revolution saint

Just had a look at some highlights of Boro games. Woeful finishing, dodgy keeper and both fullbacks vulnerable in one on one situations. This really shouldn't be a difficult game.

Fans absolutely weren't against him from the start. Look back at the Sheffield Wednesday reactions or the reactions after the Norwich game. It's a myth.

Yes, I've heard everything Wilcox has said thanks. It's not a lack of understanding, it's that I think he's probably picked the wrong man and the way that the style is being implemented has definitely been wrong. You seem to be buying into this narrative that it takes time but has to be implemented in full right at the start or it doesn't work. I don't subscribe to that. Martin will disagree but you absolutely can implement a style over time, you absolutely can see what players are capable of (and not capable of) and if it isn't working, then you shelve it until such time as you think it you can make it work.

We haven't spent the last 5/6 years booing managers. That's revisionist bollocks. I think if you ask most fans they didn't ask for a style and identity - they expect to win and, let's be honest, a decent manager gets a better tune out of the players than Russell Martin is currently doing. We've never looked comfortable at any time under pressure, we've shipped more goals than anyone else, KWP looks lost as an inverted fullback, virtually every single goal has been self inflicted and we're not creating much in the way of chances or scoring much either. If he hasn't cracked it by now then he probably won't get much of a chance - he's had an entire pre-season and now we're into two games a week his opportunities for coaching are limited. I'm not criticising possession football and I appreciate you want to like the way he hopes we'll play, but I've got serious doubts over his ability to deliver it.

OK, cheers. Seems like the braver they get, the more shit they get.

Well that's interesting because it could be any of those things you suggest (or none of them) so it's not pretty obvious, is it? it's just your interpretation which is all well and good but it may not be that of Martin. As for the part I've highlighted - you don't tell players to have a determined and positive mindset (or be brave), you have to create the environment for them to do so. It's like telling a manic depressive to cheer up.

This won't be popular but the fetishisation of food. Taking photos of your food, making a big deal out of something relatively common place just because it comes from some far flung part of the world, endless cookery programmes, Jamie Fucking Oliver. Most of all, the absolute pretentiousness of anything connected with food these days.

Has anyone asked him what "being brave" actually means? Just sounds like one of those bullshit management phrases used to avoid talking about anything meaningful.

I’m going 0 - 0. Two teams go head to head in the being brave stakes to see who can pass the ball between their backline the longest. Purists will love it, fans not so much.

Think a lot depends on who else is playing in midfield but personally think we have better options available before we start talking about Aribo playing there. Only time I'd be using Aribo is as a hail mary substitute.

Agree. The squad is a decent one for this division and if they look bad now, it's because they're being misused and suffering a lack of confidence due to the manager. KWP should be ripping his opposing fullback apart but he's stuck playing in midfield, Charley can't even make the first 11 and yet Aribo starts in front of him. I don't even think Smallbone is a bad player but it's patently obvious he's not a defensive midfielder. Any decent manager looks at what he's got and works out a formation from there, playing the best players in their best positions. RM looks like a slave to a formation and system only he really understands (and I'm beginning to doubt that).

Haven't seen the interviews but he's basically David Brent, isn't he?

That starting line up is the first time I’ve seen a last throw of the dice selection start a game. Utterly bizarre and if Ipswich had watched the Sunderland and Leicester games they’d have been out of sight by half time. We’re getting worse, not better.

Good read, particularly with regards to the fullbacks.

I'll go stupidly optimistic and go for a 3-2 win. If Bednarek is back and Charles moves into midfield then it might make a difference.

Fuck me, you had to use AI for that? You must be thick.

Really sorry to hear that Whitey, not much I can say except best wishes to you and your family.

I’m still pissed off the BBC got rid of Outside Source. Loved that and Ros Atkins was really good. Since it’s rebrand and merger BBC news has really gone downhill and Newsnight is mostly shite as well.

Cheers, that’s a pretty low bar for a team expecting to be in the mix for promotion or play offs. Extrapolate that out over a season and you need to go down to 13th before you get to a side that has lost more than they’ve won. And that seems to be Martin’s level, mid table. So despite having better resources you don’t think he should be judged unless he does worse than he did at Swansea. Good to know, and obviously if he does do worse, it’s probably the fans fault. Nice.

That’s a really fine distinction that doesn’t need “horseshit” prefixing it. You’re basically saying the same thing

Yep, fucking loving it. Queue to get out last night was well easy. That was always the worst thing about going to games and boy did I complain about it to the club. Anyway, hats off - they've only gone and fucking sorted it.

Out of interest, when is the best time to judge?

Spot on. I feel completely to blame for what happened last night and take full responsibility. I didn't go to the Sunderland match but did get a bit frustrated and shouted at the TV so, again, sorry lads.

Not calling for his head yet but I expect him to start changing things pretty quickly. I've not seen the post match interviews - just the quotes on here but he should be taking full responsibility and definitely shouldn't be happy with either that performance or the number of goals we've let in over the season so far. He absolutely needs to fix that and that means none of this inverted fullback rubbish and none of this pathetic passing around the back to invite pressure until we're actually good enough to do it. We can still play a possession based game and I've no problem with that but it doesn't have to be with this structure and this formation. The squad we have is comfortably one of the best in the division. We shouldn't be conceding this number of goals and he needs to be pragmatic and deal with it. If he thinks this is just one big experiment to highlight how much he thinks out of the box then he can do one and manage a mythological club in a mythological division where results don't count.

How do you score goals out of order?