all ministers that leave their posts, often in disgrace, he will eventually go with a golden handshake.
Just looking at the free agents list. The ones I think would improve us are: David de Gea (mental) Lingard Xeka Joshua Guilavogui I don’t think any would come here unfortunately though. Back to the drawing board
We were regularly winning games in both those seasons though. And serving up entertaining football. Playing well and winning in lower divisions is better than being also rans in the PL, sure; but isn’t being **** in League One objectively more depressing than being **** in the Championship or PL? And I speak as someone who has no love for the PL.
I expected a few hiccups early on that could possibly rule us out of automatic promotion and that the play-offs would be an ok achievement for this transitional season but the performances and ultimately results this last 4 matches have been way below anybody would've thought possible, even the owners and the self inflicted wounds and slow style of play simply has to improve dramatically given the tools that Russ is working with. Jack Stephens and Ross Stewart could be key to turning things around with the former leading the back line whilst the latter might be that talismanic scorer like SRL and I'd like to think that Charly has the ability to be an Adam Lallana type to feed him. It really is cutting your nose off the spite your face to keep leaving out your most creative players especially as we have finally got rid of one of our least creative in Mo El and I expected to have seen Charly and Stuey be on the pitch way more than they have been, especially at this level. I think that SR will probably not want to change a manager so early so will hang fire on any likely decision but i'm sure that they can't be satisfied with what they are seeing on the pitch either so who knows what they will do and when?
Yeah it does seem that he believes we have a talented squad for this level and it will just eventually click and work, without really giving much thought as to why it isn’t working atm apart from we just haven’t played the style long enough. A Sunderland fan was on here recently saying that Mowbray changes style every game based on the opposition and that’s why he’s been successful with possibly a less talented side than others in the league. All teams will be wary of us so will set up accordingly, and so far he has no answer to it. I’ve seen people mention that we set up to not lose against Boro, yet they still had moments where they were easily creating good chances without much effort at all, if that’s us setting up not to lose then we are really ****ed
Also Martin may be right, that when our players are all 100% up to speed on what he wants them to do we will start winning and it will be class or whatever he said in an interview. The issue is how long is that going to take because we have already lost half the games we’ve played and if we want auto promotion we probably can’t lose more than another 5/6 games max in 38 which would just be an incredible run of form
Leeds attracted Bielsa to the Championship. Wolves attracted Nuno. Boro attracted Strachan. Fulham attracted Tigana. Go down to L1, and we attracted Pardew. Fulham attracted Keegan. It is possible to attract a "big name", if the project is tempting enough. And, generally speaking, that includes the owners having ambition and money. But it's not exactly commonplace. And I don't see our board looking at that sort of manager at all.
As has been mentioned on this thread by numerous posters, I would be concerned who Sports Republic would bring in if they dismissed Martin. I have to say I cannot see SR making that kind of change as it woud be too much of a risk to admit that they have got it wrong with all three appointments in addition to retaining Ralph. Of the four recent managers, Ralph still seems the best whereas I can enivsage Martin being the most detrimental. I can see it being a face saving exercise for SR. They will retain Martin but supplement his coaching staff with people who have a better idea in an effort to improve the performances. The only way Martin goes is if we are in a position where the results are consistently bad and show no sign of improving so that we are left in the relegation zone. If we look like getting cut adrift, I feel they may pull the trigger in the spring otherwise I feel that SR will try to achieve mid-table stability and then make a decision in the summer. The most likely change will be to try to get a few more mature heads into the playing staff. It is depressing that we are still in a rut yet the one thing I would concede is the scale of the task rebuilding the squad. It is a shame that Martin is clearly not up to the task. The fans of other clubs I have encountered seem perplexed at Saints' predicament and most of them see this as a temporary blip. For me, the problems have been too pronounced for a long while and our squad is now much weaker than it had been in August. If I had a crystal ball, I would suggest that Martin will be safe for this season unless we slip in to the bottom three. It would be staggering to see him lasting into next season at this rate and I just feel that SR will not give hom any money to spend in January as they go for one last, concerted push in 24/25. However, I would agree with those in here who have suggested a clean sweep of those running the club including the owner.
With regard to possession football, just read an account of Plymouths 6-2 win over Norwich. apparently Argyle had only 31% possession. Norwich were criticised for keeping possession and continually passing the ball sideways and even backwards. Who would have thought it.
You mean the points aren’t awarded to the team with the most possession? Someone should tell Russel this.
If it was my money financing this club I would be booting RM out right now! I haven't seen any signs that this 'style' of play is going to come good. The players look lost, the fans have turned. I would eat humble pie and get in an experienced manager to shore up the defence and DM's, play basic football. The forward players can have licence to roam. My money would be safe and I feel I would have a good chance of making the play offs
Of course, but I’m assuming we could manage to be better in league 1 and RM obvs wouldn’t be here If he got us relegated We’d still have a budget and attendances to be a big team down there Anyway, we’re not relegated yet
Behave mate. As bad as we've been in recent games there's absolutely zero chance of us going down this year.
