Noticeable Improvements

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Ok so start from the back and work your way forward.

Keeper? Improved massively. Temporary form? Confidence? Better training? Who knows but the difference is noticeable.

Defence? Improved massively. Defenders defending first and showboating second. No more conceding in the last 5 minutes because lack of concentration, fitness etc.

Speaking of which... Fitness? Improved massively. Perhaps one of our most important improvements since last season. Who knew that professional footballers actually had to be fit enough to run about for 90 minutes, eh?

Set pieces? Appear to be improved? I no longer let out one of those wet, squeaky farts every time we concede a corner or free kick inside the final third. Down to change in manager? Definitely.

Midfield? Improved massively. Perhaps down to recruitment more than tactical but improvements are improvements.

Attack? Improved in the sense that we seem to have more confidence going forward. No more crab passing about the edge of the box for 5 minutes before giving possession away or passing all the way back to the keeper. Still needs a lot work in terms of squad additions but should be sorted in the Summer. A proper playmaker and back-up striker would be nice.

What else? Overall team spirit seems to have returned. Players on average look a bit more arsed about actually playing well, probably because manager favourites don't exist and competition for starting spots has returned.

Almost every single aspect has, in some form another, improved. Let's hope it keeps on improving and doesn't stagnate again.
 



TheAlmightyFloater said:
Ok so start from the back and work your way forward.

Keeper? Improved massively. Temporary form? Confidence? Better training? Who knows but the difference is noticeable.

Defence? Improved massively. Defenders defending first and showboating second. No more conceding in the last 5 minutes because lack of concentration, fitness etc.

Speaking of which... Fitness? Improved massively. Perhaps one of our most important improvements since last season. Who knew that professional footballers actually had to be fit enough to run about for 90 minutes, eh?

Set pieces? Appear to be improved? I no longer let out one of those wet, squeaky farts every time we concede a corner or free kick inside the final third. Down to change in manager? Definitely.

Midfield? Improved massively. Perhaps down to recruitment more than tactical but improvements are improvements.

Attack? Improved in the sense that we seem to have more confidence going forward. No more crab passing about the edge of the box for 5 minutes before giving possession away or passing all the way back to the keeper. Still needs a lot work in terms of squad additions but should be sorted in the Summer. A proper playmaker and back-up striker would be nice.

What else? Overall team spirit seems to have returned. Players on average look a bit more arsed about actually playing well, probably because manager favourites don't exist and competition for starting spots has returned.

Almost every single aspect has, in some form another, improved. Let's hope it keeps on improving and doesn't stagnate again.
Click to expand...

Ok, let's start from the back and move forward...

Keeper:
Martinez signed Joel who was criticised early on for lacking confidence and for coming from Wigan. Incidentally, my biggest criticism of Martinez was the time it took him to make that change, as Howard had been diminishing for the last few years of Moyes time.

Defence:
Its easy to blame Martinez again for this, but again, it was a defence he inherited from Moyes, and 1 which had its best years behind it. For all the Criticism Martinez gets for the state of the squad he left, he had 1 hell of a building job to do when he took over, with Moyes team reaching the end of another cycle, and we all know Martinez was brought in to manage the team on a budget, much like Moyes had, and all prior to Moshiri taking over.
He gets none of the credit for the team performances in year 1, because it was built on Moyes defence, but he's never excused for the eventual decline of said defence after that, even though, Alcaraz and Mori aside, it was still by and large a Moyes defence, who apparently forgot how to defend because Martinez hypnotised them all.

Fitness:
I won't have it that the every single 1 of the players were so unfit under Martinez that it took an entire preseason and 6 months of the current season to undo all that bad work. All players reset in the summer and rebuild again from July onwards. The fitness or lack of, in the back end of Martinez era was as much a symptom of a lack of confidence and an apparent lack of effort from the players who he fallen foul of near the end. Barry implied as much in his interview. Now if you are talking about intensity, that's a different story, and a matter of tactics and conditioning for a different style of play.

Set Pieces:
It always makes me laugh at the thought that Martinez didn't practice any set pieces, but not as much as the thought that professional players who had practiced them for rest of their entire careers suddenly forgot how to do it in less than the space of 1 year. I suppose these players, like Rooney and Ronaldo who stay behind for hours after training to practice taking free kicks would've been brought to task by Evil Bobby as well,had they had the misfortune of playing under his dictatorship.

Midfield:
Our midfield has improved because we have signed 3/4 quality midfielders with our improved budget, instead of signing the likes of Naismith, Cleverley, McGeady, Gibson, Barry, Deulofeu, Besic etc for a combined total of about the price we signed Lookman for. Add to that the gradual emergence of our golden generation, who I'm convinced Martinez was looking to introduce as soon as they were ready.

Attack:
Rom is still scoring our goals.

Team Spirit:
There was an obvious falling out and the team suffered massively for it. Poor run of results, lack of confidence and form and a fan base who love to hound out anyone for failing their expectations, is a toxic mix.

Martinez didn't help himself with his relentless positivity, his loyalty to players who clearly weren't as loyal to him in return, and a stubbornness in continuing down a path that was failing him.

But he's not our manager any more. Leave him alone and stop comparing every decent result against 1 of his poor ones. It helps noone.

P. S. Last year we battered Stoke away. Just saying.
 
Kever10 said:
Ok, let's start from the back and move forward...

Keeper:
Martinez signed Joel who was criticised early on for lacking confidence and for coming from Wigan. Incidentally, my biggest criticism of Martinez was the time it took him to make that change, as Howard had been diminishing for the last few years of Moyes time.

Defence:
Its easy to blame Martinez again for this, but again, it was a defence he inherited from Moyes, and 1 which had its best years behind it. For all the Criticism Martinez gets for the state of the squad he left, he had 1 hell of a building job to do when he took over, with Moyes team reaching the end of another cycle, and we all know Martinez was brought in to manage the team on a budget, much like Moyes had, and all prior to Moshiri taking over.
He gets none of the credit for the team performances in year 1, because it was built on Moyes defence, but he's never excused for the eventual decline of said defence after that, even though, Alcaraz and Mori aside, it was still by and large a Moyes defence, who apparently forgot how to defend because Martinez hypnotised them all.

Fitness:
I won't have it that the every single 1 of the players were so unfit under Martinez that it took an entire preseason and 6 months of the current season to undo all that bad work. All players reset in the summer and rebuild again from July onwards. The fitness or lack of, in the back end of Martinez era was as much a symptom of a lack of confidence and an apparent lack of effort from the players who he fallen foul of near the end. Barry implied as much in his interview. Now if you are talking about intensity, that's a different story, and a matter of tactics and conditioning for a different style of play.

Set Pieces:
It always makes me laugh at the thought that Martinez didn't practice any set pieces, but not as much as the thought that professional players who had practiced them for rest of their entire careers suddenly forgot how to do it in less than the space of 1 year. I suppose these players, like Rooney and Ronaldo who stay behind for hours after training to practice taking free kicks would've been brought to task by Evil Bobby as well,had they had the misfortune of playing under his dictatorship.

Midfield:
Our midfield has improved because we have signed 3/4 quality midfielders with our improved budget, instead of signing the likes of Naismith, Cleverley, McGeady, Gibson, Barry, Deulofeu, Besic etc for a combined total of about the price we signed Lookman for. Add to that the gradual emergence of our golden generation, who I'm convinced Martinez was looking to introduce as soon as they were ready.

Attack:
Rom is still scoring our goals.

Team Spirit:
There was an obvious falling out and the team suffered massively for it. Poor run of results, lack of confidence and form and a fan base who love to hound out anyone for failing their expectations, is a toxic mix.

Martinez didn't help himself with his relentless positivity, his loyalty to players who clearly weren't as loyal to him in return, and a stubbornness in continuing down a path that was failing him.

But he's not our manager any more. Leave him alone and stop comparing every decent result against 1 of his poor ones. It helps noone.

P. S. Last year we battered Stoke away. Just saying.
Click to expand...

So much of this post can be debunked.

Last season is the best direct comparison we have to gauge our progress
 

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