Guest Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 9 minutes ago, Jazzar said: Yep - he's inherited a squad that is short in key positions and seemingly injury prone (never a good sign and one that seems to appear when players are lacking in confidence). Getting Hewitt and Muirhead back and keeping them fit will be important between now and January. My one hope is that JD has identified some signing targets and, with the club's help, is working flat out on that. It's getting monotonous saying it but I'd love to see Stephen Kelly signed in January - what a terrible waste for him just now not playing regular football at a decent level - I don't buy the bit about his club not wanting him to play in Championship - plenty of clubs down here can compete with the lower levels in the SPHell. Yes, I don't think there's any doubt that the development of both Kelly and Doohan were held back by sitting on the Ross County bench when they could have been playing week in week out in the Championship. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Just now, Trogdor said: ^100% this has to be the club's focus. Particularly a central midfielder that we've known we have been short off since day 1 this season. I reserve the right to lose the plot if we sign some Grant Gillespie type jobber in January. We could always try 3rd time lucky with McGavin ??? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 1 minute ago, WATTOO said: We could always try 3rd time lucky with McGavin ??? Bring him home. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 11 minutes ago, THEHonestman1910 said: We all know these players aren't gifted technically but over recent games, there seems to be a lack of energy and closing down. You have a point here, the first half yesterday was as bad as I've seen this season. No heart, no fight, no effort. It was dreadful we just sat off Raith and allowed them to dictate the game. Whilst the second half did reassure me it did not excuse the first. Given the state of the squad and the evident gulf in class between the top 5 and bottom 5 at the moment. I am really looking at the Hamilton, Queens, Morton & Dunfermline games. Until we get to January and can strengthen I really dont see us getting much out of Killie, ICT, Arbroath, Raith & Partick. Unfortunately that's the reality with this limited squad. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 16 minutes ago, THEHonestman1910 said: The thing that's worrying me is that our results have taken a u-turn since Duffy got the job permanent. When Duffy was interim basis we won 3 out of our 4 games and drawn the other. Since then we've won 1 out of 5 and we've been poor for a large majority of those games. It feels like now we've got a manager in, the players don't seem to be fully determined to impress. One of the biggest factors has been closing down opposition players from the front to the back. We all know these players aren't gifted technically but over recent games, there seems to be a lack of energy and closing down. Bradley makes a big difference as I think his energy and enthusiasm rubs off on the rest, although it's a sad state when we're missing a young boy on loan from Hibs so much. I honestly believe that when we have Adeloye, O'Connor and Bradley all playing together we'll be a completely different side (in a good way) but agree yesterday's first half just wasn't good enough as was the whole 90 mins against Thistle at Firhill. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diegomarahenry Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 We put together results playing on the front foot, With Bradley and O'Conner wide and Maxwell in the middle. two of them have been injured and Maxwell was put out wide. Moffat and McKenzie have also been unavailable. We changed to sitting and defending deep, hoping Adeloye could be successful as a lone forward. That hasn't worked. Hopkin couldn't get it to work and Duffy has made it look better, but 1 point out of 9 or even 4 out of 15 should be a reason to never play it again. Second half yesterday we went with three up front, Maxwell in the middle and looked like we could create something. Murdoch was sitting in midfield and Maxwell was the one going forward. You don't need Muirhead in midfield if you retain the ball like we did yesterday rather than conceding possession and defending the 18 yard line. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMIP Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 1 hour ago, WATTOO said: We could appoint Jesus Christ as our Manager but unless he could emulate his water into wine trick with Defenders into Midfielders, then I think he'd be as pointless an appointment as anyone else at this stage. In a nutshell, Duffy is doing as well as can be expected with the hand he's been dealt and any criticism of him is pretty wide of the mark as far as I can see it. By all means we should be planning for the future, including a major overhaul of the squad, but bringing in someone like Murphy right now would be a massive and pretty unnecessary gamble as far as I can see it, over and above this it's not going to happen as Duffy is here until the end of the season and most of us are quite content with what he's done with this team so far, as we're only too aware of our limitations unfortunately..... And yet we walked away from yesterday’s game asking the simple question, “why didn’t we set up the team a bit more like that in the first half?”. We are limited, but I have no idea why we are buying into this nonsense that we are simply incapable of improving therefore there’s no point in even trying. We also seem to have decided that we simply cannot secure a better managerial option than Duffy, so once again there is no point in even looking at possible options. It’s called paralysis by analysis and it’s a mindset that is going to get us relegated. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 16 minutes ago, HMIP said: And yet we walked away from yesterday’s game asking the simple question, “why didn’t we set up the team a bit more like that in the first half?”. We are limited, but I have no idea why we are buying into this nonsense that we are simply incapable of improving therefore there’s no point in even trying. We also seem to have decided that we simply cannot secure a better managerial option than Duffy, so once again there is no point in even looking at possible options. It’s called paralysis by analysis and it’s a mindset that is going to get us relegated. We started the Thistle game with Adeloye and Moffat and then brought on Afolabi and were totally destroyed, if it was as simple as just having the same line up as yesterday's second half then we should be fine for the rest of the season. Despite all the good, bad and ugly, I still don't think there's much between any of the teams in this league but without a doubt Dunfermline are standing out as the worst by a mile, so while lots seem to think everything will come good for them, I'm just not seeing it and think they'll finish below us irrespective of how many big names they've got in their squad. I also believe we'll finish above Morton for what it's worth. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzdrk Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 That's us away noo 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMIP Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 14 minutes ago, WATTOO said: We started the Thistle game with Adeloye and Moffat and then brought on Afolabi and were totally destroyed, if it was as simple as just having the same line up as yesterday's second half then we should be fine for the rest of the season. Despite all the good, bad and ugly, I still don't think there's much between any of the teams in this league but without a doubt Dunfermline are standing out as the worst by a mile, so while lots seem to think everything will come good for them, I'm just not seeing it and think they'll finish below us irrespective of how many big names they've got in their squad. I also believe we'll finish above Morton for what it's worth. We were destroyed because we went to 3 at the back which resulted in the most chaotic defending we’ve witnessed since……the last time we attempted 3 at the back at home to Arbroath. But we were also incredibly passive against Partick - just sat off, invited them on to us and left the forwards completely isolated. In that respect, the first half yesterday was a painful re-run. Add in the 2nd half against Kilmarnock, the first 70 minutes against Queens, the Arbroath game prior to Moffat and Afolabi coming on and there is a clear pattern developing. Duffy’s instinct is to make us sit in and be hard to beat, a tactical approach that we are clearly rubbish at. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HMIP Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 6 minutes ago, itzdrk said: That's us away noo I think they’ll appoint an out of work jobber. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
itzdrk Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 1 minute ago, HMIP said: I think they’ll appoint an out of work jobber. Me tae 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diegomarahenry Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 They'll appoint Hughes, finish 3rd. We'll finish 8th, Just. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mps02 Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Was rather hoping they kept Grant for another few weeks until we played them again. Oh well. It's between us Morton QoS and Hamilton to go down. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rgreig Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 (edited) 2 hours ago, HMIP said: We were destroyed because we went to 3 at the back which resulted in the most chaotic defending we’ve witnessed since……the last time we attempted 3 at the back at home to Arbroath. But we were also incredibly passive against Partick - just sat off, invited them on to us and left the forwards completely isolated. In that respect, the first half yesterday was a painful re-run. Add in the 2nd half against Kilmarnock, the first 70 minutes against Queens, the Arbroath game prior to Moffat and Afolabi coming on and there is a clear pattern developing. Duffy’s instinct is to make us sit in and be hard to beat, a tactical approach that we are clearly rubbish at. I have been willing to cut Duffy some slack because there have been periods in games where we have been competitive. However Duffy has generally only switched it when he has been forced to (by going behind). Against QoS, we turned it around and had only a good 20 mins. Against Killie we had a good 45 mins but then had two clear injuries that meant we fell out the game and for some reason Duffy didn't have the confidence to change it. Against Arbroath and Raith - same pattern of changing it once we went behind and in both cases playing significantly better. Partick is the one game where we went from bad to terrible after Duffy tried to change it. I hope and expect we'll see something much more positive at home to Inverness. Edited October 31, 2021 by rgreig 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jm86 Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 The Partick game was, in a sense, a one off. Partick didn't play particularly well while we were only mildly horrendous. The defeat and its margin were down to one man. The Sean McGinty show. He was almost solely to blame for the first two goals by being totally unaware of the presence of the two scorers who simply ran by him to head in. He scored the third with a delightful wee lob into the far corner with his utterly useless right foot. He was only partly to blame for the fourth by missing his tackle on Graham and then joining the posse of about 6 players who escorted him across the edge of the box until he decided to pop it into the corner. Seldom in the history of football has so much shambolic defending been down to so few i.e. one. Take a bow Mr McGinty. If the rumours of Hopkin going back to Morton are true, then I hope the bold Sean is the first name on his signing list. He is obviously a good leader, given the number of clubs where he’s been captain. Hopkin clearly believes these leadership qualities outweigh his limitations as a defender. Feasible if the limitations weren't so extensive. The Hoppyverse is a strange and dark place when it comes to tactics and acquisition.. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D'Jaffo Posted October 31, 2021 Author Share Posted October 31, 2021 The Partick game was, in a sense, a one off. Partick didn't play particularly well while we were only mildly horrendous. The defeat and its margin were down to one man. The Sean McGinty show. He was almost solely to blame for the first two goals by being totally unaware of the presence of the two scorers who simply ran by him to head in. He scored the third with a delightful wee lob into the far corner with his utterly useless right foot. He was only partly to blame for the fourth by missing his tackle on Graham and then joining the posse of about 6 players who escorted him across the edge of the box until he decided to pop it into the corner. Seldom in the history of football has so much shambolic defending been down to so few i.e. one. Take a bow Mr McGinty. If the rumours of Hopkin going back to Morton are true, then I hope the bold Sean is the first name on his signing list. He is obviously a good leader, given the number of clubs where he’s been captain. Hopkin clearly believes these leadership qualities outweigh his limitations as a defender. Feasible if the limitations weren't so extensive. The Hoppyverse is a strange and dark place when it comes to tactics and acquisition..Who’s said that Hopkin is going back to Morton? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trogdor Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 43 minutes ago, D'Jaffo said: Who’s said that Hopkin is going back to Morton? That would be epic. They can have their players back other than McAdams. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryanayr1987 Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 Hopkin for the Dunfermline job hopefully! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rb123! Posted October 31, 2021 Share Posted October 31, 2021 So that's Dunfermline sacked Grant, predictable... and also said they'll spend in January, predictable...... As i said last night they'll overtake us and we'll be scraping along in 8th/9th the way we're trundling along 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.