Jilted John Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 I’m quite happy with today’s performance. It was a bit of a free hit for us in many ways. I hope Brown is ok, he looked in a fair bit of pain and signalled to the bench straight away. Maybe if he’s injured we can go back to the Byrne/Stanton partnership that worked well last season. Stanton has been really poor for a while in that number 10 position. Get him back into the box to box role. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Certainly, if you were basing it only on our league cup campaign, I'd have us as play off hopefuls rather than league challengers - and certainly not the favourites some bookies have had us. I dunno, often the LC campaigns still reflect the tempo of pre season games so there is that to cling on to. Vaughan and Hanlon will help. Even then though we feel a couple of players short. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumswall Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 1 hour ago, CountryBumpkin said: Nothing wrong with passing a ball in any direction (as long as it remains on the field) but most decisions are down to movement and confidence. A lot of the times on Tuesday (haven't watched todays game), Freeman didn't get a lot of movement ahead of him to create space for passes. Hamilton was well marked, as was Smith for the most part when he came on and Mullin was hugging the touchline. I'd always be happier with a player retaining the ball rather than playing a low percentage ball that is more likely to be turned over. In saying that, he's new to the team, so far he's had two different players on his side with him, so not a lot of time to build up too much of a partnership and understanding. Like I said it's early days so I'm far from writing him off. I'm hopeful he will kick on but with his sideways and passing backwards he has often slowed down any attacking threat we've had when we had a chance to create something by playing the ball forward. He does seem to lack a little bit of confidence with that. I agree keeping the ball is more important than aimless channel balls constantly but he does need to be a bit more brave with his play at times. Defensively I think he seems solid enough while there are questions to be asked at certain things as well. These games while important for the financial gain are more about building those relationships/ understanding with players around you imo, but we don't often play with a settled winger on that side so he will have to adapt to that with mullin, connolly and Gibson all vying for that spot. I'm not writing him off. I think there's obviously a decent player there, I'm just not sure he's at the standard needed to go and win the league yet. Hopefully with time I'm wrong. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 1 hour ago, renton said: Certainly, if you were basing it only on our league cup campaign, I'd have us as play off hopefuls rather than league challengers - and certainly not the favourites some bookies have had us. I dunno, often the LC campaigns still reflect the tempo of pre season games so there is that to cling on to. Vaughan and Hanlon will help. Even then though we feel a couple of players short. Yeah this seems about right. We look pretty decent but nothing suggests we're looking at a title winning side. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 So far no Dick, and we're looking a bit suspect at the back...it may be heretical to say it, but I'd like to see Liam get a match. Stevenson looks excellent going forward, but it's a bit like Tumilty...offers a lot in the attack, I'm not as certain on the defensive. I think three CB with wingbacks is the sweet spot for Stevenson. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerieA Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 2 minutes ago, TxRover said: So far no Dick, and we're looking a bit suspect at the back...it may be heretical to say it, but I'd like to see Liam get a match. Stevenson looks excellent going forward, but it's a bit like Tumilty...offers a lot in the attack, I'm not as certain on the defensive. I think three CB with wingbacks is the sweet spot for Stevenson. Suspect at the back!Away you go! That being said I would’ve brought Dick on for Murray today when he went down injured. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Saying we're suspect at the back is a bit harsh. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jilted John Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 6 minutes ago, TxRover said: So far no Dick, and we're looking a bit suspect at the back...it may be heretical to say it, but I'd like to see Liam get a match. Stevenson looks excellent going forward, but it's a bit like Tumilty...offers a lot in the attack, I'm not as certain on the defensive. I think three CB with wingbacks is the sweet spot for Stevenson. Suspect at the back? I don’t think we’ve looked suspect at the back at all. We look a hell of a lot more assured than last season. I also can’t see him benching Mullen, Connolly, Easton and Gibson which is what would happen if we played with wingbacks. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TxRover Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 1 minute ago, Jilted John said: Suspect at the back? I don’t think we’ve looked suspect at the back at all. We look a hell of a lot more assured than last season. I also can’t see him benching Mullen, Connolly, Easton and Gibson which is what would happen if we played with wingbacks. OK, I've watched the games and we've seen a good bit of scrambling in front of the net, it could just be people still learning to play together...or it could be more. I said that wingback is the sweet spot, not that IM should be playing a 3-5-2 or whatever. Now, with Brown possibly out a few games, there is a bit of shuffling to go on...and Freeman isn't looking a defensive stalwart yet either...so tossing Freeman and Stevenson into the mixer with the other midfielders, while playing dealers choice of three of Murray, Dick, Hanlon and Fordyce in the back is interesting...but only an observation. Of all our signings, Stevenson has had the most clear impact, but also seems a wee bit out of place in the 4-2-3-1...but perhaps that's just because pairing Stevenson and Freeman wide is two attacking focused FB's at once, where we have had one of our FB's as more defence minded most of the recent seasons. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 I don't think there's much between Dick and Stevenson defensively but Stevenson offers much more on the ball. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 4 minutes ago, Ro Sham Bo said: I don't think there's much between Dick and Stevenson defensively but Stevenson offers much more on the ball. Aye, that cross for the goal today was a level of quality well above anyone who's played out wide for us for years has delivered. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerieA Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Got to watch how we manage Stevenson as well I’d say. Definitely a fit boy but didn’t play much games last season and we’re hammering him with game time so far. Didn’t help with Dick having his issues during pre season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Just now, SerieA said: Got to watch how we manage Stevenson as well I’d say. Definitely a fit boy but didn’t play much games last season and we’re hammering him with game time so far. Didn’t help with Dick having his issues during pre season. I thought we'd maybe have used Dick on Tuesday. I agree though, we're not going to get 40+ matches from Stevenson which I'm guessing is part of the reason we were keen for Dick to sign a new deal. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SerieA Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 2 hours ago, Jilted John said: I’m quite happy with today’s performance. It was a bit of a free hit for us in many ways. I hope Brown is ok, he looked in a fair bit of pain and signalled to the bench straight away. Maybe if he’s injured we can go back to the Byrne/Stanton partnership that worked well last season. Stanton has been really poor for a while in that number 10 position. Get him back into the box to box role. Definitely worth a shot dropping Stanton back especially at home to Hamilton where I’m hoping we’ll have more of the ball. My issue with that is apart from playing Smith and Hamilton together our options are limited further forward. Hopefully Vaughan back for place on bench next week. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scottydog Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Our best chance of getting out of the group sailed with todays loss, a draw would have made it easier even with a defeat on penalties. To progress we obviously need to beat Accies but I think we need any three of the following: Partick to beat Motherwell next Sunday, Airdrie to lose to Aberdeen and also drop points against Qots, St Johnston to beat Alloa and East Fife, Livvi to beat Spartans. Dundee to beat Annan. Dundee Utd and Falkirk will likely both finish on 9, two from Hibs, Kelty or Queens Park will finish on 9 or better, most if not all with better goal differences. As for today we did well in spots. However Stevenson didn't stop the cross and nobody was close enough to White for the opener. For the winning goal initially we were opened up then unlucky with the break of the final ball. A draw would have been a fair result, we should have had a penalty and I'm fairly sure a Staggies defender could have been off for illegally stopping Easton in the second half. Generally though Rovers are too slow in the build up, too toothless in the opposition area. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover the Moon Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 We could play a 3-4-3 which would utilise wing-backs and wingers. When (or if) everyone’s fit, something like: Kev Fordyce-Murray-Hanlon Freeman-Brown-Stanton-Stevenson Connolly-Vaughan-Easton 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGuigan1978 Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 13 minutes ago, Scottydog said: Our best chance of getting out of the group sailed with todays loss, a draw would have made it easier even with a defeat on penalties. To progress we obviously need to beat Accies but I think we need any three of the following: Partick to beat Motherwell next Sunday, Airdrie to lose to Aberdeen and also drop points against Qots, St Johnston to beat Alloa and East Fife, Livvi to beat Spartans. Dundee to beat Annan. Dundee Utd and Falkirk will likely both finish on 9, two from Hibs, Kelty or Queens Park will finish on 9 or better, most if not all with better goal differences. As for today we did well in spots. However Stevenson didn't stop the cross and nobody was close enough to White for the opener. For the winning goal initially we were opened up then unlucky with the break of the final ball. A draw would have been a fair result, we should have had a penalty and I'm fairly sure a Staggies defender could have been off for illegally stopping Easton in the second half. Generally though Rovers are too slow in the build up, too toothless in the opposition area. I think that’s my worry from the end of last season to this one, we’re kind of the same. Now, I’ve always thought that a reasonably low turnover of squad is a good thing, and I stand by that, but watching Ayr at Tannadice this evening, they done so much at pace, and had a few players who could break the lines and get forward, whereas we’re quite slow and methodical, which has already been mentioned, allows a team to get organised while we’re going side to side. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumswall Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 7 minutes ago, McGuigan1978 said: I think that’s my worry from the end of last season to this one, we’re kind of the same. Now, I’ve always thought that a reasonably low turnover of squad is a good thing, and I stand by that, but watching Ayr at Tannadice this evening, they done so much at pace, and had a few players who could break the lines and get forward, whereas we’re quite slow and methodical, which has already been mentioned, allows a team to get organised while we’re going side to side. I do think we may have benefited from a slightly higher turnover in players in a few key positions. Murray himself was calling out for signing a winger with pace in January, but we still don't have that. That will largely be due to having players signed up on multi year deals. They are obviously an attraction for players so good to use, but they can also hinder us if we don't get them right. Being kind of the same is not a bad thing considering the gap we had with everyone else last season, as long we've fixed the errors that don't take us that step further. The defence on paper at least, is undoubtedly better. Midfield is pretty much the same bar turner and in attack we've lost rudden... It looks like we're looking for the loan market to open up now to complete the squad, which is always going to be a gamble. Without sounding like a cliche manager, I'm happy with where we're at but there does need to be an improvement in our play by the time we play airdrie. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McGuigan1978 Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 My slight concern is that I feel like we’re kind of the same to the second half of last season, when we weren't picking up that many more points than anyone else. Yes, admittedly we still won more than everyone bar Dundee United and Airdrie, but only just. We only picked up four more than Inverness in that period, for example. I do think we’re decent, in Championship terms at least, but also very predictable, and with so many players tied down on long terms deals, I’m not entirely sure how you remedy that. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumswall Posted July 20 Share Posted July 20 Pretty much my thoughts with it also. Having better defenders should hopefully mean that we can allow our attackers more freedom to go at teams similar to the start of last season. The worry is we don't though. Dundee utd built last season on having the best defence in the league which also had to change in the later parts of the season to get them over the line. Granted they had Moult, watt etc but it was all built on that solid foundation at the back. Obviously never going to happen, but if somehow we where able to go and get Bowie back, he'd probably be the Moult for us. Smaller nose, better at football and a good rovers man though. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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