capt_oats Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Fwiw, here's the squad in order of minutes played this season. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
'WellDel Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 21 minutes ago, Kapowzer said: That's the rub though, very hard to get your recruitment to all collectively work from day one. looking at this seasons acquisitions: Kelly - 100% worked Ojala - When he's not been crocked he's generally been used Sol - Only really of late he's been dropped Nierrnold - Fail Slattery - Rollercoaster, no need to revisit Goss - Solid 90' every week from signing but that's dropped off a bit in the past 10 games Woolery - Same as above, kinda, been used more off the bench as an impact player. Certainly improved from July Connor Shields - GW11 to nail down a run of starts then it has been bitty until the last three games where he's got significant game time KVV - Pretty much involved in most he's been available for Amulazor - Fail Roberts - Fail Parker - Fail Efford - Based on his selection (not always contribution) he does fulfil the direct entry requirement Tierney - Been drip fed in like Shields Others: Mahon - Too early to say Shaw - Loan but fail So we're looking at 2 work in progress but hopeful (Shields and Tierney) 4 failures (possibly three as Parker was never more than the wildest of punts) 8 wins of which only Kelly you'd argue hit the ground running and showed consistency, could have argued that for Slattery if it wasn't for Jan to March, 4 others have got significant game time partly through avoiding injury. Based on that if we get only 5 in, we're looking at 1 reliable definite starter, 3 in the mix and one dud. We are also due back a few who may be able to do a job in Maguire, Johnson, O'Connor (maybe) and Devine I think your summation of the likelihood of success in the summer recruitment is pretty accurate. Of every 5 brought in in recent seasons, 1 good, 3 average and 1 diddy is close to our usual hit rate, but there are so many IF's going forward. IF Sol and Ojala can stay fit and live up to the partnership that looked so promising earlier in the season. IF Slattery and Woolery can gey a run and perform consistently, and KVV regularly hit the level he is capable of. IF the likes of O'Connor and Johnson can come back and provide adequate cover from the bench. IF Tierney and Mahon can fulfill the potential they have. (I think Tierney, at least, definitely will). IF we are looking in the regions of 5 additions, 3 'in the mix' and a dud simply isn't an option. At least 2 or 3 need to come in and instantly nail down a place and raise the standard. It's crucial that he gets a couple, at least, of his signings bang on the money, otherwise we'll be sitting here this time next year with the exact same gripes, or worse. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D-Fens Foster Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Was at the game yesterday and i just can’t deal with this anymore. What is it now still one win since boxing day ?? Really hope he leaves asap. When we hit the post in the first half ye just knew it was a United victory all day long. Had a few other Well fans say “If Alexander goes who do we bring in ?” Fucking anybody outside Malpas !! Alexander is an absolute weapon 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat_tony Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Page 1482Awww. Look how young and naïve we were. So full of optimism. [emoji23] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) 1 hour ago, 'WellDel said: IF we are looking in the regions of 5 additions, 3 'in the mix' and a dud simply isn't an option. At least 2 or 3 need to come in and instantly nail down a place and raise the standard. It's crucial that he gets a couple, at least, of his signings bang on the money, otherwise we'll be sitting here this time next year with the exact same gripes, or worse. I'd imagine that's the driving factor behind the change in strategy. The way we were operating with Robinson was unsustainable. It feels like it's stating the obvious but if you're looking at needing to sign fewer players then you can actually spend more time working on those deals. Although that didn't exactly work out in the end for McCall in 14/15. If you're having year on year rebuilds then it's an unfortunate fact that some of those players are simply going to be squad filler. This season for example, it's almost certain that we signed a handful of players simply to allow us to get through the Betfreds as up to that point we were running with actual school weans on the bench. In terms of numbers these are what we've signed each summer window (or close to it in Samson, Lucas, Mugabi and Chapman's case) over the past 10 years: 21/22 (Alexander) - 12 (Shields, Amaluzor, Woolery, Van Veen, Kelly, O'Connor, Parker, Slattery, Ojala, Goss, Johansen, Roberts (loan)) 20/21 (Robinson) - 11 (Lamie, White, McGinley, Fox, O'Hara, O'Donnell, Cole, Chapman, Hastie (loan), Lang (loan) Crawford (loan)) 19/20 (Robinson) - 13 (Gallagher, Polworth, Carroll, Sloth, Hylton, Long, Seedorf, Ilic, Manzinga, MacIver, Cole (loan), O'Hara (loan) Mugabi) 18/19 (Robinson) - 8 (Gillespie, Donnelly, Johnson, Taylor-Sinclair, Gorrin, Mbulu, Sammon (loan), Aldred (loan)) 17/18 (Robinson) - 14 (Fisher, Bigirimana, Tanner, Carson, Rose, Griffiths, Dunne, Kipré, Newell, Plummer, Ferguson, Petravicius, Grimshaw, Hartley (loan)) 16/17 (McGhee) - 9 (Heneghan, Tait, Blyth, Brill, McHugh, Clay, Bowman, Belic (loan), Lucas) 15/16 (Baraclough) - 11 (Chalmers, Clarkson, Fletcher, Laing, Moult, Kennedy, Robinson, Ripley (loan), Taylor (loan), Grimshaw (loan) Samson) 14/15 (McCall) - 5 (Law, Twardzik, Ainsworth, Ojamma, (loan), O'Brien (loan)) 13/14 (McCall) - 8 (Lawson, Vigurs, Sutton, Kerr, Nielsen, McManus, Anier (loan), Ainsworth (loan)) 12/13 (McCall) - 2 (Ramsden, Kerr (loan) 11/12 (McCall) - 9 (Devlin, Higdon, Law, Cummins, Hetherington, Francis-Angol, Mekongo, Clancy, Daley) Edited May 1, 2022 by capt_oats 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 12 minutes ago, fat_tony said: Awww. Look how young and naïve we were. So full of optimism. Yeah some amount who were happy to shithouse results who are now suddenly football purists. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Casagolda Posted May 1, 2022 Author Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) It was certainly ugly early doors but I suppose that wasn’t a surprise. We were bedding in a lot of new players, a fair number of whom like Slattery, Sol, Ojala, Shields etc missed most of pre-season. It was always going to be a bit clunky and getting a few wins on the board by any means was fine. Then after a wee wobbly spell in October, I thought we hit our stride in November/December and were beginning to look like a decent outfit. I mean that Dens Park game aside, we only conceded 3 goals in the other 7 games and kept 4 clean sheets. We battered the likes of Hearts, Utd(in farcical conditions) and were comfortable winners against Saints and Livi. Other than Watt leaving, f**k knows what’s happened? How you go from that to one clean sheet and one league win this year is genuinely fucking mental. Edited May 1, 2022 by Casagolda 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fat_tony Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 There's a certain satisfaction that can be taken from being a side who totally shitfests their way up the table. I think we'd all prefer something like the peak McGhee (first spell) or McCall sides, but had we kept picking up points while having 29% possession after Christmas it would be harder to argue against it than it is now. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 When we were winning games we just did enough, when it came to top six, we just did enough. Could we do enough for Europe? I suspect we may pick up some points in the next two games but County will beat United on the last day and it will all be for naught. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) 31 minutes ago, Casagolda said: It was certainly ugly early doors but I suppose that wasn’t a surprise. We were bedding in a lot of new players, a fair number of whom like Slattery, Sol, Ojala, Shields etc missed most of pre-season. It was always going to be a bit clunky and getting a few wins on the board by any means was fine. Then after a wee wobbly spell in October, I thought we looked hit our stride in November/December and were beginning to look like a decent outfit. I mean that Dens Park game aside, we only conceded 3 goals in the other 7 games and kept 4 clean sheets. We battered the likes of Hearts, Utd(in farcical conditions) and were comfortable winners against Saints and Livi. Other than Watt leaving, f**k knows what’s happened? How you go from that to one clean sheet and one league win this year is genuinely fucking mental. This is fundamentally where I am. As I've said before, I've no strong opinion on Alexander. I think he's a decent enough manager for this level and his record over the calendar year for 2021 (especially given the circumstances) is over far too long a period to just dismiss it as luck or a "fluke". Also the turnaround in goalscoring of Cole and Watt along with Lamie becoming a serviceable centre back suggests he has something as a coach. However, it's a perfectly legitimate question to ask what the f**k has happened since January with changes in shape, players being disappeared from the team, a relatively efficient team suddenly not converting chances despite having more attempts on goal and us now seemingly unable to keep a clean sheet against any opposition. You can put a certain amount of it down to Watt leaving as he was a "difference maker" in the same way Boyle was for Hibs. The fact that we're drawing games we were previously winning leans into that idea and the fact that we apparently thought we could get by until summer with what we had feels like a massive misjudgement (in the same way we misjudged the LC group albeit still finished top of the group in the end). One other thing I did wonder is it's simply the case that he's not a particularly adaptable manager. A big part of managing in Scotland compared to the level he's learned his trade in England is that the opposition work you out quicker and you generally have to be able to adapt quickly. You don't get the luxury of having only 2 games against each side. Much like his pal at St Johnstone Alexander just seems to be plodding along doing the same thing. Edited May 1, 2022 by capt_oats 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 @RandomGuy. is good for a stat and often came on here before Xmas showing that the numbers said we were totally overachieving. A lot of was was because you'd expect from a certain amount of our shots, only a few to be target and lesser still to be converted to goals. As it turned out we were occasionally having 2 shots and scoring from both, so 100%. Thar has a habit of skewing the numbers slightly. Would be interested to see if our tally in the third round was on target or below what the stats said we should have had. @capt_oats can't get my head round SOD being third in that transfermarkt list, had it in my head he's missed a lot more than he obvious has. Just goes to show in periods of extreme trauma our brains blank shit out. As for Ross County on Saturday, we have no right to expect a win when they are the form team in the league. I certainly won't be losing my shit on a forum if the game is a 50-50 and defined by a couple of fine margins calls. However, if it's 1-1 and we go on to lose 3-1 against 10 men I'll happily join in the effigy burning. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 11 minutes ago, Kapowzer said: @capt_oats can't get my head round SOD being third in that transfermarkt list, had it in my head he's missed a lot more than he obvious has. Just goes to show in periods of extreme trauma our brains blank shit out. Aye, it's across all comps so the fact we pretty much threw him straight into the Betfreds after the Euros probably plays a part in why he's as high. Given all the general conversation about him I was quite surprised to see Slattery is our midfielder with the most minutes. Same thing with Woolery as well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 58 minutes ago, Kapowzer said: Yeah some amount who were happy to shithouse results who are now suddenly football purists. This isn't news to anyone either. I am sure people would swap a period where we shithouse every game 1-0 for a period where we are a shithouse. The "yeez were happy then" attitude is also wee guy behaviour. We know how happy we were winning. We knew how shit we were while doing it. Being proud of it is all part of the shithouse bravado. People are allowed to change their mind especially when it is not getting the previous positive results. Football fans are notoriously fickle. I am shocked this new to you. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 Not news no but a bit rich, nice to know anyone who doesn't share your thinking is a wee guy or tedious. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Londonwell Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 (edited) Fwiw I couldn’t stand Alexander even back when we were fluking a few wins. Marks you out as a right miserable b*****d though to moan when the team is seen to be doing ‘well’. Edited May 1, 2022 by Londonwell 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 18 minutes ago, Kapowzer said: Not news no but a bit rich, nice to know anyone who doesn't share your thinking is a wee guy or tedious. Apologies, I didn't mean to upset you. I just thought the way you were presenting the "look what you said months ago" type stuff was a bit poor as we all know how the situation has evolved. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandomGuy. Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 1 hour ago, Kapowzer said: @RandomGuy. is good for a stat and often came on here before Xmas showing that the numbers said we were totally overachieving. A lot of was was because you'd expect from a certain amount of our shots, only a few to be target and lesser still to be converted to goals. As it turned out we were occasionally having 2 shots and scoring from both, so 100%. Thar has a habit of skewing the numbers slightly. Would be interested to see if our tally in the third round was on target or below what the stats said we should have had. Thing I was updated to track this has been neglected since the 25th of March, tbh, but this was the final standings it predicted at that time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kapowzer Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 11 minutes ago, Londonwell said: Fwiw I couldn’t stand Alexander even back when we were fluking a few wins. Marks you out as a right miserable b*****d though to moan when the team is seen to be doing ‘well’. Oh f**k right off. This time yesterday you were accusing me of being a Alexander sycophant. Now according to you I find fault with his management when we're winning. Back at the start of the season it didn't take anyone with any particular insight to see our performances and points tally were unsustainable. Many were happy to go along with "it'll be a laugh" which I'm more than happy to do on occasion. Left FP many a time over the years thinking we absolutely gerrymandered/rigged/Dick Turpin'd a result. But to try it for a whole 38 game season would be unsustainable. I didn't think it would go on as long and I didn't predict the shitshow since Xmas, I thought it would have happened sooner. But a lot of that also depended on the 2 underperforming "big" spenders in the league in Aberdeen and Hibs not going to shit too. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YassinMoutaouakil Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 We were definitely were overperforming in terms of points vs results earlier in the season- but I think we've regressed below the mean now, if that makes sense, i.e. we've been unlucky pretty fucking often since Christmas. I don't agree with Alexander that we were "excellent" yesterday, but it is one of a few occasions this year where we've been the better team and came away with a point or 0. We weren’t easy on the eye in the second half of last season when Alexander initially took over, but it wasn't all smash and grab and I think most of the time deserved to win the games we did. I wouldn't shed any tears if he wasn't here next season, but if he is I still think there's enough evidence to suggest he'll probably keep us between 5th-8th over 38 games. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al B Posted May 1, 2022 Share Posted May 1, 2022 40 minutes ago, Londonwell said: Fwiw I couldn’t stand Alexander even back when we were fluking a few wins. Marks you out as a right miserable b*****d though to moan when the team is seen to be doing ‘well’. 16 minutes ago, Kapowzer said: Oh f**k right off. This time yesterday you were accusing me of being a Alexander sycophant. Now according to you I find fault with his management when we're winning. I think you've picked him up wrongly....when he says "you", I don't think he's literally meaning you......he's saying the fact that it makes you come across badly to moan when the team is doing well, is the reason he didn't moan. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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