wellsince75

formation seems to be his biggest strength and major weakness. He finds something that works and we have a purple patch of 15 games, teams catch on and figure out to manage us and we go on a run of 15 poor games until Robinson finally through desperation looks for a new formation. A worse manager would be fired. A better manager would be at a bigger club. His 15 games are almost up so hopefully he's now desperate enough to change it.

Robinson has proved over the last few years to be a good manager. We go through polarising feast and famine spells with him, a run of 12 game of winning - he's a hero. A losing streak of 12 games he's the worst manager ever. What frustrates me is during the famine he sticks with what used to work, eg formation or players when it clear we need to change formation or style of play. Suspect he'll do this within the next 6 games and we'll go through another purple patch.

He really is - he's excellent and plays well through the middle of the park. We need more central players to hook up with and ditch wingers (particularly those who aren't wingers in the first place eg Lang, Long etc)

the issue over the last 12 months is other teams know exactly how to play against us. Initially teams played higher up the park and we countered, they've learned to sit in and we can't actually get past their frontline - unless Turnbull does something. I don't believe the stikers are the total problem - we're not working the keeper as we don't create real chances . My frustration is for 15 games or so now we've persevered with a formation that doesn't work. A few subtle changes could make a big difference.

same pi55h all season. Post match interview "we dominated the game" (no we didn't , we dominated the first 2/3 of the pitch) "we need to be more clinical" (we need to make real chances.) "we'll go again, we have a great bunch of boys working their socks off" (Yes we do, but that's not enough.)

im gertting fed up with out set up. 2 wide players who can't beat their man. Total waste of time. Same approach every week. Keep the ball. lots of possession and wouldn't worry sheep

we are a very predictable , pedestrian going forward. unless Turnbull does something it's difficult to see us scoring.

bit harsh ...on elephants

same as most weeks to be honest. We have majority of ball but little cutting edge. I can't see how playing the same formation every week will produce anything different to what we've seen in the last few games.

he would be a great addition - but with Hastie, Seedorf, Hylton it's unlikely. I'd be happy to get rid of any 4 from 6 (Hastie, Seedorf, Hylton, Watt, Long, White) and bring in Murphy.

that makes sense. Long is a waste of space, unless through the middle where he can sniff out chances. If we play 3 up front I don't see us being able to play more than one fLong/Watt/White. Be interested to see how Lang is when up to speed - he looks to have the most skill. Keen to see if he can step up to SPL levels. (which seems likely)

Completely agree with this . if we play 2 up front we can add another midfielder and push Ohara and the rest up a little . until Donnelly is back I’d be tempted to go with grimmie as the defensive midfielder and go with Lang and White upfront .

We lack any cutting edge - plenty of effort. none of the wingers have been any use , Hastie , Seedorf and Hylton have been poor. id be tempted to go 4-4-2 for future games

much better performance. I'd like to see us taking off Seedorf and possibly White - neither has offered much.

Suspect tomorrows team will be Carson Grimshaw Gallagher Lamie O'Donnell Campbell Turnbulll O'Hara Hylton White Lang

sooooooo. frustrating. I've never known a manager so willing to play so many players out of position - If we had a great right back it could be justified but FFS. One would think the more players who play in their best position the better the team would do.

I'd much prefer this approach as the players are far better in this approach. Pick 3 from Lang,Long, Watt or White. Rather than pick from Seedorf, Hylton, Hastie on the flanks.

hope he plays in his natural position, albeit the gaffer has form for this type of shenanigans. Play him right back with Gallagher & Lamie in the middle and for now Grimmie/Another in left back.

good thought. Grimshaw for me is a bit like Tait. He gives 100% but isn't naturally a right back, he came as a midfielder but wasn't up to the standard of say Campbell so we've put him in a position as he tries hard. He also has very little infant of him to play with on the offensive side, a lack of winger last night was telling. Long is a waste of space in that position.

Hastie was dropped , which is fair. I think Hastie needs time to get back up to speed and I'd like to see him played on the left with Caroll or McGinley as full back. Long . I feel for him to be honest, he's limited overall but a decent penalty box striker. It may be his application but I don't ever remember him playing well unless we was through the middle and high up the pitch. Personal view is our issue is Robinson knows his preferred players but they don't fit in his preferred 4-3-3 formation. We have 4 centre forwards but unless Lang can play wide, none of them are much use unless they are played through the middle. Similarly playing a winger without a wing back leaves the winger far too exposed.

who's playing in their natural position that needs a kick up the backside ? Last night we had Lammie out of position which meant we had no width on the left to work with Seedorf (who has no left foot) Long was out of position , which meant Grimmy couldn't overlap with anyone on the right (and Grimmy isn't a natural RB either)

Agree with a lot of what you've said. Playing Lamie & Grimmy as full backs is limited. Lammie won't go up the flank and overlap with which ever winger we play. Until Carrol is back we need a different approach. For Grimmy there wasn't a winger to support him for most of the game, we need Hilton or Seedorf to play right wing if this is going to be the tactic. (and they're both bit players at best) Long is never a right winger , he's an out and out forward and should be played as such or not played at all. He's getting a hard time but this position is a waste of time for him.

Robinson is right , we are playing with 7 players at the moment but this is down to the formation and team selection that he's picking. A 4-3-3 should enable attractive football, with loads of crosses into the box BUT There's no width on either side , which means we lose out on 4 players who can hurt teams. We have a makeshift right back that can't get up and down the flanks and there's no winger to pick up with. The opposition don't need to worry about defending this side of the pitch. On the left we have no left back (due to injury) and any winger we've played in this position is right footed, which means he'll cut inside, so the opposing teams don't need to defend any side of the pitch. Until we have wingbacks and wingers on both sides (on their natural foot) we'll have an issue, unless we change our current formation and put the ball on the deck and play through teams. With Turnbull, Ohara, Campbell, Long, Lang, Watt we have plenty of decent footballers. Given our lack of wingbacks for now the better option would be to drop the 4-3-3 as is and play more of a diamond .

Worrying - White is another bowman and will never score goals. A big hard working lad who puts himself about but has no ability . The manager needs to look at his recruitment . He likes a 4-3-3 and he hasn’t recruited a right back and has opted for 4 strikers who won’t suit being a 4-3-3 . Watt , white , long and Lang are all suited to 4-4-2 . if we’d gone today with a winger on the left , with seedorf on the right and white through the middle I believe we’d have much better balance . that way seedorf , white could all be replaced quite easily by Hastie , Hylton , Long or Watt .

Issue is formation and trying to square the circle Ohara , Turnbull and Campbell are quality players but 3 midfield players isn’t enough . personal view is we should move to a 4-5-1 which can flip into a 4-3-3. Either Long, Lang , Watt or White should play. if we play 2 of them , we need to move to a 4-4-2 .