**** me, I really wanted to believe this one would work, what an idiot I've been. I really wanted Martin to come in, and for us all to be wrong about our misgivings, and for us to hit the ground running. But no, it seems to be playing out just as we all feared it would.
This appointment was probably the most crucial one the club has ever had to make, and they have well and truly gambled with it. Martin was already an unpopular choice with the fans, and was coming to us on the back of being sacked by Southampton before going through a turbulent time at Rangers - he was always going to need to get off to a good start - he needed a better start than we would have afforded someone like Dave Challinor, or Nigel Pearson.
Instead we've drawn with two clubs coming up from LEAGUE TWO, we've been beaten by Burton, we've been thrashed by Oxford, and we managed to get a win over the line - just - against Plymouth. It's been a truly horrible start. And the problem is, I can't see how it improves. What does peak Martin-ball look like? This obsession with possession over everything else is just ludicrous.
Yes, we average 70% possession each game, but there's no intention behind it. The majority of our possession is the two CBs passing to eachother, out to midfield, then back to the CBs. It puts our defence under so much pressure, every single game, and leads to multiple easy chances against us. At the same time, it nullifies our attack too - by the time we have ponderously worked the ball forward, the opposition box is flooded with opposing players, and there's no room to do anything other than to take a snap shot that never looks like going in. There's no pace to it, there's no urgency, there's seemingly no plan.
This style of football at the top level has arguably had it's day - fewer and fewer clubs are focusing on this Pep-ball possession style - I don't understand why we are so wedded to it? The smash and grab, blood and thunder style that won us the league - THAT is our identity. This desire to evolve us and turn us into an 'elite club' with an 'elite' style of play basically started in Ranieri's second season, and was cemented with Rodgers' appointment. I will give him his due, some of the football under him was genuinely very, very good to watch. But then we had an embarrassment of riches in terms of playing staff at times under him, and even then it quickly soured. We've been clinging onto the idea that this is how we MUST play ever since then, and I just can't for the life of me understand why Top and Rudkin think like this. Why they think that chasing this 'standard' season after season will somehow stop the rot and take us back to our glory days, when it was never what got us there in the first place.
We averaged 42% possession the season we won the league - we did more with that 42% than we ever look likely to with Martin's 70%. He has to go, but so do the board and the ownership who appointed him - this was last chance saloon stuff, and to give Martin a three year contract, presumably on higher wages than most League One managers, is tantamount to negligence. And if they don't go, even if Martin is sacked, the root problem is never fixed.