Russell Martin - Confirmed as First Team Manager

[Foxmeister]

59 minutes ago, SafewayFox said:

I hope that I’m wrong but weren’t we all excited after the Florentina pre-season last year too?

 

Our players have “England syndrome” and buckle at any sign of pressure.

A bit harsh on England that, they certainly didn’t buckle in the Azteca.

[trooky]

18 hours ago, The Doctor said:

I really don't get that sense at all. There's a huge difference between wanting something to fail and expecting that it will. We don't right the ship by pretending the iceberg wasn't there. I'd love to see it be a success and this club start heading in the right direction again, but there's major warning signs both in his past record and the performance we saw yesterday, which suggested he had not learnt anything from his failures at rangers and Southampton. If he fails for a third time, we're ****ed, he needs to succeed and to do so he needs to recognize the problems we can all see, that we pose about as much threat as Helen Keller.

Agree, it could have been a very different story Saturday if the lad scores after the Souttar suicide pass. 

 

RM has his philosophy which is about winning the ball back quickly high up the pitch, but this won't work for Leicester in league 1.

 

Most teams will sit back against us and we'll end up with the pointless 800 passes across defence we witnessed against Northampton untill we make a silly mistake. 

 

He needs to adapt, knock it long from the keeper and then win it back in their half and start playing forward. 

Edited 10 August by trooky

[trooky]

I listened to RMs post match interview after Northampton and he spoke about the need to create more chances, I don't see how he'll coach that when his defensive unit and keeper dominates in terms of passing and touches. 

 

His tactics are so negative it's absurb, 71% defense / midfield 19% / and attack 10%.

 

Our most creative players are Alves and Braybrooke, yet the keeper had 2x as many passes/ touches as Alves and was equal with Braybrooke against Northampton. 

 

He has to change this very quickly. 

[Grebfromgrebland]

21 hours ago, sylofox said:

Embarrassing fan base?

 

Not liking the style of play (the style we dont have the players to play it)

 

Not liking the manager (that will only play the style above)

 

Not liking the ownership ( that keep employing managers that only play one style see above)

 

Not liking the owners (that have got us relegated 3 out of 4 seasons)

 

Not liking owners ( that have driven us to the edge of extinction)

 

The EMBARRASSING FANS are those that kiss arse because what a farther did and happy to see the son destroy us.

 

The EMBARRASSING FANS are those on here and FB that have no bollox to call out the problems but find it easy to criticise fans that do.

A wise man one said that it if you don't have anything nice to say don't say anything at all. 

 

Also don't be a winge bag all your life.

[BKLFox]

1 hour ago, trooky said:

Agree, it could have been a very different story Saturday if the lad scores after the Souttar suicide pass. 

 

RM has his philosophy which is about winning the ball back quickly high up the pitch, but this won't work for Leicester in league 1.

 

Most teams will sit back against us and we'll end up with the pointless 800 passes across defence we witnessed against Northampton untill we make a silly mistake. 

 

He needs to adapt, knock it long from the keeper and then win it back in their half and start playing forward. 

If teams sit in how will knocking it long be any different to taking it up ourselves, maybe even less effective if they get a head on it and send it back our way anyway 🤷‍♂️ 

The only way to beat the set ups we will face is to be more aggressive and move both ball & players quicker, find openings & look for them making mistakes & it has to be relentless, this is what RM wants it’s the players that need to make it happen but it’s the 1st game and probably not his 1st 11.

 

Also to not do hospital passes but again this is on players, it’s not all in RM you can’t say counter if they are sitting deep that’s charging.

 

[boosmanana]

1 hour ago, trooky said:

Agree, it could have been a very different story Saturday if the lad scores after the Souttar suicide pass. 

 

RM has his philosophy which is about winning the ball back quickly high up the pitch, but this won't work for Leicester in league 1.

 

Most teams will sit back against us and we'll end up with the pointless 800 passes across defence we witnessed against Northampton untill we make a silly mistake. 

 

He needs to adapt, knock it long from the keeper and then win it back in their half and start playing forward. 

Alright Pep

[trooky]

21 minutes ago, BKLFox said:

If teams sit in how will knocking it long be any different to taking it up ourselves, maybe even less effective if they get a head on it and send it back our way anyway 🤷‍♂️ 

The only way to beat the set ups we will face is to be more aggressive and move both ball & players quicker, find openings & look for them making mistakes & it has to be relentless, this is what RM wants it’s the players that need to make it happen but it’s the 1st game and probably not his 1st 11.

 

Also to not do hospital passes but again this is on players, it’s not all in RM you can’t say counter if they are sitting deep that’s charging.

 

We didn't take it up ourselves though, the defense has 70% of touches or passes.the keeper has more touches than anyone in the front 5. 

 

Its the first game but RM doesn't have the players in defence or the pviot to be more aggressive on the ball.

 

If he can coach Okoli to trap or pass the ball with confidence then he deserves coach of the year IMO

Edited 10 August by trooky

[BKLFox]

9 minutes ago, trooky said:

We didn't take it upbour selves though, the defense has 70% of touches or passes.the keeper has more touches than anyone in the front 5. 

 

Its the first game but RM doesn't have the players in defence or the pviot to be more aggressive on the ball.

 

If he can coach Okoli to trap or pass the ball with confidence then he deserves coach of the year IMO

Ooh for sure he doesn't have the CBs to play that & yep it is the 1st game.
The idea is sound when faced against a wall that has no intention of moving because you need to drag the opposition out, not sucking eggs as i know you know that, but maybe sometimes you need to play that risky pass (obviously not as risky as that 40sec fec up mind) just to entice them out, if they think they can intercept they go for it but we then need to be sharper on that, give the illusion its missed place then once they bite move with speed...yes saturday i think me gran could have moved quicker up the field but he was having a go at them for that mind & wanted them to be more aggressive & slicker trouble is our players are stuck in 1 gear they need to be able to cruise then go up the gears in seconds, that's a player thing.
CB issue we have is that other than Gray & now Nelson because of injury the other 3 are linked away & i think he had Nelson & maybe another new CB to play the role but now does he change everything to suit what we have & just bypass them & lump the ball up to a forward line geared around having the ball at their feet?
It's a tough 1 & think its going to be a slow August/September in terms of entertainment until window closes & we know who & what we have to play with.

[SafewayFox]

2 hours ago, Foxmeister said:

A bit harsh on England that, they certainly didn’t buckle in the Azteca.

Mexico got in a lot of dangerous positions but their lack of quality shone through.

 

We basically sat deep like we did against Argentina but they don’t have Messi and co.

[ealingfox]

This is clearly copium but Southampton fans were still giving him dogs abuse and calling him Rylan well into September in his last EFL season, and he then took them on a 25 game unbeaten run and scammed a playoff win. 

 

The problem with the position we're in is if you've got a shit defence it's very easy to park the bus against a team who you know will offer you several good chances throughout the game, much easier then to be patient and wait for one. What makes teams like current and tiki taka Spain and Man City so difficult to play against is because they also have solid defences, so you don't know if a good chance will come. It's then far more difficult to be patient and you have to take more risks trying to create a good chance when you can.

[The Doctor]

5 minutes ago, ealingfox said:

This is clearly copium but Southampton fans were still giving him dogs abuse and calling him Rylan well into September in his last EFL season, and he then took them on a 25 game unbeaten run and scammed a playoff win. 

 

The problem with the position we're in is if you've got a shit defence it's very easy to park the bus against a team who you know will offer you several good chances throughout the game, much easier then to be patient and wait for one. What makes teams like current and tiki taka Spain and Man City so difficult to play against is because they also have solid defences, so you don't know if a good chance will come. It's then far more difficult to be patient and you have to take more risks trying to create a good chance when you can.

eh, more importantly they're very capable of changing the tempo at the drop of a dime, of doing one/two touch moves to drag out openings in defences. When you play monotempo football where every single pass has to have at least 4 touches and a couple of seconds on the ball to scan before making it, defences are never put under much pressure to create those openings. It is very much the possession as a means to an end vs possession itself being the end

[Philkeavo]

3 hours ago, trooky said:

I listened to RMs post match interview after Northampton and he spoke about the need to create more chances, I don't see how he'll coach that when his defensive unit and keeper dominates in terms of passing and touches. 

 

His tactics are so negative it's absurb, 71% defense / midfield 19% / and attack 10%.

 

Our most creative players are Alves and Braybrooke, yet the keeper had 2x as many passes/ touches as Alves and was equal with Braybrooke against Northampton. 

 

He has to change this very quickly. 

Those stats are horrific. This going to be a long hard slog…

[ealingfox]

23 minutes ago, The Doctor said:

eh, more importantly they're very capable of changing the tempo at the drop of a dime, of doing one/two touch moves to drag out openings in defences. When you play monotempo football where every single pass has to have at least 4 touches and a couple of seconds on the ball to scan before making it, defences are never put under much pressure to create those openings. It is very much the possession as a means to an end vs possession itself being the end

 

You're not wrong, but we've had basically that same issue (telegraphing passes, pondering on the ball, going backwards for no reason) under the less possession minded managers of the last few years too.

Edited 10 August by ealingfox

[Stadt]

I think our plan A will be pretty good and let's say 50-60% of the time our quality will be too much for most teams but as the season goes on there will be a workable blueprint of how to stop us - a bit like in 23/24. I don't think Martin has the ability or humility to really adapt in the face of this.

 

Our squad depth is a huge concern, naturally we'll get a few more in but we should have been about 80% sorted by now and you can make the case we need 4 new CBs, a proper DM and at least one other striker if Bristric is as good as done. It's not difficult to imagine we go into next season without actually fixing two out of three long term problem positions. I was and I am still against the appointment but we've also set him up to fail by not acting sharply enough in the market. Equally Martin has pushed for players that don't solve our glaring issues.

[coolhandfox]

13 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I think our plan A will be pretty good and let's say 50-60% of the time our quality will be too much for most teams but as the season goes on there will be a workable blueprint of how to stop us - a bit like in 23/24. I don't think Martin has the ability or humility to really adapt in the face of this.

 

Our squad depth is a huge concern, naturally we'll get a few more in but we should have been about 80% sorted by now and you can make the case we need 4 new CBs, a proper DM and at least one other striker if Bristric is as good as done. It's not difficult to imagine we go into next season without actually fixing two out of three long term problem positions. I was and I am still against the appointment but we've also set him up to fail by not acting sharply enough in the market. Equally Martin has pushed for players that don't solve our glaring issues.

Think the issue is still get the current ones out. 

Edited 10 August by coolhandfox

[Stadt]

5 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

Think the issue is still get the current ones out. 

That was factored in, even if we get rid of say Souttar + one other we still need 3!

[Les-TA-Jon]

20 minutes ago, Stadt said:

I think our plan A will be pretty good and let's say 50-60% of the time our quality will be too much for most teams but as the season goes on there will be a workable blueprint of how to stop us - a bit like in 23/24. I don't think Martin has the ability or humility to really adapt in the face of this.

 

Our squad depth is a huge concern, naturally we'll get a few more in but we should have been about 80% sorted by now and you can make the case we need 4 new CBs, a proper DM and at least one other striker if Bristric is as good as done. It's not difficult to imagine we go into next season without actually fixing two out of three long term problem positions. I was and I am still against the appointment but we've also set him up to fail by not acting sharply enough in the market. Equally Martin has pushed for players that don't solve our glaring issues.

Is this even true? Lots of people said this about last season too...

[Blarmy]

If I was a football manager I’d have two or three styles of play coached and drilled, to switch between as the situation demanded. Keep them guessing.

[Stadt]

7 minutes ago, Les-TA-Jon said:

Is this even true? Lots of people said this about last season too...

The games we did win were because of individual quality e.g James and Fatawu long shots.

 

I totally get your point but Alves, Braybrooke, Chaplin and Burns are better than L1 players - just about the majority of the time we’ll win games because there is a talent mismatch that will eventually tell. I think Martin may actually sting our attacking efficacy by being overly structured and control-obsessed.

 

We also do have a broadly better set of personalities now so even if the talent was there, the application wasn’t.

[Les-TA-Jon]

7 minutes ago, Stadt said:

The games we did win were because of individual quality e.g James and Fatawu long shots.

 

I totally get your point but Alves, Braybrooke, Chaplin and Burns are better than L1 players - just about the majority of the time we’ll win games because there is a talent mismatch that will eventually tell. I think Martin may actually sting our attacking efficacy by being overly structured and control-obsessed.

 

We also do have a broadly better set of personalities now so even if the talent was there, the application wasn’t.

Agree that some of the toxicity has been drained. And yeah individual quality is where most of our points came from last season. Just hard to be fully onboard with the 'our quality will likely be enough' narrative after watching us lose to the rest of the division all last season when we were the 'better' side. But as you say, attitude and application feels like it will be better with this manager/crop of players. 

 

Ultimately really hard to tell how it'll go - but that's football and that's why we watch it. 

[Guest Fox-LMA]

 

 

RM wears Birkenstocks. With pulled up socks 

 

Grounds for arrest IMO.

 

[filbertway]

5 minutes ago, Fox-LMA said:

 

 

RM wears Birkenstocks. With pulled up socks 

 

Grounds for arrest IMO.

 

Pinder watching this thinking "Russ hasn't look at me like that in years"

[LFC bear]

23 hours ago, Tommy Fresh said:

How's life under McInnes 

Just some teething issues. Still better than Veg Lasso 

[LCFCCHRIS]

We all want Russel to do well. Of course, him doing well will directly affect our happiness as fans (playstyle entertainment questione aside).

 

He has said the right things for the most part and our signings, although we desperately lack a couple of strikers and a central defender, have been alright. He's a likeable guy with a very clear philosophy which is admirable. 

 

However, a massive part of me worries we'll see a repeat of previous seasons. Let's not forget, none of us wanted this appointment, not because dislike him as a person, because we're sick to death of different forms of the same old pass it to death at the back. It's an appointment that seems was based on VIBES alone and 0 statistical analysis. I was looking over Dave Challinor's stats again today and it's mind-blowing that he wasn't our #1 target, proven at this level but also proven to bring success, with every single one of his 15 completed full seasons ending in either promotion or a play-off place. A win rate of 51%.

 

Yes some of that is lower leagues, but he got Stockport from the national League nearly to the championship. Their budget was decent but you still have to do it. 

I don't think we even considered him. 

 

Fingers crossed we have a great season but I'm predicting mid table under Russel. Prove me wrong and get us up please!

 

 

 

[sylofox]

On 09/08/2026 at 18:41, Rubbersoul said:

I know he’s in a extremely privileged job but to me Mavididi looks like he’s needs taking out the squad for his own good 

Not realy a hard one for the manager.

Drag him to one side.

 

Do you want to be here? Ive seen what you did first season and you are above this, but youve done very little since.

 

So go home and think about it and tell me tomorrow.

But your dropped until you can put a shift in. Be it one game or 6 months.

 

Thats the nice bit.

 

So go home sort ya head out and talk to your agent.

 

One warning I dont carry fvcking passengers.

 

Your choice

 

Depending on his attitude id then consider him i the squad. If hes not in it he would not get win bonuses.

 

He really needs to man up or fvck off

Edited 11 August by sylofox