Has it all gone a bit wrong?

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I personally think our preparation has been a lot better than the redsh*tes, and they've won every one of their preseason games.

It's who you play that matters.
 
Is this thread really happening? 6 friendlies, of which 2 included games against a full strength Real Madrid and Juventus and people are whinging cos we didn't win them all? :huh:

Get a grip, seriously :lol:

Come back in January at the earliest with this type of nonsense
 
Toffe3m4n said:
I personally think our preparation has been a lot better than the redsh*tes, and they've won every one of their preseason games.

It's who you play that matters.
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I think the quality of opposition definitely counts for something, the RS have played all no marks in pre-season. I reckon our preparation is a lot better than in previous seasons.
 

Bungle said:
So Martinez has tried to implement some new tactics and it all looks fairly terrible at the moment, players don't look comfortable with the positions they're being asked to play and we look poor defensively. The signings he's made haven't been great in my opinion and he generally looks a bit lost on the touchline.

How long into the season do we give him if it's not working? We haven't kept a clean sheet this pre-season and alarm bells are ringing already for me.
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I would imagine that after 3 or 4 years of playing the same or similar tactics, it will take some time for players to adjust to the new system. I think that is to be expected.
I agree about the signings, none have really stood as great signings, they are pretty much squad fillers rather than nailed on first team players. Although to be fair, this forum has seen quite a lot of posts regarding the lack of depth in the squad so I don't think we should criticise him for doing something that most of us have been asking for.

No we haven't kept a clean sheet, again with a new defensive set up that doesn't surprise me, especially in his first couple of friendlies. Remember though that our last 3 games have been against Juventus, Real Madrid and Valencia - I would be surprised if a Moyes set up kept a clean sheet against those 3.

Martinez is not really a signing that inspired me, but didn't have me rolling up my sleeves and looking for the razor blades either.

How long do we give him? I would think that we wait until the first competitive game at least. Surely this pre-season is all about him getting to know the players and the players getting to know him. It is not about results or clean sheets, it is about RM figuring out what is going to work and what isn't. In order to do that, he has to try many things in a short space of time
 
Barring a transfer-related disaster, I still think things will be largely OK next season.

I'm expecting Martinez to get his tactics wrong a few times, resulting in some merciless beatings when employing a high line backfires, but a different approach was a must. The number of points lost in the last ten minutes of games last season was ridiculous, so it's not like he's having to replace some great in-game thinker.
 
Carlito said:
Barring a transfer-related disaster, I still think things will be largely OK next season.

I'm expecting Martinez to get his tactics wrong a few times, resulting in some merciless beatings when employing a high line backfires, but a different approach was a must. The number of points lost in the last ten minutes of games last season was ridiculous, so it's not like he's having to replace some great in-game thinker.
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TBH, I can't see the high back-line featuring loads this coming season.

We were caught out twice against Real, and I think we'll have learned from that. There aren't many teams that play like that in the Prem, though. United, Spurs and Arsenal maybe? I think we'll be fine for the most part.

I think that there's going to be a bit of apprehension when the season starts. But it'll iron itself out when the team realise what they're capable of. Martinez has talked a good game so far, provided he can rile the team up we'll be alright. Hopefully he rewards good play over his 'mates'. Moyes rewarded those who played his game. Osman and Neville saw more game time than they warranted when they were having bad spells. If Martinez rewards good play, everyone will up their game [hopefully] and we'll crack on.
 
To be honest, I'm not sure we have the centre-halfs and keeper to play cultured football from the back. Hope I'm proven wrong but Howard is very poor and indecisive with the ball at his feet while Distin is not the type of player you want playing horizontal passes 20-25 yards from his own goal. In terms of the other vacant defensive position (considering Martinez perseveres with 3 at back), Stones has shown potential but is probably too raw to be fully relied upon just yet, Heitinga is too unreliable and would rather have him as far up field as possible while Alcaraz hasn't featured at all in pre-season. Jagz is probably our only centre-half that looks reasonably comfortable on the ball deep in our defensive third.
 

Ill wait and see until we've played some competitive games like. We will have a better idea by the end of the season, not that it will stop some head wobbling and teeth gnashing before then like.
 

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