I like Brooks. Probably more so than a lot of people here. I've not really understood the recent criticism of him. But whereas Brooks has been given a fair shot Martin, I don't think Sulemana has.
Like I said, he hasn't been available for 16 games this season, he had a decent run between Sept to end of Nov. https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/kam...ils/spieler/746695/wettbewerb/GB2/saison/2023
Yes, in 10-15 minutes appearances off the bench. Actually he played more than I though back then. My bad.
Sulemana was given a very good chance back in the autumn, starting most games across a 2 month period. He did nothing then to convince. He's been back for a while, and again, hasn't been given much of a chance. Why? Perhaps he doesn't deserve a chance based on his attitude. Maybe his training isn't up to it. He certainly isn't convincing anyone coming off the bench. Perhaps he doesn't fit our style of play. Whatever the reason, he was a waste of a signing and a waste of a squad place based on what hes contributed. For £22m you'd expect him to have done a lot more this season.
Compare Sulemana to the Leicester & Leeds wingers. It’s actually disgusting really. Guy has as much talent as any of them but doesn’t want to work hard to help the team.
I’m sorry but I think we need at least another season in the championship we would never survive in the premier with this manager and players we’d be slaughtered on a weekly basis
Maybe we should just play his left leg then, as the rest of his limbs and body (not to mention his head) seem to be holding him back.
A bit of a ramble. I’m with those people who are blaming the goals conceded as being the major issue, but is it an issue with the system, the players or the manager? Swansea, last season, conceded 64 goals, 3 more than the total we have so far conceded, with 2 games left to play, which is bizarre when you consider that our first choice back 4 consists of an England international, an England U21 who was in the Burnley team last season that conceded just 35 goals, a Polish international and an Irish international. If you look a season further back, when Downes was playing for Swansea, they conceded 68 goals. Given that almost everyone is in agreement that Downes is possibly our most important player, where is the system falling apart, defensively? Is it just down to the inverted FBs leaving us wide open to counter attacks? Lack of tracking back by the other midfielders and wide players? Lack of pace throughout many areas, which stops players getting back in time to be of any use? Lack of commitment to cut out crosses? Poor management and an unwillingness to compromise on his beliefs? Leicester play the same way as we do yet have scored 1 goal more and conceded 22 goals fewer than us, which indicates that the system can work. I don’t have any answers, but if RM can’t make it work with this squad, I don’t think he will be able to do it with what will likely be a weaker squad next season, in which case I think he should go (even if we go up) and be replaced with someone who will play a more orthodox style, hopefully a 4-2-3-1 formation with strong, physical and quick players.
Yeah so basically triple. I completely agree with those who feel he didn’t take his chances and he hasn’t looked great this year (I do seem to remember him getting doubled all the time early in the season which nullified him, but created space for others). But as I’ve said before I think he has all the tools to be a top player and I think this season was one where we could’ve just played him every game and see what happens. I don’t think we would be much worse off than we are now (competing in the playoffs at the end of the season), and possibly still in with a chance of the autos
The only time it is reasonably okay to concede a lot of goals is if you normally win 6-3 every week. How many teams have based their play on that in the last few decades? Defence is the first thing on most coach's minds, if you don't concede the worst you'll get is a point in a 0-0 draw. It's not difficult is it? We had a 'wonderful coach' a few years back who was of this philosophy but of course, he went too far and played defensive and tight in games we had to score and win, and it made us a boring team for a large part of his tenure. Typical Saints can't ever get it right, but not being guaranteed that we will concede every game would be a start.
I think the answer lies in this stat. Even with significantly better players Martin can’t organise a defence. Or it’s just not important to him.
Don’t think it’s necessarily the organisation, more the insistence on playing around at the back. Much better teams than us get caught out doing it. As someone said he’s trying to play like City but with Saints players. No defensive organisation is going to help if you lose the ball 5 yards outside your box, and the only way you can successfully play out is to have full backs moving forward for the out ball, which if it goes wrong leaves you ridiculously exposed. His biggest issue is no plan B or game management. When we are a goal up going into the last 15/20 we should’ve changed how we played. Sure in lots of games we should’ve been more than a goal up playing his style, but we weren’t and other teams start pressing and we don’t adapt by going long and forcing them to reconsider an all out press and we concede
With Brooks I wonder whether his loan included some sort of agreement - perhaps formal or perhaps more of a gentleman's agreement - about how much he'd play. I take the point and perhaps I'm being a tad nitpicky but I'd say telling your defenders how and where you want them to pass the ball is part of organising a defence.
I’d say it’s more the “when” rather than the how and where that you can lay firmly at Martins door. When it works we’ve seen it works well, so the players clearly know how to do it and where to pass to make it work, in certain scenarios. That falls apart when a team presses us loads, or players who aren’t that good at football make mistakes like a misplaced pass or a wrong decision. Martin doesn’t seem to understand either of those and this is where my criticism of his game management comes in. You can’t just do that all game every game regardless of what the opposition are doing, you have to mix it up
It’s martins tactics. He has taught the players to play sideways/backwards at all costs. It puts us under constant pressure. Even when it’s working well, our slow build up means that all our players are forward and our of position, so if the ball is turned over we are extremely vulnerable to fast counter attacks. Combine that with a lack of ****housery, leaders and nous and you have a recipe for a team that ****s the bed when put under a modicum of pressure
