Zamora Fan

The Enckelman slander on there has pissed me right off.

Mitov (and Sinclair) ... Robinson ... McGowan ... Wright ... Smith (just) ... Franczak ... Sprangler ... Carey ... Sidibeh ... Kimpioka I'd keep Phillips too but seems pointless to even suggest he might stay Sign some defenders who can actually play in a back 4, some non-gutless CMs and find a manager not scared of his own shadow — and we could have a core of players that could probably finish about 8th. Mitov New RB (new RB) ... New CB (McGowan) ... New CB (Robinson) ... New LB (Robinson) Sprangler (McGowan) New CM (Smith) ... New CM (New CM/Franczak) Wright (Carey) Carey (new winger) Sidibeh (Kimpioka/Clark) Sadly given what we're currently lumbered with and the difficulty of recruiting an entirely new defense, Levein or Kirk will struggle through with another season of a stinking back 5. The entire purpose of which seems to be to try and offer protection to CBs who aren't good enough for the top flight.

Nice work to get some momentum going, @HibsFan @VincentGuerin and all. I've sent just a couple of pars to Saints making clear I think it should be scrapped, not tweaked, and saying they will lose my money if they continue to back VAR. Took about 10 mins max. I've long wondered about the viability of doing a proper, representative poll of Scottish top-flight season ticket holders. Having some data to point at would be very useful I think — I suspect most would say it isn't working, and maybe at this stage you could just about get, say, a narrow plurality who think it should be scrapped altogether (though I might be being pessimistic: maybe 80% want it scrapped! If that was the case finding out might force some hands ..) If you asked whether fans would consider binning their season tickets if VAR continued, that would be a good way of making the point about lost income to clubs ... especially as I imagine no one is giving up their season ticket if VAR got scrapped. The problem is, polls are expensive. A poll of season ticket holders would be especially expensive to organize since there representatively aren't that many in Scotland. But polling companies often do freebies for media outlets for the sake of the free publicity ... so if any pollsters are reading, a Scotland only, season ticket only poll would make you a national topic of conversation for weeks. I imagine those at the top of the game in Scotland reckon our opinions will roughly line up with those of the weirdo English premier league fans — YouGov found in October that only 16% of them would scrap it. I think they're wrong.

Phillips could be a star if he was managed right, there’s a lot of untapped potential there. It’s another case in the post Tommy Wright era where the player is completely right not to extend their contract since their career progression has stalled here — if you compare how he’s playing now to a year ago there’s been little improvement, even though he’s a young player who should be coming toward their best years. See also Melker Hallberg, Cal Hendry. I get why no one is upset about Phillips leaving, but just to offer a counterintuitive view: does anyone really expect us to replace him with someone better or at least at the same level? Our record on that front in recent years is not good. We’ve eventually upgraded on Zander Clark, but I can’t see any other areas where we’ve managed to get close to the varying levels of quality that keep leaving us. Could make a case for a couple of the loanees. It’s just been a steady decline in the quality of the squad since Tommy Wright left, without some miracle work from Levein that will continue this summer with Phillips out, and some of the ageing types like Considine and Carey who have helped paper over the cracks either also gone or declining further.

We’re a bit fucked, aren’t we? County have much better players than us (plus a couple of the best players in bottom six) and are no longer managed by a clown, all the other teams around us look better too so struggle to see how we escape 11th. After that I’d fancy United in a play off, and Rovers/Thistle I’d say would be 50/50. Also ending up in the play-off is an absolute nightmare for squad planning for the next year too, so we’ll be miles behind the rest of the top flight teams even if we do stay up. We’ve become Hamilton Accies 2015-2020, a turgid shite floating in the toilet just waiting to be flushed.

Because I’m already in a shit mood I had a look back at our 17 league goals this season to try and learn something. It wasn’t fun. We’ve scored 9 goals from open play, 8 from set pieces Probably 2 or maybe 3 max you could say came from a nice passing move rather than just someone lumping it in the box or a chronic defensive error. (Carey v Ross County, Keltjens v Aberdeen [debatable], Smith v Dundee) Carey, who megamind Levein has decided should play as a defensive midfielder, has scored or assisted 8 of them (I’m being kind and counting his corners that resulted in a goal in the first phase) 12 goals since the Levein era began. Only game we’ve scored more than one in since he took over is the very first game before he got the chance to make his mark on the players … total of 5 goals from open play in the Levein era. In 17 matches. Think about how much you’d have to pay over the course of a season to see all of this. And with the rotten VAR — which our club, like all the others, waved through without asking any of us — hanging over it all too. Something has to change at this football club.

Even James Brown looked okay in a back four with a winger ahead of him. It’s not a difficult position to play as long as you have some ability as a defender - just overlap the winger and put the ball into box.

Decent idea. Could even go with him on the left (I like Carey best on the right) and see if he can cut inside and cause problems with his pace. I hope that’s the type of thing Levein and Kirk are at least mulling over but the lack of effort at trying new things when it’s not been working is worrying and very Davidson-esq. Banged this drum before but when we were in bad spells under King Tommy he would throw shit at the wall until something worked.

The squad is so unbalanced and Levein is the third manager in a row who’s not tried to address this (granted, he only had the January window .. but he still made lots of signings.) All of our centre-backs only look comfortable in a back 3. But all of our wing backs are actually full backs best in a back 4. All of our centre midfielders would be best in a midfield 3 with a destroyer type CDM behind them to mop up and do the defensive work. The only player in the squad who fits that description is out of favour. None of them are Millar, McCann, Davidson or even Bryson type players who can do the work of two men in there. The squad’s main creative player is best as an attacking midfielder. We have one fit winger, who has shown no signs of being anywhere near good enough for this level. There is not a single natural left winger in the squad. We had one striker suited to playing up front on his own. He now plays for Dunfermline. The rest are untested or much better in a partnership. Add all of those issues together and it’s very difficult to get a passable and competitive team together from the shite we’ve got to pick from. But it is worrying that Levein’s (Kirk’s?) answer to these difficult Qs is a back five full of square pegs, Carey playing deep, and a team with absolutely no presence or threat in the wide areas. And to sideline the players who might be able to help make it work. Mitov Keltjens McGowan Considine Gallagher Sprangler Smith Phillips Jaiyesimi (Wright) Carey Kimpioka IMO.

Looks like Gordon, Considine, Robinson CBs and Smith/Gallagher wing backs to me

Are they fucking joking?

A genuine delight to see a St Johnstone striker go through on goal and not shit their pants.

Maybe it’s Fran at RWB with Keltjens in midfield?

That’s a really strange team. Feels like square pegs in round holes everywhere.

?