Dunfermline Athletic vs Ross County

[CallumPar]

County the better team all over the park for me, deserved their win. Front 2 of El Bakhtaoui and Hippolyte didn’t work at all today. Looked like County had done their research and nullified us pretty well.

 

At least Johnston tried changing formation/tactics a few times, but once we went to the flat 4-4-2 when Higginbotham came on, we were totally overrun in the middle and created nothing. However, what we were doing wasn’t working, so he had to try something.

 

Gardyne, Mullin & Draper were excellent. The back 3 for County were all impressive as well.

 

For us, L Longridge was good until he got moved out wide. Durnan and Ashcroft didn’t do much wrong (seems bizarre saying that having conceded 3!). Robinson is giving me the fear this season. J Longridge in a back 3 is not an option.

 

[LuoAnLai]

 

Ross County totally shut the game down after going 3-1 up.

I didn't think they were worth 3-1 at that point, but they did well thereafter.  I think the Pars started with the right formation, but the wrong players in it.  It's early on.  A lot of adjusting to do to get to the best 11 and the right formation.  Get it right quickly and it'll be a great year.  Piss about for weeks and it'll be a nightmare.

[D.A.F.C]

A mixture of county being excellent and poor tactics and defending from us. From being the best defence in the league to that is worrying. Also saying Williamson cannot defend isn't a criticism it's just the truth. He's just not a natural defender and someone as good as Gardyne will cause him problems.

I would still much rather have Ryan than anyone else though because of his running.

The entire team apart from L Longridge were not at the races and long balls were a joke. That's as poor as the slump last season.

Massive reality check today.

 

 

[Savage Henry]

32 minutes ago, forkboy said:

Cracking result & good to see Midge back in the goals.

Probably no worse than Fox, to be fair.

[Paul Cicero]

Did Stelios play ? How has he been looking so far? 

[Dave Fae Dingwall]

Going back up the A9 tonight a happy man,delighted with the performance although Kelly looks a bit dubious at times, midge was superb and Ross Draper was covering every blade of grass today,a good performance from him and delighted for him as some of our fans were wanting him out of the team...
hands up if your....... nah better not hahaha... but 2 points clear at the top

[ShaggysBeard]

We looked really slow today I thought. I thought only the Longridge brothers and Higginbotham when he came on got pass marks. Louis Longridge by a long way was our best player.

Continually in good positions out wide to be let down by final balls and misplaced passes. Disappointingmany poor individual performances in one game, hopefully all out the way.

Ross County showed a lot of quality when in possession. They'll not be far away in May.

[smpar]

County will go to about even money for the title after today IMO.

 

[CountyFan]

3 minutes ago, smpar said:

County will go to about even money for the title after today IMO.

 

We're free money at evens. 

[OwenDAFC]

Still 15/8. Probably the most physical side I’ve seen at east end in years, not overly aggressive but the sheer height throughout the team was unbelievable. Draper, Watson, kelly, vigurs, Morris & stewart all looked about 6”3 upwards. Can’t see anyone but them winning it.

[Comrie]

40 minutes ago, OwenDAFC said:

Still 15/8. Probably the most physical side I’ve seen at east end in years, not overly aggressive but the sheer height throughout the team was unbelievable. Draper, Watson, kelly, vigurs, Morris & stewart all looked about 6”3 upwards. Can’t see anyone but them winning it.

Vigurs is 5'11.

We were even bigger last season with Souttar, Naismith and N'gog.

[D.A.F.C]

They weren't really that big or physical it maybe seemed that way as most of our game was stupid long balls to Fais. I was impressed by county they look better than st mirren and livvy from last year.

[101]

The big tall guy was really decent for County but their whole team was decent enough without us really testing Fox in goals, I thought 7 was a bit of a lose cannon, most disappointing thing for me was the ticket after me in the 50/50 draw was the winner

[Potted hOuGh]

Hearts next week. I expect a roasting from them. Either way it don't matter.

League games are what matter and being able to bounce back.

[OwenDAFC]

Thought he looked bigger than 5”11. Even if you take out vigurs.. the back 4 were all huge, draper is a man mountain infront of them then they brought on stewart who was enormous aswell. Not saying that’s why they won, they were better than us in every department today. That sort of physicality and brute force should see them pick up points away at difficult places (as shown today).

[Comrie]

After a struggle in the first twenty minutes Draper really came onto a game. He likes it when opponents try to take him on physically- if they use quick feet to get around him he can be lumbering and slow. Thought Mullin, Midge, Vigurs, Fraser, McManus and Morris were superb today and the others weren't far behind. McManus absolutely ran his heart out. The goals will come for him, eventually.

[DA Baracus]

Disappointing lack of meltdowns here. I was hoping for individual players to be torn apart and dismissed as not good enough, the summer signings to be all written off as shite and for folk to say we should have kept the players we let go. 

I was looking for folk to make stuff up and rewrite history and to go all in on the manager.

Instead there just seems to be an acceptance that we weren't as good at County today and that some players had an off day.

[smpar]

McManus absolutely ran his heart out. The goals will come for him, eventually.

I loved McManus’ work-rate when he was with us but you’ll find yourself saying that for the next 30-odd weeks. Great team player but his goalscoring record isn’t great.

[Potted hOuGh]

25 minutes ago, Comrie said:

McManus absolutely ran his heart out. The goals will come for him, eventually.

Nah mate he won't. 

I get your vision because I had that same vision but it won't transpire. He's like Moffat at Ayr, he's a worker but useless as an instinctive striker.

That said McManus was my player of the year for the Pars last year. It's easy to take to players like him as fitbaw fans. But if he could add goals to his game he'd be playing at a higher level than us both.

Frustrating but true.

[Staggie52]

7 minutes ago, Potted hOuGh said:

Nah mate he won't. 

I get your vision because I had that same vision but it won't transpire. He's like Moffat at Ayr, he's a worker but useless as an instinctive striker.

That said McManus was my player of the year for the Pars last year. It's easy to take to players like him as fitbaw fans. But if he could add goals to his game he'd be playing at a higher level than us both.

Frustrating but true.

I’m not that worried about him scoring lots of goals. I don’t think we’ll rely on a  single goal scorer this season, if we’re going to, Graham is probably the best bet. I think we’ll get goals from across the squad. McManus will do his bit by his work rate which is why I’d keep him in the team and leave McKay on the bench.