Dumbarton v East Fife 2/9/23

[Silverton End]

Spurred on by @Boghead ranter

To hopefully continuing the trend of being a lucky thread starter, (sorry @FifeSons to beat you to it)

Sons welcome the Fifers to The Rock in good form after 2 convincing wins v Forfar & Stenhousemuir.

East Fife will be looking to get their season on track after a quite surprisingly poor start, can The Sons make it 3 wins on the spin or will The Fifers find form at last??

 

 

 

[Cambuslang Fifer]

Another 5-0 Dumbarton incoming! 
we don’t seem to score these days so that trend in Dumbarton I fear the worst at a ground we don’t do well at.

[The Moonster]

Could all depend on how many defenders we have available. Potentially no right back or 3rd centre back for us to play the favoured 352 which probably means a switch to 4 at the back. Hopefully Lynas makes it as without him I think we're doing a fair bit of shuffling around. 

[Silverton End]

I was impressed by Young at the weekend & as Moonster says hopefully Lynas is ok, he's one of the best right-backs in this League.

 

[microdave]

This will be Stevie Farrell's 100th game as Dumbarton manager. 

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I'm sure Lynas will be given every chance, especially as Jack Healy is a key attacking threat for East Fife.  I'm hoping Michael Ruth will also be available.

[The Moonster]

15 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

I'm sure Lynas will be given every chance, especially as Jack Healy is a key attacking threat for East Fife.  I'm hoping Michael Ruth will also be available.

It's okay, Young Jack Healy lives in fear of Ryan Wallace after he shouted at him that one time. 

[Beachcomber]

I'm not very optimistic about this. Our recent results at the Rock have been stinking and our low key verging on shambolic start to the season points to a home win.  East Fife will have to score first to get anything from this game.

 

[Big Fifer]

Odd start to the season for us, I don't think our squad is too bad but from the sounds of things we don't ever look like scoring. Might make it along to this but I wouldn't expect to leave with 3 points to be honest. 

[Jan Vojáček]

Our chances hinge on Aron Lynas' fitness imo. Losing one right-sided player is a blow, but losing both is a real issue when we're short on centre-halves and play 3-5-2.

If he does make it then I'd imagine we'll see him at RWB and Blair Malcolm at RCB. Which I'm not all that into on the basis I think Malcolm is absolutely vital to our midfield. But it's just about the only option I can see. Unless we move Young to LCB, shuffle everyone across and start Matty Shiels at LWB? Or play Kalvin as wing-back? Although I'm not sure he's defensively savvy enough for the role.

I'm thinking as I type here. But basically if Carlo hadn't got himself sent-off then I'd have been feeling a whole lot more confident than I am. That and the fact that Nathan Austin A) Loves a goal against us and B) Has never lost when he's played against us.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

3 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Our chances hinge on Aron Lynas' fitness imo. Losing one right-sided player is a blow, but losing both is a real issue when we're short on centre-halves and play 3-5-2.

If he does make it then I'd imagine we'll see him at RWB and Blair Malcolm at RCB. Which I'm not all that into on the basis I think Malcolm is absolutely vital to our midfield. But it's just about the only option I can see. Unless we move Young to LCB, shuffle everyone across and start Matty Shiels at LWB? Or play Kalvin as wing-back? Although I'm not sure he's defensively savvy enough for the role.

I'm thinking as I type here. But basically if Carlo hadn't got himself sent-off then I'd have been feeling a whole lot more confident than I am. That and the fact that Nathan Austin A) Loves a goal against us and B) Has never lost when he's played against us.

Excuse my ignorance but is Carlo definitely suspended for this game - it wasn't a straight red last Saturday.

[Jan Vojáček]

1 minute ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

Excuse my ignorance but is Carlo definitely suspended for this game - it wasn't a straight red last Saturday.

Afraid so. A second booking is an automatic one match suspension for the next game in that competition.

[Beachcomber]

When we signed Nathan Austin it seemed Greig McDonald was favouring a 4-4-2 but this hasn't worked out, the extra forward has left us light in the middle of the park.

The tinkering began which led to a shambolic 3-5-2 against Stenny with Healy left wing back.

McDonald has since reverted to 4-5-1 at Elgin and I'm sure this is how we will start on Saturday.

Edited August 29, 2023 by Beachcomber

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

I’ve been saying for a while now that our lack of cover at centre back will bite us on the arse and it looks like this weekend may see that come to fruition. It’s all well and good saying guys like Blair Malcolm can fill in there but when they become a vital part of the midfield it ends up being counter productive to shift them elsewhere. Now that we’re operating with 3 of them another body in that position becomes even more important.

Instead of signing someone like Matty Shiels we should’ve made a centre back a priority IMO. 

[BallochSonsFan]

6 hours ago, Jan Vojáček said:

Our chances hinge on Aron Lynas' fitness imo. Losing one right-sided player is a blow, but losing both is a real issue when we're short on centre-halves and play 3-5-2.

If he does make it then I'd imagine we'll see him at RWB and Blair Malcolm at RCB. Which I'm not all that into on the basis I think Malcolm is absolutely vital to our midfield. But it's just about the only option I can see. Unless we move Young to LCB, shuffle everyone across and start Matty Shiels at LWB? Or play Kalvin as wing-back? Although I'm not sure he's defensively savvy enough for the role.

I'm thinking as I type here. But basically if Carlo hadn't got himself sent-off then I'd have been feeling a whole lot more confident than I am. That and the fact that Nathan Austin A) Loves a goal against us and B) Has never lost when he's played against us.

I actually think we could cope in midfield. I'd be concerned with our lack of defensive cover, but I think that we could cope in the middle of the park. Not sure if there's any scope between now and Saturday to get a loan signing done or maybe even an actual contract agreed? Lack of cover at the back is a huge concern. I know that Blair Malcolm dropped deep and covered on Saturday, but he was far more effective in midfield and I think he gives is more urgency than Ryan Blair does. Having Wylde and Shiels on the books makes no sense when we're short of cover at centre half.

Edited August 29, 2023 by BallochSonsFan

[The Moonster]

I don't think we'll sign another centre half. I reckon Shiels got the last of the budget and Faz hoped we could scrape through until Callum Wilson is fit again, which gives us an extra body in midfield and Malcolm can drop back when needed. Injuries and suspensions just kicking in earlier than we'd hoped. 

We just need to work with what we've got. It's clear we had no real intention of playing a 352 this season but given how dangerous we look we just need to try and patch it up as best we can when we're short of bodies. 

 

[Sweet Pete]

22 minutes ago, The Moonster said:

I don't think we'll sign another centre half. I reckon Shiels got the last of the budget and Faz hoped we could scrape through until Callum Wilson is fit again, which gives us an extra body in midfield and Malcolm can drop back when needed. Injuries and suspensions just kicking in earlier than we'd hoped. 

We just need to work with what we've got. It's clear we had no real intention of playing a 352 this season but given how dangerous we look we just need to try and patch it up as best we can when we're short of bodies. 

 

That's the way I see it also. Its clear the 3-5-2 was just something Farrell tried the other week and it paid off in spades, then worked again last Saturday. Not something that had been planned during the recruitment phase of pre season, so what we're running with is what we've got I'd imagine. Just need to keep plugging away as all teams will have injuries and suspensions throughout the season.

[Bring Back Paddy Flannery]

Even before the 352 it was obvious the team was overloaded in certain areas and desperately lacking depth in others. We have an abundance of central midfielders and only 2 natural centre backs. Square pegs in round holes shouldn’t be the only option when it comes to suspensions and injuries, especially if it weakens us in other areas of the pitch. If I was Farrell I’d be looking to send 2 or 3 out on loan and bringing in another centre back. Wylde isn’t needed, Vata wont be near the first team and C Wilson needs minutes when he’s fit (did we know he was injured before we signed him?). Not that I expect that to happen but if Farrell wants to persist with 352 then it’s going to be a struggle with what we have at the minute.

[The Moonster]

42 minutes ago, Bring Back Paddy Flannery said:

Even before the 352 it was obvious the team was overloaded in certain areas and desperately lacking depth in others. We have an abundance of central midfielders and only 2 natural centre backs. Square pegs in round holes shouldn’t be the only option when it comes to suspensions and injuries, especially if it weakens us in other areas of the pitch. If I was Farrell I’d be looking to send 2 or 3 out on loan and bringing in another centre back. Wylde isn’t needed, Vata wont be near the first team and C Wilson needs minutes when he’s fit (did we know he was injured before we signed him?). Not that I expect that to happen but if Farrell wants to persist with 352 then it’s going to be a struggle with what we have at the minute.

I believe Vata and Wilson will be playing for the 20s, in the latters case to get him up to speed. Yes we knew he was injured when he signed. 

I'd send Lynas and Wylde out on loan for their absolutely awful attempt at naming the colours of the rainbow in our latest promotional video. Lynas said fucking turquoise ffs.

[O'Kelly Isley III]

I'm not convinced that formations are as important in League Two as the quality of the players in the team.  The Forfar result was rescued because the introduction of McLean, Hilton and Malcolm proved far more effective than the players they replaced.

Similarly, last week the game was won in a 30-minute spell when our attacking quality ruthlessly exposed Stenny defensive weaknesses, and that was a result of McLean and Hilton again hitting form and meshing well, allied to getting the ball forward far more quickly than previously - take a bow Finlay and Carlo.

It would be nice to think that we'll continue to be offensive, and we have Ruth and Wallace in there too, and that playing to players' strengths will be more important than holding to rigid formations - look how that worked out last season.