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Well deserved. 

As for yesterday, pretty grim stuff all round I’m afraid. Hard to tell whether we’ve chucked it or teams have just sussed us out.

Either way, some hot takes if you will-

If anyone genuinely wants to give us 400k for Cadden, snap their hand off. 

Grimshaw had a good run of form post winter break but has resorted to type since he got his new contract, he’s a squad player at best. Get Tait back to the right and let Carroll/Livingstone fight it out for left back next season.

Without Gorrin orchestrating things, the drop off in quality in our midfield is noticeable- our football is also so slow and predictable. Turnbull was virtually playing as a third centre back in the 2nd half just to try and get on the ball. I assume there’s more to the story of him not being involved yesterday than he’s simply leaving?

As for next week, genuinely wouldn’t bother playing anyone who’s not signing. Would be more than happy for us go full on young Motherwell and see what happens. 

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53 minutes ago, Casagolda said:

 

Without Gorrin orchestrating things, the drop off in quality in our midfield is noticeable- our football is also so slow and predictable. Turnbull was virtually playing as a third centre back in the 2nd half just to try and get on the ball. I assume there’s more to the story of him not being involved yesterday than he’s simply leaving?

Without Gorrin and due to McHugh's absence of any idea of perception on the park - added to lack of pace we're left with Campbell needing to be box to box, defensive midfield and supporting striker all at once.  

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1 hour ago, Casagolda said:

Without Gorrin orchestrating things, the drop off in quality in our midfield is noticeable- our football is also so slow and predictable. Turnbull was virtually playing as a third centre back in the 2nd half just to try and get on the ball. I assume there’s more to the story of him not being involved yesterday than he’s simply leaving?

To add to the Gorrin omission that was only the 2nd time since the winter break that Frear's not been involved in a squad (the last time was the 1-0 win against Hibs at FP). It's fair to say Frear's been a bit part player but it's unusual for him to not have been in the squad.

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8 hours ago, capt_oats said:

To add to the Gorrin omission that was only the 2nd time since the winter break that Frear's not been involved in a squad (the last time was the 1-0 win against Hibs at FP). It's fair to say Frear's been a bit part player but it's unusual for him to not have been in the squad.

To be honest I think Frear like McHugh above, falls into the category of players whom while I wouldn’t necessarily describe them as ‘deadwood, it’s probably time for them to move on. Same goes for Cadden as well, for them as much as us. 

You saw last summer what happens when you don’t freshen it up, things go stale. By contrast you look at the impact Gorrin, Ariyibi and Hastie had in January and the way it completely rejuvenated the team. 

Outside of Gorrin and Hastie(before his head was turned), I don’t think any of those turning down new contracts are massive losses tbh. As such, a summer shake up isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like any other season though, we’ll only be as successful as our recruitment. 

Robinson’s been good in both January windows at identitying what he needs and getting it. He also virtually rebuilt the team from scratch when he first took over, so nothing he’s going to have to do this summer should surprise him or be beyond him.

Edited by Casagolda
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12 hours ago, Casagolda said:

To be honest I think Frear like McHugh above, falls into the category of players whom while I wouldn’t necessarily describe them as ‘deadwood, it’s probably time for them to move on. Same goes for Cadden as well, for them as much as us. 

You saw last summer what happens when you don’t freshen it up, things go stale. By contrast you look at the impact Gorrin, Ariyibi and Hastie had in January and the way it completely rejuvenated the team. 

Outside of Gorrin and Hastie (before his head was turned), I don’t think any of those turning down new contracts are massive losses tbh. As such, a summer shake up isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Like any other season though, we’ll only be as successful as our recruitment. 

Robinson’s been good in both January windows at identitying what he needs and getting it. He also virtually rebuilt the team from scratch when he first took over, so nothing he’s going to have to do this summer should surprise him or be beyond him.

Definitely.

While the club has been doing its best with the "battle for 7th" and the like it's felt like the season's been done for ages and everyone has known it.

As it stands we're 8th and sat on the same points as last season. We've scored the same number of goals as last season but conceded 5 more. We've actually won 1 more game than last season but also lost 1 more. All in all it's been a something like a 6.8 of a season IMO. We've also had 2 players up for both YPOTY awards and 1 win, which is nice.

Granted it's a pain in the arse we've chucked 2 wins away against Accies and St Mirren post-split but in the grand scheme of things you'd think that Robinson's actually learning more about what he needs.

In a way, the way we've approached the 2nd half of the season is the trajectory I'd kind of hoped we'd see this season. I think Robinson's found a style of play that he's clearly capable of coaching that the players enjoy but also manages to keep the fans onside. So that's a good thing IMO.

The whole Hastie/Rangers thing is tabloid/clickbait drama that Robinson could have done without over the past few months. It sounds frustrating if we've got offers on the table but the players aren't signing but when it comes down to it guys like Frear, McHugh etc have served their purpose and I'm pretty sure Robinson knows that. It was encouraging to hear Robinson saying that we're going to keep trying to do the same thing in terms of the way we play.

Ultimately, if we're going to keep trying to do that then it needs better players brought in. In order to facilitate that then a shake-up is probably a good thing as you say though, it's only as good as our recruitment.

Edited by capt_oats
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Bit shite for Robinson having to build his 3rd side in two seasons but f**k it, bring on the mass exodus. The windows where we bring in a dozen randoms are always more fun anyway. Mind when we went a whole summer and only signed Simon Ramsden and Fraser Kerr?

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I know he's been edging towards McGhee-eque hyperbole recently but Robinson's comments at the weekend about "half" the squad being in discussion with other clubs got me wondering just how accurate that might be and (at the risk of re-treading old ground as it's the same names we all know)...it's pretty accurate:

  • Aldred (is OOC at Bury)
  • Mbulu
  • McHugh
  • Cadden
  • Frear
  • Ally Gorrin
  • Main
  • Newell
  • Sammon (is OOC at Hearts)
  • Tanner
  • Hastie (pre-contract already signed)

That's 11 players. Would anyone rule out the possibility that we've said to Hartley and Johnson that they're free to find another club as well?

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Lads, I have a real concern for next season, without the guaranteed 12 points a season from Dundee, will we :

Be in a relegation scrap?

Ever seen Craig Tanner score again?

Even the boost we've had from those games has been welcome, allowing us to focus on other games?

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7 minutes ago, capt_oats said:

I know he's been edging towards McGhee-eque hyperbole recently but Robinson's comments at the weekend about "half" the squad being in discussion with other clubs got me wondering just how accurate that might be and (at the risk of re-treading old ground as it's the same names we all know)...it's pretty accurate:

  • Aldred (is OOC at Bury)
  • Mbulu
  • McHugh
  • Cadden
  • Frear
  • Ally Gorrin
  • Main
  • Newell
  • Sammon (is OOC at Hearts)
  • Tanner
  • Hastie (pre-contract already signed)

That's 11 players. Would anyone rule out the possibility that we've said to Hartley and Johnson that they're free to find another club as well?

To be fair Newell, Sammon, Frear, McHugh, Tanner, Frear and Mbulu have hardly played. 

Main, Gorrin, and Hastie were key in our good post January run, but are would hope they could be replaced fairly easily and Aldred already replaced I think.

It's a lot, but thats the way these days unfortunately.

 

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1 minute ago, Stonegiant said:

To be fair Newell, Sammon, Frear, McHugh, Tanner, Frear and Mbulu have hardly played. 

Main, Gorrin, and Hastie were key in our good post January run, but are would hope they could be replaced fairly easily and Aldred already replaced I think.

It's a lot, but thats the way these days unfortunately.

Oh, definitely. Robinson's 100% playing the game with the "half my squad are speaking to other teams" chat. Echoing @Casagolda's post from last night the majority of those who are OOC aren't likely to be that much of a miss in the event they move on.

It was just a bit of a laugh to realise that he's not exaggerating when he says that it's "half" his squad.

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Good to see the club dishing out free tickets to schools (and kids in general) for Saturday.

Cards on the table I'm 100% just posting that to throwback to when they were doing it when I was a wee guy.

 

Edited by capt_oats
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15 hours ago, capt_oats said:

Good to see the club dishing out free tickets to schools (and kids in general) for Saturday.

Cards on the table I'm 100% just posting that to throwback to when they were doing it when I was a wee guy.

 

THAT reverse pass...:wub:

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