The St. Mirren FC 2023/24 thread

[Ric]

36 minutes ago, tree house tam said:

For what it's worth and I know most don't care, Callum Davidson had similar problems at the start of last season. Sticking to a set system when players either didn't know what was expected or couldn't do what was expected. Jim Goodwin is obviously nowhere near as good as Callum, at everything, but it might pan out to be a fairly successful season for you. One cup down already though so that leaves scraping out of a relegation dogfight and the inevitable Scottish cup defeat at the hands of the holders, probably around the quarters tbh.

Suppose that's successful for a club your size.

Again Tam? You are a thirsty chap.

I didn't realise you were turning into Colin.

[Saint Shug]

9 hours ago, Munoz said:

Its amazing the level of interest we provide for St Johnstone fans. It's hard to pinpoint why they should be so obsessed by us.

They are going through unparalleled levels of success right now, but seem to spend most of their time discussing the merits, or lack of, our squad. 

What a strange bunch for the most part.

They’ve never really recovered from losing the whole Saints and Saintees argument. 

 Must have been hard to read their own club tweet ‘Once a Saintee , always a Saintee’ 5 mins after telling any one who would listen ‘St Johnstone have never been known as the Saintees’ 

[Div]

We’ve had a pretty sticky start to the campaign but there’s a wee bit of over-reaction going on too IMHO.

We’ve played 6 games in all competitions so far and we’ve lost 1 of those over 90 minutes.

We’ve scored in all 6 of those matches so that at least is a positive, accepting that we’ve also conceded in all of our three “big games”.

It’s always fine margins in games against our peers and that was evident again yesterday.

Had Kiltie and/or Brophy put away their exceptional first half chances yesterday it’s a totally different game.

Yesterday was always going to be a scrappy war of attrition because that is what Livingston thrive on, particularly at home.

Better teams than us have struggled there for the same reason over the past few seasons.

That said, we do definitely have issues.

I don’t have a problem with 3-5-2 per se but it does feel like we are banging square pegs into round holes at times to accommodate it.

Tait at RWB is mental and I’m really not sure where Kiltie fits in at all, I don’t even think he knows what he’s meant to be doing.

[buddie06smfc]

I think 3-5-2 can work with this squad - I think the real deficiency in the team is at right wing back as Henderson, while promising, isn't quite ready for a sustained run in the team & Tait is at the other end of the scale where he is past it. McAllister came on yesterday and did well in that position but he is far more effective off the bench. I'm no tactician or football aficionado but my ten pence worth is that we don't switch the ball quick enough as the wing backs tend to be free when play is going down the opposite side. Erhahon tried it a couple times yesterday and Tanser got in good positions. 

I would think that we need a midfield three of McGrath, Erhahon & Power (for now at least). Kiltie in for McGrath when he goes. The concern thereafter is other options for Erhahon & Power as Macpherson has been woeful, he came on yesterday and would be lucky if he completed over 10% of his attempted passes. The defence is solid if McCarthy, Fraser & Shaughnessy is the combination. 

The main concern from yesterday is if Tanser's injury from yesterday is serious. We need a Durmus type to play at RWB.

Edited August 15, 2021 by buddie06smfc

[NorthBank]

We are effectively playing a 3-1-2-4 system as when we have possession the wing backs are pushed (too) far forward. The keeper and back 3 launch long balls down the flanks to the wing backs to cross into the middle. The two midfielders also push up to get the second balls as the front two don't win headers.

This is causing many problems. It is terrible to watch long punts from the back. We only have Tanser as a WB so are ineffective on the right.  It leaves acres of space when we lose the ball allowing the opposition to run the midfield against 1 sitting midfielder. But most importantly it misses out our best player by a mile as McGrath is waiting behind the strikers looking for second balls.

Quite the opposite from last season when we played out from the back mainly through JDH and played through the middle with McGrath dictating play. 

What a difference McCarthy made yesterday. He didn't follow the new rules and tried to play it out from the back and went on runs up the middle into the space left there by our high line.  Jamie also dropped deeper when we went behind and started to receive the ball more to mix things up a bit.

Jim has either to change the formation to play to our strengths or get players in who can fit the bill. But he has to play McCarthy as a starting player and give McGrath a more free role to suit his great talents. Lose these two are we are fucked.

 

PS This can be cut and pasted for the next few games if things do not change.

[Div]

1 hour ago, buddie06smfc said:

The main concern from yesterday is if Tanser's injury from yesterday is serious. We need a Durmus type to play at RWB.

Good said after the game that none of the four players who went off injured were anything serious.

[Biscuits]

Goodwin has quite clearly signed players solely to play this set up.
Dunne needs to play in a back 3. Tanser needs to play as a wing back. Power needs to play a midfield 3. Brophy needs to play in a front 2. If you remove any of these players from these set ups then they become liabilities.
I think hes signed Kiltie as a McGrath alternative, which seems a bit daft, as Kiltie isn't someone who I've ever thought of as a central player. For us I always had him pegged as someone who'd be coming in off the left side one way or another. Centrally he just gets lost as he can't see the game.
The idea of Kennedy adding pace on the wings is wild too, the complete opposite of his game. Hes not going to beat men with his pace, never has been able to do that, never will. All about getting a half yard of pace and putting a cross in if you're playing him wide.
You lot have had a really bizarre window and I can't understand why no St Mirren fan has questioned it more. To me Dunne, Tanser, Power, and Main are all downgrades on McCarthy, Durmus, Doyle-Hayes and Obika. Kiltie will be a downgrade on McGrath. Brophy isn't someone I've ever rated either tbh, he'll end more of your attacks with pointless fucking shots from 20 yards than any defence you'll face.

We’ve obviously all been sitting waiting on your usual expert opinion. After all you know much better than everyone else.

[Saint Shug]

9 minutes ago, Biscuits said:

We’ve obviously all been sitting waiting on your usual expert opinion. After all you know much better than everyone else.

Pays a fiver a month for Wyscout. Thinks he’s Ian Cathro 

[RandomGuy.]

17 minutes ago, Biscuits said:

We’ve obviously all been sitting waiting on your usual expert opinion. After all you know much better than everyone else.

It's just my opinion m8. The only person who's thinking it's more important than anyone else's is you.

[sergie's no1 fan]

Would I'd like to know I'd why were other Premiership teams including StJohnstone in for the same players?

It's the market we are in, either sign cast offs from other teams in this league, take a punt on lower league players (Motherwell last summer), we have had decent success from the Irish league (we were also told they would all be diddies), lower league English dross or risk complete random foreigners that is much harder because of brexit.

You could argue its more down to the manager than his actual signings. I've never been convinced of this 3/5 at the back.

[Coventry Saint]

39 minutes ago, sergie's no1 fan said:

Would I'd like to know I'd why were other Premiership teams including StJohnstone in for the same players?

It's the market we are in, either sign cast offs from other teams in this league, take a punt on lower league players (Motherwell last summer), we have had decent success from the Irish league (we were also told they would all be diddies), lower league English dross or risk complete random foreigners that is much harder because of brexit.

You could argue its more down to the manager than his actual signings. I've never been convinced of this 3/5 at the back.

Spot on. There's nothing wrong with the players we've signed, I think our business has been decent. The issue is that we've stopped signing players, when in fact as many others have pointed out, the squad was still slightly lacking.

 

[Doonhame Buddie]

59 minutes ago, Biscuits said:

We’ve obviously all been sitting waiting on your usual expert opinion. After all you know much better than everyone else.

99.99% of the time RG talks utter crap and his daft wee graphs and charts make me laugh out loud. 
On this occasion you can’t argue with the specific points he makes regarding Dunne, Tanser and Brophy (don’t agree with his Power assertion). 
Clearly Jim is fixated with 3-5-2 and has recruited players with this in mind. Like many others, I don’t think it is working out yet.  We can all see we desperately need a RWB and I don’t think there is anyone in the current squad that fits the bill. 
Can only hope suitable replacements have been found to bring in with the McGrath money.  
Oh, and we need to start McCarthy every game. 
 

[Ric]

27 minutes ago, Doonhame Buddie said:

On this occasion you can’t argue with the specific points he makes regarding Dunne, Tanser and Brophy (don’t agree with his Power assertion).

Sifting through shit will still leave you with shit on your hands, even if you find a penny in that shit.

[aldo_j]

2 hours ago, Ric said:

Sifting through shit will still leave you with shit on your hands, even if you find a penny in that shit.

After reading the “stewards” thread on BAWA, I’d take a daily RG post over that…

[Arch Stanton]

This Celtic Hearts game should act as a huge klaxon to Goodwin in that if we try to defend deep with 5 at the back then we could be on the end of a very humiliating scoreline.

Edited August 15, 2021 by Arch Stanton

[houston_bud]

45 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

This Celtic Hearts game should act as a huge klaxon to Goodwin in that if we try to defend deep with 5 at the back then we could be on the end of a very humiliating scoreline.

I'm pretty worried about next week. Hearts improved when Ginelly came on and they had pace running at Celtic. I struggle to see who can do that for us. 

Celtic are poor at the back as well, we have players that could cause them some problems but it means we need to get the ball into them. 

[Ric]

Again, I am almost zen about this, like I was with the Livi game. There are the players in the squad to make a decent dent in this season, it's really a matter of Goodwin getting it right. He's not going to get sacked, and I've got to say I don't necessarily want him to be, so we might as well buckle up and see how long it takes. He's not daft, he'll know we can't keep on losing games.

Obvs, getting the McGrath pregnancy over with would be nice, and by that I feel it'll either be terminated now or we'll have to deal with it for the next 9 months (too dark? sorry!). I'm not overly keen on a Main and Brophy pairing and I'm really not sure about the very public Kennedy chasing either. Still, that's a not a jigsaw for me to piece together.

If we press Celtic, we'll likely lose, Postecoglou seems to set his side up to just go full on, and I can see them swamping us. If we park the bus, it's just a matter of waiting until there is a shitty deflection and we'll be stuck penned in and a goal down. I don't really see a way past Celtic so, yeah.... zen.

[Torfason]

6 hours ago, RandomGuy. said:

It's just my opinion m8. The only person who's thinking it's more important than anyone else's is you.

Just a thought but if you presented it as an opinion it wouldn’t rub people up the wrong way but it comes across as the patter from the know all c**t everyone avoids in the pub. You seem a decent lad though

[Spam_Valley]

3 hours ago, aldo_j said:

After reading the “stewards” thread on BAWA, I’d take a daily RG post over that…

As long as that Hagrid / Hitler hybrid is no longer a steward at the ground then I’m happy. She was fucking brutal.

[ATLIS]

Just a word of warning for any of the Northbank lads that may be on here, it's looking likely that Livi are going to be taking a harder stance of pitch invasions. Latest thing said on it was "Clubs can identify the fuckwitts from seat details. Why wouldn't you ban them?". Seems very likely that going forward we may issue a good few bans to those found invading the park, not sure if this includes yesterday's game to be fair though. 

Seems likely that we're trying to push for clubs to have liability for their fans behaviour