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Goggles & Flippers

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Everything posted by Goggles & Flippers

  1. I take it you've seen this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxlsMB5eNRE&feature=youtu.be
  2. Must have some channel islanders and didn't Ged Brannan have some sort of tenuous link to somewhere?
  3. A few good points made me alter things a little. Kennedy in, whither he plays RB or Laing does it's of no consequence, whoever clicks best with McManus. The threat of Irvine is something to consider, I'd therefore opt for 3 midfielders as Brazilian advocated. I'd be looking for Ainsworth to support and drop back to offer numbers in midfield, alien to him at times but I can but hope. Naturally if fit, Pearo in before Taylor.
  4. Ripley Watt - Laing - McManus - Hammell Ainsworth - Grimshaw - Lasley - Thomas McDonald - Moult I accept Watt hasn't been tested at any length at RB, but would also see merit in Laing being moved to the position as been pointed out. I feel sorry for Law as last season when so many downed tools, he was the only one giving 110% but with hindsight possibly because felt lucky to even get a gig at a level way above him. I'd also be OK with Chalmers replacing Hammell, despite his experience I've found him tactically naive at times. Grimshaw immediate starter as I'd be surprised if Man Utd would let him go unless he has guaranteed a regular start. I'd drop Johnson for Thomas. Dom has had more about him so far this season and Johnson could do with feeling he has to compete for his place. I'd hope McDonald would maybe click and have more about him if he was started in more of his preferred position. As Moult because he runs himself ragged and 3 goals in 3 matches. Gives scope for someone to get 25-30 mins in the second half to go at some tired defenders. Don't think we're solid enough in defence yet, so 3-1.
  5. In an odd way I'm glad the window is shut and there will be no more arrivals. Need to bed in what we have and get them functioning better than they have. Too many have yet to find their form. As said already, after the next two games with be the datum point for our season. As much as the performances are night and day from last season, they have to be matched with results. It could be argued that we now have a number of options in all positions, just trying to assess the best combo's/formation/tactics may be tricky and still involve a degree of tinkering. Every position on the park (except Ripley) now must have a primary starter and at least two understudies with senior game time.
  6. I had real high hopes for Johnson after his end to the season, just find myself being continually underwhelmed so far this campaign. There's something obviously not clicking.
  7. Football Manager, that's the holy grail these days
  8. It's not for us to ponder, that's why Baraclough is employed, he gets to see people day in day out after all. The most significant part of this signing for me is not that've identified and secured a player able to hold down a significant position within one of the world's biggest teams youth setup. More importantly we have now got a route/contact into that team and if this loan is successful the possibility of a few more. I recall over the weekend a conversation on the radio about Ryan Christie's move to Celtic. The pundits all claimed he would raise his game playing alongside better players. As much as Leach and Cadden may be further down the pecking order, they will also get to see what it takes to mix it with what Manchester United can cherry pick, ultimately that has to be a bonus for us in the long run. Out of the 92 senior teams in England and 40 odd up here, safe to say at least 100 would welcome his loan move to their club. Christ, some on here would find fault if Barcelona gave us Messi for 10 ginger bottles.
  9. You should make a video, have your striker lambast you and have Hugh Keevins call you toxic on the radio.
  10. Does UEFA financial fair play rules extend to all clubs or just those involved in European competition? I know Man City had restrictions placed on them due to their Abu Dhabi based owners, but I'd agree with you, SPFL TV money, league placing cash, cup prize money and gate receipts from a very remote team ..... all doesn't seem to add up. I suppose I'm just miffed as I think Irvine would have been a fantastic asset to our team.
  11. Was there any merit to the Jackson Irvine thing or was it one of those "My Mrs heard a guy in the chippy, who said his uncle overheard ......" Maybe someone could clear that up because I've not seen anything to date with any merit to the suggestion/rumour. However, if so, and that's him and Martin Woods allegedly. What do they have over us .... is it purely a bigger wallet? From my point of view, it's a tad worrying we can't convince them we're a better option, less money or not. Can't help but feel if we had Irvine available this season we've be in a very healthy position.
  12. Players loaned out are a mixture of out of favour, out of form or young guys. Taylor is a prime example of that and who knows, maybe over the next few weeks he may grow into the role and give Pearson a run for his money when he returns. I don't see the point in bringing in another 20 year old and blooding him at the detriment of our own 20 year olds. However as you point out yourself, your argument is quashed by listing Andy Murdoch. I can understand some of the acquisitions, I'm sure Theo Robinson was seen as a "why not?", I took it as the club felt they could make money on him without major outlay almost a too good to be true he was available. What is evident, the superiority of too many down south looking at our game and thinking it is poorer than it is in reality. "Oh I'll head up there and set the heather alight" has been shown on quite a few occasions to be a tad arrogant. I recall Marvin saying the step up in fitness and sharpness required from Kidderminster was massive. I think that's been shown with a number of our southern acquisitions. Combine that with adjusting to the nuances of the SPFL and interacting with their teammates on and off the park is why we haven't had as auspicious start to the season as we all would have liked. Be under no illusion though, the excitement that has been evident over the past two windows, will be firmly footed by us in 4.5 years time. What I do like is seeing what is being built, just hope its on decent foundations and we don't replace the contractor after knee-jerk reactions to results.
  13. I always saw Conor Grant as a creative middle to front midfielder, he was also brought in before McDonald who often drops back from the forward line. Centre circle to opposition box isn't our issue. We have plenty of options, just unfortunate that quite a few are taking time to find form/adjust. If we are going to pay a portion of someone's wages with an asset we won't see any return on, I'd rather it's for something we're lacking, namely a ball winning, steady head with an engine. Conor Grant isn't that I'm afraid.
  14. Agreed ... nail ... head ... 20lb hammer ... Has the Jackson Irvine thing been confirmed in anything official or is it just online chat?
  15. http://www.soccerbase.com/players/player.sd?player_id=71156 Nathan Austin Striker Born in Hertfordshire 15th Feruary 1994 - has represented Scotland at lower age levels. Speedy forward who was signed from local amateur side, Leven United in July 2013. Nicknamed "Fash". East Fife is his first senior club.
  16. The only thing I take from that is it's a glaring omission to not have cover as influential as he appears to be pivotal to our success. Not really felt we had a combative midfield since the days of Jennings (yes including the 3rd and 2nd place finishes).
  17. For me, we have better personnel in place than we did last season. However we've failed to click with potential we have on the park and also failed in capitalising on our opportunities in front of goal. I do feel that will happen in time as familiarity and joint confidence grows. As for why I'm prepared to give him more time ..... His record from late January when he had an influence on players he could play was among the top 4 in the league from memory. However there's been a few occasions where we've both won and lost ugly. Also few occasions where an opportunity to close in on those above us or a lead was squandered with no sense of urgency or fight. When the fixtures were released I thought 4-6 from the first 5 games. We've got 3. I also can recall a lot of the players in recent years who were consigned to the scrapheap by fans early in their C&A careers who went on to be integral. Even this season, in the past two weeks I've seen people demanding Taylor's inclusion against Hearts with immediate effect with the assurances I can only imagine of those who had witnessed him recently and had a good working knowledge of his career and game. Now, 3 games under his belt, he's an imposter to some. It's just knee jerky and I find often on a board such as this people putting down their markers so they can claim a cyber "I told you so" in the future. I can't dispute some of his tactical decisions have left us exposed after it is made, mainly because substitutions are an easily visible and tangible change for all to see. However, many won't give any credit to in-game tinkering that has increased our performances because they are too busy watching the ball. If he does go then the club is facing a significant bill to replace him and the background team he's put in place.
  18. Be interested to know why people thought we were entitled to anything when we're going away to a team who secured a higher league placing than us last season. Unfortunately it's slowly slowly, catchy monkey, but our leads have to be consolidated as our defence and midfield cover isn't enough to shore us up. Needless to say, seeing the twitter feed come in and then scrolling through this thread has been depressing.
  19. Based on that, I'd be looking for Indiana Jones to pour water from the Holy Grail on his knee .... guess what I watched last night
  20. I'm with UBH, if you're going to do something, may as well do it right.
  21. If it is £1.75m and we did negotiate 25% then Sheffield Utd letting a well regarded player (from all accounts I've seen) go for £1.3m is good business in isolation considering what they paid for him, but not what I assumed they'd be willing to let him go for. All our deals now have sell on clauses, so we're looking at £175k at worst I reckon and £625k at best in a column of the balance sheet which is no doubt covered in cobwebs. Good news regardless.
  22. He does appear to be "the dog that can be kicked"
  23. Yeah but you're hedging your bets. 3 games in, we've not got a right to win any of them, 1 poor performance in the same way ICT had the same on day 1. Issue for us is our biggest wage appears to be doing a McFadden.
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