The guy looks like he has given up. Absolutely no intensity and drive whatsoever in his game. It's like he has mentally checked out.
6
Season Average Rating
- Appearances
- 25
- Clean sheets
- 6
- Goals
- 0
- Assists
- 1
- Yellow cards
- 6
He needs to be taken out of the firing line. Bad period where he has been clearly targeted and exploited. He’s not as bad as he’s been showing these past few months.
Posted in the Amorin thread, but no idea what’s happened to him, his awareness and aggression seem to have disappeared.
Looks a shadow of the player he was when he was playing well for us. Needs to get his shit together.
Are you 100% positive? Injuries are renowned for robbing players of attributes and confidence they once had.
He's looked like half the player ever since he returned from the metatarsal break. How do we know this isn't just his new normal? He's certainly not as certain and forceful in the tackle, for example, and there's so many post-metatarsal break players who modify their game and aggression upon returning. Beckham a very famous case; pre, he was a proper tackler and didn't fear 50/50's and foot to foot crunches. Post, he literally jumped out of tackles or anything that would potentially crash into the foot that was broken.
It happens a lot and part of that is obviously psychological load.
Doesn't look like he has the appetite he once did for the rough and tumble.
He has to be dropped, he's a liability at the moment, and no amount of progressive passes per 90 makes up for him giving away goals regularly.
These players are worthless now, we can’t sell them, no one wants them. Can’t we just pump them full of performance enhancing drugs, get a good season out of them and sell them to the first bidder? Let someone else take the fall for the mess.
The issue is that even when he was playing well, his limitations were obvious but people refused to see. He is very small for a CB, but when you add that is also very slow and quite weak, then no amount of good positioning or progressive passes will make him a great CB.
As I said before, an in form Martinez, if we play him to his strengths is a Heinze level of player. Which is fine as a squad player for a team which is full of good players. Unfortunately, we are not such a team. Vidic comparisons were always wrong IMO.
If this system is the way forward, then there is no place for him in the team, and he should be moved on. Not good enough in the air to defend crosses to the backpost, a liability in one-on-ones, and with fewer people to find in midfield with his passing, his main strength is negated.
I've accepted he isn't that good, defensively in particular, and he isn't offering enough on the ball to make him valuable.
Hopefully he is benched going forward.
Hopefully he is benched going forward.
What PED would make Martinez grow a foot taller?
This was not the case before. What happened I am not sure. But I am hoping it is a short dip in form. Quality doesn’t disappear overnight. He just needs to regain his ruthlessness, he can be a beast
Whatever made 5'5 Cannavaro out jump 7' lads at the world cup. Pump him full of that, sell to Madrid. Wash our hands.
Alternatively just keep giving him that drug?
We'll get rumbled at some point. Just sell him first chance we get and get someone who can win a header or make a tackle.
Typical case of our transfers, new player comes in, is decent for around 6 months then gets gradually worse until he reaches the bottom. What do we do to these guys...
We need to sell him ta the earliest opportunity while he still has some value. He's being exposed in the air by opposition teams every game. Our 3 cbs should be any of De Ligt, Yoro Mazraoui, and Magwire.
I put in another tread that Jamie Carragher ( one of my least favourite people) did a great analysis on him post game on Sky. It was brutal.
Needs to be dropped as a matter of priority. Costing us goals every game.
Martinez been bad , but having Dalot next to him does make him look much worse . People saying Martinez need to be sold , we have many others to sell before Martinez .
But he's one of the few that would actually generate a half decent transfer fee
We don't have many player that need to go which will generate and fees that we will need to make big improvments
Dropped for whom? Or do we just not play anyone in his position?
Shaw benches him ‘if’ he can get fit. Lindelof is just as liable to be at fault ‘if’ he can get fit, then it’s some teenager being promoted into a struggling defence.
Yoro or Maz, the latter is never going to cut it as a WB, but one of these 2 + De Ligt and Maguire should be OK for a while
I watched the highlights again (because I’m obviously a masochist or something) and in fairness he did create our best chance with a great pass to Hojlund but his defensive game is just completely negating his attacking contribution.
I’d actually drop him at this point, move De Ligt into the centre, shift Maguire to the left and let Martinez fight for his place again. He’s capable of a lot better than what he’s showing this season.
Don't think he will make it here. Has always been overrated.
Maguire will only work as the CCB, he'd be too exposed otherwise, I think it would be worth trying him as the LWB, he'd be more effective than Dalot but other than that I don't see him having any future in this team
Martinez would be an abysmal wing back.
I mean the guy can't run fast and defend in wide space but he should play a WB.
Yeah ok, but have you considered that he is left-footed? Do you really need more than that?
Can we not try him next to Ugarte to allow Mainoo to push up into one of the 10 slots?
He can tackle and pick a pass. I think he could play there especially in certain games.
He can tackle and pick a pass. I think he could play there especially in certain games.
He doesn’t have the mobility, agility or stamina to play as an actual midfielder - before his ability is considered - unless played as pure sitting DM, which we don’t do.
Well he beats both Cas & Eriksen for all of those, Mount is always crocked and Mainoo needs rotation.
I’d give it a try at some point.
No fight in him. Both goals he looked weak and not present. Another poor player to take of
Hoping it isn't just his injury issues that have caused this drop in performance. He seems timid and afraid of making decisions instinctively like he did when he first arrived.
The Isak one on one opportunity yesterday was appalling defending and he couldn't identify Joelinton as the main threat for the second goal soon enough.
Captain too last night.
The Isak one on one opportunity yesterday was appalling defending and he couldn't identify Joelinton as the main threat for the second goal soon enough.
Captain too last night.
Worried he's going to join our list of Argentinians who become immediate favourites and then leave acrimoniously.
I've seen wide CBs in a three succeed despite a lack of pace so I don't think that's the reason. Hopefully he can recover some form because he's shown he's a good defender and excellent ball player.
I've seen wide CBs in a three succeed despite a lack of pace so I don't think that's the reason. Hopefully he can recover some form because he's shown he's a good defender and excellent ball player.
I think you seriously underestimate how much of a difference between attributes in midfield there is vis-a-vis those in defence, especially in the PL.
As an aside, Trent, who is no stranger to working down the flank in an offensive capacity, looked like an absolute clown in midfield at the Euros, getting absolutely everything wrong, and that’s a player with far more stamina, agility and mobility than Martinez. Casemiro might look sluggish compared to other midfielders, but compared to Martinez, he’ll look like he’s the prime version of himself. That ship has long since sailed, I think. The player he came here as was the one that might have done well in midfield, but this iteration would be in for an awful time, imo.
Trent is being asked to be a creative hub though where as Martinez would be used to shield the back 3 and drop in to a 4 if needed with the WB’s pushed further forward.
Casemiro wouldn’t look like his prime version compared to anyone but I get the point you are making. CM needs a lot of stamina and agility and that’s something I’ve been crying out for for a while.
Yeah
I thought left side of a three man defense was going to be perfect for him as we could place him next to two physical center backs to compensate for his physical shortcomings. Turns out he’s even worse there than he can be in a center half duo.
He’s good on the ball but that’s pretty much it. He’s a complete liability now and can cost us at any given moment.
Every single thing about being a midfielder he [Trent] was absolutely appalling at. From positioning, to tracking runners, to timing his own forays, to blocking passing lanes and even energy expenditure, he was dire at. Even his vaunted passing was exposed as mostly useless, as it’s very different “trying a Pirlo” once in a while to knowing what passes to make in the most chaotic and aggressively fought area of the pitch. Shaped turns, opening the body up to receive passes and so much more; it really is a totally different ball game to stepping in temporarily in a pseudo role in acres of space. I would be amazed if Martinez has the chops or the wits to handle it before his athletic flaws were even exposed.
When he first got here, I was one of those who wanted him in midfield, but watching him play, it’s clear he’s no midfielder, certainly not in the modern sense. Sitting right at the base and essentially playing like an advanced CB, perhaps, but all the rest above, you’d see how badly he’d be exposed verses any midfielders of PL quality very, very quickly. He gets rings run around him at CB; in midfield, there are so many more split decisions to make in a matter of seconds that he just isn’t equipped to handle.
I’d actually love to see him tried there and for this post to look like nonsense as he proves otherwise, but nothing I see from him makes me think midfielder, certainly not in the PL, anyway!