tree house tam Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 9 hours ago, Mr. Alli said: Why would anyone be in possession of a balaclava? Because no self respecting individual wants to be seen to be in Dundee. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 McGowan into midfield has made a huge difference. As if by accident we’ve discovered that you don’t get far only with defence and attack and ignore the middle bit! Getting control in there and protecting the defence is giving us a foundation to go forward far more effectively as well as looking more solid. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nelsjfc Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 Agree about McGowan. Solving an 18 month problem in the middle of the park. Needs cover/assistance in there - could have done with replacing late on being on a booking - and it robs us of a ball playing centre half but in the last three games we've controlled periods of games which has not happened much recently. Issues with the formation improving with the summer signings but still the squad balance needs addressed. Carey, Phillips, Davidson and Wotherspoon fit makes a massive difference to the options today though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kyle Posted October 1, 2022 Author Share Posted October 1, 2022 Would absolutely love to be munching humble pie at the end of this season. Superb first half - Stevie May is a completely different player with a strike partner and was on a different level today - and we held on comfortably enough after conceding that goal. Still not 100% convinced by the recruitment as all it will take is for one or two of the older players to suddenly fall off a cliff for the house of cards to collapse but can’t doubt the signings fit the shape much better and we are definitely trying (and succeeding for large parts of games) to play much better football. It’s just a shame we couldn’t finish off that move just before half time as that was wonderful play. Keep it going now boys. 8 point gap now open to bottom and a 5 point gap on the bottom 3. Hopefully the manager/players have the confidence to start looking up, albeit Celtic next week will probably (hopefully temporarily) halt our progress. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted October 1, 2022 Share Posted October 1, 2022 Away at Kilmarnock this Wednesday night first; similar to today, win that one and we gain a decent advantage in the table over our opponent, but a loss brings them right back within touching distance and a chance to get some momentum going. Not seen a lot of killie, but I gather they’re quite a big physical side. I feel a lot more confident in the current Saints team handling that than this time last season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 4 hours ago, Kyle said: Would absolutely love to be munching humble pie at the end of this season. Superb first half - Stevie May is a completely different player with a strike partner and was on a different level today - and we held on comfortably enough after conceding that goal. Still not 100% convinced by the recruitment as all it will take is for one or two of the older players to suddenly fall off a cliff for the house of cards to collapse but can’t doubt the signings fit the shape much better and we are definitely trying (and succeeding for large parts of games) to play much better football. It’s just a shame we couldn’t finish off that move just before half time as that was wonderful play. Keep it going now boys. 8 point gap now open to bottom and a 5 point gap on the bottom 3. Hopefully the manager/players have the confidence to start looking up, albeit Celtic next week will probably (hopefully temporarily) halt our progress. It’s weird, I’ve suddenly become more confident of our attacking prowess but excluding Mitchell I feel defence still feels shaky. speaking of defensive, we went too defensive too soon, if Callum can perfect that side we’ll be fine this season, as a better side will punish us. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 We’ve got more leaders on the pitch this season which is helping. Hallberg, McGowan, Mitchell are all very clear in shouting if they’re not happy and spurring the team on. Last season we had Rooney and Cleary shouting at each other which isn’t productive. Craig wasn’t playing and we lost his voice in the middle because of it. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mizfit Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 22 minutes ago, Widge said: We’ve got more leaders on the pitch this season which is helping. Hallberg, McGowan, Mitchell are all very clear in shouting if they’re not happy and spurring the team on. Last season we had Rooney and Cleary shouting at each other which isn’t productive. Craig wasn’t playing and we lost his voice in the middle because of it. People do claim Hallberg has the heart of a pea, but he is very intelligent. He might not be the most aggressive player and he is fond of taking an extra touch, but his head is always up looking for the next pass to make. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fife Saint Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Hallberg is a big sexy b*****d and should start every week as a result. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Hallberg’s a very good attacking midfielder. It’s when he’s asked to play a more withdrawn role he’s a far less effective player. Feels like a fairly average start to the season for us overall, but turns out it’s our highest points total after 8 games for 5 years. After 8 matches:- 2022-23 - 10 pts 2021-22 - 9 pts 2020-21 - 7 pts 2019-20 - 4 pts 2018-19 - 8 pts 2017-18 - 14 pts Not that different from last season up til now, but then we went through a December of two games a week with 8 defeats in a row that sent us spiralling downwards. Hopefully our massive squad prevents that from happening this time round. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Valentino Bolognese Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 (edited) 9 hours ago, mizfit said: It’s weird, I’ve suddenly become more confident of our attacking prowess but excluding Mitchell I feel defence still feels shaky. speaking of defensive, we went too defensive too soon, if Callum can perfect that side we’ll be fine this season, as a better side will punish us. I don't think it's the centre backs, or even the wing-backs, that give much defensive concern. Considine has been a bit of a revelation. Yes he's a yard short of pace but his brain is a yard ahead so his positioning compensates. Have to give Callum credit for that when a lot of supporters, including myself, were sceptical. What we need is a couple of young defenders (that are our players) that he can help develop so that we gets some added value out of the contract. I think that the defensive problems still lie in front of the back three. Clearly McGowan is great in there but it's still not a good place for Hallberg to be and after 70 minutes yesterday both were utterly done and with no Murray or Phillips we had no options at all off the bench. We need both of them back asap and probably more strength in depth. It takes away the option to use McGowan as a full-back too. I agree with the second point but think it was a tactical decision that was forced on us by Hallberg and McGowan running out of gas. I think that a better team than United gets at least one more goal back in the last half hour. Just on yesterday, it's really pleasing that we still managed to get the result even though some players had off-days and we're still missing Carey and Wotherspoon. Thought Drey and Murphy had shockers. The love for Theo is great too. Not sure why his breakaway chance wasn't on the Sportscene highlights but would be good to see that back. Edited to give a mention to Remi. What a difference he's made. Further edit on defence - worth remembering we've only shipped one goal in the last 3 games so it's not particularly shabby. Edited October 2, 2022 by Valentino Bolognese 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Theres zero doubt we're better than last season, and we shouldnt be near relegation if we keep this up. My worries about how we adapt to losing certain players (Matthews/Mitchell in January?) and how we approach moving the squad forwards over the next 2 windows remain though. Last Summer we had a good squad playing well but it clearly needed players brought in to improve it now and in the future, but instead we just added numbers and a rot set in. He cant afford to repeat that mistake, we need to see players, especially next Summer, brought in who can give us what Considine/McGowan in particular are but over 2/3 years, as both will likely be out the team by then. Ill enjoy these good spells while i can though, and hope lessons have been learned. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Agree, and also the point someone else made about how it would be great if we had our own young centre back on the fringe of the first team to learn from the likes of Mitchell and Considine while they’re here. The experienced players brought in have so far all contributed well, so credit for that, but hopefully we develop the squad with a couple of additions where required as players retire or move on, rather than the sweeping changes we’ve seen over the past 9 months, which we won’t always have the funds to do with the pedigree of player we signed this year. Of course, it might be the model we adopt even more from now on, signing experienced players in the twilight of their careers. From Davidson’s point of view, they’ve arguably been his most successful permanent signings. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 This team actually has a bit of personality too. Mitchell and McGowan in particular look as though they’d run through brick walls for the club - which is always pleasing. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Widge Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Mitchell is out of contract in the summer, I’d hope we’d at least ask the question about a contract offer in January. You’ve still got Mahon as well, he’s not a bad player and still young, the likes of Considine will be teaching him surely to make him a viable option again next season if not this? Remi Matthews is also out of contract. He’s probably made his money down south, so again the question in January should be, do you want to be playing first team football now, or are you happy to sit on a bench down south. That’s why it’s so important to put points on the board and be clear of the bottom 2 going into the World Cup break, you’re going to have a month of planning for January and the summer transfer window, we need to use it wisely. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PauloPerth Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Going against the grain here probably, but that away strip is shite! I think the shirt alone with a pair of jeans might not be so bad for those that like wearing football tops, but the whole strip is just too lilac. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Marly Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 17 minutes ago, PauloPerth said: Going against the grain here probably, but that away strip is shite! I think the shirt alone with a pair of jeans might not be so bad for those that like wearing football tops, but the whole strip is just too lilac. Agreed. I don't usually get too bothered about strips, but that one is fucking awful. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PSJ.84 Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 The potential for Matthews to be recalled is an interesting one and something that hadn’t even crossed my mind. The first time in at least 10 years that we’ve had to recruit a number 1 and thus far, I feel we’ve got it spot on 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Saintee Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 Don't know about a corner being turned necessarily but I'm certainly feeling a bit better about things. Happy to have been wrong about some predictions. Particularly Considine and Mitchell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sconesaint Posted October 2, 2022 Share Posted October 2, 2022 3 hours ago, Widge said: Mitchell is out of contract in the summer, I’d hope we’d at least ask the question about a contract offer in January. You’ve still got Mahon as well, he’s not a bad player and still young, the likes of Considine will be teaching him surely to make him a viable option again next season if not this? Remi Matthews is also out of contract. He’s probably made his money down south, so again the question in January should be, do you want to be playing first team football now, or are you happy to sit on a bench down south. That’s why it’s so important to put points on the board and be clear of the bottom 2 going into the World Cup break, you’re going to have a month of planning for January and the summer transfer window, we need to use it wisely. I read somewhere that Matthew’s signed a year extension with Palace but can’t source it online. Maybe it was this season. im away down to London next week and will be at Millwall vs Middlesbrough. I’ll watch their centre half’s performances and ask about if Mitchell would be wanted back 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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