Pliskin

A manager can make a huge difference. We are all well aware that there are fragilities, within the group but it’s all down to psychology, regardless of players attitudes towards a club, if they have a manager who appeals to their desires…. For example if you’ve got a player who wants away, endeavour to tap into that desire by getting them to essentially play themselves into a move away…… benefits everyone, there are managers who will be able to achieve this, just because a players wants to leave, doesn’t mean you can’t get them back onside one way or another……. Who that manager is, is naturally a massive question…. But I just don’t think this project is working with Marti. You make a good point about needing a wholesale refresh, we do, but it’s not realistic at the moment is it? We’ve got financial problems that I don’t think will even rest once this has done, I can see the EFL trying to have a go again with something fresh. So financially, unless we take a “**** ‘ems” approach, it’s likely to bubble on for a bit longer. It’s down to having the right people at the club. I agree with on pitch leaders, we have none, none once did Ricardo get in the ear of the referee yesterday, despite several terrible calls to book our players when none of Stokes were getting booked…

Things a great point, and it takes a manager with exceptional man management abilities to achieve this. We saw this with Enzo, he improved players, and has exceptional man management skills, which is remarkable considering it was his first job…… But with Marti, I just don’t get that, I just don’t think that his man management is good, the body language is terrible and as you rightly say we’re still mentally fragile. A new manager should breed a new lease of life, with the right type of character this can be achieved quickly. I just feel Marti got off to a bad start with a late arrival, no real transfer business, and a club on its arse…. So I don’t really blame him, he’s been asked to do something he can’t achieve, but it’s not what we need…..

I agree! Other than that, was it probably Liverpool? Lookman’s winner?

Swansea was okay, and the first half against Portsmouth. Other than that, I’ve not seen a decent performance.

He’s not got any physical attributes, he’s slow and built like a 13 year old. Couple that with his defensive frailties, and it’s frankly one of life mysteries that he’s operating as a professional footballer.

Most of that defence has eased this league before, and are international players. Player for player on paper this squad is still better than Stoke’s. It’s been said a million times that this side has glaring fragility, but int he same breath it’s got more than enough to be in the top cluster of teams in this league. What we’re seeing now is tactical problems, Marti’s philosophy isn’t working.

A sensible option would have been to have dropped to a back three. Silko Thomas is shit, it was a rubbish substitution, along with his more ridiculous decision to persist with Soumare.

If you can be, then I want whatever you’re taking.

Thomas being suspended is literally the best thing ever. Best place for him is sat in the stands. Aluko has to be given a chance. Either way, it’s immaterial as we will lose this one.

None, Cov will win the league at a canter, the rest of us, it will be like watching tramps fight over a bag of chips.

Absolutely Trash manager, horrible football, tactically clueless and has reverted back to the “tried and tested”. Seen more than enough, get him gone, and Top, you can **** off with him too.

Positive, we somehow won…. Negatives, everything else. ****ing terrible game, mildly entertaining but not for footballing reasons, for the shenanigans, hopeless referring and general scrappiness.. We didn’t deserve to win, I thought we were horrible. Two moments of quality provided the goals, other than that we were pretty terrible, I’d go as far as saying it’s one of our worst performances, two exceptional saves got us the three points today coupled with Stokes inability to finish, but I thought at the very least they deserved a point. It’s now getting to the stage where it’s tactical, Marti’s philosophy is disgusting, the football is utterly turgid and completely unimaginative. The majority of these players have played a similar style before, but the way we play you would think they’ve never passed a football before. The playing from the back is embarrassingly bad, what on earth are they being asked to do? Winks and Skipp drop far too deep, meaning the opposition can push right up and peg us in, and then there’s no way out other than Yannick to pass to Winks who under pressure bundles the ball to Faes who then again under pressure either bundles is back to Begovic, or bundles it to Ricardo who then launches it down the wing to Fatawu but instead concedes possession. This is a fairly simple tactic, you need your two midfielders to sit higher in the pitch, so winks drops into the hole creating space for the likes of James to drop into or Ricardo to invert into and then a pass and go triangle can see you playing through the press….. we did it all of the time under Enzo, Winks Ricardo and James should have the ability to play in this way. Ricardo is inverting at the wrong time, and he is getting caught in midfield constantly, allowing Stoke to break. The “passing” is far too slow, sideways and with absolutely zero movement off the ball, again this is a coaching/tactical problem. The second half was even worse than the first, I recall James’s miss control, and Abdul’s ball across the box being the only two moments that troubled Stoke? The subs were ****ing abhorrent, again, Silko Thomas has no business playing senior football, he’s absolutely trash, and he leaves Monga on the bench? Very, Very fortunate to have come away with three points, another red herring of a performance.

Monga says that 10 is his best position.

Just his complete inability, or reluctance, to change the system…… just try a different ****ing shape….. absolutely bollocks…..

How the **** does Luke Thomas start week in week out? The lads the ****ing garbage.

I’m actually going after boycotting recently. And it’s going to be utterly dreadful. I’m only going to see my mates, have a beer and a catchup, the thing in between will be just because.

You’ll soon come crashing down to earth after we concede a 96th minute equaliser after being completely abhorrent yet again for 90 minutes. It’s going to be great, piss wet through, sideways and backwards passing…..

This will be a rerun of the 2003 match won’t it? Wet, miserable and two absolutely honking teams shitting it out together. Compiled by this predictable line up. Begovic Ricardo Vestegaard Faes Thomas James Winks Skipp Fatawu Ayew Daka

There isn’t. It’s absolutely ****ing dross. I can’t stand it, the football is genuinely horrific, it’s stuck between long balls, and slow boring possession. How anyone can actually enjoy it is beyond me….. and we’re one of those teams.

I reckon he will be a good manager/coach. He’s got the right football intelligence.

It depends on what type of manager you have and their ability to manage their staff. Enzo was able to turn the heads of players who wanted away. It’s how you appeal to their desires, if they can contribute, but want away, you can sell it as an opportunity for them to play themselves to another club. It’s down to your management style, no matter how demotivated you are, the right coach can turn you around….. As I’ve said, it’s my opinion that Marti is trying to get the team to play to his philosophy, and not on a way that suits the profile of the players. Nothing will change, we won’t get any better, and the performances on the pitch rest solely on Marti’s head. The slow laborious buildup, the lack of desire to get the ball to the wide players and isolate their fullbacks…. The lack of chances created despite having two of the best wide players in the league. There’s a lot wrong with this team yes, but there’s also a lot of this team that have gotten out of this league fairly easily before. Marti isn’t the right fit… he will eventually be sacked in my opinion, perhaps not until we’ve failed to go up, or until it looks like we’re on the verge of going down. But he will be sacked. He should have gone after the Norwich game, that was a red herring and the decision not to remove him sooner will come back to bite us.

I’ve written him off already, 5 wins in 16 is it? Is hideous. There are shortcomings in this team, but it’s better than that….. he’s the wrong fit for me, and he won’t ever work unless he gets essentially a whole new team. Which won’t happen. So we need a manager in my opinion that will work the the teams skillset, and develop from there.

I’m of the same mindset as you. And I’m a bit perplexed that there’s a fair few on here who have claimed “they’re nothing to be scared of”…. Well, set up properly I wouldn’t be no, but did those same people say “we will be fine we’ve got Blackburn next”…. Well will lose this game, simply because of how Marti will go about it plus our frail confidence at the moment.

I think any amount of deduction will be pretty bad for us…. Especially whilst Marti is still here, we’re seemingly making no progress at all, so 4 points could still be extremely costly come the end of the season.

Didn’t he predict “up to 12” when we were let off last time?