Pars vs Morton - Sat 23rd Sep

[Bucuresti Par]

I think Bene comes back in when fit, he's better than Fisher, Otoo and Comrie in the air (as is Breen). Muirhead won too many headers and was even able to bring long balls down too easily on a few occasions, including the Morton goal where Otoo doesn't do enough with Muirhead and Fisher falls asleep and lets Crawford run off him. 

That said, nobody deserves to be dropped after an excellent performance, if we keep these standards up it will be hard for the guys returning to get back in the XI.

[RandomGuy.]

31 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

Comrie and MOH linking up well together. 

Looking forward to topics with you lot next season if this pairing hits it off and gets firing

Be glad to see MOH doing well again, just completely fell out of love with the game by the time he left us. Genuinely be delighted if be hits some form and gets loved again for his final few years instead of vanishing towards retirement.

[par-adise]

42 minutes ago, Stellaboz said:

I think you're spot on. If Breen is in place of Comrie, we don't see the overlap as much on the right. A lot of our good attacking work in the 2nd half came from Comrie and MOH linking up well together. 

Brilliant to see the lads stepping up at the back without Bene, brilliant to see.

I've only ever seen Breen play LCB so he wouldn't come in for Comrie. 

[CallumPar]

3 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

Looking forward to topics with you lot next season if this pairing hits it off and gets firing

Be glad to see MOH doing well again, just completely fell out of love with the game by the time he left us. Genuinely be delighted if be hits some form and gets loved again for his final few years instead of vanishing towards retirement.

He’s played RWB the last 2 games and been very good. The role seems to suit him very well, as he can get the ball at his feet and run at defenders. Earlier in the season, he played as a striker or a winger and was asked to run onto balls in behind the defence, or defenders were on him as soon as he got the ball, and he was less effective.

McPake said he’s seen the O’Halloran he used to know in training the last couple of weeks too, really hoping he can keep up this level of performance. He’ll have his work cut out to keep that spot in the starting 11 once KRH gets fit though.

[101]

18 minutes ago, Bucuresti Par said:

I think Bene comes back in when fit, he's better than Fisher, Otoo and Comrie in the air (as is Breen). Muirhead won too many headers and was even able to bring long balls down too easily on a few occasions, including the Morton goal where Otoo doesn't do enough with Muirhead and Fisher falls asleep and lets Crawford run off him. 

That said, nobody deserves to be dropped after an excellent performance, if we keep these standards up it will be hard for the guys returning to get back in the XI.

Don't think you drop Fisher his range of passing is so important to quick breaks and switching play.

Dundee were mad letting him leave.

[RandomGuy.]

Just now, CallumPar said:

He’s played RWB the last 2 games and been very good. The role seems to suit him very well, as he can get the ball at his feet and run at defenders. Earlier in the season, he played as a striker or a winger and was asked to run onto balls in behind the defence, or defenders were on him as soon as he got the ball, and he was less effective.

McPake said he’s seen the O’Halloran he used to know in training the last couple of weeks too, really hoping he can keep up this level of performance. He’ll have his work cut out to keep that spot in the starting 11 once KRH gets fit though.

He was never any use as a striker tbf, bar games against Rangers who left 40 yards of space behind their defence constantly.

Dont particularly rate McPake (although he seems like one whos actually willing to learn from mistakes? If so then he'll be improving all the time) but man management seems a real strong point for him. The best manager MOH couldve gotten to find happiness again probably.

[Rob1885]

21 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

He was never any use as a striker tbf, bar games against Rangers who left 40 yards of space behind their defence constantly.

Dont particularly rate McPake (although he seems like one whos actually willing to learn from mistakes? If so then he'll be improving all the time) but man management seems a real strong point for him. The best manager MOH couldve gotten to find happiness again probably.

What makes you not rate Mcpake?

[RandomGuy.]

6 minutes ago, Rob1885 said:

What makes you not rate Mcpake?

His time at Dundee, really. Its not fair to judge him on it as he does seem willing to accept hes got something wrong and try to improve, which I think is a huge thing for young managers, but its just my biased opinion as its the only experience ive had of witnessing him manage.

Seemed overly reliant on hoping individuals would dig him out a hole when he didnt have a superior team, and his tactic was simply win when it works and lose when it doesnt.

[Salvo Montalbano]

12 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

His time at Dundee, really. Its not fair to judge him on it as he does seem willing to accept hes got something wrong and try to improve, which I think is a huge thing for young managers, but its just my biased opinion as its the only experience ive had of witnessing him manage.

Seemed overly reliant on hoping individuals would dig him out a hole when he didnt have a superior team, and his tactic was simply win when it works and lose when it doesnt.

Yeah, he's definitely grown since then. Made it clear in several interviews that he had to look at what went wrong at Dundee and wanted to do things differently. He also said that he appreciated how much our board wanted him and he felt wanted again which helps, and that permeates through the squad he's built. Nobody takes the hump if they're dropped of subbed off early, teammates look genuinely delighted when a player scores (some of our players sprinted 40, 50 yards to celebrate with O'Halloran yesterday), wee things like having the squad outside the stadium for that funeral cortege the other day for the supporter who died... like you say his man management seems pretty good. And tactically he's excellent - not afraid to change systems or personnel during a game (even earlier on in games) if it isn't working, will play players in different positions depending on the opponents etc. Think Dave Mackay and Ian Harty deserve a lot of credit too, they seem to do a lot of work on the tactical side too.

[Rob1885]

30 minutes ago, RandomGuy. said:

His time at Dundee, really. Its not fair to judge him on it as he does seem willing to accept hes got something wrong and try to improve, which I think is a huge thing for young managers, but its just my biased opinion as its the only experience ive had of witnessing him manage.

Seemed overly reliant on hoping individuals would dig him out a hole when he didnt have a superior team, and his tactic was simply win when it works and lose when it doesnt.

I wasn't having a go btw, sums it up nicely. Had a very dim view of him when he got appointed here.

[CallumPar]

4 minutes ago, Salvo Montalbano said:

Yeah, he's definitely grown since then. Made it clear in several interviews that he had to look at what went wrong at Dundee and wanted to do things differently. He also said that he appreciated how much our board wanted him and he felt wanted again which helps, and that permeates through the squad he's built. Nobody takes the hump if they're dropped of subbed off early, teammates look genuinely delighted when a player scores (some of our players sprinted 40, 50 yards to celebrate with O'Halloran yesterday), wee things like having the squad outside the stadium for that funeral cortege the other day for the supporter who died... like you say his man management seems pretty good. And tactically he's excellent - not afraid to change systems or personnel during a game (even earlier on in games) if it isn't working, will play players in different positions depending on the opponents etc. Think Dave Mackay and Ian Harty deserve a lot of credit too, they seem to do a lot of work on the tactical side too.

Yeah, McPake credits Dave Mackay quite a lot for his tactical work and there’s a lot of ‘Dave spotted that in the analysis’ and ‘Dave worked on that set piece routine’. Also credits Harty at times.

As you say, McPake has spoken about evaluating his time at Dundee and learning from it. But, more importantly, he’s actually making changes that win us points. I know it was league 1, but the amount of times last season, we won the game because of his subs was impressive.

I get the impression there’s a healthy relationship between manager and board right now. McPake also talks about character/attitude being very important in his recruitment. I’d also add that win, lose or draw, McPake is always over to show appreciation for the fans. When he gets things wrong, he’ll admit that and take the blame/criticism. On top of that, we have Benedictus (or Hamilton) giving away the captain’s armband after every game. We have Mehmet giving gloves to fans after the warm up yesterday. It’s just great to see everyone looking to build and maintain a strong connection with the fans.

It’s clearly an environment that players enjoy. 3 of last year’s loan players signed permanently and really wanted to be here. Moffat, Summers and Sharp all spoke of their former teammates that are now here being a strong influence on their decisions to come here as well. Fans of other clubs might not be aware of how horrendous things were when McPake arrived, so I don’t think they will fully appreciate the complete change in mentality/culture since McPake came here, or why he’s held in such high regard by our fans.

[Rob1885]

Mcpake spot on his post match. the pace we've got in the team at the moment, especially going forward can cause so many issues in this league. Feeling very positive this morning.

[da_no_1]

I bet there's no one more pleased than Bene himself that we're coping OK without him.

[HoBNob]

1 hour ago, RandomGuy. said:

His time at Dundee, really. Its not fair to judge him on it as he does seem willing to accept hes got something wrong and try to improve, which I think is a huge thing for young managers, but its just my biased opinion as its the only experience ive had of witnessing him manage.

Seemed overly reliant on hoping individuals would dig him out a hole when he didnt have a superior team, and his tactic was simply win when it works and lose when it doesnt.

That's fair enough, it's the exact same view that I had of McPake when we appointed him. I was fairly vocal about what a poor appointment it was. 

Turns out I'm not always right. 

 

[101]

44 minutes ago, Rob1885 said:

Mcpake spot on his post match. the pace we've got in the team at the moment, especially going forward can cause so many issues in this league. Feeling very positive this morning.

And yet I would bet KRH is our fastest sprinter, with Todd and Tod not to far behind. 

[smpar]

12 hours ago, Rob1885 said:

Me and the guys I sit with were saying that too, Bene(as much as I and we all love him) could struggle getting back in initially.

Aye I said as well that the outfield players will all have to earn their place again in the starting lineup, even though they’re all either the most talented or influential in the squad. It’s hard to watch performances like that yesterday and pick 4 players who don’t deserve to start again. Mehmet is the only one I would say is a certainty about getting his place back straight away. Bene likely will as well, being captain and that, but it would be harsh to drop anyone from yesterday. 

Just saw McCann’s near Puskas contender back, the confidence that boy is playing with is fantastic to see, absolutely gutted for him that that didn’t go in, after the free kick at Hampden and that effort yesterday he must feeling pretty fucking good right now. Really pleased he got himself a goal though. 

[Cardle is Magic]

I didn’t want McPake initially but that was purely based on me really wanting to see Petrie being given the gig.

He’s long since won me over. I’ve been impressed with how he sets up the team, how he’s managed to improve and develop players, some of whom looked lost causes and his recruitment has been far more hit than miss.

Most head coaches would have been an improvement following the Grant/Hughes shambles. However, we’ve got a team right now that gives 100% every week and that’s just really great to see.

 

[CallumPar]

2 hours ago, smpar said:

Just saw McCann’s near Puskas contender back, the confidence that boy is playing with is fantastic to see, absolutely gutted for him that that didn’t go in, after the free kick at Hampden and that effort yesterday he must feeling pretty fucking good right now. Really pleased he got himself a goal though. 

He’s matured a lot, he’s not getting as frustrated when things don’t go his way. Used to see him make a mistake, or a decision not going his way and his head would drop and he’d put in a few rash challenges.

He’s also improved his decision making, movement and all-round game. For example, his goal yeaterday - he wasn’t getting into those areas before and it’s great to see him score a striker’s goal. He’s proving to be a very very good player and I really want to see us tie him down to a contract extension soon.

[Rob1885]

2 hours ago, Cardle is Magic said:

I didn’t want McPake initially but that was purely based on me really wanting to see Petrie being given the gig.

He’s long since won me over. I’ve been impressed with how he sets up the team, how he’s managed to improve and develop players, some of whom looked lost causes and his recruitment has been far more hit than miss.

Most head coaches would have been an improvement following the Grant/Hughes shambles. However, we’ve got a team right now that gives 100% every week and that’s just really great to see.

 

This. I'll never not want Petrie as manager!

[The Toun Clock]

Didn’t make it along yesterday but I’ve just finished watching the highlights and I’m gutted I wasn’t there. Great passing and movement, some good goals and throw yourself infront of the bus defending.

Due to weddings and holiday I’ve only seen us in the flesh on the opening day against Airdrie, so I’ve yet to see Summers play but he looks incredible and someone I think will go back to Celtic and do well, really well.

The points made in the thread about Bene struggling to get back in are interesting. We’re very quick at the back with Comrie, Fisher and Otoo, however if Bene is fit I think he’ll come back in. I suppose then it allows for Otoo to be pushed into midfield if McPake wants that, which means competition for Chalmers and Hammy. Ideally you’d say Comrie goes back to wing back, but MOH doing really well there, great headaches for the management to have.

Be interesting to see what happens with the goalkeeping situation, I don’t think Deniz is far off, does he come straight back in or does Sharp keep the jersey.

Looking at the next month or so, away to Thistle on Saturday, home to Arbroath, home to Ayr, away to Raith then back at home to Inverness. No easy games but nice to see three home games in that 5/6 week period.

Heading to Firhill on Saturday, buzzing to watch this team, hopefully kick on and build on the last couple of weeks!

Finally, good to see the tributes for Kray Bathgate. Terribly sad to see any fan go but especially someone so young. Nice that both sets of fans, players and staff took part in the applause although didn’t think anything less would happen. Sadly I’ve seen some Falkirk fans making their uneducated tongues wag about it already over the last couple of days which is completely over the line, although not half surprising from that bunch.