Dman

I'm not sure what your arguement is, if i'm honest. One one hand it sounds like you're agreeing he should be sacked and on the other you're saying (by suggesting we couldn't do better) we shouldn't? Keir Starmer, is that you?

Again, id strongly dissagree. Keeper is miles better, like beyond belief how much of an upgrade ramsdale is to Bazunu. Defence is on par. Quality wise, clearly Salisu is better than anything we have now, but he didn't want to be here and was half arsed. As is Tino, but he was injured. Midfield was arguably a fair bit stronger with JWP, Romeu, Lavia, Stu etc. who'd all walk into our side now but our current midfield is no way 'less than 12 points' kinda bad. I think its pretty much universally agreed that Fernandes is an upgrade on Alcaraz, who was seen as one of (if not the) best players in that side. Che was obviously a focal point that we miss, but besides that, we had Sulemana and Tall Paul - both still here and lets be honest, Che wasn't up to standard anyway.

hmmmm i'm not sure I agree with that arguement. We might, we might not - It could be an underwhelming name which turns out to be a brilliant appointment, it could be a big name who turns out to be a disaster. I do not agree that that there is not a single manager with a better pedigree looking to take a leap into the PL, than fucking Russel 'Mid-table' Martin. One thing I do know. We're on 1 point and on track to smash the record low number of points. we've hardly laid a glove on anyone this season and look way out of our depth, trying to play a way in which you need to be shit hot to succeed in. Burnely were a much better side than us and still went down with a wimper. Under Martin we have absolutely 0 chance of staying up. If we fail to win on saturday (likley) he has a worse record in the PL than Nathan Jones.... I mean let that sink in and then suggest again that we can't get someone better in.

You could put 90 - 100% of current PL managers into that City hotseat and they'd likley finish there or thereabouts.

Does this not highlight the problem and exact reason why he has to go sooner rather than later. For us to stay up, we need to be hard to beat, if we dont win, don't lose mentality. We are probably the easiest side to play against the leauge has ever seen. You're guarenteed at least 1 golden opportunity that we will gift you.

He has no track record of being anything other than remotely average everywhere he's been. Promotion last season was an anomaly. He had the better of Farke last season so credit where its due for that but other than that, we beat everyone we should have beat.

They all loved Adkins then Poch came in and they loved Poch even more. Will they love Martin when they're plastered in history as being a side who didn't get 12 points.

Didn't this happen with Ralph / Jones? we tried to get him in the summer, he said no, came in 6 months later and was a disaster...

Would a draw be the best result here? Not enough to keep RM in the job (hopefully), doesn't let leicester pull away and will give the new man city as a free hit before we come to play back to back must wins in Everton and Wolves.

Probably, Micky boy is a known serial accounter having been banned under a number of previous accounts. Odd character, seems to follow a few about... needs to get outside a bit more imo.

you've gone all MLG. I dont like it.

really? 😂

Is our squad even that bad? Ramsdale - top 6 keeper, ridiculously lucky to have him. KWP / Suga - Both solid options at RB for a PL side outside the top 6. THB, Bednerak, Stephens - Yeah, not good enough. All are back ups (at best) at most PL sides. Taylor - Hmmm no thrills, 6or7/10 player. Would be a decent option for most promoted sides. Downes / Big Les - Both PL players, get into most bottom half sides as starters or regular squad options. Fernandes - Early doors, looks like hes going to be a player, defo gets into most bottom half prem sides. Lallana - incredibly, still a PL player for me. would get into most bottom half sides. Aribo - championship player Dibbling - Looks the real deal. On current form, would get into any PL side. Archer - Championship player. Stewart - Championship player Fraser - Championship player Armstrong - Championship player BBD - Championship player Then you have options not considered under the current management for 1 reason or another; Tall Paul - Hard to judge, scored whereever he's been. Under the right manager, could easily be a PL player. No worse than any of the other options. Sulemana - Again, not really seen enough to judge him. Been dissapointing but never had a real run. Doesn't suit the current system, under a new manager, could easily flourish. ABK - PL player. Shite attitude. So other than the CB's and attacking line, I'd argue we've got a more than strong enough squad to stay up (or at least give a good go) under the right management. If someone can get a tune out of ABK, TP and Sulemana - that's a side which is more than capable of staying up... imo.

I can't see him leaving the dutch national team for us but that's a man who'd get a tune out of Sulemana and TP, I'm absoultely sure of it.

I could give you a whole host of names I think would be interested - but its a pointless exercise as; 1. I'm not paid by the club to identify targets for that exact situation 2. I'm not the one having discussions, offering salaries, selling the club to agents / managers. Here's a list of managers currently out of contract, are you seriously sayin that on this list there isn't 1 who is better for the club (more likley to keep us up) and would be intersted in a foot in the door to the PL..? https://www.transfermarkt.co.uk/trainer/verfuegbaretrainer/statistik Its the job of those who fit criteria number 1. to find the right man and for criteria number 2. to sell them the project. If you want names, Potter would be the obvious one high up the list. Low as a left field choice. Ambitious shout, someone like Sarri who'd fit the profile / style that the club seemingly want to play. That's without even considering someone in europe that's in management already.

We went from Hughes -> Ralph, which was a huge upgrade. Bournemouth have recently employed a better coach than they had. I don't buy this "we can't do better than a failing manager" nonsense and never have. If we do actively employ someone better is a different arguement, but there are plently out there who'd be interested in a steppong stone into the PL and improve us instantly.

Errrr I dunno m8, probably something to do with the fact we have 1 point after 6 games and look destined to smash the record low points total.

agree - I wanted Vieria as well. Probably missed the boat on that one somewhat, not sure his record has been great post Palace.

That's it though, right? We wanted Meresca (i've no doubt about that), he dind't fancy us so we saw Martin as the second (maybe 3rd, 4th, 5th) best choice?

Was Martin a SR choice or a Willocx choice? imo I think it was probably the latter...

Yep. If we fail to get anything at Bournemouth, give the new man a free hit at Arsenal and go to leicester with a realstic chance of picking up 3 points. Still believe under Martin in chagre, we'll fail to make the 12 point mark.

In fairness, I think he'll be a decent player. The step up from L1 to Prem (as shown by Bazunu) is just too great - especially for a team who are struggling. He'll beneift greatly when we're in the championship next season imo.

The only one I've been surprised with not being able to step up is THB. The rest, it was absolutely obvious wouldn't be good enough at this level. I actually find it pretty comical that we allowed MArtin to have a say on signing Wood. A bang average championship player was never going to be good enough to step up. It might only have been 4m, but that's 4m we could have put towards a number 9 (on top of what we paid for Archer). I'll give the board benefit of the doubt over BBD, he had a decent enough go at it last season.

TBH, I think he'll be here for the next 5 or 6, which are going to be piviotal to our survial chances this season. Bmouth, Arsenal, Leciester, City, Everton, Wolves. If hes still here come Wolves 9th Novemeber, we'd have either won a couple or that will be his last game. We have to be picking 7 or 8 points minimum from that lot (I don't think we will), or theres a chance we'll be down by Christmas.

So a bit like Martin then, just with a better track record and the possibility of keeping us up.