Jump to content

Clyde FC Season 24/25


Recommended Posts

Really frustrating game on Saturday, but time to move forward. No doubt this coming weekend will be a difficult trip. You cannot play football on the NDP grass, which may call for a different style of play. Whilst I don't think we should be booming the ball long to Logan for 90 minutes, with the park being the way it is it would make sense to utilise Connell's delivery and Dunachie's general chaos factor. With that in mind I'd probably go with:

                       - Kinnear -

- Hynes - Hamilton - McKay - Robson -

               - Murdoch - Grant -

     - Connelly - Connell - Redfern -

                      - Dunachie -

The Jordan Allan situation is a tricky one - he's never been prolific but the vibes are off, even when he wasn't scoring he usually always seemed dangerous and an absolute hassle for defenders. He looks miles off it at the moment and doesn't seem like scoring. Maybe he just needs a spawny one to get his confidence up and get him going. I think playing Bonnyrigg on Saturday when maybe the game won't suit him has come at the right time to sit him down, hope Dunachie tenderises the defence, get him on in the second half to get that goal.

I think the loyalty to last seasons squad has to end here. Scullion isn't a left winger, at a push he's a 10 but he's more of a central midfielder. As much as I love the boy if he's not one of the best options for those positions, he shouldn't be starting. The same with Martin Rennie, not a right winger. He could probably play as a right midfielder, but he's so lackadaisical there's no way he can play as a winger. He's a centre forward and like Scullion, if he's not the best option, don't play him. I still don't understand the thinking behind keeping him on for the full 90 on Saturday there. McCall likes a 4231 and we have the personnel to fill those positions without having to shoehorn in players that served us well in the latter part of the previous season.

Hamilton should be back in at centre half. I understand that he's been carrying a knock, but that makes the decision to play him at right back - a position that requires more running, more dynamic movement and a higher likelihood of being on the end of bad tackles - even more baffling. From what I've seen, he's probably the best one-on-one defender in the league. We have a right back in Darren Hynes who's looked totally fine when playing in his natural position.

Anyway, it would probably be a stretch to say that I'm 'looking forward' to going to Bonnyrigg, but it's certainly going to be very interesting.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Things could be a lot worse. When everyone is available the goalkeeper and back four pick themselves (or do when you choose between Howie/McKay, which is a win either way). Grant, Murdoch and Cuddihy (before injury) are all on top form.

The issue is sorting out the top 3 or 4 positions in the team. In contrast to the above, I'd probably only ever play Rennie and Scullion in wider areas. I'm not sure where Connolly fits in at all.

We talk about getting a consistent team but apart from Connell in the last couple, no-one has really put in a performance amounting to more than 45 minutes, so we then make changes regardless. With the players we have though, there is a solution to be found. Fix that area of the team and we will be flying.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Floating an idea, would Rennie up front be a shout?

Obvious drawback would be a downgrade in workrate vs Allan/Dunachie but he does offer a physical presence which Allan can't and is a bit more of a refined striker than Dunachie.

Did arrive as a striker and arguably the most composed finisher at the club. Would also allow us to play a more natural winger on the right too. I can see why McCall plays him there, he is good at working a yard of space and has a good delivery. Just doesn't cover the ground on the wings enough for me. I wouldn't even say it's a glaring lack of effort, he just seems incapable of reaching a sprint.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, macclyde+ said:

We're apparently playing Stenny in a closed door friendly tonight. 

Hopefully get goals from one or 2 of the strikers!

That’s good idea.. hopefully we can use rolling subs and rotate the forward players till McCall sees some semblance of an attack partnership or at least a combination that looks remotely dangerous. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw the Fair Game index is out and it has scored Clyde as the 12th best ran team in the country.

Scoring is weighted as 40% financial measures , 30% governance, equality and ethical standards and fan and community engagement 10%.

Not sure if it’s an advert for Clyde or a sad indictment for how Scottish football is ran.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

52 minutes ago, Ocelot1877 said:

Saw the Fair Game index is out and it has scored Clyde as the 12th best ran team in the country.

Scoring is weighted as 40% financial measures , 30% governance, equality and ethical standards and fan and community engagement 10%.

Not sure if it’s an advert for Clyde or a sad indictment for how Scottish football is ran.

run

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A long way to go, but a terrible result today and a look at Stirling's score is a stark reminder of just how poor it was last week. That's before I've even considered not laying a glove in the same place Edinburgh City are leaving with 3 goals and points. 

Not quite getting to the panic stations. Although, when do we really start to question the approach here?

Edited by PTR
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m not calling for his head but how long until we start asking some serious questions of McCall? Of course we have only played four league games, but three defeats in a row is very concerning. I don’t think he knows what his best team is and it’s becoming a lottery every week with who the forward players will be. Yes, he has a few injuries to players that would improve the side to deal with at the minute but, on paper, that squad should be doing far better than our start has suggested.

I appreciate the manager can’t control players picking up two yellow cards in the space of a minute, but despite the final day heroics, we laboured to staying up last season long after he came in. A big reason for that seemed to be a tendency to capitulate the minute the going got tough. Serious concerns over the mental strength of this team remain and we have to improve quickly if we’re harbouring any thoughts of promotion. The manager has been extremely well backed since he’s come in the door and we’ve very little to show for it so far, after some early promise.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, PTR said:

A long way to go, but a terrible result today and a look at Stirling's score is a stark reminder of just how poor it was last week. That's before I've even considered not laying a glove in the same place Edinburgh City are leaving with 3 goals and points. 

Not quite getting to the panic stations. Although, when do we really start to question the approach here?

For me, calls for anything like a sacking are still a way off but the serious questions begin if we fail to win next week.

Happy to make excuses for poor performances/outcomes, provided there's evidence of lessons being learned. So far we've had still getting up to speed vs. Forfar, turning things round second half vs. Stranraer, "just one of those days" vs. Stirling and now vs. Bonnyrigg I'd accept that we'd likely have won today if the referee wasn't utterly incompetent (we get our penalty and don't go down to 10), albeit that doesn't excuse meekly falling apart as soon as we faced adversity.

I'm struggling to think of a different way to drop points and just write it off. Win next week or we have to accept that things aren't good enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...