pondsman
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Posts posted by pondsman
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Potential banana skin, but keep the faith and Buddies will come through tomorrow.
COYS!!
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Just adding my own respects to everything that's been said about Frank by others above. One of the great players in a great era for St. Mirren. Those of us who watched that team regularly were so fortunate to be around at the time. I'll always remember the anticipation and excitement of going to Love Street on a Saturday to watch them. Never to be forgotten.
Thanks for all the memories, Frank.
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I thought Jay performed pretty well on the occasions when he got on the pitch with the first team. Has been used as a sub quite a few times and brought energy and pace to the team. I've wondered why SR hasn't put him on so much this season, but given our current league position, I have to concede that the Boss seems to know what he's doing.
Good luck to Jay. Hope he comes back ready to energise the first team again.
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Looking at tomorrow's fixtures and the current table, our game at Almondvale offers us a real chance of putting distance between us and the three teams below us.
If we win at Almondvale, we will jump to 27 points while Livi will remain on 23. There's a decent chance that Hibs will lose to Celtic and Motherwell will lose at Ibrox, leaving them on 23 and 18 respectively. So, we could be 4 points clear of Hibs and more safely established in the top 6.
So.......COYS!!
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I agree that it's time to turn our away form around and I think this game is a good chance to do so. As mentioned above, they will have some regulars missing and wee Martindale's luck has to run out at some point. Why not against us on Wednesday?
COYS!!
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As for the VAR problem yesterday. According to the radio, they seemed to have the same problem at Easter Road. Was explained on BBC that the sound link between the ref and the Glasgow VAR team was OK but no pictures were available to the ref at the ground. That would explain why Walsh didn't go to the monitor during the game, but he was still receiving advice from the VAR team in Glasgow.
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Three excellent points from a team just getting back to form after not playing a competitive game for several weeks.
I agree with a lot of the points made above, especially O'Hara, who has been an excellent addition to the squad ever since he arrived.
Also agree that SR was right to take Erhahon off. Might have got himself sent off otherwise.
I see that opinions are, as usual, divided about Ayunga. I have criticised him almost from the start of the season for trying to dribble past opponents. It's a skill he just doesn't seem to have. When he tries to do it, he almost always loses the ball. That happened again yesterday on quite a few occasions. However, he causes havoc in opposing defences when he runs into the box with the ball due to his size and strength. That was on view throughout the game yesterday and gained us two penalties. I see that BBC gave him man of the match yesterday. While I wouldn't go that far, I think he did well overall, and would always want him in the starting eleven.
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Potential banana skin, but it's at home, so if we can continue the form we had at the SMISA stadium that we had before the World Cup break, we should get through.
COYS!!
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Was only able to follow the game on radio yesterday, but sounded as if we definitely deserved the point, and maybe could have had all three. Main and Ayunga on top form against an OF team again, and everyone else playing their part. Well done to all the players and the manager!
Looking back on the season so far, we might have had a few more points (think Motherwell and St. Johnstone at home), but I think we have to be happy with where we stand at the moment.
Hope the team has a decent rest and comes back in good form for the tough games over the Festive Season. Good Luck to Baccus in the WC! No injuries, please.
COYS!!
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After St. Johnstone's win today they will be on top of the world. We can still win on Wednesday, but it will require a return to the kind of form we haven't seen for quite a few weeks.
COYS!!
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There have been games where we've passed the ball well - but not enough of them. We've seen games, even at home, where our passing was not great. I'd add to that the fact that opposition players seem to be quicker to 50-50 balls than we are sometimes. These faults don't appear in every game, but they are there in games like today's and v Killie and Livi in the last few weeks.
Perhaps, as has been said above, teams have sussed the way we play and have figured out how to get round us. The only way to fix it is to work harder, especially on passing the ball, and try another system. SR often talks about working harder after a defeat. Hope he is also considering a change of system.
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Was optimistic about this game until BBC said Gallagher, Tanser and Tait are all out.
So, problems in defence. I imagine Shaughnessy will come in, though SR seems to like Gogic in defence. I'd rather see him in midfield.
I feel sorry for Greive. As has been pointed out above, he scores regularly, but he's just not strong enough to hold off defenders, especially the big guys that Ross County seem to produce on a regular basis. I'd start with Main and Ayunga (or Brophy if he's fit) and bring Greive on later in the game, when their defenders are starting to run out of puff.
In midfield Baccus and Strain need to run the show to give us any chance.
Realistically, I think we'll get a draw, but would love a win, of course.
COYS!!
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As pointed out above, recent games v Hibs have been tight, but I fancy Saints to take something from this game after last week's performance.
Also, Hibs' form has been up and down lately. I'll go for a 1-1 scoreline.
Wishing a speedy recovery to Scott Tanser and his wife. I think we have good cover in the squad and won't miss Scott too much in this game.
COYS!!
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Looking at the weekend fixtures, I see that the two teams below us (Livi and Hearts) play the two OF teams. A win for us would open a nice wee gap on them. So......
COYS!!
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Poor game. Too many players off form, perhaps letting last week's result affect them. Only Strain, Gallagher and, of course, Carson looked like themselves. The passing in the first half was particularly poor. Also thought that Baccus was unnecessarily drawn into some pushing and shoving with opposing players. Maybe frustrated that he wasn't playing up to his usual standard.
I said some time ago that Ayunga cannot dribble round opponents, and that difficulty was on show again yesterday. A couple of times, he burst away from the Killie defence, then turned back towards opponents and lost the ball in the tackle. He's best when he runs onto the ball and has a sight of goal, or using his strength to hold the ball up, waiting for teammates to arrive. He did that really well against Celtic.
As others have said, only positive is that, in previous times, we would probably have lost the game. So, a point and a clean sheet (thanks to Carson) should be seen as an improvement. But if we want to stay in contention for top six, we cannot afford too many performances like that.
Hate to say it, but more teamwork and accuracy required against DUFC next week.
COYS!!
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We need to take points from this game and next week against DUFC to take advantage of the results that went our way last weekend while we were under the cosh at Ibrox.
Important that our lads have got last week out of their system and get the winning mentality back. Disappointed to hear that Lafferty is still playing for them - makes our task a little more difficult - but I'm sure that we have enough skill and determination about us now to get the right result, especially as we're at home.
Predicted the correct result against Livi, my first time in many years, so law of averages says that I'm not due another correct guess for a long time, but here goes anyway.
Buddies 2 - 1 Killie
COYS!!
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Sorry to see Dean leave the club, but I understand that such a good keeper might want to be playing in a first eleven more regularly.
Good Luck to him. Always did well for the Buddies.
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I seem to remember that we got a draw against Celtic last season with a team that was even more depleted Than the one we're likely to have this weekend.
I'm not in the 'have a go' club, I'm afraid, though it would be nice to think we had the players to allow us to do that. We need to defend for our lives and the point made above about having front players who can hold the ball to relieve pressure on midfield and defence is key.
Tonight's Champions League game may also have some influence on the game at the weekend. If Liverpool return to form and dish out a real doing, that might help us.
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Poor game but great result. Too many of our lads weren't able to deal with the 'physical approach' of Livi (that's being kind). But our whole squad gets huge credit for the spirit and guts to keep pushing forward after we lost a man and an equaliser. Big Joe came on and helped keep them out at the back and, of course Alex got the winner.
I try not to criticise referees, but yesterday's man was very poor. Allowed himself to be conned by Livi players going down on several occasions and was often miles away from incidents. A mystery how he could decide who was to blame for fouls from that distance.
First time I've got a score prediction right for many, many years, so quite pleased with myself. But even more pleased to see the club sitting in 3rd place in the league. Long may that continue.
COYS!!
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Can't always make it to home games but will be there tomorrow.
Fourth plays fifth with only goal difference between them. One victory and three draws last season. All points to a very tight game. But must favour Buddies as the home team, so 2-1 to us.
COYS!!
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So, down to earth with a bit of a bump after yesterday. Perhaps we got slightly carried away with our three wins in a row. Yes, we played some nice stuff but it resulted in two 1-0 wins and three goals against Dundee United at their lowest point in some years. Best thing about the three games was the strong defence and the clean sheets. For me, that's the most worrying aspect of yesterday's game.
SR MUST have them working on defence this week.
One plus point from yesterday - despite losing 3 goals and scoring zero, we retained our place in the top six.
So, on to Tynecastle. Was yesterday just a blip or are we returning to previous poor form? I guess we'll find out next Sunday. One glimmer of optimism. Hearts seem to have hit a sticky patch - out of the League Cup and beaten yesterday - so maybe not as strong as we thought.
AS always..... COYS!
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We are on an upward trend with three wins in the last three games. St. Johnstone are the opposite - on an downward trend with three losses in the last three games. However, reports suggest that they have played fairly well in those games, so they will be looking on this game as an opportunity to get a win and break the trend of defeats.
Looking ahead slightly, we will find it harder to get points from our next two games (v Hearts and Celtic), so it's important to keep up our momentum by winning, or at least drawing, tomorrow's game. St. Johnstone will be thinking they're at home and have a real chance of a win, so we need a repeat of the form and fight we've seen in our three wins right from the start of the game.
Would love to see a win for us, but wouldn't be surprised if we have to settle for a draw.
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Things didn't work out for JR at Sunderland or Hibs either, but at least he had some success with them before he was shown the door. Difficult to see how things went sour so quickly at United.
What now? Maybe drop down the leagues and start again?
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Wasn't at the game yesterday, so had to rely on radio reports and last night's TV highlights.
On Sportsound Willie Miller made it sound as if United had done absolutely nothing, so was surprised to see the possession statistics on the BBC website (70/30 for United). Also, on TV I saw that United had a couple of decent attempts on our goal, so kudos to Carson, who has been criticised previously.
As for us, after last week's game I advised Ayunga to stop trying to beat defenders and concentrate on bursting into the box and shooting. Seems as though he read my post. I also said that Main had improved but needed to add goals to his performance. Again, Curtis must read these threads. Well done to both of them! The whole team looked more confident and put in a great shift - what a difference last week's result seems to have made. They took advantage of United's situation and rightly so.
I have no axe to grind with JR - he did us a great service a few seasons ago, but now we will all see how good he really is. If he can turn United around, he will prove himself a very good manager.
Now, bring on the Hibs, a different proposition I think, but not one we should now fear as much as we might have done two games ago.
As always......
COYS!!
St Mirren v Dundee Scottish Cup Fourth Round 21/1/23
in Matchday & Travel Club
Posted
Hope your confidence is well-founded.
I'm fairly confident myself, but this is St. Mirren we're talking about, even if this season is going pretty well so far.