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League Cup 2017'18 Next: Celtic F (Hampden) 26/11/17 15:00


gdalli10
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Pretty much 100% my view too.

 

On the back 3, I don't think it will work all the time. But, on the plus side, Robinson isn't scared to change things up.

I see numerous comments not happy about the back 3. All I would say is Robbo has tightened us up enormously, any game lost has been by the odd goal, or goallie has still to be seriously tested, so for me the more important issue to be resolved is at the other end of the park.

 

Like you I don't think he is afraid to line up differently if he feels it is right to do so, and am quite happy to trust his judgement in that regard

 

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I personally think the back 3 can work if you have the right balance in midfield, first half we could see it didnt have the desired effect and we changed to a 442 second half and gave Rangers a real game of it second half. As has been mentioned Robbo isnt afraid to change things when they arent working, so i trust his judgment on things.

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I will sound like a broken record but 2 scots in starting line up isn't good in my opinion. Difficult to attract youngsters to club or keep the promising ones if we just bring up players from down south. Yep if we win games and are doing well then people will say it's justified but I feel we need to keep a core of youth and Scottish talent. COYW

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Robinson has said he wants to keep a Scottish identity to the team.

 

The problem he, and every Premiership manager faces, is that means a reliance on U20s. The development fees involved in signing Scottish prospects - even from the lower divisions - generally price us out the market.

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He gave two of them a chance at Edinburgh City and alluded to the fact he felt they didn't believe in themselves that they deserved to be in the team, he put them in believing they are good enough, now it's up to the boys themselves to realise they are good enough and grasp the chance when given it. Robbo will give the youngsters a chance when he feels they are ready, but it's up to them to prove they are good enough to stay there.

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Agree with that weeyin with Sibbald at Falkirk being prime example. My argument is for example....is Rose better than Campbell?. I just feel we will struggle to attract young players to our academy if they are no chance of getting a game

 

We would all be delighted if the U20's were full of great prospects and Talent ready to step up to the 1st team, but the reality is that it's not we will be doing well if we get 2 or 3 who make the step up and follow the likes of Cadden into the team and i think even that figure is ambitious. The U20's have done well to get professional contracts at a premiership club and the ones who don't make the 1st team will probably go on to make a good living from football and play at a decent level, i.e Craig moore.

I am sure SR and every other manager would love to be in the position that Alex Ferguson was in when he had his golden generation of youngsters i.e. Giggs, Butt, Scholes, Beckham and the Neville brothers ready to step up into the 1st team but he has to work with what we have.

The young players will get their chance if SR thinks they are good enough and ready to step up, but given the brief appearances we have seen from some of them up till now, i don't think we have any that are ready

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Agree with that weeyin with Sibbald at Falkirk being prime example. My argument is for example....is Rose better than Campbell?. I just feel we will struggle to attract young players to our academy if they are no chance of getting a game

And that's a good argument. Rose definitely has more experience and played a lot of first team games last season. Campbell is definitely a prospect and I'd definitely like to see him get more game time. I'm sure Craigan will be making the case if he thinks he's ready for more.

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A bunch of the new guys are only on one year deals

Multiple reasons for that I would guess. Every contract is a gamble of sorts. Moult has worked in our favour, clearly Blyth has not. Some of these players probably believe they are worth more than we can afford and so they and there agents won't commit to more than a year.

 

Problem is of course if they tun out to be a find, then if they are any good they walk away for nothing. Kipre is a possible example. We would probably want to offer an extended deal but he could double his wages if he even went to Hibs or Aberdeen or triple and more by going south.

 

As for the youngsters argument. If they are good enough like Cadden they will get their chance. We can debate all we like. I like McLean and had he not had his injury he may well have played his way into the 1st team this season. But those are the breaks. He will get some opportunities this year and if he takes them great.

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My argument is for example....is Rose better than Campbell?.

Is MacLean better than Bowman or Dunne? In short they're different kinds of player. I've never been one to play square pegs in round holes. Surely a manager has to have a preferred system or perhaps systems for his club and all the players are familiar with it. Players are brought in who can play to that system. Its no use asking a plumber to do a joiner's job. While both work in skilled construction trades, those skills will be very different.

 

I haven't quite figured out Rose yet but Campbell is clearly a very different kind of midfielder. Irrespective of how good they both are had Campbell been brought on then our system would have had to change slightly. Had we been sitting on a narrow lead with say 10/15 minutes to go and under pressure then yes Campbell is your man. However we were chasing an equaliser and were very much on top. I don't think we had another midfielder on the bench with the necessary attacking skills. Ross MacLean might have been a decent replacement, as might Shea Gordon, but neither were available. In retrospect we had just too many strikers on the bench and not enough attacking midfielders.

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The focus on the apparent lack of academy players in the first XI is understandable given that last season we were banging on about the threat Project Brave had on our business model and all that. So being aghast at there only being 2 Scots in the starting line up is a natural reaction.

 

The progression of these players is something that should be part of Robinson's remit, absolutely but right now I can't imagine it's anywhere near a priority. He's had to re-build a side from the shambles he took over and I'd have said that getting a team that will be competitive bedded in and familiar with how he wants the side to play should have been the main focus. It's pretty naive to think that we'd just chuck half a dozen of the 20s in and see whether they sink or swim. However, they should definitely be given the chance once we've got a settled side.

 

When it comes down to it;

- Qualifying from the LC group

- Winning the LC group

- Having a side that was competitive against Rangers and has the potential to be competitive in the upcoming league fixtures.

 

are all factors that would take precedence over whether we've got Academy players in the first XI for the game against Rangers and how many Scots there are IMO.

 

Once we've got a settled shape and side then I'd imagine Robinson/Lasley/Craigan would be able to turn their attention to the pathway side of things. Right now, all I'd think the focus is on trying to get off to a decent start.

 

We've played one league game so far, if we're sitting in January and there's been zero involvement then there's a more serious conversation to be had. As it stands though, of the 8 obvious midfield options we have 4 of them are academy players (Cadden, Campbell, MacLean, Gordon) and 3 are Scots. After last season we saw why having depth in the squad is important and as such that's why having players like Rose AND Campbell both available is relevant. It's not a case of one over the other, they're both different types of players and different levels of experience.

 

Our first pick midfield is Cadden, Bigirimana, McHugh, Frear that's clear. The players that we're looking to provide back up are MacLean, Rose, Campbell and Gordon.

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My new away top arrived this afternoon, just in time. Great looking piece of kit.

 

Not that I'll actually get to a game with it until later in the year, but I'll be huddled by the crackly radiogram in it tomorrow night in the hope it might finally replace my lucky match day pants from 1991.

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At some point st Johnstone will go the same way as the other smaller teams who have a good run of seasons, they will lose form, get a couple of injuries, lose their manager, and normal service will be resumed. They are probably due some regression.

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Quite surprised at the St Johnstone v Patrick Thistle result.

 

Are St Johnstone not as good as previous seasons? Weakened team? Or are Thistle much much better than we first thought?

 

Possibly one, possibly the other. Thistle just have a weirdly good record in Perth, kind of like us in Aberdeen a few years ago.

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Possibly one, possibly the other. Thistle just have a weirdly good record in Perth, kind of like us in Aberdeen a few years ago.

I wish I'd had that nugget of information before I put my coupon on.

:lol:

 

Off the top of my head, we have a decent record in Dingwall.

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