Midfield_General

Yeah either Downes or Charles need to be more willing or able to carry the ball or make a forward pass, and Azaz in particular needs to be more willing to drop deeper and show for it more to give them an option. Hopefully Jander is more of a ball-carrier/ string puller from deep, and is shown to be good enough to replace one of Downes/Charles over the coming weeks - ideally Downes as he's been way off the pace for ages now.

Relax lads, it's nothing tactical, it's just anxiety in the players and the unhelpful environment created by the fans. Change always comes with pain, but if you trust the process and show love it's so, so worth it.

Spot on. I've got no problem at all with using a big, strong centre forward as a focal point for headers, hold-up play and crosses, but it's pretty obvious you can't play those tactics with 5 foot 9 Cam Archer or 2 foot 1 Adam Armstrong, yet that appears to be what he's trying to do at the minute, which is really concerning because it's so screamingly obvious it's a complete waste of time. My worry though is that he thought he would be able to play like that with 6 foot 4 Damion Downs as the striker, but now he's had time to have a proper look at him, he's realised that he's nowhere near ready and is now trying to force fit that system to players completely unsuited to it. Though having said that, surely you'd start Stewart as the next one if that's how you want to play, as he does at least have height even if he looks like a strong breeze would knock him over. He's meant to be highly tactically adaptable and good at being pragmatic to get the best out of the attributes of the players available, so now we need to see that in action, starting at Hull. If Archer is starting, get the ball down and play through balls to him along the ground so he can run into space and play off the shoulder like he wants to.

Sheffield United to re-appoint Wilder. That's embarrassing. https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/sep/14/sheffield-united-to-reappoint-chris-wilder-as-manager-after-sacking-ruben-selles

Today was worrying. I really want him to succeed but that was a shambles. The 4-2-3-1 and team selection was what most people wanted to see, but when we had the ball our players looked like they had absolutely no idea what they were supposed to do with it, and it's hard to look past coaching for that. After making such a big deal about signing creative players and wingers, we didn't seem to want to give them the ball to feet which was absolutely baffling. We looked panicky and uncomposed whenever we got pressed even slightly, and ended up just hoofing it to no-one. What's the point playing three creative players behind a smallish forward who likes to play off the shoulder, if you're just going to do that? I was expecting Azaz in particular as the number 10 to be demanding to be given the ball so he could make things happen, but he didn't really seem to want it and hardly seemed to be showing for it at all. When we needed someone to be receiving the ball, playing with their head up and pulling the strings, he was largely invisible, and every time he did get it he just quickly laid it off. Having said that, most of the time it was just sailing over his head with another hoof to nothing, so it was far from his fault, I just expected him to demand the ball and try to dictate the play a lot more. For most of the game though it was just impossible to tell what the game plan was meant to be. If the plan was to go long and hit the centre forward to get players running off him, then why select Archer to do that job when he's so unsuited to it? And why talk before the game about looking to find space in behind if you're just going to launch it into the stratosphere every time you've got it? Even then, we got given the total gift of their keeper going off injured and an untried and un-warmed-up reserve coming on. He looked like he was absolutely shitting himself, was clearly nervous and couldn't even kick straight, so the instruction should have been to rain shots in on him from every angle and distance and follow everything in, and swing every cross under his crossbar to force an error. Instead, we didn't test him properly once. I don't think we even made him come for a cross. It was pathetic. Tactically it was an absolute mess all over, and it was concerning. Pompey were well-organised, pressed well and fought hard, but they are a limited team without a lot of quality, and even with our squad of players worth many multiples what theirs is we couldn't impose ourselves on them at all because we didn't look like we had a plan. We're going to have to play a lot of ugly, compact teams like that, and we're going to need to see a lot more guile, composure and clarity of approach if we're going to be able to rise above them as it looks like we should on paper. It's early days, and I like him as a bloke, but for a manager who came with a fair bit of fanfare about his tactical acumen, he really hasn't showed it yet, and he needs to start pronto. We've spent a fortune and it's his squad now - there are no excuses for looking that disjointed and confused from here on in. He needs to raise his game.

I think we can stop blaming Martin now don’t you? We’ve had 3 managers since then

Tactically, this is disgusting

Good to see Rasmus has gone for 4 at the back for this one He picks the team right?

What are the odds they beg Wilder to come back?

And the answer is: the ref The man is unbelievable Does he ever, ever think that he might possibly have to accept that some aspect of his team’s results are his responsibility?

Rangers own fans singing "sacked in the morning" Commentator: "Rangers are absolute rubbish" Hearts hit the post FT. 0-2. Hearts first win at Ibrox in 18 attempts. Rangers booed off. Played 5, won zero, and Rangers are third from bottom.

Rangers relegated

"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