Anyone else think martins will be shown the door in January?  He is
infuriating and must be so frustrating for the rest of his team-mates.  
He scores some spectacular goals but can't finish the easy ones.   he has
blinkers on when the ball is at his feet and doesn't pass the ball until
it is too late (if at all).

All this means is that you can't plan your team strategy around him
scoring goals that you set up, you need to play as if he isn't in the side
and hope that he'll pull something out of his arse when needed.  No good
playing like that.

Missed another 1v1 with the 'keeper against everton and just looks lost as
to where he is meant to be running or what he is meant to be doing on the
pitch.   Smith played really well and tried to link up with Martins and
ended up being made to look foolish for some of his passes because martins
wasn't making the correct runs or didn't hold play up properly and Smith
got nothing back in return.  Not good enough for premiership football i'm
afraid you can't build your team around someone like Martins.

I think Big Sam is gradually losing patience with him and if Owen
finally gets fit then I think Martins will eb sold in the transfer window
and the money used to strengthen other areas of the pitch.

On 8 Oct, 12:02, Mark Scott  wrote:
> Anyone else think martins will be shown the door in January?  He is
> infuriating and must be so frustrating for the rest of his team-mates.
> He scores some spectacular goals but can't finish the easy ones.   he has
> blinkers on when the ball is at his feet and doesn't pass the ball until
> it is too late (if at all).
>
> All this means is that you can't plan your team strategy around him
> scoring goals that you set up, you need to play as if he isn't in the side
> and hope that he'll pull something out of his arse when needed.  No good
> playing like that.
>
> Missed another 1v1 with the 'keeper against everton and just looks lost as
> to where he is meant to be running or what he is meant to be doing on the
> pitch.   Smith played really well and tried to link up with Martins and
> ended up being made to look foolish for some of his passes because martins
> wasn't making the correct runs or didn't hold play up properly and Smith
> got nothing back in return.  Not good enough for premiership football i'm
> afraid you can't build your team around someone like Martins.
>
> I think Big Sam is gradually losing patience with him and if Owen
> finally gets fit then I think Martins will eb sold in the transfer window
> and the money used to strengthen other areas of the pitch.

not a bad player to have on the bench. With his pace against defences
who start to get tired, he can skin them for pace.

arby wrote:
> On 8 Oct, 12:02, Mark Scott  wrote:
>> Anyone else think martins will be shown the door in January?  He is
>> infuriating and must be so frustrating for the rest of his team-mates.
>> He scores some spectacular goals but can't finish the easy ones.   he has
>> blinkers on when the ball is at his feet and doesn't pass the ball until
>> it is too late (if at all).
>>
>> All this means is that you can't plan your team strategy around him
>> scoring goals that you set up, you need to play as if he isn't in the side
>> and hope that he'll pull something out of his arse when needed.  No good
>> playing like that.
>>
>> Missed another 1v1 with the 'keeper against everton and just looks lost as
>> to where he is meant to be running or what he is meant to be doing on the
>> pitch.   Smith played really well and tried to link up with Martins and
>> ended up being made to look foolish for some of his passes because martins
>> wasn't making the correct runs or didn't hold play up properly and Smith
>> got nothing back in return.  Not good enough for premiership football i'm
>> afraid you can't build your team around someone like Martins.
>>
>> I think Big Sam is gradually losing patience with him and if Owen
>> finally gets fit then I think Martins will eb sold in the transfer window
>> and the money used to strengthen other areas of the pitch.
> 
> not a bad player to have on the bench. With his pace against defences
> who start to get tired, he can skin them for pace.
> 

he might skin them for pace but if he can't finish then there's a 
problem. He's getting into position but can not score, his confidence 
must be rock bottom at the moment.

On 8 Oct, 14:36, bRiAN 
wrote:
> arby wrote:
> > On 8 Oct, 12:02, Mark Scott  wrote:
> >> Anyone else think martins will be shown the door in January?  He is
> >> infuriating and must be so frustrating for the rest of his team-mates.
> >> He scores some spectacular goals but can't finish the easy ones.   he has
> >> blinkers on when the ball is at his feet and doesn't pass the ball until
> >> it is too late (if at all).
>
> >> All this means is that you can't plan your team strategy around him
> >> scoring goals that you set up, you need to play as if he isn't in the side
> >> and hope that he'll pull something out of his arse when needed.  No good
> >> playing like that.
>
> >> Missed another 1v1 with the 'keeper against everton and just looks lost as
> >> to where he is meant to be running or what he is meant to be doing on the
> >> pitch.   Smith played really well and tried to link up with Martins and
> >> ended up being made to look foolish for some of his passes because martins
> >> wasn't making the correct runs or didn't hold play up properly and Smith
> >> got nothing back in return.  Not good enough for premiership football i'm
> >> afraid you can't build your team around someone like Martins.
>
> >> I think Big Sam is gradually losing patience with him and if Owen
> >> finally gets fit then I think Martins will eb sold in the transfer window
> >> and the money used to strengthen other areas of the pitch.
>
> > not a bad player to have on the bench. With his pace against defences
> > who start to get tired, he can skin them for pace.
>
> he might skin them for pace but if he can't finish then there's a
> problem. He's getting into position but can not score, his confidence
> must be rock bottom at the moment.

A few goals will sort out the confidence issue but I think its a lot
better to bring on Martins as a sub than Shola. Viduka and Owen are
the 1st choice pairing but how many times have they played together
this year?

We need a couple of quality backups and Martins at the moment is the
best 3rd choice we've got. If Sam gets a better replacement for him
then OK, get rid (if he stll needs 5 chances to score one goal)  but
for now I cant see Sam selling him. He might look like he is 38 or
something but he hes still young and can learn from a good coach. Dont
forget he has plenty of CL experience too.

If Smith plays regularly upfront and starts to score goals then better
for us! But he doesnt have the skill or the technical ability of
Martins, if he did, Lord Frog wouldnt've sold him imo.