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2014-15 Ins And Outs


Toxteth O'Grady
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There wont be any new arrivals in Steelboy, McCall confirmed this in his press conference on Friday, he say that a couple may be leaving but no more coming in.

 

if we can find the funds i think we have to.

 

twardzik is a liability and the goals we are losing from outside the box will be hurting team morale. gunnar has the tools to be a decent keeper but has confidence issues and mccall seems to have burnt his bridges with him anyway so he's not going to get over them.

 

another randolph or ruddy is obviously unrealistic but someone solid, even at the level of meldrum would help a lot.

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There will be nobody else coming in.

 

Why the hell we haven't signed a left sided midfielder is astonishing. Simon Lappin apparently had a very good game for St Johnstone yesterday.....

 

Josh Law plays which position again?......

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There will be nobody else coming in.

 

Why the hell we haven't signed a left sided midfielder is astonishing. Josh Law plays which position again?......

 

Spot on. I mean it's a glaring issue. It's a bit like driving a Grand Prix with no front left wheel.

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I think Twardzik can be a decent goalie as well and did make a few good stops, I agree as well Steelboy that Nielsen could be a decent keeper and I actually had a thought go through my head that had he been in then he might have stopped the first goal due to being much taller than Twardzik. I thought Law was meant to be play right wing yesterday but I lost count of the amount of times he ran across the midfield and left us no outball on the right hand side, I felt we may have benefited with starting Ainsworth to run at their defence and make them sit deeper but sadly it wasn't to be.

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There will be nobody else coming in.

 

Why the hell we haven't signed a left sided midfielder is astonishing. Simon Lappin apparently had a very good game for St Johnstone yesterday.....

 

Josh Law plays which position again?......

 

He's like his brother, he will play wherever SMc puts him....

 

We have been crying out for a natural left midfield for years. They are a rare commodity but Lappin would have been perfect tbh. Add a bit of balance.

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Has McFadden got a contract anywhere? If not then perhaps a director or two need to have a think. The prospect of going down as Rangers and Hearts come back up would be an absolute disaster.

 

Not saying he is the answer to all our problems but he certainly gave us an edge creatively that is utterly non existent just now. When you think back to our performances with him last season and certainly the season before his reputation alone never mind ability was enough that teams would stand off him.

 

Worth a thought but no we will rely on Lasley pumping balls to the opposition keeper or Craig Reid running into opposition full backs for the rest of the season no doubt.

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if we can find the funds i think we have to.

 

twardzik is a liability and the goals we are losing from outside the box will be hurting team morale. gunnar has the tools to be a decent keeper but has confidence issues and mccall seems to have burnt his bridges with him anyway so he's not going to get over them.

 

 

Fair point about our keepers. Gunnar is technically excellent and shines at training but he does have confidence issues during a game. As far as goals from outside the box are concerned , I've been banging on about this for years. Our central midfield sits too deep and allows attackers running at us all the time and space in the world to pick their spot. Thats where the problem lies initially. It leaves our keeper, whoever he is, terribly exposed. Decent teams defend outside their penalty box and you have to be pretty damn good to get the opportunity to have a crack at their goalie.

 

 

 

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if we can find the funds i think we have to.

 

twardzik is a liability and the goals we are losing from outside the box will be hurting team morale. gunnar has the tools to be a decent keeper but has confidence issues and mccall seems to have burnt his bridges with him anyway so he's not going to get over them.

 

another randolph or ruddy is obviously unrealistic but someone solid, even at the level of meldrum would help a lot.

 

I thought Twardzik should have done better with the Starjan goal that put us out but the other 20+ yarders I've seen he's had no chance with.

 

Only got text commentry of the game yesterday but the most common phrase was about quality Twardzik saves. Much as he is no Randolph I don't think he is the reason we are looking so poor right now and a keeper is way down the list of our problems.

 

Square pegs in round holes elsewhere with injuries at left back and arguably some questionable signings elswhere seeing w lack a left sided midfield option and any sort of natural foil for Sutton seems a bigger problem.

 

Perhaps some 4-5-1/4-3-3 formation with Ojamma and Ainsworth supporting Sutton or Erwin might work of a solid midfield trio comprising 3 from Lasley, Carswell, Vigurs, Leitch, Lawson, Law.

 

Certainly we don't seem to have the personnal for the traditional 4-4-2.

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Certainly we don't seem to have the personnal for the traditional 4-4-2.

That in a nutshell is one of the main problems I have always had with McCall. What is the plan? His player signings seem random - Lawson last year was confusing, Law this year was confusing. Why are we so unbalanced? Why has Cummins been frozen out so spectacularly? Why isn't Thomas being played, even as just a subby. In fact, why his reluctance to even use subs? His inability to turn a game is remarkable - Malpas-esque even. Don't get me wrong, I'm not lumping him in with that twat and, certainly, I'm not his biggest fan but neither do I not rate him. There are question marks, flags being raised etc . I just can't fathom out what his plan is or where he is taking us. Hopefully I just can't see it through the smoke of our injuries but I'm definitely uneasy

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That in a nutshell is one of the main problems I have always had with McCall. What is the plan? His player signings seem random - Lawson last year was confusing, Law this year was confusing. Why are we so unbalanced? Why has Cummins been frozen out so spectacularly? Why isn't Thomas being played, even as just a subby. In fact, why his reluctance to even use subs? His inability to turn a game is remarkable - Malpas-esque even. ....There are question marks, flags being raised etc . I just can't fathom out what his plan is or where he is taking us.

 

Fair point Haggis. In terms of tactics/players he's a wee bit like Jim Gannon (in a very few respects) in that you can't really fault his tactics on paper its just that he doesn't have the players to carry them out. In other words the players and the tactics don't match.

 

In terms of his signings I'd agree. There doesn't seem to be any overall strategy or plan. For one thing we're badly short of pace, especially in midfield. In today's game you need pace. Lawson & Vigurs are both decent players in the right set up and with the right players. However take them out of that system and they struggle. John Sutton - he's a poacher and a good one at that but he can't play on his own. If you're going to play with one striker then its not John Sutton. A lone striker needs fast midfield support which we don't have. We only seem to have 2 lads over the age of 17/18 who can play left back at the club (and both are injured as luck would have it). Goalkeeping - don't get me started on that. As you say these and other issues indicate that there's no overall plan. I'm sure others can think of more examples.

 

 

 

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I wouldn't say he's the greatest tactician in the world, but he does have a plan and formations. We don't have a big enough budget to have 2 first team level players for every position, and that's where it gets tough.

 

You might not like the quality of the players, but in the past:

 

He wanted pace to replace Humphrey - he brought in Ainsworth.

If he wants pace on the left, he plays ZFA.

Wanted to replace Anier, he brought in Henrik.

Needed cover in defence last season, he brought in Reid.

Needed to replace Higdon, he brought in Sutton.

As for Law, we needed to replace the creativity of Faddy (Although we can argue if he was playing as a striker or a midfielder last season)

 

Ojamaa came with the explicit intention of playing as a striker, so you can pretty much guarantee when he is fit (and Erwin is back fit), it will be 2 up top.

 

He's not perfect, but he's been our most successful manager since the war, so there is something going on there that is working.

 

Having said all that, I"d be surprised to see him here next season, as it's only a mtter of time before he gets the offer he can't refuse.

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He was born in Airdrie. No thanks.

 

As were lots of folk because Monklands would have been the closest maternity hospital. Look at number of players born in Lanark in past because of William Smellie Maternity or, more recently, numbers born in Bellshill. My eldest child was born in Inverclyde Royal but that doesn't mean she's from Greenock.

 

Apologies for pedantry.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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I don't think we have the money for any more replacements so it's up to the players we have on board now to roll up their sleeves and get us out of this mess.

 

But aye, McFadden, Pearson and Clarkson would be most welcome.

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