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Opinions on Russell Martin as a first choice centre back?

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Having watched today''s game I''m still unsure of Martin''s ability in this position. His distribution has always been quite average and his reading of the game in the centre of the park doesn''t seem to be that good, as with today''s goal. He also doesn''t seem to be overly strong in the air, looking very much like a full back out of position.The fact that Turner is forced to play out of position on the left side of defence to accommodate Martin also concerns me somewhat. I think we need  a left-footed central defender with the ability to bring the ball out of defence and that would be my main transfer target if I was Neyul (assuming Bassong''s Norwich career is over as he would technically fit the bill).What are other people''s thoughts? We did only lose by the odd goal today so I may be being overly harsh on the ol'' lad.

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He''s not a central defender, but he''s a better right back than Whittaker.

He should either play there or not at all, unless it''s covering in an emergency.

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unfortunately its a case of playing another player out of position, hopefully adams will learn. You can''t blame him for trying it as long as he doesn''t keep making mistakes

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Definately no better than Ryan Bennett. So Bennett should be playing alongside Turner in my view. We need to purchase another centre and right back before the window closes to strenghten

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[quote user="The Judge"]Definately no better than Ryan Bennett. So Bennett should be playing alongside Turner in my view. We need to purchase another centre and right back before the window closes to strenghten[/quote]Agree with that, I think Whittaker is a poorer right back than Martin and Russell''s not an exceptional centre back so it seems to be unnecesarily reducing the teams defensive strength. A better right back would help the team as well. Hopefully we can dispense of Bassong, Pilkington and Fer''s services quickly enough to give us some financial backing to bring in a few more quality signings.

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If Martin hadn''t have made it clear his preference is to play at CB would Adams have looked at him and thought "Russell should clearly be playing in the centre of defence"?

 

Not sure he would have.

 

At the moment everything has got the feeling of being a bit cosy, a bit comfortable. Too many people sure of their names on the team sheet.

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He looked okay, not at fault for the goal, has played CB in the past and plays there for Scotland.

I''ll reserve judgement until he has a decent run of games.

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[quote user="Monty13"]He looked okay, not at fault for the goal  [/quote]

He was quite a lot at fault for the goal. That''s the kind of header you have to win playing centreback. Got to think Turner, Bennett or Bassong would have won that.

 

Very similar to the header Welbeck scored against Scotland. Martin was beaten too easily to that one too.

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[quote user="GJP"]

[quote user="Monty13"]He looked okay, not at fault for the goal  [/quote]

He was quite a lot at fault for the goal. That''s the kind of header you have to win playing centreback. Got to think Turner, Bennett or Bassong would have won that.

 

Very similar to the header Welbeck scored against Scotland. Martin was beaten too easily to that one too.

[/quote]

IT WAS TURNER''S MARK! Problem was, he decided TO MARK NO ONE.. He hung Martin out to dry, some of this idiocy is hilarious.

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[quote user="jaemae2"]Hell lot better of a CB than Turner.[/quote]

Omg he a terrible centre back. Out jumped for the goal

Giving him the captaincy was crazy, as It means he''ll probably start every week

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I''d rather see him at right back with R Bennett getting some game time. Bennett isn''t the perfect CB yet but he needs to play to improve. He performed all with Turner before so let''s give him a go

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It''s fairly simple to me.

Martin has been told that to keep his place in the Scotland team (in which he plays as CB), he has to play there for his club.

Along with that, there''s Whittaker, who also plays RB for Scotland. Teammates scrapping for the same position with both club and country? Won''t happen.

Martin has obviously had a chat with Neil about it. Neil is obviously of the opinion it''s totally fine. Hence the 5 shirt. Possibly made easier by the whole situation with Bassong.

Personally, Martin would''ve been my choice for captain, but not centre-back. Culverhouse-style sweeper in a different era, maybe...

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[quote user="GJP"]

If Martin hadn''t have made it clear his preference is to play at CB would Adams have looked at him and thought "Russell should clearly be playing in the centre of defence"?

 

Not sure he would have.

 

At the moment everything has got the feeling of being a bit cosy, a bit comfortable. Too many people sure of their names on the team sheet.

[/quote]

I agree but I think the fact Martin plays as first choice centre back for Scotland and has actually performed well there has muddied the waters further. Personally not strong enough in the air IMO for championship football as a CB.

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Whats more worrying is, if all we can see it why cant Adams and his team??For me, Martin is played at center half to accommodate Whittaker yet;Martin is a better right back than WhittakerAnd Bennett is a better center half than Martin

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mrdi wrote the following post at 11/08/2014 8:44 AM:It''s fairly simple to me.

Martin has been told that to keep his place in the Scotland team (in which he plays as CB), he has to play there for his club.

Along with that, there''s Whittaker, who also plays RB for Scotland. Teammates scrapping for the same position with both club and country? Won''t happen.

Martin has obviously had a chat with Neil about it. Neil is obviously of the opinion it''s totally fine. Hence the 5 shirt. Possibly made easier by the whole situation with Bassong.

---------------------------

Bl00dy hell, thats all based on speculation and assumption

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Of course is bl00dy is. I don''t have any inside info whatsoever.

And so what? The vast majority of what you read on a forum is exactly that.

It''s obvious to me, because quite frankly he''s not given Martin no.5 and a guaranteed CB starting place based on form/ability/suitability, has he?

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I''m not sure it has anything to do with Scotland, but I do think its political and we have created a problem for ourselves.

Martin sees himself as a CB.

Martin is our captain.

You cant have a captain who sits on the bench all the time.

To get around this Ruddy should have been made captain.

Martin is a good squad player, but he isnt good enougn to be guaranteed his place in most games.

There are 3 options, drop Martin as CB to the bench, which wont happen, move Martin to RB, which is more likely or the third most inevitable option, carry on as we are and play badly at the back.

I hope Bennett gets to play CB in the next game personally. I find it incredible that Bennett doesnt play in the Championship after signing a 3 year deal, if hes not considered our best option now, will he suddenly become better in the Prem if we are lucky enough to get back there witnout playing in the Champs?

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It has been a consistent theme over the last 18 months that when we have conceded headed goals Martin is the one beaten in the air. Not strong enough at CB in my view whereas Bennett has all the attributes you need from a championship centre back. When you also factor in that Whittaker simply cannot defend the decision to play Martin at CB looks awful. He should revert to right back with Bennett playing alongside Turner.

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mrdi wrote the following post at 11/08/2014 9:46 AM:

Of course is bl00dy is. I don''t have any inside info whatsoever. And so what?

-----------------------------------------

So you realise you''re talking cr@p, but you post it anyway, well thats a new one.

I wonder if Adams will continue with Martin at CB or decide to give Bennett a go, personally I can''t see it happening anytime soon unless we buy a replacement for Bassong because if one of the CB''s get injured then we''re very thin in defence.

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It''s not cr@p, it''s my opinion. Just because you disagree with it doesn''t make it cr@p. Unless of course, you''re a deity-like overseer whose word we all must honour and revere. (In which case, sorry ''Mum'').

Martin''s inadequate for us at CB, that''s not in question. I don''t care what Scotland do but if they feel he''s an international CB, that''s obviously informed the decision at Norwich, be it through Martin having a chat with Adams or Adams deciding for himself. Were Martin the RB for Scotland, he wouldn''t be the CB for us.That''s not cr@p. That''s looking at facts and making an informed opinion.

Having made the bold decision to hand Martin the no.5 shirt over Bassong (which symbolically meant a fair amount in my OPINION), we won''t see Bassong again. Nor are we likely to see Martin immediately being moved across with Bennett coming in. Adams has made a big decision there and will want more time to be proved right before he reshuffles.

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This is where Neil Adams will fail as a manager or needs to learn quickly what it takes!

Russell Martin is a team player through and through and loves NCFC however he is and has been for some time been playing poorly in defence, he is certainly no CB. You also only to look at highlights of goals in this league to know aerial threat is a bigger issue in this and lower league. you have to have two CB who can deal with standard crosses like the one Wolves scored from yesterday.

Adams made so many elementary mistakes yesterday it is very worrying.

First Surman and Hools together away from home was just shear stupidity. They are similar players and both need time on ball to put mark on game , Surman maybe but Tettey should have been on instead of Hools.

R Bennet should have been on instead of Martin, who should have replaced Whittaker at RB.

Lafferty should have also been on from start to hold up long balls and give us a hold in the game.

The most worrying factor is we have players like Olssen , Fer, Hooper, Tettey and Pilks who I am not sure want to be here anymore no matter what they say in public.

I am sorry to say that N Adams has failed to impress to date including the fiasco of really only having one meaningful pre season match to sharpen up the team after no shows in Italy.

The division may be different but the team looks and plays the same, toothless, unfit, lacking motivation and leadership , all the things Adams said he would solve!!

Adams should have shipped a lot more players out pre season and got in some more hungry keen players not players who think they are still playing in the Premiership or should be!

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mrdi wrote the following post at 11/08/2014 10:45 AM:

It''s not cr@p, it''s my opinion.

----------------------------

Doesn''t mean it''s not cr@p though.

I''m not saying that you don''t have the right to think that Scotland control Adams'' team selection, but I think I have the right to call it a load of tosh, i''m not trying to control you or anyone, I''m not a moderator

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Reel your neck back in. There''s a big difference between disagreeing in a debate and coming out and saying someone''s full of cr@p.

Perhaps I worded it incorrectly, but I''d say it''s normal for international managers to give players incentives, such as ''if you play yourself into being a regular in this position at your club, you''ll be in regular contention for your country''. That''s what I meant. And it''s a scenario which wouldn''t surprise me here. No other reason I can see to persist trying to put a square peg in a round hole.

You''re more than welcome to disagree that it''s not the situation, or that it has anything to do with it, or that it''s a situation which even exists. It''s a hypothesis.

Call it a load of cr@p though and I''ll send a (virtual) sharp clip aorund the ear in your general direction. Because that''s just plain disrespectful.

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Your right, I''ve been too strong and a bit of d!ck, I apologise, it was disrespectful. Although I think its a scenario that isn''t true (I don''t think adams gave martin the CB position and number 5 because it will improve martins chance of playing for scotland more according to player himself), I went about it totally the wrong way, apologies and a virtual clip round the ear for me

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My opinion is that RM is a decent Championship level full back . He is not PL standard, and the fact that he plays regularly for Scotland is more a testament to the lack of quality in depth north of the border than any perceived failings of Russ himself.He''s a trier and quite versatile which means he is OK as an emergency CB for a short while, but he simply does not have what it takes to be a first choice CB, even at Champ level. If adams is still not sure about Ryan Bennett, then he needs to either get a new CB in before Sept OR make his peace with Bassong and play him, because what we saw yesterday will not do.

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