Marti Cifuentes appointed new manager

[when_you're_smiling]

1 hour ago, Happy Fox said:

I would have more respect for Marti if he played a team like this.

 

Jakub

 

Joseph

Nelson

Okoli

Aluko

 

Page

BEK

 

Mavididi

Monga

Fatawu

 

Evans

 

Yeah that’s great. What would be your realistic goal this season though?

[lcfcbluearmy]

9 hours ago, honeybradger said:

It's just football. I can absolutely expect our best player to be starting in the league for us, it's not like Monga would combust just because he's 16. Should have started vs Wednesday, gotten 20-30 mins against Huddersfield then started yesterday.

 

I was also just refuting your claim that's he's given time to youth players, he hasnt really.

Just think back to when you were 16 and think how you would have handled the pressure of being told that you were the clubs best player and had to start every game and perform to your best otherwise the club wouldn’t achieve there goals. It’s a lot and that sort of pressure is how you break people and get them to burn out at such a young age. Yes he’s really good yes he should play a significant part but it’s not “just football” it’s a highly pressured situation infront of tens of thousands of highly opinionated fans. You have to realise how much that is to deal with at 16 and that he has to be managed.

 

I was also just refuting your claim that's he's given time to youth players, he hasnt really - and again he has given significant time in pre season and started Nelso, Monga and alves in the cup and brought page on at half time. It’s only been two games in the championship ffs

[Greg2607]

13 hours ago, honeybradger said:

We started with 3 non-established academy players against Huddersfield and brought 1 off the bench. Two of those, Monga and Page, played well and if everyone else played to the same level we would have won.

 

Only 2 non-established academy players were on the pitch when we conceded the goals. As usual the non-established players get blamed by our fanbase whilst the established pros get endless chances.

 

You think you are being 'reasonable' by backing the senior pros and blaming the loss on the academy players but you are actually being entirely irrational. You are part of the problem, too much support for the senior players who constantly let us down, too little support for our academy players who have talent and actually give a sh*t.

 

Players like Faes, Skipp, Winks, Okoli etc are not high level academy products. They couldn't make it at their own clubs so they had to make the step down to us or found their way here. There's a reason theyre with us in the championship in their peak years.

 

Faes for example couldn't break through at Anderlecht, he went to Excelsior where he was terrible, went to Reims where he was OK but a bit of a bombscare then somehow found a £15mil move to us, not a successful academy prospect who broke through on merit by any means.

 

I wouldnt be surprised if at the same age almost all of our starlets are Premier League players. Calvin Bassey for example is an ex academy player who is less talented than Nelson or Aluko but is comfortable at that level. I remember I was one of the only people on here pushing for Bassey to stay at the time as well.

Yes...but by your logic, bassey is a player who couldn't break through at a Premier League club, had to take a step down to get game time and then progressed from there.  

 

 

[izzymuzzet]

Marti has come into a very difficult situation. I like his attitude and he didn’t shy away from the supporters at the end yesterday. 
 

That said, if he starts Soumare, Vestergaard and Ayew next week he will lose my support quite quickly.

[fox_favourite]

1 minute ago, izzymuzzet said:

Marti has come into a very difficult situation. I like his attitude and he didn’t shy away from the supporters at the end yesterday. 
 

That said, if he starts Soumare, Vestergaard and Ayew next week he will lose my support quite quickly.

Who is Ayew's replacement? 1 goal every 5 months Daka?

[LeePhilpottsBaldSpot]

2 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

I would have more respect for Marti if he played a team like this.

 

Jakub

 

Joseph

Nelson

Okoli

Aluko

 

Page

BEK

 

Mavididi

Monga

Fatawu

 

Evans

 

Our U21s finished 10th in the youth league last season - playing them as a first team would mean relegation and Cifuentes gone.

 

Prospects need to be eased in alongside experienced players, not thrown into a brutal league that could wreck their fitness, confidence and careers.

 

I do agree though that senior players with bad attitudes should be moved on. We need to replace our experienced pros who think they're too good for the Championship with ones who are determined to prove they are.

[fox_favourite]

1 minute ago, LeePhilpottsBaldSpot said:

Our U21s finished 10th in the youth league last season - playing them as a first team would mean relegation and Cifuentes gone.

 

Prospects need to be eased in alongside experienced players, not thrown into a brutal league that could wreck their fitness, confidence and careers.

 

I do agree though that senior players with bad attitudes should be moved on. We need to replace our experienced pros who think they're too good for the Championship with ones who are determined to prove they are.

Exactly this! Even it's loans this season some positive attitude is needed injected in this squad to start our season. 

[izzymuzzet]

8 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

Who is Ayew's replacement? 1 goal every 5 months Daka?

We need to sign a striker. But of those two, I’d play Daka over Ayew because at least he can press.

[honeybradger]

18 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

Yes...but by your logic, bassey is a player who couldn't break through at a Premier League club, had to take a step down to get game time and then progressed from there.  

 

 

I agree with your statement, Bassey and Faes are in the same bracket, players who couldnt break through but went and made a career for themselves elsewhere. Bassey obviously doing so much more successfully than Faes as he has actually done well at multiple clubs.

 

Monga, Nelson, Evans, Alves, Aluko are talent wise in the tier above Bassey. If Bassey can be successful at Rangers and at Fulham in the PL then the aforementioned can be PL level players if backed properly. Backing Faes, Ayew, Mcateer, Vestergaard ahead of PL level talents doesnt make sense to me, they will only ever be championship level players and the crop of talents we have now can be so much more. Why not play them?

 

[fox_favourite]

2 minutes ago, izzymuzzet said:

We need to sign a striker. But of those two, I’d play Daka over Ayew because at least he can press.

That is true. It's just a shame he has a touch like a drunk Sunday league player, nor does he have the intelligence to play in the position. He just isn't suited the type of striker Marti wants/needs in his system

Edited 17 August 2025 by fox_favourite

[Claridge]

1 minute ago, izzymuzzet said:

We need to sign a striker. But of those two, I’d play Daka over Ayew because at least he can press.

Trouble is he is too slow realise when to do it and is pretty rubbish at it

[honeybradger]

50 minutes ago, lcfcbluearmy said:

Just think back to when you were 16 and think how you would have handled the pressure of being told that you were the clubs best player and had to start every game and perform to your best otherwise the club wouldn’t achieve there goals. It’s a lot and that sort of pressure is how you break people and get them to burn out at such a young age. Yes he’s really good yes he should play a significant part but it’s not “just football” it’s a highly pressured situation infront of tens of thousands of highly opinionated fans. You have to realise how much that is to deal with at 16 and that he has to be managed.

 

I was also just refuting your claim that's he's given time to youth players, he hasnt really - and again he has given significant time in pre season and started Nelso, Monga and alves in the cup and brought page on at half time. It’s only been two games in the championship ffs

Actually watch the game. Monga is the only player we have who is performing in our current situation. Fatawu on the other hand who everyone would undeniably start lost his head the other day, which he does regularly.

 

Writing Monga off because of his age is silly to me, he's clearly ready right now and might actually already be too good for us. I prefer to evaluate players on how they perform on the pitch rather than their age, Monga is the most mature player we have out of the lot of them. The way he went to pick up the ball after scoring speaks volumes.

 

I am not Monga so no i wouldnt have done well under the pressure at 16, but if we had a big game i would back Monga to perform more than I would petulant senior players like Winks, Vestergaard, Faes.

 

I think you wouldnt start Lamine Yamal if he was here to be honest simply because of his age.

Edited 17 August 2025 by honeybradger

[lcfcbluearmy]

1 minute ago, honeybradger said:

Actually watch the game. Monga is the only player we have who is performing in our current situation. Fatawu on the other hand who everyone would undeniably start lost his head the other day, which he does regularly.

 

Writing Monga off because of his age is silly to me, he's clearly ready right now and might actually already be too good for us. I prefer to evaluate players on how they perform on the pitch rather than their age, Monga is the most mature player we have out of the lot of them. The way he went to pick up the ball after scoring speaks volumes.

 

I think you wouldnt start Lamine Yamal if he was here to be honest simply because of his age.

I’m not weighting him off I’m saying you can’t expect to put the pressure on a 16 year old to be start and run the team every week and expect him to perform to his best without sufficient support beside him. It just won’t happen even tamal wouldn’t be able to do it in a struggling team. The pressure of hinging promotion chances on a 16 year old will cause him to break. I’m not saying don’t play him, I’m not even saying don’t start him but you need to stop hinging all your hopes on a 16 year old the manager knows that and is being sensible.

 

you are now resulting to personal attacks rather than actually responding to points so I am going to stop responding to you

[Greg2607]

16 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

I agree with your statement, Bassey and Faes are in the same bracket, players who couldnt break through but went and made a career for themselves elsewhere. Bassey obviously doing so much more successfully than Faes as he has actually done well at multiple clubs.

 

Monga, Nelson, Evans, Alves, Aluko are talent wise in the tier above Bassey. If Bassey can be successful at Rangers and at Fulham in the PL then the aforementioned can be PL level players if backed properly. Backing Faes, Ayew, Mcateer, Vestergaard ahead of PL level talents doesnt make sense to me, they will only ever be championship level players and the crop of talents we have now can be so much more. Why not play them?

 

Again...you are conflating your views with reality. 

 

Jannick may well have weaknesses.  BUT he has played over 250 games at the very highest level in the bundesliga and the premier league.  He has 55 caps for Denmark.  

 

To claim he is "only ever going to be" a championship player is wholly and factually inaccurate.  

 

For sure, he's on the slide and Nelson may prove to be a better player.... IF Nelson ends up with 50 international caps and 250 Premier League appearances, he will consider himself to have had a VERY successful footballing career. 

 

Remove the rose tinted glasses a little. 

 

I fully accept your point, we need to develop and blood the talent coming through.  We need to stretch them and give them time to grow.  

 

But don't do that AND in the same breath dismiss the careers of the players who have "made it". 

[honeybradger]

2 minutes ago, lcfcbluearmy said:

I’m not weighting him off I’m saying you can’t expect to put the pressure on a 16 year old to be start and run the team every week and expect him to perform to his best without sufficient support beside him. It just won’t happen even tamal wouldn’t be able to do it in a struggling team. The pressure of hinging promotion chances on a 16 year old will cause him to break. I’m not saying don’t play him, I’m not even saying don’t start him but you need to stop hinging all your hopes on a 16 year old the manager knows that and is being sensible.

 

you are now resulting to personal attacks rather than actually responding to points so I am going to stop responding to you

Im not hinging my hopes on Monga. He could start next week and have a poor game and my opinion of him would not change. 

 

Im just saying that he is part of our best XI and by Cifuentes not starting him he's not giving us the best chance of winning games.

 

'Sensible' decisions have been killing this club for years now, it was 'sensible' last summer to bring in PL experience, it was 'sensible' the summer before that to bring in Coady and Winks on PL wages as not getting promotion would cost more, it was 'sensible' the year before that to play Ward over Iversen because of experience, it was 'sensible' to let the rot continue under Rodgers as he delivered two top 5 finishes and an FA cup. 

 

Im tired of mind numbing 'sensible' decisions being made at this club, we need to start making decisions that actually put the club on the right path again, decisions that actually make sense. A good start would be to commit to a proper rebuild around the youth and start giving minutes on merit rather than seniority.

[Bordersfox]

Having finally calmed down enough to watch Cifuentes post match interview a couple of things encourage me.

 

Firstly, a real, tactical insight into what we did poorly against PNE - a far cry from the vague waffle of Cooper or RVN.  Secondly, no shying away that there are issues within the team dynamic.  He's not a fool and identifying issues is the first step towards solving them. He needs help from Top though with some new blood.  

Edited 17 August 2025 by Bordersfox

[honeybradger]

5 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

Again...you are conflating your views with reality. 

 

Jannick may well have weaknesses.  BUT he has played over 250 games at the very highest level in the bundesliga and the premier league.  He has 55 caps for Denmark.  

 

To claim he is "only ever going to be" a championship player is wholly and factually inaccurate.  

 

For sure, he's on the slide and Nelson may prove to be a better player.... IF Nelson ends up with 50 international caps and 250 Premier League appearances, he will consider himself to have had a VERY successful footballing career. 

 

Remove the rose tinted glasses a little. 

 

I fully accept your point, we need to develop and blood the talent coming through.  We need to stretch them and give them time to grow.  

 

But don't do that AND in the same breath dismiss the careers of the players who have "made it". 

I'll be honest I respect that you like Vestergaard and it's hard to argue with the appearance stats but he's shite im sorry to say.

 

The fact that Southampton managed to turn their season around in 19/20 from the 9-0 by dropping him shows how tragic of a player he really is. Him and Faes are two of the worst defenders to ever play at Premier league level and that's not a hyperbole, definitely not PL level and never was.

[TrentFox]

The judging of MC before at least the end of September would be wrong. We all know he’s inherited a broken squad and he won’t know who he will be able to rely on until this window has closed. Then he gets a month to work closely with them. By October, we should start to see what is likely to be our team/style for this season. So hope he succeeds with the crap hand he’s been given as he seems like genuinely good guy. 

[AyewJoking]

Never rated Cif but clubs ****ed so couldnt turn our noses up.

 

No surprize he's already in a hole

[Greg2607]

23 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

I'll be honest I respect that you like Vestergaard and it's hard to argue with the appearance stats but he's shite im sorry to say.

 

The fact that Southampton managed to turn their season around in 19/20 from the 9-0 by dropping him shows how tragic of a player he really is. Him and Faes are two of the worst defenders to ever play at Premier league level and that's not a hyperbole, definitely not PL level and never was.

I don't really like him that much to be honest.... I just don't think you can disregard his career and say he's championship level at best. 

[honeybradger]

50 minutes ago, Greg2607 said:

I don't really like him that much to be honest.... I just don't think you can disregard his career and say he's championship level at best. 

Danny ward has 40 caps for Wales and 40 PL games yet you wouldnt say he was ever a PL level goalie.

 

I just dont think Vestergaard ever had a season where he was a solid Premier League player. He might have played at that level 100 times but he never belonged there.

[Scotch]

2 hours ago, Greg2607 said:

Yes...but by your logic, bassey is a player who couldn't break through at a Premier League club, had to take a step down to get game time and then progressed from there.  

 

 

Bassey progressed because he finally accepted that he is a CB and not a LB. That's why he left because we had a different opinion on where his best position was and he's only now becoming the player he is because he's accepted that he was wrong. 

[Greg2607]

3 minutes ago, honeybradger said:

Danny ward has 40 caps for Wales and 40 PL games yet you wouldnt say he was ever a PL level goalie.

 

I just dont think Vestergaard ever had a season where he was a solid Premier League player. He might have played at that level 100 times but he never belonged there.

Sure.... And I promise I'm not "defending" vestergaard and claiming he was Bobby Moore or something....BUT..... 

 

BOTH players turned professional in 2010.... 

 

In that time one has played 285 top flight games and the other has played 31..... 26 of which came in a single season. 

 

So I agree... Ward was never a "PL Level player". Vestegaard was. You don't play 285 games at that level if you don't belong there. You just don't.  

 

It doesn't mean he still belongs at that level. It doesn't necessarily mean he should be starting for us either in the championship. I'm just defending his career. 

[Greg2607]

3 minutes ago, Scotch said:

Bassey progressed because he finally accepted that he is a CB and not a LB. That's why he left because we had a different opinion on where his best position was and he's only now becoming the player he is because he's accepted that he was wrong. 

Oh absolutely. But honey badger also can't say we never let him break through.  We wanted him to be a CB and he didn't want to be.   

 

He would also have needed to oust chilwell from the team in order to break through in what was his "preferred" position.  

[RobHawk]

Most dangerous we've looked imo is when we played daka and Ayew together. Ayew could drop and hold up the ball and daka stayed further forward to stretch the play.