Saint Fan CaM

I have very little hope that anything will change for this game. It’ll be the same group of players still struggling to successfully implement RM’s tactics and as Ipswich will be set up well, it will be another shambolic chaos resulting in a comprehensive beating. We’re slowly but surely losing ground on the league leaders and squad confidence must be rock bottom (again). We may score, but equally we may not, such is the inconsistency of our attacking prowess, however we’ll not score enough to win a game of football. 0-3 or 1-3 at best. Not long now before the fans turn on RM.

So sorry to read this Whitey…wishing your Wife, you and your family peace at a very distressing time.

Smallbone is at best just average…he’s grown into that level. And the trouble is that when we face 50% of the opposition in this league, he’s going to be worse than average as is the nature of average! Always expected him to be plying his trade elsewhere in L1 or below frankly, but clearly he’s an Academy product and so represents a small opportunity to get some money into the coffers when he’s sold when we’re relegated to L1. 😉

4 managers with four different styles?!? Give me a break. They ALL expected the team to pass out from the back and they ALL expected slow build-up possession based play moving forwards. There are differences in some areas such as the % press, but essentially the system has superseded the managers…i.e. SR want Pep style footie and they’ve tried to recruit ex-MCFC employees (and players) to deliver it. PS: unless you’ve missed the last 2-3 seasons, it ain’t working.

Ipswich are a very good side and on the showing so far, they will beat us with ease. 0-3.

Over simplistic tosh. You want simple…here we go…Martin does not have the quality of players at his disposal to play the style of football he wants and win games. Fact.

I think it’s debatable whether the individual players are of top 2 Championship level. There are 2 or 3 definite contenders. What is abundantly clear is that… (a) they are not drilled or playing as a cohesive team - that’s on Martin and his coaches. And, (b) they are not of a level to play the style of football being demanded of them to enable positive results. Whether Martin and Wilcox are living in cloud cuckoo land by thinking they can reproduce Man City in the Championship is questionable, but they’re going to break the club by trying.

Only managed to catch a few brief glimpses and then gave up at 1-3. One word review - shambles. Losing the love again and my prediction of lower table finish looks about right.

That’s all true and the key issue will be the international duty inhibiting training this week. But he has to utilise the squad by using square pegs in square holes, otherwise what the hell is the point of these ‘squad’ players? I really do think he has to get brave, unless of course he’s seen something of concern in training to suggest THB is a duffer in waiting.

It’s just a shame if Charles is played at CB…it basically means we’ll have a lesser able defensive midfield with Downes and Smallbone being the obvious starters. He’s got to consider starting THB now.

Why are those two things mutually exclusive? Surely it’s possible to support the 11 on the pitch and then afterwards micro-analyse the goals conceded? It’s what football supporters do…weird not to really, especially on a football forum!

It’s not a case of blaming him for every conceded goal, but more about the evidence of his athleticism, movement and positioning, all of which are quite poor. That stats put him at or near bottom over all leagues. It’s baffling how anyone can dispute the facts. He’s just not good enough.

I agree that’s the case with Macca, but we’ve not really seen Lumley in action yet and frankly Baz is having such a torrid time I’d try every option. In an effort to improve our chances. If he’s really that bad one has to question the sanity of bringing him in.

I feel sorry for Baz. Young guy without the physical capacity to improve beyond where he is. Must be very frustrating for him and some what embarrassing that the Manager doesn’t take him out of the firing line. 😉

Generally agree, but it’s not as simple as just stepping up the tempo - that’s when mistakes can be made. It’s about taking the time to pick out the right pass, made easier because your teammates are moving and making themselves available. Then, when the time is right, change gear rapidly and move forward with intent and purpose. The ratio of slow build up to explosive attack is critical to success…too little and goals are not scored…too much and there’s more chance of turnovers. The main reason we got taken to the cleaners by Sunderland was because too many players were not reading the game, got caught upfield and left acres of space behind our defensive lines for their fast players to benefit from, plus there was little effort to press them in numbers meaning they had far too long to launch accurate long balls to advanced players. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it - the system’s fine if the players are competent to utilise it. I have doubts about a significant number of players being competent, whether that’s in body fitness or intellectual fitness and more worryingly without the capacity to improve through training (Holgate). On the plus side, there are players like SAA and the new young ex-City CB who while young, have time and ability on their side - if Martin has the courage to pick them and play them in their proper positions (Charles).

Yeah, our strongest line up, apart from Baz. I’d bet my house that’ll not happen…nothing is ever that simple for our Managers, but they must know better of course.

Let’s break that down. Players don’t care about results when they’re not good enough to win games of football. Well done Manning…well done. FFS, if I wanted this kind of spectator sport I’d just go watch the local 5 year olds have a kick about an “all inclusive, taking part that matters” game. Actually come to think of it, it might be more fun.

Mmm, not sure what else he could have said…pretty obvious statements really. However the one interesting nugget I thought was a pointed remark about how there’s now some fight and leadership in the team…i.e. did he mean to effectively take a swipe at JWP? To be fair he did say to expect us to lose sometimes, but I doubt he was expecting such a devastating result which clearly is embarrassing for all elements of the club including the supporters. I’d love there to be a part two interview following the Sunderland match!

Not sure he’s too bothered about attack either…it’s all about possession - if we’ve got the ball they can’t score and we may get lucky and find a way past 11 players. Trouble is our team is so fragile that unless the opposition are really poor, they allow 30% possession to convert into more goals than we can score and we end up with a disaster or an uphill battle at best.

That’s right…it was so marked how they moved the ball so much quicker and their passing accuracy was not that much worse than ours as far as I could tell. Their closing down in packs was consistently ruthless and clever in that the Ref let many challenges go that left our players on the ground complaining. It reminded me a little of early Ralphball. The only thing I’m not so agreed on is the comment that we have a great squad…I think it’s mediocre actually and let down by the undroppables - Bazunu, Manning and Bednarek. Add in Holgate who is rubbish and a system that doesn’t pressure the oppo goal enough and you’ve got a disaster in waiting. You hear about teams who use cohesive hard work to overcome skill - we’re the team those teams love to play. I don’t think Martin has figured that out yet.

Yeah, I was also one that stayed to the end of both 0-9 losses. I also seem to remember that lessons were supposedly learnt after those games too! I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought I’d never see a drubbing like that again, but the players did a bloody good job of trying on Saturday! IMO that’s symptomatic of trying to play a system that the squad is not good enough to deliver.

Excellent post - one of the best summaries I’ve seen on this forum.

The line up shown above is close to being optimal, but (a) I would give Lumley a try…”this is your chance lad” as Baz is shot and (b) it is essential that Martin re-thinks his tactics and messaging to the team in terms of pressing out of possession and not allowing both FB’s to be in advanced positions at the same time to counter turn-around breaks. Whatever, still think we’ll lose the game by two goals.

Add in Alcarez and it’s starting to look like a real balls up by Martin. No excuses.

Leicester have a blueprint to beat us and the players to deploy it. Let’s see if Martin is any good whatsoever by setting the team up to counter that. I have concern that he’ll keep trying to do the same thing. And continue to select Baz.