Marti Cifuentes - Style of Play, Tactics and Analysis

[Legend_in_blue]

There is clearly a plan at work here and the difference between the absolute shambles of a game plan at Shrewsbury Town away in pre season last season (which never ever got going with Temu Cooper) compared to the game plan in pre season this season is plain for all to see.

 

I'm impressed with what I've seen so far with Marti.

 

What's annoyed me with this seasons various predictions is the lazy analysis that has come with it.  Discounting us because of a looming points deduction doesn't cut it.  We can get over 100 points imo, and a points deduction is irrelevant.

 

We shouldn't worry about not having a true goal scorer either.  Last season not one championship striker managed 20 league goals.  

 

Marti will find a way around the problem.  I'm looking forward to this.  It will be entertaining to see us succeed whilst the league attempts to derail us with their rules and regulations.

Edited 22 July 2025 by Legend_in_blue

[Deeg67]

13 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I absolutely cannot wait for the episode where Rob, Ryan and Humphrey are doing their absolute hardest to talk up how exciting it is that Wrexham have not only signed a Welsh International but a home town boy with over forty caps who played for Wales at the world cup. 

 

Then two episodes later Phil Parkinson is having a stroke screaming his lungs out at the fifteenth goal Danny Ward has let in in the last three games. 

 

People love to mock Wrexham as if they hadn’t just been promoted three seasons in a row.

 

These guys aren’t t dumb enough to start Ward over Okonwo, who was one of the biggest purchases they’d ever made. Ward is a made for TV signing, plain and simple. Hometown boy, “PL player”, Wales international. If Ward is starting games it’s because Okonwo is hurt (which to be fair is a regular occurrence).

[ClaphamFox]

3 hours ago, Legend_in_blue said:

There is clearly a plan at work here and the difference between the absolute shambles of a game plan at Shrewsbury Town away in pre season last season (which never ever got going with Temu Cooper) compared to the game plan in pre season this season is plain for all to see.

 

I'm impressed with what I've seen so far with Marti.

 

What's annoyed me with this seasons various predictions is the lazy analysis that has come with it.  Discounting us because of a looming points deduction doesn't cut it.  We can get over 100 points imo, and a points deduction is irrelevant.

 

We shouldn't worry about not having a true goal scorer either.  Last season not one championship striker managed 20 league goals.  

 

Marti will find a way around the problem.  I'm looking forward to this.  It will be entertaining to see us succeed whilst the league attempts to derail us with their rules and regulations.

It doesn’t annoy me. Those baseless media reports of a deduction of 12 points or more have led to incredibly generous odds of 14/1 on us to win the division and 9/2 on us to get promoted. And when the deduction turns out to be much lower than predicted, it will cause such collective anguish and rage that they’ll have to set up a dedicated helpline. And I, as the phrase goes, am very much here for it.

[Ric Flair]

Major job on his hands because he's otherwise relying on his boss to make his job easier for him by selling some players to enable him to buy. That's critical because otherwise he's got the same squad of players complicit in relegation and unrest between management and players and it will make his job all the more harder.

 

Enzo had the right environment where he was backed strongly in the market and the licence to make it clear to a set of players they were either with him or they wouldn't be involved. Marti needs to do the same but faces a harder task of sticking to it.

 

We have a massive amount of players with a year left on their contracts and we are utterly abysmal at moving those players on. Often asking for unreasonable fees and them stinking the place out for them to then leave on a free.

 

Good luck Marti, if you pull this off you're a genius. Plenty of talent to work with from the academy so it's not all bleak but needs to be able to freshen it up. The spine of the team needs additions.

 

If he makes Coady captain and keeps him i'll be disappointed but let's see what happens.

[Finnegan]

4 hours ago, Deeg67 said:

People love to mock Wrexham as if they hadn’t just been promoted three seasons in a row.

 

These guys aren’t t dumb enough to start Ward over Okonwo, who was one of the biggest purchases they’d ever made. Ward is a made for TV signing, plain and simple. Hometown boy, “PL player”, Wales international. If Ward is starting games it’s because Okonwo is hurt (which to be fair is a regular occurrence).

 

I'm not mocking the club, I'm mocking the format of the TV show. 

 

My missus loves it but she was genuinely gobsmacked after watching season one when I told her Paul Mullin not only wasn't good enough to play for England, he wasn't good enough to play for Wales either. 

 

The way they hype their players on the show it's like they're talking about prime Ronaldo. 

 

The hype they made for getting Foster and McLean was brilliant, haha. 

 

[filbertway]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'm not mocking the club, I'm mocking the format of the TV show. 

 

My missus loves it but she was genuinely gobsmacked after watching season one when I told her Paul Mullin not only wasn't good enough to play for England, he wasn't good enough to play for Wales either. 

 

The way they hype their players on the show it's like they're talking about prime Ronaldo. 

 

The hype they made for getting Foster and McLean was brilliant, haha. 

 

Haha I noticed this. As an American, you'd be forgiven for not understanding why Paul Mullin isn't playing in the Premier League. Now i'm on E3 of the latest season and Jack Marriott is now basically being talked about like prime Rooney

 

[fox_favourite]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I'm not mocking the club, I'm mocking the format of the TV show. 

 

My missus loves it but she was genuinely gobsmacked after watching season one when I told her Paul Mullin not only wasn't good enough to play for England, he wasn't good enough to play for Wales either. 

 

The way they hype their players on the show it's like they're talking about prime Ronaldo. 

 

The hype they made for getting Foster and McLean was brilliant, haha. 

 

Foster in the national league was quite a signing to convince someone like that to come out of retirement and play for you. 

 

They are a PR machine and fair play on them for it. But this season I think they'll find it very tough and it will be the first time there will be proper pressure on Parkinson and the players. So let's see how they cope 

[Finnegan]

29 minutes ago, fox_favourite said:

Foster in the national league was quite a signing to convince someone like that to come out of retirement and play for you. 

 

They are a PR machine and fair play on them for it. But this season I think they'll find it very tough and it will be the first time there will be proper pressure on Parkinson and the players. So let's see how they cope 

 

It'll be interesting how much loyalty they show Parkinson. He'll pretty much have found his limit. He's a tidy lower league coach, good organiser and motivator. He probably lacks the tactical complexity to take them to the next level. 

 

I don't have a problem with Wrexham, the TV show or any of the hype around it. I find people genuinely wound up by it to be a bit sad. 

 

But it definitely is funny watching the show as an actual football fan because it's very clearly made as entertainment and to sell the idea of British football fandom to an American audience. 

 

It'll almost lose some relevance once they get to the Premier League, most of the charm of it has been about showing a worldwide audience what the rest of UK football is about. Everyone knows the Prem. If they get there and the show just starts being about millionaire footballers and the local fans getting priced out then what's the point. 

 

[kenny]

15 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

It'll be interesting how much loyalty they show Parkinson. He'll pretty much have found his limit. He's a tidy lower league coach, good organiser and motivator. He probably lacks the tactical complexity to take them to the next level. 

 

I don't have a problem with Wrexham, the TV show or any of the hype around it. I find people genuinely wound up by it to be a bit sad. 

 

But it definitely is funny watching the show as an actual football fan because it's very clearly made as entertainment and to sell the idea of British football fandom to an American audience. 

 

It'll almost lose some relevance once they get to the Premier League, most of the charm of it has been about showing a worldwide audience what the rest of UK football is about. Everyone knows the Prem. If they get there and the show just starts being about millionaire footballers and the local fans getting priced out then what's the point. 

 

Its a much cleaner route to increasing revenue than many clubs employ including ours.

 

I bet their sponsorship deals dwarf anything clubs of their size can muster, simply because of the exposure on TV and social media.

[Finnegan]

2 minutes ago, kenny said:

Its a much cleaner route to increasing revenue than many clubs employ including ours.

 

I bet their sponsorship deals dwarf anything clubs of their size can muster, simply because of the exposure on TV and social media.

 

Yeah obviously that's what's the real magic isn't it, it's not just what they make it's what they're allowed to spend because of their commercial revenue. Every time Rob or Humphrey go on one of their speeches about how they don't spend as much as everyone thinks and they aren't just Disney FC I think yeah, yeah ok. Now show how dependent you are on your match day revenue vs. the likes of Bradford or Rotherham or Bolton. Hell, even us.

 

I absolutely don't resent it, they're playing by the rules and I don't see anything wrong with it. As you say, it's fairly clean, it's just good promotion and sensible marketing.

 

I don't have a problem with Wrexham, I have a problem with the rules that allow you to offset commercial revenue against PSR so the most famous clubs will always be the most powerful. It just isn't particularly a fair way to run the game. 

 

[kingfox]

5 hours ago, Ric Flair said:

If he makes Coady captain and keeps him i'll be disappointed but let's see what happens.

I hope he goes, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Marti wants to keep him for his long range passing ability. 
 

He’ll want a couple of CB’s specifically for that tactic, and Coady throughout his Wolves career, always ranked high for long passes 😕

[Dahnsouff]

Centre Backs look like a problem position if we assume Coady goes and Nelson feels as reliable as Ricky. 

 

Not as much as Striker though…

[kenny]

17 minutes ago, Finnegan said:

 

Yeah obviously that's what's the real magic isn't it, it's not just what they make it's what they're allowed to spend because of their commercial revenue. Every time Rob or Humphrey go on one of their speeches about how they don't spend as much as everyone thinks and they aren't just Disney FC I think yeah, yeah ok. Now show how dependent you are on your match day revenue vs. the likes of Bradford or Rotherham or Bolton. Hell, even us.

 

I absolutely don't resent it, they're playing by the rules and I don't see anything wrong with it. As you say, it's fairly clean, it's just good promotion and sensible marketing.

 

I don't have a problem with Wrexham, I have a problem with the rules that allow you to offset commercial revenue against PSR so the most famous clubs will always be the most powerful. It just isn't particularly a fair way to run the game. 

 

Preston with SpudBros is inspired too. I don't know anything about these tiktok personalities, but the club is going to get access to online exposure they wouldn't otherwise. The knock-on effects could be really good for them too.

 

Wonder if they will win catering contracts there, hard to see that they won't.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

 

Another good vid for anyone that's willing to put even the slightest effort into researching the manager before commenting about his style. 

[Merchant_Banker]

12 minutes ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

 

Another good vid for anyone that's willing to put even the slightest effort into researching the manager before commenting about his style. 

I find it difficult to focus on the tactics when the commentator keeps talking about El Chanouss.

Edited 22 July 2025 by Merchant_Banker

[Aleksz]

1 hour ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

 

Another good vid for anyone that's willing to put even the slightest effort into researching the manager before commenting about his style. 

This on the whole is a great video, gets way too hung up on the space Luke Thomas is occupying though. Kind of misses the point. Marti wasn't playing Luke Thomas in that zone to get the best out of Thomas, But to facilitate Monga's strengths attacking his full back from the touchline. 

[StriderHiryu]

 

 

Here is the breakdown from the first friendly. Initial thougts are that we are very encouraged by what we saw!

[FOXYTALK]

17 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

 

Another good vid for anyone that's willing to put even the slightest effort into researching the manager before commenting about his style. 

Good video. Comes across alittle Alan partridge 😂

[chuddy8]

10 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

 

 

Here is the breakdown from the first friendly. Initial thougts are that we are very encouraged by what we saw!

not being cynical but weren't you very encouraged initially by RVN?

[Deeg67]

20 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

It'll be interesting how much loyalty they show Parkinson. He'll pretty much have found his limit. He's a tidy lower league coach, good organiser and motivator. He probably lacks the tactical complexity to take them to the next level. 

 

I don't have a problem with Wrexham, the TV show or any of the hype around it. I find people genuinely wound up by it to be a bit sad. 

 

But it definitely is funny watching the show as an actual football fan because it's very clearly made as entertainment and to sell the idea of British football fandom to an American audience. 

 

It'll almost lose some relevance once they get to the Premier League, most of the charm of it has been about showing a worldwide audience what the rest of UK football is about. Everyone knows the Prem. If they get there and the show just starts being about millionaire footballers and the local fans getting priced out then what's the point. 

 

It will, but just having achieved that will be such a huge story and frankly a miracle that it would be a great note to go out on.

 

Mind you, I think it’s going to take a couple of years for them to seriously push for that. The Championship is a different animal and full of huge (compared to Wrexham) clubs. And probably a new manager too, though I think we’re assuming Parky can’t do it based on the fact that he hasn’t, not that we know he can’t. Who knows?

[LVFox]

Would be great to see some clear patterns of play on Friday. I’m guessing we will see a stronger side play Koln.

 

Positional setup was impressive so early on against ZTE, but hopefully we see that kick on even further after another week on the training pitch.

 

[Finnegan]

9 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

frankly a miracle

 

I can't really agree with that, to be honest, they've spent a **** tonne and their pulling power and commercial revenue is absolutely huge. They've got to the Championship with consecutive promotions in relative ease and...

 

10 minutes ago, Deeg67 said:

I think it’s going to take a couple of years for them to seriously push for that. The Championship is a different animal and full of huge (compared to Wrexham) clubs

 

Whilst I agree it'll probably take them a couple of seasons, they'll probably manage it here too. Maybe they'll need a little bit of outside investment but FFP / PSR just does them so many favours. In terms of commercial revenue and global profile, there AREN'T clubs as big as Wrexham in the league. They can spend vastly beyond their match day revenue, far more than anyone else in the league can, and stay within compliance. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they spend more than we do this summer and we're supposed to be the giants of the league.

 

Personally think it's only a matter of time before they get to the Prem and probably stay there. I absolutely wouldn't go so far as to say they'll then thrive and break the top six, get Europe or anything like that but I definitely don't think tehy're done climbing.

 

And it's definitely not miraculous, it's money. Pure and simple.

 

[Merchant_Banker]

I finally understand what Martiball is, it's not new at all, it's really old. He pushes both fullbacks forward into midfield and plays with two attacking eights. It's an old fashioned, table football 2-3-5. You wait, when you see the players moving side to side at the same time you will know I'm right. 

[Deeg67]

1 hour ago, Finnegan said:

 

I can't really agree with that, to be honest, they've spent a **** tonne and their pulling power and commercial revenue is absolutely huge. They've got to the Championship with consecutive promotions in relative ease and...

 

 

Whilst I agree it'll probably take them a couple of seasons, they'll probably manage it here too. Maybe they'll need a little bit of outside investment but FFP / PSR just does them so many favours. In terms of commercial revenue and global profile, there AREN'T clubs as big as Wrexham in the league. They can spend vastly beyond their match day revenue, far more than anyone else in the league can, and stay within compliance. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they spend more than we do this summer and we're supposed to be the giants of the league.

 

Personally think it's only a matter of time before they get to the Prem and probably stay there. I absolutely wouldn't go so far as to say they'll then thrive and break the top six, get Europe or anything like that but I definitely don't think tehy're done climbing.

 

And it's definitely not miraculous, it's money. Pure and simple.

 

They were fourth in wage bill in L1 last season and massively behind Birmingham and Huddersfield, so it's a little more than that and not quite so plain or simple.

[StriderHiryu]

3 hours ago, chuddy8 said:

not being cynical but weren't you very encouraged initially by RVN?

Yep and that aged like Milk.

 

I don't think any manager was keeping our squad up last season, but RVN gave up after just a few games. He then fell out with some players, and the whole think was a funeral march. 

 

This season because of the quality of the squad relative to the league, we should be getting results regardless of who is in charge. So then it comes down to if the players buy into the system or not. I suspect that they will do, but we still have no idea who wants to be at the club and who can be bothered, and that could show on the pitch if we are not careful. All the more reason really to play the young guns.