Russell Martin - Confirmed as First Team Manager

[ClaphamFox]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

Problem was that they came back end June but didn’t bother to get fit 

I’m like a broken record on this but the date they come back is irrelevant if the mindset of the players remains the same. And martin strikes me as the type who will double down on the approach that we can play our way out of this division rather than being fit enough to cope with the challenges. 

I don't think playing possession football and maintaining a high level of fitness are mutually exclusive. Lots of teams play their way out of League One—it's a common way of getting out of the division. But I suspect those that do this are also fit enough to cope with the challenges.

 

I had no idea about Martin's record in this area so I asked ChatGPT. It reckons that Martin's teams are typically very fit because his preferred system "requires very fit players to counter-press, recover shape, and repeat high-intensity effort". Case in point: when Southampton went up through the play-offs in 23/24, they ranked highest in the division for shot-ending high turnovers—which suggests an aggressive press.

 

I remain deeply sceptical about this appointment for a number of reasons, but I can't find anything to suggest we should be particularly worried about the team's fitness next season.

[Pliskin]

2 hours ago, st albans fox said:

Problem was that they came back end June but didn’t bother to get fit 

I’m like a broken record on this but the date they come back is irrelevant if the mindset of the players remains the same. And martin strikes me as the type who will double down on the approach that we can play our way out of this division rather than being fit enough to cope with the challenges. 

I agree. It will be football first fitness later. 

[LCFCCKEANO]

All of the evidence suggests he has a very fit team, and none of the criticism I’ve seen has stemmed from his sides being unfit or not pressing, it’s the in the ball stuff. There is enough wrong with him without making stuff up, just because things aren’t good doesn’t mean the sky is falling and every single aspect of Martin is horrible and shit. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone by winter but would also not be surprised if we got promoted and did alright season after, think the Prem is where he reaches his limit which is a way away at any rate- I don’t think he’s underachieved in the EFL before. Don’t like the appointment but I am not just going to write him entirely off before he’s even met his squad

[AjcW]

38 minutes ago, LCFCCKEANO said:

All of the evidence suggests he has a very fit team, and none of the criticism I’ve seen has stemmed from his sides being unfit or not pressing, it’s the in the ball stuff. There is enough wrong with him without making stuff up, just because things aren’t good doesn’t mean the sky is falling and every single aspect of Martin is horrible and shit. Wouldn’t be surprised if he’s gone by winter but would also not be surprised if we got promoted and did alright season after, think the Prem is where he reaches his limit which is a way away at any rate- I don’t think he’s underachieved in the EFL before. Don’t like the appointment but I am not just going to write him entirely off before he’s even met his squad

If he did back to back with us he'd convince some silly prem side to take him off our hands so win win really  

 

Inclined to agree on fitness, whilst we haven't see any new additions staff wise I really hope McCarron is working overtime in the background on that. One of the biggest positives I pulled out when we hired him is that he's literally been head of performance and conditioning in the past and his background is in performance.