Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[Wacky]

On 21/11/2023 at 16:12, Brashy's Boots said:

Aye, I'd happily take him up with us at season's end.

 

[HoBNob]

The credit in the bank for McPake is gone for me really, he done OK to get us here, but the problems we're facing aren't new and I'm not convinced he has any idea how to solve them. 

[Cardle is Magic]

26 minutes ago, HoBNob said:

The credit in the bank for McPake is gone for me really, he done OK to get us here, but the problems we're facing aren't new and I'm not convinced he has any idea how to solve them. 

We’re doing a little bit better than we did after coming up under AJ but it feels quite similar unfortunately.

That was a complete mess tonight though. Players couldn’t even make simple passes, our defence without Bene is soft and the centre of midfield is a mess.

[CallumPar]

Next 2 games are massive. Win them and we’ll be fine. Drop points and we’re heading towards the wrong end of the table. Definitely need a reaction from the players after that embarrassing performance.

[Disco Duck]

I know my fellow fans will object to this, but…Benedictus fucked us at Dundee, Raith and then the Pars.  I really think without him you wouldn’t have won the league last season.   Have you really not advanced any?

[TxRover]

Question, I heard that you have one of the youngest teams in the Championship, can anyone confirm that? If so, it might make some sense out of what happened, especially with Bene out. Has McPake committed to primarily younger players?

[philpy]

[Cardle is Magic]

Just now, Disco Duck said:

I know my fellow fans will object to this, but…Benedictus fucked us at Dundee, Raith and then the Pars.  I really think without him you wouldn’t have won the league last season. Have you really not advanced any?

He was the best player in L1 by a mile last season and we look nowhere near as solid without him.

[HoBNob]

9 minutes ago, Cardle is Magic said:

We’re doing a little bit better than we did after coming up under AJ but it feels quite similar unfortunately.

That was a complete mess tonight though. Players couldn’t even make simple passes, our defence without Bene is soft and the centre of midfield is a mess.

Aye under AJ we started dreadfully. 

That's what it looked like after 12 and 13 games respectively. 

[CallumPar]

Just now, TxRover said:

Question, I heard that you have one of the youngest teams in the Championship, can anyone confirm that? If so, it might make some sense out of what happened, especially with Bene out. Has McPake committed to primarily younger players?

We have a very young squad. Don’t know enough about other clubs to back up the youngest in the league argument. Think Chalmers was our oldest outfield player tonight at 29. That’s the same in most games this season too, unless O’Halloran has played. Our key/best players are all quite young in the absence of Bene.

Todd (22)
KRH (21)
Otoo (21)
Fisher (22)
McCann (22)
Hamilton (22)

Comrie and Edwards are two of our experienced players at 26 and 23. Lack of experience definitely an issue without Benedictus on the park.

[Ludo*1]

Lot of talk about your business and the German owners not having ambition on DAFC.net but a 3 year deal for Mehmet has to be up there with the worst bits of business done by any club in Scotland in the past few year.

Said in the match thread, I know he's been a bit of a bombscare for you lads but if Harrison Sharp can't displace him then he needs to be concerned about making a full time career in football.

[DA Baracus]

39 minutes ago, Ludo*1 said:

Lot of talk about your business and the German owners not having ambition on DAFC.net but a 3 year deal for Mehmet has to be up there with the worst bits of business done by any club in Scotland in the past few year.

Said in the match thread, I know he's been a bit of a bombscare for you lads but if Harrison Sharp can't displace him then he needs to be concerned about making a full time career in football.

I'd ignore anything posted on .net. It's like a holding pen for the frothing mentalists of the Pars support. They have regular ludicrous takes, both ends of the spectrum (apparently during the summer someone there said that McPake would be the new Jock Stein for us and others were saying we'd be challenging for the title; there were seemingly also takes about 'the Germans' asset stripping* the club and selling the land to build an Aldi/Lidl). 

It's a fucking madhouse. 

 

Oh, and Sharp does himself zero favours with his howlers. He can bolt.

 

 

*As if there are actually any.

Edited November 25, 2023 by DA Baracus

[AuldReekie]

That was pretty brutal across the board. Lacking energy, passing woeful, mistakes, ... the list goes on. I think McPake's still got enough credit in the bank - this was not going to be an easy step up, especially with some of the injuries this season - but he wants to get some of form going soon. If there's no form by January, that credit is going to run out.

There's issues with the squad but it has enough to compete solidly in this league, so the injuries and the average age isn't going to give McPake or the players an indefinite pass. The number of players hiding is concerning though and that's not helped by a lack of leadership on the park - I like Hamilton but he's not ready for the armband which needs to backed up with performances. Harsh? Probably. But it highlights why getting Bene back soon is a must, or an experienced centre half in January has to be a priority. McCann, Jakubiak, Wighton all doing nothing for me up top if I'm being honest, but some options there at least - wouldn't be confident in a clean sheet in any game now and that's not helping anyone. 

That all said, I'm glad this happened in the cup and not the league. While I'm bothered about the manner in which we went out, I'm not bothered that we are actually out. The league continues to be the priority and there's some harsh lessons that have been dished out tonight. Let's hope there's a shake up on Tuesday. 

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by AuldReekie

[DA Baracus]

24 minutes ago, AuldReekie said:

While I'm bothered about the manner in which we went out I'm not bothered that we are actually out

Eh? Why not? The cup is great! It (theoretically at least) gives you the chance to play teams you usually don't.

It's scheduled in to the season, so games aren't moved for it. If a team somehow 'lose focus' on the league by playing one cup game a month then there are huge problems with said team.

Re the forwards, our dreadful forward play is the biggest issue for me. We're too slow and too wasteful and don't get enough numbers forward quick enough. Only guy with any creativity tonight was Moffat (McCann had that one nice pass to Allan in the first half too).

Talking of Allen, a midfield that has him and Chalmers centrally simply isn't good enough.

[da_no_1]

Getting pretty sick of defending Chalmers. Yes he can play a pass but he's too slow & gets knocked off the ball too easy. The difference between him and the likes of Stanton and Easton tonight is massive. 

[parsforlife]

1 hour ago, Ludo*1 said:

 

Said in the match thread, I know he's been a bit of a bombscare for you lads but if Harrison Sharp can't displace him then he needs to be concerned about making a full time career in football.

He should be, I’d still be putting mehmet in on Tuesday in a heartbeat. Don’t know how long he has left on his deal at Dundee, but someone close to him would be doing him a massive favour to sit down and have a conversation about how he’s going to build a career for himself away from football, whilst accounting for the ability for him to earn a decent wee boast to his finances playing PT

2 hours ago, TxRover said:

Question, I heard that you have one of the youngest teams in the Championship, can anyone confirm that? If so, it might make some sense out of what happened, especially with Bene out. Has McPake committed to primarily younger players?

It was said by BBC against Morton we had an average age of 23. Our starting 11 today had 4 older than that, 2 of which didn’t see the end.

58 minutes ago, AuldReekie said:

 

 I like Hamilton but he's not ready for the armband which needs to backed up with performances. Harsh? Probably. 

 

I’d agree with that, as much as I like Hamilton a 22 year old, who can be overly emotional at times in his third season at senior football and is being asked to play away from his best position shouldn’t be the one finding themselves leading the team out

[Enigma]

1 hour ago, AuldReekie said:

While I'm bothered about the manner in which we went out, I'm not bothered that we are actually out.

Nice to get that free weekend in January, eh?

[Rob1885]

Poor Summer recruitment is biting us in the arse. I don't really see where this is going long term either. This 5-3-2 is such a painful watch and we can't score goals. This won't change either. Very fucked off the night. Fair play to Raith.

[Broken Algorithms]

17 minutes ago, da_no_1 said:

Getting pretty sick of defending Chalmers. Yes he can play a pass but he's too slow & gets knocked off the ball too easy. The difference between him and the likes of Stanton and Easton tonight is massive. 

He's an absolute liability. Hank Scorpio described him as like watching a player in a charity game. In the last match at Starks, he sold the jersey stepping off Easton before our goal. Tonight at the first goal, he looks like he gives up. He's an absolute embarrassment of a footballer and I'm delighted every time McPake plays him.

[Ludo*1]

Remember McPake's first permanent game in charge for us away to you lads and he tried to play a 5-3-2 that had to be binned at HT because you ripped us apart? Has he seriously not learnt from that? It was almost the exact same style last night.