renton Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 (edited) 12 hours ago, pub car king said: I think Buchanan is decent he's an intelligent player and a good finisher he also has an eye for half chances the issue is we are playing completely against his strengths by punting it long and high as well as this Vaughan is dragging us through every game which is really needed and i think hes worth his weiggt in gold. However it means there is little attractive play with the ball on the deck getting passed around. I think Smith needs to hit reset look at what his strongest 11 was at the start of the season and how to play them and go from there at the minute it' just a bit of a lumbering mess with a real lack of cohesion and direction. It was said at the time but the sale of Callachan has fucked this team had he stayed we would have consistency in the middle and a real box to box player, as well as that he was big strong and fit all attributes you need. Agree with this. Barry Smith has, since the sale of Callachan, gone out of his way to avoid a 3 man midfield, which might actually help us keep the ball in the middle of the park. As it is, playing a pressing game against out two man midfield, which now occasionally includes Vaughan because he can play anywhere means we are always going back to front in two passes. It's no surprise that Spence has scored three games running since moving Vaughan into the middle: Vaughan's run is the ball everyone is looking to play in and his runs from the wing always seemed to overlap Spence's compressing the space the latter has to play in. Now Spence is seeing a bit more of the ball in dangerous areas and scoring goals. Bobby Barr has apparently been playing through an injury, which is good because I thought he was just a lazy shitebag with a talent for looking like he's trying without actually doing so (big fan of his asking for the ball while literally hiding behind his marker) and we have no other specialist wide players to make a 4-4-2 so why does Smith persist with that? The GK situation is one entirely of Smith's own doing. A defence that is unsure of it's GK is likely to be less aggressive and sit deeper to try and protect the goalie. That in turn opens up space between our defence and shitey midfield, making it even harder to get the ball down and play football. Add to that the ridiculous full back situation we find ourselves in because we took a punt on one of last season's shitiest performers hoping he'd find his level and all he's found is the treatment table. It'd take a large overhaul, principally in how Smith thinks about his team, to get real change in January - if there were funds available and there almost certainly isn't. A box to box midfielder capable of holding down a place in a premier league team is not going to fall into our laps so a like for like replacement for Cal is not going to happen. Maybe getting a forward who can hold up play to allow Spence and Vaughan to play behind would be good, and have a proper 3 man midfield behind them? tl,dr - we're probably fucked anyway. Edited December 22, 2017 by renton 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GhostZapper Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Falkirk fan in my office telling me 14-15 players going out the door there, and Craigen is one of them - we've really been lacking in midfield with someone going forward - I'd bite their hand off to get him back! whether we can afford it or not is a different story....! Could also cover wide 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 (edited) 2 minutes ago, GhostZapper said: Falkirk fan in my office telling me 14-15 players going out the door there, and Craigen is one of them - we've really been lacking in midfield with someone going forward - I'd bite their hand off to get him back! whether we can afford it or not is a different story....! Could also cover wide I'd walk over broken glass to get James Craigen back: as technically decent a player we've had in a long time, no way he would though.... Edited December 22, 2017 by renton 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raith25 Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Would love to have Craigen back, His goal against alloa was one of the best I’ve seen at Starks 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastie Russell Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Would take Craigan back, just don’t get him to do Cruyff turns in his own box 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingsoffife Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Bit off track but can someone explain how the ugly sisters can sign players out of the transfer window 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumswall Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Who have they signed? I'd imagine it will be a loan to permanent deal in the window though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kingsoffife Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Green side have signed some centre back for a fee from a german side whilst blue side signed a player they had on loan on a permanent deal. Thought the point of the window was no business could be done until it opened 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Broken Algorithms Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 (edited) You can do business outwith the window. It just means the player won't sign until the window opens. They've basically signed the player now, but he'll become their player in January. Edited December 22, 2017 by rw89 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer (Raconteur) Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42457549 Quote Rangers left-back Declan John has signed a three-and-a-half year contract to make his loan move permanent. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42450231 Quote The 32-year-old centre-back will join the Scottish champions in early January after signing a two-and-a-half year deal to move from Red Bull Leipzig. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumswall Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 Cheers. Pretty much will be a loan deal to permanent signing once the window opens then. Was there not talk of St mirren doing similar with someone from Livingston? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo Montalbano Posted December 22, 2017 Share Posted December 22, 2017 St Mirren signed Mullan from Livingston on an emergency loan and Livingston have signed (or are about to) Austin from Falkirk on the same basis. They will then make the loan permament when the window re-opens. An emergency loan doesn't have to be an "emergency", it's just a term for loans agreed out with the transfer window and is only for Championship, League One and League Two sides. It's being scrapped next season IIRC. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pub car king Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Surely we could get in early and offer craigen something until the end of the season bit of security for him gives him time to sort something in the summer much needed player for us as we push for promotion. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Surely we could get in early and offer craigen something until the end of the season bit of security for him gives him time to sort something in the summer much needed player for us as we push for promotion. It would be the sensible idea, but we don’t do sensible 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ancient Mariner Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 hard fought victory yesterday, pass marks for all don't understand how Smith can pull off some great saves yet other parts of his game are poor - better not complain too much their keeper had 2 really good saves in the second half, the one from LB was a cracker. good result in Airdrie, lots of big important games coming up we are still in the hunt amazing how one Saturday can change so much 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastie Russell Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 (edited) Craigen is another good midfielder who our support failed to value until he was gone, bit like Ross Callachan. Edited December 24, 2017 by Beastie Russell Fat fingers 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liam_barnett Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gav-ffc Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Can have Craigen and Watson back in a week or so. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RR #1 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 Just now, gav-ffc said: Can have Craigen and Watson back in a week or so. Would love to see us re-sign both of these players. Can't see it happening though unfortunately. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ludo*1 Posted December 24, 2017 Share Posted December 24, 2017 We are apparently - take it with a large pinch of salt, most Dundee rumours are shite - looking to snare Vaughan from you. Now I know he's a hero at Raith and I genuinely wouldn't like me posting if this was the other way round. However, the rumour is we are close to a deal. If it's not nonsense (it likely is so don't worry), is he good enough for a Premiership club to instantly solve their goalscoring crisis? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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