Gillingham 3-1 Saints - Match Thread

[Roo1976]

7 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

It's not going round in circles. You can't criticise the manager for his awful defence and then refuse to say which players you would have played at the back. Given our lack of defensive options and given that he wanted to play Charles in his proper position, there really weren't a lot of players at all who could have played at centre back or right back for that matter given that he didn't want to play the vast majority of the first team. There were no obvious players that were left out in the defence that didn't play on Saturday. If there had been and he had ignored them then I would say fair enough. Martins job is to win promotion and if I his judgement it would be more beneficial to that by resting Bednarek who has recently returned from injury and a key player like Stephens out of a cup game then I back him with that decision. If you can't put together a coherent defence without either of those two the it just highlights the difficulty that Martin has. 

So in a nutshell we need another experienced center back...................

[hypochondriac]

12 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Poch and others who threw the cups, probably for similar reasons, were not afforded this grace.

 

We were in the Premier league a d late into the competition. When saints are in the top league we should absolutely be prioritising the cups as that's our best chance to win something. That is not the aim this year. 

[hypochondriac]

8 minutes ago, Roo1976 said:

So in a nutshell we need another experienced center back...................

Absolutely. This game just confirms and underlines that fact. 

[AlexLaw76]

2 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

We were in the Premier league a d late into the competition. When saints are in the top league we should absolutely be prioritising the cups as that's our best chance to win something. That is not the aim this year. 

Given how we are stringing out the transfer window, our aim this season is likely not going to be met, so bunking out of a cup to a division 4 side, is pretty rubbish.

Edited 9 August, 2023 by AlexLaw76

[InvictaSaint]

6 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Given how we are stringing out the transfer window, our aim this season is likely not going to be met, so bunking out of a cup to a division 4 side, is pretty rubbish.

If by ‘stringing out’ - and that’s before you even start on how you ‘string out’ something that has a defined end point outside your control - you mean refusing to roll over and have our tummies rubbed by the big boys when it comes to our most valuable assets, then yes; we are most definitely ‘stringing out the transfer window’.

[Miltonaggro]

10 hours ago, James said:

Issue is how do you clear out a load of salary stealers? Some of whom we only signed in January and have given new contracts to.

If the board are serious about promotion, they take responsibility, including the debacle of the Ankersen window, and clear any way they can - loans, cut-price deals and frees for the worst. We have a contingent of very poor senior pros that seem to be undermining rather improving the squad. 

[West end Saints]

8 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0g5lb96

He took responsibility. 

Happy with youngsters. 

Stu, Aribo, Mara were getting minutes as part of their recovery, although he said was disappointed with Mara. 

Postive about Charlie and Che

So seemed to be aiming criticism as Mccarthy, Lyanco, Djenepo, Perraud, Bree, Ounachu? 

Don't think he referred to Meghoma and Charles? 

[tdmickey3]

What an absolute load of shit that was....

[Fan The Flames]

Lyanco was one playing off script, he was driving into space and playing the ball to no one, big diagonals to no one and getting himself frustrated and angry.

I was disappointed in Bree, feel sorry for the bloke for the way he's ended up here and was hoping he would put in a good showing, but his passing was off, got caught in possession, gave the ball away for the first goal with a blind pass to no one.

There seem to be so little movement in the team, we played the ball around to open up some space but no one moved in to the space, so we had to go back and start the move again.

There was one point in the second half where the play was on the left hand wing and the other players where all on the right hand side on the pitch static, just watching, there was a massive hole in the middle and know one moved into it.

Our touch was poor, we struggling to carry the ball past a player. It had disaster written all over it in the first five minutes.

[hypochondriac]

21 minutes ago, AlexLaw76 said:

Given how we are stringing out the transfer window, our aim this season is likely not going to be met, so bunking out of a cup to a division 4 side, is pretty rubbish.

Promotion at this stage is neither likely or not likely so that's a silly thing to say. 

[OnceaSaintalwaysaSaint]

9 hours ago, Badger said:

Getting into a winning habit is worth staying in the cup though.

Apart from that don’t necessarily disagree with you, but the nature of the defeat is humiliating for the club. 

Totally agree. Aside from the football, there's a lot to be said for having a positive winning mentality. Martin missed a trick here by not building on last Friday's win. Ultimately, then we scraped a winner in 87th minute, but we all felt good. Thumping a League 2 team into oblivion would have felt good too. You don't have to put all these good time charlies/wage stealers/journeymen in the same team to realise they're crap. Don't play them, just offload them asap. 

[Forester]

What an awful away game experience, the place is literally falling apart at the away end.  On the football:

- I don’t blame RM for making changes, and we need to give squad players time.  I blame him for one selection, and that is using Perraud at centre back which was like a round peg in a square hole and was unfair to him and team mates

- SAA is indeed very talented but needs to avoid “over playing” as on many occasions he had time and space to get a good cross in but chose to try and dribble all over again past full back.   But a learning curve

- It is indeed a shame as now he won’t get to give any squad players and/or new signings a run out in a fortnight 

[musesaint]

I thought on Friday that our late winner may have papered over some obvious and very serious cracks. Last night’s performance suggested it did.  

We will know more about how realistic a bounce back promotion is by the end of Saturday’s game. We need to convincingly beat teams like Norwich at home if we have any realistic chance of a one season bounce. 

[Greenridge]

6 minutes ago, musesaint said:

I thought on Friday that our late winner may have papered over some obvious and very serious cracks. Last night’s performance suggested it did.  

We will know more about how realistic a bounce back promotion is by the end of Saturday’s game. We need to convincingly beat teams like Norwich at home if we have any realistic chance of a one season bounce. 

We won’t know until the transfer window has closed and we know what our team / squad looks like. 

[Fan The Flames]

18 minutes ago, musesaint said:

I thought on Friday that our late winner may have papered over some obvious and very serious cracks. Last night’s performance suggested it did.  

We will know more about how realistic a bounce back promotion is by the end of Saturday’s game. We need to convincingly beat teams like Norwich at home if we have any realistic chance of a one season bounce. 

Our season won't be defined after three games.

I know as fans we all like to look for signs, but losing last night will have little impact on the season ahead.

[saintant]

Sounds as though Lumley has already got the number 2 keeper spot. How long before he becomes our number one? It's a big worry going forward.

[Lone ranger]

Pretty good analysis from Gillingham fan forum follows. Interesting last line putting us into perspective!!

…..There were so many good performances tonight. Alright, this was hardly Southampton’s first pick 11 but when you’re playing against the likes of Che Adams, Carlos Alcatraz and Joe Aribo to name just 3, it’s still no mean feat to put them away like we did. Some of the midfield play was a joy and something I’ve been crying out for ages. All of the midfield put in a real shift. Short, neat passing and interplay, matching Southampton a lot of the time. Jayden Clarke was a revelation and I thought was rightly named the sponsor’s MoM. Ashley Nadesan never gave their back line a moments peace and what a delight to see a forward instinctively get in the right place at the right time to get on the end of a cross.

We were also helped by Southampton’s almost complete inability to defend set plays. Ogie put one over when he should have scored. McKenzie had one mysteriously ruled out and the two he scored both came from Southampton’s inability to handle standard corner situations. The subs when they came on all did their bit. Southampton showed their class in the goal they scored but it was about the only time they put something together incisive all evening. To be truthful, for the whole match we wanted it a whole lot more than they did.

Overall very encouraging, not just for the result but the patterns of play, the strength and skill that we displayed and the team togetherness that we showed. Only downside was the yellow cards, some of which were mysterious to say the least. Perhaps we need a system whereby the crowd are told what they’re for !

My last word is that I expect Saturday against Accrington to be a lot tougher……

so that’s where we stand!

[spyinthesky]

Looking back at the Reading pre season game we absolutely murdered them but conceded two breakaway goals and they nearly scored a third.

Cant see us recording a clean sheet this season and we dont have the talent up front to outscore some teams.

The problem with set pieces has been evident from the start and hopefully the new guy who has been brought in from Arsenal will help although I recollect that set pieces was one of Arsenal's problems last year.

There is definitely the need for some height and muscularity in the team.

Russell Martin is aware of the need to get rid of quite a few 'dead woods' within the squad.

[InvictaSaint]

The away end for anyone who’s never been to Priestfield before…

[Dell McDellFace]

A necessary sacrifice for RM to know who are the fringe players he can trust to do a job. Pre-season friendlies aren't enough to know this for sure, and he probably has a much better idea now. Whether those who didn't make the cut can be shifted is another question, but perhaps for the sake of moral and having a tight and well-disciplined squad we can get them out on loan or on cut-price deals.

Also, why risk injury and yellow card accumulation to first team squad and those that are about to be sold.

Makes sense to me. I trust in RM and liked his brutal post-match comments - let's see him follow that up with action now.

[Smirking_Saint]

9 hours ago, CanadaSaint said:

Hypo, we can keep going round in circles on this. It was our second game of the season - it's not like we're in the midst of fixture congestion, and players desperately need resting. Tonight wasn't just about players not performing - it was also about Martin dropping a big clanger with his line up. Lyanco partnered with Perraud in CD was mental.

Hopefully everyone's got the message - under-committed players who are nowhere near as good as they think they are, a new manager who might well have underestimated the opposition (and now has ample proof of what we knew about some players last year), and transfer decision-makers who need to stop fart-arsing around and start solidifying a promotable squad.

We have a crucial game against Norwich on Saturday, if we had played Stephens/Bednarek or any of our first choice CMs last night and they picked up an injury then the opinion would rightly be;

“why did we play them in a nothing game”

I think we can question Martin for last night, up to a point, but at the moment its a freak result in isolation with mitigating circumstances

Hypo isn’t really wrong in his insistence to ask what you’d do differently ?
 

It did pertinently highlighted our need for reinforcement even before further outgoings though, of that I agree

[Smirking_Saint]

1 hour ago, West end Saints said:

He took responsibility. 

Happy with youngsters. 

Stu, Aribo, Mara were getting minutes as part of their recovery, although he said was disappointed with Mara. 

Postive about Charlie and Che

So seemed to be aiming criticism as Mccarthy, Lyanco, Djenepo, Perraud, Bree, Ounachu? 

Don't think he referred to Meghoma and Charles? 

He mentioned Charles got much needed game time.. I was sort of lumping Meghoma in with the youngsters I think

[Patches O Houlihan]

9 hours ago, hypochondriac said:

Yes but who else should have played at Cb? Bearing in mind that ABK is injured and we have a game on Saturday and Bednarek was probably still recovering from his injury. 

Simeu is now 23 and returned from his second loan playing men's football. There's also the new guy Zach Awe. 

I agree it's not ideal. But nor is playing Perraud there when he has been injured during preseason and this is his first game back. 

I was sat right behind Perraud for the first half. There was no lack of effort on his part. He had 17yo Meghoma at left back to babysit, and Djenpo ahead of him. The only first half goal came from a Bree error on the right.

Maybe he was at fault for the 2nd half goals, but I didn't have a clear view of those. 

 

At the weekend I suggested that maybe we could play 9 man total football and chip it into Tall Paul to beat a low block. Having watched Paul at close hand last night there is no way this would work. He really needs to find a new team in Belgium/Germany.

 

SAA was lively and full of running until right at the end. Also I thought Shea Charles did ok at DM.

It is clear that Charley really cares - he was fired up (and pissed off last night) He had a free kick probably more suited to a left footer right on the edge of the area. Us fans were right there and we let him know we wanted him to have a go at it. Ball went into the side netting at the near post, but it wasn't a bad effort. His goal was by force of will as much as anything.

 

[Doctoroncall]

5 minutes ago, spyinthesky said:

Looking back at the Reading pre season game we absolutely murdered them but conceded two breakaway goals and they nearly scored a third.

Cant see us recording a clean sheet this season and we dont have the talent up front to outscore some teams.

The problem with set pieces has been evident from the start and hopefully the new guy who has been brought in from Arsenal will help although I recollect that set pieces was one of Arsenal's problems last year.

There is definitely the need for some height and muscularity in the team.

Russell Martin is aware of the need to get rid of quite a few 'dead woods' within the squad.

As with the lack of a good striker and PL competent goalkeeper, set pieces last season were bad. Both attacking and defending them. The club have addressed one issue, seem intent to risk current GK position without competition unless McCarthy is being replaced.  Still the transfer window is open for a couple of weeks so let’s see what happens. 

[Flexter1987]

Will be a very bad season....   Someone will be fired before December . 

[gordonToo]

12 minutes ago, Smirking_Saint said:

I think we can question Martin for last night, up to a point, but at the moment its a freak result in isolation with mitigating circumstances

For me this performance was down to the manager. He picks the team and sets out the tactics. Once again we have a setup where players are shoe-hormed into positions they are not suited to with predictable results and then the manager blames the players! It's going to be a long hard season I fear.

[Smirking_Saint]

3 minutes ago, gordonToo said:

For me this performance was down to the manager. He picks the team and sets out the tactics. Once again we have a setup where players are shoe-hormed into positions they are not suited to with predictable results and then the manager blames the players! It's going to be a long hard season I fear.

So you didn’t really read what I said at all then ? What team would you have put out ?

[JRM]

They summed it up on the radio, we had 11 players out on the pitch but at no point did they look like a team, more like a bunch of strangers. 

Feel sorry for the 1800 fans who made the effort to travel for that. 

As a traditionalist and a fan of cup runs getting a bit fed up seeing games like this and Grimsby 

[James]

2 hours ago, West end Saints said:

He took responsibility. 

Happy with youngsters. 

Stu, Aribo, Mara were getting minutes as part of their recovery, although he said was disappointed with Mara. 

Postive about Charlie and Che

So seemed to be aiming criticism as Mccarthy, Lyanco, Djenepo, Perraud, Bree, Ounachu? 

Don't think he referred to Meghoma and Charles? 

Slightly odd that he had positive things to say about so many of the players considering the overall performance was an absolute car crash. Not sure what Che did to warrant positive attention, he was anonymous. 

Early days but have a slight concern about Charles already - just not sure what he is, he’s neat and tidy but doesn’t seem to be particularly strong in the tackle nor does he appear to have a goal threat of any sort. Looks like another Smallbone type in my mind - if and when JWP departs I’m not sure he is really the replacement….

[Ade]

I went to Priestfield last night. Living a 5 minute drive from the ground I often go to The Gills with my two Gills season ticket holding mates and saw them a lot last season when they truly were the worst team in the league. Then the takeover came and money was put in to strengthen and they turned their season around and finished as one of the best sides in the division – stats showed they would have gained automatic promotion if results were extrapolated. They have strengthened again this season and are looking for automatic promotion, so they are no mugs. However, I was still confident we could progress through to the next round. Then I saw the team and thought this will not be easy. But I had confidence that the new possession football RM plays should still be more than enough to win this match.

Oh, how wrong was I? To say we were poor I think is an understatement and I’m going to try and not single out any player for criticism. Yes, we were very poor but the stats though paint a different picture…72% possession, 20 shots, 5 on target. However, my issue with this possession football, and don’t get me wrong, I like it..up to a point, but my issue is that we can knock it around with some nice pretty short passing, but ultimately it’s about scoring goals and to score goals we must create chances and we can’t do that. It’s great passing along the back four from side to side, then into midfield, up the wings, back into midfield, to the other wing and so it goes on, with no real end product, apart from ultimately a pass inside and a shot from outside the box. Easily dealt with or off target, although our goal was a deflected shot from outside the box. We are not going to score many like that each game.

On to defending, especially set pieces. We just can’t do it. Two central defenders are easily outmuscled and a goalkeeper who stays rooted to his line. As my Gills mate said last night, all they had to do was sling it in the mixer and they’ll get a chance.

Gillingham, though, were good, and played some good stuff, even getting ‘ole’d’ from their fans for a period in the 2^nd half when they were outpassing us for a minute or two. They scored 3 but in truth it could, and probably should have been more, with a free header they put over from a corner in the first half and what looked like a perfectly good goal disallowed from another corner late in the first half. Plus a point blank save from McCarthy from another corner 2^nd half.

We were embarrassing. Martin needs to get this team passing and creating opportunities, not this 'no risk' passing and passing and passing and nothing on the end, otherwise I fear a long season ahead where we will have the majority possession in games but lose, just like last night. 

Just on those stats again as I think it is important and shows what I think will happen a lot this season. It’s not about how much you have the ball but what you do with it that counts:

Saints 72% possession, 20 shots, 1 goal (hit the bar once)

Gills 28% possession, 9 shots, 3 goals (should’ve been more)

[Miltonaggro]

57 minutes ago, Doctoroncall said:

As with the lack of a good striker and PL competent goalkeeper, set pieces last season were bad. Both attacking and defending them. The club have addressed one issue, seem intent to risk current GK position without competition unless McCarthy is being replaced.  Still the transfer window is open for a couple of weeks so let’s see what happens. 

Jarring to see GB frozen to his line against Sheffield Wednesday, which in his case seems to be about lack of craft and physicality.  This will have been noticed by opposition and frequently targeted unless its addressed.  I hope we are at least considering Schmeichel as competition and mentor.  We have the new set piece coach of course, but so desperately need to strengthen in terms of height and strength right through the spine.

[sandwichsaint]

1 hour ago, Smirking_Saint said:

We have a crucial game against Norwich on Saturday, if we had played Stephens/Bednarek or any of our first choice CMs last night and they picked up an injury then the opinion would rightly be;

“why did we play them in a nothing game”

I think we can question Martin for last night, up to a point, but at the moment its a freak result in isolation with mitigating circumstances

Hypo isn’t really wrong in his insistence to ask what you’d do differently ?
 

It did pertinently highlighted our need for reinforcement even before further outgoings though, of that I agree

Hopefully it wasn’t the Sheff Weds result that was a ‘a freak result in isolation’.

that performance and result was entirely in keeping with our last thirty something games.

Hoping for a convincing performance on Saturday from the first team (and I think we will get it).

[gio1saints]

I don’t expect consistency from the squad, yet, if and when we play with consistency to the standard we know the first 11 are capable of, we will get promoted. 
until then not only will we continue to lose these games but we will lose them and look really bad. We will look really bad because it’s currently my way or the highway. Any player deviates from that is going to get dropped and sold. So if it’s not working but yuu do what you’re told then, for players much as they might dislike being best, they are doing their job as per their employers specification. 
The younger players cannot even talk back. And they tend to be our best. The older ones are seasoned pros and they know the score - so they will carry in it risk getting ditched. With deference to Lyanco he must have pissed of Russell mightily playing the way he did at times, does he think he’s a footballer ffs??? Carrying /dribbling ball out of defence and attempting Hollywood passes. He’s got a strong streak in him as does Alvarez. People might not rate L but he appear to have courage and self belief. Maybe his skill does not match up to reality but he’s a man alright and not someone to flinch. Cannot be said about some of the others. 

[trousers]

10 hours ago, Kermitzasaint said:

Seeing as you're convinced I'm Jones, how do you explain my comments about Ralph years before I was signed by Ankerson? 

Just coincidence I guess.

Ah yes , league 2. Damned small buttons on my phone whist being half asleep 

I'm just curious as to why c.99% of your  posts have been about criticising Hassenhuttl, Selles and Martin but not one single post criticising Jones when he was manager...

Just a coincidence I guess...

[Whitey Grandad]

23 minutes ago, Ade said:

I went to Priestfield last night. Living a 5 minute drive from the ground I often go to The Gills with my two Gills season ticket holding mates and saw them a lot last season when they truly were the worst team in the league. Then the takeover came and money was put in to strengthen and they turned their season around and finished as one of the best sides in the division – stats showed they would have gained automatic promotion if results were extrapolated. They have strengthened again this season and are looking for automatic promotion, so they are no mugs. However, I was still confident we could progress through to the next round. Then I saw the team and thought this will not be easy. But I had confidence that the new possession football RM plays should still be more than enough to win this match.

Oh, how wrong was I? To say we were poor I think is an understatement and I’m going to try and not single out any player for criticism. Yes, we were very poor but the stats though paint a different picture…72% possession, 20 shots, 5 on target. However, my issue with this possession football, and don’t get me wrong, I like it..up to a point, but my issue is that we can knock it around with some nice pretty short passing, but ultimately it’s about scoring goals and to score goals we must create chances and we can’t do that. It’s great passing along the back four from side to side, then into midfield, up the wings, back into midfield, to the other wing and so it goes on, with no real end product, apart from ultimately a pass inside and a shot from outside the box. Easily dealt with or off target, although our goal was a deflected shot from outside the box. We are not going to score many like that each game.

On to defending, especially set pieces. We just can’t do it. Two central defenders are easily outmuscled and a goalkeeper who stays rooted to his line. As my Gills mate said last night, all they had to do was sling it in the mixer and they’ll get a chance.

Gillingham, though, were good, and played some good stuff, even getting ‘ole’d’ from their fans for a period in the 2^nd half when they were outpassing us for a minute or two. They scored 3 but in truth it could, and probably should have been more, with a free header they put over from a corner in the first half and what looked like a perfectly good goal disallowed from another corner late in the first half. Plus a point blank save from McCarthy from another corner 2^nd half.

We were embarrassing. Martin needs to get this team passing and creating opportunities, not this 'no risk' passing and passing and passing and nothing on the end, otherwise I fear a long season ahead where we will have the majority possession in games but lose, just like last night. 

Just on those stats again as I think it is important and shows what I think will happen a lot this season. It’s not about how much you have the ball but what you do with it that counts:

Saints 72% possession, 20 shots, 1 goal (hit the bar once)

Gills 28% possession, 9 shots, 3 goals (should’ve been more)

Thanks for your report.

I think it proves what we all know. Possession doesn’t  help you to win goals nor does it stop you conceding them.

[east-stand-nic]

Glad we crashed out as the cups are not ever gonna be on our list of priorities this season. Yeah, I get it when people talk about winning mentalities etc., but we are way too early into the RM era for that to start. Much more important that he did what he did and learnt that we have a lot of deadwood that needs to be binned. With a more trim squad, he can focus on getting in his types of players and playing his game style better and better.

JWP is off to West Ham, which I think is great for us. If we can sell Lavia for 50m we can spend a few quid on RM style of players and create a team that wants to play for the boss, not a load of wannabee prima donnas who like last night can't be bothered.

[Saint Fan CaM]

12 hours ago, Crab Lungs said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0g5lb96

Have to say that’s a very honest assessment and fair play, he has admitted the buck stops with him for selecting the team. To risk that many changes is clear evidence that the cups are of secondary importance to the club…every focus is on promotion, which is fair enough, but winning games is a collective responsibility. Let’s see how things play out on Saturday.

[Whitey Grandad]

I’ve just watched the goals. For their first our defence was wide open. Perraud just ran back towards the centre of our goal and Meghoma stood shell-shocked out on the wing wondering if he ought to get involved somehow. Meanwhile their goalscorer had the freedom of our area to jog up to the far post and have a tap in from five yards.

FFS Martin if you’re going to pick a team at the very least choose one with players in their right positions who have had some sort of training at playing with each other. Don’t just chuck them all in a bag and then tip them onto the pitch after jumbling them up a bit.

[Doctoroncall]

1 hour ago, Miltonaggro said:

Jarring to see GB frozen to his line against Sheffield Wednesday, which in his case seems to be about lack of craft and physicality.  This will have been noticed by opposition and frequently targeted unless its addressed.  I hope we are at least considering Schmeichel as competition and mentor.  We have the new set piece coach of course, but so desperately need to strengthen in terms of height and strength right through the spine.

Although harder to perform when the eleven have changed and calibre of players have dropped but it’ll be increasingly important now RM knows most of the supporting players are not up to following his tactics or committed to trying. 
 

It’s one thing having replacements ready and waiting for our saleable assets but time is moving for the more difficult to shift. I hope they have a plan as it’s important they are not at the club. 

[Doctoroncall]

2 hours ago, Whitey Grandad said:

Thanks for your report.

I think it proves what we all know. Possession doesn’t  help you to win goals nor does it stop you conceding them.

Could have been much worse if they had more time with the ball and our defence being what it was. 
 

haven't the players been told to hold the ball to invite pressure so that space is created to be used?  I agree that it’s pointless to continue to pass around the defence or pump it long in the hope of a knock down or inadvertent pass. 

[Holmes_and_Watson]

Caveat of not seeing this.

Martin has held up his hands for picking the team. And his reactions were honest and showed the frustrations, and the reasons for doing as he did.

We know from painful past experience that picking a back up team against anyone this side of a boy's brigade team is likely to get beaten.

Playing players out of position in addition to that, is asking for more trouble.

Martin does also instruct them on tactics. Where there's doubt on the ability for those tactics to be effective, then he always has the option of changing those. Not every game has to be the plan A.

However, I get why he'd want to see what the back up team did with those tactics. Especially this early on.

Because getting well beaten to a league 2 team, in his second game, is on his record. And it's a results business.

So it's just a painful lesson. One that you could see coming from the team selection. But one that Martin probably had to see for himself, and that will motivate all parties to find solutions to moving players on.

Perhaps that informed the players he didn't mention as doing well.

From the reports above, they must be working on how they convert possession into opportunities. They must be as concerned as the rest of us, so we'll hopefully see that improve. The new set piece coach is also going to be busy.

[S-Clarke]

Martin's honest views on the senior pro's is needed, for far too long some of the losers in this squad have been protected as they're ''good lads'' - i couldn't give a shit if Lyanco or Moussa are good lads, the fact is that they are failed footballers and are inept in whatever league or whatever team you put them in.

I will be so happy if we finally ship some of those out, I don't even care if it's for free, they have just stunk this place out for way too long.

[The Kraken]

12 minutes ago, S-Clarke said:

Martin's honest views on the senior pro's is needed, for far too long some of the losers in this squad have been protected as they're ''good lads'' - i couldn't give a shit if Lyanco or Moussa are good lads, the fact is that they are failed footballers and are inept in whatever league or whatever team you put them in.

I will be so happy if we finally ship some of those out, I don't even care if it's for free, they have just stunk this place out for way too long.

Agreed.

From listening to the interview though, it’s not lack of ability or impact that has done for them. Martin is angry because they didn’t do what he’s asked them to do. Which tells you everything you need to know about the attitude. Mara was ineffective but Martin at least gave him some credit for giving a go, he just didn’t get going, Martin said he’ll learn from it (though tbf he called him out on not doing what he was told). Same for Adams and Stu Armstrong, Martin seemed to make a case from them. The others (and I’m guessing they are AMc, Bree, Lyanco, Perraud, Djenepo) I think he’s decided that if the club can get shot, they’re done. Sounds like Wilcox has got a busy three weeks ahead.

Edited 9 August, 2023 by The Kraken

[Sfcphilc]

I decided to take half a days holiday and go to the game last night, getting back home at just gone 2am.

Great commitment from the 1800 fans that made the trip, which wasn't replicated on the pitch in any way shape or form. 

There were many players who should be shown the door at the earliest possible opportunity on show. I'd even go as far as paying up contracts or letting them leave on a free.

Glad to hear that Russell made similar comments after, about players which think they're Premier League players, but lose convincingly against a league 2 side. 

[Nordic Saint]

1 hour ago, S-Clarke said:

Martin's honest views on the senior pro's is needed, for far too long some of the losers in this squad have been protected as they're ''good lads'' - i couldn't give a shit if Lyanco or Moussa are good lads, the fact is that they are failed footballers and are inept in whatever league or whatever team you put them in.

I will be so happy if we finally ship some of those out, I don't even care if it's for free, they have just stunk this place out for way too long.

I'll believe 'Martin's honest views on the pros' if he never plays McCarthy or Bree again. If he does, then they're just empty words.

Edited 9 August, 2023 by Nordic Saint

[Baird of the land]

If it was an honest interview he'd have admitted playing a tiny unfit lb at CB was probably a contributing factor to getting destroyed by direct football.

[hypochondriac]

27 minutes ago, Baird of the land said:

If it was an honest interview he'd have admitted playing a tiny unfit lb at CB was probably a contributing factor to getting destroyed by direct football.

Who would you have played? Only suggestion so far is Simeu which is at best a marginal judgement call given that he's never played for the club before. 

[Galway saint]

6 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Who would you have played? Only suggestion so far is Simeu which is at best a marginal judgement call given that he's never played for the club before. 

What about a centre back ?

[Baird of the land]

4 minutes ago, hypochondriac said:

Who would you have played? Only suggestion so far is Simeu which is at best a marginal judgement call given that he's never played for the club before. 

. I don't really see why you couldn't play stephens, he dragged him all the way there to sit on the bench. Leicester are playing Faes again today, are we really suggesting Jack is incapable of playing Tuesday and Saturday. Simeu has at least played Cb at league 1/2 level if he was determined not to play Jack.

[hypochondriac]

2 minutes ago, Galway saint said:

What about a centre back ?

Any suggestions? Bearing in mind that he didn't want to risk a key player in Jack and Bednarek only returned from injury on Saturday.