Sons v Loons

[squeezeboxson]

11 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

Ross Perry in being absolutely fucking shite shock. 

He wasn't. Dumbarton were.

[albundy]

37 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

If we get another repeat then Stevie's position is going to be under serious scrutiny from a set of fans who are reaching the end of their tether. I hope he can turn it around, because I like him a lot as a guy, but performances like today are becoming all too regular occurrences. 

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Well done, Loons. I tipped you for fourth and on that performance today you should be able to achieve that aim no bother, thus making me look like I know what I'm talking about.

 

I've kind of reached the end of my tether, I know we are only two games in and I can take a defeat in football, christ knows I'm all too use to that, but this season was the chance to lay to rest the negativity around the end of our last campaign and look like a side who know how to get at teams, score goals and a side who are going for the title. Today I seen nothing to suggest that anything will be different to what we have already had to endure, in fact it it felt like that there is an air of inevitability that Stevie is going to get the boot sooner or later.

[George Parr]

54 minutes ago, Ross Forbes said:

 

Today was a great opportunity to get things off on the right foot. Season ticket sales have evidently been disappointing and a good showing might've helped convince a few extra people (Consolidate for example) to renew. A pile of work has gone in during the off season (the concourse, pre-match gigs, ST benefits etc) to help get a good feeling back around the place - but that one performance today has smashed us back big time.

 

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Well done, Loons. I tipped you for fourth and on that performance today you should be able to achieve that aim no bother, thus making me look like I know what I'm talking about.

 

Point of Order: I renewed weeks ago. But I get what you're saying generally.

[Silverton End]

26 minutes ago, CALDERON said:

Ross Perry in being absolutely fucking shite shock. 

He's not a right back for a start, Dyer on the other side ain't much better tbh yet he escapes a lot of flak.

Perry's a sub, or should be for us, Andy Little could have played full back for us today, Dowie too has filled in at full back very well too (TNS away heroics)

Anyway, cut a long story short Stevie Aitken thinks he's Claudio "tinker man" Ranieri & Perry/Hutton are whipping boys for some of our fans already this season.

 

 

[Loondave1]

I didn't think Dumbarton were that bad today. If you had got a point I wouldn't have grudged you it as you were on top when Baird bagged the 2nd.

[sonsism]

That's all my optimism for the season gone. Aitken has once again recruited a set of players he has no interest in using correctly. Stubborn or clueless? Who knows.

He can't hide behind his usual rhetoric about being part time and he's already used the being angry at the players and "time to wake up" excuses so he's got to get the finger out. Can't use the cup hangover that lasted months either.

Not sure I can be bothered with this game on Tuesday now and I'm sure others are feeling the same. Not a great start for the club which have been actively trying to get people along to the games.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

The players, lining up for the k.o. after the second goal, looked  without exception, completely deflated. Heads down and not a clenched fist in sight.  If the points hadn't been quite lost with the first goal they'd gone to Forfar with the second. There were 20 minutes left FFS!!

I'll tell you exactly what happened at the line-up after the second goal: Bobby Barr expressed some sort of opinion and Kyle Hutton bellowed 'Shut the f**k up Bobby!'

I'm actually quite surprised at the tolerance being shown here tonight because whilst Paisley was grim, today was utterly desperate.

So where to begin ? Well, at a fundamental for any grade of football, fitness, and I can honestly say that the levels on display from a number of the squad looks poor, very poor.

As an example, and aye, I'll name names, like everyone else on here I welcomed the return of Ross Forbes; what I'm witnessing though is a one-paced ghost, reminiscent of Maradona in his comeback attempt.

It doesn't stop there though, and the result is beginning to hint at the most pedestrian Sons team in years. Surely to Christ a reasonable level of fitness is achievable even for a cash-strapped part-time club ?

At the moment we look infinitely better on paper than on the park. We have recruited some players with decent reputations; have they suddenly become mince or is something else afoot ?

Are some of them inwardly asking the question 'What the f**k have I done here ?' as they adjust to five formations within 90 minutes, strange substitutions and even stranger tactics ? With full backs who don't venture forward a blind man could see that the team required width yet for an hour we went 4-2-2-0-0-2 + hoofball.

In deference to Wilf I'll refrain from labouring my views on a certain midfield pairing other than saying that come mid November I'd rather not be saying 'I told you so'.

But if Kyle Hutton isn't the worst on the day, then that tells us everything about the task that looms ahead.

[FifeSons]

2 hours ago, Ross Forbes said:

Imo Stevie's substitutions were the reason we lost the playoff final, and he doesn't seem to have learnt from it. He either changes nothing, or goes more defensive. Very rarely will he actually make a gamechanging sub.

I couldn't agree with this whole post any more, but in particular with this comment. That Grant Gallagher sub, especially...

I've been absolutely behind Aitken going into this season, but serious, serious doubts exist. His decisions today were completely unfathomable.

[FifeSons]

5 hours ago, 1320Lichtie said:

 

I would. He’s another pacey player that scored more last season than Loy.

I genuinely believe Loy is gonna have a similar affect on you that Prunty had on us.

Player in there but broken and past it. Could be totally wrong and never said 2 games was any vindication either. Just amusing that Baird got two after what was said

 

So many ridiculous conclusions and comparisons made there.

[Loonytoons]

So many ridiculous conclusions and comparisons made there.

How very dare you, that's a 1320 comment you are questioning.

[Guest bernardblack]

John Baird [emoji173]️

[Loondave1]

John Baird [emoji173]️

Aye. Hes a dreamboat .

[Guest bernardblack]

That’s a free 3 points for us. Was panicking about us starting off but don’t see why we can’t have 9/12 after the next two games!

[Howlin' Wilf]

In deference to Wilf I'll refrain from labouring my views on a certain midfield pairing other than saying that come mid November I'd rather not be saying 'I told you so'.

But if Kyle Hutton isn't the worst on the day, then that tells us everything about the task that looms ahead.

I said that your view on Hutton and Carswell had some validity. From that I mentioned that both players had good efforts saved. Don’t need to tell me so when I’m in broad agreement with you but provided some mitigation.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I said that your view on Hutton and Carswell had some validity. From that I mentioned that both players had good efforts saved. Don’t need to tell me so when I’m in broad agreement with you but provided some mitigation.

OK, point taken Wilf. I'm now as fed up talking and writing about them as I am watching them anyway.

[The Moonster]

As I said at half time, Stevie needs to figure this out or he'll be out the door. We can moan that players aren't fit or that their attitude may be poor, but the responsibility for all of that is at Aitkens door. 

I really am done with Kyle Hutton. You can argue he didn't have his worst game yesterday, but after having watched him point and moan at his team mates for around 40 odd games now, whilst he plays a couple of 40 yard cross field passes to look good, I'm genuinely sick of him. It absolutely baffles me that good midfielders like Aitken and Durrant rate him so highly, he is absolute tripe. Others aren't free from criticism, far from it, Forbes, Paton, Loy and Gallagher should all have the bravery and quality to take games by the baws in this division, too many of them hiding (Gallagher excused there).

I heard players were walking around preseason telling folk we're going to win the league, if that yesterday doesn't make them realise that we need to work harder than our opponents then we could be in for a long season. 

[Jan Vojáček]

Highlights are up. Looking forward to Stevie's post-match:

 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I've lost count of the amount of times I've heard Aitken saying that stuff over the last year or so. "We need to be better than that", "can't give teams a goal head start", "need to work harder", "x,y and z is carrying a knock/not fully fit" followed by a similar performance the next week. The only glimmer of hope I have is that it will be a wake up call but I'm not convinced.

So we currently have Andy Little injured (hence why he didn't feature), Gallagher injured (why he was hooked at half time), Ballantyne injured and Loy not fully fit (why he was taken off when we needed goals instead of a defensive player). I've said all along I don't think a squad of 17 is big enough to mount any sort of serious challenge and the above simply backs that up IMO.

[BallochSonsFan]

Problem with that comes down to money.

We had less than 600 fans at the game yesterday. 85 away fans. Strip out the comps/community tickets and how many paying adults did we have? How many concessions/kids?

Even loan signings cost us a contribution towards wages. We don't get loans in for free. I think we need a squad of 20. I think we need 2 fullbacks to provide cover as Perry isnt a right back and I don't see anybody capable of covering for Dyer. Unfortunately we need money to bring players in. Games like yesterday won't encourage people to come back to Dumbarton home games. 

Yesterday was a chance to get fans back on board by making it 2 wins out of 2 and to maybe show those who are no longer coming to games that we're worth supporting. We blew it.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Problem with that comes down to money.
We had less than 600 fans at the game yesterday. 85 away fans. Strip out the comps/community tickets and how many paying adults did we have? How many concessions/kids?
Even loan signings cost us a contribution towards wages. We don't get loans in for free. I think we need a squad of 20. I think we need 2 fullbacks to provide cover as Perry isnt a right back and I don't see anybody capable of covering for Dyer. Unfortunately we need money to bring players in. Games like yesterday won't encourage people to come back to Dumbarton home games. 
Yesterday was a chance to get fans back on board by making it 2 wins out of 2 and to maybe show those who are no longer coming to games that we're worth supporting. We blew it.

It's up to the manager to spend his budget wisely.

I'm all for quantity over quality but if scarificing a Bobby Barr for two lesser players or loans is required then that's what he has to do. It's all about balance.