Stronger or weaker

[Hawk]

5 minutes ago, football maniac said:

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 Hilson hasn't been replaced, Thomson hasn't been replaced and Thomas has been replaced by Stirling who migh be an improvement or maybe not.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 Dowie and Higgins have been replaced by the more versatile Fordyce and Rooney.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.

This, good post.

[Skyline Drifter]

33 minutes ago, football maniac said:

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 Hilson hasn't been replaced, Thomson hasn't been replaced and Thomas has been replaced by Stirling who migh be an improvement or maybe not.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 Dowie and Higgins have been replaced by the more versatile Fordyce and Rooney.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.

Thomson has effectively been replaced by Tapping who was out all last season and Thomson was effectively an extra player for the second half of last season to cover for that. One of Dowie / Higgins has been replaced by Fordyce. The other hasn't yet been replaced. Rooney is a replacement for Hamill. Smith basically wasn't here last season either given he was out on loan all year. Hilson and Rigg have effectively been replaced in the squad at the moment by Murray and Fergusson. Moxon has effectively been replaced by Akubuine, and he too wasn't here for the second half of last season either. Hooper was effectively replaced by Mercer back in January.

We're down an experienced centre half. And we're obviously short experienced cover for Lyle & Dobbie with Dykes the oldest alternative at 21. We could do with a striker in their later 20's probably. And ideally another wide player but we've got two and both Murray and Dykes can play there too.

[Dunning1874]

As covered, we're obviously considerably stronger in attack. We've gone from having Shankland, Oyenuga, Scullion and Donnelly as cover for Oliver and Quitongo - with Quitongo being injured from November to the end of the season and Oliver also missing a month injured - to having McHugh and Thomson as competition for a place. Not only does that give us more quality, it also gives us the option to be more tactically flexible with a 4-3-3 an option as well as the 4-4-1-1 Duffy has favoured for the last two years. Along with Tidser staying fit for a full pre-season and Harkins also offering cover - despite criticism of his time at Ayr he's still a much better option in midfield or attack than Oyenuga & Shankland types - we look a lot better creatively. Nesbitt is the only attacking player who's left who wasn't a liability, and Thomson should be an upgrade. 

Defensively, there is some concern. On the plus side we've kept everyone who was a starter at the end of last season, while being back at left back rather than shunted into midfield will hopefully see Mark Russell return to being excellent, but there's no argument that we became a much weaker team in January when Gavin Gunning left. O'Ware, Kilday and Lamie are all solid centre backs in their own right, but none of them can organise the defence and in turn have a positive influence throughout the whole team the way Gunning could. We've still got a defensive signing to come, but Duffy has said Gunning isn't on the radar while the trialists we've had would suggest the signing will be someone younger providing cover to those three rather than the first choice centre back who could turn us into a really formidable side.

We've also lost Jamie Lindsay and signing another defensive midfielder is the biggest priority. Andy Murdoch will do the defensive work well but he's the only midfielder we have at the moment who can do that. There's little to no chance of getting a player as good as Lindsay but we need someone in whether it's someone who does nothing but the defensive work or more of a box to box type. Especially if we are using a 4-3-3 at times, we're looking at an extremely immobile midfield with two of Forbes, Tidser and Harkins alongside Murdoch. Teams could easily overrun us in that scenario without the option to bring a more energetic player in there.

Overall I'm feeling positive, but a lot is going to depend on the last two or three signings which will presumably be loans later in the window. If we can add a goalkeeper as well as a commanding centre back and a Joe Thomson type, we'll be able to confidently say we're stronger.

[Demented Zebra]

36 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

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.

If such a striker is around bigger fish than St Mirren would scoop him up. Fact is we have got to hope a gem of a striker can be found in lower leagues. That's what we have done sign strikers from lower leagues in the hope they can step up. Or a loan deal which Jack Ross is trying to do given his comments

[TheGoon]

Re-sign Gunning, find a better goalkeeper as well as a decent box to box player and the league is pretty much tied up IMO.

[LIVIFOREVER]

Stronger at the back with Alexander signed in goals, the same in midfield and probably weaker up front.

 

Mullen looks like he'll be a lot better than 2 seasons ago when we got relegated from the Championship though and Peters/Mackin/Todorov/Carick are unproven at this level so will have to wait and see how they get on. I'd say the team in general looks stronger than the one we had the last time in the Championship so that at least gives us a better chance of staying there.

 

 

[BallochSonsFan]

Still a wee bit of work for us to do, but so far? Not bad at all.

Losing Martin was a blow. He's a goalkeeper who can make a difference and keep you in a game. Gallagher is certainly decent so we've done well bringing in a replacement.

At the back I think that Bucky was a big loss. Andy Dowie should do well but lacks a a bit of pace. Craig Barr comes in to replace namesake Darren so another decent replacement. I thought Harvie started slowly but came onto a game as his confidence grew. For probably the final third of the season he was playing pretty well. David Smith was an unexpected success at right back and it'll be good starting the season with him in a role he grew into as the season went on. His engine meant that he was rarely caught out on the counter attack and he could close down well. Tackling was ok for a guy who wasn't previously a natural defender and so was his positional sense. It'll come down to who plays left back as to how solid our defence will be.

 

Midfield. We've lost a bit of creativity with Andy Stirling moving on and he's another player who grew as the season progressed. Post Christmas he was probably one of the most effective Sons players. Carswell is one of those guys who plays a pretty simple game. No frills, no defence-splitting passes. But his work rate and positioning are both very good and he has a knack of putting himself where he has to be. I hope Grant Gallagher makes a good return from injury. Another who is at his best playing a simple game. He was previously used in a more attacking role by Aitken and it's clear that it isnt his natural game. Play him in front of the back 4 and ask him to protect them and he'll do a good job. Sam Stanton is also a miss as he gave us vision and creativity. We've got width from Calum Gallagher and Tom Walsh and potential creativity from Chris Johnston. It's another wait and see for our midfield, but certainly an area where we should have a bit of hope.

 

It was sad to see Fleming move on. He wasn't really getting game time under Aitken and it was probably best for both parties that he was released. He'll do well for his new club. As a local boy he was a real fan's favourite and he departed with nothing but the best wishes from our support. Thompson is a huge loss for us. For me he was never an out and out striker and was at his best playing with a bit of freedom in the final 3rd. Did his best work outside the box. Not a naturally composed finisher but returned a solid number of goals. Responsible for the best individual performance of the season when he had Jason Thompson in his back pocket all afternoon in a 4-0 home win. Nade didnt have the same impact last season as the year before but with a full pre-season at Dumbarton and starting the season settled with us, I'm hoping for a decent contribution. Mark Stewart was a great signing and is one of those guys who you always hated in the opposition team. His movement will give opposition defenders trouble and he might be a good option to play off Nade. We still need another striker for me so there's a bit of work to be done, but whilst Robert Thompson was undoubtedly a loss, I think we've done well bringing in Stewart.

I'm actually pretty happy with our squad so far. We need some more bodies in and we've still got a big question mark over 1 of our back 4, but I think we'll have another decent crack at survival this season. We've not upgraded but if we can get the right guys in to complete our squad then we certainly won't have downgraded.