grizzlyg Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 1 hour ago, David said: And if he starts and does what he usually does when he starts for us? What then? Drop him for Obika next game? Then if Obika doesn't put in a good enough performance we drop him and put Bair back in, and onwards into infinity. I just feel you get more energy from Bair. Obika good at the lay offs but not clinical enough. Though it is basically a lottery who plays up top with Mika Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 8 hours ago, Great Balls of Shire said: Bair seems better as a wide player, didn't seem out of place yesterday Yes, he can play wide, successfully, but only when we're dominant. If we're breaking out of defence, Biereth is often left isolated with no support from Bair/Obika/whoever. That needs to change. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirParkCornerExile Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 I'd seriously love this to be the game our dreadful run comes to an end and bring they cocky bastards back down to earth. Sadly I can't see it. They have a better team than us and St Mirren Away has started to become a bit of an iffy fixture for us. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 3 hours ago, Mad Dog said: No. I like Paton, he does a lot of breaking up play and moving the ball on quickly but I think we have seen his weakness now. Defensively he seems to lose his man too often and it has cost the team goals. Davor did well, no defensive lapses yet and I think that he deserves to keep his place. I was considering Paton for Slattery. I though Slattery was off it yesterday, he didn’t even get booked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FirParkCornerExile Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 1 hour ago, ropy said: I was considering Paton for Slattery. I though Slattery was off it yesterday, he didn’t even get booked. Slattery would be one of my "get rid" offers nothing. Apart from a purple patch at the start of the season he's totally ineffective and the midfield is a serious problem for us. Knowing us we will extend his contract, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 10, 2023 Report Share Posted December 10, 2023 I actually like Obika. He didnt have his best game on Saturday, but of the strikers we have, I think he has the most attributes to be a decent foil for Biereth if given time. Just as he was for KVV last season. He has a good touch for a big guy and holds the ball up fairly well. Again, I think its a matter of us not playing to his strengths at the moment and the fact he has been injured and not had a run of games. He is not very good in the air but we persisted in shelling long balls over his head on Saturday. Play it into his chest or feet and we will see some joy and it well get us up the park into a more stable position to develop attacks. I think once he and Mika get to know each others game better and the rest of the team work out how to feed him, we will see better results. Our big issue right now is our results have been so honking, too few have any patience left to see if it will work. Whether he will score enough goals himself to keep everyone happy remains to be seen, but Id take him scoring a handfull if Mika can find a KVV purple patch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 8 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said: Again, I think its a matter of us not playing to his strengths at the moment You could say this about several players, and we all know who's fault that is. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Grew Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 Definitely need to keep Davor in the side now. I thought he was quite neat and tidy in everything he did and kept it simple. He seemed to have a bit of a dig and for the first time in a long time I thought him being there gave the side better shape as he provided a link from the defence to the front players. He reminded me a little of Simo Valakari. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 Davor had a good game but he dives into challenges he has no chance of winning quite a lot. I can see a better side than St Johnstone exploiting that. He did give us a bit more protection and is miles ahead of Butcher and Paton in the same role so he should keep his place. Mika and Bair up front. Obika has been howling in the two game he's started. He's a lazy big lump with no goal threat and hasn't linked up with Mika at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 I've just seen a stat that Mika has scored 6 goals from 9 shots. The service we are giving him is horrific and it's something that Kettlewell doesn't seem to have a clue how to fix. Hopefully the next manager plays more to his strengths instead of letting Slattery and Spittal be the focal point of the team. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellsince75 Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 4 hours ago, El Grew said: Definitely need to keep Davor in the side now. I thought he was quite neat and tidy in everything he did and kept it simple. He seemed to have a bit of a dig and for the first time in a long time I thought him being there gave the side better shape as he provided a link from the defence to the front players. He reminded me a little of Simo Valakari. For now I’d play davor, paton and spittal if we persevere with a 3 man midfield possibly even have Bair as the 4 man - he works far harder than others but that would mean a 4-4-2 which not many clubs use Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 2 hours ago, steelboy said: I've just seen a stat that Mika has scored 6 goals from 9 shots. The service we are giving him is horrific and it's something that Kettlewell doesn't seem to have a clue how to fix. Hopefully the next manager plays more to his strengths instead of letting Slattery and Spittal be the focal point of the team. Having Spittal and Slattery in advanced roles playing balls into the channels for him would be playing to his strengths. He is strong and has pace to burn. I think the 5-4-1 with the diamond would do that. We were able to control the midfield in those games. It was just a bit toothless with Bair up front on his own. Mika is different gravy. If we accept we arent getting any of injured players back, I think we could do worse than start with this..... Kelly (sic) SOD Mugabi Blaney Spencer Davor Gent Slattery Paton Spittal Biereth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 2 hours ago, steelboy said: I've just seen a stat that Mika has scored 6 goals from 9 shots. The service we are giving him is horrific and it's something that Kettlewell doesn't seem to have a clue how to fix. Hopefully the next manager plays more to his strengths instead of letting Slattery and Spittal be the focal point of the team. Interestingly Turnbull had the best goals to minutes ratio in the league. Boy needs to get outta Dodge! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 2 hours ago, steelboy said: Hopefully the next manager plays more to his strengths instead of letting Slattery and Spittal be the focal point of the team. That won't matter, because you'll undoubtedly be on the next manager's case before too long, same as you were with past managers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 2 hours ago, joewarkfanclub said: Having Spittal and Slattery in advanced roles playing balls into the channels for him would be playing to his strengths. He is strong and has pace to burn. I think the 5-4-1 with the diamond would do that. We were able to control the midfield in those games. It was just a bit toothless with Bair up front on his own. Mika is different gravy. If we accept we arent getting any of injured players back, I think we could do worse than start with this..... Kelly (sic) SOD Mugabi Blaney Spencer Davor Gent Slattery Paton Spittal Biereth Biereth would still be as isolated in that format as he was on Saturday. Spittal does not have the pace for that role. Biereth needs another striker to link up with him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 1 hour ago, Kmcalpin said: Biereth would still be as isolated in that format as he was on Saturday. Spittal does not have the pace for that role. Biereth needs another striker to link up with him. All formations have strengths and weaknesses. If we play 2 up top you may get more support to Biereth but we will lose control of the midfield. So we may not have the control of the ball to play to his strengths. We certainly didnt on Saturday. Id like to see us ditch the ball over the top and use his pace to play in the channels. Or get the wingbacks forward to get crosses into the box. Im not against 2 up top. Was just answering the question about playing to Mika's strengths. We can always change it up if its not working. Forwards are the only subs we have available..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
texanwellfan Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 4 minutes ago, joewarkfanclub said: All formations have strengths and weaknesses. If we play 2 up top you may get more support to Biereth but we will lose control of the midfield. So we may not have the control of the ball to play to his strengths. We certainly didnt on Saturday. Id like to see us ditch the ball over the top and use his pace to play in the channels. Or get the wingbacks forward to get crosses into the box. Im not against 2 up top. Was just answering the question about playing to Mika's strengths. We can always change it up if it’s not working. Forwards are the only subs we have available..... Agree with that l, except weighted balls over the top for him to run onto are fine but yes, we do have to ditch the hit and hope long balls we have been seeing far too often. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted December 11, 2023 Report Share Posted December 11, 2023 1 hour ago, joewarkfanclub said: Id like to see us ditch the ball over the top and use his pace to play in the channels. Or get the wingbacks forward to get crosses into the box. Agree with that. Long aimless balls over the top haven't been successful and don't bring out the best in him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 I can't help but think that Mika would benefit more from a system that employs wingers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spiderpig Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 4 minutes ago, David said: I can't help but think that Mika would benefit more from a system that employs wingers. Agree with that but he's only going to get that benefit if we sign some in the transfer window, and presumably that means clearing out some of the current dross to free up wages. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfc Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 To not have any natural width in the squad is shocking to then go and play a wing back out of position and at the same time still playing o'donnell has really reduced any attacking threat to a bare minimum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
David Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 2 hours ago, Spiderpig said: Agree with that but he's only going to get that benefit if we sign some in the transfer window, and presumably that means clearing out some of the current dross to free up wages. Although not the silver bullet that would solve all issues, we have Robbie Mahon out on loan at Edinburgh City, where he has put in some man-of-the-match performances, notched two assists and scored three goals. I'd maybe look to pull him back in January and see what he can do. The problem is that Kettlewell has made it clear he doesn't really use wingers in his preferred setup. Can he adapt? That's the question I guess. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Grew Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 3 hours ago, David said: I can't help but think that Mika would benefit more from a system that employs wingers. Maybe. But I think he’d benefit more if we had at least one midfielder that could make passes into the inside-right and inside-left channels for him to exploit his pace and strength. Sorry about the old-fashioned terminology.😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wellfan Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 28 minutes ago, David said: Can he adapt? That's the question I guess. He'll probably need to adapt if we are to start winning games. However, the problem is that he's painted himself into a corner through how he's shaped the current squad through his signings and who he's released/sold/loaned out. That's why all the attempted adaptions we've seen so far have been square pegs in round holes and schoolboys covering injuries. The latter probably isn't his fault, as he had to cut the squad size, but the former is due to his transfer business being geared to Plan A, and that plan only, which quickly fizzled out. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joewarkfanclub Posted December 12, 2023 Report Share Posted December 12, 2023 We can get natural width from our wingbacks if we play the right ones. But again there needs to be a sacrifice somewhere if we are to remain secure at the back. Spencer and Gent got to the by-line repeatedly on Tuesday night. They should retain their places. Its what happens in the midfield when they go forward we need to work out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.