steviemay17
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Posts posted by steviemay17
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34 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:
Wide CBs who could get forward. WBs who could cause problems without support. CMs who could use the ball under pressure and cover the whole park. Attacker who can do everything alone.
All things i think you seem to need for it to be effective.
I don't want this to happen because it would be a disaster, but on paper Phillips has the pace and tenacity to be the pressing player and Macpherson thinks he's prime Xabi Alonso so that could be the most frustrating duo of all time to watch
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2 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:
5-2-3, here we go again.
I imagine you saw this doing any analysis but was the only reason that we could ever get a 5-2-3 working in the first place because McCann was clearly an excellent player alongside an intelligent player like bryson or Craig and now we have no ball winner and no intelligent midfielders either?
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for all the honking players we've brought in and given long contracts too, also worth remembering that we literally had to pay Bair and Mahon to leave, both players who surely would've been upgrades on what we had this season. I know Bair maybe needed a change and blah blah but he's still going to be more useful than Jephcott for instance
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I gave up my ST at the end of last season because I realised I was actively dreading going to games and reached a point of apathy.
I think for me the reason for that was seeing CD consistently put out a team which had no clear plan to score goals and win games, there were no obvious patterns of play or ideas, it just looked like he put out the best players to fit the formation, and then figured that if we didn't concede then someone at some point would do something to result in a goal.
All I want to see is someone with a plan, I always felt with Tommy Wright he had a plan to win the game. Sometimes it was utterly awful, the Aberdeen semi final sticks in the mind where we lost 4-0 and also I'm sure we were 5-0 down to Celtic at HT once, but more often than not I could understand what the plan was, I knew the players would give it all to make it happen and it was enjoyable to see that play out.
Hopefully we can get back towards that kind of format, 7/8 committed players who can be solid and earn us the right to play, and then some game changers that we're excited to go and watch. Realistically this season our best technical player has been Carey... but like what's he going to do well? Put in some good crosses? It's not something to really get that excited about
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What would we actually get for Mitov this summer? Have the fear we're set for another round of Peterborough offering £200k over 4 years with 10% sell on type bids
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17 minutes ago, GorbalsMags said:
Two most significant players keeping us up this season from absolutely wee guys from the lower reaches of England. That's what we should be aiming for.
As long as they are more like this and not Cleveland Taylor or Michael Coulson-esque
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8 minutes ago, GorbalsMags said:
They're completely different players but Cammy has more grit to him and replaced Sven well when he got crocked. I've been sympathetic to him since the mid/end of last season and thought he developed into a fine squad player.
I don't actually know what's worse, Max seems to have no confidence left and just plays a short ball every time which might find his man but does nothing for us, of MacPherson who in his head seems to think he's Xabi Alonso and just spraying passes left and right which never come off but maybe one day they will
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maybe we can finally star signing players who are in the ascendancy of their career and ready to test at a higher level rather than proven failures who seem to have lost motivation and just need one sucker of a club to give them a final payday before they drop into part time football
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I remember it used to be fearing the end of the season because of who we might lose, under TW we didn't have a huge turnover of players if I recall correctly. This time I honestly can't remember seeing so many names that I would so happily gtf.
Guys like Smith and Olufanwa should be easy enough to move back down south like Jephcott did, maybe McClelland as well but he seemed to do okay out on loan?
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Wouldn't hate Levein staying as DOF and getting Macpherson to f*ck but imagine that means Kirk would take over and there's nothing inspiring about that
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25 minutes ago, Kyle said:
I don't get Dan Phillips. I've never been particularly sold on him but his link to clubs like Hearts completely baffles me. I'm not sure he's got any of the basic footballing skills in his locker. He can do ridiculous pirouettes that I'm sure will look fabulous in a highlight reel, but honestly, what is he actually for?
Thought MacPherson was awful in the first half too. He was excellent at picking out the players in the opposition right enough.
The day the release list comes will be cathartic. I want at least 15 names on there, not including the manager.
Has Phillips somehow earned a decent move on the back of a few nice touches in games vs Celtic when we're already 3 down?
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Spoiler
First game I've been able to get to all season tonight. Have been able to grasp the ineptitude from a distance but always good to see it with your own eyes, a few things just honestly seemed amateurish though
1) were our players wearing studs? So many on their arse throughout, Sidibeh slipped every time he tried to change direction
2) Are we unable to pump up the balls properly or was someone on either bench trying to perform some kind of regular juju from the sidelines, never seen a ball changed so often throughout a game.
3) Saints players are scared of the ball, especially from throw ins, just stand watching and sort of point into space but never run after it, bonus sh*tbag points to those who hide behind players and then jump up and down and ask for it knowing it can't come to them (looking at you Cammy MacPherson)
4) Speaking of MacPherson, I think he genuinely has really nice technique and strikes a ball well, but so do I and I'm sh*t. So many times he plays a needless 20/30 pass in the air without any pace so he can stand and admire but it actually puts his teammate in trouble every time,
5) I think terms like dinosaur and game has passed them by are used far too much, but Levein really seems out of his depth tactically, the crowning glory was leaving four players up on the halfway line when County had a corner late in a game, no depth, nobody on the edge of the box to offer any kind of transition, just a small wall of players vs their big wall of players to hump a long ball at. A lot of football is just playing percentages, having players in the best places to succeed and just putting odds in their favour, Levein doesn't do that. It's why well-organised teams are boring but get results, we are badly organised, lack athleticism and lack quality, it's not a good recipe
6) Another reason Macpherson has really irritated me, early in the first half we pinned them in and won a throw in near the corner flag and a chance to keep pressure, he took it 30 yards further up the pitch and very nearly played one of their players in on goal, it's just mystifying to watch sometimes, I can understand getting beaten by a better team, but why can't we make logical decisions?
7) What the hell happened to Liam Gordon? I remember him as a fairly tenacious player, aggressive in the tackle and in the air, solid and dependable, he looks like he can't move and can't anticipate at all. I think it was him who was very lucky not to give away a penalty when he was ball watching and took a wild swing in the box, also completely sh*t it and contributed to that calamity before we scored when we nearly played their striker in from a throw in when trying to chase the game, he looks terrified and it's a problem
My big concern is that we're not good enough for the playoffs, Raith and Partick both seem to have goals in them but concede a lot, but we just concede easily and make attacking look very difficult indeed
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I'm kind of fascinated to see how this works out with Sibideh and Kimpioka, the main thing we keep hearing about is pace, and of course we are crying out for some in the team, but is that the trait we really should be looking for in a striker?
I've had a bit of a fascination over the years between our leagues and the English leagues, from the point of view of which players thrive in one setting but look honking in another, and often come back to interviews where English players talk about the relentless pace of the game up here. Of course it's overly simplistic, but I do think there's something to the theory that the Scottish game is played at a crazy pace and a lot of physicality is nullified as a result, so players who have that bit of composure and footballing intelligence to find and understand space are the ones who thrive. On the flip side, a lot of English football is very "samey" these days with players clearly coached the same way in academy sides and technically solid, so anyone with extra physicality tends to stand out because they break the cycle of sideways passing by using their physical traits and a lot of players aren't used to that.
Thinking back over recent years in terms of Saints and the players who have really stood out are the ones with footballing intelligence, the composure to actually take a second to think and see the space in the chaos around them. For me that's players like Wotherspoon, Swanson, McCann, MacLean, Jody Morris, Chris Millar etc. In this current team, Carey isn't on their level, but he's the one who stands out because he tries to think on the ball rather than just relentlessly running.
The only exception for us that really comes to mind is Michael O Halloran, his footballing intelligence and anticipation was nonexistent but his pace was incredible, yet once he was figured out and lost some of his quickness he offered nothing very quickly. In his prime he could've been a genuine mid-Championship level striker down south, it's also why I think Dan Phillips will probably end up moving for 1-2 million in the future once he goes back down there because his physicality will allow him to bully a lot of players and he'll look outstanding.
Working as a scout for a team down south for a while, when it came to strikers, the management team were obsessed with guys like Innih Effiong who was genuinely rotten for Ross County but was unplayable at a decent level down there because of his physicality, it's also how carthorses like Ikpeazu got big moves as well.
Looking at some of the more prolific strikers outside the OF over the years, the vast majority were particularly average at best when it comes to physicality:
Adam Rooney, Billy McKay, Lewis Moult, Kevin Van Veen, Liam Boyce, Lawrence Shankland, Michael Higdon, Stephen Dobbie, Kris Doolan, Greg Stewart, Steven Fletcher, Nadir Ciftci (not the imposter that we saw). There will be more, and not all of them are star names but all good strikers at this level. Even looking back through the list of top scorers earlier in the center to guys like Riordan, O'Connor, McFadden, Goodwillie, Stephen Thompson, weren't thought of as pacey players either and players like Boyd, Stokes, Naismith etc probably fall into a similar category.
The only out-and-out pace merchant who's consistently good that I can think of is Martin Boyle, so honestly I'm excited to see if what we have now makes a difference. It also makes future recruitment interesting, because if we're signing players from down south who aren't overly prolific then they'll get a lukewarm reception at best, but maybe there's something to recruiting strikers who fit the model of player who have had success here rather than looking at raw stats. It probably also means nothing if the rest of the team is slow and can't string any passes together in fairness
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Maybe Levein is still bitter about the whole 4-6-0 and plans to keep us up in the playoff against Dundee United fielding a 0-6-4 formation before sailing off into the sunset
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does anyone know how much we're paying Crawford? Have to think it's at least 2k a week if nobody can come close to taking it on and honestly wonder if it's around double that
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Obviously he'd end ups coring a goal that puts us down, but May going on loan to Livi and scoring the playoff winner over Dundee United would be beautiful
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Could end up being a Liam gordon type signing who just needs a chance at the top level and excels, could be a Brad McKay and just isn't quite good enough for the level but would rather we take a punt on someone like Smith who might develop and either become a mainstay or go on for a fee over the Ali Crawford type signings every single time
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Does this mean we can now unleash a "£10m" strike force of Kimpioka and Jephcott if they were allegedly touted for £5m moves at fairly recent points in their careers?
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I do wonder how much of him was arrogant enough that win given the ultimatum, to half arse the approach with the new formation in an attempt to demonstrate that "this is what happens when you deviate from the masterplan" and he thought it would give him more time
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Burnley just giving us players so we can play this friendly later in the week?
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Regardless of what happens this season, at least we might have some of the joy and intrigue that football should bring coming back to us again. A few worried posts about how these signings are "gambles" and that's because they are, but isn't that kind of the point as well?
CD's signing policy felt like it was to remove every last bit of "gamble" out of the club, it was signing proven players who turned out to be exactly what we knew they were going to be. There's so many I've lost count but Considine, Carey, Murphy, McGowan, Clark, Crawford and so many more have turned out exactly as we knew they would - solid enough, just about kept us in the division but there was no joy, no mystery, their ceiling had been hit, they weren't going to improve, they didn't really have anything to prove and we were never selling them for a fee so it was money down the drain.
Our signings this summer might turn out to be pish, we might end up going down, but under CD and that playing style/policy we were never going to trouble the top six and would go down eventually - What we're doing now might put us down quicker, but it could also make us fun to watch, push for a top half place and Euopean football again and we might even get lucky and sell a few for decent fees to make up for the mess that's happened behind the scenes lately.
Of course I'm worried about this season, but at least I feel a bit interested and excited to see how these players and also the manager develop, it's better than having the same old pish like before.
Also slightly disagree that two year deals on these types of players are a huge risk, if they're dreadful there will always be an English League Two/Conference team who'll take them on, but nobody is ever going to take the likes of Considine or Crawford off our hands, so the gamble does feel lessened.
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Largely unreliable but I also sign McLelland for Saints on FM because his attributes for bravery and leadership are off the charts, even if that's half true, this team needs some leaders so you never know
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37 minutes ago, Radford said:
Probably something as simple as them waiting for the clearance for Jephcott before announcing it.
I'm kind of fascinated with every announcement when it's said "x has signed subject to international clearance"... has it ever, ever been denied?
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I get this isn't really what we should be looking for in a manager, but it's kind of nice to be back to the Tommy Wright days where we have someone who will happily fight anyone and probably win, it brings a level of intensity and fear.
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Double Winning St Johnstone FC Thread
in Scottish Premiership General Chatter
Posted
I see that Turner Cooke got a start for Newcastle as they got pumped 8-0 by the A-League all star team, that defender Macca missed out on Courtney-Perkins seemed to have played and scored in that too