Clyde FC; Season 2022-23

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

A wee run in the Tunnocks, a shot at glory in the Scottish Cup both behind us now.  Many of us were shouting for a left back, a commanding centre back and a strike partner for DGW, which we look to have recruited.

We've not really got out of 2nd gear in the league but hopefully we can now secure Div1 status or with an unanticipated change in consistency we could maybe, just maybe sneak into playoff territory...

Would love to be looking upwards rather than behind us.

[CM.]

The squad is certainly stronger in numbers than it's been all season now. I said last week that some of our players dont look up to this level but maybe we'll see a raise in performance from them now that there's competition for places again. 

 

Edited February 10, 2020 by C. Muir

[FREDDYFRY]

Certainly a little better in terms of squad numbers; time will tell if the additions are any better than what we have already; hard to tell yesterday obviously. Rankin back is a massive bonus. 

That said; and I realise it was against a team light years ahead on Sunday, but still some of the same issues. Cheap goals and giving away possession when in good situations, under hit passes the main frustration. Again hard to criticise but Goodwillie again completely isolated. 

I know I’m being a bit harsh regarding yesterday but not basing this only on the Cup tie. Lennon has to sort out the recurring problems.
 

Finally, again just a bugbear of mine.. have we ever retained possession from our own throw in for the last 2 seasons?  

 

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

1 hour ago, FREDDYFRY said:

Certainly a little better in terms of squad numbers; time will tell if the additions are any better than what we have already; hard to tell yesterday obviously. Rankin back is a massive bonus. 

That said; and I realise it was against a team light years ahead on Sunday...Cheap goals and giving away possession...under hit passes...hard to criticise but Goodwillie again completely isolated.

Finally, again just a bugbear of mine.. have we ever retained possession from our own throw in for the last 2 seasons?  

 

 

Measuring against Celtic, as you say , is not accurate, but have to say some of the things I noticed:  physique in 1 to 1, Celtic were much stronger.  DGW was asked to feed off scraps. This may pay dividends in Div 1 but Celtic made v few errors. Shys...do we ever practice them?

Without being too critical, I wonder if we could have a bit more of a go?  With the wind behind us, did we ever try a long ranger?  Did we press high enough? They scored 3 and I know they strolled about in the second half, but each goal was an error .#1 showing inside. #2 flat-footed at corner #3 not covering the runner.

I don't think we disgraced ourself and it shouldn't dent our confidence for the rest of the campaign.  Onward and upwards I hope.

[FREDDYFRY]

Also add; fantastic support yesterday, seated a lot closer to the singers than usual.. brilliant guys

if only we could keep even 200-300 of that crowd from yesterday every week to add to the existing crow , what a difference that would make, it’s likely to be equivalent of an additional player in terms of finance 

[Domino the Dug]

4 hours ago, FREDDYFRY said:

Certainly a little better in terms of squad numbers; time will tell if the additions are any better than what we have already; hard to tell yesterday obviously. Rankin back is a massive bonus. 

That said; and I realise it was against a team light years ahead on Sunday, but still some of the same issues. Cheap goals and giving away possession when in good situations, under hit passes the main frustration. Again hard to criticise but Goodwillie again completely isolated. 

I know I’m being a bit harsh regarding yesterday but not basing this only on the Cup tie. Lennon has to sort out the recurring problems.
 

Finally, again just a bugbear of mine.. have we ever retained possession from our own throw in for the last 2 seasons?  

 

Thou shalt not analyse such contests. Only about the money, yada yada, other classless, nihilistic observations, etc. 

 

Excellent points. 3-0 was accurate, both on scale of effort and the obvious gulf. That's not the problem. Poor decision-making with the ball continues to hamper us far more than what opponents are managing- including Celtic in spells- when we don't have it. Far be it for me to suggest we look for things we're good at, in amongst all the defeatist garbage about how terrible we are and shouldn't bother to compete. 

 

Lamont over Johnston, when you're looking at less than a handful of times you'll get the time or space to feed in Goodwillie, which Johnston can do, and with the ball almost 90% of the game in midfield and on the deck, was a bad choice. Not utilising Love's pace and dig, potentially moving us up the park quicker to support DG and perhaps making a game of it early on (our only real chance), a move which could have moved Rankin central and keeping (what) possession we had better. 

 

These aggressive, progressive changes might have got us a bigger scudding, on the other hand, might not have. For me there just seemed a lot lacking, from atmosphere to tempo and strategy. Very little to get excited about, in truth.

[FREDDYFRY]

My point exactly, we (myself and my  2 lads) came away a bit disappointed to be honest. Yes we didn’t get a scudding, great home support. But.... on our rare attacks in first half we refused to shoot when, with a howling gale why not? (Underhit passes already discussed etc)

First goal came initially from a Celtic throw in at their own corner flag almost. We didn’t even try to hold them in there. 

2-0 an hour gone, why not fire on the subs and push some support for Goodwillie? Ok so they might  score, it’s 3-0 and so we just change it and go defensive again and protect the scudding again.

Honestly I know this looks like I’m having a massive go at the team and management, not trying to. I know it was a great effort but it’s more than just getting the money and keeping face. When the time is right have a wee go, that’s all I’m saying. Yes I do appreciate it’s very difficult against much better players. 

Anyway last comment on yesterday’s game.. move on and go for staying in this league. 

[Jack Burton]

Thought much the same in that we could have at least made a game if it for the last 20 mins once the subs came on. It was obvious by that point that Celtic couldn't be arsed and were happy to just ping the ball about. The second half was a snooze fest in shite conditions.

Could spot the Clyde fans that hadn't been to Broadwood in years cutting about in tops from 5/10 years ago. Unfortunately don't think there was anything there to get them coming back anytime soon.

[haufdaft]

If I was to be overly critical, my biggest regret yesterday was our unwillingness to shoot from outside the box during the first half. We had multiple opportunities to do so.

I know it's blasphemy to criticise Goodwillie on here and I know he has a thankless task but sometimes I think he needs to improve his decision making. Often choosing to go it alone when he'd have be better holding the ball up, awaiting support then passing to a teammate.

Thought Tom Lang was fantastic especially in the second half.

[the_bully_wee]

We were on a hiding to nothing the entire game really, so I'm not sure what more folk were expecting. Celtic are rightly miles ahead of us in every department, particularly technically and physically. The entire game they had both full-backs basically playing as wingers and left Goodwillie up against Ajer and Jullien, who are both bigger, stronger (at least the latter is) and faster than him. We were happy to give them the wide areas, but generally defended the middle well. Still, they did have good chances that they passed up (Elyounoussi's from close range springs to mind) even if the two goals were somewhat preventable and disappointing to lose. We were maybe a touch unambitious in that first half, but the first goal coming when it did was a bit bruising at a time when we were looking fairly comfortable on the whole and feeling our way into it. From that point on, it was always going to be nigh on impossible to get a result and the second goal completely killed it.

We showed a bit more enterprise in the second half, but by that point the game had already gone and going gung-ho would have resulted in a complete scudding. By about the 75th minute most of the team were blowing out their arses, too. The starting line-up was the right one for me, as it kept us strong in the middle with plenty of grafters and defensive discipline. Adding a shitebag like Johnston in a game where you are defending 90% of the time would have been complete suicide; he struggles to influence games and do his defensive share in L1, never mind against the best team in the country. Ally Love is a very handy player for us, but I don't think I've ever seen his turn of pace alluded to earlier.

The main positive from yesterday for me was how well Tom Lang performed; Klimala is obviously just another total ringer at this point, but he defended really well the entire game. It's a good headache to have he, Howie and Rumsby vying for two positions - a shame that one will probably to be left out. It's very hard to judge Livingstone on that game alone, but it looks as though he won't be rinsed by anyone simply facing him up and running at him, so that's a plus. 

[Clyde01]

One of the main problems I thought yesterday was that we rely a lot on goodie to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Against league one opponents he can general use his skill, body position, etc to keep a hold of the ball but yesterday Jullien robbed him easily on a number of occasions. Just playing against a better, sharper, more intelligent level of CB, which he hasn’t done for a number of years now.

[HughieMc]

25 minutes ago, Clyde01 said:

One of the main problems I thought yesterday was that we rely a lot on goodie to hold the ball up and bring others into play. Against league one opponents he can general use his skill, body position, etc to keep a hold of the ball but yesterday Jullien robbed him easily on a number of occasions. Just playing against a better, sharper, more intelligent level of CB, which he hasn’t done for a number of years now.

Maybe he should practice this at training with Tom Lang........... just saying

[Domino the Dug]

1 hour ago, the_bully_wee said:

We were on a hiding to nothing the entire game really, so I'm not sure what more folk were expecting. Celtic are rightly miles ahead of us in every department, particularly technically and physically. The entire game they had both full-backs basically playing as wingers and left Goodwillie up against Ajer and Jullien, who are both bigger, stronger (at least the latter is) and faster than him. We were happy to give them the wide areas, but generally defended the middle well. Still, they did have good chances that they passed up (Elyounoussi's from close range springs to mind) even if the two goals were somewhat preventable and disappointing to lose. We were maybe a touch unambitious in that first half, but the first goal coming when it did was a bit bruising at a time when we were looking fairly comfortable on the whole and feeling our way into it. From that point on, it was always going to be nigh on impossible to get a result and the second goal completely killed it.

We showed a bit more enterprise in the second half, but by that point the game had already gone and going gung-ho would have resulted in a complete scudding. By about the 75th minute most of the team were blowing out their arses, too. The starting line-up was the right one for me, as it kept us strong in the middle with plenty of grafters and defensive discipline. Adding a shitebag like Johnston in a game where you are defending 90% of the time would have been complete suicide; he struggles to influence games and do his defensive share in L1, never mind against the best team in the country. Ally Love is a very handy player for us, but I don't think I've ever seen his turn of pace alluded to earlier.

The main positive from yesterday for me was how well Tom Lang performed; Klimala is obviously just another total ringer at this point, but he defended really well the entire game. It's a good headache to have he, Howie and Rumsby vying for two positions - a shame that one will probably to be left out. It's very hard to judge Livingstone on that game alone, but it looks as though he won't be rinsed by anyone simply facing him up and running at him, so that's a plus. 

So, it's not an occasion to showcase your own talents, just to build a wall and blooter it up the park and hope for the best? 

 

Where's the self-respect, or intent on  adding to the  spectacle? Or do we simply judge a game beforehand, based on what league place we're both in, or what the papers say? Johnston wasn't signed to chase back and prove his commitnent by knackering himself defending (something those chosen ahead of him never do themselves), he was hired to create, and give us an outlet we didn't have. Yes he's been shite on a few occasions, but outside of a group of about four players this year (inc the goalie, and Lang after 4 games!) that's true of everyone. Look at our league statistics, for evidence. Its no coincidence we kept Celtic at a regular Premiership scoreline, the only league team we've bothered turning up against twice is Falkirk, large crowd, bigger club etc. Had as much effort gone into our games against the rest of the bottom six, as yesterday, i'd have gladly forgiven double that scoreline had we at least looked like trying to get into the game, somehow. We're painting ourselves as strugglers to seemingly avoid any sort of accountability for poor showings, and on a football level, when your keeper and CB are your best performers, thats exactly what that was.

 

A bit of duplicity here, we're praising Tom Lang's MotM display (correctly) while basically telling the rest of the team it didn't matter how they played. It may be a mixed ability classroom, but thats the first time i've seen us play the OF (8 or 9 in total) and not enjoyed anything of how we played. A lot of eggs going in the 'hope' basket for the remainder of the season, while we continue making the same stupid bloody mistakes.

[Clyde_1977]

2 hours ago, Jack Burton said:

Thought much the same in that we could have at least made a game if it for the last 20 mins once the subs came on. It was obvious by that point that Celtic couldn't be arsed and were happy to just ping the ball about. The second half was a snooze fest in shite conditions.

Could spot the Clyde fans that hadn't been to Broadwood in years cutting about in tops from 5/10 years ago. Unfortunately don't think there was anything there to get them coming back anytime soon.

Clyde fans! Lucky you. I had the James Forrest fan club surrounding me!

[the_bully_wee]

9 minutes ago, Domino the Dug said:

So, it's not an occasion to showcase your own talents, just to build a wall and blooter it up the park and hope for the best? 

 

Where's the self-respect, or intent on  adding to the  spectacle? Or do we simply judge a game beforehand, based on what league place we're both in, or what the papers say? Johnston wasn't signed to chase back and prove his commitnent by knackering himself defending (something those chosen ahead of him never do themselves), he was hired to create, and give us an outlet we didn't have. Yes he's been shite on a few occasions, but outside of a group of about four players this year (inc the goalie, and Lang after 4 games!) that's true of everyone. Look at our league statistics, for evidence. Its no coincidence we kept Celtic at a regular Premiership scoreline, the only league team we've bothered turning up against twice is Falkirk, large crowd, bigger club etc. Had as much effort gone into our games against the rest of the bottom six, as yesterday, i'd have gladly forgiven double that scoreline had we at least looked like trying to get into the game, somehow. We're painting ourselves as strugglers to seemingly avoid any sort of accountability for poor showings, and on a football level, when your keeper and CB are your best performers, thats exactly what that was.

 

A bit of duplicity here, we're praising Tom Lang's MotM display (correctly) while basically telling the rest of the team it didn't matter how they played. It may be a mixed ability classroom, but thats the first time i've seen us play the OF (8 or 9 in total) and not enjoyed anything of how we played. A lot of eggs going in the 'hope' basket for the remainder of the season, while we continue making the same stupid bloody mistakes.

It's one thing wanting to showcase your own talents, but we couldn't even do that against a pretty shite Forfar side last week. In horrific conditions, and against the best team in the country, it's not really reasonable to expect that we can switch it on and do so. We played some tidy stuff along the ground in possession yesterday, but when every single opposition player is a good distance quicker and fitter than every single of ours, it tended to lead to blind alleys or forced errors. If we had committed too many men forward, then Celtic would have picked us off time and again. In any scenario, we would have needed a huge amount of luck to get a result yesterday; when was the last time either of the OF failed to beat a part-time, third tier side (while they were battling it out at the top of the top tier)? I think there can be a lot of heart taken by the squad from the manner in which we limited Celtic yesterday. A drubbing, even as a "free hit", wouldn't have done them any favours.

Johnston has his positive qualities but I think it's fair to say we were expecting much more from him - he was our marquee summer signing probably, and generated more excitement than Mitchell at the time. In yesterday's game, where we needed a great defensive work ethic to stay in the game (with the hope of getting lucky), he's precisely the kind of player you can't afford to carry and is basically a man down without the ball. Even in his five or ten minute cameo at the end we saw him shite out of a 50/50 and let his man past him without any sort of a challenge - I think it's very unlikely he would have been involved enough to offset how much of a liability he is defensively.

In the times we've played the OF since the last Celtic game - five games against Rangers, I believe - we have turned in some of the most embarrassing performances I've ever seen from a Clyde team, at times when Rangers were laughably shite. Duffy bottling it against them four times in the league, with us being the only side not to have a go at them when they were very gettable (unlike this Celtic team) and then the 8-1 fiasco while Ferguson had the same stubborn tactical doctrine as Sarri. We worked extremely hard yesterday, and when we did have the ball in decent areas we tried to play the right way - all we can do is hold our hands up and say that we are an absolute mile away from where Celtic are. If that same work ethic is applied to the league games, and the same commitment to playing football at the right times, then we will be just fine come the season's end. Hopefully, at that point, the takings from this match are somewhat intact in order to conduct some serious squad surgery and push for promotion next year.

[Domino the Dug]

25 minutes ago, the_bully_wee said:

It's one thing wanting to showcase your own talents, but we couldn't even do that against a pretty shite Forfar side last week. In horrific conditions, and against the best team in the country, it's not really reasonable to expect that we can switch it on and do so. We played some tidy stuff along the ground in possession yesterday, but when every single opposition player is a good distance quicker and fitter than every single of ours, it tended to lead to blind alleys or forced errors. If we had committed too many men forward, then Celtic would have picked us off time and again. In any scenario, we would have needed a huge amount of luck to get a result yesterday; when was the last time either of the OF failed to beat a part-time, third tier side (while they were battling it out at the top of the top tier)? I think there can be a lot of heart taken by the squad from the manner in which we limited Celtic yesterday. A drubbing, even as a "free hit", wouldn't have done them any favours.

Johnston has his positive qualities but I think it's fair to say we were expecting much more from him - he was our marquee summer signing probably, and generated more excitement than Mitchell at the time. In yesterday's game, where we needed a great defensive work ethic to stay in the game (with the hope of getting lucky), he's precisely the kind of player you can't afford to carry and is basically a man down without the ball. Even in his five or ten minute cameo at the end we saw him shite out of a 50/50 and let his man past him without any sort of a challenge - I think it's very unlikely he would have been involved enough to offset how much of a liability he is defensively.

In the times we've played the OF since the last Celtic game - five games against Rangers, I believe - we have turned in some of the most embarrassing performances I've ever seen from a Clyde team, at times when Rangers were laughably shite. Duffy bottling it against them four times in the league, with us being the only side not to have a go at them when they were very gettable (unlike this Celtic team) and then the 8-1 fiasco while Ferguson had the same stubborn tactical doctrine as Sarri. We worked extremely hard yesterday, and when we did have the ball in decent areas we tried to play the right way - all we can do is hold our hands up and say that we are an absolute mile away from where Celtic are. If that same work ethic is applied to the league games, and the same commitment to playing football at the right times, then we will be just fine come the season's end. Hopefully, at that point, the takings from this match are somewhat intact in order to conduct some serious squad surgery and push for promotion next year.

Your closing words are a lot in sync with where i'm headed with what might appear 'criticism' of the match or result. I absolutely didn't expect a thing yesterday, in the best spirit possible. Celtic are probably playing their highest standard of football in the Sky sports era, potentially maybe nabbing a long European run and in light of NeoGers revival (enough about them now) and yes, it would have taken a major miracle to get even a draw, on balance of the match itself. 

 

The last sentence is pivotal, and a sign of where the players (even the ones i'd now thank and replace) and management have led us, some a victim of their own success in a way. Of course yesterday i wasnt expecting that magical 'one performance' from any of those who've flattered to decieve, or been simply pish until now, but i'm not hiding my annoyance with some of them and their form, just because they got passed around by a top drawer side. Broomhill could have easily pulled the same draw and been even happier with the 'plucky part timers' gig than us, but i'd much rather we were 'plucky' away in the league and given ourselves a template not just for yesterday but for the rest of the season. It was easy to go into battle yesterday. 

[Bully Wee Clyde FC]

I don't know if I buy that positivity completely.  1There's no guarantee that we'll retain the quality we have in the current squad. 2 whoever comes up from league 2 , most likely Cove will be well resourced. 3 The team(s) coming down, possibly Thistle will be well funded. 4 We maybe should have had an element of surprise this year which could explain our decent results against Falkirk AND our poor results against Stranraer, Montrose and Forfar.  If we stay up, we might be easier to suss.

Hope I'm wrong.

[TheBigGuy]

Will need a change of personnel in the summer; if we are to retain league one status next year. Cove will be a much stronger proposition than Stranraer.

How we are 8th with the scorer in the league is beyond me.

[Domino the Dug]

44 minutes ago, Bully Wee Clyde FC said:

I don't know if I buy that positivity completely.  1There's no guarantee that we'll retain the quality we have in the current squad. 2 whoever comes up from league 2 , most likely Cove will be well resourced. 3 The team(s) coming down, possibly Thistle will be well funded. 4 We maybe should have had an element of surprise this year which could explain our decent results against Falkirk AND our poor results against Stranraer, Montrose and Forfar.  If we stay up, we might be easier to suss.

Hope I'm wrong.

On point 4: Do we accept relegation then, to avoid the stress of having to worry about it? 

 

Peterhead have us completely sussed as it is; Stranraer this year have filled the gap Berwick left, that being the one where we concede tons of first half goals to crap teams. Forfar and Montrose, seem content with their own battles to be bothered by us much. 

 

Positivity isnt about jumping up and down with glee wishing things into existence. Its about identifying areas with improvement potential, and for the most part, that's been disregarded as the season has gone on, for various reasons. The game yesterday being the most stupid of them all. 

 

Left-back this, Goodie partner that, has papered over cracks elsewhere which are a problem now, never mind next season.

 

 

[CM.]

8 hours ago, Domino the Dug said:

A bit of duplicity here, we're praising Tom Lang's MotM display (correctly) while basically telling the rest of the team it didn't matter how they played. It may be a mixed ability classroom, but thats the first time i've seen us play the OF (8 or 9 in total) and not enjoyed anything of how we played.

The 4 Sevco games in 2012/13 were brutal too aswell as the 8-1 scudding at Ibrox. Although admittedly it wasn't even a mixed ability classroom for us in they games, just completely shite.

Edited February 11, 2020 by C. Muir