Martin already told he’ll pay the price after scenes v Panathinaikos
Russell Martin has guided Rangers into the next round of Champions League qualifying after defeating Panathinaikos over two legs.
The valuable 2-0 win at Ibrox gave Rangers a cushion as they travelled to Greece and saw out the tie.
Despite shaky performances from the likes of Max Aarons, the Light Blues managed to scrape a 1-1 draw on Wednesday night (30 July), which is enough to book their place in the next round.
Although Rangers booked their place in the next round to take on Viktoria Plzen, some onlookers are not totally convinced by the performances from Martin’s side.
Bill Leckie critical of Martin despite positive results
Jack Butland was forced to be at his very best over the course of the two legs against Panathinaikos, with the shot stopper keeping Rangers in both games at varying stages.
Jack Butland stats vs Panathinaikos across both legs:
- Saves – 9
- Saves from inside box – 8
- High claims – 4
Alongside having to rely on his shot-stopper to bail him out on multiple occasions, Martin was criticised for being too open.
Martin is known to play an expansive style of football, no matter what opposition he comes up against, which ultimately led to his downfall as he was sacked by Southampton, with the Saints going on to accrue a measly 12 points.
Leckie from The Scottish Sun (30 July) was critical of Martin’s dangerous approach across the two legs and fears that the level of chaos in their play will come back to bite them inevitably.
“He (Martin) has to look at how often so many of his men fell over the ball, bobbled simple passes, failed to take a touch and calm the game down,” Leckie said.
“He has to realise that it’s one of the universe’s greatest mysteries that they allowed themselves to be turned as often as they did across this tie,
“That won’t happen when they play any team with decent strikers. Like his Southampton team in last season’s English Premier League, they look wide open as soon as they ship possession and, like Southampton, there’s nothing surer than they will be made to pay.”
Martin style of play not for everyone
To rely on Butland to continue to perform these heroics week in and week out is something that is unrealistic and not sustainable.
In Martin’s defence, playing against such tough opposition so early on in the campaign is not easy, especially when trying to get your complex philosophy across.
Ultimately, they got the job done, and that’s all that matters, with an equaliser from Djeidi Gassama settling any nerves.
But if Gers do not display a higher degree of control and defensive maturity, particularly when facing the lesser opposition within the Scottish Premiership, then Martin’s stay at Ibrox could be a brief one.
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