Sons' sorrow

[BallochSonsFan]

EK will be frustrated that it went to penalties. Their chance late in the game was well held by Brett Long. No real power in it, but he'd have seen it late.

Worries for us? Lack of creativity was an issue. There wasn't a whole lot in midfield. I think the failure to widen the pitch over the summer is going to be an issue as our main creative options are our wide players. We certainly didnt have a central midfielder who was going to put their foot on the ball, look around them and try to dictate play today. Hilton isn't that player and playing him as deep as we did in the 2nd half didn't help.  Couldn't really do much about the opening goal, but we can be critical of a really sloppy pass from Shiels that gave away possession and led to their opener.  It's also a worry that the pitch was way short of the condition that it should be going into the start of the season. Bits of it had some bad divots and it didn't look to be in the best of condition.

Squad looks short of a centre half, a creative midfielder and a back-up striker.

No idea why the ref books Tony Wallace for trying to take a quick free kick and having an EK player basically put a tackle on him. Deserved yellow for Samson. Baffling one for Wallace. Some of the free kicks given were absolutely mad. 50/50 balls and often it was the EK player going in with studs showing and a straight leg who was given the decision by the ref. It's not a free kick every time a player falls over or when 2 players challenge for a 50/50 ball. And whatever reason the linesman gave for allowing EK to re-take a penalty, their keeper was well off his line for Orsi's effort. It was a shite penalty, but the EK keeper was well off his line when Orsi took it. 

Difficult to be too miffed by today's result. It's clear that we use the league cup group stages as an extension of pre-season. But as OK3 said, there are some things that we really need to address before the Caley Thistle game.

[Jan Vojáček]

Said on the BBC text commentary that Sena was injured and that's why he was hooked? He's really looked the part so far, I'd be gutted if it looked like anything bad.

[kenrobell]

4 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

EK will be frustrated that it went to penalties. Their chance late in the game was well held by Brett Long. No real power in it, but he'd have seen it late.

Worries for us? Lack of creativity was an issue. There wasn't a whole lot in midfield. I think the failure to widen the pitch over the summer is going to be an issue as our main creative options are our wide players. We certainly didnt have a central midfielder who was going to put their foot on the ball, look around them and try to dictate play today. Hilton isn't that player and playing him as deep as we did in the 2nd half didn't help.  Couldn't really do much about the opening goal, but we can be critical of a really sloppy pass from Shiels that gave away possession and led to their opener.  It's also a worry that the pitch was way short of the condition that it should be going into the start of the season. Bits of it had some bad divots and it didn't look to be in the best of condition.

Squad looks short of a centre half, a creative midfielder and a back-up striker.

No idea why the ref books Tony Wallace for trying to take a quick free kick and having an EK player basically put a tackle on him. Deserved yellow for Samson. Baffling one for Wallace. Some of the free kicks given were absolutely mad. 50/50 balls and often it was the EK player going in with studs showing and a straight leg who was given the decision by the ref. It's not a free kick every time a player falls over or when 2 players challenge for a 50/50 ball. And whatever reason the linesman gave for allowing EK to re-take a penalty, their keeper was well off his line for Orsi's effort. It was a shite penalty, but the EK keeper was well off his line when Orsi took it. 

Difficult to be too miffed by today's result. It's clear that we use the league cup group stages as an extension of pre-season. But as OK3 said, there are some things that we really need to address before the Caley Thistle game.

Personally I thought we had the best clear cut chances in the game that should have been put away 

[kenrobell]

Just now, Jan Vojáček said:

Said on the BBC text commentary that Sena was injured and that's why he was hooked? He's really looked the part so far, I'd be gutted if it looked like anything bad.

Was grabbing him knee and asking to come off as soon as it happened walked off okay though so maybe taking precautions 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

5 minutes ago, BallochSonsFan said:

No idea why the ref books Tony Wallace for trying to take a quick free kick and having an EK player basically put a tackle on him. Deserved yellow for Samson. Baffling one for Wallace.

Wallace ran up to him and shoved him, it was a yellow card all day long unfortunately and completely daft from our new ‘vice captain’.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

2 minutes ago, kenrobell said:

Personally I thought we had the best clear cut chances in the game that should have been put away 

I’d agree, I thought we missed some absolute sitters. 

[Jan Vojáček]

2 minutes ago, kenrobell said:

Was grabbing him knee and asking to come off as soon as it happened walked off okay though so maybe taking precautions 

Fingers crossed. We don't really have anyone else who can play that role, certainly not as well as he's looked like he can anyway.

[kenrobell]

4 minutes ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Fingers crossed. We don't really have anyone else who can play that role, certainly not as well as he's looked like he can anyway.

True felt EK came back into it with him going off before then I felt we did more with our possession no 25 for them was raging most of the game at his own players 

[Neilly]

On 12/07/2024 at 06:12, BallochSonsFan said:

I  almost feel sorry for you Neilly.

How utterly dull must your life be that one of your few bits of joy seems to be coming onto a forum thread for a team you don't support and posting utter drivel.

Get a hobby. Go for a walk in the summer sunshine. Go feed the ducks. Buy an airfix kit (although I'm not entirely sure you haven't been getting stuck in to the modelling glue).

 

Christ. That was a sore read.

Anyway on to today and a poor start to the season coming unstuck against the loathsome Chicken Man and his band of dollar thirsty gypsies.

"Jinky" Hilton.

The knives for Uncle Faz are already getting sharpened again and I can feel it's going to turn toxic by September if Sons don't start to improve.

Uncle Faz will be in my prayers tonight - as he is most Saturday evenings.

 

[squeezebox-son]

6 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Fingers crossed. We don't really have anyone else who can play that role, certainly not as well as he's looked like he can anyway.

I felt at times EK were throwing themselves about and he seemed to be the target, more often than not, when they were leaving one on a player.

Typical pre season affair really. We lack in certain areas but you can see the potential if we can just get it to click in others. I like the look of the squad but wr are a couple of bodies short.

Final 2 points, I see Peter Grant has been freed of his contract. Would Faz consider him as CB cover/starting position?

Also, was Durnan suspended due to 2 yellow cards today? If so, it appears we could have played him. Discussion on the cup thread suggests the rules changed this week, but I'd like to think if they did that we wouldn't be so amateur to not realise he could have played... 

[Skyline Drifter]

2 hours ago, squeezebox-son said:

Also, was Durnan suspended due to 2 yellow cards today? If so, it appears we could have played him. Discussion on the cup thread suggests the rules changed this week, but I'd like to think if they did that we wouldn't be so amateur to not realise he could have played... 

Mark Durnan was suspended because he was red carded in his last League Cup tie (a 3-1 loss at Dundee last season).

The SPFL caused no end of confusion by deciding this week to waive suspensions brought forward from last season's League Cup as a result of accumulating two bookings. As a result for instance, Graeme Shinnie who was due to be suspended today for Aberdeen after picking up a 2nd booking in last year's final, was instead cleared to play and indeed score against us today. However, anyone carrying a suspension as a result of a red card still had to serve it so Durnan was suspended.

[squeezebox-son]

4 hours ago, Skyline Drifter said:

Mark Durnan was suspended because he was red carded in his last League Cup tie (a 3-1 loss at Dundee last season).

The SPFL caused no end of confusion by deciding this week to waive suspensions brought forward from last season's League Cup as a result of accumulating two bookings. As a result for instance, Graeme Shinnie who was due to be suspended today for Aberdeen after picking up a 2nd booking in last year's final, was instead cleared to play and indeed score against us today. However, anyone carrying a suspension as a result of a red card still had to serve it so Durnan was suspended.

Fair enough, I couldn't remember - hence me asking in my post 

[The Moonster]

Big Neilly on the cans after a big win over some farmers. You love to see it. 

I thought we could've and probably should've scored 3 or 4 yesterday. EK knock the ball around in their own half okay and it makes them look like a football team to the untrained eye but I never really felt overly threatened by them. Mikey Ruth had those wee jitters in front of goal that we saw early last season but hopefully he nets in the next couple of games to give him the confidence again. 

Did Cammy Clark start at left back until EK got their goal then he switched to centre back? 

[Clarko_son]

50 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Did Cammy Clark start at left back until EK got their goal then he switched to centre back? 

He definitely started at left back but I lost track of those two during the game. Shiels at some point seemed to be playing there like when he went up the wing with the ball for one of Ruth's chances. 

Is McGuffie actually a winger or again one of those number 10s we've tried on the wing? 

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Outwith yesterday’s performance, the centre back situation worries me. I know I sound like a broken record but I just don’t like the idea of shunting players around to cover there, nor do I fancy Mikey Miller starting there for an extended period of time in 2024. We obviously still have to replace Crighton  (hopefully that happens ASAP) but when the inevitable Durnan injury kicks in I don’t like the look of any of the alternatives and I’m still scratching my head a bit at the signing of Cammy Clarke when a centre back would’ve been the obvious play. 

[The Moonster]

11 minutes ago, Clarko_son said:

He definitely started at left back but I lost track of those two during the game. Shiels at some point seemed to be playing there like when he went up the wing with the ball for one of Ruth's chances. 

Is McGuffie actually a winger or again one of those number 10s we've tried on the wing? 

I thought he was getting absolutely roasted by Robertson until Shiels moved out there. I don't want to write him off quite yet but I'm not sure he's a left back, anyone who can change direction quickly seems to give him a torrid time. Seemed a bit more comfortable at centre back yesterday. 

 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I was a bit surprised that Greg Young never got any game time yesterday as I imagine he'd be the pick at left-back with Shiels playing further forward.

Re McGuffie, I think yesterday showed that he and Hilton are too similar in style to start together, and it was noticeable that Gray brought much needed energy when he came on.  I also felt Ruth was far too isolated and we really need another striker on the books.

They may be pretty much unliked but I thought EK were very decent yesterday - they should be with the quality in their squad - and I can see them knocking again on the door come next May.

 

[19QOS19]

4 hours ago, Clarko_son said:

Is McGuffie actually a winger or again one of those number 10s we've tried on the wing? 

When he arrived at us we were told he was a wide player. Anyone with any footballing knowledge can see he doesn't have any kind of pace to be effective there. 

As I said when you signed him - if he plays behind the striker/no 10 role, he'll be an asset. If he's going to be used out wide he'll be an empty jersey. 

[The Moonster]

5 minutes ago, 19QOS19 said:

When he arrived at us we were told he was a wide player. Anyone with any footballing knowledge can see he doesn't have any kind of pace to be effective there. 

As I said when you signed him - if he plays behind the striker/no 10 role, he'll be an asset. If he's going to be used out wide he'll be an empty jersey. 

Looking forward to his goal from right wing on Tuesday now. 

[19QOS19]

24 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

Looking forward to his peach of a goal from right wing on Tuesday now. 

FTFY.