Obafemi Martins

[Wullie]

Having been listening to the Legends tonight and reading various posts on here and elsewhere, there appear to already be a substantial group of people feeling a little unsure about Martins and what he can offer us. I've heard people saying he doesn't appear anywhere near as quick as reported, that he's weak, can't beat a man, can't shoot, generally has shown nothing so far etc. Roeder's even been out and given him the 'vote of confidence', a little strange to be doing it after two games imo.

 

So is anyone genuinely starting to feel a little worried?

[Syrette]

And they're basing this all on 1 and a bit games for us?

[Ronaldo]

I was worried before I saw him play, simply because he is a £10m signing unproven in this league that we are absolutely relying on

 

1 1/2 games does nothing to change that, i've not been overly impressed but i'm nowhere near ready to make a judgement, he does look quick though in fairness

[Guest Bellers]

After about a game's worth of play it's unbelievable people can come to this conclusion.

 

First of all the lad isn't match fit. He hasn't played since last July and has recently been ill with the flu. Then there's the fact he may take a couple of weeks to bed into the side.

 

Our tactics didn't help either, Martins thrives on a high back line when there's space to run into. We didn't give him a chance to make these runs, in fact we didn't even play the ball into his feet, we just smashed the ball at his head and hoped he would beat a significantly taller Zat Knight in the air. If we want the best out of him we must play to his strengths.

[ikri]

A lot of people are basing it on his two games for us so far:

 

Villa: only played from the start because he was the only fit senior forward at the club, he'd been to perhaps 1 training session and barely knew his team-mates names

 

Fulham: a team who spent most of the game, right up to his substitution, defending as deeply as possible giving him no space to run into (on the couple of occasions he did get some space it was to chase balls headed to the corner flag) whilst we spent most of the game hitting long balls to the head of someone who is nearly a foot shorter than his marker.

 

If the team don't play to his strengths he's going to look poor.

 

I fully expect that he'll get goals away from St James against teams who will be more willing to attack and leave space at the back when they're playing in front of a home crowd.

[Cajun]

Sadly it doesnt suprise me one bit that people are questioning his ability on what is about 1 game plus extra time and with the team completely playing the opposite sort of football he thrives on!

[Guest Kenton Magpie]

People gave luque a chance for ages, get off the lads back, martins will come good!

[Keefaz]

Worse than Steve Harper, tbh.

[johnnypd]

he looked fast when he was charging down those loose passes near the corner flag.

[Flip]

I think Martins we'll prove us his worth. I think that against Aston Villa he looked quite birght and he played alone up there. Didnt see the fulham game but apparantly didnt do much, but then again he was injured almost for two weeks and came back to training very short time before the game. We hsould give him time or otherwise he'll be just another LUQUE!

[colinmk]

Strikers cant show what they can do until the team around them knows what they require to shine. Probably will see a few flashes of brilliance from him this season but nothing more and until the rest of the team is sorted out then this will be the case.

[Guest makemeacupoftea]

Strikers cant show what they can do until the team around them knows what they require to shine. Probably will see a few flashes of brilliance from him this season but nothing more and until the rest of the team is sorted out then this will be the case.

 

Agreed

[PM]

If we don't play to his strengths, we won't get anything like the best out of him.

 

His strength is not winning aerial challenges with Zat Knight.

[Guest teepee]

fuck me - here we go again...

[AliGupter]

People gave luque a chance for ages, get off the lads back, martins will come good!

 

Ages? He's only made about 15 appearances, and only about 8 starts.

[WhatTheFunk]

 

The legends, and the so-called newcastle fans who are already getting on his back are part of the cancer that is spreading through the club and everything connected to it.

 

Fuck off please and support Chelsea, if you think you've made up your mind on Martins, or any other "new foreigner" for that matter, and that includes Luque. We've seen nowhere near enough of him under normal circumstances. He's never had a run in the team, and has never been given a fair chance in a team with a gameplan, with him included in it.

 

Some people REALLY need to grow up

[macbeth]

Anyone saying he will come good is basing this on reports of others who have seen him play for Inter or Nigeria.

 

Most who are not yet impressed with his performances for us are doing so on the basis of 72 minutes on Saturday.

 

Either people are believing the publicity that he is great, or they are jumping to conclusions very quickly.

 

On Saturday's 72 minutes he was no different from Michael Chopra in what he brought to the side. I struggle to believe that that is the limit of his abilities, he would have had no games at Inter if that was the case.

 

 

[Wullie]

The problem is that most of the time when we buy an expensive foreign player, the expectation is always massive because of the situation we put ourselves in.

 

Boumsong - brought in to replace Woodgate in a defence leaking goals for fun.

Luque - who knows who he was replacing, but when we were on the slide under Souness, it felt like he was the one that might turn it round.

Martins - replacing Alan Shearer, in a side with no other capable strikers.

 

This doesn't happen at most well-run other clubs. Liverpool - if Kuyt plays badly, they'll take him out the firing line, let him settle, give him little bits and the odd start, play Crouch, Fowler, Bellamy. As someone said on Toontastic, West Ham have the perfect set-up to let Tevez settle into our game with 4 or 5 other strikers to choose from. We did this with Viana for a while, when he was having little bits sitting in for Robert, he looked a player, but when he was thrown into the deep end to do Speed's job with no real idea how because it was a totally different type of game, he looked lost.

 

If Martins doesn't perform, for whatever reason, we are FUCKED, and that is far too much pressure for the lad to be under.

[Spider Jerusalem]

If Martins doesn't perform, for whatever reason, we are FUCKED, and that is far too much pressure for the lad to be under.

 

And that's the major problem - due to the policy of the management over the past summer Martins HAS to give immediate results or we are in deep shite.  John Dahl Tommasson ring a bell.  He is now one of two senior strikers at the club and the other one is lucky to be here.  Goals are not going to come from the midfield at a rate that is greater than our defence can stop them - the last three league games and two pre-season friendlies have shown that if you put the defence under minimal pressure then they will crack.

 

[Guest Alan Shearer 9]

Having been listening to the Legends tonight and reading various posts on here and elsewhere, there appear to already be a substantial group of people feeling a little unsure about Martins and what he can offer us. I've heard people saying he doesn't appear anywhere near as quick as reported, that he's weak, can't beat a man, can't shoot, generally has shown nothing so far etc. Roeder's even been out and given him the 'vote of confidence', a little strange to be doing it after two games imo.

 

So is anyone genuinely starting to feel a little worried?

 

If people feel this then we deserve everything we get

[Guest Knightrider]

There is absolutely no hope for our club with cretins like this if it is true fans are writing him off already. I'm excited by Martins' potential and I know he's a good player, he's much better than Yakubu who has scored goals in this league aplenty, but he got a great grounding in the 1st division first. Martins has been thrown in at the deep end, been handed the number 9 and at 21 and new to this country, is expected to save our entire season. It isn't on this. These aren't excuses, this is common sense and an understanding of our dire situation. The moment we bought him I was wanting us to sign someone like Viduka because we can't rely on Martins and it is pathetic how we now have to all because we fucked up big time. Martins should have been eased in, all our big money foreigners should like the big clubs do, Arsenal, Man Utd and Liverpool et al. And now fucking West Ham.

 

"Aye but we don't have quality in depth to do that," they say.

 

And why is that? Exactly!

 

If fans want Martins to succeed they need to accept the situation and forget his price tag for now which he had absolutely no control over. Let him settle in, give him some support and then lets see if he's going to be a big star for us after such a period, after all he is still only 21. He worked hard at the weekend from reports and the highlights I saw so at least he's trying.

 

If fans are expecting the world from him or demanding him to produce the goods in this disjointed team devoid of creativity but full of the long ball that says more about their ignorance and lack of intelligence than Martins' ability.

 

If we get on his case, fans and media alike or the club somehow fuck up this talent with our anal long ball game I'll give up me, because we cannot keep going on like this man, club and fans. There has to be a wake up moment for all.

[Guest Knightrider]

Fuck me, just talking about this after 1.2 games is pathetic! Jesus wept.

[Guest Bramble OG]

Fuck me, just talking about this after 1.2 games is pathetic! Jesus wept.

 

I know we should be giving him at least 2 and a half games before writing him off!

[Guest Knightrider]

Fuck me, just talking about this after 1.2 games is pathetic! Jesus wept.

 

I know we should be giving him at least 2 and a half games before writing him off!

 

Now you're just being silly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 games will suffice.

[AliGupter]

Im not making any judgement on him yet, but I think he looked rather good on Saturday.

 

The only thing I wasn't sure about as soon as he joined was him being given the No. 9 shirt, I seriously hope he stays here for many years and proves me wrong though.