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pondsman

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Posts posted by pondsman

  1. I agree with Balmullo's summing-up of the game. Yes, the players and manager did better yesterday, but before we get carried away with the relief of almost ensuring that we won't go down, we should note that St. Johnstone played a big part in their own downfall. For example, notice how far Gogic was allowed to run with the ball before his pass to Greive which led to our goal. They didn't look like a team with much confidence in themselves or their system, and after we scored they didn't show much fight to get back into the game. I'm sure we only got away with three at the back because St. Johnstone did very little to counter it. Might be a different story against a team with a plan and some real effort to push up against us. 

    So, while we were much better yesterday than we have been recently, we should really have won by more than just the one goal. We still have some way to go before we can start thinking we are an established Premiership team, as we could for a while last season and in the earlier part of this season.

    SR will be carrying out a full rebuild in the summer. Will be interesting to see where we are around October/November. 

  2. We were the poorer of two poor teams. We looked as if we were playing for a draw right from the start, slowing everything down at free kicks, goal kicks and throw-ins. Maybe SR thought 'Get a point here and beat St. Johnstone next week and we're safe'. If so, that was a mistake. Given Hibs' troubles, we should have gone at them from the start. An early goal for us would have demoralised them.

    As for our system, we know that 3 at the back doesn't work for us. SR has seen enough games now to realise that, so definitely question marks about him there. Yes, some players were poor but maybe they are just as befuddled as we are about why that system was employed. They certainly looked for long spells as if they weren't sure what they were supposed to be doing.

    For those who are being hypercritical, if Tanser's effort had gone in instead of coming back off the bar, would we be being so hard on the players?

    As a few have said above, the next two games will decide our season. Time for supporters to get right behind the team and help them get over the line to safety.

    As always..... COYS!!

  3. We need at least a point today. If we lose and St. Johnstone beat Dundee, I'll be fearful going to Perth next week.

    And, looking a bit further ahead, if we end up playing Arbroath in the playoff, we need to play a high tempo from the start. Killie left it till the second half last night, but it was the right tactic as Arbroath ran out of steam. Pity, because they've done really well this season. Would have been nice to see them get up as champions. Still hope they make it....but not at our expense!

  4. When Robinson came in I was pleased to get a manager with experience. I wasn't very impressed by the moves for Scott Brown and Stephen Naismith, both untested as club managers.

    Unfortunately early results haven't been as good as we might have expected. Yes, Robinson has been working with Goodwin's players, but surely a manager with his experience should be able to do better with this decent bunch of players. Do the problems lie in the dressing-room, players not so keen to work for him as they were for JG? Possibly, but we only have rumours to go on about that.

    Robinson's post-match public interviews haven't helped. After the Motherwell game on Saturday, he started by blaming the defence for having their minds 'on other things', whatever they are, then said he would shoulder the responsibility for the result and finished by talking about top six and staying in the division in almost the same breath. A bit confusing overall and I don't think that will have improved the relationship with his defenders. 

    So, Robinson's first big job is to mend some fences with the players and make sure we don't fall into the playoff place.  If he can do that, then we know that there will be big changes in the summer, loan players returning to their parent clubs, others moving on etc. Let's see what his summer recruitment is like. Signing O'Hara on a pre-contract is a start, but there will be much more to do. We should judge Robinson after the first few games of next season.

  5. Following difficult games against two of the top three teams in the league, we need to get back to collecting some points. County are on a good run, so not the pushovers they were earlier in the season. We saw before Jim's departure that we have the players to get up the table, so time for the new management team to show their ability and get the best out of them. We need a win today, draws no longer good enough if we want to get back to mid-table safety, or even better, into top six. So, as always.....

    COYS!!

  6. This appointment was something of a surprise to me, after all the faffing around with Ross, Brown and Naismith. It seems Robinson was on the board's radar from quite early on but they managed to keep it quiet. Felt a little underwhelming to begin with, but with some time to think it over, I now feel he was the right choice out of what was available and affordable.

    As others have said, he had a good record with Motherwell till near the end of his time there. He clearly has experience and knows his way around the league, so we need to give him full support and see what he can do with the current group of players. Presumably he has been promised a decent budget for summer signings if he does well in the next few months.

    Chance to go 4th in the league tomorrow night, so no greater incentive needed for both players and the new management team. Would be a fantastic start to the new era for us, so, as always......

    COYS!!

  7. St. Mirren is no different to the other mid-table teams in the Premiership. Generally we pick our managers from clubs smaller than us and, if they are successful, we wave them goodbye and good luck when they move on to clubs bigger than us. Our latest example of that was JR moving to Sunderland.

    All successful managers face the same question and JG will be no different. He'll be wondering 'Should I go now or wait for a better offer from down south?' His quandary is wondering whether his stock will be as high come the summer. If he waits till then, his chance might be gone.

    Given that situation, what would any of us do? Would we really turn down the chance to double our wages, or more, knowing that the opportunity might never come again? Even if we fail with the new team, we will probably earn enough to make ourselves and our family comfortably off for a long time.

    If JG gets the chance to go north and takes it, we should understand his situation, thank him for the good times he's given us, and wish him (not too) well in the Granite City. Then we start looking around the lower leagues again for the next JG. Sadly, that is football reality in 2022.

  8. On 2/5/2022 at 8:01 PM, Rascal said:

    Am I alone in thinking that this might be a banana skin?

    If you've supported St. Mirren as long as I have, you know that EVERY game might be a banana skin!

    But, despite that, St. Mirren supporters are always optimistic, so let's be positive. Our form is good, theirs has been poor but is improving a bit. However, their new star man was sent off at the weekend, so I assume he can't play against us. Even so, previous games with them this season have been very tight, so we'll take a 1-0 win, with the goal coming off Greive's backside.

    COYS!! 

  9. A very poor game. Tait's individual error cost us the 2 points but can't give him too much stick considering the performances he's put in for us previously. Looked at objectively, a draw was a fair result though you obviously feel gutted when we went into injury time in the lead.

    Bigger problems. With Brophy injured, we don't have a reliable striker. Jones looks as if he'll need some games before we get anything decent from him. A number of players need to work on ball control. Earlier in the season I pointed out that they don't gather the ball when it's played up to them. They allow it to bounce off them, usually to an opposition player. This happened numerous times last night.

    Unless performances improve quickly we are in for a nervy end to the season.

  10. Agree with most of the comments above. Sorry to see Kristian go, sure he will score goals for Carlisle. Always gave 100% when he played and will be remembered for the goal against Celtic. I wish him all the best.

    Also agree that Main and Erwin could have gone in his place, but clearly no-one will want either of them in their current form. So, we're left with Brophy and the young New Zealander and could really have done with getting another striker in, but of course a good one is notoriously difficult to find, and expensive to buy.

  11. As I said in an earlier post I bought a ppv pass and have now received confirmation that my money will be refunded, so I'm not out of pocket like some others.

    But I only bought the pass initially because I couldn't buy a ticket for the game. I live too far from Paisley to buy a ticket there and Dundee FC were not selling online to away fans. I find that very peculiar. I often buy tickets online for our away games and have never had any difficulty. I've also bought tickets online for games involving smaller clubs in Championship and even League One. Never any problem.

    So why do Dundee choose to make it so difficult? You'd think with American owners they'd be right on the ball with the latest methods of selling tickets. Very strange, and they must surely lose a fair bit of money if they do this for all their games.

  12. Winds up to 60 mph forecast for Dundee at lunchtime, so postponement is a possibility, but let's hope the game goes ahead.

    We can't get ahead of ourselves. Dundee are certainly on a bad run (we know about those, don't we?), but they will be fighting to stay clear of St. Johnstone and a win for them today would give them a nice points cushion. They will see this game as an opportunity to stop the rot and start to make progress up the table.

    As for us, yes, we've won all three games since the turn of the year, but the performance against a very poor Aberdeen on Tuesday was far from convincing and would have been a draw at best if not for Ronan's piece of magic.

    So let's hope the players heed JG's words and give their best efforts. Dundee United and Ross County will surely lose, though Livi might get something in Edinburgh. In any case 3 points for us should make sure we are upwardly mobile and don't have to worry about relegation or playoffs.

    COYS!!

  13. County still bottom of the league but will be no pushovers. They're coming into a bit of form. They beat Hibs last week and then drew with Dundee United yesterday.

    We'll be without Shaughnessy and McCarthy, and might also be missing Tanser, so we need good replacements in defence.

    Looking at the December fixtures, this game is still our best chance of taking full points for the next wee while, so........

    COYS!!

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