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The ghost of Michael Theoklitos

An open letter to Russell Martin

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Russ. Mate.First of all, big fan. The players I love in this game are not always the most talented. I resonate with the ones that take what they have, and through hard graft and aptitude turn it into a great career. I''m sorry if that sounds like a back-handed complement. That is not the way it''s intended. I love watching you and am forever indebted for your service to Norwich City Football Club. I hope you like us as much as I like you, despite - again - hearing the few boos in the N&P when your name was read out on Saturday.However, I ask you one simple thing. Can you please review the tape of Saturday''s game. If you ever needed evidence that you are a right-back, and not a centre-back, it is encapsulated in your ''game of two halves'' on the weekend. As always in the first half, I could not fault your effort. But at times you really did look lost, and the number of chances that were created while you and Bassong (who is not blameless in the first half performance either) were pairing in central defence was shocking.However, the second half, you looked fee. So many good things about our 2nd half performance came through you. You looked keen to get forward with your new wide position, yet were still dependable at the back. You made runs. You got balls into the box. You combined beautifully with Wessi to create what should have been the winning goal. Most of all, you looked like you were having fun!I know you see yourself in the middle of defence. I know you think that''s your best position. I know you want to play there for Scotland. Please review Saturday''s game with an open mind. I think you''ll conclude that you''re wrong.All the best,Ghostyxx

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I get your point though-he did play very well at RB but plays where the manager tells him to play. Despite what some people think he doesn''t actually pick the team or where he plays.

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Perhaps you should send the open letter to the manager, he picks the team and with days to go to the halfway point he still has no clue as to his best team

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The difference was quite marked. Glad the manager made the change, but I was staggered that he had swapped RB for RM in the starting line up. Hopefully what happened in the second half will cement in AN''s mind that that has to be the way to go.

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Someone should read this to eminems "Stan"

"P.s, we should be together too"

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[quote user="mrs miggins"]I think this should be called; ''an open letter to LDC''[/quote]Must admit I''m not sure about Martin at the moment. I think you either have to play him at CB or not at all, because I don''t think he is any better than Whittaker at RB. Wisdom having to come off and with Whittaker not on the bench, there were no other options.  I still think his career is set on being a CB, but he is on a hiding to nothing there as every mistake is magnified by those who think he shouldn''t be there.

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lake district canary wrote the following post at 14/12/2015 5:36 PM:Must admit I''m not sure about Martin at the moment. I think you either have to play him at CB or not at all, because I don''t think he is any better than Whittaker at RB. Wisdom having to come off and with Whittaker not on the bench, there were no other options. I still think his career is set on being a CB, but he is on a hiding to nothing there as every mistake is magnified by those who think he shouldn''t be there.

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To be fair to you LDC I only said your name because I know you had this view that he will not be played at RB unless there is an emergency, not because you thought he was necessarily our best CB like some on here believe and who will defend defend him against any sort of criticism. You also put your point over very well in that thread as well when you stated this view. However, I don''t think you can blame him not being played at CB on fans criticising his mistakes; its the manager who picks the team.

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I thought Russell Martin was excellent second half at right back. Also thought Ryan Bennett put in a decent stint. Hope they both line up the same at Old Trafford.

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Exactly this.

At rightback on Saturday, for the first time in about 2 years, Martin looked like the player who led our charge back up the leagues and earned himself such a good reputation among the fans. At CB, being absolutely blunt about it, his performance was barely even league 2 standard.

I really don''t understand why he''s so obsessed with forcing himself at CB when RB is beyond any shadow of a doubt his most effective position; I think if he gives up trying to be what he is not, and embraces being a great rightback, then we''ll have a real quality player on our hands again.

We already know he''ll give everything wherever he''s played, that''s the type of player he is - unfortunately ''everything'' in central defence consists mostly of losing his man, failing to intercept properly and poor distribution of the ball, topped off with the occasional panicked backpass.

At Rightback, well, we saw exactly what he''s capable of for 45 minutes at the weekend!

Hopefully AN has the strength to lay down the law a bit now and make it crystal clear to Martin that he either plays RB or not at all!

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martin looked so much better at right back it was only a injury to wisdom that he got moved there not a great manager masterstroke which is the concern

I hope AN sees that point and plays RM right back / Bennett CB from now on

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Martin is a good attacking full back and i use the ''attacking'' deliberately as this is easily the best part of his game - going forwards ! Whenever people talk about the great things RM does in a match they are always about, a great run into the box (as on saturday), great overlapping, etc very rarely about the number of crunching tackles he put in on their winger, the number of crosses he stops, going in the box, or defensive blocks he makes.

Unfortunately he is ultimately in the side to be a defender, whether that be at RB or CB and sorry he is not great at that in either position and that is why he was rightly left out of the side and i was very surprised to see his name in the starting 11 on saturday.

Whittaker is a better defender at RB than RM but not as good at going forwards. Wisdom is probably OK at both parts (i.e. attacking and defending) so is probably why he was being picked ahead of the other 2.

I hope if fit Wisdom is back in side for saturday until Jan - when we get an upgrade in that position - as we have needed one for awhile (along with another quality centre back)

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It seems that everyone is coming out of the woodwork wanting Martin to be played at right back, wished they had noticed this at the start of the season, including the manager. AN really does need to settle on a first 11 with only 1-2 players changed each week; its not good to have 4-5 changes each game. However, he is a young manager and he''s still learning so there does need to be a realisation that he does need this time, and actually because of this (and the january transfer window) I expect that we''ll do better in the second half of the season.

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[quote user="norfolkngood"]martin looked so much better at right back it was only a injury to wisdom that he got moved there not a great manager masterstroke which is the concern

I hope AN sees that point and plays RM right back / Bennett CB from now on[/quote]
Martin looked so much better at right back? But then everybody else looked so much better in the second half, irrespective of position. Kudos though for being the first to make the very salient point that the change at half time was due to Wisdom''s injury. Martin came out and led by example after the break, as a good captain should. He''d have done the same if he''d stayed at CB. As Lincoln Canary (?) said, Ryan Bennett is "a good old-fashioned centre half". I agree, he''d have been a great prospect alongside Duncan Forbes. But we are not living in the days of the old Second Division. This is 2015 EPL and we need what Martin offers at CB more than what Bennett does. Not just the opinion of a minority on here, but the manager''s opinion also. If we can bring in a better version of Russ Martin well and good, just the same as if we can bring in better players in every position. Meanwhile let''s make the task more difficult by booing whenever he''s selected at CB.

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Dear Thetford Yellow

You are clearly a massive bell end are are not even up to an acceptable level of troll on here, so why don''t you do the decent thing and f**k off.

Yours sincerely

Miggins

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Mrs Miggins said it for me-what an absolute moron you are Thetford Yellow.

Why has he played over 100 games in the PL under 4 different managers if he wasn''t a good player?

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With Wisdom out tomorrow Russ will be back in his best position as right back, hope he has a cracking game to prove the moaners wrong

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A fantastically loyal servant to our yellow City. If he decides to stay in the game after his playing career I hope we give him a role developing our youngsters & allow him to progress up through our coaching team. But for now, I am delighted with his influence, attitude, professionalism & drive. He has worked his socks off from Wycombe, Peterborough & us to achieve 4 out of the last 5 seasons in the Premiership... And all this with an underlying debilitating stomach condition...

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