Benda to Peterborough

[Yankee_Jack]

Benda has been loaned to Peterborough ... will this come back to bite us in the arse.

We spend money to bring in this guy from MK Dons. We don't give Benda a chance past the first few matches of the season when Martin was bleating that his squad were not fit for purpose. But, now we ship Benda to a relegation rival. No doubt he will start there and I'll bet dollars to donuts that he'll make a big difference for them.

And we are in a relegation battle, look at the table, our performance and Martin's performance. We once had a player called Clueless .... we now have a manager by the same moniker.

 

[CroJack]

We should have sent Hamer out on loan, not Benda. Anyway, good luck to Benda.

And we are in a relegation battle, look at the table, our performance and Martin's performance.

The results and performances have not been good lately, but we are not in a relegation battle.

The table shows that we are 8 points clear and we have 1, 2 and 3 games in hand over the bottom three clubs. Also, we have 1 and 2 games in hand over the four clubs bellow us in the league table.

We once had a player called Clueless .... we now have a manager by the same moniker.

Let's wait a little bit more. I still have mixed feeling about Martin and can't write him off yet. Some of our football under him has been excellent, personal mistakes and lack of concentration at the back have cost us too many points, we have been wasteful up front, some of our players are simply not good enough and have to be replaced...

Saying all that, I agree Martin has to take his share of blame for some of the results.

- He insists on playing high back line with players who lack pace. That's suicidal, and it have cost us points.

- Cullen, Whittaker, Benda, Fulton and Brandon Cooper should have played more. I know that would require a switch to other formations, but imho it would be worth it. So, more flexibility when it comes to formations is needed.

- It's managers duty to correct some poor attacking habits that inevitably lead to impotence up front. Martin has a video analyst, and better tools than I have, so he should be able to see what's wrong. And here is what's wrong.

Ntcham and Paterson often play too wide,
and when they play centrally they tend to pass the ball to our wing-backs
instead of directly attacking the opposition box. These examples are from the first half of the Forest game, but
that's a pattern which you can find in any of our games.











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[CroJack]

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[CroJack]

1. We deserved 1 point from the Reading game. We lost it.
2. We deserved 3 points from the Middlesbrough game. We lost it.
3. We totally outplayed Forest in the first half, and should've been 1 or 2 goals up at half time (Ntcham missed an excellent chance, and Piroe missed an open goal). Anyway, we created enough chances to score four goals and earn 1 point, but we didn't.

Wastefulness up front, poor goalkeeping and defending. These highlights are worth watching one more time.

Remember Hull game and 16 to 4 shots in our favour? We should have won it.

Remember Millwall game? Ntcham, Paterson and Obafemi missed sitters. Should have won it.

Derby game? Bidwell and Cullen missed sitters.

Three draws, should have won them all. That's 6 more points.

So, let's put things into the right perspective.

Our wastefulness in front of goal have cost us at least 10 points. We would be 8th in the table now and have 37 points with 4 games in hand over Huddersfield in 6th who have 40 points, and we would be 5 points behind and have 3 games in hand over WBA who are 4th in the league table.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Waste not, want not. Come the end of the season, would have, could have, should have, don't count for shit.

We are too tediously slow, much too often, and absolutely refuse (it seems) to cross the ball.

By refusing to utilize players like Whitaker, Bidwell, Fulton and Benda, he's sending a message that lack of focus is acceptable and WTFs are tolerated by his regulars. Can't have this! Simple example is Fulton, there is absolutely nothing that the likes of Smith do that Fulton can't do just as well if not better and given half a chance in the box Fulton finishes - he scored some terrific goals last season. Yet Fulton is sitting in the stands on match days ... such a waste. Martin is not creating a sense of competition within the squad.

Relegation will be the watch word come April. It sure as hell isn't going to be promotion.

 

[The Blobster]

Cullen looks to be off to Lincoln on loan to join up with Whitaker , whilst Cullen needs games to improve his sharpness this leaves us with only 2 recognised strikers in Piroe and Obafemi, madness if we fail to bring someone else in .

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Further to my last post is this glaring failure … if Martin’s system is so fucking complicated or structured so badly that only a few players (he thinks) are worthy or capable of playing it … then he’s failed. A system has to be adaptable and flexible so that everybody in the squad can step up, step in, and assume a role as and when required … rotation, injuries, suspensions, poor performance … all these drive player change and utilization. It takes time and money to dispose and acquire the players to fit such an ill-designed and rigid system … and then what are we left with when Martin leaves

If Fulton sits in the stands because he is deemed too square a peg to fit into Martin’s perception of round holes then that is not a failure of Fulton, it is an indictment of Martin. Fulton is not lacking technical ability. He is not lacking experience (one of the few players in the squad with bona fides in the Prem). He cannot be lacking fitness and if so that’s a staff failure not Fulton’s. None of the starting favorites have stepped up and commanded selection (Grimes excepted),

The beauty of what Martínez put in place was that it could be inherited and used by each successive manager with minimal friction and and adjustment. It gave each manager the opportunity to add their own embellishment, to fine tune and most importantly to fully utilize their squads.

Martin is at risk of turning into a self-made disaster. No successor is going to keep Martin’s system as it is, which is going to cause us future disruption and delay and cost. He needs to adapt and fix it as soon as possible. Martin needs to be working for our longer term benefit not his short term self-engrandisement.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Further to my last paragraph .... the only thing that is absolutely guaranteed at this point in time is that in 2 years, 3 years tops, Martin is gone. What will we have then.

Executive leadership and whoever the hell is in the technical director role needs to reassess the situation, open their blue print (god ... do they even have one), and restate the long term strategy that Martin needs to adhere to. If nothing else Martin cannot be implementing is favorite system du jour. He has to be implementing a system that can support the long term operation of the club on the field and down through the unders into the academy. A system all coaches and players at the club can adopt, play and be successful with. A system his successor is not going walk in through the door and go WTF. KAL is already on the record as stating that he's having a challenge implementing Martin's system in the U-23 because he just doesn't have enough "round pegs" and the players he has (after years of developing in the academy under one system) are now having to be reprogrammed to play Martin's system. It's a totally anal strategy for the both the short and long term at every technical level within the club. It makes any player we develop of limited value to other clubs .... and we are nothing if not a selling club these days.

And, if Martin doesn't want to get with the program .... now is the time to let him go. Much better sooner than later while we still have players that can play a "non-Martin" system. We were hoping for a return to a better version of ourselves ... not some bizarro expression of what's bouncing around inside Martin's head. And let's face it, if there's one take away from the Forest and Soton post-match interviews ... Martin is appearing bereft of understanding, explanations and answers.

Rant over

 

[Jackflash]

Further to my last post is this glaring failure … if Martin’s system is so fucking complicated or structured so badly that only a few players (he thinks) are worthy or capable of playing it … then he’s failed. A system has to be adaptable and flexible so that everybody in the squad can step up, step in, and assume a role as and when required … rotation, injuries, suspensions, poor performance … all these drive player change and utilization. It takes time and money to dispose and acquire the players to fit such an ill-designed and rigid system … and then what are we left with when Martin leaves

If Fulton sits in the stands because he is deemed too square a peg to fit into Martin’s perception of round holes then that is not a failure of Fulton, it is an indictment of Martin. Fulton is not lacking technical ability. He is not lacking experience (one of the few players in the squad with bona fides in the Prem). He cannot be lacking fitness and if so that’s a staff failure not Fulton’s. None of the starting favorites have stepped up and commanded selection (Grimes excepted),

The beauty of what Martínez put in place was that it could be inherited and used by each successive manager with minimal friction and and adjustment. It gave each manager the opportunity to add their own embellishment, to fine tune and most importantly to fully utilize their squads.

Martin is at risk of turning into a self-made disaster. No successor is going to keep Martin’s system as it is, which is going to cause us future disruption and delay and cost. He needs to adapt and fix it as soon as possible. Martin needs to be working for our longer term benefit not his short term self-engrandisement.

As I've said previously, what can you expect from someone who has done nothing more than managed a Div.1 club for a little over 18 months, and not with any visible progress.
Alan Tate opined his passing style would be good for the club, I took that with a pinch of salt because he also opined and backed that Monk would make a better manager than Laudrup, I've yet to learn what of Martins credentials tempted the board to employ him, if he has any then they've failed miserably to come to light with us. He seems out of his depth even at this level of football.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

In many respects a replay of Andy Pandy .... except Andy Pandy didn't have delusion bouncing around in his head ... and he went for quality loans from the Prem versus Martin's acquiring lower league players and retreads that other clubs threw out.

 

[ivoralljack]

As I've previously posted, Martin has really started to worry me. He's about to bomb Fulton out of the club permanently and in doing so leaves us with a milksop midfield that gets outmuscled every time they play. Then there's Cullen.........

Apologies for bringing it up again but why does Martin think his opinion outweighs those of Lee Trundle; Alan Curtis; Cameron Toshack; KOL and Leon Britton? Then we have Mr Cowley of Portsmouth singing his praises in the media this week plus this from WOL today:


Lincoln City boss Michael Appleton has all but confirmed Swansea City striker Liam Cullen's loan move to the Imps.

The League One side - who already have Morgan Whittaker among their ranks after signing him earlier this month - are inching closer to getting a deal over the line for Wales youngster Cullen.

Appleton outlined why they are so keen on the forward following their 3-1 win over Sunderland last night.

“He’s bundle of energy, he’s like a Duracell battery," he told our colleagues at LincolnshireLive.

“One, he’s good with his back to goal. Two, he comes alive in the box which is going to be important. He can play in numerous positions, either side [of the front three] but we want to get him centrally as much as we can.

“He’s an infectious character, I think the fans will love his personality.

“He’s everything you’d want in a striker.”

Says it all does it not? "He comes alive in the box."

".....but we want to get him centrally as much as we can."

But Russell Martin can't even see it. Either Cullen doesn't play at all, or usually gets a few minutes cameo at the end. And when Martin DOES play him, it's out of position usually on the flank. Mr Martin, please do try and get it into your skull that LIAM CULLEN IS A NATURAL PENALTY AREA POACHER and needed games IN THAT POSITION to find his rhythm and develop an understanding with his team mates - Piroe in particular.

Martin's totally blinkered view is depriving us of a player that could be of huge value to us IF HANDLED PROPERLY. We will now be left with just Piroe (who's doing fine) and Obafemi who's shown very little so far. I'm afraid that Russell Martin's lack of experience is costing us dear. Just how much will become evident by the end of the season.

 

[Yankee_Jack]

Appleton is almost wetting himself with delight over getting Cullen and Whitaker ... WTF are we doing.

It needs to end now.