Paco Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Get a grip. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CALDERON Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Small alarm bells starting to ring. On the face of it, could argue we are hard to beat. Or just incredibly lucky. Need a turn around in performances or this is going to end up like Grant Murray part 2. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro Sham Bo Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 2 points against Dumbarton and Ayr is unacceptable. Looks like Garry lock will never be better than a scout ! Has a good eye for players but can't put a decent team on the pitch. Picks his favourites Mc manus has been awful but won't get dropped ! Joel comes on against Dumbarton looks good scores a good goal today ! Why was he not about the team a few months ago ? Would not be surprised if osi is better than playing just now either ! If we had the money id sack him and get a better manager in to take over the decent squad we have ! And dunno why the board let him pay an other midfielder to sit on the bench. We all knew this was how it would turn out under Locke. Absolutely brutal stuff, and that's in games we aren't even losing! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rover the Moon Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 2 points against Dumbarton and Ayr is unacceptable. Looks like Garry lock will never be better than a scout ! Has a good eye for players but can't put a decent team on the pitch. Picks his favourites Mc manus has been awful but won't get dropped ! Joel comes on against Dumbarton looks good scores a good goal today ! Why was he not about the team a few months ago ? Would not be surprised if osi is better than playing just now either ! If we had the money id sack him and get a better manager in to take over the decent squad we have ! And dunno why the board let him pay an other midfielder to sit on the bench. Or Coustrain has been worked hard to get tough for 1st team action and is now ready. Good management?There are certainly some questions to ask over recent displays but calm yourself. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Berk Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 Locke's tactics, subs and post match interviews are starting to bear a striking similarity to Murray's... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zen Archer (Raconteur) Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 17 minutes ago, Martin Nelson said: We all knew this was how it would turn out under Locke. Absolutely brutal stuff, and that's in games we aren't even losing! Please don't make yourself out to be the supporters spokesperson. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Berk Posted November 22, 2016 Share Posted November 22, 2016 39 minutes ago, Martin Nelson said: We all knew this was how it would turn out under Locke. Absolutely brutal stuff, and that's in games we aren't even losing! Yes we were warned what to expect. Locke's detractors were made to eat their words with the good start and decent performances. Now things are definitely on the slide and he doesnt seem to know how to fix it. We've recently been outplayed in three games by struggling teams , managing a single goal. I'm inclined to agree, our initial expectations are starting to be realised. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Yes we were warned what to expect. Locke's detractors were made to eat their words with the good start and decent performances. Now things are definitely on the slide and he doesnt seem to know how to fix it. We've recently been outplayed in three games by struggling teams , managing a single goal. I'm inclined to agree, our initial expectations are starting to be realised. We're unbeaten in six games even if we are drawing a lot of games. We're missing Barr and Thomson for a few matches and now Bene. These are all key players who improve us as a team. Davidson can fill in at either right back or centre back, but not both. Bobby Barr is clearly not able to be replaced from within the current squad.The middle third of last season under McKinnon was fucking dire, then we got some ringers in and the season kicked on. Every season under Murray we disappeared in the Winter. The football is poor to watch at the moment but we're still picking up points. Wait until the defeats kick in. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I have sympathy with the notion that we'd be better if Thomson and Barr were available, at our level the ability to field a squad where the replacements are as good as the starters is very limited, so we are always in a situation where we have basically a group of 11-14 guys who you would start and guys who can fill in if needed but with some drop in quality. The same thing happened to us last season when we lost Jason Thomson: with a limited budget we never seem to think about a covering, dedicated full back. On Coustrain and Osei, from what has been said before, it's likely that the management see a future for both at the club, but that their previous academy training down south was nowhere near the intensity of first team training in the Scottish 2nd tier, so that is probably decent management in not throwing them in before they are ready. Having said that, Locke's subs last night and the way the team set out to play at 10 vs 10 is baffling. McManus has been off form for a while, and even at 11 vs 11 last night his head was somewhere else, playing very loose passes and generally not being involved in too much. Beyond a desire to keep the more physically imposing striker on, I don't know why he took Stewart off. Stewart's holding game is actually half decent and though he won't win flick ons, he'll run down any lost cause and always give a willing outlet. We needed that versatility last night, instead Mcmanus spent most of his time jogging about the pitch, half heartedly. How he didn't get subbed is beyond me. We kept to the same game plan at 10 vs 10, to sit in and soak up, which was insane, given how much joy they were getting down that right hand side (Devlin in particular looked good) and with them stuck playing a high line after their subs, we could've taken the game to them with even a small amount of composure. Roberts was anonymous as usual, Matthews struggled to get a grip on Harkins and Callachan continued his varied performance of late. Even Cuthbert looked less than solid. What's different between Locke now, and McKinnon last season is that McKinnon managed to go half a season with Daly and Wighton up front. Locke has no such excuse: Between McManus, Stewart, Vaughan, Skacel, Osei, Roberts, Johnston, Barr and Coustrain he has far more options for his "forward thinking players" than McKinnon had before he brought the ringers in. If one or more of them is out of form, then he has enough options to replace them, even if they aren't quite at the Connolly/Hardie level from last year. It's about balance, and I'd argue we don't quite have it just now. McManus and Stewart are actually quite similar players: both want to play long and hang off the last defender, which if your midfield is quite flat (as it was against dumbarton) negates any kind of link up play. Ideally we need Vaughan, or Skacel or even Johnston to play between the lines and link midfield to attack the way Craigen and Connolly did for us last year. In terms of league position we are in pretty much as good a place as we're likely to be, give or take 3rd. We took 7 from 9 off of Hibs, Falkirk and Queens (who at the time were still flying reasonably high) and we were ecstatic before taking 3 points from Dumbarton, Dunfermline and Ayr. Had we done that the other way around would we all be less annoyed? We've been riding our luck lately. Yes, we are down a couple of stick on starters (and you'd make the case that Robertson and C.Barr would both be in or around the first team as well) but we aren't playing well and some of that is definitely down to the balance and setup of the first team. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 ... On another note, that North Stand goal is becoming a magnet for horror show misses. Nisbet's miss last night puts Jason Cummings last season to shame. Go bakc far enough and I remember Andy Kirk fluffing his lines quite badly at that end for Alloa. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 How long of a contract did Skacel get? He definately isn't the answer, we need to source a striker in January as the ones we have are awful. It's about time we gave Thorsen, Coustrain and Osei their chance. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
renton Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 (edited) 4 minutes ago, baillieinleeds said: How long of a contract did Skacel get? He definately isn't the answer, we need to source a striker in January as the ones we have are awful. It's about time we gave Thorsen, Coustrain and Osei their chance. 1 year. Coustrain is getting a chance - that's him played more or less 90 minutes over the last two games. Osei has just pushed into the first team squad again. The reasons given in the press for his previous exclusion seem sensible enough. You'd imagine much the same rationale applies to Thornsen who certainly didn't look first team ready in pre season. I'd like Locke to try and put a proper number 10 into the team, Vaughan or someone else who'll drop between the lines, link the play and give the others something to play off. I don't think McManus and Stewart are 'awful' in absolute terms, although McManus is denifitely off form. Edited November 23, 2016 by renton 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baillieinleeds Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Maybe I was letting my head rule my heart with the awful tag. But I agree with you on that score. And Locke seems to be getting a bit of flack lately. As you said earlier, not sticking these guys in right away has been good management. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers1992/1993 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Thorsen was signed as an apprentice as one for the future. He won't feature in the first team this season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
die hard doonhamer Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 3 hours ago, renton said: In terms of league position we are in pretty much as good a place as we're likely to be, give or take 3rd. We took 7 from 9 off of Hibs, Falkirk and Queens (who at the time were still flying reasonably high) and we were ecstatic before taking 3 points from Dumbarton, Dunfermline and Ayr. Had we done that the other way around would we all be less annoyed? Before we played you we had failed to score in 90 minutes in the previous 6 games in all competitions. We were well in to our horrendous slump. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dudu Dahan pal Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Skacel in being a shite signing shock. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scary Bear Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Skacel in being a shite signing shock. I'd still rather he was in the team than Rangers loanee Roberts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rovers1992/1993 Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 I'd still rather he was in the team than Rangers loanee Roberts. And there's 19 years of age between the 2 of them 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachbum Posted November 23, 2016 Share Posted November 23, 2016 Therein lies part of our problem. The average age of the starting midfield of Coustrain, Callachan, Matthews and Roberts is only about 20. Adding in Thompson and Johnston for Coustrain and Roberts wouldn't have changed it much. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beachbum Posted November 24, 2016 Share Posted November 24, 2016 Joel Coustrain interview in Deadline News. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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