OH WHEN THE SAINTS

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
If we don’t recover and win this, looking doubtful, Martin’s mission is not to get us relegated. He’s not inspiring my confidence.
I've lost all confidence in Martin. He knows what he wants to coach but he's obviously not capable of it. For the most part our players are shit; they're not even fit enough to do their jobs. Williams can piss off back to Liverpool (whoever thought he was a footballer?).

Martin's team selection is ridiculous and the deadwood needs booting out asap - Williams, Bennet, Walsh, Dhanda, Hamer plus a couple of others. And whoever is left NEED TO PLAY IN THEIR PROPER POSITIONS. If Soton had kept 11 men on the pitch I dread to think what the score would have been. We are light years from the PL and looking more like relegation candidates with every game.

Given that we were playing 10 men that was a disgusting performance. We WALKED through that game; our movement was non-existent and we totally failed to stretch them. They ALLOWED us possession because they could see we were doing bugger all with it - didn't have a clue how to use the man advantage. We have no pace in the team, no idea of attacking football, no flair and much of the time don't even do the basics properly.

I think we could be in a relegation battle this season and would swap Martin for Cameron Toshack in a heartbeat.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
From what I saw of the second half (when I wasn't so bored I was distracted with something else), Fulton looked the part. I don't see why Smith and not Fulton - every touch was pretty much spot on.
 

Yankee_Jack

Key Player
He talks like somebody that is under the influence of some mind dulling substance. In short, he's stunned and has no fucking clue: what, why, how.

He started Walsh ahead of a now seasoned pro in Fulton. And frankly, Dhanda could have offered more than Walsh. Remember ... it's been such a long time ... Dhanda actually likes to carry the ball and attack from midfield and take players on ... what a novel idea.

He removed the spine of our defense - Cooper - for Oli and dropped Downes back.

He had our two full backs (Naughton/Manning ... apologies to full backs everywhere by naming Manning) playing so high and inside/narrow that we played with no WIDTH whatsoever.

We relied on Obafuckup and Cullen to provide width early on .... wingers they are not. Then Dhanda and Oli ... wingers they are not. More square pegs in round holes. And did we cross for Piroe .... nope. We played exactly the way Soton wanted us to play ... down the middle into a wall of well schooled Prem quality defenders.

He substituted Dhanda for Cullen. Took off a goal scorer forward playing out of position on the wing for a midfielder who is also not a winger.

Basically, Martin threw every fundamental of playing taught in introduction to coaching football out of the window in this game an expected to win.

Can we please end the experiment of Manning as LB, LWB, whatever the hell he actually plays.

Now that Laird has left ... Martin has no option other than play Naughton as RB/RWB ... surely not even Martin can fuck this up.

I was highly optimistic when Martin arrived in place of Andy Pandy ... how much worse could it actually get ... well, now Martin is tasked with not getting us relegated ... I'm not optimistic that is possible. Unless Martin swallows his pride and plays round pegs in round holes ... we're doomed. I don't see us scoring much, which translates into not winning much. And with Hamer in goal, I think our goals against is going to continue to grow.
Martin couldn't even give Benda a start today. What has Benda done that basically renders him an ornament. Why does Martin show him such contempt.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
He substituted Dhanda for Cullen. Took off a goal scorer forward playing out of position on the wing for a midfielder who is also not a winger.
If I were Cullen, I'd be in Martin's office first thing Monday morning, banging his desk, demanding a move to a club that has a manager who knows what he's doing!! I believe that Cowley at Portsmouth really rates Cullen and will play him....... if he can get him.

As for Fulton and Benda, words just fail me.......
 

CroJack

Key Player
Once again we were impotent up front and generous at the back.

Pirou had two clear-cut chances, a one-on-one and a header from 6 yards. Ntcham had a good chance as well from a rebound after Dhanda's shot. Such chances have to be converted into goals. So, we created 5-6 really good chances, which was enough to win the game, but our sloppiness in the midfield and poor defending gifted the goals and the game on the plate to Soton.

What to do? Well, we have to buy some defenders who can defend. We simply can't continue conceding soft goals.
 
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ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
I see that Cardiff are in the next round courtesy of a referee who denied Preston a late nailed-on penalty, which both S4C comms agreed was a pen. Rarely do we get such luck; but then we don't deserve it. Had we won yesterday, we'd have had another home tie against Coventry with a great chance of a money earning game in the later rounds.

BUT we failed to beat a team shorn of a player for some 90 minutes and blew it. Didn't deserve it with a display that was inept, lazy, thoughtless and downright unprofessional for the most part. I think next game up is in-form Huddersfield and a likely loss, which will make it five (?) on the bounce. Lose that and Martin can start thinking about his next job. Right now I won't be crying about that prospect because my blood curdles every time I watch us play these days.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
I see that Cardiff are in the next round courtesy of a referee who denied Preston a late nailed-on penalty, which both S4C comms agreed was a pen. Rarely do we get such luck; but then we don't deserve it. Had we won yesterday, we'd have had another home tie against Coventry with a great chance of a money earning game in the later rounds.

BUT we failed to beat a team shorn of a player for some 90 minutes and blew it. Didn't deserve it with a display that was inept, lazy, thoughtless and downright unprofessional for the most part. I think next game up is in-form Huddersfield and a likely loss, which will make it five (?) on the bounce. Lose that and Martin can start thinking about his next job. Right now I won't be crying about that prospect because my blood curdles every time I watch us play these days.
I think he should be gone now, It's one thing to lose a cup game, Although it should never have happened, but we certainly cant afford to be losing league games on the bounce, with all the training time made available to him due to covid there doesn't appear to be one iota of improvement, less if anything. Why we ever employed him is a mystery to me, all he had in his favour was possession stats, but no goals. Even the Dons are showing some improvement since his departure. I say get him and whoever he brought with him out, before its too late, they've had their chance.
With no disrespects to the two Dons players that may join us, but it shows the inexperience he has in management, the only players he's conversant with are the MKD squad, all lower league players.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
On cup games I see that Forest are holding their own against Arsenal (who have 11 players on the pitch) and the comms are praising Cooper to the skies. One closeup of Cooper showed him yelling and bawling on the touchline. There was more animation in that one shot than he showed in two seasons with us. :rolleyes: :unsure:
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
On cup games I see that Forest are holding their own against Arsenal (who have 11 players on the pitch) and the comms are praising Cooper to the skies. One closeup of Cooper showed him yelling and bawling on the touchline. There was more animation in that one shot than he showed in two seasons with us. :rolleyes: :unsure:
75 Mins played and Arsenal not had a shot on target yet.
 

ivoralljack

Grizzled Veteran
Staff member
And Cooper's Forest go through and Arsenal had 11 players on the pitch for the whole game. Think Mr Martin had better sit down with his coaches and reassess what he's doing with us because whatever he's doing right now isn't working.
 

Jackflash

Midfield General
Staff member
Martins after match comments said we played with intensity . What the fuck is he watching ? All I saw was a team strolling through the game , no pace or precision, no passion and very little ability .
Yes, I watched his 10 minute post match interview on the swans site, 10 minutes of shoulder shrugging garbage. Actually saying having not played for four weeks they were tired. trying hard to give the impression everything was everyone else's fault except his.
 

CroJack

Key Player
Since when has Cooper's ball become the greatest thing since sliced bread? Please, give me a break. Cooper hasn't changed. And Forest lost their last two Championship games, so everything is not so rosy over there.

All Nottingham Forest stats are average, and in half of their games under Cooper they have been lucky, which can't be said about us. The latest episode was against Hull when they were awarded a penalty for a non-existent foul in the Hull's box. Instead of drawing that game, Forest won it 2:1. Two undeserved points. Remind me, how many penalties have we been awarded this season? None.

With three games less than Forest, we have scored one more goal from open play. We average more shots on target per game, 3.8 to 3.4. They also concede more shots per game than we do. Whay does it mean? Their strikers are more clinical, and they defend better than we do. Not a huge surprise.

They are also better than us at set-pieces, both for and against. We have conceded 7 goals from set-pieces, Forest 4. They have scored 5 goals from set-pieces and 3 from the penalty spot, Swansea 0. And they are much better than us at blocking shots and crosses.

With other words, we have to fix our defence and sign some defenders who have pace and can actually defend. Oh, yes, and a goalkeeper.
 
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