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17 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Fair play to McPake - it's not a fluke we've went 5 games without conceding a goal and 6 undefeated. He made the changes in January and it seems to be bearing fruit. Long may it hopefully continue!

Correct.  Fair play, I never thought Berra would be a good signing and thought he would just be coming to Dens for an easy wage.  I’m absolutely delighted to say I was 100% wrong.

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Was very happy with the performance, for probably the first time this season. 

We're on a good run, of that there's no doubt. If it had hadn't of taken McPake more than half the season to replace the summer weaknesses of Hamilton and Kerr then we would be sitting much closer to the DABs. The introduction of Berra at centre half has helped, but the difference on the right hand side with Elliot replacing Kerr is night and day. I hope everyone can see that and accept there's nothing ever personal in wanting a player out the side. 

Byrne done really well today and I thought Nelson actually had a very good game. He caused loads of problems for Ayr and considering he's coming back from injuries he's putting himself about well. There will become a time he'll have to start scoring though.

McGowan is McGowan. He done well tonight but isnt good enough to take us forward I.e challenging for top six. He's as inconsistent as they come and where the Americans aim for us to be won't be happening with Paul McGowan in midfield. I'd like the club to progress and the Elliot for Kerr situation is an example on how much we can improve on serial duds for us over the years. Don't let it be lost that McGowan has been in the central position in our team for years of absolute garbage. In no way is he the main issue; he's an okay player but we need to progress and improve ourselves.

There were no real negative performances tonight - I'd go with the same team on Saturday and really try to build some momentum.

I wouldnt go as far as congratulating McPake however, as it's solely his fault that we're not closer to United. Huge errors are being corrected (late) -we look alot better now. We're giving ourselves a fighting chance of second and potentially slithering through the play offs.

Keep the level of play up as we had against Alloa last week and tonight and we'll have a good end to the season - McPake would then have to be given the chance to have a go next season no matter the outcome, as there would be signs of something clicking. I'd happily accept that as long as McPake continues to rectify the mistakes he has made. I wish him the best.

Thank you.

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Will start out with a positive - 5 games unbeaten I believe equals a record? At least it’s the first time we’ve done it since we last won this league. I really didn’t see that coming after the Dunfermline so kudos to the manager and coaching staff for that, it really is some turnaround.

 

However, we still seem to be extremely light in goals and if Hemmings were to pick up a bad injury our season would be over. Even with Hemmings in the team, we’re still not scoring enough. We really need to start being more clinical of we’re to even put up a fight when it comes to the playoffs.

 

It’s a step in the right direction however we need to be careful not to get carried away, there’s a long way still to go.

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Just now, jakedee said:

I believe we're a better team with Gowser than without. Always available to take the ball.

Only player in that team, possibly besides Dorrans, who can play that ball on the turn through to Hemmings. Played a few more dangerous passes as well throughout the game. 

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Only player in that team, possibly besides Dorrans, who can play that ball on the turn through to Hemmings. Played a few more dangerous passes as well throughout the game. 
He is also a player who can hold on the ball for far to long , gives away the ball and then blames someone else.
Is why he is a decent championship player. For me he is very inconsistent.

However he did well yesterday, the whole team did
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Watched the Open Goal podcast with Scott Allan this morning. They touch on his time at Dundee for about a minute but he says McCann could lose it in the changing room worse than any other manager. Said he offered Randy Wolters a square go at one point and both of them were up for it[emoji23]

Allan said he liked McCann and that his ideas were really good, just didn’t have the defenders to play properly.

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3 hours ago, RossDee01 said:

Will start out with a positive - 5 games unbeaten I believe equals a record? At least it’s the first time we’ve done it since we last won this league. I really didn’t see that coming after the Dunfermline so kudos to the manager and coaching staff for that, it really is some turnaround.

 

However, we still seem to be extremely light in goals and if Hemmings were to pick up a bad injury our season would be over. Even with Hemmings in the team, we’re still not scoring enough. We really need to start being more clinical of we’re to even put up a fight when it comes to the playoffs.

 

It’s a step in the right direction however we need to be careful not to get carried away, there’s a long way still to go.

Agree about not getting carried away and not being clinical enough but it’s a good sign that the opportunities are being created. The January transfer window is looking like it’s improved us, if only we’d kept Johnson or got a replacement in for him I think we’d be in a pretty decent position with our fate in our own hands.  Hazard, Berra, Elliot and Callaghan have been good additions with Crankshaw looking like another although with limited game time. 
 

Why did it take the manager 7 months to replace the frailties in the side that we mostly all saw before a ball was kicked in the summer, maybe Strachan having a bit of influence. 

Edited by Yenitit
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2 hours ago, SweeperDee said:

Only player in that team, possibly besides Dorrans, who can play that ball on the turn through to Hemmings. Played a few more dangerous passes as well throughout the game. 

Gowser was better last night because he moved the ball on quicker. Great ball for Hemmings goal, in the Alloa game for example he’d have taken 4 or 5 touches before playing it forward. 

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5 minutes ago, Yenitit said:


 

Why did it take the manager 7 months to replace the frailties in the side that we mostly all saw before a ball was kicked in the summer, maybe Strachan having a bit of influence. 

Probably because we could only sign free agents in that interim period and were still waiting on 12 of our current signings to settle in.

To judge a manager on addressing frailties in a squad with only 1 window to do it in (When we already needed a total squad rebuild) is very harsh IMO.

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4 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Probably because we could only sign free agents in that interim period and were still waiting on 12 of our current signings to settle in.

To judge a manager on addressing frailties in a squad with only 1 window to do it in (When we already needed a total squad rebuild) is very harsh IMO.

It’s not harsh when Jack Hamilton was the goalkeeper. I’m not wearing the time to gel nonsense being spouted by some either. Hazard, Berra, Elliot, Callaghan and Crankshaw have all hit the ground running and needed zero time to gel. Poor tactics, team selection and substitutions have let us down. 

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8 minutes ago, Yenitit said:

Why did it take the manager 7 months to replace the frailties in the side that we mostly all saw before a ball was kicked in the summer, maybe Strachan having a bit of influence. 

Because he didn't have a full picture of how his completely new squad would fit together, noticed what was needed for improvement, and had to wait until the Winter transfer window opened in January. Just like any other new manager would imo.

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1 minute ago, RossBFaeDundee said:

Because he didn't have a full picture of how his completely new squad would fit together, noticed what was needed for improvement, and had to wait until the Winter transfer window opened in January. Just like any other new manager would imo.

Why didn’t he have the full picture? He signed a lot of players in the summer and the loan system is able to be used in this league. Poor tactics, team selection and substitutions have contributed hugely 

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30 minutes ago, Yenitit said:

Why didn’t he have the full picture? He signed a lot of players in the summer and the loan system is able to be used in this league. Poor tactics, team selection and substitutions have contributed hugely 

Not so much 'time to gel' I'd say but it was a large reboot in the summer, 10 players arriving and then Finlay stepping up and Meekings returning from a season out was a restart. Every manager makes signings that are pish and don't work out - you are especially at risk of that in a short time period with massive turnover.

Generally speaking, teams who get out of this league have a core of more than half the team in the starting 11 who have been at the club the previous season. In our side last night, only 3 players started who were with us last season. I'm sure there's exceptions to that but the shitfest of last season and decline of the team for years was always going to be very difficult to shake off and be a job for multiple windows.

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Not so much 'time to gel' I'd say but it was a large reboot in the summer, 10 players arriving and then Finlay stepping up and Meekings returning from a season out was a restart. Every manager makes signings that are pish and don't work out - you are especially at risk of that in a short time period with massive turnover.
Generally speaking, teams who get out of this league have a core of more than half the team in the starting 11 who have been at the club the previous season. In our side last night, only 3 players started who were with us last season. I'm sure there's exceptions to that but the shitfest of last season and decline of the team for years was always going to be very difficult to shake off and be a job for multiple windows.
However since you ignored it. The tactics have been brutal , first half of the season.

I don't even think many have said the signings were that bad, just he hadnt a clue how to put a decent squad out.
Finlay he wanted to keep playing ( he coached him afterall ) and now he dosnt play and we are doing better.
Maybe should of gradually put him in.

Yeah maybe he is starting to learn and do better mcpake but it has cost us this season considerably as decent wages have been spent on good players
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Posted at length before about why I thought 3-5-2 was the obvious solution to this team's struggles, but I also think it's unfair to slate McPake for not changing to that earlier when it was clearly his preferred option all along, yet 45 minutes in Dunfermline were all it took to show we didn't have the players to do it successfully.

One window was never going to sort out the shambles of the previous two seasons, but at least you can say that several of his summer signings are beginning to show why they were brought here in the first place after having had a rocky start, McGhee and Marshall have been successful right from day one, and it's clear Hemmings is still perfectly effective given the service. The January signings have made a fair difference, and I think we'd have been in even better shape were it not for Callachan's unfortunate injury, as he seemed to offer the mobility and physical dig that was exactly what we were missing from our midfield. 

All told, I think it's fair to say that expressions of dissatisfaction at not being closer to Utd are fair enough, but realistically, no manager would have managed that after one window given what went before, and considering McPake is a complete novice, it's also understandable that he would require a bit of time to get things in order and figure it out. If he survives the summer (trial), and we recruit reasonably well again in the next window, then I think it's perfectly fair to expect to be fighting at the top of the table right from week one next season, but I still don't accept that that was a fair or realistic expectation for this.

Fwiw, I disagree about the occasional clamour to put Robertson in the starting side. I think he's undoubtedly talented, but for much of the first half of the season we were lacking in physical presence and athleticism in the middle of the park, and for all that Robertson has shown promise, he doesn't solve either of those issues. There have been times where he's looked every bit a schoolboy, and I don't think playing him instead of Byrne or whoever would have made the difference some fans seem to think it would have. I think a fit Jamie Ness would have been useful to this side, but I think it's time to give up on him being the sort of player who will ever play 90 mins on a regular basis again.

Edited by Boo Khaki
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3 hours ago, harry94 said:

Not so much 'time to gel' I'd say but it was a large reboot in the summer, 10 players arriving and then Finlay stepping up and Meekings returning from a season out was a restart. Every manager makes signings that are pish and don't work out - you are especially at risk of that in a short time period with massive turnover.

Generally speaking, teams who get out of this league have a core of more than half the team in the starting 11 who have been at the club the previous season. In our side last night, only 3 players started who were with us last season. I'm sure there's exceptions to that but the shitfest of last season and decline of the team for years was always going to be very difficult to shake off and be a job for multiple windows.

Reboot or not, the very 1st position needing vastly improved was the goalkeeper. If 6 or 7 of the new signings were a success they still wouldn’t compensate for a goalkeeper shipping goal after goal. The tactics, team selection and substitutions were shockingly poor up until recently. Most people were saying the keeper needed replaced, a new centrehalf, tactics changed to 2 upfront because we were leaving Hemmings isolated on his own and the fullback situation sorted out very early into the season but it took the manager until January 31st to realise it. Perhaps someone behind the scenes has had a word with him and he’s taken it on board. One way or the other up until the end of January was a disaster and he’s fortunate to still be in the manager’s position. 

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28 minutes ago, Boo Khaki said:

Posted at length before about why I thought 3-5-2 was the obvious solution to this team's struggles, but I also think it's unfair to slate McPake for not changing to that earlier when it was clearly his preferred option all along, yet 45 minutes in Dunfermline were all it took to show we didn't have the players to do it successfully.

One window was never going to sort out the shambles of the previous two seasons, but at least you can say that several of his summer signings are beginning to show why they were brought here in the first place after having had a rocky start, McGhee and Marshall have been successful right from day one, and it's clear Hemmings is still perfectly effective given the service. The January signings have made a fair difference, and I think we'd have been in even better shape were it not for Callachan's unfortunate injury, as he seemed to offer the mobility and physical dig that was exactly what we were missing from our midfield. 

All told, I think it's fair to say that expressions of dissatisfaction at not being closer to Utd are fair enough, but realistically, no manager would have managed that after one window given what went before, and considering McPake is a complete novice, it's also understandable that he would require a bit of time to get things in order and figure it out. If he survives the summer (trial), and we recruit reasonably well again in the next window, then I think it's perfectly fair to expect to be fighting at the top of the table right from week one next season, but I still don't accept that that was a fair or realistic expectation for this.

Fwiw, I disagree about the occasional clamour to put Robertson in the starting side. I think he's undoubtedly talented, but for much of the first half of the season we were lacking in physical presence and athleticism in the middle of the park, and for all that Robertson has shown promise, he doesn't solve either of those issues. There have been times where he's looked every bit a schoolboy, and I don't think playing him instead of Byrne or whoever would have made the difference some fans seem to think it would have. I think a fit Jamie Ness would have been useful to this side, but I think it's time to give up on him being the sort of player who will ever play 90 mins on a regular basis again.

Good post however team’s like Motherwell seem to recruit a new team without much fuss and to success. 

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