The Martin O'Neill thread (with added sacking #2188)

[Matt C]

I don't know if it was because he didn't take the competitions seriously but O'Neill's cup teams rarely seemed to play well and the squad players hardly ever took the chance when they got a run-out. 

I wonder if it was in part because they knew regardless of what they did, he'd revert back to the same starting 11 that played every other week.

[Legion]

Square pegs, round holes.

Plan A. If it doesn't work, revert to Plan A.

[cheltenhamlion]

Did I read that right? 8m for Wickham? Shit the bed.

[N'ZMAV]

That was Bruce who signed him.

[curiousorange]

I know she's the Guardian's north-east correspondent and everything, but Louise Taylor's doing a pretty bad job of disguising which side of the O'Neill debate she comes down on here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/23/ten-things-premier-league

[pauliewalnuts]

I don't know if it was because he didn't take the competitions seriously but O'Neill's cup teams rarely seemed to play well and the squad players hardly ever took the chance when they got a run-out. 

I also think part of the problem might have been that, in O'Neil's eyes, you were either in the first team squad or you didn't exist. I can't imagine the fringe players felt that incentivised to really go for it when given the chance.

[pauliewalnuts]

The real shame of the episode was that the justified furore/meal did obscure what was a fine performance by the lads that did play in Moscow.

Spot on, Steve, I thought that too.

[Dave]

Did I read that right? 8m for Wickham? Shit the bed.

It's ridiculous, but far less ridiculous than £6m for Delph. And I like Delph.

[SoccerHQ]

I am pretty sure I can recall a comment along the lines of 'I felt we would have lost with a full strength team anyway'.

Moscow had a good team that year with Vagner Love, Zhirkov, Krasic all playing for them but I'm pretty sure they were knocked out in the next round so pretty sure it wasn't beyond us to get a 2-2.

Point that often gets overlooked is that I believe in the defence we played out there, Davies and Knight were our centre half combo. They played again against Stoke so you wonder if those two defensive lapses late on could've been prevented if we'd just rested them instead and played Clark and Cuellar.

[Lastfootstamper]

I don't know if it was because he didn't take the competitions seriously but O'Neill's cup teams rarely seemed to play well and the squad players hardly ever took the chance when they got a run-out. 

I also think part of the problem might have been that, in O'Neil's eyes, you were either in the first team squad or you didn't exist. I can't imagine the fringe players felt that incentivised to really go for it when given the chance.

But he hypnotised us. We bought into it. Any pre-match interview and we'd all believe that the next league game was the most important the club had ever played, no place for unproven kids. At the time, did any of us even notice, or overly care, how few from our own much-acclaimed academy ever got a league start, let alone the opportunity to claim a regular place? In Martin we trusted.

[dave.woodhall]

In Martin we trusted.

And it'll take years to get over it.

[olaftab]

 

That's a real shame for the player and their supporters.

Not for their manager though

I chose my words carefully

[eamonn]

... and even then picking a weakened team at home to cska and only getting a draw meant we were on a hiding to nothing going away.

We picked our strongest side in the home leg as I recall. Presumably the plan was to be in a commanding position after the first game meaning we could have the option of bringing some senior players to see out the second leg in Moscow.

[eamonn]

I know she's the Guardian's north-east correspondent and everything, but Louise Taylor's doing a pretty bad job of disguising which side of the O'Neill debate she comes down on here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/23/ten-things-premier-league

Didn't know about the Petrov bit she mentions:

Villa's travails have coincided with their captain and key midfielder's year-long absence due to acute leukaemia. Villa Park still breaks into applause in the 19th minute of every home game – 19 is Petrov's number. Now in remission, he hopes to see Paul Lambert's side escape the drop before helping organise a charity match in Sofia which will pit a Bulgaria All Stars XI featuring Hristo Stoichkov and Dimitar Berbatov against a Villa old boys ensemble, with proceeds funding care for childhood leukaemia victims.

[Tucson Villain]

I know she's the Guardian's north-east correspondent and everything, but Louise Taylor's doing a pretty bad job of disguising which side of the O'Neill debate she comes down on here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/mar/23/ten-things-premier-league

Didn't know about the Petrov bit she mentions:

Villa's travails have coincided with their captain and key midfielder's year-long absence due to acute leukaemia. Villa Park still breaks into applause in the 19th minute of every home game – 19 is Petrov's number. Now in remission, he hopes to see Paul Lambert's side escape the drop before helping organise a charity match in Sofia which will pit a Bulgaria All Stars XI featuring Hristo Stoichkov and Dimitar Berbatov against a Villa old boys ensemble, with proceeds funding care for childhood leukaemia victims.

FPA Bulgaria Tour