Marti Cifuentes appointed new manager

[Noahfence]

1 minute ago, Aleksz said:

Head had fully fell off before the equaliser.  Spent the last 2 hours watching Soumare, Ayew, Faes, Bobby Reid and Kristiansen lumber around that pitch collecting their pay check turning in the same performances that they always have. Cut the crap Marti and stick to your word about the youth players in this squad.
 

I’d rather watch a mid table team of our kids that give a fvck over those cretins. Page being nowhere to be seen since the transfer window closed is a farce. Has more about him than any of the over paid carp thrown on there. Plenty of discourse about Nelson on here. Aluko over Kristiansen. Evans back in and around the squad. Sort it out.

Aluko should be on that bench ahead of Kristiansen every single time. 

[Muzzy_no7]

If he starts Soumare and Ayew against Wrexham then alarm bells will be ringing 

[Pliskin]

He’s making some piss poor calls at the moment. 
 

 

The decision to hook James and not Ayew is one of the worst calls I’ve seen. 
 

Persisting with Soumare when he brings nothing but backwards passing stats. 
 

Not trying Aluko when Thomas stinks the gaff out every week. 
 

And not at least giving Daka a try from the off. 
 

 

A lot a red flags are starting to appear with Marti now, the more “senior” players that return seem to be displacing the academy lads, these same “senior” players relegated us twice. 
 

I initially thought it was good management, becoming more diplomatic after the Preston loss, but now it’s just becoming counterproductive. We’re getting away with it because of a bit of quality, but that will only carry us so far. 
 

First time tonight I’ve been genuinely annoyed by him, k think this is the second game in a row he’s tossed with poor decisions. I thought West Brom were poor, a nothing team, that again with some better calls we could have won the game. 
 

Need to buck your ideas up Marti, this isn’t good enough at the moment.

[coolhandfox]

7 games in and I'm bored of watching us play.

[worthosoriginals]

6 minutes ago, Clogger_ said:

When I read posts like this, I just see guns turned on your fellow fans. Sad

Whooooosh!

[rugbyblue]

Just now, worthosoriginals said:

Whooooosh!

Dont worry.  I got it 👍

[Clogger_]

Still too early for me to judge Marti.

 

As a positive, his default system largely suits the squad. I haven't had a massive problem with selections, though it's always easy to quibble over two or three choices - that's football.

 

That said, we do seem tactically rigid and far too reliant on creativity from the wings. Maybe Ramsey will help?

 

On balance I'm behind Marti, but I want to see a bit more creativity and attacking intent in our play.

 

 

[foxile5]

Just now, Clogger_ said:

Still too early for me to judge Marti.

 

On balance I'm behind Marti, but I want to see a bit more creativity and attacking intent in our play.

 

 

This exactly. 

 

He needs to bin Soumare and move Ayew out wide for James/Ramsey and our new dream boat striker. 

[UniFox21]

Guess this is half what you get when you hire a coach 2 or so weeks before the season starts and don't have the full squad until mid September

[JonnyZeroFox]

4 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Guess this is half what you get when you hire a coach 2 or so weeks before the season starts and don't have the full squad until mid September

He is doing well  we were a mess. He is picking up the pieces and getting decent results 

Edited 26 September 2025 by JonnyZeroFox

[justfoxes]

1 minute ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

If he starts Soumare and Ayew against Wrexham then alarm bells will be ringing 

He will tho I thought tonight when I heard the team for tonight I thought Fuch we’ve lost this one, when will Marti wake up and see Soumare isn’t the player he thinks he is and that Ayew is no Number 9 holds up the ball well but no No9, Mavididi has just gone down hill but Marti continues to play him instead of starting Monga, Faes was a nightmare for the Baggies goal should have stayed on his feet rather than going down far too easily Soumare should have taken one for the team before he got anywhere near our Penalty area how the Fuch could we allow him to run the full length of our half to score it was total incompetence in defending !

 

Marti just cannot start the same team against Wrexham as he did tonight as we will be Fuched over by Disney+ Utd , Monga needs to start Nelson for Faes as sometimes it just looks like sometimes he gives up easily or does something stupid and we go down a goal like Preston and again tonight at the Hawthorns etc etc.

we can’t keep drawing if we want to go straight back up to the Prem we need to win the games we are drawing we need to be more clinical more together !

[FrankieADZ]

tonight i thought he made some really poor calls, Ayew on for as long as he was, thomas on for as long as he was, taking JJ off instead of Soumare,

 

i think this game tonight should be a wake up call for MC, the likes of Thomas, Soumare and Mav, havent been good enough and shouldnt be starting tuesday night
I'd even put Ayew playing as a striker up there too, because hes just not the sort we need there imo, hes good at holding it up but he drops too far back at times and when the ball is up there hes no where to be seen

 

[justfoxes]

27 minutes ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

If he starts Soumare and Ayew against Wrexham then alarm bells will be ringing 

Don’t you really mean “ WE’RE FUCHED DOOMED BOLLOXED SCHITTED TW@ED UP SCHITT CREEK BENT OVER & HUMILIATED BUGGERED AND BEATEN BY DISNEY+UTD !!”

[honeybradger]

19 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Guess this is half what you get when you hire a coach 2 or so weeks before the season starts and don't have the full squad until mid September

The issue is that we were better off when Cifuentes didn't have a full squad to pick from.

 

Kristiansen and BCDR (i know he got us a point but he was so bad otherwise) should be nowhere near us. We would be better off if Cifuentes didn't have all these bad players to pick from as he seems to love poor players.

[murphy]

21 minutes ago, foxile5 said:

This exactly. 

 

He needs to bin Soumare and move Ayew out wide for James/Ramsey and our new dream boat striker. 

Out wide?  So who do you drop for him?  He needs to be on the bench.

[foxile5]

2 minutes ago, murphy said:

Out wide?  So who do you drop for him?  He needs to be on the bench.

Mavididi to be honest.

 

Ayew would offer more in the first sixty at the minute. Then either Monga or Mav as an impact sub.

[Aleksz]

Bloke is obsessed with Ayew, it’s like he thinks he’s our best player and is the only one with any quality so has to shoe horn in him wherever he can. Two games running he should have been the first player off.

[Dan]

Talks a good game but have to say the red flags are becoming too much to ignore. This season ideally you want to either clear the decks and start to drastically overhaul the team, introducing numerous youth prospects we supposedly have. If you're not going to do that then absolutely get promoted (not that you can't do both).

 

Cifuentes so far seems to have settled on going with the old guard and our team still looking not even close to convincing that we can go up. Like a completely unhappy medium.

 

We're on 12 points but you really do wonder how based on the performances. It could very easily be half of that.

 

Really uninspiring stuff, and it's a shame, because he says a lot of the right things. The actions matter more though and I'm really not impressed.

[kingfox]

All a bit meh so far, but sections of this squad is more worrisome than the manager imo, leopards don’t change their spots, and unfortunately we are still lumbered with a few unlikeable players that dragged the team down last season. 
 

13 shots, 1 on target, sums this team up atm. I really struggle to see where the goals are coming from, unless Fatawu or Mavididi randomly create some magic. 
 

We just look like a team with no natural goalscorer and no goals from midfield. When our right-back is looking like one of our major goal threats, you know you have problems. 

[justfoxes]

6 minutes ago, Dan said:

Talks a good game but have to say the red flags are becoming too much to ignore. This season ideally you want to either clear the decks and start to drastically overhaul the team, introducing numerous youth prospects we supposedly have. If you're not going to do that then absolutely get promoted (not that you can't do both).

 

Cifuentes so far seems to have settled on going with the old guard and our team still looking not even close to convincing that we can go up. Like a completely unhappy medium.

 

We're on 12 points but you really do wonder how based on the performances. It could very easily be half of that.

 

Really uninspiring stuff, and it's a shame, because he says a lot of the right things. The actions matter more though and I'm really not impressed.

Nicely put Dan he continues to play the likes of Ayew, Soumare, Faes and Mavididi when in fact we have better on the bench like Carranza, Evans, Monga, Okoli/ Nelson I’d rather give one of the younger lads a go rather than be frustrated watching MC’s picks of late.

if we want to get back to the Prem then Marti needs to stop being pedantic in playing players who just not have what it takes to win games for us, it’s frustrating watching the likes of our ones not up to it? 
 

Time for Cifuentes to bite the bullet and bench the ones just not good enough to win games for us and play the players like Monga who have the heart, skill and tenacity to get on with winning and game and getting us back to the prem and out of this Leage !!

[Dan]

6 hours ago, SafewayFox said:

Spot on mate.

 

Criminal how Rudkin received praise for this window but we’ve done absolutely nothing to actually grow our squad value.

 

Bedding in Nelson would genuinely see us nurture a £30m talent, let’s just sell him for £5m in January and be done with it as it’s mis-management by Marti/Rudkin.

It was the latest sign of our decline to be honest. The expectation levels have been absolutely pummelled.

[JonnyZeroFox]

I like him, and feel he is good for us.. talks a good game, and despite the mess he does have us playing good football 

Edited 27 September 2025 by JonnyZeroFox

[Dan]

4 hours ago, Muzzy_no7 said:

If he starts Soumare and Ayew against Wrexham then alarm bells will be ringing 

He will.

[DezFox]

13 minutes ago, JonnyZeroFox said:

I like him, and feel he is good for us.. talks a good game, and despite the mess he does have us playing good football 

🎣 

[CarolinaFox]

I get the frustration that some of you are feeling, but I can't help but feel like a lot of the noise about Marti not being a good fit or being out of his depth is knee jerk at best. Minus the goal that West Brom got on the counter we looked the better side through all phases of the game. Overall I thought our play on the ball was fluid and a lot better than it was last season, we are just missing that clinical edge in the final third. I loved that Marti was willing to change things up in the second half by changing his tactics to try to open up the game more for us to equalize. Yes, it produced a much more open game, but I like his flexibility and willingness to have a Plan B option. So many fans complained that Enzo never had a plan B. Here's my question for the cynics and grouchy grumblers on this forum; if not Marti, who would you realistically want right now? Let's not forget that Gary O'Neil was a name being thrown around in the summer.