Martinez Sentiment Poll: In or Out

[Prevenger17]

Naismith off the bench I have no problem with. I think he'll be way down the pecking order after this summer if we get a playmaker in.

The penalties, tbf, seemed to take care of itself when Lukaku stepped in. I do find his post match explanations on the subject strange though. He makes it sound like a lottery when it should be "Ross was the next designated pen taker when Lukaku is off the pitch".

Just a bit of an explanation that underlines it's all under control.

In this game now you become a hostage to mischief makers if you dont address daft stuff like that, so I suppose it's his naivety in that respect i'm driving at.

Martinez is a slippery customer when it comes to post-match interviews, he'll never give the game away for some reason or another. I suspect that his non-committal answers to our current penalty taking fiasco are his own way of trying to take the spotlight off Baines, who's one miss seems to be really haunting him. If he says Ross is the next designated taker, that says either Roberto relieved Leighton of his duties in that regard, or Baines chickened out, neither of which are pleasant implications.

 

[davek]

Martinez is a slippery customer when it comes to post-match interviews, he'll never give the game away for some reason or another. I suspect that his non-committal answers to our current penalty taking fiasco are his own way of trying to take the spotlight off Baines, who's one miss seems to be really haunting him. If he says Ross is the next designated taker, that says either Roberto relieved Leighton of his duties in that regard, or Baines chickened out, neither of which are pleasant implications.

Interesting take on the Baines stuff. I had the impression that Baines failure to sort Mirallas out on the pitch saw him demoted from the pen duties and he's had a gob on ever since.

 

[USABlue]

Martinez is a slippery customer when it comes to post-match interviews, he'll never give the game away for some reason or another. I suspect that his non-committal answers to our current penalty taking fiasco are his own way of trying to take the spotlight off Baines, who's one miss seems to be really haunting him. If he says Ross is the next designated taker, that says either Roberto relieved Leighton of his duties in that regard, or Baines chickened out, neither of which are pleasant implications.

yup, think he just says what he does in the media to take pressure off the players.

 

[Furey1878]

Interesting take on the Baines stuff. I had the impression that Baines failure to sort Mirallas out on the itch saw him demoted from the pen duties and he's had a gob on ever since.

I reckon Baines lost a bit of confidence, like. But in the main, I think he's a bit too timid to tell his team-mates no - he's taking the pen, end of.

I hate to use this as an example, but imagine a Liverpool player trying to take a pen from Gerrard. I t wouldn't happen.

 

[Prevenger17]

Interesting take on the Baines stuff. I had the impression that Baines failure to sort Mirallas out on the itch saw him demoted from the pen duties and he's had a gob on ever since.

yup, think he just says what he does in the media to take pressure off the players.

I have to clarify, I'm not completely exonerating Martinez here. I can find his inability to call a spade a spade as frustrating as the next guy, but he's never going to change. All I'm saying is that I suspect it's a very delicate situation that has no easy solution. Also, he might take the public defence of his players to extremes, but I' d much prefer it to the indescriminate bus-feeding practiced by a certain other manager.

 

[USABlue]

I have to clarify, I'm not completely exonerating Martinez here. I can find his inability to call a spade a spade as frustrating as the next guy, but he's never going to change. All I'm saying is that I suspect it's a very delicate situation that has no easy solution. Also, he might take the public defence of his players to extremes, but I' d much prefer it to the indescriminate bus-feeding practiced by a certain other manager.

totally agree. being so positive when things are bad can be grating, but I'd prefer it to slagging off all the players in the press

 

[davek]

I reckon Baines lost a bit of confidence, like. But in the main, I think he's a bit too timid to tell his team-mates no - he's taking the pen, end of.

I hate to use this as an example, but imagine a Liverpool player trying to take a pen from Gerrard. I t wouldn't happen.

I think he relied on Sgt Major Moyes to keep discipline for him over that pen taking business and has a manager now who wont do that.

Another consideration: does Roberto want Lukaku to take the pens now in order to justify the fee paid? More goals for Lukaku = value for money.

 

[Seanjd]

I think he relied on Sgt Major Moyes to keep discipline for him over that pen taking business and has a manager now who wont do that.

Another consideration: does Roberto want Lukaku to take the pens now in order to justify the fee paid? More goals for Lukaku = value for money.

I doubt it. I reckon he's probably just proper good at smashing them in from the spot. He has much more confidence than Baines too.

 

[Furey1878]

I think he relied on Sgt Major Moyes to keep discipline for him over that pen taking business and has a manager now who wont do that.

Another consideration: does Roberto want Lukaku to take the pens now in order to justify the fee paid? More goals for Lukaku = value for money.

I think it's a mix of that plus Lukaku wanting to take our pens as our main goalscorer.

 

[Goat]

I think he relied on Sgt Major Moyes to keep discipline for him over that pen taking business and has a manager now who wont do that.

Another consideration: does Roberto want Lukaku to take the pens now in order to justify the fee paid? More goals for Lukaku = value for money.

Yes Dave, cos that totally explains why Ross took 1 the other day.

*LOL

 

[davek]

Yes Dave, cos that totally explains why Ross took 1 the other day.

*LOL

Here to serve.

 

[The Equaliser]

I had the impression that Baines failure to sort Mirallas out on the pitch saw him demoted from the pen duties and he's had a gob on ever since.

I think this is what may have happened. After the Mirallas fiasco the new policy was introduced whereby 'whoever fancies it' takes it. It may have been to cover Mirallas' misdemeanour and get him back onside with the fans in which case you can understand why it happened. But as proved against Burnley it hasn't worked and we need to get back to the designated penalty taker and his deputy policy to avoid further embarrassment in the future. It should still be Baines for me with maybe Lukaku as the stand-in.

 

[davek]

I think this is what may have happened. After the Mirallas fiasco the new policy was introduced whereby 'whoever fancies it' takes it. It may have been to cover Mirallas' misdemeanour and get him back onside with the fans in which case you can understand why it happened. But as proved against Burnley it hasn't worked and we need to get back to the designated penalty taker and his deputy policy to avoid further embarrassment in the future. It should still be Baines for me with maybe Lukaku as the stand-in.

I see no reason why Baines didnt simply revert back to being the taker after Mirallas missed.

It's a puzzle. I'm more than happy having Rom taking them though.

 

[Saint Domingo]

I see there's a lot of laughing over in the Liverpool thread at Rodgers the fraud. Rightly so, but it does throw into perspective Martinez this season. I still even now think we have a stronger squad than them. Our defense man for man is markedly superior whilst upfront in Lukaku Mirallas and Naismith we have all the goalscorers. We're supposedly not bad in midfield either with very few wanting to swap McCarthy and Barkley for Henderson and Allen. So why is one club after just missing out on the top 4 and reaching two semi finals without a decent striker launching a full inquest whilst another with a 30 million striker upfront is congratulating itself on finishing tenth out of both cups at the first hurdle but hey at least we silenced those plotters. Just shows the difference in expectation levels between the fanbases, and it has nothing to do with money or with not knee jerking. The disappointment for so many fans, and Saturday just backed it up, is that this squad is easily better than Southampton's, Spurs, and probably Liverpool's as well. So to finish behind all of them and Swansea and Stoke (probably) is why Martinez should answer for a lot. I'm all for giving him another season as there is a quality team and manager in there somewhere, but he should be under the same scrutiny as Rodgers is under now. What annoys me most though is a few wins under no pressure and the entire fanbase has reverted from what little scrutiny we were putting him under to the usual acceptance of mediocrity and the annual false promise of next year. The kopite scrutiny from this one game will be bigger than we managed when we were 3 points off the drop zone.

 

[USABlue]

I see there's a lot of laughing over in the Liverpool thread at Rodgers the fraud. Rightly so, but it does throw into perspective Martinez this season. I still even now think we have a stronger squad than them. Our defense man for man is markedly superior whilst upfront in Lukaku Mirallas and Naismith we have all the goalscorers. We're supposedly not bad in midfield either with very few wanting to swap McCarthy and Barkley for Henderson and Allen. So why is one club after just missing out on the top 4 and reaching two semi finals without a decent striker launching a full inquest whilst another with a 30 million striker upfront is congratulating itself on finishing tenth out of both cups at the first hurdle but hey at least we silenced those plotters. Just shows the difference in expectation levels between the fanbases, and it has nothing to do with money or with not knee jerking. The disappointment for so many fans, and Saturday just backed it up, is that this squad is easily better than Southampton's, Spurs, and probably Liverpool's as well. So to finish behind all of them and Swansea and Stoke (probably) is why Martinez should answer for a lot. I'm all for giving him another season as there is a quality team and manager in there somewhere, but he should be under the same scrutiny as Rodgers is under now. What annoys me most though is a few wins under no pressure and the entire fanbase has reverted from what little scrutiny we were putting him under to the usual acceptance of mediocrity and the annual false promise of next year. The kopite scrutiny from this one game will be bigger than we managed when we were 3 points off the drop zone.

martinez didnt spend 250m, they barely scraped by against crap teams, were crap in CL then subsequently in EL. Spurs have a good squad. Kanes been great, Eriksen's ace, Lloris is quality, although we have a better back 4, they have a better keeper. We should be around Spurs on a yearly basis as we're currently on a similar level to them on the pitch atm. almost made last 8 in EL

edit: not saying martinez is blameless as everyone involved in the squad this year shares part of the blame for this season. Just that due to the RS's 2nd place finish courtesy of chompers Rodgers was given a ton of money so they could challenge again and compete in CL which they failed miserably at. Much worse job than us going from 5th to possibly 8th-9th considering the injuries we had (Stones out 3 months, etc).