martyn

What a rubbish track this is.

Worry a little bit for Braybrooke. He isn't suited to this weird high and wide position he has been taking up for a lot of the season, and with Lundstram in, he isn't going to get too much time in the deeper central role which his skillset is more geared towards. If Chaplin gets fit, i think his position is likely under a bit of threat.

8 Page, Riis 7 JJ 6 Lundstram, O'Hora 5 Cullen, Alves 4 Braybrooke 2 Thomas, Souttar, McCarthy

Braybrooke cant complain tbf, been a non factor.

Had enough of Souttar

That is appalling from McCarthy

3 assists for Page

It's frustrating isn't it. The default setting the team has is to always just "reset" the play. It makes no sense either as the whole point of the style is to try and create those kind of openings with the ball, so why not exploit it on turnovers.

Souttar's distribution is hopeless. Need to try and get O Hora on it where possible.

I've far more issue with the team shape having lost possession than Thomas as an individual for that goal. Essentially a clearance finding a Stockport player had them 1 easy pass away from running with free reign at our back 4.

I don't think my post was overly critical of the man? It's posting observations about how he looks on the pitch thus far, which is well below what we need. His personal circumstances are obviously very sad, so with that said, and if he isn't mentally well enough to perform, then why are we putting him in the firing line. The "liked at a previous club" comment bears no weight. We have 3 very recent examples of players well liked at previous clubs, Ayew (Palace) Reid (Fulham), and Skipp (Norwich) who have been lamentable with us. The future of the club is allegedly at stake if we dont go up this season, we can't be carrying passengers at any level.

It seemed odd that Ipswich gave him a new contract then sold him a month later for pittance. Wonder if they noticed a massive drop off in his physical levels in pre season or something? For someone lauded by Ipswich fans as being a quick and direct winger, he looks nothing like that here. Yes he may be stymied a bit by the style of football, but he looks a mile off where he needs to be. As Ric nentioned earlier in the thread, he's towing a caravan.

Quite. I keep seeing stuff about Rangers fans warning us. We were all aware of Martin well before his stint up there.

Kick it head it merchant whose weaknesses (mobility, quality in possession) are horribly exposed by Martinball. Unless we sack the manager and/or move to a back 5 he's completely the wrong fit.

Same excuses made about lack of experience that Martin has used before when things went wrong at other clubs. Next one will be fans making the players nervous, then finally it'll be throwing the players under the bus.

The blueprint to beat his teams is so painfully obvious, and Oxford had the physicality in midfield and the pace out wide to expose it to its fullest. There aren't anywhere near enough quality chances created for the risks we take in possession defensively, and we expose ourselves to far far too much risk when turning the ball over.

Yep he was absolutely fantastic for Charlton. They absolutely love him there. You could see he had technical ability in his shirt time with us, but he was never going to recover from that penalty.

Just needs to tighten up a little bit in possession in terms of his decision making, and also when to release the pass when he goes on a run. Having said that, I didn't know he had those runs in his locker in the first place, so that's a pleasant surprise watching him. What is absolutely clear is that he has that innate talent of knowing what is around him before he receives the ball, which is half the battle as a midfield player, especially one without outstanding physical gifts. I'd like him to be given an extended run playing centrally, i think his main gifts are being wasted as a more advanced, slightly wider midfielder, and it'd give him a better chance to impose himself on games more, which is something he can also look to improve. I'm not going to go overboard, but he definitely looks like a championship standard midfielder at least, hopefully he can kick on and is trusted with the responsibility of being a main man.

Stolarczyk is a bombscare

We're seeing a level of delusion not witnessed since we last saw hfaes. The scapegoat nonsense is just that, he is now getting a level of scrutiny he has largely sidestepped until now given the sheer number of crap/unlikeable players we've had on the books over the last 2 or 3 seasons. Okoli has been (another) absolutely appalling signing, and would have been at 1/10th of the price we actually paid. Even ignoring the inability to distribute the ball unless it's 3 yards to his full back/centre back partner having spent 5 minutes sorting his feet out, he gets caught wrong side frequently, gets rolled far too easily for someone of his size, and just exudes panic and freneticism in pretty much everything he does. He is the absolute antithesis of what you want from a centre half. Just another in the long list of absolute dross we've suffered in recent seasons.

Souttar, Okoli and Skipp can't be at the club by the end of the window. Cullen is a dud and its absolutely fair to assert that even after 1.5 games. Bristric looks like he might have a bit about him. Would much rather have Braybrooke centrally rather than the weird inside right position he's finding himself in.

£40m on Skipp and Okoli. Just beggars belief.

Yep, he is the anti Joe Wormleighton.

xG of 2.5 v 0.6. Embarrassing.

There is 1 player out of 7 in the spine of this team capable of playing whatever Martinball is.