Ross County v Kilmarnock

[forkboy]

Really good result. After a jittery start in the League Cup it's good to get a couple of wins. Though we have been lucky with the fixtures as Caley & Killie both look like they are in for a brutal season.

[Biscuitty Boyce]

Didn't even think we played particularly well today yet it was as comfortable as I've seen us for a long time. I would be worried if I was a Kilmarnock fan.

[Caley fan]

Great ball from the keeper in lead up to the second goal.

[Killie Zenit]

Actually thought we were unfortunate to go into the break 1-0 down. Second half we were rank pish - the usual misplaced long balls battered out the park and our midfield running into each other. 

After three seasons of utter mince, at least we had the weather and a beezer of a Thai curry from that wee place on Tulloch Street to take the edge off. Rough with the smooth: cheers, Dingwall.

[StuartTaylor]

^Yes Miss Ying is superb.

Missed the Dundee and Caley games, delighted with the performance of Routis yesterday. Cikos too, and great to see Marcus Fraser back.

Pitch and stadium looking great, seething the Haggis Pies had sold out before I got one though 

 

[bunglebonce]

Pretty comfortable in the end, but Killie gave it a good go in the first half.  The strategy was all about spreading play early to Jordan Jones on the left - he must have been given the opportunity to get 1v1 against Erik Cikos five or six times before the opening goal 30 minutes in.

Jones bet Cikos twice as far as I can remember: once when Cikos went in too early at the half-way line and Jones sped up the wing, but he never got past Quinn, and second close to the byline when he hanged the ball up for Boyd at the far post, but Davies cleared comfortably.  Other than that, Cikos dealt with him very well.  Jones tracked back admirably and when Cikos overlapped he never got the beating of Jones for pace in the first half.

However, the only real danger in the whole game was early on when Green came in from the right and overloaded Cikos 2v1, then flashed that ball across goal that McEveley cleared.  After Boyce scored and Addison was taken off, there was little chance of Killie getting back in the game.  They looked alright for as long as the score was 0-0 but it was clear when they went behind how callow the team is. 

Other than that early moment, Green made no telling impact on the game - after finding space early in the first half by roaming, McEveley then started tracking him across the pitch.  Clark made Green and Jones swap sides for the first 11 minutes of the second half before Green was subbed.  Green wasn't going to do anything as an out-and-out winger, he was better suited on the other side if he's going to play in a 4-4-2.  What I thought was going to happen was that Jones was going to get a run at McEveley, who doesn't have Cikos's pace.  However, Killie still kept attacking down the left - Jones didn't get one dribble at McEveley!  When Green was taken off, Jones went back to the left and faded out of the game.

Jones looks like he will be the key player in the team.  I don't understand why Dicker was benched, but the lack of experience across the middle four really showed: at times they were bright but made too many errors in possession and in getting pulled about - the same could be said of the centre-backs, especially when Addison was off.  Schalk's movement when he came on caused so many problems. The most concerning thing for me about LC's team is relying on such mediocre full-backs, especially in a 4-4-2 when the full-backs get more time than others in the team - Hendrie and Smith made as many unforced errors as anyone on the pitch.

I'm pretty pleased with that County team for the time being: strong all the way across the back; Routis and Woods are starting to develop a good partnership; and Boyce and Curran work so well together.  It wasn't Curran's best game but he is so influential to that system.  A quality winger to better Franks would complete the first XI imo.

[Dindeleux]

On 8/20/2016 at 19:05, humbleheart said:

I like Killie and their fans tbh (obvious exception of one shouty YouTube sensation) but I'd be really really worried. I've seen some one sided games in my time, but Christ, Killie were bad today. Davies really owned Boyd today. Boyle looked a bomb scare in the centre and the rest were completely anonymous.

 

On 8/20/2016 at 19:21, Savage Henry said:

All of their players seem to be loanees.  One of them, (Green?) seems to be an absolute space cadet.  Their manager has an awful reputation, rightly or wrongly.  It all strikes me of a team expecting to go down.

 

I came on to ask for a RC fans opinion but looks like I already have it.  I said last week, despite the win, that it was one of the worst Kilmarnock teams I have ever saw.

Hopefully Caley and some other struggler can keep us up but I said last year we could do with being relegated and I'll stick with that again.  Its no fun being a Killie fan in this league at the moment.

[Sweet Pete]

Have to echo bunglebonce re: Dicker. I was scratching my head when I saw he'd been benched.

I'm having some doubts given Clark's selection tombola approach and tendency to play players out of position (George Green, a centre midfielder, playing right wing in this game, for example), plus his signing of 4 different right backs this summer (Webb, Cobain, Hendrie & Kayode, plus reportedly McFadzean can and has played RB at times in his young career). The fact that Greg Taylor, a youth left back, started the first league game at right back and then two further right backs were signed the following week after him signing Cobain, Webb and McFadzean months ago speaks volumes about how little the new guys must have impressed the coaching staff during training. Admittedly, McFadzean was likely signed with left midfield or left back in mind, but having to immediately replace your two new right backs with a further two by the second league game of the season doesn't bode well for his ability to spot a player. We went all of last season without a recognised right back and now we've an abundance of them but with question marks over whether they're good enough (Kayode, to be fair to him, hasn't yet played for the first team as he didn't have clearance).

We're also short on centre backs, with only Addison, Burn and Boyle in the first team squad being central defenders, and Burn and Boyle are very lacking in experience and only on loan at the club, Boyle's loan only lasting until January.

The scattergun signing approach has never been known to work very well. I'm trying to stay positive though as I like the look of a few of the new players (Martin Smith, Jones, Coulibaly).

We'll need to find a settled formation and line up if we're to gel and start getting cohesive performances, but it's still early days and we're not sitting here winless, so it's not all bad.

[Forfinn]

On ‎16‎/‎08‎/‎2016 at 12:29, Forfinn said:

Anything less than a 3-0 home victory and I'll be calling for McIntyre's head.

#McIntyreOut

[dingdong1929]

1 hour ago, Sweet Pete said:

Have to echo bunglebonce re: Dicker. I was scratching my head when I saw he'd been benched.

I'm having some doubts given Clark's selection tombola approach and tendency to play players out of position (George Green, a centre midfielder, playing right wing in this game, for example), plus his signing of 4 different right backs this summer (Webb, Cobain, Hendrie & Kayode, plus reportedly McFadzean can and has played RB at times in his young career). The fact that Greg Taylor, a youth left back, started the first league game at right back and then two further right backs were signed the following week after him signing Cobain, Webb and McFadzean months ago speaks volumes about how little the new guys must have impressed the coaching staff during training. Admittedly, McFadzean was likely signed with left midfield or left back in mind, but having to immediately replace your two new right backs with a further two by the second league game of the season doesn't bode well for his ability to spot a player. We went all of last season without a recognised right back and now we've an abundance of them but with question marks over whether they're good enough (Kayode, to be fair to him, hasn't yet played for the first team as he didn't have clearance).

We're also short on centre backs, with only Addison, Burn and Boyle in the first team squad being central defenders, and Burn and Boyle are very lacking in experience and only on loan at the club, Boyle's loan only lasting until January.

The scattergun signing approach has never been known to work very well. I'm trying to stay positive though as I like the look of a few of the new players (Martin Smith, Jones, Coulibaly).

We'll need to find a settled formation and line up if we're to gel and start getting cohesive performances, but it's still early days and we're not sitting here winless, so it's not all bad.

This is very remniscent of when McIntyre first joined us.  We'd just had Adams provide most of a brand new squad, most of whom were guff or unfit (Boyce), and then McIntyre brought in several of his own players, which left us with about 4 RBs including a CB playing out of position at RB.

Things improved though, so keep your chin up.

ETA:  Actually we had a lot more than 4 RBs, with Brittain filling in back there too.  Must have been about 7 folk competing for it at one point or another during those first few months?!
(Fenlon, Balk, Brittain, Saunders, Barr, P.Quinn, Toshney - bad times).

[forkboy]

14 minutes ago, dingdong1929 said:

This is very remniscent of when McIntyre first joined us.  We'd just had Adams provide most of a brand new squad, most of whom were guff or unfit (Boyce), and then McIntyre brought in several of his own players, which left us with about 4 RBs including a CB playing out of position at RB.

Things improved though, so keep your chin up.

Although, it's worth pointing out that at no point in his career so far as Lee Clark proven to be half the manager that Jim McIntyre is.

[Forfinn]

9 minutes ago, forkboy said:

Although, it's worth pointing out that at no point in his career so far as Lee Clark proven to be half the manager that Jim McIntyre is.

And that the players McIntyre brought in were mostly experienced pros rather than the untested kids Clark has signed.

[energyzone]

And that the players McIntyre brought in were mostly experienced pros rather than the untested kids Clark has signed.

Killie signed a bunch of experienced pros a couple of seasons ago and it didn't end well either.

[Fide]

When did we last win two games on the bounce?  Anyone?

[Spain]

3 hours ago, dingdong1929 said:

This is very remniscent of when McIntyre first joined us.  We'd just had Adams provide most of a brand new squad, most of whom were guff or unfit (Boyce), and then McIntyre brought in several of his own players, which left us with about 4 RBs including a CB playing out of position at RB.

Things improved though, so keep your chin up.

ETA:  Actually we had a lot more than 4 RBs, with Brittain filling in back there too.  Must have been about 7 folk competing for it at one point or another during those first few months?!
(Fenlon, Balk, Brittain, Saunders, Barr, P.Quinn, Toshney - bad times).

Kiss also played RB on a couple of occasions. Did we not give a youngster a run out too?

[bunglebonce]

Stephen Miller made the bench in the Stranraer game just before Derek got the sack, I don't think he has played any first team minutes AFAIK.

[dingdong1929]

1 hour ago, Spain said:

Kiss also played RB on a couple of occasions. Did we not give a youngster a run out too?

RIght enough!  He had a tremendous game in that position too, from memory.

 

1 hour ago, bunglebonce said:

Stephen Miller made the bench in the Stranraer game just before Derek got the sack, I don't think he has played any first team minutes AFAIK.

I dont think he has, seems to have been knocking on the door for a while, but not quite had the opportunity yet.
Good going forward, but maybe not solid enough at the back?

[grantmacp]

Would be interested in views on Routis seems good on the ball however I have a couple of concerns doesn't seem overly quick(may come with more match practice) but for a converted centre half his tackling is poor.

[Spain]

He seemed quicker and leaner on Saturday than he did in Hungary. I'm hopeful he'll keep improving, but I can't ever see him being lightning quick. That's what the wingers are for though. His tackling isn't the best for a midfielder, but it's a different type of tackle when you're in midfield than when you're in defence. I noticed him quite a few times stepping off the guy before then trying to put the foot in. That doesn't work in midfield because you're not trying to hold a line, if you're going to tackle you've got to do it straight away. If that makes sense, I'm not the most eloquent when trying to describe technique or tactics.

Re: Stephen Miller, he's still only 20 so there's still time yet. Considering that was two years ago that he was on the bench, so it's not that surprising that's as far as he got at the time. Not that I've seen him mind, someone like Stuart, Jails or BB know more about his ability.