Marti Cifuentes appointed new manager

[LeeTheFox]

Can’t knock any of his subs today. Right decisions at the right times. Shame we’re sh*t 👍

[Heart-Shaped Fox]

Got the team lineup correct although Mavididi might need to lose his spot. 

 

We keep doing this horseshoe football around opposition boxes...easy to predict. 

 

Would like to see a full back over lap more than constantly under lapping or being in the middle. 

 

Still holding my thoughts on the manager just yet

[Tommy Fresh]

3 minutes ago, kingfox said:

Very much a work in progress. 
 

We’ve had some very worrying bad patches in all our games so far this season, I thought the first 30 minutes today was crap. 
 

Second half though, we looked far the better team, we got in enough good areas, but just wasn’t clinical enough with the final pass or shot. 
 

The fear I have is more about personnel over manager, a lot will depend on Carranza, but at this moment in time, we just look like a team without a natural goalscorer. 

I don't even think the start was crap, Cov just came out fast trying to disrupt, we dealt with it well, like with Birmingham they looked 'good' during that spell but they didn't really do a lot.

[jh95]

Did those saying we didn’t play well go to the game??

[Richmondfox]

25 minutes ago, TrickyTrevLeftPeg said:

Some daft comments in here. We should have won 2-3 nil. If Mavididi finished that golden chance you'll all be singing Marti's praises

Yet we didn’t, again, The comments are because what we are seeing every game is becoming a trend. The time for cope is gone and the foreshadowing is correct. I hope I’m wrong but until Ayew and Soumare are out of the team and players look to run into space instead of stand back, waiting for the ball to pass backwards and not attack, results won’t change. 
 

Ayew stinking every game out with the same tactics and play.  Soumare and Thomas linked by the same brain cell and Mavadidi trying to do everything and ending up with nothing.  As soon as Ricardo and JJ went off we lost all drive. Monga is a bright spark but he has a tired Ayew,  brain dead Soumare and Thomas who wont pass forwards and prefers to stand back and watch from afar. 

 

What are Martis tactics and style of play.  Pass the ball to Fatawu and hope he can skin everyone. 
 

He isn’t the saviour, at best he will steady the ship around playoff places. He came from QPR and didn’t exactly set them alight, unlike now. 
 

 

Edited 20 September 2025 by Richmondfox

[Fear Of The Fox]

12 minutes ago, Hales said:

Ridiculous wanting him gone already! Clinical finishes and we would of won. He is building a team which has been dreadful. Give them a chance!

You can't build a team with Soumare in midfield and Ayew on top while also having him roaming left, right and middle like an idiot. There were times he was running back in the midfield while we were attacking with Fatawu and I thought I was watching some sequel of Dumb and Dumber. 

I'm sorry but if a manager is alright with this farcical positioning I'll criticise him as much as I want. 

[Cincinnati Fox]

His ability to use the bench is a breath of fresh air

[CrispinLA in Texas]

We've become little Man U. No matter what manager comes in, we're shit because we've got overpaid dogshit who can't be moved on.

[Harpenden Fox]

Our best performance to date 

[martyn]

5 minutes ago, LeeTheFox said:

Can’t knock any of his subs today. Right decisions at the right times. Shame we’re sh*t 👍

Unless managing his minutes, the Hamza for Ricardo sub was a mistake.

 

We were dominant in midfield 2nd half with Ricardo and Winks linking up like in the Enzo season. When Hamza came on we lost that momentum.

 

Anyway, strange to criticise Marti today, we probably played our best football of the season in spells. 

Edited 20 September 2025 by martyn

[btswift94]

Very bizarre logic to jump straight on here to slate the manager after that. 

 

Created several big chances, were by far the better team and should have won the game. 
 

Not on the manager to finish the chances…

[Eskay]

5 minutes ago, LeeTheFox said:

Can’t knock any of his subs today. Right decisions at the right times. Shame we’re sh*t 👍

Disagree. 

The subs were all too late. 

 

The fact that Soumare played a whole 90 and Awey about 85 is a joke. 

[ronnup]

We played well. We didn't take our chances. Happens 

 

Next

[Eskay]

1 minute ago, btswift94 said:

Very bizarre logic to jump straight on here to slate the manager after that. 

 

Created several big chances, were by far the better team and should have won the game. 
 

Not on the manager to finish the chances…

But it is on the manager to get the team to press and to not play the first 30 mins at pre season pace. 

[StinckleyFox]

Just now, Eskay said:

Disagree. 

The subs were all too late. 

 

The fact that Soumare played a whole 90 and Awey about 85 is a joke. 

The only joke is our fanbase.

 

Deluded, self entitled, simple minded babies.

[em9999]

1 minute ago, ronnup said:

We played well. We didn't take our chances. Happens 

 

Next

Was I watching a different team 

[Hales]

I have confidence in Jakub, the defence is so much better, midfield was better with Winks starting and JJ looked good. Caranza seemed sharp. They are also fighting and showing some grit and fight to the final whistle, he isnt afraid to make changes...all massive improvements already

Marti needs to be given time and he is building. Improvements already is a major thing.

We all need a settled team not changing managers every 5 seconds. We need to support and not criticise every thing.  We are sitting forth with things still needing to be tweaked.  I feel positive, let's support them and Marti

Edited 20 September 2025 by Hales

[Ian S]

15 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

Not convinced. He talks a good game but he's not got a single first half right and his subs today were also either wrong or too late, was obvious from 55 minutes that the donkey and Mavididi had to come off for an actual striker and Monga, takes too long to bring on Monga and then brings James off instead.

If you were watching properly you would have noticed that James was out on his feet, could hardly run anymore.He had to come off.

[The Doctor]

Just now, Ian S said:

If you were watching properly you would have noticed that James was out on his feet, could hardly run anymore.He had to come off.

he really wasn't, he was still putting in a lot more hard yards than the donkey besmirching the 9 shirt

[HankMarvin]

5 minutes ago, btswift94 said:

Created several big chances

What were they can only think of one, and Coventry had a good chance to score that rolled past the post 

[inckley fox]

7 minutes ago, Fear Of The Fox said:

This guy would have been rejected in a Mexican or Colombian b-movie as a citizen passing by a smuggler's hut and he's a football manager here paid millions. 

That's a very unusual thing to say.

 

2 minutes ago, jayfox26 said:

Some over reactions here. 

 

We were massively the better side and Marti can't be blamed for bad finishing. 

Also a very unusual thing to say. We weren't positive enough - from early on - to create a sufficient number of good chances, in spite of the number of shots. We moved the ball too slowly, too conservatively, and it sucked some of the enthusiasm out of the crowd. That looked like at least partly a tactical miscalculation to me.

 

Yes, there were two poor shots in very decent positions but we need more than that before we can say that we were 'massively' the better team, or that poor finishing was the key factor (because Cov also had their chances). Neither side was particularly impressive to me. Perhaps we shaded it. Just. And I am naturally very biased.

 

But obviously, it'd be mad to either revere the manager or be too critical. He's had a reasonable enough start, for me, and the fact that we look a bit underwhelming isn't for the most part his fault.

[Ian S]

1 minute ago, The Doctor said:

he really wasn't, he was still putting in a lot more hard yards than the donkey besmirching the 9 shirt

He really was, pay attention before making knee jerk comments.

[Fear Of The Fox]

1 minute ago, Eskay said:

But it is on the manager to get the team to press and to not play the first 30 mins at pre season pace. 

There are certain fellow fans who are very lenient with our managers the last 3 years. I understand the majority of our players aren't top quality and I also don't expect us to go up this season because we'll need another 20 decent players in PL to even claim we're gonna fight to stay up. So it's not happening. 

BUT even if a manager inherited this dross I can't understand how he can't see this shambles in the midfield and up front. Because Ayew was roaming around under this manager's instructions. 

[moseeds]

Soumare just should not be started. I feel like i'm starting a harrasment campaign by stating this weekly. But the man is in such an important position yet shows no capability in that position. I do not believe for a second having another player in that spot instead would make things worse.

[The Doctor]

Just now, Ian S said:

He really was, pay attention before making knee jerk comments.

kneejerk here meaning disagreeing with you? James looked absolutely fine, he absolutely hadn't been out of the game for 10-15 minutes before coming off like you're suggesting