Mantra

Im all in favour of martinez’s footballing policy TBH phil, but yes, i do agree with you with your comments defence wise. We are our own downfall at times.

We should have learned after spurs TBH.

The thing is we won’t know in the scheme of things how good he is until he does manage a club with more resources. I do rate Martinez and he has made great strides for our club but until he tests himself out at the likes of Everton we will not know for sure. Problem is for him a lot of other clubs and supporters won’t give him the time to build his team and his way of playing.

He left Swansea in a similar position, in that he sets the club and playing style excellently and they have reaped the rewards of the structure he left in place. It doesn’t worry me losing Martinez if we find someone who can carry on this work but I’m not delusional enough to know that this is a massive IF!

In some aspects of his management he is very good. In other areas he isn’t – the insistance on the ball being passed out from the back being one of them & one he openly takes the blame for when it goes wrong. So what on earth is wrong with Latics supporters also putting the blame for that on him??
I understand the philosophy behind it – keep hold of the ball coz if the opposition don’t have it then they can’t score but there are times when players just need to put a boot through the ball & get rid of it. And Swansea’s 2nd & 3rd goals last night are just 2 examples of that.
The additional problem to the way Latics play with the ball at the back is that time & time again the ball gets passed about between the defenders & when there doesn’t seem to be an option on they eventually knock it back to the keeper who promptly proceeds to hoof it up the field. So it seems the defenders are told not to hit long balls very often but if needs be they can knock it back to the keeper to do it. So the worst footballer on the pitch (the keeper) is okay to hit a long ball but a defender who will/should be more accurate with his passing, isn’t

Its only my humble opinion but Martinez’s biggest failing is a seeming inability to see that there’s more than 1 way to skin a cat. Long ball sides will often have to get the ball down & play it around in order to win a game & teams who can pass it about will often have to go more direct. Yes Bobby can be flexible in his formations but the under-pinning philosophy of how to play doesn’t change.
Again I’m not saying anything revolutionary or heretical coz Martinez himself says that he has a philosophy about how to play & that he’s very stubborn & won’t change that philosophy

The fact that some other clubs may well want him as manager can be seen as a sign he knows his stuff but it can also be taken as a sign of club owners buying into a media image of him – it’s not as if Latics have never had players before who get raised on a pedestal by the media as out “star man” but the people who see em every week know they have numerous failings e.g. Jimmy Bullard, Victor Moses etc.. which hinder their game

I haven’t a problem with keeping the ball, and when there is no option to pass it sideways, then so be it.
The problem I have is the pointless passing sideways just for the sake of it when there is a forward option.
Too many times we see that extra un-neccessary pass cause our down fall.
Even Stams injury came from him fucking about with it and looking for another sideways pass, when eventually he decided to pass it forward, as he should’ve done 30 seconds before, he was closed down, and in effect was the instigator of his own injury.
On the two occasions last night that we played positive/forward balls, we scored.
The first, was the one and only first time cross into the box by Watson, and the second, for once Caldwell came forward with the ball, and played an excellent ball to MaCarthy.

While were on the subject of starting everything from the back and not hoofing. I have notice no tics keeper ever overarm long throw it to say wide men or a midfielder on the 1/2 way line ?.