Russell Martin

[Midfield_General]

44 minutes ago, Holmes_and_Watson said:

I'd better watch one of their games while I have the chance.

The possession stat is there. But what is it that the players are letting Russ down on? Are they still at the lots of passes, but no transition stage? Is the scar tissue, preventing them from being brave enough to embrace the system?

Do they now lack the individuals capable of making the basics work - Baz keeper, Downes picking it up from defence, Smallbone as versatile link-up player, AA able to cleverly get goals from wide, or be on the end of cut backs? 

After us, and Rangers, I was thinking he'd be able to get a spine of of players with those attributes. Just as a starter. Both Rangers and Leicester have required overhauls. Perhaps that's left him without that spine, where he was fortunate to have it still there with us.

Part of his pitch is to transform a team, with automations. But he still needs other attributes in there. It's one of the disconnects from his pitch (getting the best out of what's there) to reality (getting in players who capable of building on his approach)

As they they look out at their 5 star hotel and training complex, they have to buy in to being more a hard working  Martin's MK Dons, than fallen PL super stars.

17th with a single win. The deliverable will be promotion. Let's see if the board back him. They will be there for a while at the price they've asked for the club. But when that promotion becomes impossible, experts were saying that administration, at least, is imminent. Everyone there will be well aware of that.

Edit: Watch the 4:23min highlights.
For three of them, got caught playing too high a line. They've not learned that racing back is a focused thing, to block and push players where Martin wants them. Instead, the full backs allow balls in for relatively easy finishes, against centre halves who are not keeping pace with the attack.

The fourth had plenty of defenders around it. None of them forced a decision, allowing Oxford to pass through them and score. 

What we've seen before. Players working on part of a system, leave massive gaps, because they can't/won't do the rest.

And that can be the coaching too. Poor Holgate was under orders on what to do, making his appearances a horror show. He'd have angered Russ, hoofing it, but wouldn't have conceded 2 goals.

 

The further down the leagues he slips, the worse the quality of players he has to work with, and the less likely his ‘system’ is to work. And it didn’t work to start with. 

[stknowle]

53 minutes ago, Osvaldorama said:

Didn’t take long….

 

Can’t be far away from the sarcastic hand clap to his own fans. The point of no return.

[SaintsBarry74]

He should become a career coach.

I’d like to know how this fraud keeps landing these gigs, despite his horrid track record.

[Lord Duckhunter]

16 minutes ago, Saint NL said:

Hull up to second in the PL

 

Edit: wrong thread 

No, it’s  the right thread. Remember there were nods telling us it wasn’t Lego’s fault, no team could stay in the premier league, particularly those that came up via play offs. Every single year, other sides show us that those 12 points were absolutely pathetic and Lego head set this club back far more than Nathan Jones, Ivan or the other assorted numpties which followed him. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

5 minutes ago, Lord Duckhunter said:

No, it’s  the right thread. Remember there were nods telling us it wasn’t Lego’s fault, no team could stay in the premier league, particularly those that came up via play offs. Every single year, other sides show us that those 12 points were absolutely pathetic and Lego head set this club back far more than Nathan Jones, Ivan or the other assorted numpties which followed him. 

Don't think we've ever had such a thick-skinned, arrogant manager and yet we accepted it. At C.Palace, Nathan Jones was told in no uncertain terms by sections of our support that we didn't like his style of football, yet I recall trekking up to Huddersfield and Blackburn and watching absolute bollocks yet we stayed silent and were told to trust the tactics. And because he got us in to the playoffs, he had his apologists.

He deserves all the misfortune he gets but like flotsam, if Leicester get rid of him, he'll resurface somewhere else.

[coalman]

Masterclass. It was the energy and he should've kept experienced players on instead of putting on kids who made bad decisions.

[Midfield_General]

Ran away down the tunnel at full time too and let his team of youngsters take all the shit from the fans

Edited 5 hours ago by Midfield_General

[hypochondriac]

2 hours ago, Stu Man Do said:

You get what you deserve! Remember him fawning over Russell in an interview which was no doubt part of his “rehabilitation “ tour before getting jobs again.

They're probably very much aligned politically.

[LGTL]

Since we won the playoff final, he has managed to win three league games. Three. 

I wonder if Fabrice is still wanking him off? 

[Zorba]

14 minutes ago, Midfield_General said:

 

[Saint Scott]

3 hours ago, TheSoundman said:

Why do some posters tell other posters they shouldn't be interested in a subject and they should move on.

It's just weird. I don't see a Will Still, Nathan Jones, Ivan Juric, Ralph Hassenhuttl thread constantly posted in.

He royally fucked up in the PL and is married to his bizarre tactics, but he also gave us one of our most enjoyable seasons in the last decade

[Harry_SFC]

4 minutes ago, Saint Scott said:

It's just weird. I don't see a Will Still, Nathan Jones, Ivan Juric, Ralph Hassenhuttl thread constantly posted in.

He royally fucked up in the PL and is married to his bizarre tactics, but he also gave us one of our most enjoyable seasons in the last decade

Its probably to do with his stubborness and arrogance and how he was basically gaslighting the fans towards the end of his tenure. 

[Colinjb]

4 minutes ago, Harry_SFC said:

Its probably to do with his stubborness and arrogance and how he was basically gaslighting the fans towards the end of his tenure. 

This is it. We knew what we were watching. We could see what was wrong.

And this bloke had the sneer of, 'No, you are the idiots.... It's not me' all along.

So, I will gladly take delight in his misery.

[Holmes_and_Watson]

2 hours ago, Midfield_General said:

The further down the leagues he slips, the worse the quality of players he has to work with, and the less likely his ‘system’ is to work. And it didn’t work to start with. 

He did have an upward trajectory on his way here.

Now, it can be (and is, on every one of his club's forums 🙂 ) argued that it was far from great when he was at those clubs. But he left to go upwards.

In his time at MK Dons in L1, would have had fewer resources than Leicester. He may have to go back to his MK Dons thinking. 14 new players it was said on the interview. That was the opportunity to bring in players to suit his approach. He could be looking at that, to get those basics in place, and use the resources to have individual talent to get out of the league.

From the highlights, his team today lacked that awareness and fight that he needs, both individually and as a unit. If they're caught up the park, they need runners to force attackers into poor shooting angles. They need to be aware when full backs are pushed up, or inverted, and provide cover.

None of that for those goals. Caught out by straightforward, but well drilled, counters from Oxford, and lose 3 goals. 

Martin spends a lot of time hammering in certain things. But the players have to not only be receptive to those, they have to have the energy to keep their heads during a match, for all the rest. 

[Mboto Gorge]

Leicester fans are absolutely fuming with his post match interview where he takes Zero responsibility and blames the young players for the defeat. They obviously still don’t know him very well yet. As has been said earlier, he was the sole reason we completely embarrassed ourselves in the premier league . He knew full well we were being embarrassed every week but he stuck to his guns on the style for Russell Martin’s benefit rather than Southampton FCs. Far more interested in his image and was happy for the club to be absolutely ridiculed and battered every single week and mocked in the media, in the process. There is a reason only one other side in 34 years of premier league football have done as badly as we did.  The bloke is an absolute prick 

Edited 4 hours ago by Mboto Gorge

[Holmes_and_Watson]

26 minutes ago, Mboto Gorge said:

Leicester fans are absolutely fuming with his post match interview where he takes Zero responsibility and blames the young players for the defeat. They obviously still don’t know him very well yet. As has been said earlier, he was the sole reason we completely embarrassed ourselves in the premier league . He knew full well we were being embarrassed every week but he stuck to his guns on the style for Russell Martin’s benefit rather than Southampton FCs. Far more interested in his image and was happy for the club to be absolutely ridiculed and battered every single week and mocked in the media, in the process. There is a reason only one other side in 34 years of premier league football have done as badly as we did.  The bloke is an absolute prick 

There's a bit in the video @coalman put up above, where he does blame himself for taking off two experienced players and replacing them with youngsters. He wanted to bring on some energy, but they lost even more control of the game.

He's clearly been through all this pressure before. As self contained as he is in his interview bubbles, he seems even more relaxed after a drubbing than before. 

[hypochondriac]

1 hour ago, Saint Scott said:

It's just weird. I don't see a Will Still, Nathan Jones, Ivan Juric, Ralph Hassenhuttl thread constantly posted in.

He royally fucked up in the PL and is married to his bizarre tactics, but he also gave us one of our most enjoyable seasons in the last decade

Fuck talking about saints being shit for hours on end. This thread is my safe place. 

[MB]

Seen on X they have called emergency board meeting 😂 didn’t take long did it Russ 

[Patrick Bateman]

4 hours ago, coalman said:

Masterclass. It was the energy and he should've kept experienced players on instead of putting on kids who made bad decisions.

I started watching this and had to stop it. PTSD from his time here, but also, he is REALLY FUCKING irritating. 

[jarhead5]

10 minutes ago, Patrick Bateman said:

I started watching this and had to stop it. PTSD from his time here, but also, he is REALLY FUCKING irritating. 

PTSD or scar tissue?

[CSA96]

 

Edited 1 hour ago by CSA96