Bully Wee vs Sons

[Silverton End]

Just now, TamClyde said:

Am no seething, but rather disappointed to see such a poor performance at the first attented league game in over 14 months. But aye, enjoy ur nite m8

Will do Tam.

Signing Robert Jones is a clear sign that you guys need a managerial change.

 

[squeezeboxson]

1 minute ago, Silverton End said:

Will do Tam.

Signing Robert Jones is a clear sign that you guys need a managerial change.

 

I said this today. The fact we made (in my opinion) the right decision and got a new manager in rather than keep with Duffy will be the difference between us and Clyde. Both teams were very similar last season and I felt both needed a fresh approach to things. Clyde stuck the dinosaur that Lennon is and we didn't.

 

All the best but I do feel Clyde will struggle this year due to not changing enough in pre-season. It was clear you guys only just scraped avoiding the play offs last season. We were exactly the same but seem to have at least tried to do something about it.

[Karpaty Lviv]

What are we all complaining about? 

[haufdaft]

What are we all complaining about? 

Clyde played in yellow today?

[Karpaty Lviv]

Football aside. It was a lovely touch to have a minute to respect those we have lost over the pandemic. The amount of names and faces was quite scary actually, not to mention knowing some of them personally. Lovely touch to have that on the screen.

[CM.]

25 minutes ago, squeezeboxson said:

I said this today. The fact we made (in my opinion) the right decision and got a new manager in rather than keep with Duffy will be the difference between us and Clyde. Both teams were very similar last season and I felt both needed a fresh approach to things. Clyde stuck the dinosaur that Lennon is and we didn't.

 

All the best but I do feel Clyde will struggle this year due to not changing enough in pre-season. It was clear you guys only just scraped avoiding the play offs last season. We were exactly the same but seem to have at least tried to do something about it.

We changed plenty with 14 (I think) new signings. Problem is they don't look any better (and indeed a fair bit worse) than what was let go. 

Gomis and Balatoni were 2 I was content about signing but even they were rank today. 

[TheBigGuy]

Well played Dumbarton - much the better side without needing exert too much effort. The contrast from the game 18 months was rather stark.

As for Clyde where to start. Docherty, Cuddihy at RB and Jones up top? Come on Danny seriously? Huge improvement will be needed imho and playing players in their best positions as a minimum. Montrose (A) next week is another opportunity.

I think Dumbarton have strengthened and we have somehow got weaker. 

[BallochSonsFan]

We played very well today. 

I thought we looked pretty good at the back. Young Muir grew in confidence as the game went on and did well. The other 3 were solid. I think that Carswell and Pignatello look good together in midfield - both work hard and are tidy when they win the ball and play it to a more attacking player.  McKee was unlucky to go off with an injury but overall we looked really quite good going forward. Might not have a recognised target man but the front 3 caused a lot of problems with their pace and movement and the crosses into the box were dangerous. Hopkirk moving into the middle to replace McKee and Duthie coming on didnt really make us look any less dangerous. 

I felt sorry for Sparky, He was left really exposed but he just didnt cope well at all up against our right sided forward. Same can be said for the right back. I thought that Clyde struggled in midfield for much of the game and they lost any kind of shape as the game went on. Usually 2 or 3 players getting frustrated trying to close the Dumbarton players down and that opened up space elsewhere on the park. 

I don't want to get carried away after 1 game. If I can be critical of today, it's that some of our decision making was wrong. Trying the difficult pass rather than the easier ball sometimes ended up just giving away possession rather cheaply, but on the whole Clyde couldn't really take advantage when we did give them the ball back. Overall I  thought we looked comfortable with the ball, used it well, showed a willingness to get forward and were aggressive when we had to be as closing Clyde down. It was night and day different to Jim Duffy's preference for sitting back inviting opponents onto us and hoping for a hoofball breakaway opportunity.  If we can put in that kind of performance more often than not this season then we're going to have an enjoyable year and we should be confident about our chances for a good season.

[The Moonster]

All laughing and joking aside, we were excellent today and that sort of effort is the least you expect from a Faz team, but we were clinical when chances came. Influential players went off and others came on to do their job, which is a real change from last year. Muir was good and deserves a lot of credit but I do worry he'll be exploited against better teams. He needs protected.

Pignatiello was fucking brilliant for me, him and Carswell broke everything up. Our full backs pushed forward and when Duthie came on he was everywhere, his finish for the third was class. I saw enough today to think we've got enough to avoid a battle this season but our work ethic is what will see us through. Top marks to the management team for getting us in this shape so quickly. The proof of how good we are will come in a few months but I'm happy today.

Edited July 31, 2021 by The Moonster

[David W]

Dumbarton cruised that, Barry Cuddihy doesn't deserve to be associated with our "performance" and we need to start wearing black shorts and red socks.

 

[Clydeside]

We've never opened a league season with a poorer performance than that. Not under Bomber in the old second division nor under Millar in the old third. We've shipped nine goals in the five competitve matches we've played this season. And in the only one of those five matches we won, we played awfully and might even have been lucky to win insofar as we scored from a penalty which on another day wouldn't have been given. But hold those thoughts.

I think we could use a reality check on Dumbarton before reflecting on our own failures. Some of our supporters have the view that Dumbarton's squad is similar in quality to our own and, more than that, that the two teams which faced-off against each other today were of similar quality. That view has a long way to go before it is even naive. A man-for-man comparison of the starting elevens will show this to be the case.

For my money, we have a better goalkeeper. But in terms of outfield players, there's barely a single position in which we have a better player. To start off, it's unarguably the case that McGeever and Buchanan are better than Rumsby and Balatoni or Page. Insofar as there are differences in quality seen between players at this level, the gulf in quality between Dumbarton's central defenders and our own is vast. Measure it however you like. Recent CVs. Physical stature. Speed across the ground. There is no contest.

Moving on to full-backs. Sam Muir, just by reason of being lean and reasonably athletic, pips Docherty in terms of utility and looked at least as good as Livingstone on the evidence of today; both Livingstone and Muir are players recently released from Motherwell's youth set-up. Lynch, just by reason of having played as a defender for most of his young career, having a good stature and decent athletic ability pips both Mortimer and Cuddihy on the other side.

Into midfield. Splaine and Cunningham barely have a CV. Cunningham is 23 and has barely had a full senior season of football behind him. He's also carrying more weight than he ever has. Splaine's a year older than Cunningham and has even less senior experience than Cunningham. Again, there is no contest whatever. McKee, Hopkirk, Carswell, Pignatiello. They're all getting a team before the aforesaid two. The same follows for Kennedy, albeit I think he's a good prospect, and Gomis who'd only get into Dumbarton's midfield via a Tardis. Even Cuddihy and Love would have a fight on their hands, albeit their recent CVs and ability levels mean it's a much more arguable thing.

Finally, up front. Well, it's an open and shut case on Jones. And sure, we have a better player than Orsi or Syvertsen in David Goodwillie. There are some caveats to this that I'll go into later. But it must be clear for all to see: Dumbarton have both a better squad and a better strongest XI any day of the week. They've got Paul Paton and Andy Geggan to call on too. We don't have that kind of useful experience and quality on our bench. I think if Dumbarton are plucky enough they could keep the hope of a play-off alive for much of the season, albeit they'll probably fall short because there are better and more settled teams to compete with.

Back to us. Put simply, if we don't sign another three or four players we'll be relegated. We need that many. Two or three of those have to be defenders. Even if we can't get those players, we very quickly need to sort out a simple system of play that works for our players. We'll get nowhere with just two central midfielders. We neither have the experience, strength or legs for that. We'll get nowhere with Balatoni and another at the back. They're too slow and too weak. We'll get nowhere with Docherty in the side. We'll get nowhere with Ally Love turning like a bus inbetween the lines. We'll get nowhere with Cunningham, Love and Goodwillie all swapping jobs in midfield or up front. And we'll get nowhere with Jones up front in relative isolation. We need to be putting pressure on defenders a lot more. We need to be working a lot harder in midfield any beyond than we did today. The work-rate and movement from our attacking midfield and forward players is abysmal, Cuddihy and Love aside. You could fairly say that only Cuddihy played well for us today. And that was only in the second-half.

Worse than all that, and I hope I'm wrong, I think we might have the beginnings of a dressing room problem. If you think about the stories of Livingstone not training well, David Goodwillie's demeanour for the last year or so, and the very changeable roles the players are being asked to play in.. None of that bodes well for the players' attitudes or the overall spirit of the team. You could add subtler things into that list of woes, like our frightening and longstanding failure to organise plays from throw-ins, as well as the deafening silence there is on the park at times.

While it's just one bad result, and only our first league fixture, it is a fact that we're much more a team in development than our apparent near-competitor teams, Peterhead, East Fife and Dumbarton. I hope that doesn't plague us but I think it will unless, we sign a few more players.

[squeezeboxson]

1 hour ago, C. Muir said:

We changed plenty with 14 (I think) new signings. Problem is they don't look any better (and indeed a fair bit worse) than what was let go. 

Gomis and Balatoni were 2 I was content about signing but even they were rank today. 

Yeah, my main gripe is that I felt we both had the same problems last year and it wasn't all particularly to do with the squads themselves, moreso the managers who were in charge of them. As you have said, different players with the same result on the pitch from you guys. Complete contrast to ourselves in comparison to our last match a few months ago...

[Bullyweeno1]

After the games against Albion rovers and Airdrie I thought we were looking good however when the competitive games started we were nowhere

lucky to beat Stranraer when should have lost by 2 or 3

Eaily beaten by Killie and Morton and can’t comment on EK game as stream didn’t work

Wasn’t at game today as was driving home from holiday down south but looks like was lucky to miss the game

Apart from Gomis, Balatoni and Livingstone none of the rest of the new signings are any good and how we signed Mortimer, Dochery and Jones is amazing as after only seeing them a few games it is clear they are all hopeless and offer nothing

McGraith, Andrew, Kennedy are powderpuff and won’t add anything meaningful to season

Cant comment on Page but being with Brechin last year probably says it all

Would be good to know if Danny is happy or not with his new signings and if they were all his first targets as if he is then that is worrying however I have heard that he didn’t get any of his first 12 targets due to budget constraints

If that is the case then fair enough but would be good to know

Thought last year was going to be a long hard season, this one is definitely going to be but there isn’t anyone I see worse than us this year like Stranraer and Forfar in the last couple of years

 

 

 

 

 

[Jan Vojáček]

I thought we were, to a man, absolutely superb today. I don't want to get too carried away because I don't see us playing someone as poor as Clyde again this season. But there wasn't one player I could find fault with. 

Every single player won their individual battles - and quite a few excelled.

I thought Carlo Pignatiello was the pick of the bunch. He cruised the game with a big cigar in his mouth. He must've wasted about two passes all games and him and Carsy had a lovely balance together. Carsy deserves praise too - I liked how he dropped between the centre-backs when we played out, and was more than happy to take the ball under pressure. 

Our whole style of play was night and day from the Duffyball of last season. There was a great level of fluidity between the front four - and each provided a different kind of threat. McKee's passing and vision, Hoppy's pace and directness, Orsi's strength and workrate and Ross Maclean's general wingeryness. 

Gregor Buchanan and Ryan McGeever had endured a few shaky moments against Stenhousemuir and Dunfermline, but I thought both were very assured today. McGeever always seems to play well against Goodwillie - and both him and Bucky strolled it. I was concerned about both full-back positions, but I needn't have worried. Edin Lynch was solid and set up the second goal with a cracking run. Sam Muir didn't put a foot wrong defensively and provided a lovely delivery for the third (which was finished superbly by Conner Duthie). 

Last season it felt like us and Clyde were very different teams; but very equally matched. Duffy's Dumbarton were hard and direct. Lennon's Clyde were soft but good on the eye. Today we looked like a nice mix of the two. Solid defensively and hardworking, but also capable of playing some nice football and causing teams problems on the deck.

It's still very early days, but if I was a Clyde fan there would be a lot that alarmed me about that performance. Their inability to get Goodwillie involved being a main concern. But not half as much as their defensive fragility. Sparky looked miles off it at left-back, and neither Livingstone nor Mortimer looked too handy defensively either. Rumsby and Balatoni were a clown school at times - and I don't imagine Jonny Page is going to improve things much. In fact, aside from Barry Cuddihy, I don't think one outfield player in a Clyde kit produced anything like a passable performance.

We'll have tougher tests ahead. But three points, three goals and a clean sheet on the road in the July sun with supporters back in the ground is something to enjoy. It's not often we start the season with a win either.

Spoiler

Conrad Balatoni has now scored as many goals for Dumbarton (two) as Robert Jones. Despite Balatoni never being a Sons player. So there you go.

 

[Jaggy Snake]

The first half today was a shambles of staggering proportions, even when I wasn't expecting much from us. Usually we stand at half time and discuss changes we could make but, whilst we could say Livingstone on/Cuddihy into midfield etc, none of these were ever going to change the result and that proved to be the case.

Rumsby and Balatoni were a shambles individually and as a partnership. He's poor enough as it is but I've no idea why Lennon insists on playing Rumsby as left centreback.  He's completely incapable of opening his body to cover the left hand side. Tom Lang used to bail us out by intercepting loads of crosses at the near post. Rumsby was posted missing at almost every single cross today. He was a far bigger issue than Docherty today, and that's saying something.

Compared to the rest of the team, Splaine had a decent first half and clearly has quality. He overplayed things a little in the second half. Cuddihy was clearly a bright spark when moved into midfield. They're the only two Clyde players who can take any credit away today.

Dumbarton, even allowing for our shocking performance, were excellent in spells today. The amount of movement your team had in game 1 of the season after years of Duffyball was really impressive.

As has been touched on, you still look like you lack a real goalscorer and that will cost you points against better sides who don't give up goals as easily, but you clearly have enough to cause teams problems now.

The only other slight warning sign was Buchanan. He let about half a dozen long balls drop over his head in the second half with Goodwillie and Love getting onto most of them. We did absolutely f**k all with the resulting opportunities but it was very poor defending and could have cost you on another day.

Edited July 31, 2021 by Jaggy Snake

[O'Kelly Isley III]

Considering our stuttering Covid-strewn League Cup campaign and the fact that we were without the option of Paton, Geggan and Boyle today I thought that was an impressive team performance from us.  One swallow does not a summer make, as Terry Hurlock never said, but there was plenty to be pleased with.

In particular young Sam Muir gave a performance beyond his years, and his assist for the third goal should boost his confidence.  Secondly, I was pleased with Ross McLean's showing; yes, he makes casual mistakes but his workrate and all round involvement was excellent.  Thirdly, for the first time in ages we had subs coming on who were actually making contributions instead of simply shuffling a pack of jokers.  In truth though we had no failures.

One game at a time though.  Clyde will be hurting tonight, as will Airdrie, and there will need to be a similar performance next week.  

[squeezeboxson]

1 hour ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

One game at a time though.  Clyde will be hurting tonight, as will Airdrie, and there will need to be a similar performance next week.  

Yep, I have a feeling that about half the Airdrie squad will be particularly up for it next week. Especially given their disappointing opening day result.

I would have felt better if they had drawn or scraped a win today but they will be keen to get going for the season and the guys who have worn a sons shirt in the past will feel they have a point to prove and show they haven't stepped backwards when they turned down the offers we made them.

[aftershocker]

Will there be any highlights of this game?

[shawfield shed boy]

Firstly massive thanks to every supporter , player and official prior to kick off for showing their respect to those no longer with us & was very emotional moment

3pm - 4.45pm. Nothing short of disgraceful. Dumbarton comfortable and much deserved winners

Pre season Signings nowhere good enough and not one of the back 4 any better than McNiff or close...

Finially Goodwille. Left Mid. Thats like asking a baker to build a bridge & putting a recognised goalscorer further away from goal is sinply asking for that result yesterday..

Well done Dumbarton and you can be assured you wont finish below 9th this season with us in the league for now..

Yer Mithers Pride

 

 

[Fast_Action]

4 hours ago, aftershocker said:

Will there be any highlights of this game?

Highlights?   There were none.  I can't even pick a man of the match from that shambles.