Kmcalpin

Its become a bit of media circus now.

Seems to have been very successful on Friday evening, with the club's income being boosted consideably. Thats just what we need to increase off the field turnover. A few teething problems though, which the Society will will take up with the club.

Thats fine as far it goes. However could we cope defensively if Hearts play that type of game against us?

A good summing up. I'd rate Hertha as being somewhere between Hearts/Aberdeen and Celtic. They didn't look 100% match fit though as fans of German football on here will know. A draw was a reasonable outcome as we finished strongly after a slow start. We played some good football but too often the final ball wasn't quite right. That might come. Fadinger and McGinn were my MOTMs. Now onto lessons learned (again some might say). We lack physicality in midfield and up front. To me, Watt, Fadinger and Slattery are all a wee bit similar and we need a solid physical defensive midfielder in the battle zone to halt central midfield runners in their tracks. How will Just fare against the likes of the Gogics, O'Haras and Devlins of the Premiership world? Ap Stam ran his socks off but to no effect - he is a penalty box striker, possibly a good one, end of. We need a big target man up front. Tonight I thought our passing from midfield to set up attacks was a bit slow. All too often the chance to catch a retreating Hertha was lost due to dilatory decision making and execution. All that said we played not too badly. The new style will take time to implement. Hopefully speed comes later. Hertha had some decent players and I liked the look of Toni Leistner. I believe we only had 4 subs due to another team comprising young players, fringe players and trialists(?) playing Hertha's B team this afternoon. 0-0 draw from what I heard. A good workout and not your usual friendly.

Did anyone visit Mrs Baillie tonight? What was it like?

Which one? There were two. He would have got a better view our Ap Stam's claim than that of his own player's.

Absolutely and maybe a defensive midfielder too (where does Jordan McGhee fit in?)

Thoroughly enjoyed last night's game, although I became increasingly nervous as time wore on and it was still goalless. It was so importnat to notch the first goal. A good team effort although I thought Koutroumbis, McGinn and Maswhanise stod out with the latter being my MOTM. For the first time time this season our possession based approach looked exciting due in no small part to Morton's relatively more positive gameplan. It was a pleasure to watch. Such a contrast to Kettlewell's Plan A. Some good midfield play although maybe we need a defensive midfielder to add a bit of steel in the engine room. Its encouraging to see a lot more pace in the side. We lost a bit of momentum when the 3 second half subs entered the fray and were caught short on the left until JBA made a tactical change. Maswhanise took his goals very well. The first was well worked stemming from a great pass from Gordon. His third was sublime and a perfect way to round off the evening. A contender for goal of the season? Lots to look forward to. I still have some concerns though, but suspect they are being addressed. Ewan Wilson is starting to concern me though - has he lost confidence? We do lack physicality and once again a big physical striker in the shape of Adeloye last night caused us issues. Up front we still look toothless. Its a positive that we created so many chances but disappointing that we looked lightweight in the box. Ap Stam is no lone striker. A big physical striker is badly needed to get on the end of crosses and set pieces. We progress to the knockout rounds now and pres eason acclimitisation continues under JBA. I suspect Elijah's shirt will be much sought after by senior fans aged mid 20s and over. A collector's item!

Its hypothetical of course given that this is simply a rumour. However, you could imagine a scenario where we offer a young lad a one year deal on say £750 pw (just making this up) and Livingston offer him a 2 year deal on say £700 pw. I suspect Ross County will be paying Premiership wages, but not every young lad want to relocate to Dingwall.

If Morton win the group with 10 points on goal difference, we would need to be one of the 3 best runners up to progress - no?

I've had time to mull over this game. I reckon Morton will be quite happy to sit in and hit us on the break, after observing how we've struggled to break down League 1 and 2 sides. A point will do them just fine and allow them to finish top of the group. A Penalty shoot out would then be academic to them. Its absolutely critical that we score the first goal to entice them out.

We do need another striker badly but also need to bolster the defence. A fair number of corners (poorly taken) and crosses today but no-one with the physicality to get on the end of them. Thats a skillset we're missing right now.

No standout for me so no vote.

The game panned out pretty much as I expected. We won the 3 points and kept a clean sheet end of. It gave JBA the chance to rest a few of his favoured players and test out others. Changing line ups and numerous substitutions don't help continuity. Still, not an impressive performance though. We had perhaps 4 good chances and converted one. A stuffy Stenhousemuir rode their luck at times. No real blunders at the back but still a few hairy moments. I'm not against this modern possession based football but its not a great watch it has to be said. I agree with many previous posters. We had loads of possession, made pass after pass but lacked inciseveness and speed of passing. Totally toothless up front and we need reinforcements there as well as at the back. We also lacked physicality and were bullied at times by a makeshift Warriors side. Orinoco rightly points out that Stenny's big lad up front beat Balmer time and again in the air. There will be much more of that in league games to come. I didn't think that Sule and Ap Stam looked much of a threat, although their service was poor it has to be said. Ewan Wilson has regressed for whatever reason and I don't recall him beating his opponent at all - back pass after back pass. Matty Connelly didn't have much to do but his distribution was excellent. Victim of a shocking foul late on. Onto Morton now and I hope our perfomance improves. They will have been watching us with interest.

Didn't think SODs had a bad game today. Not great but no worse than the others. He also scored the all important winner. It was noticeable at FT though that as the other players walked over to acknowledge the fans, SODs just walked off. You can understand that though.

Even the goalie acknowledged he saved it.

Pretty much my view. It'll represent a better test for our new players and system. I suspect that we'll field our strongest team, whatever that might be.

I've sat there for years and never witnessed any trouble between our own fans. Not saying we all agree 100% but it's all kept respectable and largely good natured. Most "internal" trouble or division is online I'd say and entirely avoidable. Some unfortunate / unsavoury incidents do occur occasionally in the stands though.

Personally I couldn't care less if we lose goals through the sweeper keeper project with one condition...it creates more goals than we lose through it. If there's a net gain then fine, if not then ditch it.

Sorry, but I don't get why anyone would enjoy that? I know its very idealistic and not attainable in the real world, but surely we want a united support. I'm not saying that some of our support don't deserve criticism at times but I can't say I'd ever actually enjoy that. Maybe just me.

A lot will depend, as Spiderpig says, on how we defend and how exciting / effective we are in the final third. Crack those 2 issues and the fans won't be a problem. If our games are characterised by endless back and sideways passing, a sterile attack and losing cheap goals, many will be unhappy. We must remember though that Peterhead were defensive in the extreme and struck a bit of good luck.

Thanks for the advice Tosh. Much appreciated.

I expect a game similar to the last 2. Stenhousemuir will hopefully look at us and think we're at home we be can beat this lot and have a real go at us...then I woke up.

In the early stages of the game last night I was expecting more of a high press but we didn't seem to do that. Sule was left isolated with little support. I looked the look of Just, but he was sitting too deep to really hurt their defence. Watt and Slattery also sat deep. once Peterhead scored, of course, the game changed and they were happy to sit back with 11 men behind the ball and waste every second they could with the tacit approval of the ref.

JBA is clearly trying out players and assessing them and trying to mould them into his way of thinking. This will naturally take time. A fair take on things and I now understand your comment from Saturday about our midfield. Most of us agree about defensive deficiences, so no need for me to bang on about them. A raw looking Longero impressed though and his pace will be a real asset. We tried to play patient, ground based football last night and that was encouraging but the tempo was way too slow and some players overelaborated. I don't think Watt and Slattery played well together. Not quite sure yet where Watt fits into the team and Slattery is being played far too deeply. Probably the wrong combination as well. Poor Tom Sparrow looked lost. Just looks the part but again played too deeply. Fadinger really impressed me. We need to beef up the midfield and add a bit of defensive aggression to beef up the back line. See Ya Beezer's comments above. Jordan McGhee anyone? I wasn't convinced by Sule or Ap Stam. To be fair, Sule wasn't given much service and for much of the time was left to fend for himself, despite all our possession. As Weeyin says, Ap Stam is a penalty box striker but looks lightweight and failed to make an impression last night. Encouraging signs and we did win...eventually. The players will need to adjust to a new system and that will take time and perseverance. Likewise JBA will need to learn the strengths and weaknesses of his charges and play them to suit their individual abilities and skills. Last night's game could have been played by AI. It was so predictable. To be fair, its very hard to judge us given the way Peterhead played and their early goal. Not many teams will come to Fir Park and play like that. Early days of course, but we seem to be shaping up as more of a counterattacking side. It'll be interesting to see which type of player comes in during this window and who leaves to balance squad numbers.