Thank you mate.
I should be open and say I am in the Martinez in camp, but clearly the Martinez out group have many valid criticisms.
It's obvious Martinez has "lost the plot" a bit. You look at his body language and how defensive he has become (about his way of playing the game). You can also see he has lost the respect of some of the team.
As I said in the original post, the only situations I can remember in the last 20 years like this, were Smith in 2002, Royle in 97 and Moyes in 2004. You could see with all of them, they had run out of ideas.
I suppose what differentiated me with Smith, was he had been in the job 4 years, and had never really excelled in the job at any point. I had little faith in what was then an older manager adapting and changing his ways.
We saw in 2004 Moyes went away, and changed how he operated a bit. Became a bit less heavy handed (ironically as time went on, his loss of his radical side would lead us eventually to stagnate a bit).
The misconception people have is to one want Martinez in is to agree with everything he says or to think this season has been a success. It's not the case. But in life it's hard for anyone to make changes when they are under the pressure and scrutiny that Martinez is under. It make you very defensive.
Like Royle and Moyes before him he needs time to clear his head. Distin, Howard, Mirallas will all be out. I suspect Peinaar may well be too, alongside Eto in January. Maybe one of our top "stars" may go too to help fund some rebuilding.
The names he is linked with (cleverly aside) ie the young players from Lyon, the younger players from Barcalona all fit the bill.
Diggin' yer work, excellent stuff mate...
As you are now I was in the MARTINEZ camp, firmly at first, we got 'potential' with him, and I was happy with that, content even because it offered us a platform and a big learning curve to build on, young, fresh, new ideas/philosophy, all that jazz... My only gripe with the appointment at the time was (as I've mentioned in a prev post) was the quote RE WIGAN whence he suggested he 'wasn't the man to bring them back up again'. That rankled with me then, and it does now because ultimately I just thought 'Why?'. You took them down and you've just given them a pay-day cup-wise, so why?' Frankly I couldn't think of anyone MORE suited to bringing them back up than he. Anyway...
And it's good, the confidence of certain folk on here, that it's all gonna be OK this season (PL), and we build for next. Though genuinely I feel there's a LOT more to come on the run in though, which in turn is gonna throw up a LOT more questions about his ability. Granted, I think we'll stay up but it's going to come at a HUGE cost I think anyway, we're hardly going to be a 'draw' finishing fourth from bottom via a campaign SO infuriating that almost everyone wants to forget it...we don't pay top-whack wages either so this idea of a 'new-build' for next season is somewhat confusing. Except it isn't, because it'll just mean a couple more seasons of the same won't it, of 'bedding in' and working with 'potential'.
But I'm not happy to put this season to bed though because whether we're OK or not things have changed, the shift has been MONUMENTAL, the dynamic HUGELY altered and whether you're pro or anti BOB that can't - I feel - simply be dismissed in order we move on quickly and forget.
Ultimately - and without question - there's a decent & knowledgeable footballing man at the helm who is basically & honestly telling all that he has little intention of changing anything much about the way or style in which he manages.
And that's what concerns me more than anything...
That said, it's a case of wait and see now isn't it, on all fronts...
