The European football level St. Mirren FC 2024/25 thread

[Torfason]

2 hours ago, Sortmeout said:

Did all your World Cup stars get sold for £5million each as predicted and I’ve missed it. Couldn’t believe it when I saw Kilmarnock above prime Barcelona when I looked at the table earlier.

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I’ve got absolutely no doubt this will come back to bite me on Wednesday night if you hammer us so this is my early “I’m not bothered by the result” get out comment.

 

I realize you’re from Kilmarnock but does this seriously pass as banter?
 

It’s like calling you lads Sevco-lite or **** without bus fare etc, boring, predictable and beyond dull.

[Arch Stanton]

1 minute ago, Torfason said:

I realize you’re from Kilmarnock but does this seriously pass as banter?
 

It’s like calling you lads Sevco-lite or **** without bus fare etc, boring, predictable and beyond dull.

You what would be original from them? A song with their team's name in the lyrics.

It's all "Killie" this and that. Absolutely fuck all about Kilmarnock.

[Torfason]

4 hours ago, bishoptonbuddie said:

Mark O'Hara is desperately needing dropped for his own good. The fact that some supporters even cheered his substitution shows the place we are in at the moment. Everyone is getting fed up with the tepid displays, and there was grumblings about O'Hara from the moment he hit his first misplaced pass. I know he has a lot of credit in the bank from last season but the time has come for him to sit out a couple of weeks. I'm not for a moment claiming CBM is better but our lack of presence in midfield is killing us. I prefer Gogic in defence but we need to shake it up and moving him forward should at least be considered.

Frustration is growing in general. There was a moment in the second half where Tanser had a proper go at Fraser for a slack pass too, and at that point it is difficult to ignore. It's all getting a bit predictable. Olyusanya will run and run then lose the ball and foul someone, Grieve will run and lose the ball and foul someone, we will bring on Mandron and he will do nothing.

What I would do to get Curtis Main back in this side, and sign a couple of centre midfielders – don't ask me who though, I've no idea.

Absolutely bottled his challenge for Hearts opener today. Lad just looks off it.

[Friskysteed]

Who took the armband when O’Hara was substituted yesterday 

[FTOF]

15 minutes ago, Friskysteed said:

Who took the armband when O’Hara was substituted yesterday 

Fraser is the vice captain. I assume he took it.

Although we miss Strain's deliveries, which weren't always perfect, is it unreasonable to ask the rest of the players to put a decent delivery into the box?

Over the past couple of months it has been atrocious. Most recently V Motherwell and also yesterday. Tanser hit one decent delivery, which Gogic got onto the end of and forced a decent save from Clark. other than that, crosses sailed over the heads of the strikers or were easily cleared or cut out by the Hearts defenders.

It's no wonder our strikers haven't scored, as we've barely created anything for them to actually strike. Although, the Ross County game did see a few created and missed, so they're not without blame either.

Will be interesting to see if Elvis (the RWB, not the halfwit that infests here with his pish) makes a difference.

As others have mentioned, there are too many wayward passes, combined with basic mistakes at the back. 

Robinson has a lot of work to do to redress the situation.

 

[Sortmeout]

8 hours ago, Torfason said:

I realize you’re from Kilmarnock but does this seriously pass as banter?
 

It’s like calling you lads Sevco-lite or **** without bus fare etc, boring, predictable and beyond dull.

You guys have been called Barcelona so much that it’s predictable?

Was NOT expecting that reply.

[Molotov]

42 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

You guys have been called Barcelona so much that it’s predictable?

Was NOT expecting that reply.

Well we have at least been invited by Barcelona to open one of their famous stadiums.
So Barca must think we are better than Kilmarnock at the very least.  

[Sortmeout]

1 hour ago, Molotov said:

Well we have at least been invited by Barcelona to open one of their famous stadiums.
So Barca must think we are better than Kilmarnock at the very least.  

Is that actually true? When was this? I’ve got no knowledge of this at all.

[Mac28]

37 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

Is that actually true? When was this? I’ve got no knowledge of this at all.

[FTOF]

45 minutes ago, Sortmeout said:

Is that actually true? When was this? I’ve got no knowledge of this at all.

The Barcelona Cup - 100 Years On (stmirren.com)

The unlikely link between St Mirren and Barcelona: the tale of a trophy, a tour and a superstar (thesefootballtimes.co)

[pozbaird]

Where the Les Corts stadium once stood…

 

[Stu]

5 hours ago, FTOF said:

Fraser is the vice captain. I assume he took it.

Although we miss Strain's deliveries, which weren't always perfect, is it unreasonable to ask the rest of the players to put a decent delivery into the box?

Over the past couple of months it has been atrocious. Most recently V Motherwell and also yesterday. Tanser hit one decent delivery, which Gogic got onto the end of and forced a decent save from Clark. other than that, crosses sailed over the heads of the strikers or were easily cleared or cut out by the Hearts defenders.

It's no wonder our strikers haven't scored, as we've barely created anything for them to actually strike. Although, the Ross County game did see a few created and missed, so they're not without blame either.

Will be interesting to see if Elvis (the RWB, not the halfwit that infests here with his pish) makes a difference.

As others have mentioned, there are too many wayward passes, combined with basic mistakes at the back. 

Robinson has a lot of work to do to redress the situation.

 

That's the main problem for me at the moment. It's not just that we're not scoring, it's that in most games we're not even creating chances to miss. We had nothing really clear cut against Motherwell (aside from the penalty) and don't seem to have created anything until we were a couple of goals down yesterday. We seem to be starting a different striker alongside Ayunga every other week in the hope that something works (Stav presumably got a second shot because we actually scored with him in the team against County) when, for the most part, they're not the ones to blame because they've sod all to work with. Maybe it's because we have loads of forwards so it's the one area of the team where we can change things about, whereas we have hardly any options in midfield - surely the main reason O'Hara hasn't been dropped/rested/allowed to fully recover from whatever injury he had. As superb as he was last season, he has been really disappointing this year - the reverse of Main over the last few years!

We weren't particularly prolific when we were going well earlier in the season but we were keeping it tight at the back. Now we don't seem to be doing that, and because the goals have dried up (three in eight games) we're struggling for form. The Strain injury is obviously a huge part of that - but I wonder if we've hit the stage where other folk have sussed Robinson's system, which the obsessed Motherwell fans told us would happen.

The results and lack of goals suggest it is time to change things about with the system. The number of games in the next 10 days or so suggests it would be a sensible time to change around what few personnel we have to keep things fresh, and if a bigger change is coming it'll be after the break when we've had a chance to work on it in training.

Edited December 24, 2023 by Stu

[FTOF]

18 minutes ago, Stu said:

That's the main problem for me at the moment. It's not just that we're not scoring, it's that in most games we're not even creating chances to miss. We had nothing really clear cut against Motherwell (aside from the penalty) and don't seem to have created anything until we were a couple of goals down yesterday. We seem to be starting a different striker alongside Ayunga every other week in the hope that something works (Stav presumably got a second shot because we actually scored with him in the team against County) when, for the most part, they're not the ones to blame because they've sod all to work with. Maybe it's because we have loads of forwards so it's the one area of the team where we can change things about, whereas we have hardly any options in midfield - surely the main reason O'Hara hasn't been dropped/rested/allowed to fully recover from whatever injury he had. As superb as he was last season, he has been really disappointing this year - the reverse of Main over the last few years!

We weren't particularly prolific when we were going well earlier in the season but we were keeping it tight at the back. Now we don't seem to be doing that, and because the goals have dried up (three in eight games) we're struggling for form. The Strain injury is obviously a huge part of that - but I wonder if we've hit the stage where other folk have sussed Robinson's system, which the obsessed Motherwell fans told us would happen.

The results and lack of goals suggest it is time to change things about with the system. The number of games in the next 10 days or so suggests it would be a sensible time to change around what few personnel we have to keep things fresh, and if a bigger change is coming it'll be after the break when we've had a chance to work on it in training.

That may have some bearing on the matter, but I think it's more down the significant drop in quality of too many aspects of our play.

E.g. Use the ball better when we've got it. Stop giving the ball away. Put in better quality crosses. Cut out the mistakes at the back.

I think the fact that the midfield performance has been very poor of late is the main problem. It's neither creating chances nor is it keeping the ball to take the pressure off the defence.

There also looks to be a bit of a lack of confidence with some players. There have been a lot of instances when players have been going forward with acres of space to run into but then inexplicably turned back, when they could have driven into space and put pressure on the opposition defence. Instead we end up passing back and across our defence, giving the opposition time to re-group.

 

[pozbaird]

I have no concerns that the opposition have sussed out how Robinson plays. I would hope to fcuk that Robinson and O’Carroll have sussed out how Kettlewell, Montgomery, Naismith and everyone else likes to play. Otherwise they aren’t doing their jobs. I simply think our early season results were based on every last man in the team contributing, and being on decent form. While we clearly weren’t Brazil 1970 or free-scoring, we certainly had multiple games where our MoTM could have been Mandron, or Gogic, Tanser or Strain, Hemming or O’Hara, or insert name here… We had several MoTM candidates in a single match. Now, we have too many guys off it at the same time. We aren’t getting by as a strong group any more. Need to turn it around obviously, but it’s mostly down to individuals each finding some form and gelling as a team again. IMHO. Currently we have mis-firing strikers, a mis-firing captain in midfield, and are leaking at the back. A bad combo’.

Still top 6 though, but quite how we are is a truly baffling question now.

Edited December 24, 2023 by pozbaird

[Doonhame Buddie]

I’m struggling to remember but did Joe Shaughnessy have a long run of poor form before he was dropped to the bench and, essentially, stripped of the captaincy?

[FTOF]

7 minutes ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

I’m struggling to remember but did Joe Shaughnessy have a long run of poor form before he was dropped to the bench and, essentially, stripped of the captaincy?

Who cares?

[medals]

17 minutes ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

I’m struggling to remember but did Joe Shaughnessy have a long run of poor form before he was dropped to the bench and, essentially, stripped of the captaincy?

Him and Gallagher looked awful in pre season. Gallagher was an SR signing and O'Hara was who he wanted as captain.

Big wage to get off the books etc. 

Like some others I think midfield is where we are flagging most, more often recently especially. 

[elvis]

2 hours ago, pozbaird said:

I have no concerns that the opposition have sussed out how Robinson plays. I would hope to fcuk that Robinson and O’Carroll have sussed out how Kettlewell, Montgomery, Naismith and everyone else likes to play. Otherwise they aren’t doing their jobs. I simply think our early season results were based on every last man in the team contributing, and being on decent form. While we clearly weren’t Brazil 1970 or free-scoring, we certainly had multiple games where our MoTM could have been Mandron, or Gogic, Tanser or Strain, Hemming or O’Hara, or insert name here… We had several MoTM candidates in a single match. Now, we have too many guys off it at the same time. We aren’t getting by as a strong group any more. Need to turn it around obviously, but it’s mostly down to individuals each finding some form and gelling as a team again. IMHO. Currently we have mis-firing strikers, a mis-firing captain in midfield, and are leaking at the back. A bad combo’.

Still top 6 though, but quite how we are is a truly baffling question now.

Not for to much longer unfortunately. 

[djchapsticks]

50 minutes ago, elvis said:

Not for to much longer unfortunately. 

Bah humbug. 

[elvis]

21 minutes ago, djchapsticks said:

Bah humbug. 

I think even you would agree with me this time.