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The Queen of the South thread


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My combined team would probably be -

Macdonald

Dowie Durnan Higgins Harris

Burns Macfarlane Tosh McQuilken

O'Connor Dobbie

Macdonald is a better 'keeper then either on our books at present. Obviously with age being a factor both could go on to better things than Macdonald.

Dowie deserves in because he's been virtually flawless for Queens. Mitchell would also go in ahead of McCann who is a cult hero for that goal, but was never a particularly great player.

Aitken and Thomson were a great partnership and rather come as a package, but Durnan is better than both so I can't include them. Higgins has been a great captain for us and deserves to go in just for his post-match celebrations when we win.

Not much between Harris and Holt at all. Harris just edges it for similar reasons to Macdonald.

Although he is playing a different role for us nowadays, there's been no-one better on the right of midfield for us since the Burnsy of the 2008 era, so it is he who makes my XI.

Tough on McShane but the Tosh, Macfarlane partnership was brilliant. The experience of both men was key to the great run that team went on.

The hardest decision for me was whether to go with McQuilken or Russell. Neither joined the club as left-midfielders but both have played that role very well, if in a completely different manner. I've opted for McQuilken because I opted for Harris at full-back, and it was the security he offered that allowed Harris to get forward. Viva McQuilken.

Again partnerships have come into my thinking for the strike force. O'Connor absolutely destroying the Aberdeen defence in that Semi was a complete joy to watch. I'm sure it must have left him frustrated at what could have been though. No justification for Dobbie required. They say you should have 4 strikers on the books, we'd be well served if we had O'Connor, Dobbie, Reilly and Lyle all fighting it out for two places. I think you could interchange any combination of the four without weakening the team any.

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My combined team would probably be -

Macdonald

Dowie Durnan Higgins Harris

Burns Macfarlane Tosh McQuilken

O'Connor Dobbie

Macdonald is a better 'keeper then either on our books at present. Obviously with age being a factor both could go on to better things than Macdonald.

Dowie deserves in because he's been virtually flawless for Queens. Mitchell would also go in ahead of McCann who is a cult hero for that goal, but was never a particularly great player.

Aitken and Thomson were a great partnership and rather come as a package, but Durnan is better than both so I can't include them. Higgins has been a great captain for us and deserves to go in just for his post-match celebrations when we win.

Not much between Harris and Holt at all. Harris just edges it for similar reasons to Macdonald.

Although he is playing a different role for us nowadays, there's been no-one better on the right of midfield for us since the Burnsy of the 2008 era, so it is he who makes my XI.

Tough on McShane but the Tosh, Macfarlane partnership was brilliant. The experience of both men was key to the great run that team went on.

The hardest decision for me was whether to go with McQuilken or Russell. Neither joined the club as left-midfielders but both have played that role very well, if in a completely different manner. I've opted for McQuilken because I opted for Harris at full-back, and it was the security he offered that allowed Harris to get forward. Viva McQuilken.

Again partnerships have come into my thinking for the strike force. O'Connor absolutely destroying the Aberdeen defence in that Semi was a complete joy to watch. I'm sure it must have left him frustrated at what could have been though. No justification for Dobbie required. They say you should have 4 strikers on the books, we'd be well served if we had O'Connor, Dobbie, Reilly and Lyle all fighting it out for two places. I think you could interchange any combination of the four without weakening the team any.

Hard to argue with any of that, although I might just shade Russell ahead of McQuilken simply for the extra pace and attacking threat.

Obviously, you would swap Kerr for McFarlane and Baird for Dobbie if they were still at the club.

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Don't think I'd disagree with much if anything Cammy says. I think I'd probably play both Harris and Holt instead of including McQuilken though. They could play either way round but I think I'd have the bigger Holt behind the more creative Harris. I appreciate I'm cheating a bit though because other than Holt's recent couple of games as a wing back, they were both left backs in the respective comparisons.

I think the last time we did this discussion I went for Thomson & Aitken over Durnan and Higgins but I'd be inclined to go the other way now as the latter pair are just getting better and both look better with Dowie in the side too.

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Really? The current team might lack individual quality up front compared to the cup final side. In the league, we scored 47 goals in 07/08. This seasons side has already scored 40

The facts don't back it up well but I'd still rather have Sean and Dobbie. An explanation could be that the league was a lot tougher, the midfield and defence chip in a lot more goals and provide better service to the forwards and lastly not having a chancer as a manager.

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Not to mention being able to bring on Danny Carmichael and Iain Russell is a damn sight better than John Stewart and Scott Robertson.

In his time with Queens, John Stewart was mostly ineffective but he played a huge part in winning that Aberdeen semi-final.

Not only did he score the winning goal, he also set up Burns for the 2nd.

Much as I admired Stephen Dobbie's ability, I'm not sure if we would have won the game without Stewart subbing him.

{ I'm waiting for the accusations of blasphemy to come pouring in .)

Edited by BillyRoughley
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I agree with you.

Much as I thought Dobbie was brilliant he had a nasty habit of going Awol just when you really needed him.

The cup final was a case in point - he didnt kick a ball except for a part in the first goal. That was a game where he could have won it for us. Rangers were on their last legs and the mercurial Dobbie didnt turn up.

He has clearly done well since leaving us but he is struggling to get a game at Fleetwood which from his perspective is not good news

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I agree with you.

Much as I thought Dobbie was brilliant he had a nasty habit of going Awol just when you really needed him.

The cup final was a case in point - he didnt kick a ball except for a part in the first goal. That was a game where he could have won it for us. Rangers were on their last legs and the mercurial Dobbie didnt turn up.

He has clearly done well since leaving us but he is struggling to get a game at Fleetwood which from his perspective is not good news

A bit harsh.

It's quite possibly true to suggest that Dobbie's injury in the semi-final enabled us to win. That game, especially the fifteen minute spell at the start of the second half, was so crazy that it just seemed to fit Stewart who took it upon himself to have his most effective spell ever.

I don't buy the going missing in big games thing though. But for a dependent miracle, his goal would have won us the tense, tight quarter final by itself. In the final he contributed significantly to Tosh's goal, but should have done better with a Burns cutback at 2-2.

I don't think he can be blamed for failing to have an impact in the Chisholm inspired European games that followed.

His record in big play-off matches in England would also challenge any notion of him disappearing in the big matches.

Blasphemy indeed.

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This team is far better than the 07-08 side in my opinion. I would expect this side to finish higher than fourth in the league that the cup final side played in. In fact , no doubt they would and less spend on them as well.

I'd see the current outfit as significantly stronger defensively, although the '08 one had borrowed a better goalkeeper than this one.

Elsewhere it's arguable, although Tosh and Dobbie were both better than anything we now have.

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This team is far better than the 07-08 side in my opinion. I would expect this side to finish higher than fourth in the league that the cup final side played in. In fact , no doubt they would and less spend on them as well.

Some interesting opinions being given. What I would say about this team is the blend of youth, energy and experience all over the park is working really well and paying dividends. Durnan and Holt along side Dowie and Higgins. McShane who was along side Kerr and now with Burns and Reilly and Lyle who is having his best season, which I think is no coincidence.

Exciting times ahead in the next few months I hope.

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I'd see the current outfit as significantly stronger defensively, although the '08 one had borrowed a better goalkeeper than this one.Elsewhere it's arguable, although Tosh and Dobbie were both better than anything we now have.

This subject gets brought up now and then doesn't it ? . My personal opinion is that Tosh was a shadow of the player that played against us for Gretna . He did have some good games for Queens but I think he was on the slide and not able to be consistent because of this . Anyway, I can see that others think differently so fair do's . I honestly would not swap many players from our 07-08 side into the 14-15 one. One more thing and that is that our current side is in a far tougher league than our cup final one played in. Edited by JRS LEFT PEG
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The Tosh-MacFarlane CM partnership has yet to be topped for us, and likely won't be for a while. I like McShane, but he's not good enough for me not to keep those two together. My combined team would be:-

McDonald

Holt

Durnan

Higgins

Dowie

Russell

Tosh

MacFarlane

Burns (of 08)

Dobbie

O'Connor

Would have loved to have seen that starting 11 together.

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This subject gets brought up now and then doesn't it ? . My personal opinion is that Tosh was a shadow of the player that played against us for Gretna . He did have some good games for Queens but I think he was on the slide and not able to be consistent because of this . Anyway, I can see that others think differently so fair do's . I honestly would not swap many players from our 07-08 side into the 14-15 one. One more thing and that is that our current side is in a far tougher league than our cup final one played in.

I wouldn't actually argue about Tosh. He did lack consistency, but was classier on his day than anyone in the current midfield.

The unusual make-up of this year's division does make comparison difficult.

I'd think it's certainly the case that today's team is proving more cost effective than the earlier one.

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