Grant

@SanguinePar

I'll do my best to take notes Ross 

I think McCann would be better if he ran about less. 

Not taking the ****, but he'll often choose bad times to press, means that he gets knackered and I think it effects him. 

Chris Kane is intelligent with his pressing for example. 

13 hours ago, SanguinePar said:

I think it's harsh to consider Benjamin a failure of a signing, he's barely played, and in one of the instances where he did he scored a vital goal (at Firhill)

Holmes, no argument, I don't think anyone can dispute that it hasn't worked out for him here.

Benjamin played enough to see he just wasn't upto playing at this level. 

13 hours ago, Eastendtales said:

I don't think Moffat has worked. He looks like a right sided winger shoehorned into a side that doesn't play one.

Agreed,McPake does like signing wide players. 

Sadly we don't play with wingers so we never truly see the best of them (Mochrie, Moffat and KRH) 

1 hour ago, DA-go Par Adonis said:

Apparently, a lot of the players look up to Chalmers because of his professionalism, dedication and attitude to training.

Doesn't sound like someone with a poor work ethics - regardless of what you think of his footballing ability.

Aye McPake said he was one of the leaders in the dressing room.

42 minutes ago, Eastendtales said:

No chance that McPake is leaving with him contracted to the club. Not one chance. 

Can't say I'd be upset if he left tbh, I don't mind pragmatic football if it's getting you results, I enjoy a good defensive performance (Really enjoyed our win away at Cappielow with regards to this) but for the most part the football we play is so, so dull. 

On one hand you could say he's been unfortunate with injuries, on the other you can say that they've maybe stopped allot of criticism coming his way, we've had a full squad for the last few games and it's been dreadful. 

7 hours ago, Yorkiepar said:

Not disagreeing with you, but I have a sneaky feeling that McPake is probably only doing his masters’ bidding. For me the question is, how long will McPake be prepared to hang around if better offers come his way.

Aye? Who on earth is taking on McPake? 

That was awful today, as if has been for most of the season. Buzzing for McPake to stubbornly persist with the same system next year. 

On 23/04/2024 at 17:21, Rossmcno1 said:

That was the very game that came to my mind.   I wasn’t even there, was working down in Plymouth - heart in my mouth when I saw the half time score.

Few permutations. 

We were level on points with Livi, but with a better GD and a better goal scored by one. 

If Dundee won, and we'd lost by enough we would've been in danger. They drew with Livi 1-1 on the final day, if they'd won 2-1, and Killie won 6-0 we would've been on the same points, gd and goals scored. 

As it turns out with them drawing we could've got scudded by ten for all it mattered. 

2 hours ago, MarkPar said:

He has a scored in open play since September. The level of criticism is justified in my opinion.

Here's the thing, he's still our second top goalscorer. 

Now I'm not saying McCann has had a good season, because very few of any of our attacking players have. However it's once again a season where we haven't scored allot of goals, even while winning the league last year in League One we didn't score allot of goals. 

Now is it purely down to our attacking players, or do you think they way we are set up (And potentially the coaching?) has something to do with why attackers for us look so... Rubbish? 

1 hour ago, SanguinePar said:

Does McCann get all that much abuse? I feel like I never really hear anything against him at EEP - the usual groan if he misses a chance (which happens to all players), but nothing like the hectoring people like Mehmet and Chalmers get no matter what they do.

It's not reached the levels of Chalmers, but he does seemed to get jumped on a tad more than most, and certainly it seems to be that online he's getting it fairly tight. 

44 minutes ago, Boston Red Sox said:

 

All about opinion and I completely disagree with you. Seen him a few times and Sutherland is a more balanced all round player, looks composed, has better positional sense, holds the ball well, links in other players and can finish. That is not abuse aimed at McCann, more an observation directed at the manager.

You're watching Sutherland against other youth players, put McCann up against them and he'll look better. 

Big difference between playing centre backs at youth level and coming up against senior defenders. I rate Sutherland allot, but if McCann had played at League 2 level this season he'd have scored in more than just one game... 

There's also an argument that I've made before that McPakes system isn't exactly suited to making any of our attacking players look good anyway, drop Sutherland into our team where do you play him? 

7 hours ago, Boston Red Sox said:

 

-Lastly it’s concerning how our manager can look at Lewis McCann and think he is anywhere near to being the player that Taylor Sutherland is.

Very harsh, if Lewis McCann had been out there tonight against that standard of opposition he would've looked class. 

The amount of abuse that McCann receives is well over the top. 

1 hour ago, Boston Red Sox said:

Really good performance from the lads in the first half, by far the better team in the first half. The Todd and Sutherland brothers looking really good with ball at feet and the movement and shape is far better than the first team on Saturday. If this is what’s coming through the future is not so gloomy 

Thought that Rowe and McHale looked promising for how young they looked aswell. 

13 hours ago, parsforlife said:

 

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?   

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)

@da_no_1 How was hospitality? I've never done it. Worth the cost etc? 

9 hours ago, da_no_1 said:

Really ****ed off tonight.

We've got almost a full squad to choose from and put in a performance that was as bad if not worse than those when we had half our players out.

A lot of that was on the manager. 

Aye I walked out of EEP really annoyed yesterday, setting out, and then settling for a draw when Airdrie were getting thumped just really didn't sit right with me, that was with a full squad and a lineup that was only really missing Otoo, and we served up that? 

We have been an absolute chore to watch this season, I'll still get a season ticket next year, but the club are going to have to do some good work this summer to get the buzz going around the place, the NW has went flat and little wonder, what is there for them to get there teeth into and get behind? We need a summer of strong noises saying we're going for the title, we need the transfer buisness to match that. 

Airdrie are getting scudded to the extent where if we get a goal and win we're back to having an outside chance of the playoffs. 

And Mehmet is time wasting on goalkicks. We are just reeking of mediocrity, more worried about a point than trying to secure three, it just makes for an absolutely awful spectacle. 

I could stomach McPakes awful football when we won the league, but christ that's another brutal showing at EEP this season, how many times have people walked away entertained and happy with the performance? 

13 minutes ago, SanguinePar said:

Not sure my scores app quite understands the McPake system...

 

Tbf, I'm not quite sure of it either. 

Without Otoo, and with the lineup I'm a bit more hesitant than before. 

5 minutes ago, da_no_1 said:

Anyone else still got the fear re 9th?

Nah, the permutations that'd need to play out for that to be the case is wild. 

The season is effectively over. 

I hope the board and the recruitment are using this time to get things in place for next season, and get a jump-start in the other teams in the division. We need to get the recruitment right, and it needs to be allot better.

With United going up there's no big spending side next season, with this season of consolidation behind us we need to be going for the title. **** finishing behind Raith and Falkirk. 

2 minutes ago, Superally said:

FFS 2-1 Airdrie

Ah well, had a bit of hope, and there it goes. 

Just now, SanguinePar said:

JFC...

? 

1-1.

Min te ****

1-0 down and it's half time, anyone watching able to say how we're doing? 

Was driving past yesterday and seen what looked like youth players training on it. Seems going by this post on LinkedIn it's been handed over. 

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/calum-hirst-6b271b14a_exciting-day-in-rosyth-for-the-completion-activity-7181649652507639809-ZRrx?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android

1 hour ago, da_no_1 said:

Well I've got 8 of us going & 3 of them lick lino every other Saturday. They aren't too pleased that we're getting there £45 so it's all good!

Just noticed the £15 includes free bus travel so that's a wee saving for those like me & the troops travelling thro from KDY.

I honestly hope it's a massive success and you have a great time. 

I'm delighted the club are looking at utilising the space at EEP for different things. 

10 hours ago, da_no_1 said:

I've no experience of a fanzone in Scotland whatsoever. Have there ever been any? What about abroad? Are these prices really high compared to a fanzone in other countries?

I've just bought our usual seats for the first game in the Norrie. I'm really looking forward to it. I can't afford to go to Germany so want to do something different from the usual pub or man-cave type thing. If it's ****e I'll give it a miss for the other games.

I've been to a fan zone in England, I want to say it was a tenner but you got a free pint with that. 

The one I'm going to in Stuttgart is free however I never expected that. 

My biggest concern is that if you're going in a group then being in tiered seating is a bit of a pain if you're planning on being there a prolonged time, the fan zone I went to in England had loads of benches so sitting in a group was allot easier, you had somewhere to put your food and you weren't getting up and down every 2 minutes because someone in your row is going for a pish/food/pint. 

I loved the idea, I had reservations about sitting in a stand and now the pricing has just led to me rather going to a pub/mates house. 

The prices have been released and I can't help but think we've got it wrong tbh. Everyone I know has immediately went cold at the idea.