bunglebonce

I think that was less naughty step and more Adams showing loyalty to the XI who won the semi. Lawson was injured at the semi-final. Looking back, it's a pity we never saw the quartet of Brittain-Lawson-Kettlewell-Vigurs start the final, having looked so promising at the start of that season and then having a great 2011/12 together. You can't argue against sticking with what got them to the final, however. Lawson was on the naughty step for four months in late-2012, however. I've said it repeatedly that had we played Lawson rather than persisting with Mark Fotheringham as the holding midfielder during that time, County would have turned a few more losses into draws and finished ahead of either or both of ICT and St Johnstone that season. The new naughty step is going to be for one of the strikers for sure.

There were times when Adams's teams were good to watch, but let's not forget that his teams could shitfest their way through matches with the worst of them. I do know you posted that playfully, but Adams himself loves to go along with the entertaining football propaganda (as many others have in the past eg Yogi).

Slew. It must have been the first transfer of the window in the UK.

County haven't had a striker who could be a nuisance both with pace and strength since. Again, shame about the goal scoring record, but a diddy team can build a side around those strengths.

I've missed Slew ever since he left. I thought he was just an extra 5% away from clicking and being a 12-15 goal striker. His finishing ranged from very unlucky to rubbish, however. He's been used by Adams at Morecambe as a left-winger in a 4-2-3-1 which tells a story. He was signed on loan on 1 January, just in time for the derby in Inverness. County had been toiling for the first half of the season without any presence up front. All of a sudden we had a striker that could occupy two defenders, could play with his back to goal, spin his marker and stretch the pitch. Pity about the finishing. Adams then signed Yoann Arquin which put Slew down the pecking order in that loan spell, but I much preferred Slew. Slew wasn't an affordable option long-term, so I can see why Adams had to plan for not having him. Songo'o used to be great at pinging low passes into Slew's feet (which was in contrast to the Scott Boyd floaty long ball). There were times when Songo'o looked like a superstar, but he wasn't consistent with it.

You could just about fashion a 4-2-3-1 out of this squad, but then all of a sudden there are too many centre-forwards.

Going by Transfermarkt, Songo'o (32 yrs now) is a defensive midfielder in Morecambe's standard 4-2-3-1, Slew (31) is an inverted left-winger and Max Melbourne is the fringe left-back. @Savage Henry Graham Carey played his best football as a number 10 at Plymouth under Adams.

Adams snr and Adams jnr were very entrenched by the end. Adams snr sacked jnr, but IIRC that was because Adams snr wouldn't let the chairman speak to the manager and had to go through the director of football for communication. Maybe enough water has gone under the bridge since... I don't have a great gut feeling about it, however.

As an antidote to the last 12 months, I'd prefer to see a team that plays with a bit of ambition middle-to-front. Malky's team stopped doing that over a year ago and Davidson's team never started.

See also: The General Ross County Thread for the last 2.5 years. Next manager please.

Coyle was sacked as the biggest diddy of the lot. Derek Adams (first spell) 13 years ago left on his own terms, to be Colin Calderwood's assistant at Hibs. Jimmy Calderwood's short-term contract wasn't renewed at the end of that 10/11 season (after the short-term Willie McStay disaster). Yogi's interim contract wasn't renewed before Malky was hired. Everyone else has been sacked since, I think?

I was reading that on the new page and wondered if you had changed your tune.

Technically, they could do a lot worse than Lennon. But I don't like him. I don't have a preferred candidate, just happy that Malky has left.

Follow the National Cycle Network route, Stagsby. https://explore.osmaps.com/?lat=57.537811&lon=-4.341943&zoom=14.3973&style=Standard&type=2d&overlays=os-ncn-layer

I think what was missing was a semblance of attacking structure or patterns. Long throws and balls down the touch line for Simon Murray don’t count.

St Johnstone deserved the three points for producing the only moments of quality in the match (Clark's shot out of nowhere, Carey's hit). County got what they deserved. Not one meaningful chance from a team lacking ambition, quality, any width whatsoever on the right side. Considering the opposition and the circumstances, that was pound-for-pound one of the more depressing Ross County performances of the last decade. County were only really missing Brown and Brophy (and Brophy isn't a guaranteed starter), so if this is the best Malky can come up with then he needs to go before the window.

The tannoy uses the same tone as Invergordon swimming pool. There’s a belter of a mullet among the home young team. Those are the only highlights I can think of.

Two passes out of touch by County’s defenders in the first five minutes…

County with a 5-3-2. Five non-adventurous defenders and a target man up front. Football is going to die a slow death today.

I’m sure Henderson did his hamstring recently after Malky was in the press, saying that he was impressed by Henderson’s deliveries and was just getting him up to speed tactically etc like with Dhanda last year.

@RandomGuy. the danger of watching with bleary eyes. Carey loves to drift inside anyway so I thought nothing of that.

I saw the second half of last night's match. I think that midfield four isn't bad at all and fits the Levein narrow midfield prototype. However, as solid as McGowan at right-back might be, the team is missing something without an overlapping right-back there. If they had that, I think Phillips as the right-sided midfielder isn't a bad option. Costelloe as a starter there is probably too liberal with his positioning, if Carey is on the other side. St Johnstone fans have been saying that Kane would make a difference when he returned. I do think he looked a huge improvement last night on what I saw in Dingwall earlier in the season. He's like a competent Zak Rudden. I expect County will continue with the 4-2-2-2 used recently, but they will be hampered by James Brown's suspension. He has been one of County's best players this season and, presuming Connor Randall covers at right-back, it will be clear how much County rely on Brown to make things happen. I have the fear for the lack of width there might be from that, so they would surely have to start Murray and Brophy together to try to make up for that. However, White returned vs Celtic and was promptly sacrificed, so I can see Malky repaying White with a start again. Randall moving to right-back frees up a midfield slot, possibly with Loturi dropping deeper beside the increasingly impressive Allardice. That would justify having Dhanda and Turner in the team together again. The loss at Pittodrie showed that you can't really trust a midfield three with Dhanda and Turner together, but if they had two holding midifelders behind them then they can both focus more on what they do best. TL;DR: this game has a narrow shitfest written all over it.

There goes wee Max’s career. Levein teams’ average height for central players is about 6’3”.

Kettlewell never got a transfer window to sort it. Yogi got the benefit of Kettlewell already having set up the Naismith (second spell) signing. Naismith was already on the way down with his career by then, but his presence went a long way to sorting out the problems that Kettlewell had. Having said that, the problems Kettlewell is facing now are largely his own doing. I was surprised he ended up shaping the whole squad with no plan B in mind.

I don’t know how accurate transfermarkt is for League 2, but this covers his 12 league appearances.