The Falkirk FC Thread

[DeeBairn]

Are you immune to be challenged on your views? You claimed that this squad could get us out this mess with “coaching”.

I don’t doubt it could be improved to some extent but your a kidding yourself if you think this squad is good enough to do anything better than 9th.

And I said yesterday quite clearly to marshy that it looks like they can't be improved enough to get us safe. Might want to pop back and read that again, old fella.

[ANEWHOPE]

If you had actually challenged them, we would be having a discussion. You haven't. You've been a snide, patronizing dick.

There doesn’t seem to be much that we can agree on at the moment but this squabble between you two is pathetic. Debate and discuss but this is playground stuff. A real shame as both are posters that can offer different takes on issues. I call a truce and back to the matter in hand, the state of our club and how it will play out.

[Bairnardo]

Harrison and Dallison didn't play that bad yesterday. If your rating McKee above them then I question what game you were watching

Aye this. Rated Muirhead better than Dallison and Harrison? WTF?

As we have seen with Petra, certain folk on here have formed their opinion of players and thats it. The blinkers go on. Some of the hyperbole on this thread at times makes my head hurt.

Yesterday wasnt anywhere near as bad as most make out by any means. It was miles better than v Partick which was the last game I was at. Not jist a wee bit, miles.

It falls into the category of "on another day" type game since we were a match for Utd in basically all departments except GK, and they are near the top of the league.

Significantly worse teams than them will come to TFS in the coming weeks and I seen enough yesterday to think we can get points. People pointing out our (admittedly large) flaws seem to be conveniently ignoring how shite the rest of this league is.

Once again, we made a number of chances. Maybe more than Utd did, and we chucked them a freeby from a keeper we all want dropped. I want to see someone tell me precisely when and where Dallison and Harrison were shite yesterday because for me its lazy copy and paste analysis of when they were previosly really bad.

Now I have criticised things about yesterday. The physicality and pressing were sorely lacking. Paul Paton was a shambles. Habers effort was not good enough (he did carve out a very good chance which was thwarted by their CH just nicking his pass). Aero was poor defensively. Fasan gonna Fasan.

But all of that said, there were as many positives as there were negatives. It was a fairly shite game of football between two shite teams and silliness/wasteful with the finish from us was the only difference. But see when we finished second two seasons on the belt, I watched many a shite game of football where we were the Utd of yesterday at the end and there were none of these posts slaughtering players for being "league one standard".

Someone start off with the defence and talk me through yesterdays performances rather than just THEY'RE AW SHITE!!!

Btw I am not saying Dallison and Harrison are good players. I am saying they did a lot of things well yesterday and to see someone claim Muirhead played better than them has fucked wi ma tattie

[DeeBairn]

There doesn’t seem to be much that we can agree on at the moment but this squabble between you two is pathetic. Debate and discuss but this is playground stuff. A real shame as both are posters that can offer different takes on issues. I call a truce and back to the matter in hand, the state of our club and how it will play out.

I stand by what I've said above. I said my peice yesterday. If he wants to discuss it, fine I will. If he's going to enter a discussion with a snide one liner, then that's a different matter.

To repeat, I doubt enough of the players can be improved to the required level, but failing players coming in, this is what we have to work with. It's worrying that we seem to be having the same team see tons as Hartley. Robson, Russell, Greenwood and Froxy still cant get a game.

[Guest]

Anyhoo.........

I still reckon Muirhead is at the core of everything rotten in that defence, yet keeps his place, week in, week out. For me, get Muirhead out of the side next week, as I doubt things would be any worse. Clearly no love lost between him and Harrison/Dallison. 

[ANEWHOPE]

Robson is a strange one for as that is two managers that obviously don’t quite fancy him. However I do accept that one of those managers turned out the be the devil in a slug costume.

Is there something that most fans are missing?

[Bairn Necessities]

56 minutes ago, Rocco said:

Brough is a left back. Robson is not good enough defensively and therefore, the reason he's not starting at left back, however, I'd be giving him an opportunity on the left wing as he's good at hitting the byeline and getting crosses in.

I also worry that Ray has ill feelings towards Russel and that's why he's not playing. I'd that's the case then he better make sure he sorts this mess out as not playing Russel could contribute to our downfall.

There are quite clearly issues with Greenwood. Everyone keeps thinking they know better than professional managers and stating that he should play, but ask yourself why this is the second manager that won't start him? I'm assuming there is an attitude problem or something.

The whole "Robson isnt good enough defensively to start" line might have more credence if any of the replacements were . They aren't. Brough is horrifically poor 

[ANEWHOPE]

I mentioned this on the match thread but the thing that shocked me so much yesterday was how physically timid Falkirk were. There was one point in the first half when Loemba did a half-hearted drag back and the Falkirk player (can't remember who) visibly gave up actually tracking him despite the fact that Loemba was moving at essentially walking pace. 
January will be massive and for McKinnon it will just be a case of trying to finish above Alloa at this rate. 
From an outsiders point of view it is incredible just how badly run the club seems to be at the moment. I, for a number of seasons, held Falkirk up as one of the really good clubs for youth, community work and for having a strong squad on the park. 

We should listen to this guy as he knows a thing or 2 about supporting a badly run club. If we are not careful we will follow united with having the most divided support in Scotland. How many different factions are there now Stu?

You are correct with your observation of being physically timid but that isn’t even close to be one of our biggest concerns. Lack of basic footballing ability and effort are a more pressing concern. However yesterday was actually better than it’s been and we had a centre half pairing that looked ok which is a miracle in itself. Also thought Rudden looked promising and Dennon Lewis wasn’t horrific when he came on which was a surprise but baby steps I guess.

However the ultimate prize was that you guys get to keep Shabba for a while longer [emoji23]

[Stainrod]

2 hours ago, Back Post Misses said:

I don’t think you could have made such a mess of things even if you tried, it has been quite a skill.

Most normal business owners would not tolerate utter failure from their paid employees, they would be out on their ear.

What we got was that utter bilge on Wednesday night and in the match day programme trying to justify poor performance and decision making.

It is frightening the scale of incompetence and to think some people are expecting them to turn it around.

Where has our CEO gone in all this mess, as disappointed as I was in the Chairman's statement at least she cares , If he was doing his job properly he could have advised her that putting out the dirty washing for all to view never works, although maybe he was watching Hibs yesterday after all Falkirk is only where he earns his cash Hibs are his where his  heart is.

[Bairnardo]

Anyhoo.........
I still reckon Muirhead is at the core of everything rotten in that defence, yet keeps his place, week in, week out. For me, get Muirhead out of the side next week, as I doubt things would be any worse. Clearly no love lost between him and Harrison/Dallison. 

Based purely on yesterday, anyone being objective would change from being desperate for McGhee to get back so we can empty one of Dallison/Harrison, to being desperate for McGhee to come in for Muirhead as a straight swap.

Brough, Harrison and Dallison all coped with theor defensive responsibilities better than Muirhead did.

[Marshmallo]

Add me to the list who thought Harrison/Dallison looked OK yesterday. Harrison did nothing fancy but his positioning was decent and he was clearing the ball within his limitations. Dallison still looks too soft but he made a couple of key blocks.

Muirhead was diabolical. Every team is happy to let him have the ball, although he did play two stunning pinpoint crossfield passes that I can remember.

[Rocco]

The whole "Robson isnt good enough defensively to start" line might have more credence if any of the replacements were . They aren't. Brough is horrifically poor 

Yesterday, Brough was far better defensively than Robson is. Your argument is void

[Bainsfordbairn]

6 minutes ago, ANEWHOPE said:

Robson is a strange one for as that is two managers that obviously don’t quite fancy him. However I do accept that one of those managers turned out the be the devil in a slug costume.

Is there something that most fans are missing?

Hartley just froze him out without explanation or any fallout, then when asked about it said he would have to wait and then play well when he got a chance. He did play well - against Rangers Colts - and then was dropped for the following game. Tommy pretty much confirmed that in a press interview so I'm not given away secrets by posting it. I don't think anyone really knew what PH was thinking.

There was a reserve friendly earlier in the week. We weren't great and none of the players who featured made it into the starting eleven yesterday.  I'm hoping Robsons exclusion had something to do with that. I rate the guy and want to see him in the team. Hopefully if he puts in a good performance at St Andrews tomorrow we'll see him back on Saturday.

 

[Bairnardo]

Add me to the list who thought Harrison/Dallison looked OK yesterday. Harrison did nothing fancy but his positioning was decent and he was clearing the ball within his limitations. Dallison still looks too soft but he made a couple of key blocks.
Muirhead was diabolical. Every team is happy to let him have the ball, although he did play two stunning pinpoint crossfield passes that I can remember.

The one he pinged to Lewis in the second half was jaw dropping. Lewis to his credit thrived on those balls. He didnt have to do anything clever, just stand his man up and keep him backpedalling. The first time he got into that position he did some odd sort of check back and got pelters off the crowd. After that he looked to drive in and get a ball across.

His problem though was that whilst the balls he put in were decent, he was onyl looking to put them into a space. We didnt have enough bodies forward for that to work. I mind Kidd giving him grief one time for not looking up and picking him out.

If Lewis has that limitation to his game then I would prefer it if he just smashed them vaguely goalward each time. Rudden was looking to get in the mix at the front post which is rare in strikers, so he would likely be able to feed off scraps.

Next week is going to be sit deep and balls over the top on the tight pitch I think. Id be playing Petra, Rudden and Lewis I think.

Would be really interested to hear what the deal is with Greenwood. Not sure we can afford to have players frozen out completely.

[Bainsfordbairn]

15 minutes ago, Stainrod said:

Where has our CEO gone in all this mess, as disappointed as I was in the Chairman's statement at least she cares , If he was doing his job properly he could have advised her that putting out the dirty washing for all to view never works, although maybe he was watching Hibs yesterday after all Falkirk is only where he earns his cash Hibs are his where his  heart is.

The CEO was at the game yesterday. I had a look up at the Directors Box and was surprised to see BPM sitting about two or three seats away from him. I couldn't help wondering if they'd exchanged a warm friendly handshake and a hug. 

[Crawford Baptie]

Harrison and Dallison didn't play that bad yesterday. If your rating McKee above them then I question what game you were watching

Probably watching a game like me where Joe McKee was the only midfielder commanding the ball and when he got it, Paton and Irving would go missing, this causing McKee to lose possession or have to play it backwards .

[Rocco]

Probably watching a game like me where Joe McKee was the only midfielder commanding the ball and when he got it, Paton and Irving would go missing, this causing McKee to lose possession or have to play it backwards .

Valid point. I'm not necessarily saying McKee was shite, rather saying I wouldn't have said Harrison and Dallison put in a significantly worse performance

[Bairnardo]

Probably watching a game like me where Joe McKee was the only midfielder commanding the ball and when he got it, Paton and Irving would go missing, this causing McKee to lose possession or have to play it backwards .

McKee wasnt terrible yesterday and he was both brave and unlucky when he got that shot away that injured him. He was only looking to win the challenge and blooter it goalwards which he did. A foot either side it was in.

[bridge of allan bairn]

Any manager that continues to play 4 centre backs (as I assume thats what Brough is) and more importantly continues to play the weakest spine of a team ever in Fasan, Paton and Haber deserves to be questioned.  None of this 'free ride til January' pish.  He's came in, had a look at the dross Hartley has brought in to the club, decided they are sh*t, and then still plays them.
Mutch, Russell, Robson, Greenwood, Dunne, Froxylias and (im barely able to even comprehend the next name but its true) Mackin deserve more of a chance than their respective counterparts.
I notice Paton didnt apologise today - I can only assume he was happy with his performance.

agree with this. Paton fasan and haber, among others have added absolutely nothing positive yet others are sidelined.

there is a team in that squad that is just about good enough to pick up some wins

[Guest]

On yesterday’s evidence, Fasan, Muirhead, Paton and Haber all need to be binned. I think McKinnon has hesitated in dropping the “seasoned pros”, but he needs to be brave now, and get all four of them out of the side (probably permanently).