funkyrobot

He absolutely wasn’t fine today. He actually should be fined today for that performance. The only positive thing I can say about him is he was better than Okoli and Thomas

He was critical about the first 25 mins and rightly so. 2-0 down and then down to 10 men.

Before the red he had no energy, no pace in his game, zero creativity. Not got the attributes to be a pivot. It was this lack of pace and energy that ultimately resulted in the red. Needs to go. He’s never been good enough and is no better in League 1

Yeh I’ve corrected it. Luke Thomas on the other hand has had 4 consecutive relegations 😬

Supposedly it’s a two year exploratory deal with Castore starting next year. Their pricing model allows the club to take a higher percentage of the shirt royalties compared to Adidas which is probably why they are likely to switch. The massive problem is Castore shirts look awful and they’ve had many quality issues over the last few years including missing badges, peeling sponsors and sweat wicking fails. I’d hit the Adidas merch hard this season because if it is Castore our shirts are going to look as shit and as cheap as Leicester Tigers ones do this year, and they’ll still cost £75.

Yeh sorry my bad.🤣

He’s had 3 consecutive relegations. 1 in Italy and now 2 with us. He’s only bettered by the 4 consecutive relegations Luke Thomas has had. Neither are good enough and both need to be replaced.

Still having nightmares about that Cruyff turn he attempted on Saturday. wtf was he thinking? It’s ok trying a move like that when you are playing a 15 a side lads and dads game on your holiday and you’re being pressed by an over eager 8 year old striker but ffs, not away at County in League 1 lad.

This lad has played football almost every day in a professional environment for over a decade and he still can’t pass the ball. He’s never going to be suited to the type of football we play. Needs to be replaced.

Yeh that was embarrassing behaviour, particularly as the lad didn’t interact with him at all. You knew at that point we would concede a goal. BTW How have the two centre backs from last season, LEAST capable of playing out from the back now playing the most extreme level of playing out from the back you will ever see. Along with a new keeper who has distribution skills every bit as poor as Beggo’s from last year? wtf

Worth a purchase

Bobby wasn’t ok at the weekend, he really struggled. Peripheral. Missed an absolute sitter, got bullied by their centre back and would’ve been part culpable for a shocking goal if it wasn’t for the Notts County lad wearing Patson Daka 50p boots.

If it wasn’t for the over crowding in English prisons, I’m sure Cooper would be imprisoned for that transfer window. He should do some serious bird for what is an absolutely brutal crime.

It will inevitably happen. McCarthy always ends up losing his place due to key errors. We just have to wait for those to occur in enough frequency for Martin to revert the lad back to where he has spent the vast majority of his career - as a back up keeper. 🤷🏻‍♂️

A 5’9” potential ball playing centre back who lacks presence, pace, ability in the air and isn’t actually that good on the ball.

Yeh Bazanu is the only keeper that Russel has had since he’s been at Southampton that is technically strong with the ball at his feet. Very important when you play risky passes out from the keeper.

I genuinely don’t think he’d get in Anstey Nomads team and that’s 4 divisions below League 1.

Thomas was terrible on the ball and it was clearly a Notts County game plan to try and let the ball come to him and press him. Looking at the stats though I’m assuming Cullo had the worst lost possession compared to how much possession he actually had as he was barely ever on the ball but when he did he was almost always robbed of it.

I look at Martin and I see a worrying disregard for the goalkeeper position throughout his recent management career. Bazanu, great with his feet but a poor keeper, McCarthy a mistake prone back up keeper, Ramsdale - a massively overrated relegation haunted keeper and a poor shot stopper, Butland another keeper with major mistakes in him and now back to McCarthy again. None of those keepers inspire confidence and appointing McCarthy as his number one now could be described as foolhardy or even negligent. The lad is now a veteran and he will not be any better than he was at his peak. Yesterday cemented all of my reservations of him as a keeper. Hesitant, error prone, slow and average with his feet, not a controller of his defence and every bit the back up keeper that he almost always has been during his long career.

How many games will he last before he’s inevitably dropped? I reckon he’ll cling on for 5 more games before he will once more become the veteran back up keeper that he undoubtedly is.

I wonder whether Faes isn’t involved because he’s effectively refusing to play. He ducked out of the Northampton game for ‘personal reasons’ and Martin’s excuse that there are interested parties in signing him and that’s why he isn’t playing is directly contradicted by the fact he’s playing Souttar. Fact remains, despite his many issues, Faes is much better suited to playing Martin-ball than Souttar and Okoli. We know Okoli is poor with his feet and now we’ve seen in two games that Souttar is not great either - nor is he apparently that bothered with defending with any vigour or even to the ref’s whistle!

McFarlane only needs to average a 4/10 every week to be a step up from LT.

McCarthy looked every bit the back up keeper that he’s been for the vast majority of his long career. Shaky and indecisive with crosses and corners and slow and cumbersome with the ball at his feet, which is a surprise for a Martin team. At his age he isn’t going to get any better. He will make key errors and lose his place at some point as he has throughout his career. He got away with one massive key error today!

I worry about this lad as a single pivot even at this level. Too slow to react, slow on the ball, doesn’t put enough pace into his pass. Not particularly creative to counter that lack of pace. He’s not a pinger of a passer, doesn’t carry the ball with much intensity and he’s only ok defensively. Can’t help thinking if we dropped (and sold?) Skipp and played Braybrooke there we would benefit from his more creative and fast single pivot qualities and then we’d also be able to bring in even more quality into the team to start like Page or Howell.

Thomas was definitely blowing out of his arse by the midway part of the second half. I thought he was targeted throughout by their right winger and came out very much second best. His love of the obtuse angle pass back to his centre back (whatever the state of the game is) is even more frustrating now we have two centre backs who are not at all good with the ball at their feet.