Demented Zebra Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 4 hours ago, Coventry Saint said: We are weaker. We've lost Davis, Mallan and Loy and have yet to replace with anywhere near the same quality. We've also suffered the short-term loss of Magennis, who was expected to slot into Mallan's position alongside McGinn. I get the impression that most the 'permanent' business has been done, so I think we are into the realms of hoping we find a couple of real gems on the massive lottery that is the loan market. Need a CM and a CF, and probably another CH. The summer started pretty well but now I've got the fear. It's very good of us to keep the league competitive by refusing to just moneyball our way to the title. Part of the question is will we finish higher than last season. YES. Now question , do you think we will finish lower than last season if NO does that not make us stronger ? Mallan is the biggest loss there is no chance of replacing like for like. Loy is not a goal machine as much as it would have been good to get Loy back I feel there is enough in to replace him. Time will tell. Would be happy to put money on us being in the top four with the current squad. Just my view. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coventry Saint Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 6 minutes ago, Demented Zebra said: Part of the question is will we finish higher than last season. YES. Now question , do you think we will finish lower than last season if NO does that not make us stronger ? Mallan is the biggest loss there is no chance of replacing like for like. Loy is not a goal machine as much as it would have been good to get Loy back I feel there is enough in to replace him. Time will tell. Would be happy to put money on us being in the top four with the current squad. Just my view. Well, we're stronger than our 'average' last season, so yes, will finish better than 7th. But it's been covered on here ad infinitum that we were basically two teams last season. We're not as strong, yet, as the one that ended the season so well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Demented Zebra Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 1 hour ago, Coventry Saint said: Well, we're stronger than our 'average' last season, so yes, will finish better than 7th. But it's been covered on here ad infinitum that we were basically two teams last season. We're not as strong, yet, as the one that ended the season so well. Malian aside how do we know the team is not as good a ball has not been kicked in the league & cups yet. No preseason game has had our strongest team played together. Still think their will be movement in the squad in a loan deal. We are not far off the squad from the tail end of last season. Jack Ross proved in January he has an eye for a player so while there has been no headline signings I'm quietly confident things will be good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CITY1974 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Weaker to date( i may get critisized for that statement) purely down to finances..We need to sign another big forward and an ald heed for midfield ..Gonna be down to a fantastic team spirit more than quality for winning points .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthBank Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Any team is this League losing Mallan would find it difficult to replace him. That being said Magennis is the talented 18 year old preparing to take up the mantle and could maybe do as good a job. However due to the Dundee boot boys he is now out of action for 3 months which is pretty shite. The 2 new keepers should improve the goalkeeping situation. Although Davis was great for us he only played 6 games. So Buchanan/Baird are a better option than Webster. Morgan, McGinn and Magennis (when fit) and Smith should see us operate pretty well in midfield. Hilson has also looked pretty decent but maybe trying too hard to impress. Reilly was shit last season but more than decent the season before. Who knows which one we have signed. Loy will be a loss but Reilly could be an adequate replacement. The other signings are mostly young and hungry but have little experience in the Championship so who knows how they will do. Our U20 team has provided a successful steady flow into the first team over the last few years and 2 more have stepped up and 3 others have being playing regularly in the pre-season friendlies - so again unknown quantities. JR is still looking for maybe 4 players (allegedly he hopes to offload 2 who are not getting a regular game). Definitely need another striker and holding midfielder in the squad. Overall it is unknown how we are or will be, but at the moment I would say we are weaker but maybe not by that much from the team that finished the season depending on how Reilly and Magennis fare. Probably need a couple more experienced players as we have an extremely young squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roman_bairn Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Tricky one. We are stronger in some positions, particularly up front, but have a slightly smaller squad. Hard to say overall but probably not weaker than last season with the manager having a better understanding tactically.....I hope! [emoji16] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andylivi1 Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 If we had managed to keep Liam Buchanan I think we would've improved our squad greatly. We have a good strong squad but my worry is we don't have a proven scorer at this level. I think we are about the same as last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Our options in the final third are like night and day compared to the jobbers like Shankland, Oyenuga and Scullion that we were relying on in the second half of last season. While friendly results don't tell you anything, the link-up play and decision-making of players like Thomson has stood out; while having those better options in forward areas has also brought out the best of Tidser and our other creative midfielders. With Quitongo also returning to full fitness having lost none of his capacity to physically bully defenders and beat them for pace as well, we've got a genuinely impressive set of attacking options for this level IMO. We're weaker defensively as we haven't yet replaced Jamie Lindsay in the centre of the park. That issue has been further highlighted by injuries to our first-choice centre backs during pre-season. By the time that the league campaign starts I'd like to see us add a central midfielder of a similar type to Lindsay as well as another defender. Rebuilding our generally solid defence from last season's team while integrating our attacking options is going to be a difficult balance to achieve. If we can add those two outfield players though then I think that we'll be much closer to the top of the league - in terms of points at least - than last season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buddie06smfc Posted July 10, 2017 Share Posted July 10, 2017 Overall it is unknown how we are or will be, but at the moment I would say we are weaker but maybe not by that much from the team that finished the season depending on how Reilly and Magennis fare. Probably need a couple more experienced players as we have an extremely young squad. I'd argue that Cammy Smith is a bigger player for us this season. He was tremendous come the end of the season, I think he could be the man to replace Mallan. Too much emphasis being placed on Magennis at a young age. This could have us having another McGinn/Mallan fiasco with folk calling for them to be sold at the earliest opportunity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NavyBlueArmy1876 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 I think we're a bit stronger than last season. We'll have Grant from the off, and have seriously improved our strike force as Austin only came in to the team at the end of last season and Loy will make a big difference too. Sibbald's replacement will be hugely important but I think most of our support think Craigen can also fill his role. We'll still be leaky at the back though, and there will be a lot of pressure on young Gallagher to fill Leahy's boots - but I have high hopes for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alert Mongoose Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 The sense of delusion is certainly stronger in those with a three sided stadium affliction. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers1992/1993 Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 We're 100 times Stronger from where we were at any point last season, just from being away from Dinosaurs like Yogi and Imposters like Locke and Skacel. It's a pity we'll only be showing it in League 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadwell Dog Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 11 hours ago, NorthBank said: Any team is this League losing Mallan would find it difficult to replace him. That being said Magennis is the talented 18 year old preparing to take up the mantle and could maybe do as good a job. However due to the Dundee boot boys he is now out of action for 3 months which is pretty shite. The 2 new keepers should improve the goalkeeping situation. Although Davis was great for us he only played 6 games. So Buchanan/Baird are a better option than Webster. Morgan, McGinn and Magennis (when fit) and Smith should see us operate pretty well in midfield. Hilson has also looked pretty decent but maybe trying too hard to impress. Reilly was shit last season but more than decent the season before. Who knows which one we have signed. Loy will be a loss but Reilly could be an adequate replacement. The other signings are mostly young and hungry but have little experience in the Championship so who knows how they will do. Our U20 team has provided a successful steady flow into the first team over the last few years and 2 more have stepped up and 3 others have being playing regularly in the pre-season friendlies - so again unknown quantities. JR is still looking for maybe 4 players (allegedly he hopes to offload 2 who are not getting a regular game). Definitely need another striker and holding midfielder in the squad. Overall it is unknown how we are or will be, but at the moment I would say we are weaker but maybe not by that much from the team that finished the season depending on how Reilly and Magennis fare. Probably need a couple more experienced players as we have an extremely young squad. Christ your easy pleased if 4 goals in 28 appearances is more than decent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 We're 100 times Stronger from where we were at any point last season, just from being away from Dinosaurs like Yogi and Imposters like Locke and Skacel. It's a pity we'll only be showing it in League 1 [emoji20] Seaside league forum for this pish.Oh and you'd still get relegated in humiliating fashion from this division with your current, gubbins squad. Thanks for playing anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Believe The Hype Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 15 hours ago, D.A.F.C said: We've lost three central midfielders two strikers and left winger and a defender and replaced them with a central defender one midfielder and a striker. Overall we are weaker and lack a right back and decent proven central midfielder. We also have limited backup in nearly all positions. I get that we still will sign some players but at the end of last season we had a 1-11 capable of beating anyone on their day with the only real weak point our right back and lack of cover. Currently if we put out the same side as the one that played Hibs I wouldn't be confident of beating anyone apart from Brechin. Never realised your lot lost so many players. Struggling down the bottom for you guys this season I think. Until the transfer window closes it's hard to tell for us. Considerably stronger upfront IMO with Loy and Austin. Grant getting in from the start will be a huge boost. Craigen coming onto a game and McKee getting a pre season are all positives. Also having a natural right winger instead of shoe horning players out there can only be a good thing. With sibbald more or less away however we have a massive loss, this will need to be addressed adequately, and Gallacher has pressure on him to replace Leahy albeit I think he will manage just fine, over a full season might be different though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NorthBank Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 50 minutes ago, Shadwell Dog said: Christ your easy pleased if 4 goals in 28 appearances is more than decent. Thanks for pointing out my little error. As you well know I was referring to 39 goals in 69 starts for QoS. Pretty decent don't you think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadwell Dog Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 9 minutes ago, NorthBank said: Thanks for pointing out my little error. As you well know I was referring to 39 goals in 69 starts for QoS. Pretty decent don't you think? Yeah although if you include sub appearances its 39 goals in 111 or something. He certainly looked a decent player back then who seems top have lost his way. Possibly will depend on his confidence getting a boost at the start of the season. If he gets a few goals early doors he'll do well if not then it could be another tough season for him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 A third of those 39 goals came in the seaside leagues playing against plumbers and fishermen every week. So in reality what we have here are two solid but unspectacular seasons at a credible level of Scottish football, then two shan ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
football maniac Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 Most certainly weaker but we still have only done half our business. Hilson hasn't been replaced, Thomson hasn't been replaced and Thomas has been replaced by Stirling who migh be an improvement or maybe not. Rigg was also on the wage bill and he hasn't been replaced. Dowie and Higgins have been replaced by the more versatile Fordyce and Rooney. They are younger but not necessarily better. Dowser and Higgy were still pretty solid. Martin in goal will certainly make us stronger in goals. Lyle is a year older and it may be a season to far. We have also not replaced several squad members who were released such as Smith, Moxon and Hooper who were all on a wage. So I would overall say we are stronger in goal, defensively on a par, midfield and attack weaker. A few current members of our squad are taking a wage who I don't think are good enough, eg Dykes, Mercer, Robinson. There are also a few who are injury risks (Tapping and Fordyce) . Right now I would place us 7-9th but an injury to Dobbie could be catastrophic with our current squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coventry Saint Posted July 11, 2017 Share Posted July 11, 2017 13 minutes ago, virginton said: A third of those 39 goals came in the seaside leagues playing against plumbers and fishermen every week. So in reality what we have here are two solid but unspectacular seasons at a credible level of Scottish football, then two shan ones. Which is precisely why I'm currently at a 2/10 for optimism re our striking options for this season. We seem to do a great job at bringing through that brand of quite short, nippy midfielders/wingers/wannabe-number-10s who are ok with the ball at their feet, but our youth system produces f**k all else on a consistent basis. We haven't produced a first-team forward since Steven McGarry, and while he was underrated, he was hardly prolific. We got incredibly lucky with Thommo happening to be a Saints fan, and his goals papered over a few cracks for a couple of years until his legs went. Aside from that, we've traditionally been very light up front. Desperately need a quality, mobile, out-and-out striker to call our own. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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