Empty words I'm afraid. He's throwing the fans a bone, but he'll keep on doing exactly the same. Even with the new signings they're not going to be able to play these tactics because they simply don't work in the Prem. He's fully out of his depth and unfortunately for us his life raft is his possession at all costs philosophy
Just as I said. We're getting more of the same. Lucky, lucky us. https://www.dailyecho.co.uk/sport/24554570.southampton-manager-martin-says-will-live-die-sword/
He has shown he can amend things before, even if he is stubborn he does have a degree of flexibility. Think this is a big test for him and he can't be given all the time in the World if he is passive, but to sack him now would be pathetic and I say this as someone who wanted him out after our **** start last season. The way he handled the play-offs changed my perception of him as a manager, but he does need to show he can be pragmatic again and fast.
All those who said we shoul to be fair, at various points everyone wanted him gone. You only need to look back at the pendulous back and forth of the Martin Out thread!
Fair enough, at least you are consistent. My stance on him has never changed, I couldn’t work out last year if we were doing well because of him or the squad quality, and if a more direct style could’ve yielded better results. Ultimately he got us promoted so he deserves his chance, which I’ve said all along, even if I’m 99.99999% sure we will go down with him in charge. An argument could be made that we are very likely to go down no matter who is in charge due to squad quality, similar to last season but swap relegation with promotion
The thing is, it's not that clear cut. I want him to do well, he's earned a shot at it. He's clearly a fantastic man manager and the players want to play for him, and constantly changing managers isn't a good thing. But, his stubbornness and results speak for themselves. With the resources he had at his disposal last season, not getting promoted would be a massive failure. His comments today really haven't inspired confidence that we're going to do anything differently. I'm torn. 3 or 4 more games with a 0 points return will surely turn the fan base utterly toxic.
I can't understand this RM is on a learning curve mentality, it seems blatantly obvious to me that fannying around in ones own penalty area is going to cause problems unless you have Cityesque players, we don't have that quality. We weren't punished so much in the championship but we will be in the EPL. Surely he can see that but he is obsessed with pocession. He shouldn't need to learn that it's so obvious
My big concern with Martin has always been that he doesn’t know how to set up a midfield. He doesn’t value the defensive part of the game enough. In the champ he had Downes to bail out his poor tactics. But he can’t rely on our quality here and he isn’t learning from his mistakes. Aribo/Smallbone/Downes isn’t good enough at PL level. I think 99% of fans knew that going into game 1. Why has he wasted 3 games playing this ridiculous team? Why did he not play big Les?
I hope and very much doubt the team that played today will be the same after the break. The only positive is Suga scored. This is very much a pre transfer window team and Hagrid hasn't had time to work with the defence. Should I post this on the positivity thread?
We’ve felt pretty comfortable in the games so far I think, but never really felt threatening, and have spells where we feel right under the cosh. Then we give away a goal (like last year) but we lack the ability to score a couple which we had last year to make up for that. Essentially we have to find some way of playing that makes us threatening but reduces the likelihood of making these suicidal mistakes
