parsforlife

57 minutes ago, Al k said:

 

Any word on Memhet?

He apparently walked into the ambulance and was seeming more alert, there’s absolutely no chance he’ll not get taken to hospital and given the full works to check for anything underlying.

Concussions of this nature can be incredibly serious, hopefully he recovers well and that’s nothing to do with when he can get back playing football.

After he slipped at the 2nd he wasn’t moving right but it looked like it was more his leg and I think that’s what the physio was sent round to ask him about, there was certainly no proper concussion check done.  Again when he went down prior to his first poorly hit goal kick he appeared to be trying to stretch and again nobody was that concerned he was concussed. 

When he went down after slicing the ball maybe 30 seconds later things escalated very quickly.

3 hours ago, SanguinePar said:

150%

He was the most exciting player last year, he made things happen regularly when he was given a run in the team, but he needs to be on the wing, with a fullback behind him. It seems so obvious, but it doesn't happen 

 Think we’re still chasing that form in a league below which he did from wingback, ignoring that the quality of opposition has gone up, he’s having to do too much backwards and as a result isn’t getting on the ball high enough up the pitch too cause damage.

I don’t actually have a problem with him defensively at wingback, he does a reasonable job at that, but our big issue is creativity and releasing him from those defensive duties should hopefully improve that significantly 

30 minutes ago, Secure Par said:

As for my lazy players statement I will take that back BUT then I would say there are certain players that are League 1/lower Championship level in our team then? MOH is capable of a lot more on the pitch but doesn’t work hard enough…. Could be a formation problem🤷 Is the manager playing the right formation? Is he getting the best out of the team? 

I would say yes, there are a quite big percentage of our squad that are lower championship,  that's why we need to get our recruitment right over the summer.

FWIW even the best sides in the division are carrying a few that are lower championship.  80% of the division are a broadly similar standard,  its having the 3-4 players in your squad that's going to win you games that matters. 

Again on MOH, probably his biggest issue is not being having his head up and releasing the ball at the right times,  your not going to change that at his age.  Probably the thing that would make him look better is having other options that mean teams can't afford to just swamp around him.

With the GPS kit players wear there's absolutely no hiding place for a player to not put the running in or even just not run with the same intensity the should,  do that and that manager will know within 30 seconds. 

Chalmers is another that got called lazy and I can't remember the exact quote but mcpake said at some point his stats were in the top 3-4 in the team, covering over 10k a game. 

1 hour ago, SanguinePar said:

Thing is, the squad we have got us where we are right now, despite being too thin to start with and absolutely decimated with injuries.

That same squad, with a bit more luck in that regard (surely it can't be that bad again!), would have picked us up at least 3 or 4 more points and probably more than that. 

I'm not saying we don't need to make changes, and add depth, I've been saying that since this time last year in fact, but I think Allan is starting to show promise, and I wouldn't be looking to move him on yet (last year, I probably would have been).

I agree with injuries, we were slightly unfortunate with them, but even if you attribute 10 points to them we are only scrapping into the play-offs at best, we must do better next year, there's 30+ extra points we should be chasing next year, that's way more than just injuries can account for.

1 hour ago, SanguinePar said:

I think it's harsh to consider Benjamin a failure of a signing, he's barely played

The fact he's barely played is part of why he's a failure. There's no point in having guys around who can't get on the pitch.

16 minutes ago, Legend85 said:

Has Kane not recently signed a contract with St Johnstone?

Todd isn't scoring what else does he offer. We need boys with flare and energy.

We bit imagination with recruitment would be good but not over board with boys from lower league England I don't think that works Inverness had plenty of them and it's not worked.

Kane only signed a short term deal with St johnstone until the end of this season.

I agree Todd's biggest asset is goalscoring but he also offers alot of energy.  Flare is badly lacking, summers and moffat were meant to be that but they just get bullied and cancelled out. 

The english market,  we don't just need to look at inverness, we can look at ourselves, Benjamin, holmes, fagon-walcott. 1 in 3 isn't a good enough success rate.(ignored moffat as he was known entity as a youth player up here)  even fagon-walcott mcpake had a previous look at him in via mckpake. 

3 hours ago, Rossmcno1 said:

I do think there is a cultural issue at the club

Aye that's maybe true,  there's an attempt to put this laughable sportsmanship thing forward and a push on youth,  but I don't think we've properly developed a cohesive culture.

For me fundamentally we need a relentless pursuit on winning to be at the heart of things and that seems very far from our focus right now.

I will always be happy with a winning team and always unhappy with a losing one, I don't particularly care how either is achieved.

Never heard a successful teams fans complain about boring football, nor a unsuccessful team's happy that their team are playing in a so called entertaining way.

Mcpake will be here next season guaranteed, If he doesn't look like were fighting at the top end of the table at any point he'll face alot of pressure, The board will too, especially the fussball element. 

Is there anyone who needs to be offered a deal? fagon-walcott and kane would be reasonably good additions should we get them in permanently.  Everyone else? nah lets try and freshen the squad up as much as we can. 

16 minutes ago, scottyboy said:

Our strongest side will play for a draw at best. Reward the reserves for their exploits winning the Cup. Yir top managers would do this with nothing to play for. 

1. There’s 50k to play for, that can easily be a players wage or be enough to secure 2/3 that would go elsewhere without the extra cash.

2. first team places will be rewarded to younger players when they prove themselves the best choice for the team over more experienced players they should absolutely not be given out without doing that. 

2. Bollocks, top managers regularly play strong sides towards end of season even with secured titles etc, virtually never do they play a team full of kids. At best it would be one or two.

Got to play our strongest side next week, it’s about £50k difference between 5th and 7th, worthwhile chasing

Even if it wasn't the point to confirm safety I'd argue there's justification to do everything to secure a point when you play as **** as we did at times today. 

I'm more frustrated we needed to do it than that we did, I'm sure everyone including players and management would have liked to added a 2nd early 2nd half and control possession from there,  we're not good enough to do that tho,  so you do the other things to get the point.

Massive summer for the club coming up.

Just now, Secure Par said:

So Charlie D’s has been going most of the season and last game so no staff etc…. Well done Mr Cook…he could have made this happen easily getting extra staff in but we all know he doesn’t want this🤷

I don't think that's fair,  getting extra staff in for hospitality at reasonably late notice is a very difficult job.

Charlie D's was often closed under previous management as well when struggling for staff.

21 minutes ago, Piracy said:

I think it's always been seen as an area for bampots. 

When I talked of the overall package for hospitality an area for bampots is part of that and I don't want that to sound offensive.  Its kinda organic but everyone knows the parts of the grounds where expected behaviour differ If you start swearing your head off in the family section then that's not ok and if you bounce around and sing songs in the main stand you'll get a few questionable looks,  but you do either in section NW you'll be right at home.  Similarly at the other end you might find a few more frustrated glances coming if you try take a 5 year old outside the family section and need to constantly ask to be let out for toilets/drinks but that's clearly acceptable in the family section.   

The hospitality package needs to be similar,  you can have an area for kids to go play games, an area for a quite pint and catch up, an area to have a meal, an area to entertain business clients and an area for folk to be a bit boisterous.  They aren't conflicting when appropriately managed.

8 minutes ago, GG Riva said:

I hope II'm completely wrong and we win a topsy-turvy match4-3 with the lead changing hands 4 times; 0-1, 2-1, 2-3, 4-3. 🙂

Give me a boring 1-0 over that every day.  We're not in the business of making games exciting for neutrals,  a well composed professional performance is so much more desirable.

1 minute ago, Piracy said:

Certainly needs spruced up given the telly's are ancient, split material on the seating and some of the flooring is splitting. However, it's still a decent enough space. 

 

slightly different things I guess, refurb, in making any particular space as good as it can in physical items vs rebrand which is less tangible and more focused on overall vibe. 

49 minutes ago, Piracy said:

It is frustrating for the club.

It is a ****er that it's always Charlie D's that gets hit, but it's probably the least profitable part of hospitality on match days, so you can understand their decision making. 

Its clearly money motivated what areas get given the available staff, as you mention, hospitality staff off = bar staff moved to cover hospitality cos hospitality is the bigger generator.

I do wonder if we have to completely shut that area tho, would attendees be too annoyed if the same atmosphere could be offered but they would need to walk through to legends for a drink?  Possibly that would affect licencing tho if staff weren't at least regularly attending a section.

41 minutes ago, Eastendtales said:

Does Legends need a rebrand? Freshen it up and start catering to a wider part of the fanbase?

It seems to serve its purpose, doesn't look like it struggles to get punters in for its capacity.   I think its the overall package for fans we need to focus on which when fully functioning I don't think we are that far from fulfilling. 

1 hour ago, Piracy said:

It's because there's a shortage of 5 hospitality staff for tomorrow's game. I got that straight from 2 people at the club after I contacted a couple of them this morning. They rely on a number of youngsters/students and a lot of them have exams just now. 

Old Inn it is for some Pars fans, money in their tills. 

 

It always seems to be staffing for these kind of things. I think we are in a tough position for it too,  can’t offer reliable shifts or many hours, so you’re left in the casual market. But those working in that market are also not offered reliable shifts and need to take the hours they can and they’re not going to choose the pars over an employer who they rely on more

 There was a spell between the start of last seasons final quarter and the end of this seasons first quarter where it started to all come together for McCann, that’s what got him a new contract.

different situations I know and I’m not saying he’s of the same quality but it wasn’t until shankland and nisbet were his age that put everything together at this level.

14 minutes ago, Secure Par said:

 

If this is a 10 year plan as said then I really can’t see us signing players to compete in the top 4 of the championship? 
 

Lets just remember, year 1 was our best achievement, a position we had achieved 3 years earlier.  We are now entering year 5.  Time to stop the Jam tomorrow mindset/message. 

24 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

My point is that I think it's pretty much impossible to plan for - and then achieve - putting a squad together to finish mid-table in the Championship for a few consecutive seasons. If you try, you'll end up going down.

Oh, I 1000% agree with that.

18 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

How are you meant to go about making sure a club finishes mid table in the Championship several seasons in a row?

 

We should be able to do that with a half-***ed approach, we need a recruitment process that means we can put a promotion chasing team on the pitch

6 minutes ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

We also brought Ian Laing on board, who seems to specialise in sports contracts.

Yeah, and what has he done? Bring in one decent player in the January window? 

10 minutes ago, Secure Par said:

If Mr Cook is involved in transfer dealings then it’s going to be like this season as he doesn’t negotiate so I have heard?

 

Mcpake doesn't do negotiations,  cook doesn't

So are these negotiations being done entirely by a bloke who your lucky to have in the country for 10% of the year, no wonder we can't get deals over the line.

I'd like to get 5th for the extra prize money but its hardly something to get the pulse racing.

Our season is petering out, were not playing great but not totally terrible either.

Folk claiming its a big game to avoid 9th are being silly, we have less than a 1% chance of ending up there FFS

2 hours ago, Grant said:

 

All formations have there Pro’s and Cons. IMO at this level it is far harder to get a 3/5 atb formation working well because the roles that you use are a bit more specialised, and the player “talent” required to do them well typically isn’t there at our level, at least that’s what I think. And it’s predominantly with the defenders who are key to this with regards to creating overloads, if they’re not doing that you find players get isolated (Usually your wing backs) and it can fall to **** fairly quickly.

 

 

 

 

 

For 352 to work well, and to look good you need a few things.

 

Your WCBs really need to be capable of progressing the ball, passing is ideal but you also need them capable of going on overlaps of the RCB, as well as striding into midfield. As well as this you also need them to still be a bloody decent defender capable of standing up wingers in a 1 v 1, it’s actually a role that closely resembles an old style full back, however fullbacks tend to be shorter. We’ve tried a few players there with varying levels of success but they all have there own drawbacks.

Fisher has a fantastic range of passing and has the physical presence to defend those balls into the box, however his ball progression with regards to dribbling really isn’t there, you’re not going to often see him overlapping the RWB which can lead to said RWB being isolated?

Comrie does overlap and has better dribbling, however his defending isn’t as strong as MWH or Fisher and he’s obviously just that bit shorter which is problem if you then have another aerially challenged bloke on the outside of him.

MWH is probably an amalgamation of the other two, isn’t as good a defender of Fisher and certainly doesn’t have his level of passing. Isn’t as good on the overlap as Comrie but he will support the RWB. He’s the best we have in this position though IMO.

And that’s just the RCBs, the only LCB we have capable, and in fairness he is absolutely brilliant at doing it, is Otoo. However we desperately need him in centre mid, MFW is probably my favourite player atm but he’s just unsuited to doing the attacking side of things with regards to playing as LCB

You central defender needs to be a great organiser, we do have this in Benedictus, but as you find when he’s injured we then had to drop Hamilton back there who probably wasn’t strong enough in the air

Your wing backs need to have the defensive capablitlies of a full back as well as the offensive capabilities of a strong running winger. We have this in Josh Edwards, however his final ball is sometimes lacking. It should be noted though that the chances of replacing Edwards with anyone near as competent is pretty much nil unless you’re dropping Otoo in there. Decent wing backs at this level are such a rarity, there aren’t many that I can think off with SoD at Partick probably being the best I can remember.

We don’t have anyone who’s great at it on the right, KRH does it but he’s wasted picking the ball up at the half way line.

 

 

With Edwards leaving in the summer we’ll be leftw ith 0 capable left wing backs, with Otoo playing in midfield we have 0 capable LCBs, it’s a formation that can work but it will not work for us at this level unless we go on a big spree to buy the required players. I get why we have used it, our best players for a time were Edwards who looked at his best at LWB, Otoo who looked at his best as a LCB, and Todd who needed a free role in midfield. A 352 was perfect. But it’s not anymore. McPake needs to realise this and change accordingly for next season.

 

For me you now build your team around Otoo, Todd and Hamilton in midfield, with KRH as an attacking wide midfielder, a variation of a 4231/433 or even a 442 where you effectively call Todd a second striker can work. We need to buy a left back and a left winger, however they’ll both be easier to find than a Josh Edwards replacement, and that’s before we get into getting another Otoo for LCB! As well as a striker but bones of the squad are already there.

Mehmet

Comrie-Fisher/MFW(if we can get him)-Bene-New Lb

Otoo-Hamilton

KRH-Todd-New Lw

Kane(If we can get him)

That is a bloody well thought out post grant!

I think it is at the moment a formation designed to get the best out of edwards, and last year it was a good formation for KRH on the other side but KRH doesn't have the same ability to get up and down as edwards and in this division he's probably been pinned back too much for us to get the best out of him,  I think he'll need to be a winger mostly at this level.

I do like the look of the 4-2-3-1 you've put together,

I think you can take a different approach to 3-5-2(which we don't use. you correctly show it the roles we are looking for from wingbacks/ wide CBs) that involves the wingbacks not getting as high and instead of looking to create much through them crossing you instead try and swamp the middle of the pitch and create more centrally.  That's how Livi played when they won promotion.

Our attempt at that would probably look like 

Fisher Bene Breen

Comrie hamilton todd otoo edwards/new WB

kane McCann.

Which would maybe be ok, but if you look at who we'd have in reserve it would fall quickly apart.    Even if you take away opinions on how good they are and focus on style of play there's no role for chalmers, there's no role for MOH, there's not really a role for KRH and it doesn't really suit wighton either, tho he could do a job as one of the two.

You're also playing every currently signed defensive player, that would probably mean you end up signing more for cover using up budget when I think most agree we need to improve mostly in the attacking areas.

25 minutes ago, kelty_par said:

Ultimately Mcpake is responsible for poor transfer windows.

I'm genuinely not sure if he is. Meggie is meant to be a massive part of these discussions and the last genuinely good transfer business we did was at best under crawford just as he became part of the club and the previous widows under craw before he did were probably better.

ETA. Of those clambering for a 4-4-2,  do you just believe this is an inherently better formation? Or have you identified particular strengths of individuals where overall you think it would be a better formation currently, but if we brought in particular personnel then you'd think keeping a 3-5-2/ 3-2-3-1 would be the correct formation going forward?