fizoxy

McHugh could have really let us down yesterday, and having him, Hartley, Aldred and Donnelly all on the pitch at the same time is a liability. There isn’t an ounce of composure between them. Donnelly is rated by two people - Baraclough and Robinson, so that’s all you need to know. Right now is the first time in quite a few years that we don’t have a player we all want to see, or that you could point to as our “best player”. Who are opposition managers warning their players to look out for? Someone mentioned the Malpas era before, and I can see the parallels. Hopefully we have a Ross McCormack languishing in the reserves ready to step up. It is good to see bowman finishing with some confidence though. Last season he was mainly doing the dirty work and wasn’t making chances for himself, but that’s a couple of good finishes in a week, which he can hopefully build on. Main looks injured. He isn’t moving right and was plodding along until he was replaced. Our system really needs pace upfront to work, and we don’t have that anywhere in the squad. I don’t like the idea that our midfielders can either be passers or tacklers. If Bigi can’t do basic midfield defensive work he shouldn’t be on the pitch, and if Campbell, McHugh or Rose can’t hold onto the ball or pass it ten yards, neither should they. I think we will know exactly what we are in for once we complete this round of fixtures. But I don’t see the bottom four being anything other than us, Dundee, accies and St mirren, and all four are capable of beating each other. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If any team had come out of that game with 3 points it would have been an embarrassment to the game of football. Worst game I’ve seen for a long time. We are very poor. McHugh was reckless, and on another day either of those yellows could have been red. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Never a penalty, especially since bowman handled it first. Terrible game. They are causing us problems with the most basic punts up the park. Cadden has looked that bit sharper today, which is nice. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I’ll go for a 1-0 shitfest in our favour. Robbo said we’re returning to the attitude era, so I guess that means Hartley, Rose and Campbell in for ATS, Grimshaw and Bigi. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If we play Frear and Cadden as wingers, we can probably afford to go with one striker and have another in midfield. You know, have the old 4-5-1 that turns into a 4-3-3 deal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Positives? Main is on a scoring streak, bowman scored a nice goal on wed (I can’t event think of another bowman goal), tanner is getting better by the week, ATS has Kompromat on the referees, Rose’s stock has gone up, Donnelly’s beard, we’re living in the banter years, Kipre is going to make us a fortune. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I don’t think we showed anything promising today. As with the last few games I’ve watched, we seem to get into a lot of situations that require last ditch defending, our strikers are feeding off scraps, and our aim of getting crosses into the box is pointless as none of our strikers can head the ball (and our crossing has been shite recently). For all the mentions of being a string and physical team, we don’t appear to be that strong or physical. We’re scrappy and nothing else. Good points? I think we have a decent first XI if Dunne, Hartley and Campbell are in it. I don’t see bigi lasting in the starting lineup, which is a shame because I like him, but we know what Robinson defaults to when under pressure, and it has kept us up the last couple of seasons, so it’s hard to blame him. Pretty sure Rose and Mchugh will be back in midfield next week. I’m not going to panic about relegation because it’s still way too early, but any ideas of looking up the table should be dead. This looks like a season where no one is going to be stranded at the bottom and the bottom, mainly due to how bad some of the teams around us are. There may be calls for sacking the manager, but I just don’t see that happening at this stage. Our next manager will be lasley whenever that happens anyway. Sammon is fucking dreadful. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This topic is spread around the various match threads, but I’m interested in people’s thoughts on where we expected to be at this point in the season, and what our problems have been. For me, the only result so far that I would have expected anything else from is the Hamilton one. I can’t remember the last time we could have realistically gone into games with hearts, hibs, rangers and Aberdeen and expected anything other than losses. Hibs is he only game that we could say we were never in it, but the other losses we had late opportunities to take something, and may also have some grievances regarding decisions. So my guess is that the points tally isn’t the issue here. The way we play gets plenty of attention, so if we had the same results but with more attractive performances would that change the perception? I don’t think anyone was happy with the signings as a whole, so where could we have done better (within our budget)? I’m not really decided, I may have lower standards based on the Motherwell team I grew up with, but I don’t think our style is that bad. I’d say that bringing in a proper left wing back is the biggest mistake we made in the summer. Either way, I think there is a lot of pressure going into the more “winnable” run of games. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Hartley and Main were rusty. Donnelly was shoehorned into that left side of the back 3 and wasn’t our worst defender. All three conspired to give away that goal, but Hartley is the main culprit. We’re going to miss Dunne. Cadden was the only one who really showed he’s from a level above the opposition, the rest seemed to bring themselves down to Clyde’s level. Gorrin got pushed around to start with, and looks like he’s going to need time to find his feet in the Scottish game. Johnson looks like he’ll get his fair share of goals, and you can’t argue with Sammon’s return so far. Overall I thought we did well to not panic and stick to what we thought would work, and it did. We simply had more in the tank in the last 15 minutes. It’s terrible to watch, but this is how it’s going to be as long as Robinson is in charge. I can only assume Bigi is gone, damn shame. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The players wages are usually factored into the transfer fee (or compensation). So if a player is earning 5-10 times as much at another club, his fee will be higher. There is also the fact that bigger clubs can afford to hold out for larger fees because they are 1) less desperate for money, and 2) the player is less likely to be unsettled. Then there’s the added exposure of playing for a bigger team, so more chance of competition to sign the player. I think we’ll get a decent amount for Cadden, but as per usual, it won’t be as much as we expect. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

He def said that he needed another winger and striker, or someone who could do both. Just like Petravicius.

Looking at the squad, in a “depth chart” way (not counting some of the youngsters who haven’t really played) , we’re definitely anticipating some outgoings in the midfield area, but everywhere else we look to have just enough coverage and no more. Keeper: Carson, Gillespie, Ferguson Right FB / WB - Tait, Cadden, Donnelly Left FB / WB - ATS, Tait, Frear, Dunne CB - Kipre, hartley, dunne, Donnelly, McGuire CM - mchugh, campbell, cadden, Gorrin, bigi, Turnbull, rose, grimshaw AM / Wingers - Frear, Tanner, Mclean (out on loan) Forward - Main, Bowman, Johnson, Newell, Tanner

Could be a Kipre, could be a Blyth. We’ll find out in due course. It’s going to be rare that we make a signing that gets everyone excited (bigi and fisher looked like they were going to be good ones this time last year, and Kipre was the second choice of the 2 defenders on trial.) Who was the last “known quantity” that we’ve signed? This guy trained with us in January, and we tried to get him then, so he must have impressed for us to keep up our pursuit. The numbers will sort themselves out, we need a squad to get through the season, and there will no doubt be a couple of outgoings at some point. Robinson also likes a tactical substitution, so it’s good to have options. Hopefully the guys going out on loan use it to force their way into our plans in January. That would be a nice problem to have.

Another ex Plymouth player!

Or just give bigi steroids

On the face of it he seems like the type of forward we’re missing, and offers something different to what we have. Whether he can translate his goal scoring from what ever league he played in to ours is a different story. We seem to have had mixed results in that regard.

Going on tweets from that agency and the club, this was most likely related to a bunch of the academy graduates signing professional contracts the other day.

They are waiting on sponsorship being confirmed, which isn’t completely in the clubs hands. Showing off the shirts without the sponsor on it is going to reduce the opportunity for exposure for the sponsor.

It’s a boat.

Fixtures released.

The Mexican commentary has at least made it interesting. We’ve been pretty poor, with Christie being particularly woeful. I’d expect Cadds to get on early in the second half since everyone is knackered.

The repayments to Les and Boyle are structured and scheduled favourably for us, and there is no pressure to repay them, and you have the whole l double your money deal which suggests Hutchison is hardly desperate for his money back. We’ve just signed a bunch of guys on new deals and we’re working on upgrades to the pitch and stadium that weren’t urgent, which indicates we’re hardly strapped for cash. This is exactly what was said in previous posts, Typical Scottish football “journalism”. Before such things as web forums, did journos just get their stories from fans in pubs?

I can see the arguments for and against Ciftci. With our resources, to bring in real quality we have to take risks. We can either pluck guys from obscurity who may be off the radar of other clubs, or try to turn around the fortunes of a player who has fallen away. My questions are what would make our club the one to successfully get something out of him? Will he apply himself to the level we need if he has the comfort of another 2 year deal? Is the upside worth the risk?

Good point. It would be interesting to know the spread of matches attended out of the 13.5k that we’re there on Saturday. I’d agree that making it cheaper and more enjoyable for kids is a good step to ensuring we have a support in the future, and also make it a more attractive option for families.