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If all you want is success in the Championship, then fine. But, if you think, as I do, that RM would have to prove himself in the PL to be judged as the right man, then he has a long way to go.
As for how he'll do in that test, I think he'll fail because possession football only works if you have good technical players for your level, or league. We won't. We'll have below average players in the PL because that's what we can afford. So, in the PL we need a manager whose tactics don't rely on technically excellent players.
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Times have certainly changed on 19:28 - Feb 8 with 3075 views
Are you seriously complaining/saying that your still not satisfied with RM yet!? Like he’s literally sent us on our best ever undefeated run of all time, gotten us to the FA Cup 5th round, made us play some great football which we’ve not seen in years, utilised many players that many of us saw as useless u dead former managers, and is certainly on track to get us promoted straight back to the prem (which may even be by winning the league) which was the main objective of this season!
As yeah I do also want success in the prem, but if you think as I do, then you’ll also be fairly grateful for how great we’ve been down here, and how our form and the way we’re playing won’t mean that we’ll be challenging for the title in the prem, but I’m fairly certain that we wouldn’t be bottom and doing as poorly as we previously have in the past few seasons. And yeah many weren’t the best in the prem in the past, but as we’ve all seen a change in manager could also change all of that, as if we kept this squad next season and added a few extra in, then I do think we would have a fair few prem quality players which under RM tactics and style would play well. A lot of which is why this Liverpool cup game will be quite an interesting game
But at the end of the day, we don’t know how he’ll get on in the prem, so there’s no point in hyping him up for it, but at the same time no point in slagging him off either as nobody knows yet. Yet what we do know is how great we’ve been this season outside of a set of 4 to 6 games, which is why we’ve been getting so much attention and breaking a fair few club records!
Don’t leave out Downes, Bednerak, KWP, Stu, as well as maybe Edozie, A.Armstrong, Dibbling, Bazunu and Fraser for how well they’ve all been under RM and his tactics that he’s been playing. But yeah like you’ve said, let’s look at this season and getting promoted before criticising him already for next season, as for how many poor teams have been staying up recently, I wouldn’t put us too certain to be going back down
He's done an excellent job this season which not many people saw coming. As a championship manager he's done everything we could have hoped so far. And if anyone is still moaning about that then they are just stubbornly refusing to give him the credit he deserves.
I suppose I still think of us as a premier league club and so I'm not massively excited about th record run. We have quite a few advantages currently in the Championship over other teams. It's sacrilege I know but I thought the same about Adkins. He took us up through the leagues but we had players like Ricky and Fonte so we had a team far better than the level we were at. Once we got to the PL Adkins was gone.
I agree with If Only that I think we would struggle with this style in the PL. We can play it now as our players are technically better than most and we keep the ball. We won't have the majority of possession in the PL. I just look at Burnley. It's exactly what they did last year. Clearly the best in the Championship and look at them now. Can't buy a win.
But that is for another day. I've been surprised and impressed with the way RM has imprinted his style on the team and they all seem to love playing for him. If we get that second automatic place then he's achieved everything we could have hoped for this season and he deserves nothing but huge credit for that.
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Times have certainly changed on 12:32 - Feb 9 with 2637 views
"I’m fairly certain that we wouldn’t be bottom" LOL!
What possible reason have you got for being certain about that? Look at Burnley last year v this year. Why won't it be the same story of a possession based team with a well respected manager who just finds out it's tougher in the Prem when he's had to let most of his loan signings go?
No, I'm not complaining about RM. He's done well. But the question was whether he was the right manager for SFC. For the long term I doubt it because I doubt that copying Man City is the best approach for a club with a low budget by PL standards.
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Times have certainly changed on 13:48 - Feb 9 with 2585 views
It's worth looking back to see what people were saying back then. Some of the threads and posts were fantastic, not just writing off the manager, but most of the players too. Ironically, most of the players who were deemed unfit to wear the shirt back then have been instrumental in the amazing unbeaten run. The sad thing is that it'll only take a couple of defeats for those same players to be useless again in the eyes of a lot of folk on here.
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Times have certainly changed on 14:13 - Feb 9 with 2564 views
i was massively in the no camp. He has untold resources compared to the rest of the division so should take us up. Were we to drop back into the playoffs and not go up, then ultimately the season will have been a failure.
What has impressed is the attacking at pace football. We are a good team to watch.
Blackmore pipes up in the second-half and says to Tessem "You've given Mara quite a bit of stick this season, Jo, you might have to change your tune about him."
Tessem replies with "Yes, he's been good tonight. But then I have been very critical of him for most of this season, and rightly so, because he has been so poor."
it isn't therefore just fans in the stands and / or on message boards who have been critical.
If Mara comes good, we may well win promotion, and we should all embrace that. I would love to see it.
I was in the give him a chance camp and was criticised by some but that’s life, we all have opinions that’s what makes life interesting.
There’s also many who say RM wouldn’t be much good in the prem. obviously we’d need new players but as others have said let’s just get there first .This season has got us all falling in love with saints again and that is down to one man. Russell Martin.
The comment about RM wanting to play a possession based game if we go up to the Prem is a decent one. However apart from Luton and West Ham, it seems that the rest of the Prem teams attempt to play a version of this play book. The game against Liverpool will provide a reasonable comparison to assess how the current squad would compete against top teams. I recollect Burnley , who were top of the Championship, went to Man City in the FA Cup and were spanked 6-1. Since then Burnley have spent around £100m and are struggling. I think we are likely to face similar challenges
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Times have certainly changed on 16:02 - Feb 11 with 1995 views
I think I voted give him a chance. It certainly didn’t look good for quite a while. There is no disputing the results and position at present, so fair do’s to the guy given what he has to play with. He can only play against the opposition he is up against.
ASI have said several times before, most of this league are utter rubbish. The teams that did so well in the Championship last year are lamentably short of the mark in the PL this. As has been said on this thread, we don’t have the quality to play this way in the PL. Our defence is barely better than last season when put under pressure, and two of our best players are not ours, so a fairly hefty spend to stand still. It remains to be seen if the owners will splash out for PL quality players, but based on all of the acquisitions so far, they will be buying perceived potential at moderate prices, and looking for real potential by loaning from PL clubs.
I hope I am wrong, but we will likely be an incubator yo-yo club, along with Norwich, Burnley, Bournemouth and Sheffield Utd. Too good for the Championship, not good enough for the PL.
There are still 3 months to go, let’s enjoy this season at least.
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