Walking Down The Halbeath Road

[Poet of the Macabre]

1 minute ago, parsforlife said:

About 50/50 then, but in the last few years that has been reduced since it’s now only best 3 instead of best 4 runner ups.

There have been 26 spots available for best runners up since the group stage was introduced and 8 points has taken just four of those.

In what universe does that equal 50/50?

[parsforlife]

1 minute ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

There have been 26 spots available for best runners up since the group stage was introduced and 8 points has taken just four of those.

In what universe does that equal 50/50?

Because it doesn’t matter what slot you take.   It’s not the target for 1st or 2nd slots that count,  it’s as long as you make it through.     Unless there’s been a lot of years with several going through on 8 points which I doubt

[Stoo61]

7 minutes ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

McPake telling Courier that Matty Todd will undergo surgery next week and will be out for three months after that.

[CallumPar]

Obviously really bad news about Matty. Probably explains why we didn’t ask O’Halloran to play tonight. Can’t take any risks right now, particularly in the attacking areas.

No mention of this player who was about to sign on Saturday in the post-match stuff?

[101]

36 minutes ago, parsforlife said:

Cairns confirms the shits it is, which is fine as you’d imagine he’ll be well clear of them before our next game.

Knowing our luck it will be some kind of super nora virus which leaves us with Leishman and Andy Tod snr starting in defence against Airdrieonians

[Poet of the Macabre]

1 hour ago, parsforlife said:

Because it doesn’t matter what slot you take.   It’s not the target for 1st or 2nd slots that count,  it’s as long as you make it through.     Unless there’s been a lot of years with several going through on 8 points which I doubt

16/17 - 0

17/18 - 0

18/19 - 0

19/20 - 2

20/21 - 0

21/22 - 1

22/23 - 1

[The Toun Clock]

1 hour ago, Poet of the Macabre said:

McPake telling Courier that Matty Todd will undergo surgery next week and will be out for three months after that.

Ach that’s f*cking balls but as said already it’s kinda better than I expected. I thought he’d be out until Christmas so if we’re saying potentially Halloween then I’ll take it.

Good away win, great to see Sutherland get a goal and of course a clean sheet, hopefully not the only one Fisher keeps tonight

[parsforlife]

3 minutes ago, The Toun Clock said:

 

Good away win, great to see Sutherland get a goal and of course a clean sheet, hopefully not the only one Fisher keeps tonight

 

We certainly don’t need him waking up like this 

[Heaton]

We were poor until the 2nd half changes I thought. Nothing going forward and again showing the need for signings pronto otherwise it will be a slow start to the league.

[Stellaboz]

Week and a half to rest up and prepare for the league now. Should surely see a new face or two come in, surely? I'd imagine any loans might be further into August?

[CallumPar]

Just listened to McPake’s interview this morning. It’s quite pleasing that he’s very critical of attitudes/performance, despite the result. It wasn’t a good performance and we need to be much better in the league.

Rightly, he singled out Tod for praise. Another solid performance from the young lad, who will be a part of the first team squad this season and won’t be loaned out. I think Sutherland is working his way into McPake’s plans too, but I think we need something else up front just now. If we lose Wighton to injury, or Wighton’s form is poor, we can’t be dependent on Sutherland.

Also says the signing mentioned at the weekend is still close. With Todd and KRH both out for the first quarter of the season, we need to be bringing players in over the next 10 days. Perfect opportunity to discuss a few loan deals, as we can demonstrate that players coming in will be involved regularly in the first half of the season.

[DA-go Par Adonis]

I've not seen anywhere that KRH is out for the first quarter.

Did they not say 8-12 weeks, which was 4 weeks ago?

[The Toun Clock]

I don't think any of us doubt that the management, board etc are working hard on deals but on the surface it does feel a bit underwhelming. The KRH signing was great and a real surprise, which I thought would then set the tone, but it's not really panned out that way as the rest of the signings I thought might happen anyway (Fisher, Otoo).

If Matty Todd and KRH weren't injured and our signings consisted of KRH, Fisher, Otoo and O'Hallaron I'd still be desperate for more. The guys who were on loan last year and are now permanent have replaced themselves if we compare the two squads, but we still had three extra bodies on loan in Mochrie, Mahon and McGowan and three permanent in McDonald, O'Hara and Todorov.

Now I'm sure Andy Tod Jnr is going to feature this season so we could almost say he'll replace Mahon but that still leaves us short at right full back, two midfielders, two strikers. Not entirely sure of O'Hallaron's best position but I'd be disappointed if he was replacing a striker.

We can't be going into the Airdrie game a week on Saturday short. I appreciate the squad won't be completed until the window closes, but there has to be 2/3 new faces between now and 5th August followed by another 2/3 in the first month or two of the season and that would just be balancing us out from last season. I thought we'd replace the players lost via loan/contracts ending then add one or two additional for a slightly bigger squad.

Hopefully now with a short break the players can get a bit of rest and the management team can get time to do what they need to do.

Edited July 26, 2023 by The Toun Clock

[The Toun Clock]

2 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

I've not seen anywhere that KRH is out for the first quarter.

Did they not say 8-12 weeks, which was 4 weeks ago?

I think Kane is due back in September. Dave McKay was interviewed at start of July and "It's something that will get tidied up, it'll get fixed and we expect him back in the next 8-12 weeks"

So best outcome he's back training early September, worst outcome early October. 

[DA-go Par Adonis]

The squad will likely be short for Airdrie but the side we can put out on the park shouldn't be.

There are only 3 league games in August, when the window closes, and then only 4 in September when the loan window shuts. 

We'll bring more in but I don't think there should be panic yet.

[CallumPar]

8 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

I've not seen anywhere that KRH is out for the first quarter.

Did they not say 8-12 weeks, which was 4 weeks ago?

If we assume worst case being 12 weeks, he’ll miss the first 7/8 weeks of the league campaign, so it’s close enough to being the first quarter. He also won’t be ready to play 90 mins every week as soon as he’s back and will need phased in. So you’re potentially looking late October for him to be fully fit/playing week in week out.

[DA-go Par Adonis]

1 minute ago, The Toun Clock said:

I think Kane is due back in September. Dave McKay was interviewed at start of July and "It's something that will get tidied up, it'll get fixed and we expect him back in the next 8-12 weeks"

So best outcome he's back training early September, worst outcome early October. 

Depends what he meant by 'back'. He was apparently walking around unaided the other night - so it could be 8-12 weeks till he is back on the pitch. In theory, 8 weeks could be up by the Rovers game on 26th August.

[The Toun Clock]

1 minute ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

Depends what he meant by 'back'. He was apparently walking around unaided the other night - so it could be 8-12 weeks till he is back on the pitch. In theory, 8 weeks could be up by the Rovers game on 26th August.

Could be, the sooner the better anyway. For me, I reckon we'll start seeing KRH's name on team sheets at some point in September, unfortunately more like November for Matty. The good news is, that both should bounce back, youth is on their side. It's not a 36 year old coming in with no pre-season (McGowan) it's two youngsters so a couple weeks running and they'll be grand.

[Stellaboz]

They're 2 of the 4 key players I'd never want to see unavailable for a lengthy period of time. 

O Halloran should be available against Airdrie though according to JM.

[CallumPar]

It’s rotten luck. Losing both Todd and KRH at the same time is something we were never going to be ‘prepared’ for. They’re massive players for us and in terms of what we do with the ball, our team is kind of built around both of them.

For the likes of Tod, it’s an opportunity to prove he can be an asset and contribute when called upon. For McCann and O’Halloran, it’s a chance for them to show how important/influential they can be. Someone needs to step up to the plate, in terms of creativity and in terms of energy/replacing Todd’s charging runs forward.

However, we do have to acknowledge that this is our equivalent to Man City losing Haaland and De Bruyne at the same time. Except, we don’t have the budget to have 2 starting 11s. Even then though, Man City would struggle a bit in that scenario.