Confirmed: Russell Martin has been sacked

The counter argument to this is the attacking play that looks pleasing on the eye is because we play out from the back like we do. If we weren’t doing that the space wouldn’t be there to attack when we do beat the press/get the passing right.

Pretty sure that’s what Martin would say anyway

 

We have been competitive in most games but have been playing low percentage football at the back and the rewards definitely have not outweighed the risks by a long way and the stats back that up. We do not have the quality to continue to gift PL teams free goals and expect to gain points that's why there simply has to be a change of manager because Russell is completely wedded to his style. There are still a massive amount of points to play for with a more pragmatic approach and a safety first defence. I believe that it's not a terrible squad with the right leadership.

 

Looking at the situation purely from a logical standpoint the owners have three choices/options:

1 Remove the manager and bring in a new person who’s style suits the squad
2 Overhaul the squad in January, sell the players not delivering, bring in players suited to RM’s style and join up with those who are suited
3 Do nothing or sell up.

3 Isn’t on the cards just yet
2 Will require a massive amount of time and probably cost a great deal more than option 1

The logic of the situation therefore requires that Option 1 is the club’s only hope now or next season.

Interestingly ChatGPT Artificial Intelligence is suggesting Graham Potter.

 

and one of them isn’t going to change!

 

Yeah maybe, but not convinced. Movement in midfield and up top, he’ll even the defence is fine to still do, just we don’t need to take so much risk in our final third.

I’d fully expect Martin to say what you suggested, but don’t buy it, we can have the movement without the gifting of almost a goal a game.

 

Cheers Captain obvious. We're here to showcase you and you alone.

 

****.

 

If we keep Martin and go down with say 9 points, it will take sometime to mentally recover and my bet next season would be tucked too

 

People said this when we went down previously. Admittedly we got 25 points that time and it looks like even Fergie being appointed now wouldn’t get us to 25 points, but people seriously over estimate the Championship. The quality is **** in the main and we would have such a better squad than the majority, and the budget to add to it, that it would be impressive to not make the play offs.

We even lost 4 in a row early on last season so wasn’t like we started well and got over the losing mentality straight away, and we still ended up with like 90 points wasnt it in the end? And that included poor form at the end of the season as well when we blew autos

We have a very good chance of yo-yoing next year regardless of what happens this year imo

 

I will say with confidence if we don't get more points than Derby I will eat No7s head.

 

Just in case what condiments do you recommend No7 ?

 

Just a bit a pepper as I am salty.

 

Yeah we'd undoubtedly be one of the favourites for promotion. The gap is getting wider and wider and we'd have a decent squad even before investing some of the money gained from selling Dibling/Fernandes/Ramsdale.

Lots of 'scar tissue' though as Russell would say.

 

It was arguably the strongest league ever last season when we still managed to get promoted. Imagine if all 3 promoted sides go down even after that. And Sheff Utd and Burnley are the top 2 atm and they were both mocked as some of the worst teams in PL history and were relegated by Xmas.

The gap is massive and only getting bigger the more often 2 or more of the promoted sides go straight back down

 

Said this last season but I'm not convinced it was a strong league like a lot of us assumed at various times during the season.

The top 4 were miles ahead and the points totals of those teams led everyone to claim it as a strong league but that equally could mean it was a relatively poor league which allowed the better teams to get more points than they normally would.

I noticed a lot of fans of long-standing championship sides regularly commenting that it was a poor league.

 

Yeah I can see that argument, but clearly the top 4 were miles ahead and if all 3 promoted sides go down then it really does emphasise the gap between the leagues.

The stuff I’ve seen this year indicates that the league is even worse this year quality wise, so yeah we should definitely be expecting play offs minimum and it depends who we go down with about autos.

 

Wow, and RM says there’s been lots of improvements since the international break.

 

Agree. I know a couple of Wigan fans and they were adamant we’d find it pretty easy. Made hard work of it at times and yet still ended up with a very high points total…

The financial disparity of the PL is trickling down and the divide between top and bottom teams in both CH and L1 seems wider than ever, fair to say?

 

It wasn't that strong - we kept clean sheets.

 

SMALLBONE UPDATE

Smallbone is nearing a return to Premier League action after nearly two months sidelined with a hamstring injury.

Martin said: "He'll be back very soon. Hopefully, in the next few weeks around Christmas.

"Will has been a big loss for us as a player on the pitch as his understanding is so good and the team functions better when he's in it."

Things will be ok then . This manger is a joke minute by minute. This is not a dig at smallbone. Our team only has one function look up and pass back. Let’s get him gone please.