Sage Monkey

It seems to me that we have 3 main topics here and I'll throe in my tuppenceworth on all three. 1) It is obligatory to criticise one of our players, and I'll go for Lewis McGregor, great pace, decent dribbling skills and zero end product, there is no point in beating 2 or 3 opponents if you then balloon a cross way past the far post. 2) Team tactics, here I feel we are criticising the high press, but I don't believe that is our problem, I feel that the issue is with our mentality when in possession. When we have the ball just inside the opposition half we often have two options, a risky pass forward to an attacker on the edge of the area, or a safe pass back to the defence. The priority would appear to be to keep possession, and the ball goes backwards. We need to accept that to get chances you have to risk losing the ball. I think this is where McMaster is let down, I don't feel he has the confidence to take that risk, and that might be due to Rhys demanding the we keep possession, higher risk for higher gain can apply here too. 3) Incoming players in the transfer window. It seems to me that we have youth up front and in midfield, and also at full back, so hopefully those positions will improve over time with experience. It is at centre back that we have an ageing team, and could do with a youngster with a bit of pace to learn from playing alongside Fordyce. I suppose that I am probably regarded as a "Happy Clapper" as I like the way we play, and can see a lot of youth in the squad with potential to improve into very good players, nobody looks a class above us in this league, so we just need to grit our teeth and hang on for 8th.

Are people forgetting that we have only recently sold Devenny, and so are 4 players down on our start-of-season midfield. This is simply an unusually bad situation, and I'd personally start Dunlop or Gav Gallagher, be honest, if they don't get a game now when will they get one?

One thing that everyone seems to be forgetting is how players have improved while playing for us. If you look at the level of Devenny, Deveney, Cal Gal, McMaster, and ATS at this point last year and look at them now, they have all improved noticeably, Thus by bringing in kids, the hope surely is that they too will improve significantly, they are investments for the future, and not long term future, Add to that the fact that the manager while already fine is still learning and improving, we would have had no chance at this point last season had we gone down to 10 men early in the second half, but we managed it at the weekend, We are going to find ourselves in worse runs of form than we are in at the moment, if you are pessimistic now you will become near suicidal when things get worse (and as a fan of 50 years I know that things almost always get worse!!)

I suspect that I am the only one thinking this, but I would have preferred to see us losing Watson and ATS, and keeping Deveney and Byrd. Our issues would still be the same, we would still need a left back and centre back, but we would have the possibility of Deveney or Byrd improving through the season and developing into decent players. Both Watson and ATS are on the way down, and provide little hope for the future.

Immediately after we gained promotion there was a wave of euphoric optimism, then people seemed to settle back down to earth, and now pessimism is rife. Do remember that in November of last year we went to Dens Park and played away from home against the future winners of the Championship, and held them to 2-2 over 90 mins. 8 of the 11 starters that day are srill with us, and of the three that have gone, one is Lyness, and we have improved in that position, Another is Deveney, and we desperately need an improvement there, and the last was Smith. So in short I think we are already pretty close to that level with no additions. Smith I feel is the only serious loss, and hopefully O'Connor can fill his boots.

What sort of keeper would we get on loan? Larger clubs are not going to release a promising youngster if there is little or no prospect of him getting game time. Likewise out of contract players won't be likely to sign with little chance of game time. Probably better to use emergency loans where Premier League clubs might be willing to release back-up keepers if they know that they will play regularly at Championship level. It's surely better for a Premier League back-up to get Championship starts rather than warming the bench in the Premier League.

I must confess that I never really understood what happened with Henderson. Anyone blaming him in any way for the 6-0 hammering by Edinburgh clearly did not see the game, as Henderson was our best player. He then got a shut out against Clyde and only let in 1 goal in his next two matches. I missed the Alloa game, but in the other two, while he did nothing spectacular, he did nothing wrong either. Then we come to the Montrose 4-2 game, which again I missed, and this may be the explanation as we conceded 4, but if so it appears that he was ditched for one bad performance in 5 games, hardly criminal. I thought that he looked promising, and was sad to see him leave.

Completely agree regarding positive or formative memories. I started following the club in the early 70's, and my preference is white top with large diamond, red shorts and socks, although also like black socks. I think one of the problems with the large diamond is where to put the numbers on the back of the shirt, in the 70's the numbers were small and put inside the diamond, making it difficult to read at long range. And that was when I had young eyes, I would have no hope nowadays!!

Utter respect to the younger fans, you have earned this. I started following the club around 1970, and had the joy of a great team to follow in the 70's a Cup Final, a Texaco Cup Final and a Spring Cup win. We had a spell in the top flight in the 80's and then the great 90's with 2 Cup Finals, and a jaunt into Europe. I think that those memories and the joy I got from them helped me through some grim times this century. Last Saturday was a return to those great days, with an evening of sheer joy. So what about next season, we have just spent 210 minutes against a team that is weaker than any we face next season, and we couldn't beat them in regulation time, not good. However, anyone who followed the team through the entire season will have seen dramatic improvement in a number pf players abilities through the season, so the coaching is good. We have also seen improvement in Rhys' management of the games, so management is improving. If both can carry on improving, then we have every chance. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I'm sorry, but guilt or innocence is irrelevant here, what he has admitted to is utterly reprehensible. He admits to entering a womans bedroom in the middle of the night without any invitation. He then admits to getting into bed with her, again without any invitation. Given that at this point he has made no physical contact, he may not have broken any law. However, he has gone a long, long way past what is morally acceptable. Anything further just makes things worse. An utter disgrace, don't want him playing for my team, ever again.

Seems sensible to me. I also wouldn't mind seeing Byrd play alongside McCabe at the back, with Rhys using his experience to guide Lachie through the match. I don't think it matters whether we finish 3rd or 4th, in either case we are likely to need to beat both Falkirk and whoever finishes 9th in the Championship. We have played Falkirk twice in recent weeks, getting outplayed and deservedly beaten at home, but then playing vastly better at their ground, only getting a draw down to a late goal.. I feel that at our best we are capable of getting promotion, however, I fear that in at least one of the four games required we will not turn up, and that will cost us.

Does anyone else agree that we must be doing something right on the training ground. I look at the performances of some players at the start of the season and compare them with current performances and the improvement is dramatic. Devenney was erratic to say the least and seemed to lack confidence, he is vastly improved defensively and terrific going forward. Telfer I thought was lazy and sluggish, but now his work rate is a lot better. ATS looked awkward on the ball and pretty immobile, now he looks assured in defence, and has made two brilliant contribution that led to goals in the last two games. Gal was always a good goalscorer, but added little else, now he is linking up a lot better with colleague and is showing a lot more confidence on the ball, I doubt that Gal in early season would have scored that wonder goal against Kelty. Even Justin Devenny looks a lot more comfortable on the ball in his recent appearances. If we can continue to bring on good players and make them better, then the future is bright.

I am not sure quite who McCabe is marking, there are two men within arms reach when the ball is kicked. McCabe can't mark both, and as manager, he ought to be calling someone else in to support him. Not only does he not do that, he drops off, leaving BOTH men free, and one of them scores. I am not having a go at McCabe, just using this as another example that everyone makes mistakes, and you have got to expect more mistakes from younger players. We need to persevere with these kids, give them more than just one game. A lot of people have been begging for an improvement at the back, give Byrd a chance, he just might be what we need. Another thing is that we need to start planning for next season now, I doubt we will get promotion, we are just too inconsistent, even if we make the play-offs, which I seriously doubt, I cannot see us beating the other teams over 180 minutes, we are simply bound to have a spell where we let in three goals in 20 minutes, killing our chances. One final note, you certainly get entertainment following the Diamonds these days, sadly much of it is heartbreaking, but we get more than our fair share of goals, just wish more were into the opposing net.

Why are having a go at Byrd, it was his first start for the club, and in my opinion, he played well, yes, he made a few mistakes, but who didn't, Frizzell made a mistake and he is our best player (again, in my opinion!) Byrd is being blamed for the first goal, but as the corner is taken he is marking a man on the edge of the 6-yard box. The person marking the goal-scorer was Rhys McCabe, the goalscorer and another QOS player, left McCabe to run to the near post, and McCabe simply let them go. Byrd saw the danger too late and made a late attempt to get to them, but was too late. Sorry, not his fault. I won't try to defend him for the second goal, but here there were a few others that were also at fault. Byrd had a difficult introduction having to mark a prolific striker, and the striker did not score, so in my opinion, he fulfilled his primary task for the match. He is still young and has potential, cut him a bit of slack guys.

I read on here a few people saying that we need to slow the pace down, but this is easier said than done. Opposition teams have realised that the best way to knock a passing side off their stride is to press the ball high up the park. This means that the players that are being harried are the back four, who are likely to be the most susceptible to making mistakes. Also, if such a mistake is made, then it usually leads to a one-on-one with the keeper, and a great chance to score. Rhys has spotted this, and tries to exploit it by playing the ball long for our front players to chase. The logic is that if the opponents simply fall back, they will have 8 outfielders marking our 5 front runners, a considerable advantage, however if they add two more up front to press our defenders, then it becomes 6 against 5 and the odds are a lot better for us. Regarding Adam Frizzell, I couldn't agree more that we need him to play a bit deeper, such that he is more involved on the ball, however, he is, by quite a long way, the most creatively dangerous player we have in the final third of the pitch, so we need him at the top end too. In effect, what we need are two Adam Frizzell's, just as we had last year with Dylan Easton and Adam. Sadly that quality of player is difficult to find.

Are we not getting overly negative around a bad statistic of three games and only one point. As everyone knows statistics can lie. Remember that we were 3-0 up on the league leaders after 60 minutes at home, does that indicate a lack of ability? We went away to the top of the league and battled well to earn a draw that I for one would have settled for before the match. Then unfortunately we were beaten by a Falkirk side that were undoubtedly the better on the day, so in my opinion, one poor performance in three. Every team has a poor performance now and again, let's lick our wounds and get on with it. The major issue with my argument is what happened in the last 30 minutes against Dunfermline, and the same issue occured against Edinburgh (6-0 and 5-3 defeats) and Dundee (6-2 defeat) in all cases we collapse when down to 10 men, this needs to be worked on, as it shouldn't be happening. I am old enough to (comfortably) remember the early 90's when Alec MacDonald had us in the Premier League, and we were regularly down to 10 men, that team never collapsed, they simply rolled up their sleeves and scrapped it out, Rhys needs to instill some of that grit into the side.

One of the things I like about our current team is the extremely high tempo that they start games with. However a consequence of that is that late on in games the harder workers tend to tire, our tempo drops and the opposition can get on top a bit. The best way to counter this is to bring on fresh legs, to bring the tempo back up a bit. The players coming on don't need to have the same quality as those going off, as they make up for this with their additional work-rate. fresh players like Devenny, McMaster and Stanway are better than shattered Telfers and Frizzells, likewise McGregor coming on for Smith or McGill. On a side note, I read a while back that you needed 2 qualified coaches in the dug-out, does this only apply at the start of the game, or who was our second coach when Hutton came on, on Saturday?

Is ATS the answer to the defensive issue? I really don't know as I haven't really seen enough of him, and one game he played at left back, which was not a success in my opinion. However, I must admit he hasn't done too much wrong in the few appearances he has made, so not necessarily a bad call. I am also not looking to replace Fordyce, but looking for someone to play alongside him, I don't see why people are so against him, as he does seem to be the most likely player in our defence to get his head to the ball. I think the main issue for me is how often the ball lands on the ground inside our 6-yard box, and I don't think that this is down to any individual, it would appear to be down to organisation. If players get drawn out of position by the opponents that they are marking, then other need to fill in and be in that position to meet the cross. Generally the two centre backs will have marking responsibilities, and so others need to be given the responsibility to fill in the gaps in the defensive line. I don't think that we have these responsibilities sorted. I am referring here to free kicks and corners where we have the time to organise, not quick breakaways, where there is no time to sort out the defence.

The worry that I have regarding signing a centre back is that McCabe might get too obsessed with a ball-playing centre back since we like to play the ball out of defence. To me, the biggest issue is that too many crosses into our box are landing on the ground inside our 6 yard box. This should never happen, someone should be getting their head to the ball long before it lands. What we need is someone who can dominate in the air, and if all he does is hoof clearances up the park then so be it. Let the other 9 outfielders do the pretty stuff.

I fully agree with most of the postings here, we need a better keeper (Rae will hopefully fill this role), we need a commanding centre back (no idea where we get one though) and we need someone making decisions on the bench. The one thing that has been mentioned that I disagree with is a need for a left back. We have a development squad who are performing well, and we should be looking to bring in more youngsters to the team from that squad. The thing with youngsters is that you get some inconsistency in performance until they gain more experience. This has been the case with Deveney, he started very inconsistently, but has been improving as the season has gone on, we need to stick with him, and let him improve into a quality left back. For similar reasons, I would have been happier keeping Henderson in goals rather than bringing in Lyness who has been poorer in the position in my opinion. However, the reason for this change may have been to protect Hendersons confidence as McCabe mentioned in the Clyde post match interview that the clean sheet would have helped Henderson's confidence after letting in 6 against Edinburgh. He let in 4 more against Montrose a couple of games later, and so his confidence may have been suffering.

Regarding the Cammy Ballantyne red card, I would like to know what Cammy is expected to do. The opponent plays the ball past him, Cammy stands his ground, and the player simply runs into him. If Cammy moves to his left and the opponent chooses to go that way and they collide, that MUST be a free kick, if Cammy moves right and the opponent chooses to go that way, again it MUST be a free kick.. As Cammy is not a mind reader, and cannot tell which way the oppoent will go, the only safe option for him is to stand his ground and let the opponent choose which way to go past him. From the opponent's perspective, he can see Cammy standing ahead of him, and as he has first claim to that piece of ground, the opponent is obliged to go around him. Bad call in my opinion.

Regarding the ATS vs Deveney debate for the left back slot, In the games I have seen, when ATS plays, he stays very deep and offers absolutely nothing going forward. Deveney is a weaker defender, but is vastly superior going forward. The one to choose should surely depend upon whether you expect to be on the front foot or the back foot. I feel that we ought to be aiming to be on the front foot against anyone in this league, and therefore I prefer Deveney. Possibly in cup games against teams from a higher league, then ATS would be a better choice.

Nobody seems to be highlighting a lack of work rate in the side, or more accurately a desire to get the ball back when we lose it. Last season, before Xmas we had McInroy, Easton, Smith and Frizzell, who all worked like Trojans to get the ball back when we lost it, this usually resulted in us regaining posession, and thus easing pressure on our defence. I felt that the defence looked shaky last season when under pressure, but our high press prevented others applying that pressure. Since then we have lost McInroy and Easton, and now Frizzell is out, Callum Smith can't do it all on his own. The players we have brought in like Telfer and Jamieson do very little to get the ball back when we lose it. This is the sort of thing that should be dealt with in training, you do not need any particular skill to battle for the ball, just a bit of desire and effort.