I'm not a massive of his compares to yourself, and I know felltop rates him as well. I find his football so boring, possession for the sake of possession imo. When he was at Swansea they would have so much possession but had zero cutting edge and his teams are so inconsistent. I wouldn't want him as our manager as I don't feel that possession based football works for us in general - but just my opinion. I totally agree about recruitment there, I think they had a shocking window - I like the lad Downes but he's not a PL CM at all. I get they are shocking but they aren't really underperforming with that squad. I think the cheap goals from playing out is what's cost him in the end
Martin has shown he is completely incapable of adapting to get wins. You can not just live and die by principles when you don't have the squad to carry them out. That's arrogance and you'll pay the price. They did. Sacked whilst on the team bus after a home game. I wouldn't go anywhere near him. Even with those principles you have to be able to shift and move when needed. Not thing you are above anyone else. He is a stats man who will harp on about posession and nowt else. Same at Swansea and same at Southampton.
Plenty managers do it though they just don’t have a squad quite as bad as Southamptons. Ange is doing the same thing with a better squad and getting away with it for now. I think the squad really was the issue for Martin but he had to expect it. Some of the goals they’ve conceded in the last few weeks were comically bad individual defensive errors.
He just needed to make a few tweaks, they were always going to struggle to play out from the back even if they had a great transfer window. I just think he's far too stubborn and lacks the tactical ability to change things up Newly promoted teams have to be solid defensively and Southampton weren't even that in the Championship He will get a decent job still as so many people are obsessed with possession based football these days
Agree with this. I know it's a different era,but the principle's the same. When Reidy took us into the PL,we had a wide player who could place the ball on the head of a brilliant target man,who could knock it into the path of a natural goal predator...that was our attacking strength and we did well with it. If Reidy had tried to play possession football with that team, it would have failed miserably and he'd have been sacked within weeks. You have to maximise the players' capabilities.....that's the art of good coaching.
I’d be horrified if RLB left and we ended up with Martin. He's way too keen on throwing his players under the bus. His image is much too important to him, doesn’t like wearing club gear or identifying with his latest club … … and his endless gawping at I-pad screens makes me cringe. Seriously, if he doesn’t know what's happening, on the pitch, without being hunched over a computer he’s not fit for the job. Besides, it’s not about what just happened, it’s what happens next. In Martin’s case it’s just more of the same because that’s ’his vision’. He egocentric persona reminds me too much of Mick Beale to ever want him near SAFC … … let him continue his one man crusade at Oxford or Boro.
The Wolves job is a poisened chalice, the players fighting in the changing room afterwards (According to some repòrts, Gary Lineker hinted towards this on MOTD) Changing the captiancy three times this season speaks volumes. I'm glad we have moved on from that sort of thing. Southampton just didn't strenghten, and a managers refusal to change and adapt has cost them. He had no plan B.
Agree on all counts. I was amazed he got the job in the first place - hired on funky reputation and power points, rather than ability and track record.
As long as they're not glancing enviously in RLBs direction they can do what they like for me. In the hunt for the holy grail the Premiership has become a graveyard for young ambitious managers who fail to achieve the almost impossible...aspire to a top four finish. Not wholly convinced us getting there is the bee all and end all..as it's a double edged sword for many managers.
There's huge difference between managing Bayern and managing a struggling premier league side. Reaction to Mainz game – Vincent Kompany: 'We weren't at our best level' He's brining them down to his level, remember Aston Villa beat them earlier this season.
He had at least achieved something with Burnley. For Southampton to finish 4th with that squad was pretty poor
I’m with you 100%. Barely scraped up with one of the strongest squads ever in the league, a really balanced squad as well. There squad is huge as well, bigger than most in the PL so who is responsible for that? To have a squad that size with roughly 4 PL standard players is absolutely shocking work.
Kompany has done a great job for Bayern. They speak glowingly about him, they are still 4 clear at top of league after losing weekend. It’s confusing cos I agree he was garbage, and am not sure it isn’t just the absolute quality on the squad that’s got them there. Losing away to Villa isn’t a yardstick for him failing mind, Villa are a quality side with a top gaffer.
I'm not against possession based football but this obsession with it irks me. Its not particularly entertaining for a start and it sometimes feels like it's a game of chess with one team having the ball and having a period of possession then doing nothing and the other team have a go. No real individual duals, tackles or excitement. Nobody wants to try anything ambitious for fear of losing the ball. I feel that our style doesn't always engage the crowd either. I couldn't stand Martin. His reluctance to change was pure arrogance and all about his personal journey than the club and their survival.
I thought that too, takes no responsibility at all for results or performances. Its always "they and them" and never "us or we". It was the same with Ten Hag at Man U.
This is their problem and it’s on the club 100% in my opinion. If you’re going to hire a manager and buy into their philosophy you simply have to buy players that fit that philosophy. You can’t just buy whoever then after 5 games say right this isn’t working can you just forget the last 5 years of your coaching career and try to play long ball football please? They’ve had a few matches this season where they’ve had so much of the ball in the final third but can’t put the ball in the net even when they’re getting into what you’d call “goalscoring” positions - then defensively been shocking I’ve watched a few of the games and seen so many unforced errors so god knows how many there’s been in the games I haven’t watched. They hammered the mags and lost 1-0 to 10 men. Created loads against Ipswich and drew 1-1 in last minute. Went to Wolves and camped in their half for 90 minutes yet didn’t have a single shot on target even though they had 120+ passes in the final third and 19 touches in the opponents box. How do you not find a shot on target after spending so long in the final third with the ball? At some point you have to look at the players too. Armstrong, Archer, Stewart, Onuachu - 4 strikers none of which are PL quality or at least in Archers case proven yet. Downes, Aribo, Fernandes, Lallana, Smallbone.. None of them are creative nor are any PL players.
Think there will be a few more going this week, I can see Norwich sacking theirs and turning us over at the weekend, as thats the sunderland way
