Jump to content

lady-isobel-barnett

Members
  • Posts

    17,341
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by lady-isobel-barnett

  1. Everything's relative. If Lesser Hampden was up an ready 40% of yesterday's crowd would've been locked out. 😃
  2. Often critical but I thought Doolan managed the game well today. Reacted quickly to their 2nd goal. Maybe if Adeloye had stayed on we might have scrambled a winner. Big question I ask is once we scored we won just about every first ball on the ground, made countless interceptions in midfield and were picking up more than our share of second balls. But why couldn't we play like that for more of the game? Regardless who you support I reckon you'd feel cheated by yon ref today. He should've booked himself for time wasting. Didn't think his decisions were that controversial. Just the time taken before restarts was ridiculous. Reckon we were cheated out of about 10 minutes of actual play. I hope he's very proud of his new whistle.
  3. Bit of a shame no Williams. Not sure if Ngwenya will play at back or midfield. May even drop to a back three but a bit negative for a game we should be going all out for a win. Only plus, and a minor one, is Muirhead will be played on his preferred side.
  4. A wee mention from Neilson in his 60 second interview. He says "Get the ball wide". Don't disagree. I think our best scoring options come from cross balls. Just slightly off kilter with a strengthened central midfield. Just hope he and McBeth can supply the ammo.
  5. What we don't really know is how the attack will fare under the dual defensive mids set up. Hopefully it means less tracking back for Lawless and Fitzpatrick who anyway aren't exactly the greatest defenders. Robinson I feel is key to the formation working. He should avoid being dragged too deep and can stay closer to Graham. Take Jagger's point about Diack but it's likely Lawless and to a lesser degree, Fitzpatrick, will run out of steam. We don't have ready made replacements so we have to make do with either a forced change of formation or play Ricco or Zander out wide. Of course that's not to say Diack shouldn't be a straight sub for Big Brian but Adeloye appears at the moment to be first choice.
  6. True. We played exceptionally well in the play offs, certainly continuing the momentum built up prior. The play offs are stacked (I believe rightly) against the 3rd/4th club gaining promotion. My point is that results between clubs below us should be largely academic if we've any chance of progressing.
  7. In a way other results don't matter that much. We have to qualify for the play offs under our own steam to have any chance of promotion. If just reaching the play offs is seen as an achievement in itself then of course results elsewhere can make a difference. if we only qualify for them by results from teams below us cancelling each other out, then realistically we're not got much of a chance progressing. Any club getting promoted thru the play offs, especially from 3rd or 4th place, will have needed to go into them on the back of good results and be on top of their game. If starting off from 3rd place we can't qualify off our own back from here on in, we'll more than likely be going nowhere.
  8. I'm sure I saw somewhere that after Saturday's draw we're now bottom of the "last six matches" table. Should normally be a serious cause for concern but I came away from Firhill relatively pleased with both result and performance. Renewed confidence even. I think the change to a more cautious line up won't affect our attacking play too much. It does tho' mean the four advanced players (and any forward replacements) will all have to be on their game. Doolan will have to be sharp in assessment re subbing forwards.
  9. Spot on. Fitzpatrick is a typical winger (wide player) whose form can peak and dip game to game. Even within a single game. My hero, Big Denis was anything but consistent. Anyone thinking otherwise has a very selective memory. It's Wee Stevie who is the freak. Lawless's consistency is surprisingly good for a widey.
  10. Throughout the league I don't think there'll be result from now until the end of the season that will be considered a complete surprise. Starts tomorrow for us. A Jags win wouldn't/shouldn't come as a shock. Having daft wee leagues of ten of course perpetuates the likelihood of result reversals, but even at that I think this season there's less between 1st and 10th as normal. We're (rightfully) going on about our concession of goals. Less said about how our opponents feel about losing 2 goal a game against us. Big reversal needed tomorrow given it's currently 0-8 against our opponents. However I honestly don't believe the gap is nearly that bad. I'd be surprised if there's much change in our starting XI tomorrow. I don't subscribe to the point of view that our faults lie with the personnel we play. Rephrased I don't think within those who regularly don't start there's any obvious cures.
  11. Sorry, late to the game as not that unusual. All the very best, robphil. 👍
  12. Take your point. I'll turn it on its head if only to try to be positive. These last three games we've scored 9 goals. The expected downside when bringing in a defensive mid is that we'd drop off attack wise. I doubt many of us are anything but pleased with our scoring rate and also very few didn't recognise that we were weak defensively in midfield. Doolan conceded that much. I wasn't at Inverness so I've only see McBeth start the last two games plus a couple of cameo appearances. I've actually thought he's been decent but that's of course ignoring the facts. I can't argue with that tho' I can point out that a weakness at losing goals from set pieces is a largely a collective failing and not any more or less the fault of a defensive midfielder. Just a feeling but I reckon basic teamwork is more the problem than individual failings if you exclude the goalkeeping. Gotta get that sorted before we can really judge McBeth, who I sense isn't going to be a major part of the problem.
  13. Doolan like most young managers won't be slow in asking advice from the experienced. I recollect he more or less said so. Also saying he's not got a shortage of appropriate contacts. That said both comments above are more than relevant. I'm thinking it's not just defensive coaching we need but also someone to play bad cop to Doolan's good cop. I look at some other relatively inexperienced managers in the division. Imrie, Scott Brown, Duncan F & McPake all have something in common Kris lacks. Throw in Jim Goodwin for good measure and there's five that I'm sure will be able to play the role of bad cop with ease. For balance we require some hard to please, greeting face bugger, who'll not be the least bit slow to get his message across from the dugout. As long as Mr Bad Cop knows his stuff from a defensive point of view.
  14. Re the fitness discussion within these walls. Last night at Somerset it was evident that the team didn't noticeably tire towards the end of the game. They kinda run around like headless chickens but that in itself takes a fair amount of energy. Altho' I agree with JJ re that we often do run out of steam, last night certainly wasn't the case. I don't know if there's any significance but the playing surface was in pristine condition.
  15. Just a couple of specific points from last night. Brown counteracted our initial attacking play by deploying McAllistair (No2) further up the field. That left Fitzpatrick with more space but we still continued to play the bulk of balls down our right thru Lawless & McMillan. Lawless was double marked most of the night. Milne eventually exploited that freedom on the left. At no time did the wingers switch flanks to widen the game. Realise I'm pointing out an attacking error when really the bigger crime is in defence.
  16. If you read my post again I said "in relative terms"
  17. Unless I'm misunderstanding Norge's post he's surely talking in relative terms.
  18. Not sure anything there is that likely. Reckon we'll be much as we were tho if Wee Stevie not available then we'll need to change formation. Feel result will more or less define our attitude towards rest of the season. Win, then much as we were. Lose and we're more concerned with looking over our shoulder.
  19. I keep reading the term "The Jury is (still) out". I occasionally use the expression myself. But I really think when used to describe the tenure of 99% of football managers the expression is largely inappropriate. The Jury is effectively always out. Doolan has been in the job about a year now and I believe he's already scraped into the top half (top 21) managers ranked in terms of length of tenure. Wouldn't surprise me if he's nearing the current average term of management at one club (re full time clubs). So it's fair to say on relative terms Doolan is more experienced in managing the one particular club than the average manager. Of course in reality that's nonsense. He's still a rookie manager still learning the ropes. In other industries a manager would be given practical help. In football he's given a budget and that's about it. I wonder how many potentially good football managers have been lost thru this sink or swim approach. Yes, we could do with a fitness coach, a dedicated defensive coach, a contracts guru etc. Possibly thru lack of finance that's not on. Meantime Doolan just has to get on with things. We all hope he succeeds but we probably ask a lot.
  20. Very noticeable against both Raith & Dundee Utd. Of course we could be just as fit (or unfit) as most of the others. But as we often end up a game chasing the ball, whilst are opponents control both the ball and the tempo, we struggle that bit more.
  21. In days of old The Munnites would have been put to the sword by the combined forces of the Warriors of Strathmore and the Knights of the Star & Garter.
  22. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/av/football/68391816
  23. For those that think there was anything dodgy about last night's result as opposed to pure incompetent officiating, they need to have a wee look in the direction of Ochilview. Stenny 1 - 6 Clyde!!! Now there's a result that in horse racing terms would involve the Jockey Club and a suspension of pay out at the bookies. Reminds me of a good few seasons ago and certain results involving an unnamed club from the Tail o'the Bank.
×
×
  • Create New...