Chris Martin 'can't play up front alone' - Paul Lambert

[Fulham Tup North]

Saw Martin for Scotland at the weekend and he still does not look match fit / Sharp.
Why send a player off for International duty, when he is clearly lacking?
Beyond me.  Chances are he will come back injured anyway :(
Long Season ahead.

[fulhamben]

Saw Martin for Scotland at the weekend and he still does not look match fit / Sharp.
Why send a player off for International duty, when he is clearly lacking?
Beyond me.  Chances are he will come back injured anyway :(
Long Season ahead.

We don't get a choice if a player is called up, and nor should we try and stop them.

[Bassey the warrior]

We're too weak in midfield to play 4-4-2. The board should've either signed a destroyer to play centre mid so we can play two up top, or signed a striker that can play the lone striker role. Joka isn't to blame.
We may as well stick with Martin as we know Woodrow is too weak and bad in the air and Smith too slow and bad at passing, Martin may be the best option.

How can we be weak in midfield? we have enough midfielders to fill the team coach on their own!We have Parker, Tunnicliffe LVC, all players who will push up and look for the killer pass.

Defensively weak.

[filham]

We are throwing a lot of stick at Martin but we should consider how Dembele would have fared last season without McCormack up there with him, not so well I would suggest.

The lone striker system is not producing goals, we need to try something else, especially at home.

[Fulham Tup North]

Saw Martin for Scotland at the weekend and he still does not look match fit / Sharp.
Why send a player off for International duty, when he is clearly lacking?
Beyond me.  Chances are he will come back injured anyway :(
Long Season ahead.

We don't get a choice if a player is called up, and nor should we try and stop them.

...and yet Scotland were happy to play him, when he clearly is not ready?  Go figure.  Explains why Scotland are so bad.

[alfie]

As stated he points out what should be obvious.  Yet Joka seems to continue with him, or Smith, in the 4-2-3-1 formation.  Agree try Woodrow up top with Matrin or Smith and let's see what happens.  Can't be any worse then what we are doing now. 

If everyone was healthy, and Joka persisted in going with the 4-2-3-1 I wouldn't mind seeing something like.....

Can't see him changing tactics now. It would be an admission that every thing we have done up till now has failed. He bought a squad in to play his formation, he spent all pre season training us to play his formation and we have set up in every game to play his preferred system, is he going to change that because two of our strikers can't play in this system? I highly doubt it.

That's the point, he does not have to admit it, we can all see for ourselves, that it has not worked out how he wanted.

[AlexW132]

Didn't Martin play in a 4-3-3 at Derby?

[@jolslover]

Didn't Martin play in a 4-3-3 at Derby?

Agree, he is used to playing up top by himself.

[colinwhite]

Not only that when we signed him his weakness was said to be that didnt favour being in a 2 up front and would fiúnction best as alone striker . I think he has moved forward from when Lambert had him at Norwich when he was just a young lad.
I have a feeling alot of people will be eating humble pie over Martin.

[fulhamben]

Not only that when we signed him his weakness was said to be that didnt favour being in a 2 up front and would fiúnction best as alone striker . I think he has moved forward from when Lambert had him at Norwich when he was just a young lad.
I have a feeling alot of people will be eating humble pie over Martin.

humble pie? so he will score 20 this season in your opinion? anything less would be a failure would it not

[EJL]

Swear he played up top by himself at Derby all the time?

[Kentish Gent]

It strikes me that if a player like Martin is either out of form or demotivated, then he requires either an arm around his shoulders or a kick up the rear - the former is almost certainly the better remedy. I wish our fans would stop slagging him off. He's got an excellent goal-scoring record, and with the right support from Slav and the backroom team, there's no reason why he can't recapture that form for us. Just think of the signings we've made in recent years who came good after an initial ropey period - Chris Baird and  Bobby Zamora as examples.

[fulhamben]

It strikes me that if a player like Martin is either out of form or demotivated, then he requires either an arm around his shoulders or a kick up the rear - the former is almost certainly the better remedy. I wish our fans would stop slagging him off. He's got an excellent goal-scoring record, and with the right support from Slav and the backroom team, there's no reason why he can't recapture that form for us. Just think of the signings we've made in recent years who came good after an initial ropey period - Chris Baird and  Bobby Zamora as examples.

baird and Zamora took over a year to come good. Martin has 7 months left on his loan.

[Tonywa]

Hear that Cardiff has signed Chamakh. Wish we could have got him.  Just feel he may score quite a few at this level.  We shall se..

[fulhamben]

Hear that Cardiff has signed Chamakh. Wish we could have got him.  Just feel he may score quite a few at this level.  We shall se..

Yes I'd have him over our strikers.