joewarkfanclub

As Ive said elesewhere, I think a big problem next week could be injuries. With Koutoumbis, Welsh and Stama all going off with some sort of pull/tweak/injury on top of the others we already have (McGinn, Hendry, Slattery, McGhee, Sparrow) then we could be severely limited as to the team we can put out. Hopefully some of them are just minor/precautions and it wont look as bad as Im projecting.

Harry Paton never had footwork that good! 😍😍😍

I know some folk have already called time on Stama, and thats fine. These things are a matter of opinion. But we have a striker who has scored 7 goals in 10 games. I dont think its the scoring goals thing we really have a problem with. Delivery into the box is just as much of a problem. Longelo and RCC are still getting to know each other, so not gonna be too critical of them, but there were several times they got in the way of one another yesterday by making the same runs or not playing the right pass. That will come. Similarly Said looks amazing until he gets to box and wont shoot or delays his pass. Hopepfully that will also come. If we get all those things going on and Stama gets more opportunities to add to the GF column and Maswanhise maintains his form we will be in a good place. My main concern right now is injuries. Welsh, Koutroumbis & Stama all went off in pain yesterday, with some of the others already out, we could be seriously short next week despsite having a pretty big squad.

I thought Watt and Fadinger were both good, although probably more so in the first half. Went for Longelo though as he is the one that continually provides an attacking threat in the final third. Albeit his final product today wasnt his best. Said continues to frustrate. He looks amazing right up to the penalty box then for some reason loses all composure!

Bit of a rinse and repeat today. Very good first half. Dundee barely laid a glove on us and we thoroughly deserved to be in front at the break. But much like previous weeks we are not transmitting our dominance of the ball into clear cut chances and goals. We get into very good positions and fail to play the killer pass or get a shot away. No one player is to blame, its a a collective failing. I thought we lost a bit of impetus after they scored, what was a really soft goal from a cross ball, and although we recovered it a bit with the substitutions, it was the same mistakes with different personnel. We need to find a way to fix this, as it is fast becoming a self fulfilling prophecy. Thankfully Aberdeen seem to be struggling and there has to be a winner next week, but you wouldnt be surprised if it went to penalties......

Teamlines.....

Didnt realise that. Could leave us with an issue. Unless Halliday plays! 😆

Would probably prefer to see Koutroumbis at right back, but dont see him dropping SOD if McGinn is indeed injured. JBA seems to like his trusted Lieutenants on the field......

If McGinn is indeed injured....... Ward SOD Gordon Welsh Longelo Watt Priestmann Fadinger Said Stamatelopoulos RCC I imagine Just & Maswanhise will feature from the bench.

Aye! Ah did! 😆😆😆

Thats why I said "some of his mistakes". To be fair to him, prior to Germany he lost Hickey, Paterson, Doak and Dykes which restricted the way he was able to play. During the tournament he also lost Hanley thru stupidity and Tierney thru injury. My biggest bugbear about it (other than not plalying Gilmour alongside Calamac in the first game) was that in the final game we knew we had to win and we didnt go with a back 4 despite Tierney not being available. He also made his subs way too late. He did introduce Doak and go back 4 in the Nations League though and our performances were much better as a result. First half in Athens was very good, but I agree he didnt learn from the second half in advance of the home game. I dont expect that to happen again this time.

Interesting. Any time Ive watched the u21s they didnt look like they were playing the same way. Also spoken to guys who watch the u21s a lot and they arent complimentary re Gemmill. Not sure eits the be all & end all though. Most are being coached at their clubs in a varaition of styles/tactics and some (Hickey) just miss the u21s all together. Anyway, this is turning into a Tartan Army chat. I look forward to Lennons first Udinese appeparance and his upward trajectory to world domination and the Ballon d'Or!

No issues with anyone not liking Clarke or the way he sets his teams up. I would have happily seen him gone after the Euros. But he isnt as set in his ways as some make out. He does learn from some of his mistakes. Take the Ukraine WC play off and subsequent Nations League games. After the Euros he changed from a 5 at the back to a 4 at the back. We are in a a strong position now. If we can get two positive results in the next camp we will be in touching distance to qualify, which in itself is important regardless of how we do if only for the sponsorship and revenue it brings into our game. I agree re Gemmill though. Id ditch him tomorrow.

I actually thought Ferguson had probably one if his better games for Scotland last night, albeit it has been a low bar so far. Previously, I was much the same and had been waiting to see what the Italians are clearly seeing Thought he had a a good game on Friday night without the ball, and contributed greatly to the clean sheet. Last night was a bit better in possession. Not sure the holding role is necessarily his best position, I see him more as a McGinn, McTominay replacement further up the pitch. Im as desperate as anyone to see Lennon play, but its not Clarkes way to throw players in right away. He will be protected and eased in at the appropriate moment. I suspect he will get more gametime in the eupcoming home games.

That dinosaur may yet still qualify us for our first World Cup in 28 years..... PS if we have a Scotland Caps clause with Udinese, then that 90 secs could end up being very financially rewarding for us!

Oh aye, totally get that. But if we swap Ox in as a safe pair of hands and he ends up giving goals away because he is shite with his feet and JBA insists he plays out anyway, we really arent any further forward. Hopefully he is good enough.....

Not sure what part of my post is that remarkable that it has drawn 2 negative posts. At no point have I stated Welsh was a bad player, or wouldnt do a job for us. Im just of the opinion he isnt the most impressive Celtic defender Ive ever seen and we are taking him on loan with an injury record that would suggest he might not be able to play a lot of games. If he has goals in his locker, thats a good thing. I do hope he is the second coming of Paolo Maldini however, and can lead us to a cup win!

I like Ox. He has made a few mistakes in the past, but he is a big unit that generally commands his box and very good shotstopper. The only thing Im unsure of is how good he is with the ball at his feet. His distribution was better than Kelly's, but thays a really low bar and what JBA wants from his keeper is way beyond that. Be interesting to see what happens.

Tickets are on sale. However, no mention of how many we got and no map to select your seat, so pot luck if you are open to the elements or not. Really fancy the game, but not sure Im gonna pay £25 to drive all that way for a potential soaking!

He did. But he was back at Milwall until last night. Hence why they have been struggling to score goals as they only had Yengi and Sockler.....

Aye that would certainly make sense.

Will wait to see how he looks in a Motherwell jesrsey, but cant say I was ever overly impressed when he played against us for Celtic. All relative though. If he is better than we have in the building, he will do fine.

It would be churlish to suggest we have had anything else other than a successful window, but I am a little disappointed we let Wilson go out on loan without a replacement. He may have his deficiencies, ,but in my eyes at least he was a decent enough back up, in the same way Halliday is for the midfield spots. I guess if JBA doesnt rate him and the boy wants to play, fair enough. He might yet develop with more first team football at Raith. Just not convinced that we have adequate cover if anything happens to Longelo as we would be looking at SOD, McGinn or Halliday in there. As for the rest of the squad. Midfield is excellent. Wide areas look good. Up front remains to be seen but at least Maswanhise is scoring for now. GK needs to settle down with either Ox being given a shot to see if he can do any better or just standing by Ward in the hope he can iron out the mistakes. Good first window for JBA. Still some weaknesses to address, but we are gonna be fun to watch and hopefulky we ecan get enough wins to allow him time to build.

Welsh will be decent with the ball at his feet which is potentially why we have gone for him. But my impression, and backed up by a Celtic supporting mate, is that he is a bit on the soft side physically and prone to injuries. In the absence of a better option, I guess he will need to do, but not one I will be getting delirious about. A left back is still required. So hopefully we have one more incoming.

Had he actually played any minutes for us yet? I cant think of any.....