The Blue Brazil v The Binos

[Cowden316]

Not posted for a while but astounded on some people's views that Bollan should go.

Yes it was a very bad day at the office yesterday no excuses for that performance but to be third at this stage of the season is very good work from Bollan with probably a relitivley small budget compared to some other clubs.  

Difficult few games coming up for sure but 100% backing is what is required in my opinion and see where that takes us come the end of the season whilst we are still currently in a fortunate league position. 

[onecowden]

Bollan won’t get everything right. (Who does). However he has, and is doing a more than adequate job for us. We are still in a playoff position at the right end of the league which is realistically as much as we can hope for/expect. We can still be involved right until the end of the season. Of course it was disappointing yesterday but we can bounce back.

[SuperCowden]

You can't really paint over, getting turned over 4-1 at home, Bikey boy very direct player & we do lack pace in our side, which he has, think Swann should have been in to cope with that test, Duffy still very good for this level, Bollan has done well getting us to 3rd but let's not kid ourselves on, Morrison & Miller is not good combination in the middle of the park, play Morrison & Thomas or Morrison & Herd, Morrison gets on the ball & trys to make space, Miller gets the ball & punts it without even looking up, both in the middle might work better away from home but at home we should be looking to hurt teams, manager lost the plot with our shape once Morrison come off it seems too, Renton isn't going to score goals either, should been Coxy & Allan up there from the beginning, still lack a proper wide player who can make things happen & cross the ball in, Taylor seemed to try make things happen at least yesterday but still you've got to be worried, some of the defending recently has not been good enough, which has probably being where we have been strongest this season, we could conceded quite couple in first half vs Queens Park, it could have been any score vs Brechin, giving how much we dropped our levels in 2nd half when we beat them 3-2,  4 goals shipped yesterday, Smith going back to Hearts has stung us creativity wise up the pitch & the lack of recruitment has also put us in bad spot, sure we can't do much about the last part but this group need more compeition & quality in the side, if we're looking to hold this 4th spot, the other sides in division have seen their faults & strengthened up with more recruitment, it's a long season & Bollan's stubborness , puts us in bother, when we're losing games, he doesn't seem to trust his bench & always has favoritism for certain players, its a team game & he won't be helping those boys he keeps on the bench every week, put trust in them or get somebody in to make us better, mid table is progress from previous seasons but it's a real chance missed if we don't get top 4, considering position we were in

Edited February 16, 2020 by SuperCowden

[headthebaw]

Red card looks very harsh. It was a clumsy challenge, a yellow at best.

 

[big al]

9 hours ago, The_Pit_Owns said:

I'm not sure why we've changed from the successful 3-5-2 to a 4-4-2 which clearly doesn't suit the players we have.

Chris Hamilton has been an absolute standout in the middle of a back three and Todd looked solid and comfortable. Hamilton now looks lost playing right back and got caught out positionally a few times yesterday and Todd looked a bombscare. Yes, the conditions weren't great so even more reason to play to your strengths.

Mullen at LWB and Buchanan at RWB worked earlier in the season when Swann wasn't match fit but he is now so I can only assume he is persisting with Mullen at LWB to shoehorn Buchanan into the team. He isn't any better at defending then Swann but does work a lot harder. Swann on the other hand is more effective going forward, i.e. - doesn't just cut back inside and then lose the ball.

Not convinced by Rae at all. I wasn't at Cove so I haven't seen him have a good game yet. In saying that, you could only really point the finger at him for the fourth goal yesterday. His kicking (and throwing as seen yesterday) is awful, positioning is bizarre and has no command of the area. Not sure what they teach goalkeepers who are training full time...

In saying all that, Stirling looked like a decent side yesterday. Duffy and Bikey are going to give teams much better than us a tough game. They were pulling our defence all over the place and creating space for each other. Our midfield couldn't cope with theirs and we were completely overrun. If they could find a way of doing that at home, they could well take third place. Kevin Rutkiewicz seems like a decent guy - players would want to play for him.

Spot on 

352

hamilton sweeper

mullen right back

swann left back

buchanan dropped for a bit 

team miles stronger already

[wulliemc]

Looking back at that the free kick for mullens goal looked like the boy got the ball

[Aberdeen Cowden]

1 hour ago, big al said:

Spot on 

352

hamilton sweeper

mullen right back

swann left back

buchanan dropped for a bit 

team miles stronger already

Keeper?

[The_Pit_Owns]

8 minutes ago, Aberdeen Cowden said:

Keeper?

Stick Buchanan in goals!

[targetman]

Yesterday wasn’t great viewing, but it worth remembering that’s the worst it’s been this year and it is February and we still occupy 3rd spot with games in hand, do feel some are getting a bit ahead of themselves. We have relied on our back line far too much this season and they have been rock solid, but that didn’t seem to be the case yesterday and the result showed that. Also really missing the creativity of Connor smith since his return to hearts. Hopefully we can add another couple of loan signings before the end of the month is out, maybe be even a return for Connor. 1 criticism of bollan I would have would maybe be letting Kevin return to hibs, thought he was excellent for us and new lad Rae doesn’t fill me with confidence from what I’ve seen. But also he maybe let Kev return to free up space for another outfield loan player. Win the 2 games in hand and a result on Saturday would be huge. 

[SuperCowden]

Elgin away will be very tough ask, we will need to approach the game in the right way & not get caught out on break, Kev kept getting injuries but I agree about him, he has presence & bit of size to him, pulled off some good saves in his time with us, we will just need to get behind this new keeper & hope the defence return to form, thought he could have done better for 3rd, even tho it was skillful from Duffy, got to be bigger on your line there & the 4th goal he didn't get down well enough in my opinion, still early days & i hope the boy gets some confidence into him, nobody likes to see player struggling, we definitely do need creative midfielder, to make up for the loss of Smith,  striker who wants to get on the end of things, would help too, wish Renton had the goals to go with his strength & height, his heading is not the best either

[The_Pit_Owns]

7 hours ago, SuperCowden said:

thought he could have done better for 3rd, even tho it was skillful from Duffy, got to be bigger on your line there

The keeper isn't at fault for the 3rd.

I think Hamilton and Buchanan need to be braver and put their head in there to get the ball away.

[Aberdeen Cowden]

10 hours ago, SuperCowden said:

Elgin away will be very tough ask, we will need to approach the game in the right way & not get caught out on break, Kev kept getting injuries but I agree about him, he has presence & bit of size to him, pulled off some good saves in his time with us, we will just need to get behind this new keeper & hope the defence return to form, thought he could have done better for 3rd, even tho it was skillful from Duffy, got to be bigger on your line there & the 4th goal he didn't get down well enough in my opinion, still early days & i hope the boy gets some confidence into him, nobody likes to see player struggling, we definitely do need creative midfielder, to make up for the loss of Smith,  striker who wants to get on the end of things, would help too, wish Renton had the goals to go with his strength & height, his heading is not the best either

Since Smith returned to Hearts we’ve won one game, against Brechin and what a struggle that was. Lost 12 goals, scored 7. We are struggling and do need to try something different. Another hard game on Saturday which didn’t work out too well the last time we went up to Elgin.

[SuperCowden]

Hopefully  we get nice surprise at the weekend & come out with 3 points, even a point would be good on the road right now, can't be losing this one too, I agree with coming with different gameplan for Elgin, can't keep doing the same thing & expecting different results, got to get back to being more solid, boys put themselves in good position & need to keep fighting now, in these last 10 plus games.

[Aberdeen Cowden]

1 hour ago, SuperCowden said:

Hopefully  we get nice surprise at the weekend & come out with 3 points, even a point would be good on the road right now, can't be losing this one too, I agree with coming with different gameplan for Elgin, can't keep doing the same thing & expecting different results, got to get back to being more solid, boys put themselves in good position & need to keep fighting now, in these last 10 plus games.

Elgin played us off the park up there. Playing without a RB like we did on Saturday is not an option.

[SuperCowden]

Current system not working for me,  Swann be good option left back & Mullen right back, I wouldn't leave Hamilton out tho, sure he can play various positions even the midfield in holding role, up to manager now to get it right

[Brazilianlex]

57 minutes ago, SuperCowden said:

Current system not working for me,  Swann be good option left back & Mullen right back, I wouldn't leave Hamilton out tho, sure he can play various positions even the midfield in holding role, up to manager now to get it right

No choice for saturday

hamilton will be suspended.

 

[SuperCowden]

Forgot about that lol, managers got job on his hands at weekend, fingers crossed we turn up on day

[BinoBalls]

On 16/02/2020 at 16:54, headthebaw said:

Red card looks very harsh. It was a clumsy challenge, a yellow at best.

 

Aye I’ve watched it back a few times and can’t quite understand why it was a red, though it’s not exactly sky sports so it’s hard to see if he went in at the ankle or something. Some of our players reacted and maybe that’s influenced the ref but it looked harsh to me. Not that it mattered. 

[PELE]

15 minutes ago, BinoBalls said:

Aye I’ve watched it back a few times and can’t quite understand why it was a red, though it’s not exactly sky sports so it’s hard to see if he went in at the ankle or something. Some of our players reacted and maybe that’s influenced the ref but it looked harsh to me. Not that it mattered. 

It does matter, as we will struggle up at Elgin on Saturday without him now.

[The_Pit_Owns]

33 minutes ago, PELE said:

It does matter, as we will struggle up at Elgin on Saturday without him now.

If Bollan was just planning to play him at right back again then we're a better team without him on the pitch and an actual right back playing, i.e. - Fraser Mullen.

If Hamilton plays at centre back in a 3-5-2 then he's essential.