Saints Fan In Peace

That was definitely part of it, but as you've probably noticed, when his job's not at stake he'll still force McCarthy to try and play out, even though as you say he is absolutely shit at it. In the play-offs, there was a noticeable tactical shift further up the pitch as well. Still possession-heavy, but the usual 100 sideways and backwards passes in the horseshoe of death fell by the wayside. It was suddenly much more direct, getting from back to front much quicker and getting runners in behind. He admitted afterwards "We had to win, it was a one-off game". That apparent pragmatism was very welcome, it worked, and we thought the penny had finally dropped for him, but then in the PL against much stronger opposition he went back to his old ways and sure enough we got smashed every week giving up soft goal after soft goal with the tippy tappy and the suicidal stuff in our own box. That was when he came out with his legendary quote about how he'd rather lose playing that way than win ugly, which was when he pretty much lost any remaining fans who'd stuck by him up to that point. Anyway. I genuinely hope that he's finally learning that winning ugly is better every day of the week than losing pretty. Good luck for tonight.

It's what he does when he's in genuine danger of getting the boot. Once he buys himself a bit of breathing space with a couple of pragmatic results, he'll revert back to his 'brand' even though it's way less effective. He did it for our play-off final as well, when there was £100m riding on it and he was possibly being shown the door if we lost. Mad isn't it. And does make you wonder how much he truly believes in 'the system' himself when the chips are down, and how much of it just vanity / ego and wanting to be regarded as a certain type of manager.

I see your 65% and raise you to 68% - this was another one from the same season:

It's worth noting that we actually managed to get dicked 9-0 AGAIN the following season (by an average Man Utd side), and McCarthy was in goal for that one.

What you need to understand is that 1. it is never, ever his fault; 2. it’s never, ever down to his tactics, it’s always a mentality/ bravery issue; and 3. he will never, ever change it. Everything clicking into place is always just around the corner. Plan B is to do Plan A better. He always knows best. You just need to trust the process. In the Russell Martin post-match interview lifecycle you’re currently at the ‘Everyone’s hurting, but if they just did what I tell them they’d be fine’ stage. Wait until you move onto the ‘I’m going to actively smirk and scoff at any suggestion that my approach might be the problem’ stage. It’s usually accompanied by a dig at the fans for not clapping along while you give up soft goal after soft goal. When you reach that point it’s a good sign, as that’s usually the beginning of the end.

You don’t even need to be a professional football manager to know how to set up to beat his teams. Any Rangers or Saints fan off the street could tell you. And the easiest thing about it is that he never, ever changes it. He never surprises the opposition with a shape change or switching anything up to reflect an opposition’s weakness and gain an advantage. So the opposition manager will just sit his players down at the start of the week, say ‘right lads, this is what they’ll do and this is how you counter it’, then they practice it all week, and then that’s exactly what happens on match day. Even when he’s losing again and again and again he doesn’t change it. He always thinks it will work next time. It’s absurd. Melchett Martin.

It's not a tactical issue, it's a mentality issue. Trust the process.

Talksport saying he could go if this ends like this

The '135 shots' thing conveniently draws attention away from where the real issue always lies with his teams, which is that they always leak a high number of goals. He simply does not know how to coach a team to defend effectively. Never has, never will. And if you're leaking goals every single game you play, then it means you're having to score at least 2 or 3 every game yourselves to have a chance, which makes winning very difficult. Which we found out, as did Rangers.

The déjà vu is genuinely remarkable. Every single beat, playing out exactly the same way as it has at his other clubs. The tactics, the performances, the stats, the results, the approach to fans and media, the turns of phrase, the stubbornness, the excuses, the refusal to take responsibility. But if you buy a Ford Fiesta you can’t then be surprised when your experience of owning one replicates everything you’ve read a million times in reviews of the Ford Fiesta. Your board hired Russell Martin. They’re getting Russell Martin. It’s on them.

That’s pretty much him in a nutshell. In a midfield two he’s totally ineffective - too lightweight, can’t tackle, no aerial ability, doesn’t track back enough, no pace. Get it into his feet as the most advanced of a midfield three and he can absolutely contribute. Very tidy on the ball, got a good eye for a pass and got goals in him arriving late into the box. He split the room a bit with us but a lot of people have a soft spot for him as he threaded the pass at Wembley for the goal that won the play-off final. Martin loves him as he looks after the ball, is comfortable playing one touch and keeps it moving. Just don’t expect him to add anything physically. What I’m not sure about is his current fitness record. I know he had a long time out with ACL problems but no idea if he’s fully over that. Yes he does suffer from a form of alopecia. It started about 5-6 years ago and it hit him quite hard at the time. As a young lad taking shit for it from football supporters it knocked his confidence. But fair play to him, he embraced it and is now an ambassador for alopecia UK. Overall, keep him fit and play him in the right areas, give him runners in behind to pick out and he’ll add something. He’s got the quality on the ball to do well up to decent Championship level if used correctly, he’s a good lad and the vast majority of Saints fans are wishing him well and want him to succeed with you.

Can't speak to all the detail of the broader passing stats, but re the nuts and bolts of goals scored and conceded (e.g. defensive errors/ shots conceded / goals conceded / chances created / goals scored / xG / GD): From the BBC report after his sacking at Southampton: 'Southampton had the most errors leading to goals (10) and the most mistakes leading to shots (26) [in the league]. Martin's side also faced a league high of 108 shots on target. Their tally of 11 goals was a league low.' From the BBC report after his sacking at Rangers: 'Even in victory there were serious red flags. Martin's side faced an eye-watering 73 shots across four matches while progressing past Pananthinaikos and Viktoria Plzen. The underlying numbers were not sustainable. In the Premiership, no team has had fewer clean sheets. They are on a negative goal difference. Their expected goals (xG) rating out of nine, ranks them eighth.' 'Even with that evidence, Martin often said his team's deficiencies were down to mentality issues, and not tactics.'

Regardless of thoughts on Martin, can I just point out that like everything else that comes out of Charlie Austin's mouth, this is bullshit. When he was with us was permanently a stone overweight, and if he did get picked, which was increasingly rare because of his doughnut intake, he hobbled about on his shredded knees for a bit and then got subbed. He could barely last an hour, never mind 3 x 90 minutes a week. And that div has never made an intelligent comment in his life so it's a bit rich of him to set up a YouTube channel called CHAZ KICKS OFF specifically so he can shout stuff he's made up, and then start telling other people to wind their necks in. There's a reason he's done over 200 videos and yet they're still getting less than 300 views each. And that reason is that he's an absolute, solid gold throbber. Sorry. Had to get that off my chest. I'll go back to lurking now.

Russell's first club as a player... 👀