Cifuentes OUT

[TheGoldenGod]

5 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

Ultimately we won the league. It helps we didn't draw too many games. You can get away with losing one winning your next, better than draw after draw.

Yup...and some on here still grumbling about Enzo two years later, embarrassing! Chalk and cheese between what we had then and now, everyone with a brain would bite your arm off to see that football over...whatever this is. 

The bloke won a CWC and doing well in the league and CL with Chelsea. A PROPER gaffa.

[izzymuzzet]

4 minutes ago, Fox92 said:

This isn't a strong point though. We change the manager far too late/when it's too late.

Looking back at our mid season sackings under the last 15 years. 

 

Cooper - sacked November - didn't improve, relegated 

Rodgers - sacked April - didn't improve, relegated 

Puel - sacked February - improved 

Shakespeare - sacked October - improved short-term, more debatable long-term 

Ranieri - sacked February - improved short-term, stayed up, Shakespeare sacked early the next season 

Sven - sacked October - didn't improve that season really, but long-term under Pearson it worked out 

 

So I'd say only Rodgers was clearly sacked too late. And only the sacking of Puel and replacement by Rodgers definitively worked out in both the short-term and long-term. Would say sacking Sven and bringing Nige back was obviously a move that worked out in the end, but it took a while. And we're under quite different ownership now. 

[Chelmofox]

1 minute ago, TheGoldenGod said:

Yup...and some on here still grumbling about Enzo two years later, embarrassing! Chalk and cheese between what we had then and now, everyone with a brain would bite your arm off to see that football over...whatever this is. 

The bloke won a CWC and doing well in the league and CL with Chelsea. A PROPER gaffa.

Im not grumbling about Enzo - i didnt want him sacked at the time. Wish he had stayed to see how it could have progressed, and was dismayed with his replacement.

 

Im merely pointing out that when you look at things, our rot starting during his season. We won the league because of the fantastic start but we very nearly blew it as we stumbled across the line. I dont think we have really recovered from that slump, which was largely due to teams working out how to play against us.

[BKLFox]

This best squad on paper chat is a load of old tosh, we might have some of the biggest names on paper but not the best & yet even our fans are using this as an excuse to hit the manager with, despite the same fans having a thread on each & every player saying how shite they are (except JJ) so what is it... best or most well know (which doesn't automatically translate to best) ?

He was building himself up to playing Nelson & Okoli, this had pushed Faes out (a win) & would have liked to think Vestergaard in time but unfortunately both got themselves injured.
Ramsey's red & subsequent injury broke our best cycle of play under him with WInks-JJ-Ramsey as the centre 3, there isn't a better combination from all the players we have, yes you can put Page or Monga in the 10 but their inconsistencies of youth could potentially hinder them as starters but that means switching it up with BCDR / JJ as 10 but 1 good 20mins from BCDR which has our experts saying he should start is typical of this forum..he is an impact player at best.
JJ whilst playing out of position is the best we can put in there but its asking alot from him due to having Skipp/Soumare in his best position & him trying to also cover there.

Every week within 0.5seconds of DaveG pasting up the team sheet people start to moan but the reality is our squad isn't great especially when we have injuries.

 

Most posters probably didn't think we would get auto's especially with a points deduction so maybe a play off position or just survive this season & build for the future once the PSR issues & deadwood are no longer hanging over our heads? but now all kicking off because we are out of reach of the autos, what is it we want?  

I like Chelmofox above believe he does want to play aggressive on the front foot attacking football but just doesn't have the squad to do it week in week out, i've made my peace with not going up & him staying as long as deadwood is cleared & not re-rewarded, JJ signs & we then get more players in to suit what he wants.

We are a project most would agree but then sound off because we are not in positions 1 or 2 & this thread started just 7 games into the season , what's the point of chopping in a manager every 6mths when we have the same players, how do we know if we signed the best young manager in Europe that he could / would turn this rabble around in 6mths at somepoint you have to twist & roll with what you have & it might as well be Marti for this season.

[Richmondfox]

50 minutes ago, Chelmofox said:

I actually think Marti wants to attack more. We were doing this against Southampton and were the far more aggressive team until they went ahead. Then the players just retreat into their shells.

 

With lurch at the center of our backline, attacking with a higher line means we are going to get screwed.  Faes is a good blocker of the ball but poor when tracking back as well, as you saw for their 2nd goal. 

 

If we get a manager who is going to go all out attack, i think we will get massacred until we can rebuild the squad.

 

I dont know what the answer is, but id rather not get rid of Marti and just go for more of the same. 

Let’s agree that he does want to attack, then his tactics and management are just not very good.

If he binned JV off, played JJ next to Winks  and got Mav & Fatawu to actually pass the ball quickly to a player who over laps in space, then that would change my mind. 

 

The winner against Norwich should be a standard attack tactic that we try 20 times a game, not just once at the end of the game. 

 

He isn’t an attacking manager.  His goal scoring record has backed up what we are seeing with our eyes.

 

I want to see clown and his useless assistants out of the club.  It might not be the best answer, I have no idea who replaces him but it can’t be any worse than what’s happening. 

[Chelmofox]

4 minutes ago, Richmondfox said:

Let’s agree that he does want to attack, then his tactics and management are just not very good.

If he binned JV off, played JJ next to Winks  and got Mav & Fatawu to actually pass the ball quickly to a player who over laps in space, then that would change my mind. 

 

The winner against Norwich should be a standard attack tactic that we try 20 times a game, not just once at the end of the game. 

 

He isn’t an attacking manager.  His goal scoring record has backed up what we are seeing with our eyes.

 

I want to see clown and his useless assistants out of the club.  It might not be the best answer, I have no idea who replaces him but it can’t be any worse than what’s happening. 

Russell f****g Martin.

 

And you know full well they would do it.

[LCFCCKEANO]

5 hours ago, Happy Fox said:

He won’t play the academy players on a consistent basis , he’s seemingly shifted Monga for Silko Thomas  honestly I am really baffled that people think things will be okay with Marti in charge for the foreseeable future. Yes Marti isn’t the main problem and it’s our incompetent leadership, but we still have a core of players that should be doing better in this league imo.

Don’t disagree with any of what you have said but tbf Silko Thomas is also from the academy

[stevostadium]

Is it just me, but in my opinion without a points deduction we are more likely to get relegated than promoted as it stands.

With a -9 deduction we are in serious danger of going down if nothing changes.

 

10 years ago Premier league champions to relegation to league 1.

 

It has LCFC written all over it.

[cityfanlee23]

It has got to the point that I genuinely think it would be a massive upgrade for both the watching fans and for the direction of the club if we gave the job to Allardyce or Warnock. 
 

[whoareyaaa]

13 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

It has got to the point that I genuinely think it would be a massive upgrade for both the watching fans and for the direction of the club if we gave the job to Allardyce or Warnock. 
 

We should have stuck with Ruud, player power wins though

[cityfanlee23]

Just now, whoareyaaa said:

We should have stuck with Ruud, player power wins though

I said in the off season (from behind the sofa) that I wouldn't be massively angry if we kept him on, he had flaws and he was working with a mess of a squad (as is Marti) but I think the big issue he caused was his attitude towards players, we had a serial winner and elite former player as manager who had played at the biggest clubs on earth, who immediately and publicly spoke about a mentality problem, vs a bunch of modern whiny players that didn't want to be here after Enzo left. 
He seemed to get on well with the likes of Vardy and a few other players, the ones he didn't seem to get on with are the ones we all want to see the back of. 

I'd have much preferred to have seen where we would be under Ruud, with him personally giving players their marching orders, there is no way the likes of Winks would have stuck around if RVN was still here. 

[whoareyaaa]

7 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

I said in the off season (from behind the sofa) that I wouldn't be massively angry if we kept him on, he had flaws and he was working with a mess of a squad (as is Marti) but I think the big issue he caused was his attitude towards players, we had a serial winner and elite former player as manager who had played at the biggest clubs on earth, who immediately and publicly spoke about a mentality problem, vs a bunch of modern whiny players that didn't want to be here after Enzo left. 
He seemed to get on well with the likes of Vardy and a few other players, the ones he didn't seem to get on with are the ones we all want to see the back of. 

I'd have much preferred to have seen where we would be under Ruud, with him personally giving players their marching orders, there is no way the likes of Winks would have stuck around if RVN was still here. 

Couldn't agree more, great post.

 

We managed to **** it up before that by employing Cooper when we just had Enzo who's styles and character are moons apart.

 

It all stems back to the people running the club.

Edited 27 November 2025 by whoareyaaa

[JimJams]

3 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

Russell f****g Martin.

 

And you know full well they would do it.

We currently have the Spanish Russell Martin.

[David Gutteridge]

1 hour ago, LCFCCKEANO said:

Don’t disagree with any of what you have said but tbf Silko Thomas is also from the academy

There is only so many academy players we can field or put on the bench as we submitted a list of 25 to the league and barring injuries and suspensions we have to play them no matter how good or bad they are.

[oxtonfox]

3 hours ago, Richmondfox said:

Let’s agree that he does want to attack, then his tactics and management are just not very good.

If he binned JV off, played JJ next to Winks  and got Mav & Fatawu to actually pass the ball quickly to a player who over laps in space, then that would change my mind. 

 

The winner against Norwich should be a standard attack tactic that we try 20 times a game, not just once at the end of the game. 

 

He isn’t an attacking manager.  His goal scoring record has backed up what we are seeing with our eyes.

 

I want to see clown and his useless assistants out of the club.  It might not be the best answer, I have no idea who replaces him but it can’t be any worse than what’s happening. 

I agree he seems wedded to effin possession but our players can’t actually keep the bloody thing and the last few games we’ve actually had less than the opposition let alone create very little. 

We’re not a good enough team to play that way effectively and the sooner he realises that the better. 

[cityfanlee23]

1 hour ago, oxtonfox said:

I agree he seems wedded to effin possession but our players can’t actually keep the bloody thing and the last few games we’ve actually had less than the opposition let alone create very little. 

We’re not a good enough team to play that way effectively and the sooner he realises that the better. 

It’s a running theme with possession managers. Marti with us, there were times under Enzo that we simply were not good enough to do what he wanted us to do, but he continued on regardless. 
Russell Martin did the same at Southampton, Kompany at Burnley.

[justfoxes]

There’s been a lot of talk about getting rid of Cifuentes, but is blaming him really justified? Or is it more about the players he’s had to work with, some of whom arguably shouldn’t be wearing our royal blue kit anymore?
If we do sack Marti, who would want to come here? We’re quickly gaining a reputation as a club that fires managers frequently. Would any quality candidates consider joining us in these conditions? We might have missed the chance to sign someone like Lampard before he went to a Schitt club or Dyche, who’s doing well turning the other schitt team around.
Cutting ties with Cifuentes now means paying off the rest of his contract, which could drain millions we need to rebuild the squad and clear out deadwood. Meanwhile, with Rudkin moving up the ladder—likely on a higher salary—it feels like KP is rewarding underperformance and poor handling of contracts and funds.
Patience could be the key. Give Marti until February, provide funds to bring in a proper striker, and allow him to shed some of the underperforming players. If a change is still needed then, thorough due diligence must be done to find a manager who can truly build a competitive, fighting team—not someone who’s just here for a paycheck.

Edited 27 November 2025 by justfoxes

[Richmondfox]

22 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

It’s a running theme with possession managers. Marti with us, there were times under Enzo that we simply were not good enough to do what he wanted us to do, but he continued on regardless. 
Russell Martin did the same at Southampton, Kompany at Burnley.

Yet we would’ve torn teams apart if Faes and JV didn’t walk the ball to the halfway line and passed first time when people were in space.  Why is it so alien to play to the strengths and adapt when needed instead of rinsing the same tactics with the same players, making the same mistakes. 

 

Marti could turn this around by speeding it all up.  make the decision to get rid of JV. He’s already taken Ayew out who was a bottleneck high up the pitch.  
 

Quick pass out to get JJ driving forwards with the wingers and Ricardo moving together. 

Nothing will change when you don’t know what to do. 

 

Edited 27 November 2025 by Richmondfox

[cityfanlee23]

6 minutes ago, Richmondfox said:

Yet we would’ve torn teams apart if Faes and JV didn’t walk the ball to the halfway line and passed first time when people were in space.  Why is it so alien to play to the strengths and adapt when needed instead of rinsing the same tactics with the same players, making the same mistakes. 

 

Marti could turn this around by speeding it all up.  make the decision to get rid of JV. He’s already taken Ayew out who was a bottleneck high up the pitch.  
 

Quick pass out to get JJ driving forwards with the wingers and Ricardo moving together. 

Nothing will change when you don’t know what to do. 

 

Yep, we have moments where Fatawu has 3 players around him, and on the other side Mavididi is in miles of space, all we need is a fast ball from Fatawu into either Winks or Vestergaard and a first time pass to Mavididi and we will have our opponents absolutely all over the place scrambling to get into position and making mistakes. 

Instead it takes us 10 passes to get the ball from 1 wing to the other. 
 

Kompany has adapted his game to include these types of fast diagonal passes, Bayern’s goal vs Arsenal was a perfect example of just a long diagonal ball resulting in a goal. 

[tsintskaro]

How is this clown still here

[Gamble92]

5 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

Russell f****g Martin.

 

And you know full well they would do it.

Oh that's next. Southampton fans saying how much we remind them of a Martin team on Tuesday and you just know he's our no.1 target. You almost couldn't write it. What's worse is he'd turn us down again at the minute.

 

I actually get depressed writing this shit at the minute. 

[Sunbury Fox]

2 hours ago, JimJams said:

We currently have the Spanish Russell Martin.

I know he's become a joke figure but Martin's record in the Championship at both Swansea and Southampton is light years ahead of what Marti has achieved so far at QPR and with us. 

[Number 6]

I'm wary of who we'd employ if we did sack him but he's running out of leeway. Think if Farke becomes available I'd make the switch.

[Richmondfox]

1 hour ago, cityfanlee23 said:

Yep, we have moments where Fatawu has 3 players around him, and on the other side Mavididi is in miles of space, all we need is a fast ball from Fatawu into either Winks or Vestergaard and a first time pass to Mavididi and we will have our opponents absolutely all over the place scrambling to get into position and making mistakes. 

Instead it takes us 10 passes to get the ball from 1 wing to the other. 
 

Kompany has adapted his game to include these types of fast diagonal passes, Bayern’s goal vs Arsenal was a perfect example of just a long diagonal ball resulting in a goal. 

 

If a fullback actually does pass forwards and crosses the halfway line, they just stand gawping at the wingers waiting to pass backwards. How simple is it to just run forward into space. 

 

Our wingers need someone to coach them

as it seems they have been left to their own devices for too long, and their mistakes are not being corrected.

[jayfox26]

One thing that is a problem, and always has  been under Top and his board is the lack of forward planning. Regardless of how well/bad our manager may be doing at any given time, we should always have an idea of who our next manager would be. Like when Enzo left, we had no contingency plan. If we sacked Marti tomorrow, we wouldn't have a plan in place to look for a long term replacement, we'd just hire someone like Russell Martin. 

 

Same could be said for player recruitment. We just seem to scattergun, with no real plan or long term contingency. If we sold Fatawu in Jan, we should have a list of 3 or 4 good replacements. Guaranteed we have none. We lost our greatest ever player last summer and did we have any kind of plan to replace him? Absolutely not. I know finances can be an issue with our player recruitment but a decent scouting set up could have contingencies in place for all eventualities and finances. 

 

Bottom line is, we don't have any kind of planning at the club and just try to wing it