fizoxy

Any additions will be contingent on someone leaving (with bigi, main and Sammon being the rumored ones), and you’ve got to wonder that if we were able to get a win tomorrow would the club decide that more signings aren’t necessary? Would the money we spend on a couple more new guys cancel out what we’d get if we finished 8th instead of 9th? On the other hand, we may not want to risk being complacent then Dundee and St Mirren pull a couple of big signings out the bag on the last day. The next week is shaping up to be a very interesting one for the league, with so much still in play and plenty of banter to be had.

Maurice Ross confirmed as head of Reserves and u18s.

Mains performance aside, signing a goal scorer in January isn’t easy, since we’re probably at the back of a very long queue of clubs wanting one, and the players/clubs rightfully ask for more money. Yesterdays performance was one of the best of the season, and part of that was putting main in for Johnson. We’ve not had a settled lineup all season, so hopefully this is the start of one, as every player who started deserves another start on Saturday.

I’m disappointed it wasn’t McCulloch, only because of the potential patter of an umbrella-gate introduction video.

I didn’t mention grimshaw earlier, but he’s great to watch when he plays like that. I’d take Tait at LB if Liam plays like that at RB. Playing against him and Campbell (and now Hastie) must be a royal pain in the arse. We’re going to have to balance getting McCormack fit and keeping the lineup as strong as possible. I doubt we’re going to get a full 90 out of him while he’s here based on what we’ve seen so far. However, i didn’t think he let us down when he came on. Im not sure why Ariyibi is taking the set pieces either, we have 3 or 4 guys in today’s lineup alone that can put in a better dead ball. I also enjoyed Bigi’s wee cameo, he slowed the game down when needed and helped see the game out. before the game I feared a doing from Hibs, but I’m assuming they are dealing with some injuries, or more likely overhyped like their Edinburgh counterparts, because they didn’t look anything special.

That was a really good reaction to Saturday, we pressed really well and fought for those points. I don’t think we can question the players or managers commitment after that. Main really needs a goal. He worked hard and did a decent job of keeping their defenders busy and holding the ball up, but was powder puff when it came to taking a chance. Watching the direct running from hastie and Ariyibi was fun. It didn’t always come off, but I’d rather we tried that than punting it. The goal was a thing of beauty, what I’d give to see hastie, Campbell, Cadden and Turnbull together for one more season. This was the first time I’ve seen Gorrin really contribute, and I think he had by far his best game for us, Campbell also looked like his old self. Didn’t think the defense looked too troubled, hibs were always going to make a couple of chances but we were pretty organized. We know how inconsistent we are, so I wouldn’t get my hopes up for Saturday, but I’d definitely put out the same team for that game.

Gillespie Grimshaw Aldred dunne tait campbell gorrin ariyibi Turnbull hastie main Frear injured, Sammon, bigi, McCormack, Johnson and Hartley on bench.

The club website has him contracted until 2020

Robinson was pretty clear that he was going to persevere with the new system, and many of his comments alluded to it being a mistake that he played Johnson over main. However, if the he is truly unhappy with the forwards, and if the position is genuinely “up for grabs” then it is possible we could see either Sammon or Scott in there. We’d all prefer to see what Scott can do.

I’d love to see livingstone, Campbell, Turnbull, hastie and Scott all in the team, but it’s not happening. To be fair, I’d be all for putting their names down first for every game that’s left and seeing how it goes. Based on the managers comments, Scott might not be a long shot though. What I expect to see: Gillespie Tait Aldred Hartley Dunne McHugh Campbell Ariyibi Turnbull Frear Main However, I’d like McCormack to get a fair bit of time in this one so he can lob the keeper.

Some singings haven’t panned out, but there are too many factors in play to make this a black and white issue. I think this is also on Martin foyle, who is our head of recruitment. Was foyle responsible for moult? (And Blyth, fletcher)? keepers - no faults there, solid. kipre - no doubt one of the best signings we’ve made in a long time, but he was second choice to another trialist. He was signed as a project too. A lot of luck here. tanner - freak injury, but before that he was in and out of the team. I like him and think he’d be a great fit in this new system, but a lot of folk are going to be disappointed when he comes back. bigi - great signing on paper at the time, but have to question the management on this one since his defensive shortcomings must have been clear when he was scouted. However, a good manager knows how to use talents like this. dunne - took a gamble on someone he knew, but had come back from horrible injuries. I think we’re all in agreement he is a good one. aldred - fucking love him Hartley - we tried to get him before Robbo, and at the time of getting his contract we were all over the moon, so unfair to judge this one with hindsight. He will be fine after a run of games. mbulu, petravicius, Newell - all signed as projects and the manager admitted as much. Newell’s contract is a joke though. Fisher - pretty popular signing at the time, looked good against us and has done alright since leaving, albeit at a lower level. Donnely - seems to be an up and coming NI player, but can’t stay fit. Don’t know if it’s bad luck or just how he’s made. Johnson - scores goals apparently, but is pretty poor in his all round game. Most strikers know that there has to be more to their game thesedays. Still like him though. Hendrie, ATS, Plummer - we clearly aren’t scouting left backs. Gorrin - we had Turnbull, I don’t see the point in this one, poor decision. rose - solid enough, but signing him for half a year to be nice was a poor decision. sammon - needless, Scott can do what he’s doing. McCormack- costing next to nothing, low risk/high reward. Ariyibi - we’ll see, but on the face of it the right kind of signing. For a lot of these you have to question the process, not results. Unless there is an overlooked medical problem we can’t predict injuries. It is also hard to gauge who can handle a move to Scotland, both personally and adapting to the league. So based on that I think it is fair to say we have recruited badly at full back, and don’t seem to know what we want in midfield.

But it’s going to be Las with Hammel as assistant anyway. But just so everyone knows, Van Der Gaag is in a job, and so is Simo, Stuart Baxter and Kenny Sheils. Luc Nijholt and John Hughes don’t seem to be though.

That’s my worry. To hire someone who has no knowledge of the Scottish game would be very risky, and hasn’t worked for us, or most other Scottish clubs in the past. I’m trying to think of who the most successful (non OF) manager has been who fits that bill. Steve Clarke?

I think it is clear that our plan is to tread water while we pay off the debt, and the board may be happy with scraping by in 9th or 10th place in the meantime. The thought might be that we’re essentially developing a manger, in that by the time we have a little more money to spend Robbo will have a few years experience and a squad that he’s built. It may also be that the board don’t think that the job is an attractive one because of this remit and the small budget, so it’s not worth the cost of paying off Robinson and hiring a new manager from a limited pool. His interview yesterday sounded like he was telling the fans that he’s meeting (exceeding?) the boards requirements. Which is fair enough, if they have given him targets and a strict remit, and he’s meeting it, then he has every right to feel that he should keep his job. However, I’d argue that while it is well known that the manager can put on a great training session, he’s done nothing to suggest he has the tactical knowledge to make a team of limited talent passable. He openly questions his own decisions in interviews, throws his players under the bus, and he cares too much about the criticism he gets. His interview yesterday certainly had a “beginning of the end” feel to it. Too many people at our club talk it down as well. The facts are we are one of the biggest clubs in the country, due to our history, support, and the fact that we’ve been in the top division for a very fucking long time. We’re talking about punching above our weight while Killie, St. Johnstone, and Livingston are sitting above us, and we have a manager saying that he’s the messiah for getting us to a couple of cup finals when we’re not that far removed from successive 2nd place finishes and European qualifications. I know seasons like that will come and go, but our supporters are perfectly entitled to want something better. I don’t know if there is an option out there that will get us more points between now and the end of the season than the current setup though. For a manager to be available to us now they would have to be either unemployed, untried, or employed but affordable. We would also have to bring them in a lot quicker than our last few attempts. I’m genuinely interested in folks ideas of who that person could be, because all I can see is the likes of Hughes, Hartley, et al. Thank fuck Presley took the Carlisle job.

Fan ownership is as viable as it needs to be, there is no other option. No one wanted to buy the club for years, and I don’t see that changing.

Frear. I thought he done good.

He has a point in his interview regarding the time it’s going to take to scrap the old style of play, and I’m happy he’s going to persevere with the new style, but I’m getting tired of his “no excuses, I’ll shoulder the blame, now sit back and listen to some excuses” interview template.

Frear was doubled up on all game, and was the only player to offer anything in attack, including setting up our goal. With such a poor team performance, singling our Frear is just silly.

That was terrible. It looked like we just stuck the two new guys in and hoped they’d figure something out. Frear was a relatively bright spark, but I spent most of the second half seeing if I could spot anyone I know in the crowd on the telly. Johnson is pretty much a poacher, and the reason most teams don’t have poachers any more is that they do nothing else. Main on the other hand is a wrestler, but more Iron Mike Sharpe than Hulk Hogan. It was nice to see hastie get on the scoresheet, I feel bad for him having to come back to this, but hopefully he’ll keep getting chances. County we’re just organized enough, pressed properly, and had that little extra being an underdog in the cup gives you, but this loss was 1million % * on us. * copyright Chris Cadden.

That looks like a straight up 4-4-2 (assuming frear isn’t at WB) surprised to see Tait in there after his injury.

I think we should play the Bielsa 3-3-3-1. Mainly because I hadn’t heard about him until yesterday and I like the cut of his jib, and it would be a hilarious contrast to our philosophy so far, and our players run into each other anyway. Let’s win 4-3. Aldred Hartley Dunne Tait McHugh Livingstone Boly Campbell Frear McCormack I don’t even know if that’s how it’s supposed to work, but lets just enjoy ourselves.

In robbo’s last interview he said that we’d see what we can do at the end of the window re:more signings, so nothing seems imminent. Still says we need to move some out.

If any signing was to signal that Robbo may have a concussion, it would be that one.

Dunne and McHugh are ready to play according to flow on Twitter, haven’t seen anything about mbulu though.

We already have players who can do a job. We need someone with experience to fill in at LB/LWB, not a project.