one m in Motherwell Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 I thought Maguire looked relatively good last night, more so than Cornelius who I almost forgot was playing at some points. More generally I thought we looked incredibly sluggish last night - Woolery looked like he has a bit of pace but it all seemed very 'pre-season'. Lawless and O'Donnell both seemed as though they were running in treacle. Good to see Donnelly back - he'll be a big player for us if he can stay fit. As we all knew, we're crying out for a bit of creativity centrally - if I never see that midfield again I'll be more than happy. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Is it just me or is Cornelius about 3 foot taller & wider than last season? Thought him & Maguire were ok last night but Crawford as a holding midfielder is absolutely rancid. Hopefully Donnelly's legs stay in one piece and we find someone else as cover. Lamie's general presence causes me panic at this point. The most Irish sounding man on the planet looked ok but it was another on the list of performances from big Ricki. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Day one and that, but it all reeked of last season, which stunk the place out. League cup always feels like a chance to come flying out of the blocks and get some immediate momentum against jobber sides and that was very much lacking. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianfranco Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 I take it there aren’t going to be any highlights? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Just now, Gianfranco said: I take it there aren’t going to be any highlights? Having watched the full 90 minutes I can confirm there are no highlights. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianfranco Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Having watched the full 90 minutes I can confirm there are no highlights. I’ve not even seen the goal yet. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Just now, Gianfranco said: I’ve not even seen the goal yet. Highlights on the SPFL Youtube later this morning. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 (edited) 1 hour ago, thisGRAEME said: Day one and that, but it all reeked of last season, which stunk the place out. League cup always feels like a chance to come flying out of the blocks and get some immediate momentum against jobber sides and that was very much lacking. Agree with that 100%. I suppose the difference with where we are at the moment vs previous LC group stages is that we seem to be consciously treating these games as pre-season and also a reminder of the extent to which we're clearly fucking miles from having a remotely finished squad. That starting line-up was missing Mugabi, McGinley, O'Hara, Donnelly, Van Veen from what you'd probably expect to be a first pick XI (based on those who are currently signed at the moment) and we had Alexander speaking to the press the other day about needing to add another 4 or 5 at least. Compare that to the teams that started the last time we beat QP 5-1 in the LC or scudded Morton, the teams we put out there were far closer to our actual starting XI. That's not to be deliberately happy clapper but being dugmeat in mid-July definitely feels like a risk we're running at the moment. Edited July 15, 2021 by capt_oats 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 I don't buy any excuses for yesterday, it was, quite simply ..... a crock of shit. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Working last night so never caught the game, and going by reports I won't be seeking out the highlights any time soon. It is what it is though, the first 'competitive' match of the season and a win, unconvincing or otherwise, was ground out. Objective achieved. It was known beforehand that several players would be missing due to niggles/covid related issues and the manager has stated that there are still 4 or 5 at least to come in, yet the hysteria has already started, especially from the usual moon units over on SO. Granted, time is becoming short for getting bodies through the door and for the new guys to settle and gel with those already here, but the starting 11 for the first league game will look completely different from the one which took the field last night, and the likes of Crawford will be jettisoned in the direction of the bench. Perhaps some initial targets have been missed, or it's just taking longer than expected to get deals over the line, but I'm still finding the new approach preferable to the Robinson style and ending up with another bloated squad of Seedorf, Petravicius, and Manzinga - like shite. Alexander is up here to rebuild his stock for another tilt at a gig down south in the Championship or whatever, and I'd expect he's asked for certain guarantee's as to what leeway he has in terms of how far he can do his own thing and stretch the budget/wage structure for the players he really wants. Kelly returning would seem a good example of this, as I doubt Robinson would have expended as much of his kitty on him and instead took the chance on Carson not breaking down again. I'm still confident that over the next couple of weeks, Alexander will have put together a squad that will comfortably challenge for top 6 at a minimum. Feel free to quote me on this if we're sitting in the shitter come Dec/Jan. !!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 The 1 bar 1.5G signal I have in the NW Highlands spared me from seeing the game, so I can't comment on it - but I wonder where we expect to be at this point. We are really early in preseason and seem to have taken a deliberate choice to be less "organised" this year in order to wait for the "right" players rather than having everything done early - so the trade off seems obviously to be that we are in the group stage with gaping holes in our squad (and I assume that we will probably not be fully complete on day 1 of the season either). Given some of the comedy results that the group stage has thrown up over the years - I'll take a shite 1-0 at this point but we clearly can't go much further without midfielders and Alexander will be judged on his approach Vs Robinson's. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 My only issue with the game last night/team/squad is the midfield. It's very weak. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thisGRAEME Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 2 minutes ago, capt_oats said: Compare that to the teams that started the last time we beat QP 5-1 in the LC or scudded Morton, the teams we put out there were far closer to our actual starting XI. I mean, yeah and no, in that the 5-1 team had Fisher, Heneghan, Frear, Tanner and Bigi starting, who all had fairly limited contributions for that season for various reasons. My memory of the Morton game was that we went a goal up and then were murder until Hylton and Ilic decided to snap ankles in the last 15. I realise QP are a different side to the one we scudded, and player recruitment is probably more challenging, but it was just very sluggish, slack and uninspiring. The issues in midfield which were probably the biggest issue last year are exactly the same (if not worse), the issues at centre back are exactly the same. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 Crawford gives me the fucking fear. Appreciate that we'll definitely add further bodies but I can't shake the feeling we're going to end up with at least 2 of him Maguire, Donnelly and O'Hara starting when really I don't think a Premiership midfield can afford to have more than one. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 (edited) 20 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said: I mean, yeah and no, in that the 5-1 team had Fisher, Heneghan, Frear, Tanner and Bigi starting, who all had fairly limited contributions for that season for various reasons. My memory of the Morton game was that we went a goal up and then were murder until Hylton and Ilic decided to snap ankles in the last 15. I realise QP are a different side to the one we scudded, and player recruitment is probably more challenging, but it was just very sluggish, slack and uninspiring. The issues in midfield which were probably the biggest issue last year are exactly the same (if not worse), the issues at centre back are exactly the same. Aye, I mean, I'm not disagreeing about the performance. I literally can't because that's precisely what it was. But to the point about the midfield, we've seen both Polworth and Campbell leave and neither have been replaced so it's not a massive surprise that the issues are the same as the (fit) options are exactly the same as the ones we had last season. Same goes with centre back, we have the same options save Gallagher leaving and O'Connor coming in. It speaks to @Swello's point that we seem to have consciously decided to "wait" to bring players in. We might end up with the "right" players but in mid-July we're looking at a pretty disjointed mess to be going into actual competitive games with. That's before you factor in the messaging being very much about "minutes in legs" etc. Edited July 15, 2021 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 17 minutes ago, YassinMoutaouakil said: Crawford gives me the fucking fear. Appreciate that we'll definitely add further bodies but I can't shake the feeling we're going to end up with at least 2 of him Maguire, Donnelly and O'Hara starting when really I don't think a Premiership midfield can afford to have more than one. In theory having Donnelly, Maguire and O'Hara isn't awful? Like as it stands that would be the most preferable option. We absolutely, definitely need to get another body or 2 in so that we can bump Crawford down to being behind our whole bench, under 20s and the first couple of season ticket holders drawn out a hat for a spot in midfield. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phillips455 Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 The "Highlights" are up and are 6 minutes too long. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Antiochas III Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: Compare that to the teams that started the last time we beat QP 5-1 in the LC or scudded Morton, the teams we put out there were far closer to our actual starting XI. That's not to be deliberately happy clapper but being dugmeat in mid-July definitely feels like a risk we're running at the moment. True, but that same campaign we were awful against Edinburgh City and worse than that against Berwick Rangers... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 (edited) 4 minutes ago, Antiochas III said: True, but that same campaign we were awful against Edinburgh City and worse than that against Berwick Rangers... Fair point. I had it in my head that Edinburgh City game was in the same group of games we struggled against Clyde. Ironically, we beat EC 5-0 that season. Elliott Frear hat-trick. Halcyon days. Edited July 15, 2021 by capt_oats 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted July 15, 2021 Share Posted July 15, 2021 The Edinburgh City game was McManus' last hurrah, wasn't it? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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