Sons' sorrow

[albundy]

I thought Routledge was our best player last night and was excellent against St Mirren too. He had a bit of a stinker against Morton, but he wasn't alone in that. Barr was highly effective in the first game against Dundee, but the last couple of games seem to have passed him by. I quite like him at centre back, but he doesn't have Buchanan's pace, which is sometimes problematic when he's paired with Frazer.

I think It would have been worth a try to pair Saunders with Wright at the back. I did wonder in Jan if only one of Barr/Saunders would be kept given the abundance of defenders and the return of Taggart. Would have freed up squad space and some pennies as well (for a creative mid?).

[O'Kelly Isley III]

"Ever hopeless" is OTT. Brown got off to a good start with us and looked an improvement on both Grindlay and Ewings. Aye, he's had some bad games and some bad moments in games but we're kidding ourselves on here by saying that Brown is the reason we're losing goals and games. Jamie came in and played well for 2 games, fair enough, he probably deserves to keep his place but we're again kidding ourselves on if we think he's not as prone to a mistake as Brown. The players in front of our keepers need to start taking responsibility - Barr seems to be the only one who comes in for some criticism, all because he sent oor Andy packing at the start of the year.

Whichever plays in goal, it matters not a f**k to me, they are of very similar quality. We need to create and score.

Not on this season's evidence they're not Moonster. After a long spell of inactivity Ewings performed very well with three consecutive shutouts followed by a blameless performance at Cappielow, yet he was dropped at Paisley - f****** unbelievable.

And dropped for a serial offender too; the shitty Waghorn daisycutter, the fumbled Lyle header versus Queens, the horrendous Morton winner - that's just a start on the home games alone, I've not got time or space for the rest.

No, fans are falling for the 'Well, he's played at some big name clubs so he must be OK' schtick, despite the mounting catalogue of evidence before their eyes. And Stevie Aitken appears to suffering from the same blindspot.

[Jan Vojáček]

There's no one in the middle that is the slightest bit creative, past or present, brown, Barr, Gallagher, routledge, Lindsay, I've said it for months, not one shoots, takes penalties, threads a pass, maybe an aggy type of player needed, or others have suggested Fleming's best position is in there, as for the keeper debate, all keepers make mistakes over the course of a season, Ewings may make a couple, but Brown has been blamed for many more than a couple, I'd drop Barr, not because he's rotten, but because there's too much negativity in there, and I'd start playing 4-4-2 with Cawley behind nade.

That's a good point that I was thinking about yesterday actually. If Nade had won the penalty when he was booked for diving, who would've taken it?

Taggart was the one I thought of, but I've really no idea.

Frazer Wright... Nothing gets by him on the ground or the air (unless their is reasonable space behind them, in which case they can jog past him).

Brown's body language is honking at times... he looks a defeated and bullied as soon as he loses a goal, the shoulders drop and he stares at the ground, as you say hardly inspiring for the defenders in front.

It would be interesting to see the stats from this time last season for comparison to see if we have improved much results wise.

Good point

I'll work out the stats, give me a minute or so

Right:

After playing 24 games last year we had 23 points, had scored 27 and conceded 55

This year we have played 24, won 22 points, scored 19 and conceded 42

Edited February 24, 2016 by Sonsteam of 08

[Howlin' Wilf]

Jamie Ewings must wonder what he has to do at Dumbarton to get a game.

Decent keeper.

Better than Brown.

[rockson]

Right, here's my take on the goals:

1st - Firstly, from a defensive point of view, there is no way McGinn should be allowed to get into that position. But he does, his shot is alright, but it's a nice height for a 'keeper, unfortunately he's stood about a yard further to his right than he should. He leaves his near post exposed - the cardinal sin of goalkeeping - giving McGinn a decent amount of area to hit.

Should he have done better? Aye

2nd - Again, where were the defence? Were they trying to push out or something? Cracking ball in from Harkins, maybe he could be braver and try and get to the ball infront of Hemmings, but that would be perhaps overly harsh.

I'll let him off with that, the defence can take the stick.

3rd - Nice finish from Stewart, who should never have been allowed onto his left foot in that position. He actually scored the same goal against us a few times for Cowden.

Not blaming Brown for that one either.

4th - Wighton's shot is powerful, but is straight at him. One of the first things I was taught when I was playing was if you parry the ball, then always parry it wide thus narrowing the angle. I still do the same when I'm coaching now. He parries it straight out to Holt. Nice first time finish, but the initial shot needs to be put wide.

Sorry, Mark, but you can take the blame for that one.

5th - Decent hit from Stewart, although our wall was more current day Berlin than great of China. As soon as he lined it up I knew where he was going. It was in the corner, but it had little pace on it and he can't have been unsighted.

For an experienced 'keeper that should be saved.

Not sure what I know anyway, but that's my take on it.

Edit: Missed apostrophe

1st. Okay, McGinn shouldn't have been allowed to get in there but Brown should still have stopped it.

2nd. Brown could (should?) have moved towards the ball to claim it. He didn't.

3rd. Stewart should never have been allowed to get across the defence, aye. But I still think Brown didn't do enough to stop the ball.

4th. I think Brown could have caught the original shot never mind parrying it straight back out.

5th I knew as soon as the free-kick was given it was going in. I thought it would have been in a top corner though. That Brown made no effort was criminal.

Brown's clearly lacking something. Confidence or ability, who knows? At the moment he's a liability.

Edited February 24, 2016 by rockson

[albundy]

That's a good point that I was thinking about yesterday actually. If Nade had won the penalty when he was booked for diving, who would've taken it?

Taggart was the one I thought of, but I've really no idea.

Good point

I'll work out the stats, give me a minute or so

Right:

After playing 24 games last year we had 23 points, had scored 27 and conceded 55

This year we have played 24, won 22 points, scored 19 and conceded 42

Thanks for that.. so we are not any better (really) than last season. If the rumours are to be believed about the biggest budget in years all we have realistically achieved is lowering our goals for and against tally. Big couple of weeks coming up.

Edited February 24, 2016 by albundy

[Jan Vojáček]

1st. Okay, McGinn shouldn't have been allowed to get in there but Brown should still have stopped it.

2nd. Brown could (should?) have moved towards the ball to claim it. He didn't.

3rd. Stewart should never have been allowed to get across the defence, aye. But I still think Brown didn't do enough to stop the ball.

4th. I think Brown could have caught the original shot never mind parrying it straight back out.

5th I knew as soon as the free-kick was given it was going in. I thought it would have been in a top corner though. That Brown made no effort was criminal.

Brown's clearly lacking something. Confidence or ability, who knows? At the moment he's a liability.

I think you're a wee bit harsh on him for the 2nd and 3rd. The second was a great run by Hemmings, and if he comes out for that he risk cleaning him out and conceding a penalty. Although, cynically, if he was sent off maybe it wouldn't have been a bad thing.

The third was an absolute carbon copy of a goal Stewart scored against us for Cowden a few years ago - in a 3-0 Cowden victory at the Rock - quite why we gave a guy as one footed as him all the time on the world to do it I will never know. I was right in line with it, and if he'd saved it, it would have gone down as an outstanding save, no an expected one.

Thanks for that.. so we are not any better (really) than last season. If the rumours are to be believed about the biggest budget in years all we have realistically achieved is lowering our goals for and against tally. Big couple of weeks coming up.

Aye, although our poor run of form really started about now last season, with only 3 wins in the final 12 games. Form like that this year and we'll be in the bottom two, no doubt in my view.

[ayetherock]

I think you're a wee bit harsh on him for the 2nd and 3rd. The second was a great run by Hemmings, and if he comes out for that he risk cleaning him out and conceding a penalty. Although, cynically, if he was sent off maybe it wouldn't have been a bad thing.

The third was an absolute carbon copy of a goal Stewart scored against us for Cowden a few years ago - in a 3-0 Cowden victory at the Rock - quite why we gave a guy as one footed as him all the time on the world to do it I will never know. I was right in line with it, and if he'd saved it, it would have gone down as an outstanding save, no an expected one.

Aye, although our poor run of form really started about now last season, with only 3 wins in the final 12 games. Form like that this year and we'll be in the bottom two, no doubt in my view.

Think the left back has to take some blame as well. 3 goals down his side.

[Jan Vojáček]

Think the left back has to take some blame as well. 3 goals down his side.

Yup, both full-backs were poor last night, Taggart hasn't played a lot of football recently and looked rusty and Docherty seemed to make quite a few basic errors.

[sonsanorak]

I dont think we re all that bad.

Theres been some limits on us in terms of players fitness and the depth in the squad, but i think we ve done reasonably well despite that.

If aitken can make the adjustments to get us up the park with both capabilty and intent, whilst keeping us robust at the back we ll be fine.

I think he ll figure it out and we ll get there.

Morton arent a bad side in our league and they played well in beating us, st mirren werent great and we were effectively toothless due to injuries. The break of the ball allowed them behind frazer and in on goal.

Lets not be too negative or expecting too much. We're aiming for 8th.

Aye the goalie is an issue and there isnt a lot of depth in some positions, but i see a hard working, organised and stuffy team who dont like losing.

[squeezeboxson]

Interesting how different opinions can be. Other than last night where Routledge was our best player by miles, I thought he has been awful for about 4 or 5 weeks! I would have him down as one of our worst vs Morton too. Shame he seemed to do well yesterday and then misses out on Saturday.

Barr was doing really well, before his injury/suspension? kicked in, at CB and don't see why folk think he doesn't have a right to replace Buchanan who hasn't yet convinced me. Yes he has pace on his side but he is the weakest CB we have in our squad IMO.

Edited February 24, 2016 by squeezeboxson

[aftershocker]

Walsh > Gibson

X1,000,000

Jury's out on that one for me Gibson scored a few goals and certainly assisted in others. Walsh looks good for periods in games however final ball not always great and he doesn't look like a goalscorer

[squeezeboxson]

Jury's out on that one for me Gibson scored a few goals and certainly assisted in others. Walsh looks good for periods in games however final ball not always great and he doesn't look like a goalscorer

The final ball is a good point. Our first half performance last night was actually not that bad. But every time we got into the final third we either delayed the cross into the box and lost it or we put in an absolutely dreadful ball.

The free kicks are awful too. Mainly Walsh taking them. Remember last year when we moaned so much about Kirky floating the ball in and things? He does the exact same thing. Every time.

One point Paul McGinn got to the byline last night and hit a ball first time into the box. Absolute quality - something which we lack in our squad at the moment.

[Thommo90]

Jury's out on that one for me Gibson scored a few goals and certainly assisted in others. Walsh looks good for periods in games however final ball not always great and he doesn't look like a goalscorer

Walsh is lacking support, nobody gets close to him and he's not exactly built/strong enough to hold players off for long.

Unbelievable how two footed he is.

I do think Barr has been okay in the middle but absolutely no way should he be in there in games where we should be looking to win.

Brown is shite, too many howlers and shouldn't have the starting place back.

[aftershocker]

Thanks for that.. so we are not any better (really) than last season. If the rumours are to be believed about the biggest budget in years all we have realistically achieved is lowering our goals for and against tally. Big couple of weeks coming up.

The standard of opposition also needs to be taken into consideration. Yes...hearts are gone but for me the quality of the teams are generally higher.

Rangers now have an actual football manager

Hibs are a good strong team

Falkirk improved on last season

QoTS probably good but weaker than last year

Raith probably same as last year

Morton strong and improving

St mirren not great but also improving

Alloa not great and probably similar to last year

Livingston probably same as last year

[The Moonster]

Not on this season's evidence they're not Moonster. After a long spell of inactivity Ewings performed very well with three consecutive shutouts followed by a blameless performance at Cappielow, yet he was dropped at Paisley - f****** unbelievable.

And dropped for a serial offender too; the shitty Waghorn daisycutter, the fumbled Lyle header versus Queens, the horrendous Morton winner - that's just a start on the home games alone, I've not got time or space for the rest.

No, fans are falling for the 'Well, he's played at some big name clubs so he must be OK' schtick, despite the mounting catalogue of evidence before their eyes. And Stevie Aitken appears to suffering from the same blindspot.

Whilst I'm not sure I agree that Mark Brown was entirely at fault for each of the goals you mention I agree Jamie didn't deserve to be dropped. But, I don't think there's much difference in ability between the two and we have much bigger problems than who's between the sticks at the moment.

[optimistic]

The final ball is a good point. Our first half performance last night was actually not that bad. But every time we got into the final third we either delayed the cross into the box and lost it or we put in an absolutely dreadful ball.

The free kicks are awful too. Mainly Walsh taking them. Remember last year when we moaned so much about Kirky floating the ball in and things? He does the exact same thing. Every time.

One point Paul McGinn got to the byline last night and hit a ball first time into the box. Absolute quality - something which we lack in our squad at the moment.

the problem we have with cross balls, is that we lack the numbers running into the box, and another thing that frustrates me, is, and not just with Dumbarton, champion's league teams do this, when the winger/left or right midfielder receives the ball, their never keen to whip the ball in straight away, it's always take a touch, or change onto their other foot, try to bamboozle the defender, just get it in the area asap, basic tactic, striker, gamble, Chase everything into the box,

[squeezeboxson]

the problem we have with cross balls, is that we lack the numbers running into the box, and another thing that frustrates me, is, and not just with Dumbarton, champion's league teams do this, when the winger/left or right midfielder receives the ball, their never keen to whip the ball in straight away, it's always take a touch, or change onto their other foot, try to bamboozle the defender, just get it in the area asap, basic tactic, striker, gamble, Chase everything into the box,

Not sure if you were at the game last night but at times we had 3 and 4 bodies in and around the box but the deliveries in were just awful. All but 1 or 2 hit the first defender. We were awful from both sides. Dead ball situations are exactly the same. Corners and free kicks all as bad.

[Nowhereman]

Some people really need to get a grip. We are punching well above our weight and have been for some time. Sure the lack of goals needs to be addressed but our displays havnt been nearly so bad as some are making out. In ten or twenty years time fans will look back on these few years in the same way as fans of a certain age look back on the seventies. This is the best team we have had for thirty years and while constructive criticism (emphasis on the constructive) is always worthwhile we should enjoy it while it lasts. Because it won't last forever

[Kenny Ashwood]

Spot on