Smirking_Saint

Yeah I like Archer he looks very good, young too and is a reasonably well rounded forward My number one choice would be Gyokeres, to me it feels very much like a Lambert esque signing if we could pull that off He is ready made for a championship promotion run but I feel like he’ll pitch up in the prem next year either way… sticking to the Coventry theme I’d also try to nick Hamer too but I’d say he’s destined for bigger things

22/23 xG - 19.8 / Goals - 18 21/22 xG - 12 / Goals 22 That 21/22 stat looks a bit mental tbh as it’s suggesting that he basically scored twice the goals he was expected to When you dig a little deeper though he does look a little wasteful, he takes a lot of shots (in the top 10% of the division) of which you’d expect a striker too anyway, but his actual conversion rate only just puts him in the top 30% Playmaking wise he looks very poor, if we are talking about his pure stats, generally all key stats in that area have him sat at or below the top 50% in the division Of course… Ive not really watched him so its hard to get a FULL picture but certainly from what Ive read I do think we could do better than Piroe

He’s not been officially appointed yet but people are being branded a ‘Russell Martin Apologist’ Jesus wept give your head a firm wobble

Id be surprised at that tbh

Yeah sorry meant terrible 😂

100% agree I said at the time it was a terrible appointment because of the timing more than anything, it was a huge ask to come in and change what was surely an ingrained tactical understanding that our players had Ill try and dig out my posts from the time but Im sure my opinion was that we needed someone to tweak and steady NOT try to reinvent If we wanted to go with Jones, it should of happened in pre season

Yup or possibly even Leeds/Everton if they stay up, regardless thats 4 good potential opportunities We are still an attractive appointment but Rodgers/Potter are out of our reach No matter the waffle being said about Martin he has more league experience than the likes of Vieira or Gerrard or even a Jaissle or Gallardo Carrick/Corberan didn’t want to move Moyes would be attractive IF/WHEN he gets released but I wouldn’t want the club to wait and he just doesn’t fit the philosophies wanted right now So who else are we left with ? Mowbray ? Not for me Warnock ? Absolutely not I see people like to talk about risk but will happily look at Vieira etc that has zero championship experience and so, in my mind, carries as much risk as Martin

My belief was that he’s holding out for a prem opportunity

Personally think this is how it’ll play out

Disaster or not he’s tried his best and is well liked behind the scenes You are able to both acknowledge he’s been a woeful appointment and understand the club probably should have discussed the fact that we are replacing him.

You’ve written a lot of sensible stuff on this thread that I’ve enjoyed reading so thank you for that 👏🏻 The thing is, all tactics have a place, all have pro’s and con’s. And all of us have a preference, Whitey clearly has his and I understand his critique.. I remember watching Spain in Qatar and thinking “All of this possession is lovely, but where is the threat ?” The difference is Martin clearly wants to bakance the risk/reward ratio properly, it’s evidenced in his Swans being 4th in most of the attacking metrics in the Championship yet towards the botton of the goal scoring chances conceded… and I’ll probably get flamed by the Stats/Metrics nay sayers for saying that’s optimistic but football is currently built on analytics. Martin looks a good long term appointment for a football club looking to pivot away from a form of gagenpress. I’ll make no mistake in saying Im a fan of pressing tactics, I spent a lot of time reading about them. The issue is its not an easy system to coach to players that are not elite and it’s incredibly draining.. we fade towards the end of PL campaigns under it, so its only right to ditch it in a 44 game season. Martin isn’t the ‘name in lights’ manager that we want as a fanbase, but he is VERY highly regarded as an up and comer in football circles (as well as Carrick and Corberan). I think, given the right backing and a full pre season he could do very well for us and the more I read the more cautiously optimistic I am

Ahh yes.. Lee Hendrie, my go to guy when I need an opinion worth listening too

TBH I don’t think you’re far from the truth, I do think/optimistic that both Tino and Alcaraz stay perhaps Adams.. but yeah I can see the majority of the rest leaving. I think we’ll hold onto Bednarek, not sure about DCC. Ely is definitely gone, Perraud basically definitely gone I believe, Diallo is very probable. Lots of work to do tbh

Ive said before, they genuinely want us back in the prem, then they want us to push on… they got it very wrong last year, all ends up.. both on and off the field I do hope that they’ve learnt, but proof will be in the pudding, they need to back Martin effectively and get the bulk of the backroom appointments done ASAP

Yeah I tend to agree with this, in order to be able to be successful he’ll almost certainly need to be able to sign a couple of players that fit what he wants to achieve Thankfully the reports/whispers are that SR are willing to back us into a promotion push, lets just hope we can identify/sign the players we need IMO we definitely need a No.6 unless by some miracle Lavia remains, we need a LB because Perraud is off (Manning ?), Tella or a new RW and obviously whoever else we’ll potentially lose

Are you talking about the greatest manager Europe has ever seen 😍

Manning or Grimes would be good buys from Swansea… Piroe.. not sure but clearly he has ability in this league which could be invaluable Outside of that Id of liked us to have looked at Hamer from Coventry or even Gyokeres It’ll be interesting to see what happens with O’Doyle too, another stand out performer in that coventry side but obviously on loan from our parent club City

Id would say he is almost definitely off

If we were raid Swansea I’d possibly be more interested in Grimes or Manning tbh Not sure what to make of Piroe

I believe its all but done and would imagine announced within a week or so but almost certainly within 2….

Not a hint of irony at all Absolutely magnificent

Im not really sure they’re too concerned about ST numbers, they have a plan and backing, a few less bums on seats because they don’t fancy Martin isn’t going to make a huge difference

We sort of agree, Im not sure managers are necessarily looking to increase passing metrics just because they can. A possession based system has enough values, even beyond the old ‘if we have the ball you can’t score’ mantra It does depend how its utilised of course but you can dissect and pull opposition shape apart and find gaps, like any system, and you’re right, you have to have the right balance of risk but if you get that right the system is perfectly viable and generally successful in a championship campaign

Well, he’s made a positive change everywhere he has gone, at some point a side is going to take a gamble on him, back him effectively and it’ll work.. there is no reason that couldn’t be us, we just need to have aligned vision, stability and give him what he needs Kompany didn’t do anything extraordinary in Belgium, but has done an incredible job at Burnley From a realistic appointment POV I’m not sure what you would have expected ? Jaissle ? Good manager with a good pedigree but has zero experience of the english league system or the Championship Vieira ? A career that has swung 50/50 so far between success and failure always ending with a slump Potter ? Good manager who I believe is keeping his options open for a prem move so wasn’t available Carrick/Corberan ? Would actually of been a choice of mine if I was to pick but both are happy at their clubs at the moment What other options did you have ? Martin wouldn’t of been my first choice, but its not a horrible choice, the bedwetting on here is a bit pathetic tbh