Sam Allardyce tells Rangers something damning about Russell Martin as scathing assessment unearths major 'worry'

Daily Record

20 hours ago

Martin is looking to rebuild his reputation at Ibrox but Allardyce is skeptical
Sam Allardyce questioned whether Russell Martin is 'brave' enough to adapt his game to suit Rangers – and says managers like him leave him 'worried for the game.'
Martin's uncompromising all-action style earned Southampton promotion to the Premier League in 2023/24 but it all unravelled as quickly as it came together and he was sacked the following December with his side cut adrift at the bottom of the league.
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Now he pitches up at Ibrox looking to rebuild the reputation that made him such a highly-respected coach at MK Dons and Swansea and earned him his shot at the big time with Saints in the first place.
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His style has earned plaudits but there are questions about whether he has the nuance and tactical dexterity to go the distance with Rangers and restore them as a Scottish football force.
And Allardyce, whose old-school managerial style was the antithesis of Martin's, has added his voice to that choir.
He told Footy Accumulators: 'A good game is getting through the lines as quickly as possible and doing what you do whichever way is best suited to the team you've got and who you're against.
'Everyone wants to play attractive football right now, and that's Russell Martin's style of play, but his main objective should be to win. It's perceived that he can't play any other way.
'We saw it with Southampton when it went sideways and backwards too much. Most of the goals conceded by his teams are due to the goalkeeper or the centre half giving it away far too cheaply.
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"You've got to change and adapt, but can he change his style? Is he brave enough to change it? I think you have to take a brave step sometimes, especially in big games.
'Fans will not be bothered if he plays a different way, or by being direct sometimes, and wins more games than last season, or wins the league.
'I'm worried for the game because managers like Martin believe that that's the right way and the only way to play. In the history of football at a professional level up until the last few years, that would never be accepted by any coach or manager, that you can lose the ball often in your own third, it was a firm no, you can't do it.
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'If I were playing with the managers I had, I would be dropped for doing that and I'd be out of the team.'
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