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Mcgowan Up Front


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Been thinking about this for a while and feel that Gowser is totally wasted in a deep role. Would like him up top with Thommo. Surely cant be any worse than Bahokken. In his loan season he played further forward and did ok.

It will also allow us to play either Mclean or Mcginn in their preferred centre mid.

Thoughts?

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Also a bit harsh on Bahoken who still isn't fully match fit. There was signs on Saturday that he could come good. He deserves a chance.

Reilly however, oh so lightweight and lacking in presence. I know he's still a young 'un and he hasn't had too many opportunities in the first team but when he has been given his chance I haven't seen him show anything to suggest that there could be more to come.

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We seem to be sacrificing Paul McGowan in order to give Gary Harkins a more advanced, free role.

unfortunately, Harkins doesnt work hard enough and basically isnt as good as Paul McGowan in order to justify this switch

Trying to accomodate Harkins has resulted in playing a few players out of position

Gowser played in his best position on Saturday and Harkins was moved out of his natural position.

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Gowser played in his best position on Saturday and Harkins was moved out of his natural position.

That's true

But Harkins can't play in midfield we all saw that on Saturday.

He hasn't got the legs for it and can't do the off the ball stuff

The big man tried on Saturday but he got nowhere.

He can play off a front man who has pace which Thommo hasn't got.

Our complete failure in requiring new forwards is the CLUB downfall

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Also a bit harsh on Bahoken who still isn't fully match fit. There was signs on Saturday that he could come good. He deserves a chance.

.

must have been at a different game from me...Bahoken is bogging..quite possibly the worst footballer i have ever seen...what signs did he show on Saturday? He is slow, has no awareness, can't shoot..basically not a clue....never ever will this guy be a player..i would send him back now...
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That's true

But Harkins can't play in midfield we all saw that on Saturday.

He hasn't got the legs for it and can't do the off the ball stuff

The big man tried on Saturday but he got nowhere.

He can play off a front man who has pace which Thommo hasn't got.

Our complete failure in requiring new forwards is the CLUB downfall

I really like Harkins, I really like McGowan. It would be great if they could play together but as it stands they cannot. McGowan is honking playing anything other than attacking mid - it appears so is Harkins. Currently I think Harkins has been better this season but proabably because he's had more chance to play in a favoured role.

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I really like Harkins, I really like McGowan. It would be great if they could play together but as it stands they cannot. McGowan is honking playing anything other than attacking mid - it appears so is Harkins. Currently I think Harkins has been better this season but proabably because he's had more chance to play in a favoured role.

I would go with Gowser at the moment due to his better workrate and bring Harkins on against tired legs and minds.

I thought Danny set up the team well on Saturday but never changed it when you could see 2 players clearly struggling with it.

He had the ideal players in McGinn and McLean to come in and replace them but never done it

He ended up making a mess of his subs and in the end took off the 2 said players but we were a bit of a shambles.

Too loyal or too soft? You decide

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Been thinking about this for a while and feel that Gowser is totally wasted in a deep role. Would like him up top with Thommo. Surely cant be any worse than Bahokken. In his loan season he played further forward and did ok.

It will also allow us to play either Mclean or Mcginn in their preferred centre mid.

Thoughts?

Sorry pal but McGowan is in his element in a deeper role. Defenders shite it when he runs at them and he draws them out during set pieces. His workrate is first class and IMO he should be the cornerstone around which our attack is based.

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must have been at a different game from me...Bahoken is bogging..quite possibly the worst footballer i have ever seen...what signs did he show on Saturday? He is slow, has no awareness, can't shoot..basically not a clue....never ever will this guy be a player..i would send him back now...

How boring a morning would be without some of football's great pontificators?

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To be honest I am now coming round to agree with Lex (had to happen someday) in that I don't think Harkins is the right player for us.

He has ability but he doesn't work hard enough to merit a start in our team IMHO.

I'd be quite happy to see him sat on the bench.

McGowan remains one of our best players and he shouldn't be sacrificed for anyone. Wouldn't play him up front though,

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For me, one of the biggest problems with how the team is set out from week to week is a lack of consistency in the tactics, formation, and personnel - ie: too much fannying about. Yet more tinkering is unlikely to progress matters. Players must be played in their best positions. The perfect illustration of why this is the case is the situation Teale found himself in on Saturday, having to track back and act as a right full back at times - something he is entirely unsuited to doing as he is patently NOT a defender.

McGowan is wasted when played too deep, that much is true (though he pulled the strings from a deeper position against 10 man Killie, as he had space to do so). As others have said, it is now apparent - if we didn't already know - that Harkins and McGowan can't play effectively in the same 11. I reckon McGowan should start, and he should be played in a free midfield role. As a result, Harkins should be benched. I would have McLean in a left-mid role as he is our best option in that position as things stand, and he has the willingness to come forward.

Harkins hasn't done a great deal wrong, and I actually think he does work hard and track back at times, but I would start McGowan ahead of him. Harkins is a bit of a luxury player, but would be a very good impact sub.

Over to you, Danny....

ETA: I appreciate that all my talk of consistency might seem a bit of a contradiction when set against my call last season for a Plan B, but we need a Plan A as a starting point!

Edited by Drew
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Why are we even talking about playing McGowan up front as if it is a good idea? When we had Guy and Parkin in the squad, and they weren't exactly setting the heather alight, why didn't McGowan easily oust them from getting a game up front?

Are we discussing it now because Bahoken looks a poor signing made in desperation and we need to shoe-horn Harkins into the midfield at all costs?

Clearly McGowan up top is going beyond Plan A and B (do we have one anyway?), and is venturing down into the diddy letters of the alphabet.

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We seem to be sacrificing Paul McGowan in order to give Gary Harkins a more advanced, free role.

unfortunately, Harkins doesnt work hard enough and basically isnt as good as Paul McGowan in order to justify this switch

Trying to accomodate Harkins has resulted in playing a few players out of position

To be honest I am now coming round to agree with Lex (had to happen someday) in that I don't think Harkins is the right player for us.

He has ability but he doesn't work hard enough to merit a start in our team IMHO.

I'd be quite happy to see him sat on the bench.

McGowan remains one of our best players and he shouldn't be sacrificed for anyone. Wouldn't play him up front though,

I agree with both of these posts. I didn't really think Harkins was a great signing, although he does have some great bits of skill the way things went at Killie concerned me. He doesn't seem to have a lot of pace and his tracking and defending (esp at Ross County) isn't great.

Gowser is more of a grafter (not a he runs about a lot more so is better camp) but McGowan has genuine quality and vision. McGowan could and should be played much further forward but not up top. He is the focal point of our attach and is wasted deep.

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I disagree with those slating Harkins. In fact I don't understand where they are getting the idea that Harkins is somehow lazy.

Running around like a headless chicken ala Kean, Mehmet and Guy might endearthe players to certain factions but it isn't neccessarilly the way to play football!

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When Caprice came on and Teale moved over to the left I thought we really looked like a team that would go and score goals, there was certainly no shortage of service it was just that the service was not going where the striker was.

I thought Bahoken looked to be a better choice to stay on than Thommo to be honest. Thommo just doesn't get back quick enough and on a couple of occasions gave away offside just a few yards into the Motherwell half.

I also thought that Cornell looked better in a one on one and maybe the defence are playing too deep for him.

Just a thought

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I disagree with those slating Harkins. In fact I don't understand where they are getting the idea that Harkins is somehow lazy.

Running around like a headless chicken ala Kean, Mehmet and Guy might endearthe players to certain factions but it isn't neccessarilly the way to play football!

I don't think anyone is 'slating' Harkins, to be fair. The thread is about where McGowan could be deployed, and it is reasonable that some discussion of Harkins' role and whether he should play alongside McGowan etc., will take place.

He is undoubtedly an accomplished player, and I don't agree with some in respect of his work-rate. We need a balanced starting 11, however, and where Harkins fits into that is worth debating.

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When Caprice came on and Teale moved over to the left I thought we really looked like a team that would go and score goals, there was certainly no shortage of service it was just that the service was not going where the striker was.

I thought that was more down to Motherwell just accepting a 1-0 and shutting up shop.

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When Caprice came on and Teale moved over to the left I thought we really looked like a team that would go and score goals, there was certainly no shortage of service it was just that the service was not going where the striker was.

I thought Bahoken looked to be a better choice to stay on than Thommo to be honest. Thommo just doesn't get back quick enough and on a couple of occasions gave away offside just a few yards into the Motherwell half.

I also thought that Cornell looked better in a one on one and maybe the defence are playing too deep for him.

Just a thought

I do agree with your point about Thompson. Since the Cup Final he's been a shadow of the player we've seen in recent times. On to many occasions he looks like he just can't be arsed. Bahoken is still some way off the standards we would want him to be at but what's making it worse is we expected another Goncalves. I believe in time he will come good and he did look a bit better than the Partick game. Thompson receives far less stick than other players for a number of reasons . Caprice did look threatening when he came on but I'm not sure we should put him into right mid when Teale is probably our best player. Would Teale still do as well playing on the left? I'm not sure but it might be something we could try.

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Where does this notion come from that Thompson cannot be arsed?

I sat and watched the Kilmarnock match and he won almost every high ball that came in his general direction. With the best will in the world, the guy can't be expected to win a ball in the air and then knock it on to himself to create a goal scoring chance.

I think the whole legend/hero/God status thing is probably hanging very heavily round his neck just now. You talk about the level of expectation placed on Bahoken following on from Isma, but I also think there is huge expectation on Thompson following on from his heroics last season. I would have been astounded if he could have picked up from where he left off.

In common with all of his team-mates, Thompson's head is down. For me, that does NOT equate to him not being arsed. There is only so much that it is reasonable to expect the player to do.

Edited by Drew
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I do agree with your point about Thompson. Since the Cup Final he's been a shadow of the player we've seen in recent times. On to many occasions he looks like he just can't be arsed. Bahoken is still some way off the standards we would want him to be at but what's making it worse is we expected another Goncalves. I believe in time he will come good and he did look a bit better than the Partick game. Thompson receives far less stick than other players for a number of reasons . Caprice did look threatening when he came on but I'm not sure we should put him into right mid when Teale is probably our best player. Would Teale still do as well playing on the left? I'm not sure but it might be something we could try.

When Teale was playing on the right on Saturday the full back was forcing him to cut inside, presumably as he knows Teale doesn't have a left foot. He switched when Caprice came on and as far as I could see from the West Stand he did well. I also thought Caprice looked to be almost as good as Teale, he is certainly quick going down the line.

I think Teale could be more dangerous on the left in a Steven McGarry sort of a way. Maybe having wingers that can switch sides if they aren't getting anywhere would be a good plan A/B to have

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