Game 27: St Mirren (H) 15th February 2020

[The African]

10 minutes ago, stephmc1886 said:

That note that Brian Rice sent on to Gogic in that Accies game has ended our season! Wonder what it said?!

"The money is on. Time to start playing."?

[Yorkyred]

An issue I’m seeing now is a drop in confidence right across the team, just about every player is running at 80% of what they were a couple of months ago. Campbell is an example of a player who only needs to drop slightly and he’s a totally different player, he pulled out of a couple of challenges in the home game with Accies which I’d never seen before and a few players have followed in that vein. Look for all the talk of players not being good enough we got where we are with pretty much the same group. I started to see things slip when we lost Donnelly for a few games, Cole also leaving left us short of options. The sale of Scott will always split opinions but I still maintain his contribution has been exaggerated. Every Robinson team is only at its best when playing at a high tempo, best example being the home cup game against Aberdeen where we destroyed them and we need to get back to that, slowing it down with Hartley knocking  it from side to side is not working.

[Kmac]

In the cold light of day, two wins from the next two are an absolute must. We have been utterly shite since the second half against Hamilton at new year. The Alarming drop in form from half time that day hasn’t picked up since. There are clearly issues surrounding the fact of not replacing Cole and Scott and the ability to high/long and have an out-ball which those two gave us. Unfortunately, the vast majority of our summer signings have proven to be completely shite. The calibre/mentality of players like Hylton, Lomg, Seedorf and Illic won’t have the ability or drive to dig us out a hole whilst players like Campbell have gone backwards big time from playing simply too many games and getting ground down. For me, Robinson’s jacket should be on a very shoogely peg at the moment. I understand we might not be able to attract top quality however setting us up to be very difficult to beat when the going gets tough or making sure we give absolute maximum in 90 minutes are both the responsibility of the manager and that has been sorely lacking in the past two months. 

[Shaka]

One big question I have is, did the squad actually do any "work" in the break, or was it a wee piss up holiday to Tenerife? Genuine question, because our fitness this season has been nothing more than ok, but since January its been alarmingly poor

[twistandshout1983]

Cant believe the way we through the game away last night after being easily the best team in the first half but seen it too often.

If someone had offered us 3rd place with 10 games to go I think everyone would have gladly taken this but the drop in performances since Christmas is there for all to see.

Don't see us not making the top 6 but we have a real battle on our hands for 3rd/4th

 

[wellwell91]

Is it just coincidence that the 2 teams that seem to have imploded since Xmas ,Us and Rangers both line up with 2 wingers week in week out

System been found out and nullified by others ???? 

[Ya Bezzer!]

15 minutes ago, wellwell91 said:

Is it just coincidence that the 2 teams that seem to have imploded since Xmas ,Us and Rangers both line up with 2 wingers week in week out

System been found out and nullified by others ???? 

Mentioned that previously and you could also throw Aberdeen in there too who play 4-3-3 sometimes.  I think the problems are bigger than one thing so its not a case of changing formation and everything will be fine again, last night proved that, but I do think if you play the same formation week in, week out against teams 3, 4, 5 times a season you are going to get found out and that highlights one of Robinson's biggest flaws - his lack of a plan B.  You can see it in us as regards formation and you can see it in the players he's brought to the club.  He doesn't have the foresight or vision to see that we might need to change things until we are deep in a hole.  His changes have come from desperation not from cool judgement.

I do think the players have to have a look at themselves.  Tait saying after the match "They wanted it more" really irked me.  Robinson also mentioned that he'd screamed at the players plenty times but would have to start trying to build confidence.  I just don't think it's a happy camp right now and that our plunge in form, the word 'drop' doesn't cover it, since Robinson's arrest went public can't just be dismissed as a coincidence.

 

[steelboy]

I don't think the formation is the big issue. Aberdeen and Rangers were both totally reliant on the number 9 scoring and when that dried up they went downhill. 

We were sharing the goals around but without any regular scorer you are always likely to regress. We needed a centre forward who could score AND Scott to kick on and we went on to sell Scott and brought in Ndjoli and Watt. 

Robinson hasn't signed a regular scorer in five transfer windows. It's a glaring flaw. 

[gaz7]

Really down after last night but trying to be positive that we had gd chances to win also and might have done on another night. Turnbull back is brilliant and in his 20 min cameo he was twice in 30 yards out in space wanting ball from tait and hylton who never gave him it plus he moaned at watt for also not passing to him after a run. then at end his 50 yard cross field pass to aarons then he sprinted nearly half the park to get in box and again had a go at aarons for not crossing to him. Hes just back and I for one will place all my hopes on him he is different class. just give him the ball. i know robinson says hes not ready but why would he be on if hes not ready. he will be on from start next week against ross county or at least half time id imagine.  Ive changed my mind about 3 at back as others have said gallagher was at rb last night and we were getting exposed there as durmus is good.  We are struggling just now but football changes quickly as someone said and a couple of wins will do it although it looks far away just now.

[Andy_P]

15 hours ago, grizzlyg said:

Just gets worse and worse.  O'Hara going off didnt help and with Campbell and Polworth honking I fear he might now rush Turnbull back too soon.  11 corners first half and not coming close a joke and some advice for Hylton, see when you beat a man......don't try to best him another 5 times!!!

You must be averaging about 1 in 4 of your posts griping about Hylton.  Would it make a difference if he lived next door to your Mum and was a nice guy?

[Andy_P]

14 hours ago, gilmour said:

Time to drop gillespie too. He’s not sticking around and his distribution is way too slow and all over the place. 
time to give Carson a run as he the one who has signed the contract. 

I keep reading this point about Carson deserving to play just because he's signed a new contract. Let's apply that logic to all the other players in that squad currently and see how many players you have to pick from for the Ross County game.

Gillespie's admittedly poor distribution is miles down the list of issues we have currently.  He routinely pulls off at least one cracking save a game and in no way deserves to be dropped.  

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, steelboy said:

I don't think the formation is the big issue. Aberdeen and Rangers were both totally reliant on the number 9 scoring and when that dried up they went downhill. 

We were sharing the goals around but without any regular scorer you are always likely to regress. We needed a centre forward who could score AND Scott to kick on and we went on to sell Scott and brought in Ndjoli and Watt. 

Robinson hasn't signed a regular scorer in five transfer windows. It's a glaring flaw. 

Disagree on formation.  In terms of goalscorers Rangers have 17 league goalscorers and Aberdeen have 13 league goalscorers, the same number we do.

Agree on Robinson's forward signings.  Looking right down the league there are loads of strikers I'd take, the likes of Ogboe, Templeton, Obika and Boyce are better than we have.

It's a fundamental failing on the managers part that virtually every club in the league has better striking options than we do.

[Andy_P]

14 hours ago, Wee Alpha said:

Throwing this one out there. Do you think opposition managers have done their homework and have our tactics well and trully sussed. We have had a good start to the season , carrying on with our passing game rather than the hoofball we witnessed in the first half of last season. Our season turned around  last year in January ( with the youngsters 'playing' football) .It seems to be the polar opposite now since January this year. We seem to be a one trick pony and can't change things around.  Are we a team of two halves, either a good start then fade away or a crap start and turn things around. Anyhoo could be worse , could be a Jambo fan !

When you play teams in Scotland so regularly it is nigh on impossible not to get sussed very quickly.  You can't keep a half decent player under the radar for long and nor can you hit upon a successful formation and expect it to be successful for eternity.  

I think we've had good success with the formation towards the end of last season and the refresh of personnel in the summer perhaps gave it some extra shelf life in the opening months of this season as opponents had to become accustomed to the newbies.

Our difficulty currently is that if there is a desire to go for something different formation or tactics wise you don't have the extended time the break gave us last January, nor the opportunity to bring fresh blood to the squad.  

[Great Balls of Shire]

2 hours ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Mentioned that previously and you could also throw Aberdeen in there too who play 4-3-3 sometimes.  I think the problems are bigger than one thing so its not a case of changing formation and everything will be fine again, last night proved that, but I do think if you play the same formation week in, week out against teams 3, 4, 5 times a season you are going to get found out and that highlights one of Robinson's biggest flaws - his lack of a plan B.  You can see it in us as regards formation and you can see it in the players he's brought to the club.  He doesn't have the foresight or vision to see that we might need to change things until we are deep in a hole.  His changes have come from desperation not from cool judgement.

I do think the players have to have a look at themselves.  Tait saying after the match "They wanted it more" really irked me.  Robinson also mentioned that he'd screamed at the players plenty times but would have to start trying to build confidence.  I just don't think it's a happy camp right now and that our plunge in form, the word 'drop' doesn't cover it, since Robinson's arrest went public can't just be dismissed as a coincidence.

 

Think you’re adding two and two and making five

Do you honestly think players are bothered if their manager has been lifted on a day out . They are playing for win bonuses, their next move , maybe even professional pride. Admittedly it’s not coming together at minute.

On the whole Robbo has done a good job, if we end up sixth at end of season , then we can judge them all but let’s give them a chance to dig themselves out of it

From my perspective Polworth and Campbell are shadows of the players they were earlier in season and Long can’t get himself a long enough run in the team for one reason or another.

[grizzlyg]

30 minutes ago, Andy_P said:

You must be averaging about 1 in 4 of your posts griping about Hylton.  Would it make a difference if he lived next door to your Mum and was a nice guy?

Heh he well remembered Andy.   I am still gutted big Alex Fisher left.   

I do want Hylton to do well as I do all of our players but I have yet to be impressed.  Mind you still an improvement on Frear.   COYW

[Great Balls of Shire]

Just managed to face Highlights, we had so many chances in the first half....Campbell and Polworth need to get shooting lessons from Turnbull on how to hit target.....hopefully he’s still got that in his locker

[sbcmfc]

9 minutes ago, grizzlyg said:

I do want Hylton to do well as I do all of our players but I have yet to be impressed.  Mind you still an improvement on Frear.   COYW

His insistence on trying to beat his man again and again until he’s crowded out is infuriating to say the least. Last night he was in a good position to cross a few times. Aarons not much better on that front.

I thought the game was passing O’hara by.

[wellwell91]

13 minutes ago, sbcmfc said:

I thought the game was passing O’hara by.

He was in a very tight midfield 3 and don’t think any of them new what their role was

He took a heavy knock early on (1st 10mins) but battled on 

Midfield totally no existent when he went off and Donnelly went in there Numbere of times that Donnelly and Hartley went for same ball was unbelievable 

[steelboy]

1 hour ago, Ya Bezzer! said:

Disagree on formation.  In terms of goalscorers Rangers have 17 league goalscorers and Aberdeen have 13 league goalscorers, the same number we do.

 

After Morelos and Defoe Rangers next scorers have 6,5 and 5. After Édouard and Christie Celtic have guys on 14, 10, 7,7,7,6,5. You can't win the league with only two regular scorers. Rangers are fucked because their midfield doesn't chip in with goals. 

We are fucked because we don't have a single player who can regularly score.

 

[steelboy]

37 minutes ago, sbcmfc said:

His insistence on trying to beat his man again and again until he’s crowded out is infuriating to say the least. Last night he was in a good position to cross a few times. Aarons not much better on that front.

I thought the game was passing O’hara by.

They are hindered by playing on their bad side. 

[Ya Bezzer!]

1 hour ago, Great Balls of Shire said:

Think you’re adding two and two and making five

Do you honestly think players are bothered if their manager has been lifted on a day out . They are playing for win bonuses, their next move , maybe even professional pride. Admittedly it’s not coming together at minute.

On the whole Robbo has done a good job, if we end up sixth at end of season , then we can judge them all but let’s give them a chance to dig themselves out of it

From my perspective Polworth and Campbell are shadows of the players they were earlier in season and Long can’t get himself a long enough run in the team for one reason or another.

If your boss is screaming at you ever day it effects you.  If your boss wants you to do something and you have a different idea it effects you.  If things aren't going well and you don't feel your manager is supporting you properly it effects you.  There loads of different things that can effect you in a working relationship.

I'm not claiming to know anything, but my instinct is that something is going on behind the scenes.  Too many players have gone to shit at the same time over a sustained period for this just to be inconsistency or lack of confidence. 

Players just don't look interested and as others have said don't even look match fit.

 

[Orinoco]

Every time we get beat  we get the comment that something bad is going on in the background. Perhaps after 12 months of decent results, we  are now having a bad run, just like what happens to every other team in the league. Confidence, form and hunger seems to be the only thing between the majority of teams. 

[Kmcalpin]

I didn't expect much last night and so it turned out. There were a number of mitigating factors which influenced our selection and tactics ie injuries, suspensions  and a demanding schedule over the past week. So we had to field some players I and others would not normally choose. Over the past week we should have mixed up the personnel more to keep the first 11 as fresh as possible.  I would, for example, have expected to see more of Grimshaw especially and perhaps Maguire and Illic. The latter 2 are not my first picks but needs must.  Also young Dean Cornelius could have been given some game time, if only from the bench, but not hung out to dry. This would have freshened things up a wee bit more and given some the chance to rest their legs. It didn't happen. So I wasn't in the least surprised to see the team look tired and jaded especially last night. They were also bereft of confidence and fight, not surprisingly.

I couldn't quite fathom out the formation last night but it seemed like a 3-5-1-1 in the first half and a 5-4-1 in the second.  Others may see it differently. Currently we don't have the players for a back 3 (until Dunne returns) or midfield 5 and it showed. Hartley and Tait had another poor game and Gallagher had to do the work of 2 men covering for Aarons. He and Robbo were screaming at Aarons for not tracking back and covering. St Mirren had us well sussed and their off the ball work was excellent. As with last week they bombarded our right flank and left to a lesser extent. Again our tendency to leave the wings exposed was our achilles heel and we don't seem to have learnt much from last Tuesday when the same thing happened. We had no plan B. Polworth and Campbell once again looked burnt out.  Aarons looked the part when attacking but he's no wing back. Can't blame Hylton too much as any time he got the ball he was closed down very quickly by 2/3 defenders. O'Hara had a decent game but took several heavy challenges and was forced off. I thought Watt did ok up front without much support and am looking forward to him being paired with Long.

We had a reasonable first half without showing any killer touch and even early doors our defence looked very vulnerable and disorganised at times. That needs sorted urgently. Our set pieces were awful - don't know if we actually practice corners! I thought our substitutions were strange and expected Grimshaw to replace O'Hara to retain some bite and competitiveness in the middle, which we badly needed but instead MacIver came on. A promising young lad but not ready for first team action yet and too lightweight.  Good to see David Turnbull come on but he didn't really do much which wasn't surprising given his long lay off. Still it'll boost his recovery. I didn't really get the Seedorf for Hylton change as it only meant that Saints marked him out of the game as well. 

The bottom line was that the squad looked tired and lacking in confidence. Wrong off the field decisions by management also cost us big time.

 

[Suprawell]

Robbo is a burst flush, other managers see through him now and can tactically out think him.  Allied with poor recruitment in the summer bar Polworth and Gallagher.  As for Carroll, he's no loss for me, he constantly turned back the way whenever on the ball and it just shows we should have been scouring the lower leagues North and South to have a decent you left back to provide cover as Taity is not the answer and gets slated.  He is a solid right back and being hung out to dry.

Only a returning Turnbull can save the Euro dream....no pressure (but also sign a contract extension or we'll end up with the derisory £1m for the risk Smellic are taking on him)

[Kmcalpin]

2 minutes ago, Suprawell said:

Robbo is a burst flush, other managers see through him now and can tactically out think him.  Allied with poor recruitment in the summer bar Polworth and Gallagher.  As for Carroll, he's no loss for me, he constantly turned back the way whenever on the ball and it just shows we should have been scouring the lower leagues North and South to have a decent you left back to provide cover as Taity is not the answer and gets slated.  He is a solid right back and being hung out to dry.

Only a returning Turnbull can save the Euro dream....no pressure (but also sign a contract extension or we'll end up with the derisory £1m for the risk Smellic are taking on him)

Robbo still has credit in the bank for me. He was asked to steer us clear of relegation and bring on youngsters, both of which he's done this season included. That said he must take a good share of the responsibility for our meltdown since December. We're still 3rd though at least as of today.  Poor recruitment? Yes especially with regard to strikers and defenders. As far as Tait is concerned, I would not award him another deal. He has gone backwards this season losing what little pace he had and is not defending well.  Bear in mind though that he'll be very envious of Jim Goodwin and Tom Wright's budgets. We have one of the lowest playing budgets in the league and its now showing.