Marti Cifuentes appointed new manager

[damolcfc]

Hopefully Faes,  Soumare and Vestagaard will do enough this season for a new contract 🙏👀

[Dahnsouff]

3 minutes ago, damolcfc said:

Hopefully Faes,  Soumare and Vestagaard will do enough this season for a new contract 🙏👀

Such an uptick in performances would be most welcome I agree. 

[ealingfox]

Sorry to say the red flags are building up. He was dealt a shit hand but he doesn't have to play Ayew upfront.

[Claudio Fannieri]

11 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

Sorry to say the red flags are building up. He was dealt a shit hand but he doesn't have to play Ayew upfront.

So who does he play, Daka who is absolute muck or Carranza who struggled last night and looks like he needs at least a few more weeks acclimatising before being capable of starting. 

[Richmondfox]

2 minutes ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

So who does he play, Daka who is absolute muck or Carranza who struggled last night and looks like he needs at least a few more weeks acclimatising before being capable of starting. 

Stick Mavadidi up top.  Daka is useless and will never come good. He could start by getting Ayew to stop playing like he does.  Train and coach him to do a role that is useful for the team. Stay near the goal and kick the ball towards it is a start.  
 

He needs to start being a manager and actually have some tactics and get the players to follow them. 

 

Individually they are playing exactly the same as under Ruud.  Collectively who knows what he wants them to do.  Walk to the half way line and then pass backwards inviting pressure and giving the ball away.  Everyone standing back to admire Mav’s step overs and cut back compilation or watching Abdul try and skin 2 players with zero help or runners. 

 

I’d like to see some style or at least correcting the errors that are holding us back. 

[Dahnsouff]

23 minutes ago, Richmondfox said:

Stick Mavadidi up top.  Daka is useless and will never come good. He could start by getting Ayew to stop playing like he does.  Train and coach him to do a role that is useful for the team. Stay near the goal and kick the ball towards it is a start.  
 

He needs to start being a manager and actually have some tactics and get the players to follow them. 

 

Individually they are playing exactly the same as under Ruud.  Collectively who knows what he wants them to do.  Walk to the half way line and then pass backwards inviting pressure and giving the ball away.  Everyone standing back to admire Mav’s step overs and cut back compilation or watching Abdul try and skin 2 players with zero help or runners. 

 

I’d like to see some style or at least correcting the errors that are holding us back. 

And then Monga on the left I assume? 

 

Better to shy away from changing up top and add mobility behind in JJ. 

Edited 27 September 2025 by Dahnsouff

[MGLCFC]

I would actually give Daka a run of games. Even if he's unlikely score loads of goals (if any), we've looked  more of an attacking threat when he's had minutes as he seems to be able to create space for the midfield with his pressing and running into space.

Edited 27 September 2025 by MGLCFC

[kingfox]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

That's bleak reading, it's not like we've even had that horrid a run of fixtures either.

 

There is no chance we're promoted with this level of performance, even in this league, which is possibly as weak as I remember it, we won't keep getting away with doing this.

And we’re about to enter a run of six games that look even better than our first seven. 
 

These next six games will tell us a lot about Cifuentes, and hopefully we start to see performances where we play well for a full 90. 
 

I just find it odd that he’s ditched certain principles that worked to great effect against Fiorentina. The use of an aggressive press, the use of ‘wide triangles’ look like they’ve disappeared. The amount of times Fatawu was left isolated last night, with the expectancy of him to be able to take on 2-3 players with hardly any support was infuriating. 
 

We at least rank 1st for build up attacks so far this season, but it’s just worrisome that we have nobody on the end of our build ups. 
 

It’s felt very much like pass, pass, pass, get it out to the wingers and hopefully they do something. 
 

We’re probably going to need a bit more than that if we want to get promoted. 

[moore_94]

Its annoying that after just 7 league games into the season I am already starting to feel like I can't be arsed and not looking forward to going

 

Watching pathetic players play spineless football...

 

Sort it out Martí

Edited 27 September 2025 by moore_94

[Richmondfox]

1 hour ago, Dahnsouff said:

And then Monga on the left I assume? 

 

Better to shy away from changing up top and add mobility behind in JJ. 

Monga, Mav & Fatawu. 

Ramsey/Page

JJ & Winks with Ricardo as support. 

 

No point playing Ayew anymore, he won’t change and he isn’t offering anything and continues to do the same poor decisions as he does every game. I would rather have youthful arrogance and energy over Ayew’s “experience” and unadaptable ability. He isn’t a team player, we need a team more than anything after the dross at problems at the club, 

 

JV has to pass to Winks straight away and Jakob has to have confidence in throwing the ball out quickly. They create their own pressure too often by pissing around. 
 

The team need to spend all day watching Vardy’s goal against Man Utd to break the consecutive record. 

[Dahnsouff]

1 hour ago, Richmondfox said:

Monga, Mav & Fatawu. 

Ramsey/Page

JJ & Winks with Ricardo as support. 

 

No point playing Ayew anymore, he won’t change and he isn’t offering anything and continues to do the same poor decisions as he does every game. I would rather have youthful arrogance and energy over Ayew’s “experience” and unadaptable ability. He isn’t a team player, we need a team more than anything after the dross at problems at the club, 

 

JV has to pass to Winks straight away and Jakob has to have confidence in throwing the ball out quickly. They create their own pressure too often by pissing around. 
 

The team need to spend all day watching Vardy’s goal against Man Utd to break the consecutive record. 

Sounds like we need more BDCR. 

[STUHILL]

It’s all just very MEH under him so far. Not much to get excited about or get behind. 
 

Will give him time, but seems pretty flat so far. 

[deep blue]

Looking at MOTD tonight I noticed that BHA, Brentford and CP in particular (teams that are now where we aspire to be) were all benefitting from playing fast, direct football on the break.  And Micah Richards pointed out that speed of transition appeared to be the successful way for such clubs to succeed.

 

We surely should be looking to develop that style, both in order to get promoted and then to give us the best chance of staying up in the Prem.

 

With current players like Monga and Fatawu we surely have the ability to develop that st yle within the current squad.

 

 

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, deep blue said:

Looking at MOTD tonight I noticed that BHA, Brentford and CP in particular (teams that are now where we aspire to be) were all benefitting from playing fast, direct football on the break.  And Micah Richards pointed out that speed of transition appeared to be the successful way for such clubs to succeed.

 

We surely should be looking to develop that style, both in order to get promoted and then to give us the best chance of staying up in the Prem.

 

With current players like Monga and Fatawu we surely have the ability to develop that st yle within the current squad.

 

 

I don't disagree that's probably the way to go IF we get promoted but in the meantime it relies on the opposition having a good amount of the ball and committing players forward against you in a way that I don't think many, if any, teams in this division will do. To play on the counter there needs to be something for you to counter against and if we try to sit deep, play on the break and invite teams like Wrexham, Derby and Oxford onto us, they're probably just not going to bother.

 

Doesn't mean we shouldn't be quicker and more direct with the possession we do have, of course, and we might be able to do that more easily if our "striker" ever enters the opposition half.

[MPH]

6 hours ago, MGLCFC said:

I would actually give Daka a run of games. Even if he's unlikely score loads of goals (if any), we've looked  more of an attacking threat when he's had minutes as he seems to be able to create space for the midfield with his pressing and running into space.

 

I know we are getting desperate, but steady on!

[Dan]

9 hours ago, Claudio Fannieri said:

So who does he play, Daka who is absolute muck or Carranza who struggled last night and looks like he needs at least a few more weeks acclimatising before being capable of starting. 

Literally either of those two are preferable to Ayew up front. Daka is bad but at least he'll actually get chances to miss. Ayew barely scores because he barely gets a chance.

[Dan]

8 hours ago, kingfox said:

And we’re about to enter a run of six games that look even better than our first seven. 
 

These next six games will tell us a lot about Cifuentes, and hopefully we start to see performances where we play well for a full 90. 
 

I just find it odd that he’s ditched certain principles that worked to great effect against Fiorentina. The use of an aggressive press, the use of ‘wide triangles’ look like they’ve disappeared. The amount of times Fatawu was left isolated last night, with the expectancy of him to be able to take on 2-3 players with hardly any support was infuriating. 
 

We at least rank 1st for build up attacks so far this season, but it’s just worrisome that we have nobody on the end of our build ups. 
 

It’s felt very much like pass, pass, pass, get it out to the wingers and hopefully they do something. 
 

We’re probably going to need a bit more than that if we want to get promoted. 

We've played dirge, slow football for years now while the rest of football went the other way. We're completely stuck in the 2010s.

[Claudio Fannieri]

3 hours ago, Dan said:

Literally either of those two are preferable to Ayew up front. Daka is bad but at least he'll actually get chances to miss. Ayew barely scores because he barely gets a chance.

But Daka barely does miss chances because he will have already tripped himself up or been tackled. There is some serious revisionism regarding Daka, his link up play is generally nowhere near Ayew, he doesn’t have the tactical nous and awareness of Ayew and in relation to finishing I would back Ayew as the better finisher, the only thing Daka has over him is pace that is all. 
 

Look I am not saying Ayew is the answer, the reality is we should have looked to bring in a starting striker. Maybe over time Carranza will be the answer, however based on where we are today, Ayew is the best of the 3 and that cannot be laid at Marti’s door.  However what Marti could do is have the 3 playing off Ayew to use their pace and skill to create chaos behind him and to also get beyond him to try and create attacking opportunities from Ayew’s hold up play. 

[teblin]

He days all the right things, there had been the odd glimpse of progress. Friday was poor though.

 

That’s said, in 90 minutes not including penalties he’s lost 1 competitive game. Hopefully we start turning draws into wins and we will have a decent season.

 

Needs to not persist with Ayew though, slows everything down too much.

[Collymore]

 

 

 

 

That Marti master class video went into detail on the way he likes to play and you can see signs of us trying to execute but it looks ineffective to me. 

 

For example,  a lot of his play seems to depend on moving the ball quickly to the other side of the pitch which throws the oppositions structure out. I've seen us trying this but it's so slow and telegraphed. Sometimes they're slow floated balls too which need bto be brought down on the chest  by the winger where the opposition have had time for a picnic. 

 

He then also wants these complex triangles to support the wingers where sometimes the fullback is supporting, sometimes the midfielder and sometimes the attacker with players interchaning position! In reality though the wingers usually get the ball and are completely isolated having to then do it all themselves - hence why I think we have seen Fatawu flourish more and Mavadadi struggle.  Thomas isn't helping Mav either as he just hasn't got any attacking idea whatsoever. 

 

I do see JJ  trying to support Mavadadi more, so maybe Marti is tweaking it so Mavadadi is getting more support. However, it's easy for the opposition at times as they can double up on our isolated wingers and it seems like all of our attacking threat is nullified.

 

Then it brings us to Soumare. A massive issue in midfield. Cov basically let him have the ball and he wasn't pressed at all and it meant we slowed right down and they encouraged him to move the ball to our left where the opposition press Thomas and Mavadidi relentlessly.  When we do manage to shift it quickly Fatawu  seems to have acres of space because opposition is hoping to have won the ball from left so have set themselves up for this. 

 

I think we're too easy to play at the moment. We have this mentality "we play this way" and we think we'll still be better than you but any opposition coach could figure out how to tame us easily as there are too many weak links. 

 

Replacing Thomas and Soumare would be a start I think, maybe Choudhury at RB and moving Ricardo into midfield to replace Soumare. Obviously Victor would be a natural choice to replace Thomas and even though he also has his limitations he always seemed to be able to support the wingers better IMO. 

 

Getting Nelson in as a LCB could help too on that left. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 28 September 2025 by Collymore

[lcfcsnow]

10 hours ago, deep blue said:

Looking at MOTD tonight I noticed that BHA, Brentford and CP in particular (teams that are now where we aspire to be) were all benefitting from playing fast, direct football on the break.  And Micah Richards pointed out that speed of transition appeared to be the successful way for such clubs to succeed.

 

We surely should be looking to develop that style, both in order to get promoted and then to give us the best chance of staying up in the Prem.

We should have been the least likely team to follow the trend of possession football given we won the league doing the opposite, but still we won't let it go even after numerous relegations 

[kingfox]

10 hours ago, deep blue said:

Looking at MOTD tonight I noticed that BHA, Brentford and CP in particular (teams that are now where we aspire to be) were all benefitting from playing fast, direct football on the break.  And Micah Richards pointed out that speed of transition appeared to be the successful way for such clubs to succeed.

 

We surely should be looking to develop that style, both in order to get promoted and then to give us the best chance of staying up in the Prem.

 

With current players like Monga and Fatawu we surely have the ability to develop that st yle within the current squad.

 

 

This. 
 

I pointed it out numerous times last season, how many teams in the Premier League were being effective in terms of counter attacks and fast breaks. 
 

We ended up being ranked as one of the worst teams in the league in both categories, all because Cooper wanted the likes of Ayew and Reid over players with 1 vs 1 ability and pace. 
 

Not getting with the trends and not replacing the injured Fatawu with a like-for-like hurt us massively. 

[Haywood_6]

I think Cifuentes is a very likeable character and has definitely got the players putting the effort in which is good to see. There are some positives. But overall disappointed that our team more or less exactly the same from last year but I get that’s mainly down to the financial situation and ownership issues. We’re not looking like automatic contenders I don't think. We don't carry enough of a goal threat. Excited about watching more of James, Ramsey, Fatawu, Monga, and Ricardo. Beyond them let's be honest it's same old squad. Performance wise our level is probably about the same as last year, only we’re now playing against much weaker opposition. And looking at some of our youngsters Aluko, Nelson, Page it feels like they’ll struggle to even get a place in the squad now which is also a shame 

[Swarles Barkley]

I guess the bottom line is we have been shite and are 5th. You would hope with more time (and bearing in mind he had little pre season) that performances would improve. Having said that Enzo said the same and we got worse  

 

I think the biggest problem I have with Marti which has been echoed above is the team selection. We clearly want to get Faes out so why not play Okoli/Nelson. Same argument should apply to Vesty as well. 

[Richmondfox]

10 hours ago, Guest said:

I don't disagree that's probably the way to go IF we get promoted but in the meantime it relies on the opposition having a good amount of the ball and committing players forward against you in a way that I don't think many, if any, teams in this division will do. To play on the counter there needs to be something for you to counter against and if we try to sit deep, play on the break and invite teams like Wrexham, Derby and Oxford onto us, they're probably just not going to bother.

 

Doesn't mean we shouldn't be quicker and more direct with the possession we do have, of course, and we might be able to do that more easily if our "striker" ever enters the opposition half.

We just need to play quickly and stop the 10 passes side to side and back before Jakob boots it out or back to their midfield. Our wingers are always in space until JV walks to the halfway line and passes backwards. 

 

JV and Thomas ruin any chance of quick breaks. It’s frustrating watching JV wait to invite a press to hopefully create space, but usually creates a problem.