Cifuentes OUT

[South Shire Fox]

Biggest problem for me is promising to play some of the youth but going back to the old guard like Faes. Practice what you preach

[splinterdream]

Marti has big problems in the squad which i dont think are his fault. I get the anger at playing Thomas, i'd imagine Marti has had a fall out with VK, but losing Ramsey today was bad luck, with the squad we've got i think its a case that we're all getting a reality check, we have a mixture of loan players, players in the last year of their contract and league 1 player, if that, and we're playing without a striker. I think we're bang in trouble and can't see what any manager could do. 

The players are obviously playing for Marti, so i think he needs to rethink his system, and hopefully we can do something in the window in january to secure us a mid table finish, because i'd take that right now, i think we are championship for a fair few years now 

[dooflip]

I’ve tried to be the optimist. I’ve remained patient. But I am struggling right now.

I don’t know what a managerial change would achieve at this point, can we realistically get anyone in who would be more effective? The squad is such a problem.

I literally don’t know what to think right now.

Regardless of who’s in charge, I firmly believe we need to be playing Fatawu and mavididi as strikers with monga behind them given our current squad predicament.

[justfoxes]

4 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

You could easily be right on that, either way, he's still actively choosing to play a way the players cannot play very well.

They look like a lost bunch of sorry fuchers, all show & No substance they couldn’t score for toffee, the sooner we get a goal scorer the better Daka is just like a blind terrier chasing a ball but can’t find it or even Ayew who blows hot and cold his corners are more like space x putting satellites into orbit Carranza can’t see where his goals will come from ?

 

So will our sorry bunch turn the corner and start winning, can’t really see that they can at the moment, where is Top when the Poor Ship King Power is listing & looking more likely to sink, time for Top to sell up and concentrate more on his Polo buddies he never seems to come as much to the KP lately, & what with COV storming the league we’re just ending up serial bottlers can we mount a surmountable resurgence who knows but time for Top & Rudkin and co to stand up and be accountable for our pathetic demise !!

 

[Dahnsouff]

47 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

..
We have better players than most teams in this division when they are on form, the issue is, the system we have adopted is making it much easier for players to not hit any form. 

…

Disagree. Yes we have some good players with a good level of technical skills, but we are unable to work hard enough to make a complete performance.

[hejammy]

45 minutes ago, splinterdream said:

Marti has big problems in the squad which i dont think are his fault. I get the anger at playing Thomas, i'd imagine Marti has had a fall out with VK, but losing Ramsey today was bad luck, with the squad we've got i think its a case that we're all getting a reality check, we have a mixture of loan players, players in the last year of their contract and league 1 player, if that, and we're playing without a striker. I think we're bang in trouble and can't see what any manager could do. 

The players are obviously playing for Marti, so i think he needs to rethink his system, and hopefully we can do something in the window in january to secure us a mid table finish, because i'd take that right now, i think we are championship for a fair few years now 

Where do you see this? I see no evidence of this? What is the system? The last few games have given me zero confidence that the players are playing for him or understand his system.

 

At the moment we are like a school football team with 1 very good player. The idea is give it to Fatawu and hope he does something spectacular. Other teams have sussed this out and just double up on him leaving us as team useless. 

[splinterdream]

10 minutes ago, hejammy said:

Where do you see this? I see no evidence of this? What is the system? The last few games have given me zero confidence that the players are playing for him or understand his system.

 

At the moment we are like a school football team with 1 very good player. The idea is give it to Fatawu and hope he does something spectacular. Other teams have sussed this out and just double up on him leaving us as team useless. 

We're just soft, it was men against boys today, quite literally. It's probably setting them up the way they want to play, the enzo way, but with a little more urgency to move the ball forward, but we dont have ndidi, vardy or KDH. If you were to look at our players, how would you set us up? 

[Old Fox]

Has absolutely nothing to lose now to get us behind him drop the wasters now - get Faes, Soumare, Ayew, Vesty out of the squad and get some young blood in.

 

It cannot be worse by playing youngsters - I was unsure but having watched that pathetic effort I would rather we see the future tested and get relegated than watch the same idiots !

[phoneticerror]

1 hour ago, 87fox said:

Cifuentes may not be capable of better, but changing manager is just sticking a plaster over the fundamental issues.

 

We are rotten from the Top down.

 

Top and Rudkin out. All new contracts (renewals or incomings) with a sensible wage cap appropriate for this division. Live within our means financially. Get rid of all the trash mercenaries. Stop the corrupt "sponsorships".

 

Only then it might be worth thinking about who the manager is.

Exactly. keep changing the driver when the car is ****ed is pointless.

[cityfanlee23]

59 minutes ago, Dahnsouff said:

Disagree. Yes we have some good players with a good level of technical skills, but we are unable to work hard enough to make a complete performance.

I think we have plenty of players willing to put a shift in if the system works. Ricardo, Skipp, Okoli, Nelson, Fatawu, Mavididi, Thomas and Carranza are all players who are willing to put a shift in and try to get physical.
We have seen Soumare press at times.

I get your point though, I think it’s a mixture of players not fully being bought into the club and wanting to go that extra yard, and a system that doesn’t demand it. 
 

This is obviously speculation but I can’t imagine if Pearson walked in tomorrow that we wouldn’t atleast see them work harder. 

[Aleksz]

Just don’t see the point in sacking him. Whilst I share many the frustrations of others re: Marti, the squad is horrific. It would take a miracle worker to get goals out of those strikers, and enough creative output out of the rest of them. 
 

He has to start showing the balls to play the young lads though, if he doesn’t then I won’t have a leg to stand on in defending him. They’re the only tenuous solution to the players he has to work with.

 

PS. Please stop banging on about three at the back, we don’t have the wing backs to play that system and our options are real poor. He’s only switching to that system to chase games and playing without the wing backs, with out and out wingers instead. If we rock up with 3 CBs and wingers as wing backs we’ll look even more susceptible than we already are. 

[Richmondfox]

27 minutes ago, cityfanlee23 said:

I think we have plenty of players willing to put a shift in if the system works. Ricardo, Skipp, Okoli, Nelson, Fatawu, Mavididi, Thomas and Carranza are all players who are willing to put a shift in and try to get physical.
We have seen Soumare press at times.

I get your point though, I think it’s a mixture of players not fully being bought into the club and wanting to go that extra yard, and a system that doesn’t demand it. 
 

This is obviously speculation but I can’t imagine if Pearson walked in tomorrow that we wouldn’t atleast see them work harder. 

They would certainly work smarter. 
 

We looked ok at the start. JV was playing the ball quickly instead of walking football.  Fatawu was playing JJ into space and Ramsey was floating around.  Then it all seemed to stop. Something changed and Okoli for some reason was starting every attack out the back, everything became a mess and a struggle. 
 

Ayew stunk the place out as usual.  He’s more interested in winning fouls and occupying other areas apart from up front. 
 

Edited 25 October 2025 by Richmondfox

[l444ry]

Looks like he's run out of ideas already. Starting to blame the players won't make things better either. Simple fact is he's not getting the best out of this squad, however limited it might be. 

[jimsmallman]

Sacking Marti isn’t going to fix anything. We were absolute garbage last year and we’ve got rid of several players from that squad (including our best ever player) and signed three lads on loan - one who looks good, one who is made of breadsticks and one who probably isn’t any good, primarily because of rules that are designed to keep teams like us down. 
 

What’s the bloke meant to do? I’d love to see more exciting kids too but this isn’t football manager. We can’t expect a load of 16, 17 and 18 year olds to pick up wins in one of the most competitive leagues in Europe. There’s a reason none of those u21 teams are winning the Johnstones Paint Trophy or whatever it’s called. 
 

The issue remains that we have a squad of disinterested mercenaries who flatter to deceive by playing well every now and again so we’ll forget how little they care (Winks), not a single leader in there (Ricky is captain because he’s a nice lad, nowhere near a leader) and zero team spirit. The dressing room aren’t frightened of Marti, nor would they care even we had Nigel back. They’re all paid a fortune no matter what. Dreadful game? Doesn’t matter. They’re all still millionaires. 
 

Mid table might be what the club management expected. They won’t sack Marti yet. 
 

Will Still spent a load of money and is allegedly a tactical genius and Southampton are 20th. And I’d be shocked if they sacked him. 
 

I certainly don’t think he’s doing a good job right now, but I don’t think anyone is the miracle worker that we need at present. Considering how utterly broken the club and squad is, he could be doing a lot worse. 

[CarolinaFox]

The squad is an issue. Last time in the Championship we had KDH and Vardy who combined for 30 goals together. We are missing true goalscorers. Daka and Caranza look useless. Ayew is not a goal machine. We simply don't have the goals in the squad. However, with that being said, there is either a lack of backbone, confidence or belief in this squad that is down to Marti. He either can't get them to see how they can win in his system, or his system doesn't suit the players he has, and he needs to make a change and fast. Overall Marti's approach is so predictable, I watch each game and its always about getting the ball out wide, trying to come in, it's just not working, we need to be faster in transition and more direct. 

[Blue.Fox84]

At this point I don’t think sacking him is the answer, everyone knew he was inheriting a mess. If the situation doesn’t improve and we’re in a dangerous league position later down the line then something needs to change 

 

I don’t expect us to go straight back up and in all honesty I don’t believe it’s in our best interest too either, we end up in the same position and mask over a lot of the issues temporarily. We need to create an identity again, build a core to the team that will compete and give time to clear out the dead wood

 

My only concern is that he doesn’t seem to be finding a winning formula and addressing some of the issues. A lot of managers now have their way of playing and don’t want to adapt which is where I feel MC currently is too, football trends come and go but at the moment his way of playing is isolating the CF, heavily relying on a player of Ricardos quality and understanding to do the inverted role and also making us vulnerable at the back with Faes, Vesty and Thomas - Faes is too loose, Vesty is slow and too passive and Thomas just can’t defend at all. As a club it feels like because we won the league playing the Maresca way we’ve tried to find a manager who plays a similar style believing it will work again and all will be forgiven and forgot by the fans. Previously we had Doyle who tucked in as a LCB to create a back 3 who is a CB, quality and energy of KDH and Ndidi to arguably have the best midfield in the league and Vardy up top

 

I know it rips up his ‘philosophy’ but maybe he needs to adapt to the players he has, were to easy to score against, players who aren’t as technically good or have the understanding playing this system and players offering nothing up top. Keep it simple and go back to WB’s being WB’s, defenders defending and 2 up top to give us something different as none of who we have are strong enough to play that role as a lone striker 

[Dr The Singh]

2 minutes ago, Blue.Fox84 said:

At this point I don’t think sacking him is the answer, everyone knew he was inheriting a mess. If the situation doesn’t improve and we’re in a dangerous league position later down the line then something needs to change 

 

I don’t expect us to go straight back up and in all honesty I don’t believe it’s in our best interest too either, we end up in the same position and mask over a lot of the issues temporarily. We need to create an identity again, build a core to the team that will compete and give time to clear out the dead wood

 

My only concern is that he doesn’t seem to be finding a winning formula and addressing some of the issues. A lot of managers now have their way of playing and don’t want to adapt which is where I feel MC currently is too, football trends come and go but at the moment his way of playing is isolating the CF, heavily relying on a player of Ricardos quality and understanding to do the inverted role and also making us vulnerable at the back with Faes, Vesty and Thomas - Faes is too loose, Vesty is slow and too passive and Thomas just can’t defend at all. As a club it feels like because we won the league playing the Maresca way we’ve tried to find a manager who plays a similar style believing it will work again and all will be forgiven and forgot by the fans. Previously we had Doyle who tucked in as a LCB to create a back 3 who is a CB, quality and energy of KDH and Ndidi to arguably have the best midfield in the league and Vardy up top

 

I know it rips up his ‘philosophy’ but maybe he needs to adapt to the players he has, were to easy to score against, players who aren’t as technically good or have the understanding playing this system and players offering nothing up top. Keep it simple and go back to WB’s being WB’s, defenders defending and 2 up top to give us something different as none of who we have are strong enough to play that role as a lone striker 

Can you summarise in 5 sentences

[Blue.Fox84]

1 minute ago, Dr The Singh said:

Can you summarise in 5 sentences

It’s late and Leicester have put me in a bad mood. ChatGPT it and let me know what it says 🤣

[sm1]

How can a team like Millwall, amongst many others, have 2-3 players on our wingers yet their wingers waltz around the pitch without a care in the world. A midfield of James, Winks & Ramsay with Abdul and Mavididi/Monga on the wings, should be top level for this league. You can only assume the way our team is set up to both attack and defend is not good enough. Marti has to take responsibility for that. Every squad has its pros and cons, the best managers highlight the pros whilst hiding the cons.

[splinterdream]

1 minute ago, sm1 said:

How can a team like Millwall, amongst many others, have 2-3 players on our wingers yet their wingers waltz around the pitch without a care in the world. A midfield of James, Winks & Ramsay with Abdul and Mavididi/Monga on the wings, should be top level for this league. You can only assume the way our team is set up to both attack and defend is not good enough. Marti has to take responsibility for that. Every squad has its pros and cons, the best managers highlight the pros whilst hiding the cons.

I think you have to have players running off the ball to give the person on the ball options and drag defenders away, i think our problem is we have a lack of players making that movement, Ramsey did a good job till he got injured, we also need our striker doung that but he's a bit crap

[FrankieADZ]

3 hours ago, Chelmofox said:

The alternatives are Vic, Faes on the left or Aluko. Aluko comes with massive pressure. The rest are dross.

or change the system, all are miles better than Luke Thomas, as frankly hes been honking all season, even the stats prove that

[wurmer]

1) Top of the club - owner and management is a mess and totally incompetent.

2) Poor squad, not a team - no cohesion.

3) happy clapper supporters who don’t want to rock the boat.

 

These are the reasons we are fecked and nothing with change - will just keep going in a spiral, getting into more financial trouble with each turn down the plug hole….

[Nolucklcfc]

Don’t see the point in just changing managers every few months. It’s a symptom not the disease, at some point we are just going to have to get behind one man and wait it out … whether Marti is that man or not, I don’t know but changing managers just seems pointless with the circus upstairs. 
 

let’s say they sack him and bring in someone else, new man is likely to just play the same players and we’ll be back talking about it again in 6 months. 
 

it’s bigger than the manager. 
 

 

[kingfox]

Whether you’re Marti in or Marti out, what we’re currently seeing is years of mismanagement coming home to roost. 
 

We’re not the only Championship club experiencing the same problems, Southampton are getting pelters, while Norwich seem like an even shitter version of ourselves. 
 

Nothing changes until the culture changes. 
 

Keep following the wrong trends and producing shit recruitment, we’ll end up where Norwich currently are in a season or two’s time. 

[MPH]

3 hours ago, South Shire Fox said:

Biggest problem for me is promising to play some of the youth but going back to the old guard like Faes. Practice what you preach

 

 

not many other championship teams have a 16 year old playing..