JF-DAFC

Interesting thread going on on .net right now.... Folk laying into Jim McIntyre, Nipper Thomson regarding the Stephen Kenny era. Maybe old news to most, but not to me.

AJ's comments about losing goals makes me think Williamson or Martin (or both) could drop out, Talbot back in. Am I right in thinking Fordyce and Ashcroft can also play at full back?

ex-Ayr keeper Hutton training with the Pars today...

v Morton: R Scully; R Millen, G Buchanan, K McAusland, S Urquhart, A Whittle; A Geggan, J Falkingham, D Hopkirk; A Barrowman, F El Bakhatoui Subs v Morton: Lewis Spence, Declan O'Kane, Shaun Byrne, Ryan Thomson, Lewis Allan, Michael Moffat, Ryan Goodfellow (GK)

Wallace is the big miss but Geggan's form for most of this season has had a huge effect too. Genuinely think that if Geggan & Moffat had been scoring anything like last season we'd be top. Saying that though, Husband (despite the free-kick myths) chipped in with important goals too. Has Ryan Thomson scored this season???

​small aside on Potter's weekly update... "Ryan Wallace has been counted out for the season"

McIntyre did improve us season on season but was too naive when we went up to the SPL, he thought we could play the same system & compete. He wanted to play 4-4-2 with Mason & Hardie in centre midfield, they dominated in the Championship but had nowhere near enough legs to do it in a 4-4-2 in the SPL. When we realised that wouldn't work we tried to go 4-5-1 but none of our strikers could play up front on their own. Then we tried 3-5-2 but we had fucking Ozzie McCann and that Thomson felly who ended up at the Rovers trying to be wingbacks. Good god, no. After January when Thomson got sent back to Hearts we even had Paul Willis and Paul christing Burns at right wingback. Eventually we got Jordan McMillan in to sort the problem but by this time Gallagher was injured & we had Chris Smith in goals so 9 out of 10 shots on target or crosses into our 6 yard box ended up in our net. In summary, McIntyre had assembled a decent squad, but once the 4-4-2 idea was scrapped we really had no idea how to fit them into a starting 11. He's obviously learned from that though.

Did Jimmy C really play with wingers though? IIRC it was usually 3 in the middle with wingbacks. To be fair to JJ & Potter the weird one-winger formation did work for a while when we had Cardle on the left & Wallace drifting wide on the other side. That's been over a year now that it hasn't been working though. Potter seems determined to keep it

Rumours that his attitude is shyte. I dunno about any of that, but I remember reading an interview with him earlier in the season where he seemed to think he'd done really well for us & I was a bit bamboozled at the time.

Andy Stirling is away on loan to Stirling Albion for the remainder of his contract.

how did he react?

Actually I'm forgetting how much of a terrible signing Stirling turned out to be too.

Just as well, really.

...and also because he's missed a fair amount of complete sitters. The recent miss against Stranraer gives me nightmares. Agree that he does good work around the pitch but the chances he's missed have been ridiculous at times. We saw he had the ability to score early in the season but his heed's obviously gone in regards to finishing. Even his goal the other week (his only one in 20-odd games, christ!) was deflected in. Barrowman is a carthorse but at least he has the ability to bludgeon the ball over the line occasionally. Moff seems scared to get in positions to score unless he's done all the hard work himself. Geggan and Falkingham are the two biggest let downs this season. Unbelievable that they've performed so badly after being key players for the previous two seasons. Geggan in particular was crucial last season. This season he's hardly even deserved a game.

Lewis Allan to sign on loan from Hibs, apparantly.

How have I never seen this? 100% gold.

Amazing!

I think Thommo's time is up when Forbes, Falkingham, Geggan & Husband have either left, been dropped or playing in a different position & he still can't get a start in midfield. Shame cos I like him too.

the word on .net is that Williamson will only be out for 2-3 weeks, great news if true. we'll find out on JJ's weekly interview on COWS the morn hopefully.

I'm genuinely at a loss as to why the goals have dried up so badly in the last 9 months... this time last season we were winning 3-2, 4-2, 5-4 just about every week! I know we've lost Husband & Wallace has been out but other than that we're practically the same side, playing more or less the same (wingless) formation...

Wallace injured AGAIN?!

they all got 90 mins too, so hopefully won't be far off first team football. Wallace is a key player for us but he's made of really cheap brittle chocolate, hopefully Gozie can get a good understanding with the Moff.

eh? that was one game! anyway, I think JJ prefers a back 4 but the lack of width we had at the end of the season (or because Forbes never settled into a 4-man midfield) made him go with wingbacks. Had he figured this out earlier it might've made a difference but it wasn't till the semi 2nd leg. Also don't think Williamson can play in a back 4. I think we're likely to see a return to the 4-5-1 / 4-3-3 formation with 3 central mids & two wide strikers / wingers either side of a target man & if we keep everyone that's under contract we've ALMOST got the players to do that. GK: ? LB: Whittle CB: Martin CB: ? RB: Millen CM: Geggan CM: Falkingham CM: Forbes LF: Wallace CF: ? RF: Fez / Smith Don't think Husband will stay if Forbes does, time's surely up for Thomson, Young hasn't had a great season (despite a couple good games recently) & Grainger & Morris will definitely be away imo. Would love to see Scully back for another season at least.