Utd v Dumbarton

[Howlin' Wilf]

If you’re a director (Brabco or DFC))and you know the immediate pressure is off financially, you’d almost certainly want the club to go down. Pretty desperate state of affairs but true nonetheless.

[The Moonster]

8 hours ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

And is that necessarily such a bad thing ?  It's quite hard to get a breath when year head is constantly under water.  Our Wigan/Wimbledon act was only ever going to last so long and it's frankly become utter pish to witness, so perhaps time to regroup in a less oppressive environment, no ?  

Cue a dozen posts about the Cowdenbeath Experience,  conveniently overlooking that Ayr and Raith have thus far survived to tell the tale.  Sometimes a reboot can work wonders, and who knows, we might get back some of the droves who have deserted us in recent seasons.

Ayr went full time and have their owner propping that up by piling in wads of cash. If Brabco are happy enough to do that then fine lets go down. They aren't though. And we need a fuckload of cash to repair our ground. Doing that on League 1 income and trying to field a team that can win the league isn't easy. It's not just the Cowdenbeath experience, Clyde have done the same and we're much closer in stature to those two than we are to Ayr and Raith.

[cedrick1]

Another few posts of players under performing .

doesnt matter who comes in at moment were low in confidence and in reality ability.

people will post bring in Burt and Stewart . Both have come off bench and not improved the situation in recent games 

just out of interest where is David smith . Doesn’t appear in the injured lists pre match 

[mishtergrolsch]

9 hours ago, Arch Stanton said:

It's not my problem.

You've had plenty money in the past and spunked it away.

Re read this comment and you will have your answer.

 

Good result last night. Could and should have been more but also could have been a good bit worse taking into account the few times they got on behind. And the time Lewis thought he was Maradonna. The lad is a tool. Made a few good saves though. 

Durnan was back to his old self with dodgy moments galore, Smith is dog shit and Fraser was stinking. I know hes not fully fit but he looked like he was back to the old Fraser of slow and sluggish fannying about.

Other than that, we controlled the game and passed well for large spells. When we were moving the ball quickly it was a joy to watch compared to the last while.

One thing about our general play - I do wish our centre halfs weren't playmakers. Almoat every passing move went backwards to them at some point. We even managed to do that at two corners! 

Our defence didnt seem to be on the ball though - high balls in behind caused us far more trouble than normal.

King was good in the second half, McDonald was excellent the whole game as was Stanton i thought. Till he went off, McDonald went up front and the game slowed down.

Ralston also had his best game ive seen him have for us. 

Slater looked decent too.

If we can win on Saturday then hope may return for this shit show of a season.

[Jordo1872]

54 minutes ago, cedrick1 said:

Another few posts of players under performing .

doesnt matter who comes in at moment were low in confidence and in reality ability.

people will post bring in Burt and Stewart . Both have come off bench and not improved the situation in recent games 

just out of interest where is David smith . Doesn’t appear in the injured lists pre match 

Both Burt and Stewart came on last night and did well. In particular, Stewart’s appearance from the bench in our last three games has improved our forward play. He’s a striker, his movement alone creates oppprtunities for us to get the ball up the park. Gallagher didn’t do that last night and it resulted in wave after wave of United possession. Gallagher has 3 or 4 good half chances last night. I’m confident Stewart would have taken at least one of those.

[stumigoo]

We played some reasonable stuff last night but a better team would have taken a couple of goals off us (but equally on another night we might have scored 2 or 3 more). It is by far and away the poorest I have seen Dumbarton since we have been in the Championship. I'm guessing that is the lowest league crowd in my time supporting United and having quickly checked the re-launched ArabArchive I think it probably is.

Most players got pass marks and Bilel Mohsni is, frighteningly, the best defender we have by some distance at the moment (although he did have a couple of nervy moments last night). 

[skinny arab]

9 hours ago, pleslie99 said:

^^^^^ hasnt reas the rule book!

the rules for where free kicks are raken for offside have changed from the start of the season. Now it's taken from where the player touches the ball not where they were offside. Yes, sounds daft but that's the rule.

Was not aware of this. That is a fucking stupid rule.

[cedrick1]

Wasn’t there last night so pleased that Burt and Stewart improved us.

just think our record suggests nothing helps us get s goal and personally I like Stewart and his work rate.

didnt think he did much v Livi but I put that down to his fitness

if he is fully fit questions of manager I agree for not playing him 

[Boghead ranter]

We could have Ronaldo or Zlatan as our main striker, and we'd still struggle to score goals consistently, unfortunately. Purely because we don't play an attacking style that supports the man up front.

The main striker tends to be isolated and chasing down punts, rather than being on the end of cohesive attacking moves.

Until Aitken and Durrant remedy that, being a striker for us will always be a bit of a crap job.

[Silverton End]

31 minutes ago, cedrick1 said:

Wasn’t there last night so pleased that Burt and Stewart improved us.

just think our record suggests nothing helps us get s goal and personally I like Stewart and his work rate.

didnt think he did much v Livi but I put that down to his fitness

if he is fully fit questions of manager I agree for not playing him 

You just summed it up in your 1st sentence there Cedrick1.

Two attacking (fit) players sitting on the bench while Stevie Wonder tries another 11-piece  jigsaw puzzle of team selection.

I predict Froxylias at right back this Saturday, with Jamie Ewings in the lone striker role

 

[The Moonster]

3 minutes ago, Boghead ranter said:

We could have Ronaldo or Zlatan as our main striker, and we'd still struggle to score goals consistently, unfortunately. Purely because we don't play an attacking style that supports the man up front.

The main striker tends to be isolated and chasing down punts, rather than being on the end of cohesive attacking moves.

Until Aitken and Durrant remedy that, being a striker for us will always be a bit of a crap job.

I'd suggest that's down to our players not being very good than our tactics being defensive.  We play with a winger who does absolutely no defensive work at all. We play with either Handling or Walsh who do virtually no defending. Andy Stirling is an attacking player. If we can't create chances with basically 4 front players who do no defending then it suggests to me we just aren't very good. Stevie's team last season had no problems attacking and after Bonnyrigg I just don't see why we'd revert to ultra defensive mode again. Having watched us against Livi, it confirmed to me we've got a team of shitebags unwilling to take responsibility. How many of them are throwing themselves into every challenge or fighting for every ball? Who's running themselves into the ground every week? How many of them look for the ball at every opportunity? I count about 3 (Dowie, Boomer, Carswell). Last season we had every body pulling together and fighting to keep us up, I don't get that vibe from this squad which is why I think relegation is a certainty.

Aitken and Durrant will need to remedy it in the summer by building a better squad, our problems can't be fixed without an overhaul IMO. The smart thing for us to do would be to back Stevie, confirm that he'll be our gaffer for next season and start planning for worst case scenario (League 1).

[Jan Vojáček]

Watching him last night confirmed the biggest difference between this season and last for us. Sam Stanton.

With him in midfield we had someone who would win tackles, drive with the ball and had a great eye for a pass. He was the link between the defensive team and the attacking team.

Currently we play with a back seven (GK,DFs,DMs) and a seperate attacking four. The defence only focus on defending, the attacking team only focus on what happens beyond halfway. There's no link.

[cedrick1]

Good post monster 

[Boghead ranter]

21 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I'd suggest that's down to our players not being very good than our tactics being defensive.  We play with a winger who does absolutely no defensive work at all. We play with either Handling or Walsh who do virtually no defending. Andy Stirling is an attacking player. If we can't create chances with basically 4 front players who do no defending then it suggests to me we just aren't very good. Stevie's team last season had no problems attacking and after Bonnyrigg I just don't see why we'd revert to ultra defensive mode again. Having watched us against Livi, it confirmed to me we've got a team of shitebags unwilling to take responsibility. How many of them are throwing themselves into every challenge or fighting for every ball? Who's running themselves into the ground every week? How many of them look for the ball at every opportunity? I count about 3 (Dowie, Boomer, Carswell). Last season we had every body pulling together and fighting to keep us up, I don't get that vibe from this squad which is why I think relegation is a certainty.

Aitken and Durrant will need to remedy it in the summer by building a better squad, our problems can't be fixed without an overhaul IMO. The smart thing for us to do would be to back Stevie, confirm that he'll be our gaffer for next season and start planning for worst case scenario (League 1).

Your post and my post are two different descriptions of the same problem - we don't have a very good attacking strategy.

Whether that's caused by poor tactics, poor commitment, something else, or a mixture of things, that's down to the manager and coaches to fix.

And, despite being ~80% through the season, they don't seem to have managed to do that. 

Again, that could be due to either lack of talent or lack of commitment.

[Twinkle]

Re read this comment and you will have your answer.
 
Good result last night. Could and should have been more but also could have been a good bit worse taking into account the few times they got on behind. And the time Lewis thought he was Maradonna. The lad is a tool. Made a few good saves though. 
Durnan was back to his old self with dodgy moments galore, Smith is dog shit and Fraser was stinking. I know hes not fully fit but he looked like he was back to the old Fraser of slow and sluggish fannying about.
Other than that, we controlled the game and passed well for large spells. When we were moving the ball quickly it was a joy to watch compared to the last while.
One thing about our general play - I do wish our centre halfs weren't playmakers. Almoat every passing move went backwards to them at some point. We even managed to do that at two corners! 
Our defence didnt seem to be on the ball though - high balls in behind caused us far more trouble than normal.
King was good in the second half, McDonald was excellent the whole game as was Stanton i thought. Till he went off, McDonald went up front and the game slowed down.
Ralston also had his best game ive seen him have for us. 
Slater looked decent too.
If we can win on Saturday then hope may return for this shit show of a season.

Almost all of that report is utter shite. I genuinely cant be arsed picking it apart as i would be here all day

[Guest bernardblack]

Almost all of that report is utter shite. I genuinely cant be arsed picking it apart as i would be here all day

 

This. I went as a neutral last night and Ralston was very disappointing.

 

Edit to add - only just seen the Fraser comment. He was the best player on the park when he came on. United were cruising once him and Flood started calming things down

[O'Kelly Isley III]

2 hours ago, The Moonster said:

I'd suggest that's down to our players not being very good than our tactics being defensive.  We play with a winger who does absolutely no defensive work at all. We play with either Handling or Walsh who do virtually no defending. Andy Stirling is an attacking player. If we can't create chances with basically 4 front players who do no defending then it suggests to me we just aren't very good. Stevie's team last season had no problems attacking and after Bonnyrigg I just don't see why we'd revert to ultra defensive mode again. Having watched us against Livi, it confirmed to me we've got a team of shitebags unwilling to take responsibility. How many of them are throwing themselves into every challenge or fighting for every ball? Who's running themselves into the ground every week? How many of them look for the ball at every opportunity? I count about 3 (Dowie, Boomer, Carswell). Last season we had every body pulling together and fighting to keep us up, I don't get that vibe from this squad which is why I think relegation is a certainty.

Aitken and Durrant will need to remedy it in the summer by building a better squad, our problems can't be fixed without an overhaul IMO. The smart thing for us to do would be to back Stevie, confirm that he'll be our gaffer for next season and start planning for worst case scenario (League 1).

I think this season's problems have their origin in last close season when the team management were incredibly slow to start team-building; from that we stuttered thro a truly dismal league cup sectional performance before limping into the league campaign.  And so on and on, with the Irn Bru Cup run papering over quite a number of gaping cracks, performance-wise. 

The strangely speedy re-signing of the hitherto ineffective Calum Gallagher was a worrying portent for me, as was the seemingly random and enforced signing policy which has seen (I think) 26 players wear the jersey this season, with seldom a settled look about the team.  They came and they went, and Beany's return smacked of a last throw of the dice.

All of this is just chatter however, and the real issue remains the future ownership and direction of the club.  I am more than ever convinced that just like a building needs wet or dry rot eradicated to preserve it's integrity, then DFC surely needs Brabco prised out before we can even begin to move forward.  I don't suggest that for a minute that will be easy, but IMO it nevertheless remains a fact.  And the major one, right now and beyond.

 

[Jan Vojáček]

2 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I think this season's problems have their origin in last close season when the team management were incredibly slow to start team-building; from that we stuttered thro a truly dismal league cup sectional performance before limping into the league campaign.  And so on and on, with the Irn Bru Cup run papering over quite a number of gaping cracks, performance-wise. 

The strangely speedy re-signing of the hitherto ineffective Calum Gallagher was a worrying portent for me, as was the seemingly random and enforced signing policy which has seen (I think) 26 players wear the jersey this season, with seldom a settled look about the team.  They came and they went, and Beany's return smacked of a last throw of the dice.

All of this is just chatter however, and the real issue remains the future ownership and direction of the club.  I am more than ever convinced that just like a building needs wet or dry rot eradicated to preserve it's integrity, then DFC surely needs Brabco prised out before we can even begin to move forward.  I don't suggest that for a minute that will be easy, but IMO it nevertheless remains a fact.  And the major one, right now and beyond.

I make it 27 at the moment (in all competitions). I've got a list of the number of times we've started the same team at home too - but couldn't tell you it off the top of my head (letting myself down, I know):

1. Scott Gallacher
2. Andy Dowie
3. Craig Barr
4. Kyle Hutton
5. Tom Walsh
6. Stuart Carswell
7. Chris Mclaughlin
8. Sam Wardrop
9. Calum Gallagher
10. Dougie Hill
11. Dimitris Froxylias
12. David Smith
13. David Wilson
14. Christian Nade
15. Liam Dick
16. Ally Roy
17. Danny Handling
18. Iain Russell
19. Andy Stirling
20. Greg Morrison
21. Chris Johnston
22. Kevin Nisbet
23. Aidan Wilson
24. Liam Burt
25. Jamie Ewings
26. Grant Gallagher
27. Kyle Prior

[Nowhereman]

3 hours ago, The Moonster said:

I'd suggest that's down to our players not being very good than our tactics being defensive.  We play with a winger who does absolutely no defensive work at all. We play with either Handling or Walsh who do virtually no defending. Andy Stirling is an attacking player. If we can't create chances with basically 4 front players who do no defending then it suggests to me we just aren't very good. Stevie's team last season had no problems attacking and after Bonnyrigg I just don't see why we'd revert to ultra defensive mode again. Having watched us against Livi, it confirmed to me we've got a team of shitebags unwilling to take responsibility. How many of them are throwing themselves into every challenge or fighting for every ball? Who's running themselves into the ground every week? How many of them look for the ball at every opportunity? I count about 3 (Dowie, Boomer, Carswell). Last season we had every body pulling together and fighting to keep us up, I don't get that vibe from this squad which is why I think relegation is a certainty.

Aitken and Durrant will need to remedy it in the summer by building a better squad, our problems can't be fixed without an overhaul IMO. The smart thing for us to do would be to back Stevie, confirm that he'll be our gaffer for next season and start planning for worst case scenario (League 1).

I don't disagree with you tbh but have a look at this team   S Gallacher; McLaughlin, Dowie, Carswell, C Gallagher (Nade 73), Stewart, Walsh (Johnston 83), Wardrop, Hutton, Morrison (Froxylias 65), Barr 

That was the team that played against Dunfermline away, one of our best performances of the season when we did have a bit of a go and were disappointed with the draw. What has happened since then, it can't just be down to McLaughlin and Wardrop being out can it?

[The Moonster]

13 minutes ago, Nowhereman said:

I don't disagree with you tbh but have a look at this team   S Gallacher; McLaughlin, Dowie, Carswell, C Gallagher (Nade 73), Stewart, Walsh (Johnston 83), Wardrop, Hutton, Morrison (Froxylias 65), Barr 

That was the team that played against Dunfermline away, one of our best performances of the season when we did have a bit of a go and were disappointed with the draw. What has happened since then, it can't just be down to McLaughlin and Wardrop being out can it?

McLaughlin and Wardrop being out probably had something to do with it, yes. Both players offer us something going forward that their replacements don't. I'd suggest that the way the players are applying themselves is the biggest difference though, we've fielded similar teams to the above one in recent weeks and found ourselves on the end of a horsing. I'd also argue that Morrison, for all his faults, was a player who would work hard for the team and is a better option up there than Nesbit, Russell or Calum Gallagher who are our current striking options. I'm not absolving Aitken of all blame, it's his squad and he made a hash of it, I just think too much is placed on his tactics where effort/application/ability of the players needs to be questioned too.