capt_oats Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 4 hours ago, Swello said: I was wondering about this - I know the focus is on the midfiled but have we actually played the same defence twice in a row this season? We've got a lot of defenders but it seems that through injuries. suspension and "changes" that we haven't had a settled line-up at any point. To take this a little further, while I'm not really one for pile-ons and it's a pretty small sample size it's hard not to notice that the only 2 clean sheets we've kept in the league this season (Dundee, Aberdeen) coincide with Bevis playing right back in place of SOD. In fact the 3 games we won on the bounce had Bev at right back. 3 games played with him at RB and only 1 goal conceded (Carroll started at LB in 2 of them anaw - albeit he didn't finish the 2nd one). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 (edited) 10 hours ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: What formation would you play with this squad? As others have mentioned, it's very unbalanced. We have Shields, Van Veen and Watt who all, to me, look like they'd thrive in a front two, although I'm not sure we have the wingers to play a 4-4-2 and playing a 3-5-2 doesn't solve the conundrum of having to play three central midfielders when we don't have three good ones. I really wish we'd focused more on quality than quantity this summer in our transfer dealings. We seem to be back at the point where we have a massive squad with little quality. Who would we really miss if they left this squad? Watt, Kelly, Slattery and Ojala for me. I'll could probably extend that to Mugabi in this seasons form, although he's made a few key mistakes of late. Anyone other than that come into the very cliched "can do a job" category. But very few add a lot of quality to the team. The squad feels like it's been put together with a 433 in mind but for all the reasons everyone has outlined it's not working. Equally I'm not really sure that changing formation makes much of a difference, what matters is what the players are being instructed to do within that system. That said, it feels mental that we're in a position where we've got Watt sitting on 7 goals in 12 games but we're also having to marginalise Van Veen's impact by either shoving him out wide or benching him completely. To that point, while we don't have an obvious #10 in the squad until the wee man from Ireland turns up, does a diamond fix things? It was an occasional alternative for Robinson (the 2-0 game up at Pittodrie being the obvious one). Spoiler It doesn't necessitate wingers and it gets Watt and Van Veen on the park playing centrally. Just let O'Hara cut about like an enthusiastic puppy chasing a tennis ball in the advanced MF role with 3 'sitters' behind him. Slattery +2 basically. Edited November 1, 2021 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZX1886 Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 To take this a little further, while I'm not really one for pile-ons and it's a pretty small sample size it's hard not to notice that the only 2 clean sheets we've kept in the league this season (Dundee, Aberdeen) coincide with Bevis playing right back in place of SOD.Take away the LC games and we have 1 win in 9 when S.O.D has been in the team, conceding 19 goals. He was pretty average for us last season but this season, barring a pretty decent performance for Scotland, he’s not been up to it. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 11 minutes ago, well fan for life said: 3 minutes ago, ZX1886 said: Take away the LC games and we have 1 win in 9 when S.O.D has been in the team, conceding 19 goals. He was pretty average for us last season but this season, barring a pretty decent performance for Scotland, he’s not been up to it. Fucking hell. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gianfranco Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 I never thought I’d post this but it’s time for the return of the Bathgate Maldini. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bigaldo Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 Is being our captain a curse. SOD has been poor Gallagher wasn't great the season he was captain Hartley couldn't get in the team McHugh lost his form. Maybe we should make Crawford captain. Spoiler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swello Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 10 minutes ago, well fan for life said: For a routine defeat, I'm over it by the time I step out the car at home - yesterday wasn't a routine defeat (it was a massive fucking minter that everyone involved should be ashamed about) and I'll stew on it for a few days before We Go Again - these wee slogans drive me mental at times (and I know it isn't the media team's fault). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted November 1, 2021 Share Posted November 1, 2021 The 4-3-3 is reliant on at least one of your wingers being good. Unfortunately all of ours are rubbish right now. And I absolutely would not trust any of them to play at wing back because they haven't tracked back all season. I'd wouldn't be against a 5-3-2 now. Ditch the wingers, attempt to get Watt & Van Veen introduced to each other and maybe get the midfield to be somewhat involved. However this will not happen because Donnelly's vanished off the face of the earth and Alexander loves shit wingers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 I canny be bothered putting thought into our squad. That's the managers job. It's my job to go to the pub and say "that was good/shit". f**k our tactics 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonicg Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 It’s clear that something needs to change. If it’s formation then changing to 3 or 5 at the back would make most sense. Our strength right now is our CB positions. I know SOD is suspended but if he can get some confidence back, RWB is where we’ve seen him perform at his best (albeit for a Scotland team with more quality than this shambles). On most occasions I would expect GA to be too stubborn and stick to his 433 but since Aberdeen have recently changed to 3 at the back and found success I wonder if he’s tempted to match them up on Saturday. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ron Aldo Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 The 4-3-3 is reliant on at least one of your wingers being good. Unfortunately all of ours are rubbish right now. And I absolutely would not trust any of them to play at wing back because they haven't tracked back all season. I'd wouldn't be against a 5-3-2 now. Ditch the wingers, attempt to get Watt & Van Veen introduced to each other and maybe get the midfield to be somewhat involved. However this will not happen because Donnelly's vanished off the face of the earth and Alexander loves shit wingers.This would suit our squad perfectly as it still leaves options in every position.Fully expect 4-3-3 on Saturday though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Would love to know what the real script is with Donnelly. Completely out in the wilderness, with no word or sign of any imminent return. Obviously he's had a couple of bad spells with injury, but to go from being a former goalscoring, midfield linchpin and in international squads, to not getting near a start in that utter clusterfuck of a middle 3 when he's apparently fit is quite something. Surely he's not permanently broken? How we could do with him in his prime right now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crazylegsjoe_mfc Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 Aye, when he came on against Ross County, I thought he added a decent balance to the midfield and I was hoping that was us gradually reintroducing him to build him up to a full game. Since then he's only been an unused sub once. I would have to assume it's an injury. It's a shame as I was a big fan of his work in the 19/20 season and that player could really make a difference to our team at the moment. If he is "fit" so to speak, then it probably speaks volumes about Grezza's opinion of him if he can't even get on the bench when Grimshaw, O'Hara and Goss have been turning in the performances that they have. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 5 minutes ago, 'WellDel said: Would love to know what the real script is with Donnelly. Completely out in the wilderness, with no word or sign of any imminent return. Obviously he's had a couple of bad spells with injury, but to go from being a former goalscoring, midfield linchpin and in international squads, to not getting near a start in that utter clusterfuck of a middle 3 when he's apparently fit is quite something. Surely he's not permanently broken? How we could do with him in his prime right now. Alexander has been very clear that the only person out injured is Crawford so f**k knows where Donnelly's gone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 A fully fit and functioning Donnely would make a massive difference to that midfield, f**k even at 70% I'd have him in. Mind-boggling if he's available and can't get close to a game. We need one of Burrows' reply guys to demand answers. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 (edited) 44 minutes ago, crazylegsjoe_mfc said: Aye, when he came on against Ross County, I thought he added a decent balance to the midfield and I was hoping that was us gradually reintroducing him to build him up to a full game. Since then he's only been an unused sub once. I would have to assume it's an injury. It's a shame as I was a big fan of his work in the 19/20 season and that player could really make a difference to our team at the moment. If he is "fit" so to speak, then it probably speaks volumes about Grezza's opinion of him if he can't even get on the bench when Grimshaw, O'Hara and Goss have been turning in the performances that they have. 43 minutes ago, well fan for life said: Alexander has been very clear that the only person out injured is Crawford so f**k knows where Donnelly's gone. Aye, I'd been wondering about Donnelly as well. Not necessarily because I think he's the "answer" to anything but generally speaking we're not usually in a position to just spuriously bin off a midfielder who gets international call ups for Northern Ireland. Looking at his season so far he made appearances in 4 of the 5 LC games, played the 90 against Hibs, started against St Johnstone then dropped out for the next 3, went away with NI where was on the bench against Lithuania and played 63 mins against Estonia but then disappeared entirely for their next game. Since then he's made 2 appearances off the bench for us; 1 minute against Rangers at Ibrox and the 27 mins against County. As @crazylegsjoe_mfc says since the County game of the last 5 he's only made the bench as an unused sub against Celtic. Spoiler I get the impression that Alexander isn't always entirely straight when he's talking about injuries/squad health to the press though. He mentioned the other week that being "available" didn't necessarily mean they were fit to play. I'll admit that while it's a pedant's point, I get what he's saying. Given the stop-start nature of his season so far it wouldn't be a massive surprise if Donnelly wasn't "injured" as such but also wasn't "match fit". I mean, with the Reserve league having been patched I take it we're playing bounce games that no one other than the extreme ITK-ers ever hears about. Edited November 2, 2021 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Archie McSquackle Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 For a routine defeat, I'm over it by the time I step out the car at home - yesterday wasn't a routine defeat (it was a massive fucking minter that everyone involved should be ashamed about) and I'll stew on it for a few days before We Go Again - these wee slogans drive me mental at times (and I know it isn't the media team's fault).I had calmed down a bit by the time I got home and sat down for a bit of late lunch. I still had 15 minutes or so to watch of The View From The Terrace from the previous week so decided to watch that. I'd hardly started when on came a feature about Albion Rovers beating us in the Scottish Cup - my pot noodle was very nearly flung at the telly. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
well fan for life Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: Aye, I'd been wondering about Donnelly as well. Not necessarily because I think he's the "answer" to anything but generally speaking we're not usually in a position to just spuriously bin off a midfielder who gets international call ups for Northern Ireland. I don't think the Donnelly chat is a huge amount of Luke Watt Syndrome because he is a good football player at this level. Not that I think he's the second coming of Xavi Hernández or that but somebody that's willing to put themselves about & pick a pass would be nice alongside Slattery. Grimshaw works like a dog but isn't a good football player, Goss is absolutely hopeless at everything and O'Hara's a footballing enigma. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest superward Posted November 2, 2021 Share Posted November 2, 2021 1 hour ago, capt_oats said: I get the impression that Alexander isn't always entirely straight when he's talking about injuries/squad health to the press though. 100%. He likes to keep things close to his chest unless he really needs to tell. Removal of the injury section from the website at his request. As much as I'd like to know about players fitness I totally get why he goes about things that way. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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