Rjc-1988

Set pieces - we used to be great at both ends - attacking and defending them. Durnan was a huge part of that but for some inexplicable reason Messrs Brownlee, Dowie and Higgins have become vulnerable at one end and a minimal threat at the other. Can't believe that we do not have smaller players deployed on both posts. I can think of several headed goals that we have conceded that might well have been avoided with posts being patrolled. The headed goal at Albion being a good recent example.

Main difference that I see from the McIntyre/Fowler team that finished 4th in a very tough league is the lack of young progressive players in our squad. We are now packed full of players at the wrong end of their careers. Apart from Marshall and possibly Dykes the squad is bereft of youthful enthusiasm and like so many Championship sides we are basically reliant on solid journeymen. If we are to outperform our status we have to recruit much better and our Dev squad has to produce players of genuine first team quality. Although players like McShane, Holt, Reilly, Durnan and Carmichael have probably not gone on to fulfill their full potential they are exactly the types that we are lacking on the Palmy conveyor belt. We are not alone in this - Falkirk are the same at present and are struggling a bit by their standards.Ayr and Raith are broadly the same. Morton on the other hand have a good crop of potential climbers in Lindsay, Russell, Quitongo,Nisbet. No coincidence that they are having their best season in a long time. Clearly a very difficult puzzle to solve but for us to be successful (i.e top 4 position we need 4/5 progressive types to supplement the good experienced players that we currently have. A great scouting/development system can find these players but in past couple of seasons we have fallen into the trap of signing too many players at wrong end of career and are paying the price of that.

There is absolutely no doubt that we need a central midfielder and Low could fit the bill if he can stay fit. As others have said - last thing we need is another injury prone player. Mark Stewart affectionately described by some as a driverless speedboat (as the name suggests) is a player that performs at 100mph and is a bit unpredictable.That said he has no problem scoring against us. Very difficult to make really shrewd acquisitions at this time of the year but we desperately need new blood and these names are not the worst.

For me the Club are obliged to start the season with a squad of about 20/24 players. The problem is that they couldn't afford to pay this number of players the full going rate for a full time first team regular. They counterbalance this by making up the squad with some local youngsters who presumably still live with parents etc and who can survive via the Bank of Dad. The problem with this strategy is that if you sustain the number of long term injuries that we do season after season we are left with 11/14 players that the Manager is comfortable playing. In normal circumstances 4/5 of our regulars should have been dropped long before now but there is clearly no confidence in these young fringe players. Two guys that immediately spring to mind are Atkinson and Hooper. Atkinson is in danger of breaking records for most bench appearances and really he is a pretty decent keeper so he desperately needs to get a move elsewhere as keeping him this capacity is not fair to him. Hooper is in same boat - looks a steady enough defender and again he has to move on if he has not broken through. I maintain that if these young players are not regulars by the time they are 20 at latest they are not good enough.

BigDavieT - I disagree strongly with Gary Naysmith's comments about the young players. In other sports we have youngsters in their teens or very early 20s emerging as World No 1s. We are surely stretching things to suggest that coming off the bench for a mid table Championship side like Queens is in some way asking too much of youngsters in their prime of fitness. Let's not kid ourselves the reason why the same young players fill the bench week after week, month after month is nothing to do with inexperience - it is simply because the Managers making the decisions do not think that they are good enough.

On the subject of late goals we have a dreadful record over the years - for some inexplicable reason no matter who is in charge we seem to sit deeper and deeper in last 10 mins of games. We invite trouble and invariably get it. In the last few years AJ was not guilty of this but before him Chisholm was, Brannigan was, McPherson was, McIntyre was, Fowler was, Skelton was and we can give Naysmith benefit of doubt for now. It is illogical to claim that with so many different Managers they all do the same thing but sadly that is my experience.

QOS 19 alludes to the fact that our problems are not really upfront - to be fair most Queens fans probably agree with that. I must admit that I feel that without Dobbie we are seriously limited in attacking areas. Our midfield is dreadful (none of the players chip in with goals on a semi regular basis) and the lack of creativity is there for all to see. In addition they do not protect back 4 in the way that McKenna and Burns did.Up top Dykes has completely lost his form and his finishing has been erratic, Anderson is a trier but really lacks quality, Lyle is absolved from any criticism but is not the ideal foil for Dobbie. Rigg is simply not good enough and Hilson and Danny have to prove that they can be relied upon to play a full season injury free.There were countless games at the start of this horrendous run where we defended pretty well but lost games because we couldn't convert any of the numerous chances that came our way. Last night if you take out Dobbie's shots and dangerous crosses there was virtually nothing else.I would conclude that we are painfully short up front but midfield is the big problem. The defence is not great but I think it could come good if the midfield started to protect them properly. Relegation is now a massive reality - drastic action required in transfer window because nobody could possibly trust this squad to get us out of trouble. Sad to say but all trust has gone and while there are definitely players that we want to keep we need to find a backbone and to do that reinforcements required. Manager has made a big error coming here at this time and I suspect that we have made an error in appointing a relative novice. Hope I am wrong on all counts but this collapse is so deep rooted that drastic action required.

It is hard to imagine such a promising and entertaining start to the season degenerating in to such a thoroughly depressing state of affairs. We looked so much better than Albion and Dumbarton - in terms of footballing ability we were streets ahead of both. To lose both games in these circumstances was a very sad reflection on how low this team has sunk in recent weeks. On the positive we try and play football the right way but teams seem to find it easy to mug us week after week. In the last few weeks you can add Raith and Ayr to Dumbarton/Albion and we start to see a picture emerging. It is almost breathtaking to see how easily the players seem to let such mediocre teams beat us on a meagre ration of about 2/3 half chances a game. If we were being cut open continually in open play and struggling to retain possession it would be a different story. It is sad to see a good passing team becoming so gutless and rudderless. Hopefully the new Manager will not be fooled into thinking that he is inheriting a great squad that is simply unlucky week after week because this malaise is becoming a deep rooted problem. Notwithstanding the disappointing loss of a promising Manager the players are really letting themselves down as a group and the Albion loss was simply soul destroying. 9th place now looks a worry but in all honesty if we can't finish above that Dumbarton team over the course of a season then we deserve all that we get.

In terms of missed opportunity I dont think it is exaggerating too much to say that last nights result was one of the most disappointing in our long history. I would add that Albion are only a League below us so I dont think we can flatter ourselves by saying that it was a big shock but the manner of the defeat and the unprofessional nature of it simply highlights that this group of players are pretty spineless and to use that overused Managerial term "lack character". I am choosing my words carefully but the run of defeats, the manner of these defeats and the complete lack of leadership on the pitch was in full evidence last n The naivety displayed in the last few minutes was unbelieveable - our two central midfielders at that point were Millar and Dykes ( who incidentally was woeful from start to finish last night). Neither of them are remotely interested in tactical awareness and thinking about protecting the back 4. There wasnt a single thought about keeping things tight at the back - when they went down to 10 men we had nobody on or off the park who seemed to grasp the importance of the occasion. Given our lack of chances to equalise, a draw would have been a great outcome - we simply had to stay in the Cup at all costs. When you see the winning goal on Sky our players had ample opportunity to defend that attack but player after player failed to do their job. Nobody took responsibility. This squad is miles behind the teams that finished in Play Off positions under McIntyre and Fowler - the attitude, tactical awareness and desire is just not at the same level. Yes we had disappointing results and performances in that period but the players invariably dug deep and bounced back. This group just dont have it and it remains to be seen if a new Manager can somehow get a reaction.

The big thing for me is players standing up and being counted - only Jordan Marshall and possibly Kyle Jacobs for me have played at a decent level over past few weeks and even some of our stalwarts have been hopelessly out of touch. One would hope that no matter who is in the dugout the players will raise their game way beyond what has been delivered recently. Let's dispel any notion that we are vastly superior to Rovers - in a one off game there is likely to be absolutely nothing between the teams and with home advantage they will seriously fancy their chances. From memory Cliftonhill is a big surface so an opportunity to use the width and show that we are a much better team than recent results would suggest.

Totally agree - sincerely hope that the players can turn round this abysmal run of form. The financial upside is massive as it is for Rovers. This will be an extremely tough assignment - and we had better be prepared for a battle on a surface that is unlikely to be conducive to silky football. Not sure exactly how many warriors we have in our ranks but if we play anywhere near the level that we have been playing to recently I fear the worst. That said it would a great time to turn things around - by far our biggest game of the season and massive in the context of next years budget.

Sad to see the shambles that this season is fast becoming. It is not just the defeats but the manner of the losses. A complete lack of quality and when our heads go down into the bargain you could drive a bus through the midfield and defence. The Dobbie signing is a two edged sword- on the one hand great to get him but with so little quality to support him one wonders if it is really worth the scale of the reported wage bill. That said without his key goals we would be in a pretty dangerous position. I wonder if he will actually see out the two year deal because this was not the way that this return visit was meant to turn out. The team that was fielded today was give or take the only viable option and when you look at that bench there is no game changing possibility. Some serious thinking required because the next managerial appointment needs to be a good one.We now actually look much easier to beat than we did last year under James Fowler. Yes it was turgid stuff last year no doubt about that but the recent performances against Morton, DUFC and today at Hibs bear unfavourable comparison with most of last season where we were invariably hard to to turn over. Today was embarassing and we made Hibs look a lot better than they are in reality.

Good to get update from Physio on QOS site. It makes dire reading and what makes matters worse is 4 serious injuries incurred in training and one in a warm up!!!!!! Honestly you could hardly make that up. Encouraging to hear that we are looking for renforcements because we desperately need them but as Mark Blount rightly says there is no point in signing bodies for the sake of it - they have to be materially better than the young players that we have at our disposal.

A friend of mine has only been at two games this season - hibs at home and Dumbarton away. He said after the Dumbarton visit that he thought that we would be doing well to stay out of bottom 4. Initially I thought his assessment harsh but after yesterday I am not so sure. The Dobbie signing was a tremendous coup but with our midfield so weak and predictable we are really struggling to give him the sort of service that he really needs to capitalise on. When he plays left midfield he obviously feels obliged to track back and as we all know that is not what he is about. Our weakness at left mid was clear for all to see yesterday as Ross Forbes was given the run of the park and I am not sure what our match analyst reported to Gavin Skelton on Morton because anyone who knows Ross Forbes knows that you simply cannot show him inside on to that left peg. Having made that big investment on Dobbie - we are now at the crossroads. Do we plough on with depleted squad that we have or do we try and find a couple of midfielders. Not an easy task because we are only looking at out of contract players and/or loanees and it may well be the case that there is nobody available that is any better than what we have. If we can get Higgy back for next week it might be worth going with back 3 and pushing Hamill and Marshall into wide midfield roles. Anderson has lost his form badly and has been a passenger of late (allbeit a hardworking one) and the absence of a natural left midfielder is really hurting us. Next week is a huge game for us - win it and we can call the Morton defeat a one off but another defeat and we are very likely to be seen as a team that has been punching above our weight and are now slithering back to our more natural midtable position. It may just be my imagination but on the injury front over past 3 seasons or so we seem to be picking up a much higher percentage of long term injuries than hitherto. Still dont feel the feedback on injuries is very good at all. Hilson played the full 90 mins against Hibs, didnt seem to come off with any injury and then the next time he is seen at Dumbarton he is on crutches? will

Agree with earlier comments - some more info on injured players would be welcome. Can fully understand keeping quiet on injuries before matches but once a player is out it would good to get some sort of indication on seriousness etc.

Like most Queens fans I really rate Danny and I would be delighted to see him back but only if he is genuinely over this injury - dont think the artificial pitch helps Danny but one could argue that Easter Road is a great grass surface and his injury record there was far worse than anything he experienced at QOS. Maybe need to structure a deal that is based on appearances - hard on Danny but to be fair we have had horrendous luck with injury prone players over past few years.

Our injury curse is once again surfacing - can understand why club would not want to alert opponents to Hilson's injury but when did he sustain the injury?He played very well last few weeks and hard to imagine him going from that to appearing on crutches? Likewise Tapping disappeared from squad with most of us thinking initially that he was out of favour. It would be good to get an update. Our defence has done a terrific job in League so far - keeping things really tight when we have stuttered and the workrate of the entire squad has been outstanding.That said we are probably close to the stage where we need to think about a reinforcement or two if we can stretch the budget. If Tapping and Hilson are likely to be back soon then we might just about get by but if it is another lengthy absence then we are pretty light.

I dont think anybody is suggesting that Dobbie be rested - that would be crazy but in certain games where you expect to have limited possession and be forced to launch long balls to take some pressure off it makes no sense to have Lyle up top as the man having to give chase. That was undoubtedly a role for Dykes and we coulderhs have introduced Lyle later on. Given Rangers quality it is unlikely to have made any difference to the resul but it would have given us a better chance. That was always going to be a game where we had limited possession and pace was our only realistic chance of springing a surprise. For what its worth the Hibs game is another case in point where I suspect we will have a lack of possession and will need to hit on break so for me the front pairing should be Dobbie and Dykes with Lyle in reserve. There will be other games where Dobbie and Lyle will be a better option.

We have sadly joined an extremely long list of Scottish teams who have failed to perform in Glasgow against the Old Firm on the big stage. The reality is, of course, that Rangers are not nearly as poor a side as they are being made out to be - quite the reverse because under Warburton they are extremely difficult to play against - the tactics involve playing football the proper way, passing the ball and moving - pushing full backs high up the pitch and creating great width in final third. The central defence for them needs work but it is very difficult to get near them when you have such little possession. The Lyle : Dobbie combo was never going to work and it gave us no outlet in first half - ball was coming back relentlessly in that period. If the tactic is to soak up and hit on break you need at least one runner in a central role with pace. The reality was that we were dead on our feet in second half because of all the running without the ball. A very tough assignment but we could easily have gone out at Cappielow with no financial upside so not all bad - just disappointing to give such a poor account of ourselves on live TV. We have made a great start to season but this was a reality check and Hopefully we can regroup and get ready for a huge game on Saturday. Thought Hilson was our best player last night - he put in one hell of a shift.

Hilson can be a bit erratic but he was arguably our best player at Paisley and on Saturday despite not being at his best his pace caused Raith problems. As I said I dont think he will split up Lyle and Dobbie but for me if we are going to have a serious chance of upsetting the odds tomorrow we will need someone to try and play on shoulder of what is a pretty slow Rangers rearguard especially with Tavernier and Wallace bombing forward and leaving the centre backs exposed.We will be under a lot of pressure I would suspect and pace on the break will be vital. There is a lot of merit in sticking with the same line up given our exceptional results but sometimes it pays to look at the examination paper and see where we have the best chance of success. That said I dont think it would be an easy conversation with Derek Lyle.

I have to say that it maybe doesnt sound a lot but a pitch 3 yards longer and 1 yard wider makes quite a big difference especially when it is grass as opposed to astra. Ball will hold up much more on grass as well which is another factor to consider.

For the Rangers game I think we will need some pace and energy up top - i would go with :- Robinson Hamill Brownlie Dowie Marshall Anderson Millar Jacobs Hilson dobbie Dykes harsh on Lyle but we have our best chance if we go with pace up top to complement the craft of Dobbie.With that line up we can press their back four much harder - if we go with Del and Dobbie I fear that we will simply not cover the ground in Ibrox's wide open spaces. I sincerely hope that he goes with this line up but I dont think he will.

If you apply the same logic to the vast majority of our League games is it not just better to miss them all and wait for the condensed 9 minute highlights package on the website.

Things have got really bad - we are now having to muster some enthusiasm to go to Cup Quarter Finals at Ibrox because we have had to suffer an unusually high number of fixtures against Rangers!!! As Mustafa says after some of the turgid fixtures and displays that we witnessed in the late 80s and early 90s at games that meant absolutely nothing in the wider context you would think that a chance of a Semi Final place would be quite appealing - apparently not. Looking back on things it might have been better for us not to qualify for that double header Play Off after all - that would have meant two fewer games against Rangers that season and reduced the repetition.

I have been to every recent Rangers away game and I havent seen anything that I would class as anything other than infantile chanting which is pretty much the norm at any big away ground. If I compare an away visit to Ibrox now with trips to Brunton Park in the 70s when CUFC were in the Old English League 1 and teams like Chelsea, Leeds, Newcastle were in town then that is a frightening experience when hoolganism was at its peak. People can of course choose to do what they like with their valuable leisure time but the guys who post on here regularly give me the impression that they are all diehard QOS supporters and to give this game a miss for the reasons stated on the back of the run we have had surprises me.