Casagolda

A thread inspired by Rangers pinching Kyle Semple. Pretty sure he’s at ‘Open Goal Broomhill’ with his brother these days is he not?

There was one game at home to County under Hammell where I’m sure he got slated for his attitude and work rate. However our goal that day came from a bit of skill from Van Veen and him then laying it off for McKinstry to score. For me, that’s always been the difference. Get the ball into his feet and get runners in support and he’ll contribute. Leave him isolated with little service and wrestling with defenders and he tends to get frustrated. I think Obika coming in has certainly lightened the load. Look at Van Veen’s goals against St Mirren and his first against Ross County, or his assist for Spittal against Hearts. All those goals involved Obika playing with his back to goal and occupying the centre backs. Which frees up Van Veen to drift into spaces where he’s more effective. Post World Cup, Hammell lasted 10 games. By my reckoning, Van Veen scored 4 and set 3 up in that time. Of all the players Hammell could possibly point the finger at for his demise, I simply can’t see how Van Veen could be one of them.

It was certainly a curious one but I’m of the opinion it should be either him or Goss in the team anyway so I don’t think we’ll miss him too much on current form. I just don’t think we can carry the two of them in the same midfield. Too similar, too many of the same weaknesses and bad habits that are always exposed when they’re in there together. Which makes it all the more bizarre Hammell seemed to try and build his team around the pair of them. Even against County things only improved once Cornelius came on for Goss and injected a bit of energy in there. Much like his goal against St Mirren, the first goal yesterday started with Goss finding Johnston with a cracking pass from deep. Our best other chance was created by Goss winning the ball back and pinging it in behind for Van Veen. So he was at least having some sort of a positive impact on the match. Where as Slattery was largely anonymous other than his part in their equaliser and was walking a tightrope with his booking. I rate Slattery but like Kelly, he just looks like someone who needs this season to be over. It’s not been a good one for us collectively or for many individuals(expect maybe Van Veen) and we really just need to get ourselves to safety and start again this summer.

I thought we had a decent shape about us first half and were looking comfortable enough defensively. However as expected we had little out ball with Van Veen up top on his own and as such an equaliser at some point seemed inevitable. Still annoying as f**k mind that Slattery and Kelly combined to sell the jerseys in such a fashion. Second half I thought we were slightly fortuitous to still to be in it when we equalised. Then the Van Veen chance at 2-2 felt like a sliding doors moment and as soon as they went up the park to score you knew it was game over. So aye, not our worst effort against the OF but a pretty familiar tale of shooting ourselves in the foot at key moments. Slattery was a ticking time bomb and while the 2nd yellow was a nonsense, Kettlewell should have had him off long before he got sent packing. Johnston’s a brilliant talent, first goal was excellent play and it’s a shame that we’ll be losing him for buttons because of events during the summer. As has been said though, it’s a good thing KVV signed his extension or I’m certain he’d be a gonner as well based on his current form. Casey also continues to impress, hopefully that’s one we can get tied up for next season.

Spittal and Van Veen have looked good playing off Obika. Without him and with Van Veen presumably having to be the focal point, I sadly can’t see it working.

The formation has worked well so far but it probably won’t be long until other teams have it sussed out. You play each other so often and there’s generally very little between most teams at this level. Being flexible and able to adapt is half the battle. Hammell’s inability or unwillingness to change his methods after other managers had long since worked him out is ultimately what got him the sack. I wouldn’t tweak anything just now. The back 3 looks fairly solid. Obika has been a good foil for Van Veen. Spittal is like a new player playing off the pair of them. We’ve got plenty of pace and energy down the flanks. The midfield looks better balanced- with Cornelius I should add. Hopefully Saturday is the last we see of Goss/Spittal/Slattery as a trio. However if/when we’re safe it’ll be interesting to see if Kettlewell does tinker with the shape with one eye on next season. He has enough options to try just about any formation he likes and he also has a lot of decisions to make in terms of incoming/outgoings for next season.

To be fair by all accounts, the club have had to fight to keep a hold of him for years. Much like Turnbull or even Lennon Miller, bigger clubs will have known all about them long before they ever make the first team. I’d be surprised if these clubs were suddenly put off paying a few hundred thousand for him. I imagine Johnston and Miller’s dads being ex pro’s probably worked in our favour in terms of them sticking with us instead of getting lost in some big teams academy.

Good luck to him. Like I said at the time, the way he found himself back in January and straight into the team seemed like a last desperate ploy to convince him to stay. I imagine the best chance of getting him to do so was last summer with a clear plan/pathway to the first team and a promise of some regular game time. Instead we completely blocked his path to the first team by signing another 30 something journeyman right back and shipped him back out on loan again. Just another consequence of the complete lack of leadership and planning shown by the club this summer. We lose a top young talent for a few hundred thousand and will probably blow a fair chunk of that on giving 32 year old Paul McGinn a new 2 year deal. Smashing.

On Goss, like I said last week, I had some sympathy as I felt he(and Slattery) were being hung out to dry by Hammell’s tactics by the end. Midfield is all about balance. Cornelius gives you energy and tenacity. Goss has the vision/range of passing. Spittal gives you a lit bit of everything. Suddenly, we have a functioning midfield and not Slattery/Goss being in there on their own outnumbered and overrun every week. Chuck in the 3 no nonsense centre backs behind them, 2 decent target men to play off and a couple of wingbacks providing some energy and width and we look like a different team than the one that took to the field 8 days ago in Kirkcaldy. The organisation, the pressing and shape without the ball today was far beyond anything we’d seen latterly under Hammell. Fair play to Kettlewell like, he’s done exactly what he said he’d do. Stripped things back to basics and made us more solid and difficult to beat. That then gives you a platform to go forward and win games. A massive 6 points that I don’t think anyone would have seen coming this time last week.

I agree with this. Goss & Slattery for example get a lot of abuse, a lot of it justified. How many times though does Hammell have to deploy his 4231 with one or generally both at the base of it before he realises it's not working? We're being outnumbered and overrun in there every week, we know their limitations as players but persist with it anyway. I genuinely chuckled yesterday when I seen he'd finally binned Goss, only to see he'd replaced him in the engine room with Blair Spittal... O'Donnell was shite yesterday and looks done, fair enough it's hard to disagree. However both goals came from him being outnumbered 2 on 1 down his side. Again, whether O'Donnell is actually good or not, it's another structural failing of Hammell's system where the defence isn't being protected. If you're a player and you're constantly being put in difficult situations because you're being asked to do the same things that haven't worked the previous games/weeks/months then eventually you're just going to switch off. I knew when we hired Hammell he'd make mistakes and get things wrong, that's why I was willing to be patient. However there's only so many interviews you can watch where he scratches his lead(literally) and says the goals we lose are poor again- Aye, but what are you actually doing about it Stevie!? I kept waiting for him to adjust his style/tactics but whether it was through arrogance or ignorance, that moment never really arrived. Shame like cause the win at Pittodrie, the win in Dingwall and some of our earlier home performances against ICT/Utd/Hearts showed plenty of promise and that Hammell has some merits as a coach. However he's had long enough to address these failings in his system and tactics and I'd argue anyone other than a club legend wouldn't have even got as far as the game yesterday. Cheers Stevie and all the best, now replace him properly and don't fucking appoint Kettlewell.

Said as much in the match thread as well. When we had Penney and a few fit centre backs it seemed like a decent idea. Switching to a back 5 with 4 full backs in it was just mental.

Aye, St Johnstone had lost 7 on the bounce before Wednesday and Aberdeen 5 on the spin before today. They’ve both swept us aside without breaking sweat this week. If you’re not even looking like competing with these teams never mind actually beating them, then it’s hard to see how they can justify keeping this going. Let’s face it, Hammell shat it today and went for self preservation. Aberdeen have lost 14 goals in their last 3 league games and lost to Darvel in between and we didn’t lay a glove on them. He knows he’s in trouble and basically looked like he was just trying to avoid a doing and sneak out with a 0-0 if he could. When it went tits up 2nd half, he basically just started chucking bodies on hoping for the best. Contrast today with the attitude and approach he had during his first visit to Pittodrie and it shows just how far we’ve regressed during his tenure.

Yeah there’s no way he should survive this shambles on the back of Wednesday’s display. Forget the cup game, part ways now and look to have someone in for the St Mirren game.

Aye this is definitely a manager who’s at the end of his road. He’s gone up there with no attempt to do anything other than shitfest a 0-0. No attempt to play football, not even an attempt on goal. If it works, you might get away with it. With this team though, it never was going to happen. A free header for Duk just before half time and the game plan is up the spout. Mental that we all talked about a back 5 for months and yet Hammell waits till we’ve only 1 fit centre back to try it.

A few reporters saying Hammell was hopeful of a couple coming in next week.

I felt Hammell deserved the window to fix things but based on last night, we’ve absolutely fucked it. First game after the window shut and we finish the first half with a back 4 comprising of 3 right backs and Ricki Lamie(now our only fit centre back) still being ‘protected’ by Goss/Slattery. What a state to get yourself into. We’ve known we needed a midfielder to protect the defence, we signed nobody- despite supposedly trying to sign Fuchs on deadline day!? We’ve known for over a month Penney was away, we’ve waited till deadline day to sign a 20 year old kid with practically no first team experience who’s now our only ‘senior’ left back. The one genuine player we seemed to invest in was Danzaki. Who based on last night looks like a technical and hard working but extremely lightweight no 10. Which is basically just Ross Tierney. I know January is difficult but clubs like us live and die by our recruitment and I make that our third poor window in a row. Last night felt like proper end of days stuff- even the booing was half hearted at the end, it was almost like acceptance. I don’t think they’ll bin Hammell(yet). Last night was the first time post match though where he essentially hasn’t protected the players and basically called them out. Which is generally the last throw of the dice from a desperate manager out of ideas. How they react on Saturday I suspect will seal Hammell’s fate. Unfortunately it’s hard to see him getting any sort of reaction from that shower.

My main memory of the covid season was Jock Brown’s love of Barry Maguire and being completely in awe of the fact he was capable of hitting the first man at a set piece with both his left and right foot.

I think everyone knows SODS fell out with Alexander and that’s why McGinn was signed. However there was over a month between McGinn signing and Alexander leaving. So either O’Donnell really wasn’t that desperate to leave or he had no willing takers. Either way, it's something the club probably should have checked before signing off on the McGinn deal. As it is, we’ve now spunked a decent amount of our limited budget for this season on having two senior right backs- one of which has had his arse firmly planted on the bench for most part. An utter waste of resources, especially given the fact there were/are massive gaps throughout the rest of the squad that needed addressed. As a knock on, Johnston is breaking into the team at time when he is free to talk to any potential suitors. Even if it is his intention to stay now, as we’ve seen before all it takes is a bit form/publicity for someone’s head to be turned. Not my idea of things working out well and it just seems like another poor decision that the club made this summer.

Given we signed another Scottish international right back in his 30’s this summer to send him further down the pecking order before punting him out on loan again, I’m not surprised the boy hasn’t signed anything. I did wonder if him getting called back and finding himself in the team almost straight away was the club accelerating his development to try and convince him to stay. You’d imagine at least one of McGinn or SODS will be away in the summer and the opportunity to make the right back slot his own will certainly be there for him this year. Given he only turned 19 last month he does indeed looks very promising. Physically he’s come on massively since his debut under Alexander. He’s also comfortable on the ball, aggressive and direct. Him and McKinstry both look like cracking talents. I don’t know how feasible it’ll be to sign the latter but hopefully we can at least convince Johnston to sign up.

We hadn't won a game or kept a clean sheet since October, we were never gonna just turn up and roll over them. Chuck in the heavy pitch and their direct approach it was never going to be a classic. We stood up to it all though and Kelly never had a thing to do other than save one pot shot from distance(which even I would have held). Where as we were guilty of passing up 3 or 4 really good chances to finish the tie a lot earlier. We got the win we badly needed though as well as the clean sheet. Blaney strolled it at the back and big Mandron got himself off the mark with a couple of goals. Johnston impressed again and McKinstry's starting to add a consistent end product to his undoubted ability. All things considered, today went about as well as we could have possibly hoped.

Hammell said in an interview after the game he’d have to move a body out for everyone that comes in from now on due to the financial situation.

Looks like a striker incoming.

Link From Hammell’s presser today apparently.

Sounding like Penney will be gone after Saturday as well.

Given he’s out of contract at the end of this month with his parent club, I take this is essentially a pre-contract? Given he’s on loan to Brisbane Roar till the end of January and played in their match yesterday, I wonder if we have to wait till February to bring him in. Or if Brisbane Roar let him go a few weeks early.