Midfield_General

God, that Sunderland game. 79% possession at one point and lost 5-0. Schooled by Tony Mowbray and a team who ended up coming 16th. Everything that was wrong with the ‘philosophy’ there on show for all to see. Putrid.

Yeah, it’s a difficult dressing room that has already seen off a bunch of managers and as he can’t shift them out he now has to rely on a bunch of players he publicly slagged off and threw under the bus after his very first league game, to play for him and get him out of trouble. Someone’s also leaking his team selections a day before they play. So he’s definitely got a mole and it’s possible he may have lost the dressing room already. It was a big, big gamble to go in so hard and so early on players he’s going to need to keep picking. If they’ve already decided they’re not having him and down tools, he’s screwed.

The irony is that if his style is going to work against anyone up there, it might actually work against Celtic because unlike pretty much any other team in the SPL they will actually come out and attack Rangers. Martin’s whole philosophy is about drawing teams in and then trying to expose spaces they leave when they press, and Celtic will actually come forward and have a go at them so it might work. But the massive problem he has and the reason he is crashing and burning in the league at the moment is because every other SPL team other than Celtic just parks the bus with two banks of five when they play Rangers. They have no interest in attacking and just come to sit deep and get a point. As we know, Martin’s style is completely ineffective to break down a low block because it’s so slow and ponderous and his teams just end up just endlessly passing it from side to side in areas of the pitch that aren’t dangerous while the opposition happily sit back and let them do it. That’s what’s happened so far against Motherwell and Dundee who are dross and it’s why the fans are so angry. They were told they were getting someone who knew how to break down a packed defence, and of course Martin talks a great game and got them believing it. But now they are seeing what his teams actually do on the pitch they are tearing their hair out because it’s so ineffective and anyone who knows how defensively teams play against Rangers could have told you that his approach wouldn’t work against that.

Good grief 🤦‍♂️. MLG - you’ve got competition. Yes, I’m aware of how team sports work, thank you. Saying a player has ‘won something’ is a fairly common shorthand for describing when they were playing in a team and that team won the competition in question. I wasn’t suggesting he entered those competitions as an individual. I’m surprised I need to spell that out, but ok. In Grealish’s case he was an integral part of one of the best club teams in modern history; he played in 50 games for City the season they won the treble, and started every Champions League knockout game. Dibling may well go on to be a great player but Grealish is the finished article.

Grealish has won the Champions League, the Club World Cup, the FA Cup, the Premier League three times and has been capped by England 39 times. Tyler Dibling has played one on and off season in the premier league, scored two goals and been relegated. Maybe that’s something to do with it? Dibling is all potential at this stage. Grealish is the finished article and at 29 is in his prime, especially for the way he plays which doesn’t rely on pace. Not that it matters, as they’ll never activate that clause.

Go onto their forums now and they have almost unanimously turned on him already. 2 points from Motherwell and Dundee with Celtic next up means lose to their biggest rivals and the league could literally be out of reach by the end of August. The awful results plus a complete rejection of what they’ve seen of his style of play in the league so far have got a lot of them calling for him to go already, which is insane but he was never going to get the leeway up there if he didn’t come flying out of the blocks. Him doing his ‘it takes time, trust the process’ thing is just throwing fuel on the fire. Time is the one thing they absolutely will not give him. They didn’t want him and now they’ve seen how ineffective his style is against teams who sit deep - which in the SPL vs Rangers is basically 90% of them - it’s gone toxic already. He needs to beat Celtic to have a chance of getting them back onside at this point, regardless of whether they get through in Europe or not.

Can’t see Levy paying £300k a week or whatever he’s on

Leicester manage to go a goal down at home against the few players Sheffield Wednesday have left

"Gassama looks terrific running onto the ball, but collecting it into feet he constantly stops, turns inside and plays it back or sideways." "We are far too slow and predictable in the build up. Three yard passes, and even when we pick the ball up in acres of space, instead of using it, we manage to turn back. We give Dundee three business days to organise themselves." "Rothwell is blowing our his arse after 30 mins" Pages and pages of it. Work your magic, Rusty. Work it.

I think full-time yesterday was the first time I'ver seen Baz smile. He usually seems very serious and loves a scowl. Absolutely delighted for the young custodian.

'Custodian'. Shoot magazine always used to call goalies 'custodians', but you never hear them called that any more, do you? I'm bringing it back. Custodian.

He'll lose against Celtic and drop points against a couple more of the dross teams, then the crowd will turn toxic and he won't last the season. EDIT: OK so they've actually viciously turned on him already and many up there are saying he won't last until Hallowe'en. They aren't buying his 'it will take time' nonsense. https://www.followfollow.com/forum/threads/martin-every-club-ive-been-a-bit-of-pain-and-when-you-get-through-it-its-worth-it.304843/

Yeah, of course. And in my correct opinion he was shit 😛

Yeah that's kind of my point. He missed loads, and got a lot wrong, for both sides. It got quite farcical.

They did get away with it though, all game. They were fouling us all the time and the ref did nothing.

Oh come on, the ref was absolutely appalling. He missed two blatant penalties for a start. And what about when he stopped the game for a head injury and the replay showed that in actual fact the ball had hit the bloke in the nuts?

Never in doubt 🤣 What a feeling, I'd forgotten what's it like. Love it!

No changes at half time. Mental.

lol no it wasn't. Edwards literally ran up behind him and pushed him squarely in the back with both hands. It was a brainless thing to do and the most clear penalty you will ever see.

He seems fairly keen himself to be fair

How many games have our new coaching team watched if they think Armstrong can play CF? And why are we compounding that by hitting high balls to hi, when he's up against 3 centre halves who are about a foot taller than him. Absolute madness tactically. Schoolboy level. Until we change that and introduce some sort of physical presence at CF who can hold the ball up or win a header, we're losing this game.

I thought exactly the same. It was definitely close. But not a single mention of it or a single replay to have a look.

Love that badge. The top looks like an angry Dogtanian wearing a pork pie hat and the bottom looks like ‘Fuck Andrew But’. It’s a fresh new reimagining and I’m all for it.

It seems pretty obvious to me. We’re obviously open to selling him, but only for our specified price, which no-one has offered yet. If he gets injured, we can’t sell him to anyone, so we’re keeping him wrapped in cotton wool until the end of the window. If during that time someone offers what we’re asking, then he will be sold. If no-one does, he stays, and from what everyone who knows him has said he will almost certainly not throw his toys out if that happens and will buckle down and get on with it. So he won’t play until the window closes, but would reintegrate and be available for selection again if no-one’s ponied up the £50m by 1st Sep. Until January, when the whole circus would start again.

Time to bring out the big guns