Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[Chubbychops]

20 minutes ago, The Great Cornholio said:

watching folks heads explode at the idea of 3 at the back is quite funny actually. 

We are pretty shite at it. I would say give it time if it looked as if there was potential, but the current three look so uncomfortable with it.

Can be effective if you have good enough players suited to it though.Livi showed that. 

[The Great Cornholio]

it could take a month, two months and/or changing the players in there for it to click if thats the right term. a lot of people dont have the patience for that though

 

[CALDERON]

2 minutes ago, The Great Cornholio said:

it could take a month, two months and/or changing the players in there for it to click if thats the right term. a lot of people dont have the patience for that though

 

To be fair, when your own manager says he expects a title challenge,  it can't take 2 months to click.

[Cardle is Magic]

12 minutes ago, The Great Cornholio said:

it could take a month, two months and/or changing the players in there for it to click if thats the right term. a lot of people dont have the patience for that though

I think most people do have the patience, if they can see promising signs.  You can’t expect people to get on board when you look hopeless while getting scudded 3-0 at home.

I said after the Dumbarton game that I couldn’t see how our set-up would work against better teams and in our first couple of games my fears have been realised.

Of course there’s still *lots* of time to turn it around but we can’t afford to be well off the pace by October if we’re wanting to challenge for the title.

[Guest Axle Grease]

I liked PGs initial interview. He clearly stated his ambitions for the season. Seemed much more upbeat than previous managers. However he absolutely heaped pressure onto himself and his team.

So here we are, hoping we can improvement rapidly because now we have no choice after that woeful effort yesterday. 

[smpar]

To be fair, when your own manager says he expects a title challenge,  it can't take 2 months to click.

That’s the point some folk are missing. Well put.

Patience is obviously needed as a football fan but that’s 5 years of patience we’ve had now since promotion from League One, and after 5 years you have to say baws to the ‘experiment’ pish and that thing ‘takes time’ with a new manager. Simply, we are a club who should really be looking at the title this season*, the manager even says so himself, and on the first two league games that’s looking like a pipe dream.

*that’s not big team entitlement pish, we should just be a lot more ambitious than being content enough at getting into the playoffs.

[FBadgers]

Not a lot i can add that hasnt been said already

Peter Grant talks a good game, I like his interviews, but I liked Crawfords too...for a while...anyway. The proof is on the training ground and the pitch, and so far we seem to have against pretty much all the sides in our league or St Mirren in the cup, we do seem to get overrun.

Battered by Partick for huge chunks of both first halves against them, and at St Mirren and Morton. Right away it suggests we are just not ready, not sharp enough, not confident enough from the off. 

We improve becuase to a large extent we have players better than the first half levels, but to me Grant is not getting the best out of the players at the moment. The positioning of players may be an issue, he does seem to believe all footballers should have a basic level of ability to slot in anywhere and be able to perform. I understand this logic for simply passing to a team mate to move up the pitch, anyone should be able to do this, but can Thomas bring the ball forward from the deep of protect a back 4. Can MacDonald / Edwards stop crosses coming in. ross Graham can maybe pass, can he handle big target men strikers, like Uqwu and Graham? its like he wants players comfortable on the ball without thinking if they can do the things needed to give us a platform to  play the good football.

Not helped by a goalkeeper who looks to me as poor as anyone ive seen in goal at east end. I cant think of a save he makes, doesn't command the box, has clattered a Morton player to the ground to give away a penalty, misplaced passes and seems to inspire no confidence in the defence...ahence no clean sheets. Graham needs taken out the team. At least we have numbers at the moment for cover, but just hope Breen/Jones/Gaspuitas do better.

 

With Todorov, Wighton, Thomas, O'Hara, Dow and possibly Kennedy, we should cause teams problems, until defence if right and centre midfield, we can forget it. I worry we have brought in a lot of players in these positions and none of them will lead to a strong enough foundation to let the attackers flourish

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, The Great Cornholio said:

it could take a month, two months and/or changing the players in there for it to click if thats the right term. a lot of people dont have the patience for that though

 

 

1 hour ago, CALDERON said:

To be fair, when your own manager says he expects a title challenge,  it can't take 2 months to click.

Exactly this.  2 months time we’ve played the first quarter of the season. We’re 5 points behind after 2 games,  How far behind after 9 can we be before it ‘clicks’.  We need to be on a minimum of 14/15 points after the first quarter to be within touching distance,   We have less than 2 weeks for it to click.

[The Great Cornholio]

Crawford got slated for saying top 4 was the aim, not ambitious enough and sets the wrong tone. Grant says the aim is to try and win the league, 2 games in and he shouldnt have said that., adds too much pressure and expectations, what do you want then? 

he also said he wants to win all the cup competitions, so when not if we lose at Ibrox he should get the sack then as he hasnt delivered what he said?

17 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

 

Exactly this.  2 months time we’ve played the first quarter of the season. We’re 5 points behind after 2 games,  How far behind after 9 can we be before it ‘clicks’.  We need to be on a minimum of 14/15 points after the first quarter to be within touching distance,   We have less than 2 weeks for it to click.

dont beat Raith, he should be sacked then?

 

 

 

[parsforlife]

15 minutes ago, The Great Cornholio said:

dont beat Raith, he should be sacked then?

Not quite,  but I genuinely feel that he needs minimum 9 points from the next 4.  So failure to beat rovers puts him under a hell of a lot of pressure.

I’m getting Alan stubs vibes right now and if it’s not turned round very quickly we need to do what st mirren did and accept we made the wrong appointment early on.

Edited August 8, 2021 by parsforlife

[Have some faith in Magic]

3 very big issues at the moment in the spine of the team. 

we can perhaps fix the centre half problem as we have 3 signed and at least two of them must be a better option than Graham. 

The  goalie problem will persist throughout the season just need to hope it's not too much of an issue.

Central midfield really worries me. Dorrans, Thomas, Cole can't tackle and can't track their runner as they don't have that mindset. We will be overrun every game. Not seen enough of Pybus but the reports from QoS aren't good. 

As others have said having decent forwards isn't much use if we can't rely on our defence and can't control the midfield. 

 

[101]

Just now, Have some faith in Magic said:

Central midfield really worries me. Dorrans, Thomas, Cole can't tackle and can't track their runner as they don't have that mindset. We will be overrun every game. Not seen enough of Pybus but the reports from QoS aren't good.

Wilson obviously really compliments all of those players but for Grant not to bring in another disruptive CM does strike me as odd as even if he wasn't out injured CM are notorious for picking up wee injuries and suspensions throughout the season.

That said until out players are capable and used to playing Grants style I would be looking to take the shine off a good performance, play to our natural strengths and get points on the board.

Comrie Watson Vytas Edwards is a more than capable back line, would feel sorry for dropping McDonald who has played well but taking 45 mins before realising he could get by Richard fucking Foster is enough to drop him.

[Raith Against The Machine]

What's the script with Wilson? Is he out long term? His presence or absence made a huge difference in the derbies last season. 

[101]

1 minute ago, Raith Against The Machine said:

What's the script with Wilson? Is he out long term? His presence or absence made a huge difference in the derbies last season. 

Hard to tell, we didn't get much sense that Dow was ready to make the bench and suddenly he's playing the last 10/15 mins. Hopefully he's back sooner that later, he's obviously not the magic bullet but will go a long way to improving things once back up to speed.

[Cardle is Magic]

39 minutes ago, The Great Cornholio said:

Crawford got slated for saying top 4 was the aim, not ambitious enough and sets the wrong tone.

Don’t remember saying that or reading anyone else saying that? Very possible I just missed them so would be good to have them quoted.

Crawford would have been naive to the point of moronic to say he was aiming for the title last season with Hearts in the same division. I think it’s good Grant is aiming for the title but you have to then back it up with results.

The argument about “he also said he wants to win all the cups” only makes sense if you’re saying we just shouldn’t take anything Grant says seriously.

[Have some faith in Magic]

20 minutes ago, 101 said:

Wilson obviously really compliments all of those players but for Grant not to bring in another disruptive CM does strike me as odd as even if he wasn't out injured CM are notorious for picking up wee injuries and suspensions throughout the season.

That said until out players are capable and used to playing Grants style I would be looking to take the shine off a good performance, play to our natural strengths and get points on the board.

Comrie Watson Vytas Edwards is a more than capable back line, would feel sorry for dropping McDonald who has played well but taking 45 mins before realising he could get by Richard fucking Foster is enough to drop him.

I totally forgot about Wilson, that gives me some hope. We need him fit sharpish. 

[101]

4 minutes ago, Have some faith in Magic said:

I totally forgot about Wilson, that gives me some hope. We need him fit sharpish. 

 

[DAFC.]

Well that yesterday was an utter fucking shambles. That’s the worst performance I’ve seen at EEP in a long time.

Where to start with the issues? Let’s begin from goalkeeper straight through to manager.

Goalkeeper - Mehmet looks absolutely fucking woeful and causes panic any time the ball is fired in to his general vicinity. The fact that our only other option is OFW is seriously worrying.

Defence - The back 3/5 is just nonsense and Grant needs to go against his “style”, drop it and go with a back 4. I could think of lots of adjectives to describe Graham, but I’d be here all day, but I’ll just simply state that he is nowhere near good enough. Gaspuitis isn’t going to get a game under Grant, so it should be Breen and Watson starting there with Comrie and Edwards as full backs.

Midfield - Pretty much non existent in this system. No idea why Grant feels the need to play an out and out winger in the middle, make him captain, then inevitably sub him when it isn’t working. Hopefully Dow is fit soon because we need him and Dom Thomas playing out the wings with some actual midfielders in the middle. No idea who that would be right now. Perhaps Dorrans and Pybus? We’re really missing Wilson IMO. Dorrans and Wilson playing together should be the way forward but we are stuck just now.

Attack - Think it is just down to the fact Grant’s tactics aren’t getting the most out of our strikers. O’Hara, Todorov and Wighton are more than good enough at this level and we’re simply not utilising them properly.

Management - Think the Alan Stubbs comment is a fair one. If this keeps up and we’re still languishing near the bottom, the German lads will need to just accept they made a crap decision and get rid. We all saw it was Petrie’s job and he’d have jumped at it. Hopefully it isn’t a missed opportunity to get him in the near future. Of course I want this to work and of course there’s time for him to get it right, but deary me the signs are there and it is worrying.

We’ve got two massive games ahead. If Sevco stick about 6 past us a la 2017 and Raith run rings around us a la last season, Grant is already right up against it and the majority of the fans will be unhappy which is really worrying as the season ticket sales have been underwhelming given the investment.

[Cardle is Magic]

Rangers game isn’t massive in the slightest for me. We could have a decent side and manager and still lose comfortably. Rovers game does feel important early doors for both sides.

No idea where you get the idea that Petrie would jump at the Pars job considering he seems more than happy staying part-time.

[The Toun Clock]

First game yesterday since pre-covid. It was nice to be back in familiar surroundings but the football on show was dreadful.

Mehmet reminds me of Chris Smith. Might pull off a save or two that is quite impressive but any time a ball goes in the box or is played back to them your arse is twitching.

Comrie is one of our better players but doesn’t suit the RCB role, he’s much more suited to being a wing back but MacDonald has also done well there, so Grants trying to fit them both in like Clarke does with Tierney and Robertson. Graham is a young boy but by Christ he’s been sh*te since the league campaign began. Watson and Edwards were okay, at least with Edwards you know he’s going to try and create.

Sounds weird but I felt a bit for Dorrans yesterday even though he’s the more experienced player. You could see he was playing passes into places but the players weren’t on the same page as him. Also he was taking passes in the middle that were a bit short and put him under pressure. Cole was okay but didn’t do enough, Thomas was anonymous, always wanting to take an extra touch or take someone on in a silly place.

O’Hara and Toddy tried but the service was shite. Toddy should have scored if it wasn’t for a belter save from the Thistle keeper. If that was in the Premiership it would be replayed for years.

Wighton done well when he came on but still couldn’t get the ball in the net.

So disappointing yesterday. I wasn’t happy when PG was appointed but with some of the signings, his interviews and the good league cup results I was really excited, however I have to say that I felt like I left with the same disappointment as I had under Crawford. Forget the Rangers game but if we lose at Rovers without a whimper I can see the knives being out already.

On a separate note, did anyone see Turner and Shields in the middle of the pitch after the game. Shields went on to shake hands with the players and approached Turner. I’m not sure what was said but it looks like they were going back and forth and a few of the Thistle boys were looking in. Might have been nothing but given what happened last season I wonder if a few words were had. Someone in the main stand may have had a better view and it may have been all polite but didn’t look it from my angle.