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Ross County v Motherwell 07/05/2022


SteelmaninOZ
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3 hours ago, El Grew said:

Stephen O’Donnell is as good a full-back as we’ve had at the club for a long time.  The guy gets picked for regularly for Scotland and has rarely if ever had a bad game. When he’s dropped he never complains and you never hear anything bad about him. In short, a model pro. Sure he’ll have some poor games. All players do.  Even the late great Joe Wark wasn’t perfect in every game.  He’s the best full-back at the club by a mile and the fans need to recognise it and get behind him.

I agree,  yes been poor at times but some of the stick he was getting was ridiculous.  If his surname was Soldheim O'Donnell he would have been fine. Hopefully he can prove the doubters wrong 

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5 hours ago, El Grew said:

As I have previously posted I believe some of the solutions lie in:

1. Making a drastic cull of the squad in terms of size to take out as much deadwood as possible.

2. The club trying to make funds available to bring in 3 or 4 players who are a cut above what we presently have.

3. Looking again at our youth policy which in the not too distant past has produced the likes of Murphy, Scott, Cadden and Turnbull.

Not having a go at you just giving my thoughts on what you said,

Point 1: GA and others have said that the squad is to big but that was a necessity due to Covid and with that - hopefully - behind us, there will be a reduction in the summer. Similarly other clubs north and south of the border will be doing the same so who knows who will become available. 
Point 2: A smaller squad should hopefully see an increase in wages and with the club posting a profit last season there maybe a small increase in the budget but this needs the board to show some ambition  - I’m slightly optimistic on this. 
Our final placing will also impact our budget along with the board’s ambitions as reaching the group stages of the europa conference league is worth a couple of million  if you take in prize money and gate receipts etc - hopefully the board will realise that they missed an opportunity last time and won’t make the same mistake again. 
Point3: We are developing youth from the academy who are still with us, ie Maguire & Cornelius, while Johnston & Devine have been out on loan and hopefully have benefited from that.
Also we have been trying to bringing in youth and develop them - Shields, Teirney and Mahon to name 3. These guys will all take time to prove their worth but until his injury I thought that Barry Maguire had started showing that he could become a regular. 

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43 minutes ago, Stuwell2 said:

Not having a go at you just giving my thoughts on what you said,

Point 1: GA and others have said that the squad is to big but that was a necessity due to Covid and with that - hopefully - behind us, there will be a reduction in the summer. Similarly other clubs north and south of the border will be doing the same so who knows who will become available. 
Point 2: A smaller squad should hopefully see an increase in wages and with the club posting a profit last season there maybe a small increase in the budget but this needs the board to show some ambition  - I’m slightly optimistic on this. 
Our final placing will also impact our budget along with the board’s ambitions as reaching the group stages of the europa conference league is worth a couple of million  if you take in prize money and gate receipts etc - hopefully the board will realise that they missed an opportunity last time and won’t make the same mistake again. 
Point3: We are developing youth from the academy who are still with us, ie Maguire & Cornelius, while Johnston & Devine have been out on loan and hopefully have benefited from that.
Also we have been trying to bringing in youth and develop them - Shields, Teirney and Mahon to name 3. These guys will all take time to prove their worth but until his injury I thought that Barry Maguire had started showing that he could become a regular. 

I think we are on the same page. :yes:

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1 hour ago, Stuwell2 said:

Not having a go at you just giving my thoughts on what you said,

Point 1: GA and others have said that the squad is to big but that was a necessity due to Covid and with that - hopefully - behind us, there will be a reduction in the summer. Similarly other clubs north and south of the border will be doing the same so who knows who will become available. 
Point 2: A smaller squad should hopefully see an increase in wages and with the club posting a profit last season there maybe a small increase in the budget but this needs the board to show some ambition  - I’m slightly optimistic on this. 
Our final placing will also impact our budget along with the board’s ambitions as reaching the group stages of the europa conference league is worth a couple of million  if you take in prize money and gate receipts etc - hopefully the board will realise that they missed an opportunity last time and won’t make the same mistake again. 
Point3: We are developing youth from the academy who are still with us, ie Maguire & Cornelius, while Johnston & Devine have been out on loan and hopefully have benefited from that.
Also we have been trying to bringing in youth and develop them - Shields, Teirney and Mahon to name 3. These guys will all take time to prove their worth but until his injury I thought that Barry Maguire had started showing that he could become a regular. 

Point 1 also had a knock on effect on point 2 this season. But as some people have pointed out, Some of the longer term contracts handed out don’t necessarily align with point 2 planning? 

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21 minutes ago, mcguru said:

Calling all SPFL anoraks.

Whats the prize money for 4th, 5th and 6th?

You would prob need to factor in around an extra £250k for finishing 4th (over 5th) as you'll get the European prize money for the earlier qualifying round.

So I'd reckon best part of 500k of a difference all things considered between 6th and 4th.

4th Position  £1.81 million  
5th Position £1.68 million  
6th Position £1.56 million  
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9 hours ago, El Grew said:

Stephen O’Donnell is as good a full-back as we’ve had at the club for a long time.  The guy gets picked for regularly for Scotland and has rarely if ever had a bad game. When he’s dropped he never complains and you never hear anything bad about him. In short, a model pro. Sure he’ll have some poor games. All players do.  Even the late great Joe Wark wasn’t perfect in every game.  He’s the best full-back at the club by a mile and the fans need to recognise it and get behind him.

he is the best full back at club but that isn't a ringing endorsement. he played well yesterday and I've said so but his crossing in general isn't great and he's not fast but if he keeps going like yesterday,  that'll do for now

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Just watched the highlights; not much to go on admittedly. We certainly seemed to show a fair bit of grit and determination. It was a case of swings and roundabouts for County - we did to them what they did to us previously.

The penalty? TV angle was very poor and its hard to be definitive, but I got the impression that KVV was slightly too fast for Lacovitti and nicked in front of him and got caught. Maybe other posters had a far better view though. Its the kind of challenge we've been punished for umpteen times through penalties conceded or red cards issued. 

From the limited TV clips it seemed like we were really under the cosh for the final part of the game - full backs withdrew into our box and midfield also retreated allowing County to rain in cross after cross and have unimpeded pots at goal. I did feel sorry for Kelly. Fortunately they were toothless and their recent long run of good luck deserted them.  

We have to take into account though our lengthy absentee list (Mugabi, McGinley, Johansen, Maguire, Grimshaw?, Woolery, Roberts) with KVV and Slattery not well enough to start. A perfect opportunity for County to beat and indeed demoralise close rivals; but one which ultimately they weren't good enough to take. 

At the business end of the season the result was all that mattered.

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1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said:

Just watched the highlights; not much to go on admittedly. We certainly seemed to show a fair bit of grit and determination. It was a case of swings and roundabouts for County - we did to them what they did to us previously.

Did you see SOD push Cornelius (I think who was waiting for the ball to bounce ) out of the way and volley the ball to the halfway line. 

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5 minutes ago, wellwell91 said:

Did you see SOD push Cornelius (I think who was waiting for the ball to bounce ) out of the way and volley the ball to the halfway line. 

Yes, didn't know what to make of that. It depends on how SOD handled it.

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Couple of good posts from El Grew and Stuwell2, which encompass a lot of my own thoughts.

Not even the most positive of posters on here can truthfully say they have enjoyed this season, but now its coming to the end maybe we can get a bit of perspective on it.

We finished top 6. We might still get Europe. The manager isnt getting fired. We will see big changes on and off the field in the summer. I think undoubtedly lessons will have been learned and honest discussions between the board and the manager had.

Lets get out in numbers tonight and cheer the team over the line.

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While I haven't always enjoyed individual matches, it's always interesting to me to see a new manager and new players try to develop tactics and style of play over the course of a season.

If the first full season of transition ends up with  Euro place, I'm OK with that.

If lessons haven't been learned and we aren't better next season, I'm not OK with that.

I'm certainly willing to give any new manager time and don't want to go down the Dundee/Hibs/Aberdeen path as we can see where that got them. Another good example for patience is Arteta at Arsenal. Had a decent start, hit a rocky patch shortly after when a lot of fans were screaming for his head, but was given time to turn it around and just signed a contract extension.

The one thing I have been pleased with this season is the fact that even after a disappointing 2022, the players have stuck at it and pulled out important results at the right time. From St Mirren and Livi to the Ross County game.

But I don't think anyone on here is expecting anything other than improvements over the summer.

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