Stylish Kid Posted August 30, 2022 Share Posted August 30, 2022 Amazing what an injury can do, everyone seemed to be screaming for his bald bonce to be served up on a platter after the FC Zurich match, now he's our key player Seriously - gutted for him, he'd just got the goal he probably needed to kick on aswell. I've said before that we're short on options upfront outwith our starting XI, and this is getting a bit thin..... I would actually take an old firm reserve on loan and use them in games against the lower half of the league between European matches. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paranoid android Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 I'm more pissed off about Rowles being out for a spell, but that's an absolute scunner for Boyce -as infuriating as he can be at times, he's a good player, and there's no doubt that he'll be missed. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylish Kid Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 Just seen that Nicky Clark has signed for St Johnstone. I actually think he could have been a good move as a stop gap this season. Oh well. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insert Amusing Pseudonym Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 6 minutes ago, Stylish Kid said: Just seen that Nicky Clark has signed for St Johnstone. I actually think he could have been a good move as a stop gap this season. Oh well. Yuck 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 I think we've had a bit of a wake-up call with the St Johnstone game then the cup tie tonight. I'm not going to criticise. Tonight we were missing Halkett, Kingsley, Atkinson, Grant, Baningime, Boyce, and it's not reasonable to expect consistency when there are so many important players missing. I have sympathy with the recruitment and coaching teams. They've built a good squad, but we can't get it on the pitch at an important time. But this is our reality for this season. Loads of games coming and probably more injuries and suspensions to come. We need bodies or we'll slip down the table. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoose Rice Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC92 Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 43 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: I think we've had a bit of a wake-up call with the St Johnstone game then the cup tie tonight. I'm not going to criticise. Tonight we were missing Halkett, Kingsley, Atkinson, Grant, Baningime, Boyce, and it's not reasonable to expect consistency when there are so many important players missing. I have sympathy with the recruitment and coaching teams. They've built a good squad, but we can't get it on the pitch at an important time. But this is our reality for this season. Loads of games coming and probably more injuries and suspensions to come. We need bodies or we'll slip down the table. Both games were entirely predictable IMO. Although I thought we played well enough (for a second string team) in the St Johnstone game and should have won by more. A clearly unfinished squad missing the players you mention plus Rowles and Kiomourtzoglou, facing a stodgy team with a good record at Tynecastle. I didn't see the game, but it had 0-1 written all over it. We're too one-dimensional and predictable up front as it stands. Massive day tomorrow given how many players we need. Neilson already talking about waiting for free agents after the window closes gives me the fear. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 47 minutes ago, DC92 said: Both games were entirely predictable IMO. Although I thought we played well enough (for a second string team) in the St Johnstone game and should have won by more. A clearly unfinished squad missing the players you mention plus Rowles and Kiomourtzoglou, facing a stodgy team with a good record at Tynecastle. I didn't see the game, but it had 0-1 written all over it. We're too one-dimensional and predictable up front as it stands. Massive day tomorrow given how many players we need. Neilson already talking about waiting for free agents after the window closes gives me the fear. Me too. That said, they've been landed in it to an extent with the Rowles and Boyce injuries coming at short notice. I'm prepared to cut the club a bit of slack. You're right, I'd forgotten Rowles, so it's seven missing tonight. You've got to be reasonable in the circumstances. I don't think it was a terrible performance tonight. We lost a goal against the run of play and then came up against a side who are very competent at sitting in like that while we were lacking players. One of those nights. Could turn out to be a blessing in disguise in terms of fixtures. We've got big games coming in the league and need to be picking up 4 points from Livi and St Mirren, for me. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoose Rice Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 22 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: Me too. That said, they've been landed in it to an extent with the Rowles and Boyce injuries coming at short notice. I'm prepared to cut the club a bit of slack. You're right, I'd forgotten Rowles, so it's seven missing tonight. You've got to be reasonable in the circumstances. I don't think it was a terrible performance tonight. We lost a goal against the run of play and then came up against a side who are very competent at sitting in like that while we were lacking players. One of those nights. Could turn out to be a blessing in disguise in terms of fixtures. We've got big games coming in the league and need to be picking up 4 points from Livi and St Mirren, for me. Would only have been one more fixture until next year. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 5 minutes ago, Hoose Rice said: Would only have been one more fixture until next year. Would have been October 18th. Our October currently looks like this. 1st: Rangers (h), 6th: Fiorentina (h), 9th Killie (a), 13th: Fiorentina (a), 16th: Aberdeen (a), 22nd: Celtic (h), 27th: Riga (h), 30th: Ross County (a). Then we're in Istanbul on Nov 3rd before playing Motherwell on Nov 6th, then going to Ibrox on Nov 9th. That League Cup midweek is the only midweek or weekend we won't have a game between September's international break and November's WC break. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoose Rice Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 3 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: Would have been October 18th. Our October currently looks like this. 1st: Rangers (h), 6th: Fiorentina (h), 9th Killie (a), 13th: Fiorentina (a), 16th: Aberdeen (a), 22nd: Celtic (h), 27th: Riga (h), 30th: Ross County (a). Then we're in Istanbul on Nov 3rd before playing Motherwell on Nov 6th, then going to Ibrox on Nov 9th. That League Cup midweek is the only midweek or weekend we won't have a game between September's international break and November's WC break. Would be worth it to surely be at Hampden and a chance to win a trophy? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted August 31, 2022 Share Posted August 31, 2022 36 minutes ago, Hoose Rice said: Would be worth it to surely be at Hampden and a chance to win a trophy? Depends. Both the OF are still in it and kept apart, so chance of winning is slim. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stylish Kid Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 Eugh. I can't fault the recruitment in principal - Savage and Neilson both talked about quality not quantity, but that's always risky with a small squad. Regardless of injuries though, I felt we were a striker and at least 1 attacking/creative midfielder short. I hope Pollock can maybe step up - he had a great cameo vs Stoke pre season, and Smith has looked lively when he came on previously 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 13 hours ago, VincentGuerin said: Depends. Both the OF are still in it and kept apart, so chance of winning is slim. Would have had more chance of winning the League Cup than the Europa Conference. Last night was a terrible result, no point in trying to dress it up otherwise. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Darren said: Would have had more chance of winning the League Cup than the Europa Conference. Last night was a terrible result, no point in trying to dress it up otherwise. The Old Firm are both still in the League Cup, and have avoided each other in the quarters. Our chances of winning it were slim, especially as we'd have been playing our quarter final in a mad run of fixtures. I'm not saying I'm thrilled we got beat, just that this season it bothers me less than normal. Getting some points on the board in Europe can make us some good money, and the real priority for this season is getting back into group stage football next season so that we can really push on. I want us to win cups as much as anyone else, but I think this season is a special case and we need to think smart and play the long game. I also think a lot of our fans need to be realistic about what we can expect with seven players missing. Would you put money on any non-OF side playing another Premiership side with an injury list like ours? I'm not tolerant of excuses from the club. We've had a lot of them over the years. But sometimes a bad result has a reasonable explanation, and I think last night is one of them. Edited September 1, 2022 by VincentGuerin 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoose Rice Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 1 minute ago, VincentGuerin said: The Old Firm are both still in the League Cup, and have avoided each other in the quarters. Our chances of winning it were slim, especially as we'd have been playing our quarter final in a mad run of fixtures. I'm not saying I'm thrilled we got beat, just that this season it bothers me less than normal. Getting some points on the board in Europe can make us some good money, and the real priority for this season is getting back into group stage football next season so that we can really push on. I want us to win cups as much as anyone else, but I think this season is a special case and we need to think smart and play the long game. Would prize money and a good crowd at home in the quarters if reaching the Semi/Final not be a greater amount than gaining 6 points off that Latvian mob because theres no chance of anything against the other 2? More chance of beating the OF at Hampden too than Fiorentina in any game or a result in Turkey. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 4 minutes ago, Hoose Rice said: Would prize money and a good crowd at home in the quarters if reaching the Semi/Final not be a greater amount than gaining 6 points off that Latvian mob because theres no chance of anything against the other 2? More chance of beating the OF at Hampden too than Fiorentina in any game or a result in Turkey. No. The runners'-up in the League Cup get 160,000. A single draw in the Conference League is worth about 150,000 and a win about 430,000. A single Conference win is more than we'd get for winning the League Cup. I'm not one of these who measures football through money. I'd like us to win the cup. But I think with our schedule this year there were always going to be downsides (I've said so on here many times) and we were always going to have to prioritise. And, no, there isn't a financial argument for prioritising the League Cup. Add in that we have a dreadful injury list just now, and I'm not getting too upset. Any three of our seven injured players available last night, I think we win. But that's fitba. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darren Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 7 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: The Old Firm are both still in the League Cup, and have avoided each other in the quarters. Our chances of winning it were slim, especially as we'd have been playing our quarter final in a mad run of fixtures. I'm not saying I'm thrilled we got beat, just that this season it bothers me less than normal. Getting some points on the board in Europe can make us some good money, and the real priority for this season is getting back into group stage football next season so that we can really push on. I want us to win cups as much as anyone else, but I think this season is a special case and we need to think smart and play the long game. I also think a lot of our fans need to be realistic about what we can expect with seven players missing. Would you put money on any non-OF side playing another Premiership side with an injury list like ours? I'm not tolerant of excuses from the club. We've had a lot of them over the years. But sometimes a bad result has a reasonable explanation, and I think last night is one of them. Hearts put out as strong a team as they could last night, so I've no issues there. If anything, the League Cup was prioritised. And so it should be – it's one of two realistic chances of a trophy. I'm not surprised at all about last night's result, if anything I expected it. Let's not gloss over it with 'aye but we've got European football', though. It's a poor result. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoose Rice Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 2 minutes ago, VincentGuerin said: No. The runners'-up in the League Cup get 160,000. A single draw in the Conference League is worth about 150,000 and a win about 430,000. A single Conference win is more than we'd get for winning the League Cup. I'm not one of these who measures football through money. I'd like us to win the cup. But I think with our schedule this year there were always going to be downsides (I've said so on here many times) and we were always going to have to prioritise. And, no, there isn't a financial argument for prioritising the League Cup. Add in that we have a dreadful injury list just now, and I'm not getting too upset. Any three of our seven injured players available last night, I think we win. But that's fitba. No worries mate. Ta. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VincentGuerin Posted September 1, 2022 Share Posted September 1, 2022 3 minutes ago, Darren said: Hearts put out as strong a team as they could last night, so I've no issues there. If anything, the League Cup was prioritised. And so it should be – it's one of two realistic chances of a trophy. I'm not surprised at all about last night's result, if anything I expected it. Let's not gloss over it with 'aye but we've got European football', though. It's a poor result. I think we played our strongest side last night because injuries forced us to. Without taking the absolute piss, I don't see much Neilson could have changed. I'm not really sure what your point is here. Nobody is saying it's not a poor result. Just that sometimes poor results have context. I don't think it would have happened if we'd not been missing any three of the seven players we were missing. So, on that basis, I'm not going to get too upset about it. Would you expect Aberdeen, Hibs, or Motherwell to beat a Premiership side at home with seven players missing? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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