QPR Vs Portsmouth

That's a very interesting comment northwesthoop because if players like Madsen, Varane, Celar etc.,  have been brought to the club without Marti's seal of approval then it's no wonder we are bottom of the league. Personally, I can't believe that Marti hasn't had some input into bringing the new signings into the club because whilst I'm a huge critic of the owners even I don't believe they'd sign players without the managers approval.

The question I'd like to ask is, if you don't believe that the new signings are Marti's men, then who do you believe should take responsibility for them?

Nourry and Belk. Belk was heavily involved the last time we signed a load of unknown foreign players under Hasselbaink.

I have no doubt Marti was involved in conversations, but I don't think any of the players were specifically his picks. Andersen the only one since he joined perhaps.

I also think back to the summer and Marti was making a few comments about wanting more, or 'the club know what I want' etc hinting he wasn't getting what he wanted. Can't think of the exact comments but I know he sounded unhappy a lot of pre-season.

He also wasn't quoted in many of the signing announcements during the summer, which is unusual. In the past all signings have had quotes from our manager at the time.

If Martí can get these league one standard players to keep us in the championship he deserves a medal
The poor guy is now in a massive hole because the fans will want him out if we are bottom of the table for very long,he’s signed a long term deal so won’t get sacked,every week like a lamb to the slaughter with the fans the further we are in the bottom 3
He hasn’t got the manpower to sort the problems out
In January we could be too far adrift and those new players recruited the same way as the recent ones could be just as crap anyway
We are heading the same way as Birmingham except we haven’t got a rich American owner to get us back up next season
Good manager
Injury prone players
Poor owners
Poor recruitment
League one here we come
Don’t want to have to be negative but I’m being realistic and can’t see how we will get out of this situation

Onto the scores on the doors - what WLS rated the team (I do not agree with Chair's '5' against Paal's '6'; or Madsen's '5' against Ashby's '5':

Paul Nardi: 6 Made a couple of smart saves and was generally solid.

Jimmy Dunne: 6 Tried hard, had a couple of efforts on goal and won plenty of challenges.

Steve Cook: 6 Rangers’ best defender. They look vulnerable at the back but would struggle even more without Cook’s ability and composure.

Morgan Fox: 4 A horrible day for Fox, whose mistakes led to both Pompey goals. Lost the ball in the build-up to the first and the second came from the penalty spot after the defender hacked down Callum Lang.

Harrison Ashby: 5 An attacking right-back by nature but offered little in the wing-back role.

Sam Field: 6 Had a decent game in midfield and a first-half ball over the top led to a great chance for Ilias Chair. Was substituted in the second half because he was on a yellow card.

Nicolas Madsen: 5 A total passenger in midfield, where a limited Pompey side played around him with ease. Currently looks out of his depth as an attacking midfielder, a defensive one and anywhere in between.

Kenneth Paal: 6 Linked up nicely with Chair on the left a few times but overall didn’t offer enough.

Karamoko Dembele: 6 Scored with a nice lob after a mistake by keeper Nicolas Schmid. Faded after a lively start though – not for the first time since his recent move.

Ilias Chair: 5 Made a welcome return from injury but understandably lacked sharpness. Missed a key chance at 1-1 when he cheekily tried to chip Schmid when put through on goal by Field.

Michael Frey: 6 Didn’t pose much of a goal threat but worked hard and found ways to trouble defenders in a way Lyndon Dykes wasn’t capable of when he led the line in matches like these.

Paul Smyth: 6 Made no real difference after coming on for Ashby in the second half.

Kieran Morgan: 6 Brought on in difficult circumstances for his senior debut and was brave in midfield, showing for the ball and trying hard to create something.

Zan Celar: 5 Again made no real impact after coming on.

Koki Saito: 6 Did look lively after his introduction. Was a threat on the left and had a header saved.

If that is actually what happens then I reiterate what I said in one of my earlier posts that its no wonder we're bottom of the table and so many of our new signings are so poor.

Analytics will never tell you who to sign, however what they will do is tell you where you should be looking. Teams like Brentford, Brighton and more recently Ipswich all use this type of data but its just a small part of their transfer process. 

Using any statistical/mathematical data is no more than an aid to the management team. If Marti is willing to accept that any player identified by analytics is the correct choice then he's not doing his job. Any manager worth their salt will get out with his scouting team and undertake the basics of watching the player with his own eyes. 

Just using analytics to decide who to sign will never work and I really hope that isn't the approach the club or Marti adopt.

Sabremetrics work in Baseball. But I've never seen it be a successful tool in football. Liverpool tried it a few years ago, signed based on a wide range of stats and data. That didn't work.
Baseball is much more a player v player sport. When you throw team-mates into the mix, with their own strengths and weakness, it all goes a bit awry.

loftussi said:
I agree they cannot rely just upon the analytics (can they?) - they must surely follow the highlighting of prospects with a couple of scouting missions? Certainly Varane was watched a few time, but then again some of those were pre-Nourry.... If Madsen was watched then must have looked good then, so is the question (as you allude to) one of integration into a team? For me, all of the recent arrivals have struggled with the Championship's physicality. That raises the question of what action the club takes to prepare them and those in the Dev Squad to that physicality...