Russ Martin - becoming a liability

[Buh 0]

Did Russell Martin eat your hamster? You don''t seem to like him much.

[grefstad 0]

[quote user="Buh"]Did Russell Martin eat your hamster? You don''t seem to like him much.[/quote]

This thread is about Russ Martin - the footballer- and his performances.

I got no problem with Russ as a person. Seems like a genuine good guy with a heart for NCFC. And I doubt he eats hamsters, not mine or anyone elses..

But this club can not afford to live on happy memories of Martin scampering down the right wing 2-3 seasons ago.

Either you are good enough, or you are not. And my point with this thread is that I don''t think he is good enough (to play CB), and his captaincy is keeping him in the side ( and keeping Bennett out of it).

Its a shame, and it is also a shame that ignorants like "Buh" seem to try to remove the focus from the discussion with trolling antics.

I guess this is why there would be useful with more moderating on this board..

[Howson is now! 0]

I was going to post a similar post but didn''t want to bring everyone down after a great win.

In the aerial battles, R. Martin will come out second, 7 or 8 times out of 10. He is also very handsy (similar to Doc but with less fouls) as he knows he''s not going to win the headers. Either way, we lose the ball to a header or to a free kick. As long as Martin doesn''t foul, the rest of the backline seem to react well to the second ball and it''s not been too much of an issue so far.

He does offer quite a lot positionally in that he seems to put more blocks in than most.

Grefstad does have a point though in that by making him captain, you''ve almost made the man undroppable meaning that R. Bennett and Whitewater will always have to make way.