The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread

[pozbaird]

If we’re discussing the fact that our manager doesn’t appear to know his best team, what position to play them in, or how to set the team up against any given opponent, then what on earth does he know? That shit should be a base camp expectation. Martindale and Davidson appear to have grasped the concepts of starting XIs, player roles, and having a clear game plan pretty quickly.

[Killiefan]

1 minute ago, Coventry Saint said:

Yeah. Sadly we don't have the midfield to get away with playing a four there. And 3-5-2 is absolute murder.

You're 100% correct, though, and that's become apparent for us in the space of a couple of games. 

I would take an Erwin/ Brophy front 2 in a shot for Killie, both intelligent players. Erwin gets a sore time but with the correct coaching there is a player there.

[sergie's no1 fan]

Yeah. Sadly we don't have the midfield to get away with playing a four there. And 3-5-2 is absolute murder.
You're 100% correct, though, and that's become apparent for us in the space of a couple of games. 

4-4-2 seems the obvious way to go now. Especially without JDH. Means we have to shoehorn McGrath into the team but maybe could squeeze him out left (Durmus appears to be a luxury to Jim) or at the top of a diamond.

Brophy and Obika have to start up front together or we are paying big bucks (10k a week) for a striker who can't perform in our system or to sit on the bench.

[Ralstonite]

48 minutes ago, GAD said:

Still good points though. McAllister was better than Connolly when he game on, though they both blew glorious chances.

That was it, they both were in on goal and should have, at the very least, tested the keeper. They were excellent opportunities squandered.

I'm not too downhearted about this to be honest, as I would have been devastated if we reached the final and couldn't go.

[Coventry Saint]

17 minutes ago, sergie's no1 fan said:

4-4-2 seems the obvious way to go now. Especially without JDH. Means we have to shoehorn McGrath into the team but maybe could squeeze him out left (Durmus appears to be a luxury to Jim) or at the top of a diamond.

Brophy and Obika have to start up front together or we are paying big bucks (10k a week) for a striker who can't perform in our system or to sit on the bench.

Yeah, been saying for a while that McGrath might need to go wide. I don't think he's offering so much through the middle that that's a great loss, tbh. He was playing off Brophy today (supposedly) and it produced nothing, so we might as well change it.

[BC17]

15 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

Yeah, been saying for a while that McGrath might need to go wide. I don't think he's offering so much through the middle that that's a great loss, tbh. He was playing off Brophy today (supposedly) and it produced nothing, so we might as well change it.

If he goes wide, it needs to be on the right. We're unbalanced as it is with Tait on the left constantly cutting inside. I'd give him a run on the right and drop Connolly for a couple of games.

I think we should just go with a straight 4-4-2 and see where it takes us. We NEED to build some sort of strike partnership, we have two "big" guys and two "wee" guys and Jim needs to find the best combination among them. We are dreadfully shot-shy at the moment, have been since Jim took over to be honest, but we have to believe we're good enough - with the personnel we have - to change that. It's utterly pointless signing a guy of the stature of Brophy and not play to his strengths. We did go on a decent run with Obika as the sole frontman in a 4-2-3-1 but he's never going to score enough goals on his own to improve our 'goals for' column; nor is Brophy.

[CambieBud]

Goodwin is a strange manager. Hard as nails as a player but appears to be scared to play attacking football. His signings are excellent but no idea what his best 11 is or indeed how he wants to play. We won’t be in any trouble this season but he really needs to work out a set formation and stick to it

[pozbaird]

39 minutes ago, CambieBud said:

Goodwin is a strange manager. Hard as nails as a player but appears to be scared to play attacking football. His signings are excellent but no idea what his best 11 is or indeed how he wants to play. We won’t be in any trouble this season but he really needs to work out a set formation and stick to it

As I said in a post a bit earlier, why is this? Surely to goodness, it should be a basic requirement of a top flight football manager to know his best starting XI, their best positions, and to have a game plan that stands a chance against a well-kent opponent. If he has seriously signed Brophy not knowing that playing him as a lone striker is not a good idea, or sets up with a starting XI ill-equipped to even go toe-to-toe with Livvy, then frankly, we’re fcuked. Martindale pissed all over him today. 

Edited January 24, 2021 by pozbaird

[Uncle Scan]

5 minutes ago, pozbaird said:

As I said in a post a bit earlier, why is this? Surely to goodness, it should be a basic requirement of a top flight football manager to know his best starting XI, their best positions, and to have a game plan that stands a chance against a well-kent opponent. If he has seriously signed Brophy not knowing that playing him as a lone striker is not a good idea, or sets up with a starting XI ill-equipped to even go toe-to-toe with Livvy, then frankly, we’re fcuked. Martindale pissed all over him today. 

Can't say Martindale pissed all over him

Livi play the same way every game no secret

Goodwin is just too cautious and it's his undoing

[Gareth_Glasgow]

I’d like some sort of explanation for why Flynn and Foley can’t get on the park at all despite our current dogshit midfield. It’s been annoying me more every game and yesterday’s subs just topped it off.

Is Flynn finished after his injury? Is Foley completely out of favour after struggling earlier this season? Are either/both still struggling with the effects of COVID?

[Coventry Saint]

I think Jim is still hoping Mason will morph into a different footballer. His comments about Mason's pace - saying he's the quickest he's ever seen - suggest he's got this idea of our wingers both being incredibly fast guys. Fine in theory, but neither is convincing as a footballer at the moment. Mason shat it out of a few challenges yesterday, too (though he wasn't the only guilty party on that front).

I hate getting on footballers' backs - especially the young guys - but we started with midfielders aged 22 and 19 and, frankly, it showed. I know JDH is only 22 as well but definitely has more of a maturity to his game.

I suspect we're too far into the window now to get any meaningful business done in the middle of the park, but an experienced CM has to be top of the list, perhaps on a PCA if we can sort one out.

I think that vast majority of our squad movement next summer will be in the middle of the park. I doubt McPherson, Flynn, Foley, JDH (for different reasons), Durmus and Connolly will still be with us by the start of next season.

[FTOF]

14 hours ago, Killiefan said:

Playing Brophy up front himself doesn’t work.

We can see that.

The management however................................

[FTOF]

14 hours ago, PauloPerth said:

Disappointing one for you lads today. You had the toughest semi final draw to be fair.

Are there concerns that after the highs of knocking out Aberdeen and rangers and a decent league run up until the end of the year, that the team struggles to bounce back?

I’m not at the wind up here, and obviously it could happen to any of us, but if st mirren don’t pick up a win or two quite quickly I could see them really slide down the table and be in serious trouble, especially the way County are going.
 

I was baffled when the talk of teams that would be involved in a relegation battle a few weeks ago, didn't seem to involve us.

If we continue with our current level of performances, we'll be in an even worse position than we are just now. We can't score goals as we have no creativity whatsoever.

Even the commentary team mentioned it yesterday when we had five up front. 

[PauloPerth]

Aye I think there’s going to be plenty of twists and turns in the relegation battle. It’s a worry for all of us that there’s no stand out team for bottom place.

County were looking good for that until they appointed Hughes, and Accies always seem to do enough to scrape clear. 

Even the likes of killie and Utd would quickly get pulled back into it if they went 4-5 games without a win.
 

 

[djchapsticks]

15 hours ago, monthelie' said:

Big game on Wednesday. Surely he's got to change the midfield ? Have been non existent the last 4 games.

This is where we're losing games. There's no composure throughout our team but the centre of the park encapsulates that perfectly.

I actually thought the only time yesterday where we looked a bit more weighted instead of launching it blindly was when McGrath moved in there.

The central midfield is a real problem area, I won't be popular for saying it either but Jake Doyle Hayes sitting in front of the back four isn't good enough either. We took a kid who in his first 8 or 9 games for us, was playing a bit of an all-action role, looking for passes ahead, trying to unlock opposition defences and doing a bit of dirty work as well and he was doing so to great effect but since the turn of the year, we've papped him in front of the back 4 and left him to take short passes from our centre halves and move the ball on 10 yards sideways. What the f**k is that all about?!

He was pish against Killie, Motherwell and St. Johnstone because instead of playing to his strengths and have him trying to open other teams up, we have told him so sit even deeper. Deeper than even Erhahon!

If you swapped him and Erhahon and gave them one another's roles you'd see an immediate improvement. Erhahon is an excellent holding mid and tidy in possession but not an expressive or forward thinking player. JDH is both tidy and creative.

Still, don't need to worry about that, we won't be seeing him for next 10 games. In his wake, get Erhahon back into that holding mid role and put Foley in beside McGrath....that would be a well balanced central midfield 3.

[djchapsticks]

14 hours ago, Killiefan said:

Playing Brophy up front himself doesn’t work.

Playing Brophy up front himself doesn't work but he's looked good as part of a pairing.

Playing Erwin up front himself doesn't work but he's looked good as part of a pairing.

Playing Obika up front himself works to a lesser extent but he definitely always looks better with a partner up there with him.

 

I mean....it isn't fucking rocket science to see what needs to be done.

[houston_bud]

What a disappointment yesterday's game was. Fair play to Livingston, they've been on a great run and I think they probably just about deserved their win yesterday.

We played a lot better in the second half, we showed a bit of fight, but we still didn't ask many questions of Livingston. We had a bit of pressure but I don't remember their keeper having a save to make. That was the most disappointing thing. In fairness Alnwick didn't have a great deal to do either.

Anyone suggesting that we should be considering Goodwin's position needs to calm down a bit. There were folk saying similar earlier in the season then we went on an 11 match unbeaten run and on Sunday morning some folk (possibly in jest) were talking about a statue. Now some are unsure if he's the right man for the job. Fickle football fans. We've got a young and relatively small squad, they will have good games and go on runs but maintaining consistency over a whole season is always going to be difficult.

[Coventry Saint]

21 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

.that would be a well balanced central midfield 3.

 

17 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Playing Brophy up front himself doesn't work but he's looked good as part of a pairing.

Playing Erwin up front himself doesn't work but he's looked good as part of a pairing.

Playing Obika up front himself works to a lesser extent but he definitely always looks better with a partner up there with him.

 

I mean....it isn't fucking rocket science to see what needs to be done.

There's the problem, though. Three in the middle or two up top.

Don't disagree with a word you've written, but I honestly don't know the solution.

[djchapsticks]

3 minutes ago, Coventry Saint said:

 

There's the problem, though. Three in the middle or two up top.

Don't disagree with a word you've written, but I honestly don't know the solution.

I know what you mean....essentially though, we're playing with 4 wide men just now. Tait and Fraser are being utilised as almost outright wingbacks at times and Connolly and Mason outright wingers.

Do we honestly need that many? We seem to want to set up with plenty of natural width and then not really know how to use it. 2 fullbacks/wingbacks and 2 wingers is all well and good if they overlap, run into space, pull defenders out of position. We do none of that though.

 

[Shuggie_Murray7]

2 hours ago, Gareth_Glasgow said:

I’d like some sort of explanation for why Flynn and Foley can’t get on the park at all despite our current dogshit midfield. It’s been annoying me more every game and yesterday’s subs just topped it off.

Is Flynn finished after his injury? Is Foley completely out of favour after struggling earlier this season? Are either/both still struggling with the effects of COVID?

I'd have brought Flynn on for Erhahon after half an hour.