joewarkfanclub

Its hard to know where to start with a performance like that. With the greatest respect, Sligo arent even that good a team. All they had to do was be organised, work hard and wait for our mistakes. The sad thing is, that was more than enough and they thoroughly deserved to progress to the next round. We have been none of those things since Christmas and it cant all just be down to losing Tony Watt. When I saw Tierney in the team I thought that maybe GA was gonna change things up a bit, but alas no. Just more round pegs in square holes. No surprise really when the same level of performance was served up. The substitutions equally as mistifying. Given how little of the ball Sligo were having, why not take a defender of and put an extra midfielder or forward on? Bringing Shields on for Spittal made absolutely no sense, and his triple substitution? The only positive out of that was that Goss provided a little better quality on the cross ball, but by then it was too late. Its taken me a while, but I dont think GA has any intentiion of changing his tactics/philosophy, so reluctantly, I cant support him any further. I dont think he will be sacked before Sunday. But he should, and I dont think he can survive a defeat in Paisley, with a home game the following week.

Well, its taken a while, but he finally got me there. Im usually the last to turn when it comes to sacking a manager as I dont believe that chopping and changing all the time gives you the stable platform you require to build a successful club. But that tonight was the final straw for me. Last season was a brutal watch, especially the 2nd half from December on, but I honestly felt that he would be shrewd enough to identify the issues and do something about it, both in the transfer market and tactically. All it would have taken for me to remain on board would have been evidence that lessons had been learned and a plan for improvement was in place. However, last week and tonight has blown all of that out of the water. He persists with 4-3-3 despite it clearly not being effective with the players we have, and his substitutions are just mind boggling. He is the very personification of madness, doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results! I could be wrong, and I know our squad isnt the greatest we have ever seen, but I honestly dont think they are as bad as they currently look. It looks like none of them believe in what they are being asked to do and it is seriously effecting their confidence. Most of them look as if they are just going through the motions. I dont expect him to be sacked, not immediately anyway, but it just feels like a matter of time. If he loses to Robbos Motherwell Rejects on Sunday, the pressure on the board will be immense. I just dont see how he survives this. When it comes, it will feel like a relief......

United signed Stephen Fletcher. I know he is coming to the end of his career, but he is still a very good player. I could see him and Watt forming a very good partnership. Certainly much better than we have at the moment. They had the edge on is last season in overall league standing and I cant see that changing unless we do some late business that bridges the gap. Not impossible, but unlikely.

My predictions...... 1. Celtic 2. Rangers 3. Aberdeen 4. Hearts 5. Dundee United 6. Kilmarnock 7. Motherwell 8. Hibs 9. Ross County 10. Livingston 11. St Mirren 12. St Johnstone Based only on the early league cup games and our first outing, I think the top 5 are a stick on. Hibs should be the other top 6 club as they have the resources but Im not sure there owner hasnt had another brainfart in his choice of manager. The rest of the teams are much of a muchness for me and it will come down to who can grind out the most points over the season.

Not a lot as they rarely get the chance!

KVV is certainly the best striker at the club and one of the few players we have with real technical ability. Its also true that he has been played without being fully fit too often than is good for him / the team. But I still find him a frustrating figure to watch. A lot of the time he appears disinterested and he is very greedy when it comes to his use of the ball. I know all strikers are, but he almost never passes to a team mate when he is anywhere near the box regardless of whether that team mate is in a much better position. I guess thats why he is with us and not Ajax! Glad he has extended. But it would be good to have someone who could genuinely challenge him for a first team start. That way we might get a bit more consistency out of him.

I actually thought the brand of football had changed towards the end of last season and on Thursday, in that, we played the ball on the deck a lot more. We were just so painfully slow at moving the ball around, it was easy for Sligo to retain their shape and defend. When anyone tried to zip a pass quickly (Morris/Spittall/Slattery) the recipients first touch let them down badly. Maybe thats why GA was reverting to hoofball in the first place? I agree with the refresh thing. Continuity of squad and selection is the hallmark of most successful teams. We have had precious little of either in recent years.

Like most of the support, I was concerned with the level and style of football we had to endure last season which was only made acceptable by our staggering over the line into the top 6 and eventually a European slot. I was prepared to give the manager the start of the season to prove that he had learned lessons and was capable of making the changes necessary and improving the quality of the product on the pitch and hopefully our results. Given that we have only played one game it would seem churlish to change my mind now. He did clear out some of the deadwood. The 3 signings made look promising to me, but clearly a few more in key positions are necessary. We need to see huge improvement on Thursdays performance starting with the away leg this week. Even if we lose on Thursday he wont be sacked immediately. However, if we were to perform poorly in our first 4/5 league games and dont beat ICT in the league cup, then I will be on the GA out train and I would imagine the vast majority of supporters will be there too. The board will then come under severe pressure to act. The team will continue to get my backing, the manager is going to have to earn it.

I think its a bit unfair to single out 2 players for being poor on Thursday night when it was the entire team performance that was lacking. Everything was just too slow and pedestrian. I thought Spittal showed glimpses in the first half of having something about him as he was always looking for a forward pass. He did fade badly in the 2nd half. Slattery was similar and had a very poor 2nd half. There is an argument for giving Cornelius and Goss a chance, but as you say, our midfield was poor last year with Goss in it, but it always performed better in the games Slattery played. We were absolutely honking in the games where he was having his "sabbatical". My frustration with Yodo (and some other posters) is that he never gives his alternative. He just comes in when things have gone wrong, says "thats shite" and disappears. Entirely his perogative of course, it is a fans forum, it just gets wearing after a while. Sorry Yodo. Its not personal.......

No Spittall, no Slattery, cant wait to see your midfield.......

ICT will be no pushovers, but thats about as decent a draw as you can get. Hopefully we can get up to speed before we have to play them.

Who are you playing instead of him? And no smart arsed deflection please......

Ok, so counting is obviously not my strong suit! If KVV is 100% fit he plays. Watching him on Thursday he is such a selfish player Im not sure he benefits from having a partner anyway. If henis anything less than 100% Id play Shields.

I think its worth a shot. They may not notice!

Lol! I confused myself debating whether 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 was preferable. Its an age thing! They will be taking the controls to the telly off me soon!

This is how we should be lining up on Thursday.... Kelly McGinn Sol Lamie Carroll Maguire Slattery Spittal Tierney Morris KVV Shileds Ditch the 4-3-3 and get after them.

I thought the new signings all showed enough to suggest they might improve our team with time. McGinn looked decent, Spittal and Morris looked like they could develop an understanding and were looking to play positive passes. I went for Morris. He kept at it despite a lot of his work not coming off, mostly because he was zipping passes into the feet of teamates who seemed unable to control the ball.

PS if fans arent happy, why shouldnt they complain? We are a fan owned club after all....

There are different forms of entertainment. It doesnt have to be the technically best football in the world. I get entertained by seeing young players come through our academy, breaking into the first team and celebrating in front of their pals when they score a goal. I get entertained by seeing a team develop and improve, or just getting stuck in to the opposition to make up for our deficiencies. To be entertained, I dont need to see us win, although of course I enjoy that more. I just need to feel that the efforts and cost Im going to, to support the team are worthwhile. Sadly very little of that has been true for some time.

That was a very good post right up until the final paragraph. We do have plenty to be proud about at our club and I do agree that Alexander is unlikely to be punted even if we lose again on Thursday. However, to say the fans have nothing to complain about after the tortuous football we have had to endure the last year is just wrong. We are a fan owned club. The fans pay good money to come and be entertained, or at least not be patronised by the manager when things are clearly lacking. Whilst I think some fans / contributors do need a sense of realism about where we are and what the likely outcomes are, I dont think you can say they just need to suck it up and be happy. There is a middle ground.

Aye fair doohs.......

Ok, Ive bitten way too often than I should have already, so I suppose I should give my own thoughts and open myself to the same scrutiny. Tonights result was abysmal and totally unacceptable in any way, shape or form. Even accepting that Sligo are half way thru their season and this was our first competitive game, the result is still embarassing. Sligo deserved their victory, but I didnt think they were great and probably about Scottish Championahip standard, which in itsf speaks volumes about the result. If we had been beaten at home by the likes of Morton or Raith Rovers we would have been rightly raging. That said, did we really learn anything new about our team? Kelly is a good goalkeeper and kept us in it with a couple of routine but important stops. McGinn, I thought had a decent gameand I wouldnt be disappointed to see him be our first choice right back for the rest of the season. Mugabi has all the physical attributes to be a good centre half but consistently makes very bad decisions. Im not sure how long we can persist with that. Sol should be at least considered for the away leg. Lamie was solid enough, although slow with his disteibution which doesnt help us build attacks. Carroll, still gets caught out of position too often and cant stop a cross ball. He is vetter going forward, but we dont seem to allow him that freedom. It thought Morris and Spittal on the left showed that they have a bit more about them going forward and could with time for a decent partnership. Maguire was ok but seemed to be having to cove a lot of ground which I think is due to the 4-3-3 which leaves us exposed at times. Slattery, started well enough and I think having Spittal and Morris in the team will help him, but he was shocking second half and wasnt one of his better days. Shields is wasted out wide. Formation doesnt suit him at all. KVV may be the most technically gifted player in the team, but he is selfish and lazy and if not 100% fit not worth a start. With respect to GA, Ive had enough of 4-3-3. I dont think it suits the players we have which was highlighted with the Efford substitution which I just xouldnt work out given we had just brought Tierney on. We need to find a system that gets all our best players on the park. At the moment I think they are Kelly, McGinn, Lamie, Slattery, Morris, Spittal, Tierney and a fit and interested KVV. We need a mssive improvement next week or the managers jacket will already be on a shoogly peg before we even play a league game.

On that I can agree with you....

Clearly......

And yet he was involved in just about everything positive we did by your estimation. How shite must the rest of the team have been?