The Falkirk FC Thread

[scottsdad]

13 hours ago, kiddy said:

Getting pissed off with this six game turnaround some folk are expecting.

Ian Murray has taken 3+ years to get Airdrie into shape & it's taken Dick Campbell longer at Arbroath.

Those old enough will remember it took Falkirk 3/4 years to swing it round in the 70's, without changing manager 2x a season, so instant teams are a complete rarity.

I could not agree more. 

As a club we are in a dreadful spiral of changing managers and players very regularly and getting nowhere. What we need is to have a good manager in charge for a longer period of time, backed up by a board with a clear plan and strategy for the future. And patience. 

Rennie seems to have much more about him than previous incumbents and had a good transfer window without the benefit of Holt's wisdom. We just need to give him time. Comparing his first 6 or 8 games with that of previous regimes is comparing apples and oranges. The club he has taken over is at its lowest ebb in 45 years. The job at hand here is turning around an oil tanker, not doing a 3 point turn in a mini.

[Shadwell Dog]

12 minutes ago, scottsdad said:

I could not agree more. 

As a club we are in a dreadful spiral of changing managers and players very regularly and getting nowhere. What we need is to have a good manager in charge for a longer period of time, backed up by a board with a clear plan and strategy for the future. And patience. 

Rennie seems to have much more about him than previous incumbents and had a good transfer window without the benefit of Holt's wisdom. We just need to give him time. Comparing his first 6 or 8 games with that of previous regimes is comparing apples and oranges. The club he has taken over is at its lowest ebb in 45 years. The job at hand here is turning around an oil tanker, not doing a 3 point turn in a mini.

Has he had a good transfer window though?Jury still very much out on some of the players. ATS is rotten, Jacobs meh, mills can't get a game for feckin Mackay, Watson is an ok defender but not the leader we really needed, kabia excellent but somehow dropped at the weekend and Griffith's well he's on a lot of dough so he needs to come good. So at the moment one excellent at least one duffer and a lot of mibbaes aye mibbaes no's.

[18BAIRN76]

The call for 'patience' is a very tricky one, though. I get it completely and would be inclined to agree that we need a period of stability. However, the fans have also been incredibly patient over the last few years and have gotten little to nothing in return. Even this season, you're getting 2500-3000 core fans turning up to watch a side built with the biggest budget in the league get regularly rolled over. Despite what many might say, our fanbase has, by and large, stuck with the club throughout the entirety of this downward spiral and you can understand people getting sick fed up with the lack of tangible progress.

Edited February 21, 2022 by 18BAIRN76

[Jan Vojáček]

Apologies if it's been said. But I'm really enjoying yer man Sammy Ompreon's YouTube content. Great to see a player with a total of 0 (zero) goals in Scottish League One this season creating content on how to be a goal machine, during which he says he "feels like he has to score more goals."

[bairn88]

17 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Apologies if it's been said. But I'm really enjoying yer man Sammy Ompreon's YouTube content. Great to see a player with a total of 0 (zero) goals in Scottish League One this season creating content on how to be a goal machine, during which he says he "feels like he has to score more goals."

As a guy who has little to zero future in professional football, I actually respect him trying to create a brand/something that will help him when that ends (soon). Genuinely more power to him, it’s smart. 

[Guest Ecosse83]

I can’t wait to see what we will do tomorrow night. Will Rennie now try something different or will he stick to the formation and system that is so obviously not working for us

I so want him to do well but the more I see him persist with this dung the more I’m doubting him. At what point does he try something else? 

[Proudtobeabairn]

A good manager will learn quickly and make changes where tactics and formations aren't working.  Sheerin couldn't do that and early signs are that Rennie may also have some of that stubborn inability to see the glaringly obvious.  

Hopefully he'll show us tomorrow night that he realises we can't persist with the same personnel and approach when the players aren't capable of carrying it out. 

[gav-ffc]

33 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Apologies if it's been said. But I'm really enjoying yer man Sammy Ompreon's YouTube content. Great to see a player with a total of 0 (zero) goals in Scottish League One this season creating content on how to be a goal machine, during which he says he "feels like he has to score more goals."

Can’t even make a 9 man bench when we only had one other striker on the bench (Kabia) seeing as Wilson is now the Northern Cafu.

[Springfield]

15 minutes ago, Proudtobeabairn said:

A good manager will learn quickly and make changes where tactics and formations aren't working.  Sheerin couldn't do that and early signs are that Rennie may also have some of that stubborn inability to see the glaringly obvious.  

Hopefully he'll show us tomorrow night that he realises we can't persist with the same personnel and approach when the players aren't capable of carrying it out. 

ATS needs dropped, a basket case in last three games

[Reggie Perrin]

1 hour ago, Shadwell Dog said:

Has he had a good transfer window though?Jury still very much out on some of the players. ATS is rotten, Jacobs meh, mills can't get a game for feckin Mackay, Watson is an ok defender but not the leader we really needed, kabia excellent but somehow dropped at the weekend and Griffith's well he's on a lot of dough so he needs to come good. So at the moment one excellent at least one duffer and a lot of mibbaes aye mibbaes no's.

He has had a good transfer window considering how difficult it must be to attract good players to a club largely perceived to be a shambles.

The new BoD have a huge task to not only get the club back on solid footing but to project competence to the outside world.

Recruiting Watson, Kabia, Jacobs and Griffiths would have been good business at any time whilst we are at this level.

I would like to see the youngster from Hull get game time and obviously we still need a ball winning midfielder.

[moanthebairns]

18 hours ago, PedroMoutinho said:

I’ve seen absolutely nothing so far to suggest he should be here next season tbh.

If bringing in 7 isn’t giving him the chance to bring in his own players I don’t know what is.

I hope we do improve between now and the end of the season as the new signings bed in, but I think it would be grossly premature to offer him an extension at this stage tbh.

This was my take on it after Saturday.

It's been clear for weeks that the we haven't the team to play a back 3, it essentially becomes a back three we're so defensive, 

We cannot play from the back but choose to do so, it was suicide, the huge gap in midfield has been present for weeks, 

Team selection is questionable, 

We had 11 men in the box to defend corners at 1 and 2 nil down, its Cove Rangers were playing not Celtic. WTF must Leigh Griffiths have been thinking at that point.

His remit is to make the play offs and get promoted, not reinvent the club. I firmly believe that squad is more than capable of a top 4 finish, they just need a manger willing to go back to basics. This isn't the 'soccer' he's used to, its the fucking Cinch League 1, setup for it like it is. 

 

[MrDust]

15 hours ago, Duncan Freemason said:

 

I actually hope MR sticks around, but I also hope he isn’t closing his mind to the fact that rotten performances are partially down to his tactics as it is the players inability to do the things he wants. He plays his part in the failures as well…..never more so than last Saturday.

 

Sorry but Saturday was down to Rennie for me team selection and formation. it was a back 5 that was threatened throughout which left 3 centre mids to cover the biggest area of the park with one of them being Hetherington. It's not been the first time Rennie has stuck to his formation and lost when it clearly wasn't working.

Any team with a bit savvy will put us to the sword whilst we have this formation weekly, every team has in parts so far, showing it's not working. 

I am a huge fan of 3-5-2 for this league but its far too ropey now the way we play it and surely the penny has dropped.

14 hours ago, Caractacus Potts said:

I thought Sheerin deserved a chance to stay, particularly without Holt hanging over him however he made his job untenable. 
 

Rennie definitely deserves a lot longer. He seems to have more about him but unfortunately it’s still not translating on the pitch the way we’d hope. 

When someone in any profession admits they don't know if they can fix it more than once, then they should not be in the job they hold.

Any football manager worth their salt will bullshit their speech bubbles to the public when it clearly isn't going for them, then ride the waves when it does.

Sheerin's biggest mistake was making Ruth his no9. The Queen's park game pre Ruth, we did everything bar score. A week later with Ruth we looked like we'd never score again and that continued. 

6 hours ago, Springfield said:

Two homes games to look forward to and looking for a positive reaction to last Saturday. A couple of changes hopefully to the starting eleven, Mills & Kabia in for McKay & Hetherington, Dixon in for ATS ?

6pts must be the minimum 

[bairn88]

4 minutes ago, MrDust said:

Sorry but Saturday was down to Rennie for me team selection and formation. it was a back 5 that was threatened throughout which left 3 centre mids to cover the biggest area of the park with one of them being Hetherington. It's not been the first time Rennie has stuck to his formation and lost when it clearly wasn't working.

Any team with a bit savvy will put us to the sword whilst we have this formation weekly, every team has in parts so far, showing it's not working. 

I am a huge fan of 3-5-2 for this league but its far too ropey now the way we play it and surely the penny has dropped.

When someone in any profession admits they don't know if they can fix it more than once, then they should not be in the job they hold.

Any football manager worth their salt will bullshit their speech bubbles to the public when it clearly isn't going for them, then ride the waves when it does.

Sheerin's biggest mistake was making Ruth his no9. The Queen's park game pre Ruth, we did everything bar score. A week later with Ruth we looked like we'd never score again and that continued. 

6pts must be the minimum 

It's actually the maximum

[NavyBlueArmy1876]

I've noticed we bring 11 men back to defend at corners and it gets right on my tits for the following reasons:

1. If we clear it there is no outball, or any chance to counter attack. Therefore it's getting recycled straight back in to our box for a free second hit 

2. We are a small team, we'd be much better off leaving one of Griffiths/ Telfer/ Morrison/ McGuffie etc up the park and making the opposition leave another player back. 

I don't mind Rennie making mistakes with team selection or getting every signing bang on the money at this early stage but the above is absolutely schoolboy stuff. Get it sorted Martin

 

Edited February 21, 2022 by NavyBlueArmy1876

[MrDust]

51 minutes ago, bairn88 said:

It's actually the maximum

It's the minimum we require, anything less than 6pts and its failure for me.

Anyone looking for 4pts or less have just got used to abject failure or still want Sheerin as manager.

[kiddy]

Dick Campbell won league 2 in the first season he joined he then took them to 3rd then first in league one on an absolute pittance so to say it's taken him 3 plus years to get them into shape is absolute nonsense.  Airdrie are  about where they should be given their resources any thought of promotion for them would be a decent achievement.Noone expects us to suddenly win the league but the tactics and team selection yesterday was absolute dross . There was little or no passion or commitment  from some of the new players never mind the old ones. It's all about progress and yesterday we didn't see any I'm afraid.  At the end of the day we're spending a lot of money on Griffiths so we bloody well should see an improvement otherwise we're just wasting fans hard earned cash once again.

Has he had a good transfer window though?Jury still very much out on some of the players. ATS is rotten, Jacobs meh, mills can't get a game for feckin Mackay, Watson is an ok defender but not the leader we really needed, kabia excellent but somehow dropped at the weekend and Griffith's well he's on a lot of dough so he needs to come good. So at the moment one excellent at least one duffer and a lot of mibbaes aye mibbaes no's.

The guy's arrived at the beginning of the window, having spent 10+ years coaching abroad. Trying to scrape signings, out of free agents/players released & loans at this time of year is hard enough, without this sides current predicament.
Folk like you are best ignored.

[ShaggerG]

1 hour ago, NavyBlueArmy1876 said:

I've noticed we bring 11 men back to defend at corners and it gets right on my tits for the following reasons:

1. If we clear it there is no outball, or any chance to counter attack. Therefore it's getting recycled straight back in to our box for a free second hit 

2. We are a small team, we'd be much better off leaving one of Griffiths/ Telfer/ Morrison/ McGuffie etc up the park and making the opposition leave another player back. 

I don't mind Rennie making mistakes with team selection or getting every signing bang on the money at this early stage but the above is absolutely schoolboy stuff. Get it sorted Martin

 

Imagine Kabia standing next to some poor unsuspecting defender on the half way line as Paul Watson rattles it up the park!!

[Springfield]

1 hour ago, MrDust said:

Sorry but Saturday was down to Rennie for me team selection and formation. it was a back 5 that was threatened throughout which left 3 centre mids to cover the biggest area of the park with one of them being Hetherington. It's not been the first time Rennie has stuck to his formation and lost when it clearly wasn't working.

Any team with a bit savvy will put us to the sword whilst we have this formation weekly, every team has in parts so far, showing it's not working. 

I am a huge fan of 3-5-2 for this league but its far too ropey now the way we play it and surely the penny has dropped.

When someone in any profession admits they don't know if they can fix it more than once, then they should not be in the job they hold.

Any football manager worth their salt will bullshit their speech bubbles to the public when it clearly isn't going for them, then ride the waves when it does.

Sheerin's biggest mistake was making Ruth his no9. The Queen's park game pre Ruth, we did everything bar score. A week later with Ruth we looked like we'd never score again and that continued. 

6pts must be the minimum 

We are four points off QP, and a huge goal minus which is as good as a point. So in reality we’re five points adrift. We must get the six points.
QPs inability to turn draws into wins has giving us a lifeline. 

We won’t get any more chances………….FFS!

[HopeStreetWalker]

27 minutes ago, ShaggerG said:

Imagine Kabia standing next to some poor unsuspecting defender on the half way line as Paul Watson rattles it up the park!!

If you have everybody back then you need blistering pace to exploit the opposition tempted forward.

Ian Harley was the fasted player I ever saw in a Falkirk jersey. The times he gambled and took off and went flying past their holding midfield player 30 yds out to the clearance then the panic as they race back soon put a stop to opposition gung ho with 2 -3 players left back to deal with it.

[Bairnardo]

I've noticed we bring 11 men back to defend at corners and it gets right on my tits for the following reasons:
1. If we clear it there is no outball, or any chance to counter attack. Therefore it's getting recycled straight back in to our box for a free second hit 
2. We are a small team, we'd be much better off leaving one of Griffiths/ Telfer/ Morrison/ McGuffie etc up the park and making the opposition leave another player back. 
I don't mind Rennie making mistakes with team selection or getting every signing bang on the money at this early stage but the above is absolutely schoolboy stuff. Get it sorted Martin
 

Aye, Levein away in the Czech Rep showed why it cant work. Occasionally top level managers, and Pep springs to mind love to show how clever they are by playing with no strikers, and with a plethora of attacking talent it CAN work, but even they came unstuck in the likes of the Champs League final where Chelsea knew how to exploit it.

No outball = a fucking disaster. Especially for a team that have already shown themselves to be totally inept at adopting modern tactics (high press, playing out from the back)

Its really basic level stuff.