In Martinland "The right character and attitude" = Unquestioning Compliance (to a football system as flawed as it is dated)
- Unquestioning compliance to their football system is what every manager wants. Martin is not any different.
- Not all of the Martin's football is flowed and dated. Agreed that some of it is.
- Passing football is not outdated, Martin's implementation is. Take any top European football league and you'll see the same stats everywhere. The top ten in the passing stats table are the top ten in the league table. The bottom ten in the passing stats table are the bottom ten in the league table. Though, there are some exeptions that prove the rule. Swansea (bottom half with the best passing stats), Blackburn and Millwall (top half with poor passing stats) in the Championship, and the Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise (poor passing stats and top of the league).
He apes the outline of 2011-era possession football to the point of parody
- Yes, some of his football is naive, boring and parodic. But some of it is excellent.
Acknowledging that one of Rodgers' biggest assets is his man management and ability to get the best out of anybody, Martin is the anti-Rodgers.
- Nobody can get the best out of anybody, not even Rodgers.
- Martin has got the best out of Piroe, Downes, Obafemi, Paterson, Naughton and Grimes. Cabango, Wolf, Laird, Manning, and Christie are worth mentioning. Smith and Latibeaudiere have not been poor either.
- Yes, he's failed to get the best out of Fulton, Dhanda, B. Cooper, Benda, Cullen and Whittaker, but it's not like his man-management has been a total crap. Let's not exaggerate.
You can see which players he had personality clashes with early on - they're the ones that suddenly couldn't get a game despite being either proven performers under Cooper (Bidwell, Fulton), high potential players based on stats (Dhanda, Cullen) or guys with a bit of spirit and leadership and an awesome second-half against Cardiff that time (Whittaker).
- Bidwell doesn't fit into a team that plays passing football. He is hopelessly left-footed. Martin requires a broader range of passing than Bidwell can provide. Last season Bidwell's pass accuracy under Martin was 77%, and at Coventry (also a passing team) 67%. Manning's pass accuracy was 82.8%.
- Bidwell's stats from 2020/21 season (1 goal and 8 assists) is exception that proves the rule. Bidwell has averaged 4 assists per season throughout his career, and in his first season under Steve Cooper he scored 0 goals and had 3 assists. Hardly a "proven performer". Last season he played both for us (2 goals and 1 assist) and for Coventry (0 goals and 0 assists). All in all, he played approx. 2700 minutes of football last season, scored 2 goals and had 1 assist. Again, hardly a "proven performer".
- Last season Ryan Manning played 3100 minutes of football, scored 2 goals and had 4 assists. Ryan Manning also had an 'exceptional' season in 2019/20 when he scored 4 goals and had 7 assists for QPR. Both Bidwell and Manning are ok wing-backs, but neither of them is something special.
- With other words, I can understand why Martin has kept Manning and got rid of Bidwell.
- Fulton is a good defensive/central midfielder, but again, Grimes and Downes have been excellent last season, so I understand why Martin used them and not Fulton. Could Martin have used Fulton in other positions? Sure he could and should instead of Smith and Ntcham.
- I agree that Dhanda, Cullen and Whittaker could and should've been used more last season. Dhanda could've been used when Paterson went on strike, or as a left wing-back, Cullen instead of Ntcham, or as a sub for either Obi or Piroe, and Whittaker on the right wing-back.
Here's a question - if you replaced Martin last season with any other Championship manager, how many of them finish lower than 15th with this exact squad?
Not many, if any.
10 bucks says a team made up of the players Martin has marginalised and/or pushed out of the club could beat the current first 11 at least half the time (Benda, B Cooper, R Williams, Burns, Bidwell, Garrick, Fulton, D Williams, Dhanda, Cullen, Whittaker).
You are exaggerating, but I understand what you want to say.
Ironically, I would argue that anyone who disagreed with Martin to the point of getting shipped out on loan (Whittaker) IS showing character.
I don't know what you mean by "anyone who disagreed with Martin to the point of getting shipped out on loan"?
Disagreed about what? Are you implaying Whittaker was shipped out on loan because he disagreed with Martin about the style of play? Or because Whittaker thought he was better than Piroe, Obafemi, Paterson and Ntcham, so he deserved to be a regular in the starting XI?