You can't keep defending Russell Martin

[ruthers1 0]

Had an absolute nightmare against Boro, needed Ruddy to save his bacon in first ten mins today and then gifted them the goal before half time to let them back into the tie.

Will no doubt be back to what he does best next week - talking a good game in Friday''s EDP!

[JF 694]

Certainly if we do go up the whole defence will need a lot of money spent on it.

[jb 0]

I think the title of this post is missing a comma.

[Cantiaci Canary 610]

Better at RB. R. Bennett is a safer pair of hands at CB but Neil has built a partnership there with Bassong.

[Herman 11,136]

[quote user="jb"]I think the title of this post is missing a comma.[/quote][:D]  Clever.

[The Great Drinkell 51]

We have a soft under belly defensively and Bassong and Martin are both prone to errors. That said i think it would be suicidal to change the defence this season.

id like to see bennett, bennett bassong and ollson given a go during pre season

[iron_stan 0]

the only person that "gifted" them their goal was ruddy by not holding onto the shot from outside the area

[ruthers1 0]

the only person that "gifted" them their goal was ruddy by not holding onto the shot from outside the area

You mean the shot that would''ve been avoided if Martin could only head a football?!

[ZLF 335]

Their chances came through Russ''s error not creative play. Defend properly and ruddy doesn''t spill the shot, one error compared to many by Russ, and ruddys double save early crucial

Ray, what''s your view on that performance?

[city4eva 242]

Said it many times..Martin is a liability and shouldnt have got a new contract, but many on here still keep defending him.

many places he could have put that header rather than where he did

Premiership defender he isnt so can only assume we signed him for another 3 years in the championship

[pete 371]

Martin poor yet again and directly responsible for the equaliser does Neil have it in him to drop the skipper Ryan B better with his head and more mobile.

But why cannot Ruddy ever punch rather than try to catch the ball and get more distance on the saves to give more chance of it being defended.

[ruthers1 0]

Premiership defender he isnt so can only assume we signed him for another 3 years in the championship

But these basic errors (and we mustn''t forget allowing the cross to come in late against Rotherham) are being made at Championship level not Premiership!

[mrs miggins 0]

You said directly responsible and then said why he was not directly responsible. Whittaker also didn''t shine himself in that passage of play either.

[Ray 111]

Ruthers1 (aand others)

You obviously have a dominant thought that RM is not good enough, so as your brain is hard wired to achieve, you will find every reason you can to prove you right. C’est la vie. However did you see the superb tackle he made toward the end of the game?

Also, re the goal, he headed out from defence and admittedly one of their midfield players picked up the clearance, but he (the Ipswich player) had none of our midfield players within ten yards of him, so where were they? IMO you cannot blame a defender for heading clear if our midfield is lacking.

Furthermore, you are probably unaware of the sickness bug that some of our squad were subject to last week and the fact that some of our players were even on the pitch is testament to their healthcare providers.

[ruthers1 0]

and admittedly one of their midfield players picked up the clearance...

What the hell are you on Ray?! He didn''t need to ''pick it up'' Martin headed it straight to his bloody feet man.

[Rogue Baboon 0]

Heading clear? His header went about 5 yards straight to Sears feet?

[mrs miggins 0]

indeed, it was a very poor header, firstly

secondly, Tettey should''ve been closer to the defence

thirdly, Whittaker should''ve been closer to the defence after of course not getting back quick enough after his $hit cross

fourthly, Ruddy should''ve parried it away, obviously.

Main culprit:Martin, followed by Ruddy.

(however, we could play this blame game, but Ruddy saved us in the first 10 minutes and Martin also made a few good tackles, lets support this team, especially with only 2 games to go).

[Jim Smith 2,610]

Ruddy''s double save also came from a chance resulting from Martin screwing up an easy clearance by wafting his foot at the ball and passing it straight to Sears

[Ray 111]

ruthers1,

The fact you have to resort to such comments as "what the hell are you on", tells me a great deal about you.

I said it went to one of their midfielders but sometimes this happens, you are defending, your main job is to clear the ball, which he did, you hope, or expect, that your midfield is marking their midfield, in this case they weren''t, it is not his fault and maybe not our midfield''s fault. It''s called football, they are all well paid professionals, but that said if every player did everything perfectly then it would be bl**dy boring. Defenders are paid to defend and attack if poss, midfielders are paid to defend and attack if poss, attackers are paid to attack and defend if poss, so sometimes the oppo do better than us and so they bl**dy should given the money they are on.

I don''t see you criticising any other player for heading/shooting wide, spilling the ball, etc, etc.

If we want to take everything back to an individual then let''s take it back to the player who kicked off because it must have been his fault, somehow!!

[Ray 111]

mrs miggins,

I think we have a similar outlook.

Although I could argue that it wasn''t a poor header, the header in and of itself was a decent header unfortunately it was picked up by an unmarked player!

[ruthers1 0]

ruthers1,

The fact you have to resort to such comments as "what the hell are you on", tells me a great deal about you.

I said it went to one of their midfielders...

And the above tells me a great deal about you, you''re either a liar or you''ve got short term memory loss old son because you actually said one of their midfielders "picked it up" there''s a big difference.

[mrs miggins 0]

Martin didn''t clear the ball, he very weakly headed it to the opposition, as if it just kind of landed on his head. You''re right when you say ''this is football'' and it''s also right that we can discuss how a certain incident has gone and what lead to it. It no good just not caring, people want to discuss it. The reason why we are not talking about a wrong pass or tackle is because its not a big moment in the game, unlike Martin''s ''header''

If a player''s made a mistake, don''t have a go a people who point it out. If you disagree that the player made a mistake then by all means disagree with it, but it''s not a good idea to tell fans they can''t discuss the game, on a football forum.

[daly 551]

The game is over City got the draw NOW it''s in our hands if we blow it next week good luck to Ipswich at Wembley personally cannot see it happening. 90% of goals can be put down to someone making a mistake somewhere on the pitch. If not 0-0 draws weekly.

Get behind the City and in 16 days time we will be playing at Wembley

[mrs miggins 0]

I''m afraid I don''t agree with you Ray, I thought it was a terrible header, he also made a few mistakes before and after that when trying to clear it out. However, like I said, the best thing we can hope for is for the next game he has a better one.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

He made a mistake together with at least 2 other players and it lead to a goal.

I think he will be very dissapointed with himself but that one incident should not be used define his whole performance IMO.

[93vintage 16]

Too many players had an off day to justify singling out individual players. It might not be what some fans want to hear, but we couldn''t get the basics right and looked like a plucky league one team.

[ruthers1 0]

I think he will be very dissapointed with himself but that one incident should not be used define his whole performance IMO.

But like Mrs M says it wasn''t just one incident and it wasn''t just today Jenkins, he was awful against Boro and culpable at Rotherham too.

[Sussexyellow 55]

We have looked less than secure at the back against teams playing route 1 tactics. We can anticipate Ipswich will play similarly next week and Boro will be direct and physical.

Irrespective of whether or not Martin is the better all round CB, it could be argued that Ryan Bennett is a more robust option against such tactics. So the horses for courses argument would be to play RB and move Russ to right back.

However at this stage should Alex Neil stick with what has become his settled back 4, or should he twist. Tricky in normal circumstances, but with what is at stake now what a decision to have to make! I expect the same back 4 to start next Saturday.

[Mr Jenkins 0]

It looks as if Whitts has successfully passed the baton to Russ.

The relay will no doubt continue across the back four.

[mrs miggins 0]

Exactly Jenkins. players will have off days, it not as if Martin has been poor at RB all season. He''s had good games and he''s had bad games in this position. Today was one of his bad displays in a season where he''s done OK. Do we have better CB''s at the club? - Yes, in R. Bennett, but he''s been injured for half the season so there''s no point in going overboard with this when there''s very little other options. Lets support Russel Martin as our captain and as someone who gives 100%, and as someone who has done ok this season, not that good, not that bad, but ok. Roll on next saturday.