Whitey Grandad

He couldn’t be that cynically calculating. Could he?

They weren’t allowed to have a shot. It meant losing possession.

And don’t allow opponents time and space to line up a shot.

I shouldn't need to explain this again. We are playing in a different league. One in which mistakes and defensive failings will get punished clinically. One that is played at a much higher tempo. Scoring goals is not as easy as it was last season. And he's up against more experienced coaches who are more tactically aware than him. Multiple substitutions when you're one-nil up? When I'm looking at Martin's defensive record I'm going back over his entire managerial history. His teams leak goals. We can't hold a coherent back line, we pack our own box at corners leaving no threats upfield, we allow the opposition wingers acres of space to exploit, in short we're a soft touch and other teams are picking their lips in anticipation of playing us. Last season we got lucky. I doubt that we shall this time.

Good morning Gio, It’s very early Saturday morning for me. An XG of 0.04 just shows how ridiculous Such statistics are. If XG were any use the actually goals and the expected goals should be a lot closer than they are. We’ve all seen the photos of our lack of cover at that corner. Was anyone surprised that they scored? Anyway, taken overall Ipswich had many good scoring opportunities and it was no surprise that they came away from that game with a draw. You have to look at the game as a whole. For me it’s not about the here and now at all. It’s about where we are going from here and at the moment I can only see one future for us. I have no faith or expectation that Martin knows how to defend at this level.

I’m not taking these five in isolation. I can see that we are a defensive shambles and I see no evidence historically or otherwise that Martin can ever improve that.

I think you’ll find that every losing team could say this. Even the top of the Championship is a long way from the bottom of the Premier League.

An unfortunate deflection? We were fortunate to get anything on that shot.

They don't score goals in this league though. How many times must it be repeated? Last season has no bearing on this.

Martin’s teams concede goals without even thinking about it. This is evident after several seasons and not just a few bad games. They have all been consistent in this and are not going to change no matter how long he stays here.

The problem with that game was not scoring. As it is with most of them. When you also leak goals and give away sitters the you’ve no hope..

You have not mentioned the absence of Stephens.

Is it described as ‘pre-used’ ?

He’s promising, but he can’t do it all on his own.

Possession doesn't lead to points unless you try to score.

Naive is a kind way of putting it. How about foolish, idiotic, pointless, stupid…

“and always keep a-hold of nurse for fear of finding something worse”

“last year” There you go again. PS. We are not aiming for promotion this year.

Even more annoying that many youngsters won’t see these examples as wrong.

Everybody back to defend corners with no one left upfield. The inability to hold a straight back line and play the opposition offside. These are basic failings at any level of football.

But he was crowded out of scoring. He needs help up there.

That’s an interesting point of view but it is not why I hate this brand of sleepball. I don’t hate it because it is different but because it is slow, tepid, boring, there are not enough adjectives to describe it. Football has been around long enough for every system under the sun to have been tried and discarded. Those that are left are the survivors. The reason that millions of supporters pay to watch it is for the passion and the hope of glory. To get the pulse racing it must be played at a high tempo but that alone is not enough. There must be some intent on scoring a goal. Otherwise where are the thrills?

I think it is...

Nor would I. I hate it myself. Death by boredom.

Statistics eh?