Rob sorry but as captain Martin needs to do more than just his job as a CB. I would suggest that organisation of defence / team generally and of the team at defending set pieces is well within his remit. I wasn't blaming the manager nor were my comments just directed solely at Martin, you turned it into a solely Martin discussion not me. I don't know if we concede more set pieces than other teams. I suspect we don't, but I don't know. What I do know is once we've conceded them we don't deal with them very well and as I consider CB's to be the core of the defence and key players in defending set pieces, that maybe. just maybe they might be part of the problem.
I'd assume that it simply reflects a period of adjustment to the tactics and movement of pl teams - seems to be a mix of zonal and man marking to try and deal with the movement of the attacking team- not working at the moment but not a big problem - sure it can be worked on after all the attacking fluidity and shape of the team is good-
You maybe right longsight. A lot of it might be down to organisation and clearly when moving from the championship to the premiership players will need a period of time to adjust, including the CB's
I don't disagree with you on this one - Martin's remit definitely goes beyond his CB role and certainly defending set pieces. All I meant was that he can't be expected to cover for everybody's errors. To take yesterday's example - I'm not sure he could have done more organisationally or as a captain for their second goal. Likewise when Tettey lost his man against Palace, or when Whits got outjumped. All of those were individual errors. Set pieces as a whole, though, are definitely his responsibility. And we look shaky most times, so he (and the whole team) need to work on that. Structurally on set pieces our CBs tend to go in the middle, with Jerome at the front and a fullback on the fringes. I think we need to have a different structure here to stop things going wrong on the fringes. If that means moving one CB, that might be the answer.
Interesting article by Robin Sainty - http://www.edp24.co.uk/features/tim...ion_russell_martin_as_a_centre_back_1_4247995
Having looked at the two we shipped on Saturday again Martin could have done better with the first as he appeared to get his feet tangled up and lost his balance attempting to clear and Ruddy had a weak flap at their second. Whether he was in a similar situation to Krul for the William goal with an opponent running across a whipped ball into the area preventing him from committing too early to the punch I don't know but I would have expected the big fella to get a bit more on it.. I can understand why both happened but it is so frustrating to give away a stupid free kick in a dangerous area and then not protect the keeper who ultimately shells the ball to Kouyate to equalise. At least neither goal came as a result of Rusty being dominated in the air! Let's hope that for the Villa game he is not matched against Gestede as that could be painful to watch.
Yes, I read the Sainty article and agreed with it. I wonder if the controversy about Martin could be to do with the way the game is changing. There will always be those who long for the 4-4-2 which is hardly ever seen these days and certainly AN is no fan of it. Today's game is much more about competing in the midfield as AN has said many times. Doing that allows the ball to be played out from the back rather than just lumped forward, as Sainty points out. Turner is of the old school, whereas Martin and Bassong thrive on that sort of passing emphasis and the West Ham match was a masterclass in that. Yes, there is work to do on set pieces, but I still think the first emphasis should be on cutting down the number conceded by controlling the midfield. Another good article today, 'Be Bold and Entertain', takes a broader focus, but AN is saying what we all wanted to hear after the Hughton era: "Football is an entertainment sport, as far as I’m concerned,” said Neil. “I want to watch football to be entertained and see good players doing good things. Passing the ball well, seeing passes, having that bit of creativity. I think I’ve got that in my team and I want to see my team entertain people. As a fan you go to see that. You don’t go to see teams, in my eyes, grind it out and I don’t want my teams to do that."
Very refreshing after almost two seasons of progressively 'grinding', clueless. damage-limitation-that-never-worked, borefest 'football ' under Hootun
Excellent post RER and I read the article earlier. I can foresee there will be few empty seats at CR if AN wants to play attacking football. If we could have put away a few more of the chances we've created, we'd be on at least 20 'goals for' I feel and above Spurs in the table. Against Wet Sham, we'd 16 shots on goal and 7 on target!!!!
Imagine if - god forbid, Mick McCarthy decided to try a similar tactic - the Portaloo would be rammed!
AN's take on Wet Sham's equalizer, and he's spot on! http://www.sportsmole.co.uk/footbal...49149.html#$$nve88x&&WcBBOmX1EeWZbAqZKrvslQ$$
All this talk about Martin being good/not good enough at set pieces and yet (Virtually) no mention of how Martin should have done far better for West Ham's first. He should have been clearing that ball or at least getting something on it. Don't see how he can be blamed for our set piece frailties other than as part of the whole. HE did fluff Ruddy's punch. He didn't go completely AWOL as Tettey. I'd say Set pieces has been our weakest area since Lambert left. We no longer have that real power in the air.
