General Martin - January player of the month

[Northstandboy]

I missed this on Saturday!

Martin got player of the month for Jan! What a joke!

 

[HeyMcAleny]

Who would you have given it to? I think Martin has played well recently.

 

[OxfordBoy]

Who else deserved it? Maybe Eastwood, or Obika who scored 2 goals last month

They're literally the only players I could even see an argument for

Martin's not been amazing but he's been generally decent and had that 1 really good game (forget who against)

 

[uptheus]

Who else deserved it? Maybe Eastwood, or Obika who scored 2 goals last month

They're literally the only players I could even see an argument for

Martin's not been amazing but he's been generally decent and had that 1 really good game (forget who against)

Best of a bad bunch, but I’d have given it to Eastwood.

 

[WuTang]

Laughable decision. Centre backs have been the worst players for the last month or 2. Mousinho has been worse than Martin by a long chalk but that doesn't mean Martin has been "decent", he's still an extremely poor League 1 centre back who needs replacing ASAP.

 

[OxfordBoy]

Laughable decision. Centre backs have been the worst players for the last month or 2. Mousinho has been worse than Martin by a long chalk but that doesn't mean Martin has been "decent", he's still an extremely poor League 1 centre back who needs replacing ASAP.

He's not extremely poor, he's been playing well above that and was highly rated before coming here

 

[North Wales Yellow]

Who else deserved it? Maybe Eastwood, or Obika who scored 2 goals last month

They're literally the only players I could even see an argument for

Martin's not been amazing but he's been generally decent and had that 1 really good game (forget who against)

I would have gone for IBR. Decent debut against Bury, excellent at Chelsea and Charlton.

 

[MJB]

The poisoned chalice of “Most Improved” would probably be more apt - nowhere near best, but starting from a low base.

The Player of the Month award should automatically be Eastwood each time seemingly.

If someone scores three hat-tricks in a month, they MIGHT be considered. Anything less than that, they can jog on.

 

[PottersRightBoot]

Martin deserves it. His last bad game was some months ago. I’d like to see him playing alongside Dickie

 

[WuTang]

He's not extremely poor, he's been playing well above that and was highly rated before coming here

Yes, he is. I certainly hope our scouting team are working hard to find a far superior replacement, and hopefully Dickie will be the first step in improving a woeful centre back pairing. Mousinho's shocking performances of late have purely overshadowed Martins ability. We've been lucky enough to have Wright, Dunkley, Nelson etc play for us in recent years, those are the sort of defenders we should be aiming for, not Aaron Martin. I would be comfortable with him as a 4th choice centre back perhaps.

 

[MJB]

He's not extremely poor, he's been playing well above that and was highly rated before coming here

Yes, he is. I certainly hope our scouting team are working hard to find a far superior replacement, and hopefully Dickie will be the first step in improving a woeful centre back pairing. Mousinho's shocking performances of late have purely overshadowed Martins ability. We've been lucky enough to have Wright, Dunkley, Nelson etc play for us in recent years, those are the sort of defenders we should be aiming for, not Aaron Martin. I would be comfortable with him as a 4th choice centre back perhaps.

Indeed. The main factor with Martin is that he always seems to have at least one big mistake in him each game.

There was a moment on Saturday when Mousinho made a mistake through dilly-dallying (as he is prone to do of late), and Martin came across to clear up. It was good to see him take control but unfortunately he completely mishit his clearance and it ended up spinning out for a corner.

It seemed pretty symbolic of our central defenders for the last couple of months.

 

[OxfordBoy]

Yes, he is. I certainly hope our scouting team are working hard to find a far superior replacement, and hopefully Dickie will be the first step in improving a woeful centre back pairing. Mousinho's shocking performances of late have purely overshadowed Martins ability. We've been lucky enough to have Wright, Dunkley, Nelson etc play for us in recent years, those are the sort of defenders we should be aiming for, not Aaron Martin. I would be comfortable with him as a 4th choice centre back perhaps.

Nelson was making a clanger a game before he got injured too, had cost us several goals

 

[LondonRoader]

Maybe this was given him as a kind of confidence boost, give him some self belief..

 

[Ricey]

Dropped tonight to give Dickie game time. Bit harsh thought Mousinho should be dropped of the two.

 

[Marked Ox]

Dropped tonight to give Dickie game time. Bit harsh thought Mousinho should be dropped of the two.

All depends on if Dickie can play on the left of central defence as to why.

 

[Village-Yellow]

I missed this on Saturday!

Martin got player of the month for Jan! What a joke!

Other than possibly Eastwood, I don’t see the issue. He has done well out of a crap bunch.

Give the guy a break.

 

[Thehorse777]

Sadly, for many people once they’ve made their mind up a player is crap then there’s no changing it.... I actually agree, Martin has done ok recently and is by no means the worst of the two centre backs on current form.

It reminds me of the Carlisle away game a couple of seasons back, someone who had clearly decided Maguire was no good and they were absolutely slating him throughout the game.

 

[unification]

Aaron Martin has something of Leo Roget about. Came here, started badly, occasionally has at best an absolute ricket in him or at worst a series of them in a game, but actually has improved to be a generally better performer. That’s not to say he’s great – if Nelson was about, Martin would be on the bench – but he’s no Arthur Gnohere or Ben Futcher. He’s ahead of Mike Williamson nowadays too.

Against Charlton, he looked like the only player on our side who could actually match Josh Magennis for size too. Having a lump like him in defence shouldn’t be underestimated at times as we don’t exactly have much size and scope in the rest of the squad.

 

[Shaun Rice]

Sadly, for many people once they’ve made their mind up a player is crap then there’s no changing it.... I actually agree, Martin has done ok recently and is by no means the worst of the two centre backs on current form.

It reminds me of the Carlisle away game a couple of seasons back, someone who had clearly decided Maguire was no good and they were absolutely slating him throughout the game.

Well I’m not one of them. I’ve seen enough players start off badly and then just click into gear and become the first name on the team sheet. Hilton and Whing would be the most recent examples that spring to mind.

With Martin it’s just an example of how our standards have lowered. It’s a fact he couldn’t get in the side with Nelson, Raglan, and Dunks around. Like many others I was surprised to see Raglan loaned out.

It’s not that Martin has raised his game just that the quality hasn’t been replaced. This is actually common across our whole team in my opinion.

When Martin came the comments from fans who’d seen him play regular was ‘ solid defender but prone to mistakes ‘ and it would seem they were correct.

Being the best of a terrible bunch does not make you good. If he’s that great why weren’t teams looking to sign him from us in January?
He’s average at best.

Finally if we as a club have a desire to play in the championship then we need to be signing players of (or potentially) championship quality. Our standard need to be set much much higher.