Obafemi Martins

[Tooj]

that's what you get with a ex-street footballer playing in the PL... Asprilla Mk II.

take a way the odd fancy footwork and his game starts to look pretty poor. I like the fact that he can create space for himself to have a shot but its his overall game that is really starting to piss me off. Like already stated he doesn't work the channels and in general he doesn't play for the team. His off-the-ball runs are laughable considering what pace he's got.

 

I just don't think he's got what it takes to shoulder the responsibility of being one of the two main strikers, or the first-choice striker. Maybe its all the bling bling shots in the "players in public" thread but its starting to get on my tits seeing that when he SHOULD HAD stepped on the plate, with Owen and Viduka have been out most of the season, he didn't and doesn't look like he even realizes that himself. This is the top 10m international striker and he produces f*** all. His goal in Arsenal game was just a piece of luck that covered for the fact that he should had buried the penalty as it would had completely transformed the game.

 

 

You can't compare Martins with Asprilla, completely different players. Plus Oba's technique and general awareness is nowhere near what Tino's could be. Agree about the inconsistencies though.

 

Agreed, one of Tino's great strenghts was his finishing composure where if you give Martins more than 0.1 secs to think about it in front of goal it generally goes bad.

 

Exactly. Although a lot of Tino's game as well was based on instinct, he had the footballing brain to make split second decisions, something which Martins doesn't. If that makes sense.

 

As he was also unbelievably composed in such situations. It was just his inconsistencies that stopped him from being quite frankly one of the best players in the world. As I can't think of many I've seen with as much talent as he had. If he'd have had the mentality of say someone like Shearer he would have been unstoppable.

[Lotus]

When Martins got the ball yesterday it was rarely to feet so he had to take a moment to control with his back to goal, not his forte, the Chelsea players would get tight to him to stop him turning and not once that i can remember did our midfield show for him to lay the ball off to, they just stood there and waited for nothing. Owen rarely moved his arse to get close to him either. We were on a hiding to nothing yesterday. Chelsea can control the middle so we can't pass through it and can deal with the long balls upto our midgets. Our only option was the wings imo.

 

Still, Stoke won't be as good.

[Guest Sniffer]

When there is absolutely no creativity in midfield and the defenders and keeper keep pumping up long balls its difficult for Martins or Owen to shine. IMO, it also unfortunately highlights everything that is lacking in Martins game because he is not a team player or a forward who can consistently bring other players into the game as he tends to lose the ball time after time. Owen at least knows what to do with the ball.

 

Sad to say but Martins hasn't improved at all since he came to Newcastle and in fact, looks worse these days maybe because defenders have sussed him out. Still next week we'll all be hoping that this game is one of the every ten when he chips  in with some spectacular goal. Cue the martins to arsenal in the summer headlines at least for another week.

[Dave]

Martins has 7 goals from 19 appearances this year:

 

Man Utd (a) - header from a corner

West Brom (h) - header from a cross

Aston Villa (h) - shot along the floor from the edge of the box

Aston Villa (h) - tap-in from a cross

Wigan (h) - upstoppable smash into the top corner

Portsmouth (a) - simple pass into goal from eight yards

Arsenal (h) - controlled volley into the corner of the goal after gifted the ball

 

Now I'm not going to say Martins isn't out of form, nor am I going to say he was any good on Saturday. But this cliché about him only ever smashing in spectacular strikes every now and then is starting to get really boring.

[Kanj]

He has no service. We all talk about lack of quality balls being played in. There is your problem. Oba and Owen have 1 or 2 half chances a match, Owen had 2-3. 1 was dissallowed, the other was hit from his wank left foot. 

[Kaizero]

Martins has 7 goals from 19 appearances this year:

 

Man Utd (a) - header from a corner

West Brom (h) - header from a cross

Aston Villa (h) - shot along the floor from the edge of the box

Aston Villa (h) - tap-in from a cross

Wigan (h) - upstoppable smash into the top corner

Portsmouth (a) - simple pass into goal from eight yards

Arsenal (h) - controlled volley into the corner of the goal after gifted the ball

 

Now I'm not going to say Martins isn't out of form, nor am I going to say he was any good on Saturday. But this cliché about him only ever smashing in spectacular strikes every now and then is starting to get really boring.

 

To be fair, the way people are going on with their Martins love, 7 in 19 isn't really that good. Two came in the same match as well.

[Guest Heneage]

Martins has 7 goals from 19 appearances this year:

 

Man Utd (a) - header from a corner

West Brom (h) - header from a cross

Aston Villa (h) - shot along the floor from the edge of the box

Aston Villa (h) - tap-in from a cross

Wigan (h) - upstoppable smash into the top corner

Portsmouth (a) - simple pass into goal from eight yards

Arsenal (h) - controlled volley into the corner of the goal after gifted the ball

 

Now I'm not going to say Martins isn't out of form, nor am I going to say he was any good on Saturday. But this cliché about him only ever smashing in spectacular strikes every now and then is starting to get really boring.

 

To be fair, the way people are going on with their Martins love, 7 in 19 isn't really that good. Two came in the same match as well.

But they also got us three points.

[Kaizero]

Martins has 7 goals from 19 appearances this year:

 

Man Utd (a) - header from a corner

West Brom (h) - header from a cross

Aston Villa (h) - shot along the floor from the edge of the box

Aston Villa (h) - tap-in from a cross

Wigan (h) - upstoppable smash into the top corner

Portsmouth (a) - simple pass into goal from eight yards

Arsenal (h) - controlled volley into the corner of the goal after gifted the ball

 

Now I'm not going to say Martins isn't out of form, nor am I going to say he was any good on Saturday. But this cliché about him only ever smashing in spectacular strikes every now and then is starting to get really boring.

 

To be fair, the way people are going on with their Martins love, 7 in 19 isn't really that good. Two came in the same match as well.

But they also got us three points.

 

If he'd been more effective in more games, like "world-class strikers" like most on here say Martins is, we'd have had much more points as well.

[Guest Heneage]

One man isn't a team.

[Kaizero]

One man isn't a team.

 

So the "one man isn't a team" excuse works for Martins, but not for Owen. Who by far is the better striker when fit?

[Dave]

To be fair, the way people are going on with their Martins love, 7 in 19 isn't really that good. Two came in the same match as well.

 

Scoring one in three for a team third bottom of the league isn't all that bad tbf.

 

In any case, I agree he's not playing well and we desperately need more from him right now. Just making the point that he scores more than one type of goal.

[Dave]

One man isn't a team.

 

So the "one man isn't a team" excuse works for Martins, but not for Owen. Who by far is the better striker when fit?

 

As I was saying about clichés...

[Kaizero]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

[thomas]

Owen is the much better striker when fit and receiving service.  Martins is the much bigger threat on his own but not as good at the other things.

 

It's a shit decision to have to take one off or the other since you've got much more confidence in Owen tucking away a chance, but the likelyhood of our midfield of traffic cones providing that chance means Obas inconsistent self might be the best option.  But he also might completely fluff something Owen would bury. 

 

 

 

 

[Kaizero]

One man isn't a team.

 

So the "one man isn't a team" excuse works for Martins, but not for Owen. Who by far is the better striker when fit?

 

As I was saying about clichés...

 

Look at the stats and you'll see it's a fact, not a clichè. If you go by numbers at least.

[Dave]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

 

Who cares which is better, honestly? Edit - which was my point above.

 

There IS no contest between Owen and Martins, because the rest of our forwards are shit, injured or both. It's as simple as that.

[Kaizero]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

 

Who cares which is better, honestly?

 

The rest of our options are shit, injured or both. It's as simple as that.

 

I don't really care who's better. I'm just fed up with everybody going on about how awesome and wanktastic super-delicious Martins is, when he's quite obviously not, at least not at this point in time. Yet, Owen gets stick on here all the time for being wank. When recently there's not been much between the two, they both should do better.

 

I just want us to score goals, no matter who scores for us.

[Dave]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

 

Who cares which is better, honestly?

 

The rest of our options are shit, injured or both. It's as simple as that.

 

I don't really care who's better. I'm just fed up with everybody going on about how awesome and wanktastic super-delicious Martins is, when he's quite obviously not, at least not at this point in time. Yet, Owen gets stick on here all the time for being wank. When recently there's not been much between the two, they both should do better.

 

Nice hyperbole there.

 

Most people tend to appreciate Martins above Owen because of factors other than raw stats, I guess.

[Kaizero]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

 

Who cares which is better, honestly?

 

The rest of our options are shit, injured or both. It's as simple as that.

 

I don't really care who's better. I'm just fed up with everybody going on about how awesome and wanktastic super-delicious Martins is, when he's quite obviously not, at least not at this point in time. Yet, Owen gets stick on here all the time for being wank. When recently there's not been much between the two, they both should do better.

 

Nice hyperbole there.

 

Most people tend to appreciate Martins above Owen because of other factors than raw stats, I guess.

 

Hyperboles are sexy

 

And that is something that annoys me as well, when Martins from time to time does an N'Zogbia in the press, but then later goes "I love the Toon" and everybody forgets. Owen has actually not gone out in the press and said "This team and this team wants me." or "I need a bigger club for a bigger challenge." When without a doubt it seems clear he seemed to want away, at least he did not go whine in the press about it.

 

Not saying those quotes is something Martins has said. Just I seem to recall reading something similar from a while back.

[Kaizero]

Also, I am a very big believer in that Owen is better than Martins. But I do not "care" who is actually better at the moment since we have no other options. (I do think Carroll & Owen could do better than Martins & Owen though.) What I do care about on the other hand, is people giving Martins all this undeserved praise he keeps getting, while Owen gets slagged off like a lamb to the slaughter.

 

Just felt like expanding on the "I don't really care bit."

[Guest fading star]

Martins tends to get more "chances" than Owen, so in that sense he should be banging them in more than Owen. But most part of these chances are just idiotic selfish attempts from Martins, when there's better options around him i.e. Owen to pass to and in that way make it a better chance. But he doesn't, he goes for glory. Every single time. Hell, I'll even quote that training sequence from Goal! "The ball travels faster than you."

 

Owen passes when he sees better options than going for glory. Which means he has less shots, but he still is more effective than Martins.

 

Who cares which is better, honestly? Edit - which was my point above.

 

There IS no contest between Owen and Martins, because the rest of our forwards are s***, injured or both. It's as simple as that.

If only it was. Top continental sides may be able to play effective football without a target man, but for clubs struggling at the bottom of the PL a physical presence up front is a must. Owen and Martins are ineffective with their backs to goal. When they’re paired up front we surrender possession at an alarming rate.

 

Martins is too unpredictable, so hard to integrate into a team.

Owen is too one dimensional, so hard to integrate into a team.

 

I guess the question is should Shearer pick his best eleven players and cross his fingers, or should he pin his hopes on selecting a balanced team?

[Segun Oluwaniyi]

We've played our best football this season with Owen and Martins upfront. They are our two best strikers. They will score the most goals. We need a good target man, we don't have one.

[Dave]

We've played our best football this season with Owen and Martins upfront. They are our two best strikers. They will score the most goals. We need a good target man, we don't have one.

 

[madras]

We've played our best football this season with Owen and Martins upfront. They are our two best strikers. They will score the most goals. We need a good target man, we don't have one.

 

we don't so much need a target man as a midfielder who can pass.

[Guest fading star]

We've played our best football this season with Owen and Martins upfront. They are our two best strikers. They will score the most goals. We need a good target man, we don't have one.

We don’t have a midfield capable of retaining possession either, and the only player we have who can play a decent through ball is Barton.

 

Owen and Martins are the best two strikers we have when they can play to their strengths. Trying to out jump Terry and chasing around after scraps isn’t what they’re good at.