Midfield_General

"Martin, get tae fuck Martin, Martin get tae fuck" Rings out around Ibrox from the few home fans who are still there

Both sacked on Monday Martin to Sheffield United Sheffield United relegated

Pen Hearts. 2-0. Game over. Ibrox empties on 83 minutes.

A full pre-season A two-horse league A bigger budget than every other team in it bar one 14 new players brought in And they are still absolute dogshit 🤣 Yet to win a domestic game after four matches and losing at home in the fifth. As it stands, they are ninth in said two-horse race, and if Aberdeen can score then they could drop into the relegation places. It's extraordinary. Who or what can he blame this time?

0-1 at home to Hearts Getting serious stick from the home crowd

Another clueless philosophy manager making his players look stupid by forcing them to play suicidal football. Hope they stick with him.

Sam Allardyce goes in two-footed on Rusty during his time with us: "I'm watching this thinking, I can't believe what you're doing." "(Martin) is coaching his players to fail"

If £3m is right then that could prove to be a superb bit of business

👆 This is an important word in this context

Now he's not playing for us anymore, I actually feel really sorry for him at this point. His confidence is clearly shot to absolute pieces. Just horrible to watch. Why on earth are Chile picking him though? He's been abysmal for at getting on for three years. Surely they can do better than that?

There's a reason he's still working for the same tiny, shit local newspaper after 25 years.

I think you're right, that's the team that will start. Personally I'd swap Baz for Macca as suggested above but I don't think we will. That's a strong line-up though, and then we have the options to unleash J-Rob, Scienza, Matsuki, Jander, Roscoe off the bench as required. If we concentrate at the back and don't do anything silly then that should be more than enough to do them at home.

Elly vs. Welly for the left back slot then when everyone's fit

Things we learned from the press conference: Will Still calls Ross Stewart 'Roscoe'. Now 'Breezy' has moved on, who have we got left whose nickname (the one they actually get called by the staff, none of this Loch Ness Drogba nonsense) is known? I know Martin had one for everyone, but Still seems more selective on whom he bestows the honour. Arma, Macca, Wee Man, Welly are definites. There was a Longy in there yesterday for George Long, and I think I've heard a Ryno/Rhino for Manning and a Stevo for Stephens before but these rumours are unconfirmed at this stage. Any others? I think it's important.

That’s disingenuous. He was at pains to stress how much the game meant to the fans and everyone at the club and talked about how they have even had club legends coming in this week to drill it home even further to all the new recruits, of which there are a lot. It’s obvious they all know how much it means and know how important it is to win on Sunday.

Also, to the point about the kid being nearby, what sort of prick not only gets dressed up in full Skate regalia and goes to a game in Southampton a week before the derby when emotions are going to be at their highest, but also knowingly puts a kid in danger by bringing them with them while they do it? That is on him. He and the dickheads he was with knew exactly what they were doing. They took a kid with them while they went looking for trouble, and found it. They should probably think themselves lucky that the worst they got was just a little splash from a plastic cup and being filmed shitting themselves, to be honest.

I think in a weird way it's actually helped him that Saka, Palmer, Bellingham and Stones (and Foden?) are injured, as it's allowed him to explore different options in those positions without causing a furore about dropping 'star names' who may otherwise be considered undroppable. I don't think it's a coincidence that the team looked much more like a team without some of those. Bellingham in particular, while obviously a world class talent, sounds like he might need to have his ego kept in check. His dad certainly sounds like a whopper who is rubbing some members of the squad up the wrong way. It will be very interesting to see whether they all go straight back into the side when they're all fit, and if so, whether we look as good when they all play instead of the less starry names from last night who were apparently more able to play as a team.

Actually looked like a team rather than a collection of individuals. Everyone working for each other and knowing their jobs. Round pegs in round holes. And Reece James is twice the defender 'Trent' is.

Best England performance in literally years

He’s been spotted

Yep, that will do for me. Jander, Matsuki, Scienza, Robinson, Stewart as options off the bench.

Semmens is on the radio now and has just gone on the record saying that under his watch the pitch to players Saints were trying to buy was literally 'Come to us, and we'll develop you and then sell you to a top club'. His exact words. Also said that he regrets not letting Van Dijk go as soon as he said he wanted to leave, as he'd been signed on this promise, and looking back finds it 'embarrassing' that the club dragged it out as long as they did, even after it became apparent he'd been seen being shown round the Liverpool training ground by Klopp. I know we're all aware that Saints pitch themselves as a stepping stone, and that history has shown that we are a selling club that has no intention of ever trying to hold onto valuable assets, but it's still slightly odd hearing it in such stark terms from someone who has run the club.

For anyone on a Mac* but missing their old Spectrum, here you go... Emlyn Hughes International Soccer: https://torinak.com/qaop/play/intsoccer Match Day: https://torinak.com/qaop/play/matchday Match Day 2: https://torinak.com/qaop/play/matchday2 The original Football Manager: https://torinak.com/qaop/play/manager (* Not sure if they also work on a PC, haven't tried them)

I'd be amazed if Azaz doesn't start

6.5 for me. The clear-out has been nothing short of amazing. Well done to everyone involved for that, because that was not easy. Recruitment-wise though, while I'm excited by some of the signings, we seem to have done things arse about face. The core principle of a good team has always been to get the spine right first and foremost. We seem to have focused heavily on the more peripheral positions and taken a series of risks with the spine. GK, CB and CF could all have been addressed much better for me. Three key errors: - At GK: Putting all our eggs in the Bazunu basket and not providing any credible competition better than a 34-year-old McCarthy - At CB: Giving Stephens the extension and keeping him as captain, essentially building the defence around him and all his well-documented weaknesses - At CF: Taking a huge risk on Downs as our CF signing when we could surely have brought in a much lower risk option who would be more oven-ready and make us less reliant on Archer/ Stewart/ Armstrong (shudder) or goals from midfield Overall, with our resources when compared to most of the rest of the division, it will be criminal If we don't get play-offs, but I'm pretty sure we will. I'm not convinced the key positions are strong enough for the automatics though. We're already 7 points off top and I think we're going to continue to drop points by giving away avoidable goals at one end and failing to take chances at the other due to the weaknesses above. I very much hope I'm wrong and eating my words in May. Then we can all look forward to getting trounced again every week in the Prem. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes I wish I'd been born in Madrid.