Roberto Martinez: Defence and Attack

If Martinez carries on, he will do something that Walker, Smith and all the rest of them didn’t do and that is take us down. Now there is a pain I haven’t felt yet... and I don’t want to.

Get rid of Bobby Bullshit.

I fully expect there to be a barrage of criticism of Martin flow from this post, as always, and quite rightly – his refusal to admit the sides deficiencies is infuriating.

But whilst he deserves that criticism, so I think we need to realise that not many other managers would have been able to get us being such a threat in our attacking play. Lose Martinez now and whilst the defence may improve under a new manager, the risk is that it doesn’t improve hugely but the side’s attacking edge is slowly lost and we not only lose the ’entertainment’ factor but our league position fails to improve significantly (or gets even worse).

In saying that, I believe we’re 8 points if relegation so I guess there is an argument that his deficiencies are so significant that it risks our top flight status, but I don’t think we’re quite there yet. I really hope not, anyway!

I still believe he has improved the standard of football we play massively, whilst not being blinkered to the obvious defensive mistakes. In my opinion, we should back him for the rest of the season then perhaps take a fresh look at it.

A poster on another thread, who has previously been vociferous in doubting Martinez has recognised that we are almost there,we are on the brink of a good side. Read his posts they are very intelligent in his recognition of the capability of this young side.

Entertainment is important, and if I were a neutral I’d be enjoying our gung-ho approach, but as a committed blues fan, I hate watching us squander points continually from winning positions. Not to mention all the other faults Roberto has.

It’s not what we're all about, and cannot be tolerated any longer. I think the majority of fans will agree: he has to go.

We should have done it ourselves two years ago until we lost our nerve.

The reality is that we have been consistently ineffective which is why we are 12th and that is not a position reflective of our resources. Leicester and West Ham have shown what can be done and we should be there with them. This is the second season that we have drastically underachieved.

We must not accept that we are inevitably a midtable side; that way lies steady decline. We need a Board and manager who take things by the throat rather than indulging themselves with inertia on the one hand and waffle on the other.

However, as much as I like RM, the PL is a results driven business and at the end of the day, they have not been good enough. I am proud of the fact that we are not a sacking club, but it is inexcusable that a club like Leicester City can be almost top of the PL whist we swim in our own self-inflicted blood bath...it also demonstrates to me what effective management can do. After all, how can someone take a bunch of PL strugglers overnight to the top of the league?

We are more than a mid table club as evidenced by the consistent top 8 finishes under Moyes. Moyes gave us credibility and as much as people slate him, overall he left the club in good shape.

The excuse then that we are still ’learning’ etc...is completely false since we achieved 5th place in RM’s first year, with much of the same squad as now. We have now gone backwards and that’s a fact.

I really wish I could see it any other way but afraid that until the results start changing the inevitable will happen. We can’t wait, and the players can’t either.

I just don't think he's a manager. Roberto should become an agent.

Peter; Our form could go back 20 years? I’d be happy if it went back 20-odd months.

He is to most ’a dead man walking’.

The talent in this squad and we’re 12th. Not due to the players being bad, but due to poor tactics and player management. Martinez refuses to acknowledge the fact we are underachieving even by his own benchmark set in his first season.

My point is, Martinez has brought a lot to the club, but I think he’s brought all he has.

I guess you are a really patient optimistic type
who would have told everyone not to panic when the Titanic hit an iceberg claiming that it was unsinkable and numerous other inferior ships had sunk in the previous 20 years.

Very experienced and professional people within the game have tried to tell this man where he is going wrong but he doesn’t listen. Like any loser, it is always someone else fault be it referees or the supporters.

That doesn’t wash when you have been found out as 78% of TW posters who want him out will tell you.

I think we’re all frustrated at the moment because Martinez has built a great squad that we all know is good enough to be challenging for the top 4. The fact we are in the bottom half of the table can only be down to tactics.

If he would just acknowledge that we have problems defensively, and that it’s being worked on, then I’m sure much of the criticism would stop, and we might have some hope for the future. At the moment, we can only expect more frustration because of his intransigence.

If we lose Rom, our production will probably fall back to where it is, BUT we’ll still be conceding goals until RM is completely wiped off our club. I believe we’ll lose our "golden era" if he stays any longer because his marketing effect will soon wear off come end of season when Rom leaves and they realize RM was only kept in his job by Rom.

For the optimists our there, we can only hope for a run, a huge one. 10 straight wins? If he can do that and keeping 3-4 clean sheets, then perhaps there is evidence it can turn around. If we’re winning by one goal every game, we’re essentially no different from any other team than wins 1-0, except we wear our boys out by making them do so much more work.

Also, in other threads speaking of how he accept criticisms, I think how he handled Eto'o, Distin and others very well show how his "my way or the highway" style really cares about inputs from others..

The standard of football dished out at the time was generally poor because most of our players were average at best. Our current squad is packed with international players and talented youngsters. It is not unreasonable to expect much better things from them.

Unfortunately, despite what our Geylang blue pill peddler says about achievement and potential, we have definitely underachieved and all that potential is being flushed down the toilet.

We should not be in a relegation dogfight but here we are. Six pointer at the Barcodes, lads and lasses! Expect much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

When he is sacked he will, quite rightly, never get the chance to destroy another club. He won’t resign because he knows the game is up. He is a fraud who has been found out.

However, I am not happy with no trophy for over 20 years and a team that is going backwards under the current management.

Look at the teams record then look at Martinez's Premier League record. I do not believe in Martinez and have no faith in his project. Time to go.

I’ve given him the benefit of the doubt for nearly 3 seasons now, I thought he was a bad choice in the first place and I’m convinced now that he is a disaster. It’s the joining-up bit that needs a manager.

In the 1st leg with Man City, Jags could not get in front of Aguero to nurse the ball back to Howard. Remember Kevin Radcliffe, they need somebody like that.

But just as Royle showed how bad Walker was, a new face would do quite the same to Martinez with these players.