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I agree. We’ve set the mould in terms of style and approach. Top six and a cup run would be a success for Alfred.

I think that's probably fair to a point but I'm not all that convinced it was simply a case of Jens looking at the squad and deciding he had no strikers available. A lot of what we did structurally pointed towards that being a deliberate choice rather than any kind of compromise. The front player was asked to press aggressively, pull centre-backs out of position, run channels and create space for runners from deeper areas rather than act as a traditional penalty-box focal point. The fact that goals came from all over the pitch rather than through one player feels more like design than necessity to me. That said, I do agree with the argument that we occasionally lacked somebody to turn good attacking play into goals. There were definitely games where we'd get into excellent positions, deliver dangerous balls into the box and simply not have that natural six-yard predator attacking the right spaces at the right time. The question for me isn't so much if we need a striker, because every team can make use of a striker. It's whether we need a traditional focal-point number nine. Looking at modern Scandinavian football and the sort of systems both Askou and Johansson favour, I'm not all that convinced that's the direction we'll go. My suspicion is that Johansson's version of the role probably sits somewhere in the middle. Maybe more of a recognised central striker than Askou used at times, but still somebody expected to press, run, link play and contribute to the overall structure rather than simply stand between the posts waiting for service.

It would interesting to see the percentage of converting chances to goals compared with previous seasons. I think it becomes more obvious when you have so much possession and miss chances, but if you look teams like Man City, who have world class players and playing this way for years, they still have many games per season where they only scored one or two goals. And that's with Cherki, Doku and Haaland in their starting 11.

Thanks for the update Denny. That can only mean we are assessing trialists, which is a positive sign. However it also suggests we aren't yet in a position to give our strongest starting 11, whoever they might be, 90 minutes in their legs which is concerning as the Euro clock is ticking. It would seem our pre season preparation is a bit behind where it should be.

Thats true to a certain extent. As Weeyin says, I'd categorise the likes of Just as being an attacking midfielder. I think Jens brought in that specific style of play as he didn't consider that we had any suitable strikers available. If we had had then I assume he'd have selected one week in week out. Although we amassed a healthy goals for tally, on quite a few occasions, we failed to convert good leading up work into actual goals due to being toothless in the box and having no focal point there.

I can understand MJCs concerns. To use an analogy - after you’ve tasted caviar and champagne, going back to soggy toast and cold tea would be let down. However, that’s a hazard all clubs of our size face. We had a progressive thinking manager (Bobby Ancell) and a fantastic young team in the early 1960’s (Ancell Babes) but again due to the draw of bigger clubs and bigger wages, it was broken-up. The most high profile players who left being, Ian St John to Liverpool, Pat Quinn to Blackpool and Bobby Roberts to Leicester City. Shortly thereafter Bobby Ancell left and that ushered in the Bobby Howitt era which for me looking back now was probably one of the poorest in our history. I didn’t think so at the time but barring our exploits in the Texaco Cup it was a pretty poor time made worse by seeing clubs of a similar size to us getting a chance to play European football - Dunfermline and Kilmarnock to name two. I just hope history doesn’t repeat itself but we need to give the new manager time to put his own stamp on things. COYW.

Same as it ever was.

That’s generally my view. Even just replacing Jen’s would have made it difficult to repeat . now the spine of the team are leaving or left and replacements have been thin on the ground . May just be that I can’t cope in the heat but i don’t have high expectations at the moment .

The second album is always the most difficult.

More than likely. There will be certain segments of the media and Scottish football community that will be itching to see if the way we play blows up in our face, so they can say last season was a fluke, you can't play football that way, and we should have hired one of the usual suspects as manager instead of trying to be different.

Agreed but…

They'll likely think that last season was a Once in a Lifetime for us.

I think the style and approach to the game will be quite similar, but the end results maybe not, which I'm sure will see the obligatory pile-on from the Scottish media and talking heads who grudgingly had to admit that there's another way of playing the game last season. If we're pushing for top six and hopefully get a decent cup run it should be considered a successful season.

Not only is Just a great attacking midfielder but his work rate off the ball, in winning back possession high up the park is phenomenal.

Not that it helps us at all but I think Hearts are pretty much going thru the same as us.

With Ward and Welsh gone, McGinn injured, Watt, Just and JT all likely to leave, and Slattery already gone, that’s virtually the entire spine of JBA’s team dismantled. Anyone expecting Alfred to simply pick up where JBA left off is kidding themselves. That’s not to say he can’t be just as successful with the players who remain and whoever else comes in, but it won’t be the same. Last season may well prove to be an anomaly, although I hope I’m wrong.

Sounds like Curtis Main or Ryan Bowman. I don't really consider Just to be a forward. more of an attacking midfielder. I suppose that's the modern game, though.

Third season lucky, aye? Clearly it’s everyone and everything else’s fault that he’s been crap.

Are you classing nightmare as a dream? 😂

Who knows? You may be a modern managers dream!

Much along the lines of what I was thinking. I can see Stam getting the chance to claim a first team spot. Who knows, with a slight modification to our approach he could turn out to be the goal scorer we thought we had signed. Last chance saloon though. Although he has said he advocates a possession based, play out from the back system, Johansson has also said he will mix things up at times. That might suit Stam as he certainly struggled to get into games when given the chance last season. Plus if we lose the players we think we will lose, then we might need to be a bit more pragmatic. I do expect us to be more risk averse than we were Askou. Has Stam ever indicated he wants to leave or has the Club ever said they want to move him on at any cost? To sell you need a buyer. I get he returned to Australia on loan last season but I would love it if he could prove all the doubters wrong. And in his time back in Australia I don't think he missed any games through injury? Whatever, the new Manager needs time to assess what he already has in the building. Following numerous closed door games our friendly against Genk will likely give a good idea of who he rates or does not rate.

I suppose I could do a lot of running and not score goals either ….. I wonder if Jens would’ve wanted me.

Hendry, if he was able to stay fit, actually ticks a lot of the boxes that are required for how Jens set us up to play. A quick look at his stats suggest a channel runner, a pressing forward, a link player, a creator of space, a facilitator for runners around him. It's clear why Jens wanted him. I doubt he looked on him as a first choice starter, but as a backup or player coming on from the bench, he ticked the boxes of what our style needed.

I cant help but think Elliot Watt might have talked him up too… best pals and all that

Aye i agree the data must have been full of errors the day he popped up on the system.We havent got anything out of him at all terrible signing. I really dont know about our striking options down the middle I wouldnt put my faith in any of them.