The General Ross County Chat Thread

[bunglebonce]

According to Transfermarkt McShane got as many goals+assists combined as Woods did in McShane's first season, in approx 60% of the time played.  Bearing in mind that when they played together Woods still tended to dominate the set-pieces, that's not bad.

Mind you Woods is hardly a good benchmark.

Edited July 13, 2017 by bunglebonce

[RiG]

Looking forward to Draper moving to County, McIntyre wasting him and then seeing him end up at Falkirk.

[Matty-RCFC]

Looking forward to Draper moving to County, McIntyre wasting him and then seeing him end up at Falkirk.

Enjoy Alex Cooper

[RiG]

9 hours ago, Matty-RCFC said:

Enjoy Alex Cooper

I doubt I'll enjoy anything about this coming season TBH.

[dingdong1929]

I'm sure when he was at QoS McShane broke into the box quite often, but that was as part of a midfield 3, so there was less risk when he did so.

When in a midfield 2 with Woods he didnt have the same licence to break forward, as he'd be leaving a massive hole in midfield, so that element of his game was enormously reduced.  Jackson Irvine managed it, but he's a very different player to McShane.

Basically, what BungleBonce said, but Id add that in a midfield 3 he may rediscover some form breaking forward.

[dingdong1929]

Went trawling to see why I had memories of McShane bursting into the box, and thought the following posts were probably the most useful.
I think they are probably still apt, other than purple patches of form during his time with us, I think McShane now is broadly similar to the player we bought 2 years ago.

On 5/21/2015 at 13:20, bunglebonce said:

Wow, what a morning.

• Kiss has his red rescinded.
• Boyce called up to the NI squad.
• Raffa signs a 2 year deal
• Darren Barr released with the others
• A fee with Queen of the South for Ian McShane agreed (to be finalised when he returns from holiday next week)

There are easy comparisons to make with Martin Woods. He is fit, technical and wants to take all the set-pieces. He's got more of an eye for a pass than Woods probably and moves the ball quicker, but doesn't command matches. He tends to sit off the play to keep the team's shape. He does a lot of tracking back but is not particularly strong in nipping attacks in the bud - I think one of Woods's undervalued strengths is the way he nicks the ball away from the opposition and I don't think McShane has that yet.

He's good at keeping the ball moving, he's very accurate with his right foot. He makes the occasional burst forward - Queen of the South attack on the flanks and with a lot of movement further ahead, so he tends to hold. In that respect, he'd be a very good fit for County's current system and would complement Jackson Irvine well if he took Woods's role... as long as he's strong enough on the defensive side. That's my biggest concern, because he doesn't time his challenges and interceptions very well. He's still very early in his career though and Jimbo clearly thinks he can be a good player at this level. The likes of Brittain, Lawson and Rocco probably weren't at the same level at the same age.

This is the goal that I've referred to before when imagining Ross County moulded in the way that Jimbo's Queen of the South side were. This is from the start of the season, I think the week after Jimbo joined County:

 

 

McShane did something similar last year:

 

 

He's right footed but there's a nice finish with his left against Cowdenbeath: https://youtu.be/BqUqhVpejaI?t=1m35s

 

On 5/21/2015 at 13:55, Mr X said:

Fair summary. One of his biggest failings this season though is that he hasnt made those forward runs often enough.

You'll get wildly varying opinions of him from Queens fans. Many dont rate him at all but theres definitely a player in there. Needs to up his consistency and to take responsibility and control games more. He certainly has the ability but he'll need a pretty strong defensive midfielder alongside him

 

On 5/25/2015 at 20:48, SUPERSOUTH said:

The lad hens tackles, sometimes passes well other times terrible, not a goalscoring threat, was taking all corners (not very well) but McIntyre likes him as he was almost released before he came in at Queens, half the Queens fans thot he was a player the others won't be sad to see him go so good luck to him and Ross County.

Worth remembering these are just the thoughts of punters online, as illustrated by this gem 

On 5/20/2015 at 17:59, TheScarf said:

Surprised at Irvine being kept. He's one of the worst players in the division.

[dingdong1929]

One of my favourite McShane memories, and one of his best performances for us.

Under-wall free-kick against Aberdeen:

Same game, drive from midfield and ping from edge of box (he picked the ball up just inside the halfway line, beating Hayes (#11 trudging about at the bottom of the gif) before driving to the position below) :


Such a shame the game is one of my least favourite Ross County memories, and one of Jamie Reckord's worst performances ever (and maybe the worst left-back performance I've seen at this level -  Shay Logan showed up Reckord's failings repeatedly and scored a double, so that's 10 man Aberdeen's rightback repeatedly monstering our leftback and scoring twice from inside our six yard box).

Full highlights for the sadists who can handle all the Aberdeen goals, and the Schalk penalty shout, (or just want to see the full buildup and replays of the goals):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6M4ECkEr0Q

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by dingdong1929

[TheScarf]

2 minutes ago, dingdong1929 said:

Went trawling to see why I had memories of McShane bursting into the box, and thought the following posts were probably the most useful.
I think they are probably still apt, other than purple patches of form during his time with us, I think McShane now is broadly similar to the player we bought 2 years ago.

 

 

Worth remembering these are just the thoughts of punters online, as illustrated by this gem 

Jackson Irvine was the worst player I saw all season in 14/15.  No matter how well he did after that statement was made it was still true.  And lots of others on here agreed with it at the time.

[dingdong1929]

33 minutes ago, TheScarf said:

Jackson Irvine was the worst player I saw all season in 14/15.  No matter how well he did after that statement was made it was still true.  And lots of others on here agreed with it at the time.

Fair enough, but you stated " He's one of the worst players in the division."  The only replies(reply?) pointed out that Irvine had been one of our best players for months.
I didn't notice anyone agreeing (in this thread, at that time) that he was one of the worst players in the division?  
But I may have missed it, I wasn't really looking for Irvine stuff, just stumbled across your post when McShane-trawling and it made me laugh a little bit.

But aye, that bit was mainly to illustrate that that my whole trawling effort might be bollocks, its just punters talking, and it was two years ago, so a lot changes.  But I said it like a wide-o, because of 'bantz' and all that... but you seem pretty indignant about it so we can ditch the 'bantz' bit.

Edited July 14, 2017 by dingdong1929

[RandomGuy.]

One of my favourite McShane memories, and one of his best performances for us.
Such a shame the game is one of my least favourite Ross County memories, and one Jamie Reckord's worst performances ever (and maybe the worst left-back performance I've seen at this level -  Shay Logan showed up Reckord's failings repeatedly and scored a double, so that's 10 man Aberdeen's rightback repeatedly monstering our leftback and scoring twice).
Youtube wont let me embed this video for some reason, but it shows two cracking McShane goals: one freekick hit under the wall, and another when he drives with the ball from midfield and spanks it from the edge of the box.
Just ignore all the Aberdeen goals...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6M4ECkEr0Q
 

If you go into the Web address, type "gif" in before YouTube, it'll take you to a site where you can make specific gifs of moments from highlights for when you want to make points like you have done.

[dingdong1929]

10 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

 

If you go into the Web address, type "gif" in before YouTube, it'll take you to a site where you can make specific gifs of moments from highlights for when you want to make points like you have done.

 

That's fantastic!
You are a true Saint, thanks man, help yourself to any midfielder you like.

[Forfinn]

41 minutes ago, dingdong1929 said:

help yourself to any midfielder you like.

Especially Martin Woods.  Please?

[bunglebonce]

The thing with McShane is that he was kind of Woods's replacement after Woods went to Shrewsbury. When Woods returned out of the blue, McShane immediately fell down the pecking order by a very similar-styled player but with a lot more experience.  If Jim hadn't welcomed Woods back with open arms then McShane would have got a lot more game time - he might still have not cut the mustard of course, but he had pleny to give, especially in a three-man midfield.

Davies was Quinn's replacement before Quinn came back out of the blue as well.  Woods and Quinn had a big part to play in getting to the LC final but I'm glad we're almost over that wasteful period.

If Jimbo's comments about a midfielder and winger coming in to complete the squad are true, then running with an 18-man squad with u20 graduates shows a different kind of policy - it's clear that Roy is making Jimbo try to be more efficient.

[yoda]

I missed McShane's second goal in that Aberdeen game because I left early. 1-3 down against 10 men and, IIRC, it was about -8. Departed from Inverness and it was -12.

My personal #IanMcShaneMoment was his free-kick against Accies. It was the annual "Convince My Brother To Come Along To The Football, Only For It To Be Shite" Day. And it was shite, up until that point.

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by yoda

[dingdong1929]

It speaks volumes that some of our favourite moments of the last two years involve freekicks being scored / on target.
 

[Comrie]

1 hour ago, dingdong1929 said:

It speaks volumes that some of our favourite moments of the last two years involve freekicks being scored / on target.
 

If they aren't Boyce or Maatsen's goal against Celtic, pretty much (was that within the last two years, or was that the year before?).

[dingdong1929]

4 minutes ago, Comrie said:

If they aren't Boyce or Maatsen's goal against Celtic, pretty much (was that within the last two years, or was that the year before?).

Maatsen's goal against Celtic was under Adams, i.e. when we had players who could score from free kicks, and were allowed to try.

[Comrie]

22 minutes ago, dingdong1929 said:

Maatsen's goal against Celtic was under Adams, i.e. when we had players who could score from free kicks, and were allowed to try.

Jesus that was 2013-2014.

[dingdong1929]

1 hour ago, Comrie said:

Jesus that was 2013-2014.

A few weeks off of 4 years!  

Folk in The Mallard going: "No, surely not! Nooo.... No one was ALIVE then!!" 
(niche quote there...)

[Spain]

For the first few moments of that match, I genuinely thought we could turn out to be something special that season. Oh how wrong I was. And it didn't even take me the rest of the match to find that out.