Coventry Saint

It's been a while since I was this down about St Mirren, tbh. It's probably more a reflection of my general state of mind, to be fair, but Saints are singularly failing to provide any entertainment or escapism. Please, Goodwin: start Connolly, ditch the back three and get some midfielders in and about the final third. I want a 4-2-3-1. Tait - Fraser - McCarthy - Mason ------Erhahon - Doyle-Hayes --------- McAllister - Macpherson - Connolly ---------------- Obika -------------- With the wide men given absolute license to attack that fucking box at every opportunity. I'sd quite like to see Cammy in a more advanced role, too, as I think he can play in tight pockets of space and pick out a pass. Of course, we're actually going to get a 3-5-2 with a full back at RWB, a number 10 at LWB, two other fullbacks in the middle of defence, and two non-complementary strikers up top.

Very true. It'll be front and centre in our end-of-season highlight package.

Call me optimistic, but I definitely think it's a case of when - not if - we eventually score another league goal this season.

I was all up for giving the others a chance, but Obika has to be our first choice now. Dennis showed flashes of good movement before his injury, but I've seen very little since to justify starting him. In order, for the striking positions, I'd go: Obika > Erwin > Dennis > Jamie Langfield > Junior Morias.

Or: we scored a worldy and then competed in terms of possession without ever really looking like scoring again. I agree, it was a decent performance, but the same issues in that game plagued the Dundee United game, which I would also file under 'basically good, but largely toothless'.

I think 3-5-2 is one of those that always looks good on paper. Two strikers, packed midfield, bit of width... what's not to like? But it rarely works in practice. I love him to bits but Richard Tait should not be our main attacking outlet, as he was against United. It's too easy to pin the wing-backs back, turning it into a 5-3-2, with zero attacking width. As much as the league cup doesn't really matter, I think the game against Aberdeen will be a good progress test. That cup quarter final against them was my nomination for most disappointing game last season; we very much looked like this season's St Mirren. I want to at least lay a glove on them (Ethan's wonderstrike put a gloss on the league game).

It is! Misery Hunters it's called. Well worth a go. @MH-RD just pop my commission in the post m8.

You're welcome; I really enjoy it. I hope you stick with it as it's a great listen and I think you all come across well. Decent balance of opinions on there; I only hope you get some goals/wins to talk about soon. I am inclined to agree about the selections and the tactics: yesterday was a prime example for me. Looked for all the world like a 4-2-3-1 based on the selection; turns out we we'd rammed McGrath in at wing back again. Utterly baffling.

I was listening to the latest Misery Hunters podcast earlier on, and 2/3 of them were saying maybe we need an attacking coach. The third was saying Jim needs to go. I'm somewhere between the two. Thing is, if we got someone to coach the strikers, that won't necessarily change the team's attitude. Something just seems to break down in the final third. I don't want Jim out. I want him to be a success so much. He was one of my favourite ever Saints players (in a cult hero sort of way) and I desperately want him to make this work. But he just doesn't seem to be making it click. Bearing in mind this is, for me, a really quite good squad, it's tempting to wonder if a more experienced, more attacking manager would make them click.

I've not bothered today. We're awful.

Fair play: can't argue with the tombola.

Saw our line up and was delighted that we'd ditched the 3-5-2 but apparently McGrath is playing wingback again. Is Goodwin actually trying to get fired? It's the only explanation at this point.

It bores me shitless. Let's face it, even if fans were allowed in, the attendance on Wednesday would have been sub-2,000. I can kinda make my peace with it when they are glorified pre-season friendlies, but this is awful.

Baffling subs are spreading faster than Covid.

Fair play. I'm not sure much winds a set of fans up more than baffling selections and tactics. I think we're both in the same boat on that front. Purists would inevitably disagree, but I thought it was alright entertainment last night. Obviously a fraction as good as it would've been with fans - it's pretty easy to imagine the pantomime levels of seethe that Strapp would've had our fans in - but on the whole, as a game of two totally different halves, it was alright.

I'd say that's about spot-on. I'm not even necessarily saying we need to win them all, but the performances have got to be significantly better.

I hate to say it (again), but that 2nd-half striking combo of Erwin, Obika and Dennis was utterly mystifying. I wouldn't expect anybody who's ever seen more than a few games of football to be playing those three together. They're totally non-complementary as a three. Absolute dogshit. Obviously Morias isn't a striker in any of the normal measures, but at least he has other qualities. Watching us resorting to lumping it forward, over and over again, against opposition that we had totally bossed in the first half, for literally no reason, was heartbreaking. I'm not even sure you can entirely blame the Erhahon decision, because he and Doyle-HARRIS are pretty much like-for-like in terms of style.

Quick word about Morton: actually thought they really came onto a game in the second half and caused us a lot of problems. To what extent that was self-inflicted on our part, I don't know. But I think large parts of our first-half dominance were clearly due to Morton playing on their own 18-yard line, so it swings both ways. After 45 mins, I thought you were really going to be in trouble this season. But you looked far more like Hopkin's Livi in the second half - rattling our defence and forcing us to go long. Tap into that regularly and you'll be fine. Don't mean that to sound patronising; just my observations.

The subs were baffling. Of course playing with Obika, Dennis and Erwin in the same team is going to make us go long and completely ruin any shape we had. Foley looks ready for the glue factory and he's nowhere near my first XI now. Connolly looks dangerous and can't get a game. We still don't actually create many chances. Goodwin looks like he's settling on a 3-5-2 which would get picked apart by better teams and, as much as I love Tait, it's a bit weird that he's our main attacking outlet. I have to agree with what's been said above... Tommy Wright's potential availability has to be a factor here.

Pleased to see Madden received the memo about whether or not penalties are to be awarded to St Mirren this season. Jim's subs were awful. Again, Connolly looks dangerous. He's got to play more.

Found a dodgy stream. Would say I've been disappointed with Morton, but I think we were given fair warning about their lineup. Not sure how Fraser missed; not sure how Strapp is not only still on the park but not even on a yellow.

It's very odd. We've already shown in this group that we're here for the taking.

Ah, shit. I decided not to bother. Stuck a fiver on us to win/Obika any time at evens instead.

We know what Morias can do: work the ball boys three times as hard as usual.

Let's see what's come out the tombola tonight. Oh. I see. Back five as predicted... Foley and Erhahon behind McAllister, Morias and Obika up front? Maybe?