Alibi Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Macdonald was leaking soft goals earlier in the season - against Raith and Dunfermline at Cappielow for example. As soon as Mullen got the jersey, we stopped conceding soft goals. Mullen has hardly made a mistake all season and his distribution has been pretty good - can kick some distance and with accuracy too. I'd rather have Mullen than Macdonald. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken Soup Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 It’s not a physio or a doctor McDonald needs, it’s a time machine. He’s looked shaky all season and conceded soft goals that wouldn’t have got past him with such regularity in his prime. Credit to him for playing for us when clearly injured, I think lesser characters would’ve chose to sit those games out. Despite that, unless he’s willing to take an extremely cheap deal and sit as our backup, he’ll be off in the summer with genuine thanks for his efforts and that’ll be the right call for all involved. There will be clubs who’ll take him as first choice. Mullen has a history of injuries so I do hope that we have a reasonably experienced number 2 going into next season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morton Supporter Posted April 12 Share Posted April 12 Since losing our excellent unbeaten run on 2 March, we are now on an even worse run of form than our notorious start to the season. We’re by no means safe from 9th. I still have faith we’ll get enough from Arbroath (away) or Raith (home) but real examination of the squad needed, as is the manager’s approach to playing the game itself 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 I think it's easy to criticise tactics etc. when things aren't going well but we're still approaching games the same way we did when we went on our longest ever unbeaten run this season, we've just not been very good at carrying it out since then. For me what's killed us has been the severe lack of January recruitment. Last January we replaced McGregor, Hynes, Lithgow and Kabia with Calvin Miller, George Oakley, Calum Waters, Ally Roy (lol) and a certain ginger imposter who shall not be named. On the whole a decent upgrade to the squad, and after the January window closed we picked up 27 points. This season our only January business was to loan out Logan O'Boy, and we've picked up 12 points since. Clearly we don't have room for rotation and we're playing guys with nothing in the tank. That's probably Imrie's biggest failure since arriving, had a squad of players who'd just made history and took us onto a 7 point cushion in the playoffs and wasn't able to supplement it with a bit of freshness to kick on. Aw well, onto next season. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LargsTON Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 3 hours ago, Ferguson said: I think it's easy to criticise tactics etc. when things aren't going well but we're still approaching games the same way we did when we went on our longest ever unbeaten run this season, we've just not been very good at carrying it out since then. For me what's killed us has been the severe lack of January recruitment. Last January we replaced McGregor, Hynes, Lithgow and Kabia with Calvin Miller, George Oakley, Calum Waters, Ally Roy (lol) and a certain ginger imposter who shall not be named. On the whole a decent upgrade to the squad, and after the January window closed we picked up 27 points. This season our only January business was to loan out Logan O'Boy, and we've picked up 12 points since. Clearly we don't have room for rotation and we're playing guys with nothing in the tank. That's probably Imrie's biggest failure since arriving, had a squad of players who'd just made history and took us onto a 7 point cushion in the playoffs and wasn't able to supplement it with a bit of freshness to kick on. Aw well, onto next season. I think you've pretty much nailed it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ghost of B A R P Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 Imrie's post-match comments after Friday night suggest he'll take a different aproach in the summer; will be interesting to see if that means running with a bigger squad... or just being more ruthless about which of the current squad get contracts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 20 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said: Imrie's post-match comments after Friday night suggest he'll take a different aproach in the summer; will be interesting to see if that means running with a bigger squad... or just being more ruthless about which of the current squad get contracts. Our current squad size of 20/21 should be fine at this level but that can't include as many players as we currently have either staring at retirement, injury prone or unproven at this level. All 5 January recruits last season, arguably excluding Roy, were proven at this level or above and at decent stages in their careers, i.e. not breaking through or winding down, and they all replaced players who couldn't cut it in the Championship then. I'm fully aware that's a lot easier said than done, but we can't regress again this summer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ghost of B A R P Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 10 minutes ago, Ferguson said: Our current squad size of 20/21 should be fine at this level but that can't include as many players as we currently have either staring at retirement, injury prone or unproven at this level. All 5 January recruits last season, arguably excluding Roy, were proven at this level or above and at decent stages in their careers, i.e. not breaking through or winding down, and they all replaced players who couldn't cut it in the Championship then. I'm fully aware that's a lot easier said than done, but we can't regress again this summer. We were running with five defenders before Strapp came back, one of whom is 39 (and another is Tyler French). And we have no credible alternative to Oakley as an out-and-out central striker. Beyond that, we look well stacked for wide players, but Imrie clearly doesn't trust too many of them. I'd agree that 20/21 would be fine, if it was made up of players the manager would use without hesitation, i.e. if someone gets injured or suspended in a particular position, someone automatically comes in to replace him... very tough to do that on our budget. My take on Imrie's remark is that he's decided to stop giving guys he's not sure about the benefit of the doubt. Most (good) managers get to that point sooner or later. Have a feeling there will be more out the door in the summer than we might have expected. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Passionate Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 1 hour ago, The Ghost of B A R P said: We were running with five defenders before Strapp came back, one of whom is 39 (and another is Tyler French). And we have no credible alternative to Oakley as an out-and-out central striker. Beyond that, we look well stacked for wide players, but Imrie clearly doesn't trust too many of them. I'd agree that 20/21 would be fine, if it was made up of players the manager would use without hesitation, i.e. if someone gets injured or suspended in a particular position, someone automatically comes in to replace him... very tough to do that on our budget. My take on Imrie's remark is that he's decided to stop giving guys he's not sure about the benefit of the doubt. Most (good) managers get to that point sooner or later. Have a feeling there will be more out the door in the summer than we might have expected. Have you guys not signed a striker from down south on a PCA, do you think Muirhead and Oakley will stay on for next year as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LargsTON Posted April 15 Share Posted April 15 (edited) 1 hour ago, Passionate said: Have you guys not signed a striker from down south on a PCA, do you think Muirhead and Oakley will stay on for next year as well. We've signed Jordan Davies from Connah's Quay Nomads. Edited April 15 by LargsTON 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 14 hours ago, Passionate said: do you think Muirhead and Oakley will stay on for next year as well. I think 1 of the 2 will, Oakley preferably and probably more likely as well. Muirhead's been here 5 years and he's still earcupping Morton fans after scoring, which is justified by some of the abuse he gets and I have no problem with it as long as he's producing results to back it up, but now that he'll probably have options elsewhere I can't see him putting up with it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LargsTON Posted April 16 Share Posted April 16 38 minutes ago, Ferguson said: I think 1 of the 2 will, Oakley preferably and probably more likely as well. Muirhead's been here 5 years and he's still earcupping Morton fans after scoring, which is justified by some of the abuse he gets and I have no problem with it as long as he's producing results to back it up, but now that he'll probably have options elsewhere I can't see him putting up with it. It'll be telling where Muirhead ends up next and I don't think it'll be higher than where he is now. Sideways at best. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beastie Russell Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 How's Darragh O'Connor been this season ? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 4 minutes ago, Beastie Russell said: How's Darragh O'Connor been this season ? Very inconsistent, Broadfoot has kept him on the bench when he's been fit. He's not been terrible but he's been poor for a lot of the season. Imagine we'll be looking to upgrade in the summer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Toon Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 3 minutes ago, Ferguson said: Very inconsistent, Broadfoot has kept him on the bench when he's been fit. He's not been terrible but he's been poor for a lot of the season. Imagine we'll be looking to upgrade in the summer. I think that is a bit hard. He was out for a considerable amount of time with injuries and then was put in at right back which is not really his position. For some reason or other Dougie seemed to have decided that Broadfoot/Baird was a better option than the Baird/O'Connor central defence partnership which had served us so well last season. If we can get a solid right back signed and make the obvious decision to keep Strapp I would be more than happy with a backline of New RB O'Connor Baird Strapp. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferguson Posted April 17 Share Posted April 17 18 minutes ago, Mr Toon said: I think that is a bit hard. He was out for a considerable amount of time with injuries and then was put in at right back which is not really his position. For some reason or other Dougie seemed to have decided that Broadfoot/Baird was a better option than the Baird/O'Connor central defence partnership which had served us so well last season. He's been decent enough in spells, but there's also been times he's let us down such as the Ross County game where he cost us, and then the Inverness game at Cappielow sticks out where he just kept passing the ball out the pitch. Not reached the same levels he did last year, but definitely enough of a player in there to keep about. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R D Eraser Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 On 16/04/2024 at 09:14, LargsTON said: It'll be telling where Muirhead ends up next and I don't think it'll be higher than where he is now. Sideways at best. Falkirk where all ex-Morton players go to graze and fill their pockets. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFC 1876 Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 5 minutes ago, R D Eraser said: Falkirk where all ex-Morton players go to graze and fill their pockets. George Oakley will probably be enough for us this summer x -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Ghost of B A R P Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 2 hours ago, FFC 1876 said: George Oakley will probably be enough for us this summer x Strapp for the long throws, surely? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FFC 1876 Posted April 18 Share Posted April 18 4 minutes ago, The Ghost of B A R P said: Strapp for the long throws, surely? Will leave the hoofball to you lot, we're more into silky soccer. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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