The Oran Kearney Interviews Thread

[magnus]

11 minutes ago, DougJamie said:

So with Well and Dundee coming up what is acceptable. What stage.... Jan window. We have 11/12 games to play till the window. Again i am not out to get OK however i would expect us to set up better. He has brought in 2 forward players. So i would say 442 would be better. If McGinn and Hodson bomb up wings and we have a lack of centre halves then surely we hold back. For me Well is our best chance because dont have much pace. I also expect players to give their all and no way did we see that in half OK s games. If u could explain to me the formation against fakes then i could maybe see ur point. 

442 for me as well. Keep it simple and grind out results till January.

[buddies1877]

So with Well and Dundee coming up what is acceptable. What stage.... Jan window. We have 11/12 games to play till the window. Again i am not out to get OK however i would expect us to set up better. He has brought in 2 forward players. So i would say 442 would be better. If McGinn and Hodson bomb up wings and we have a lack of centre halves then surely we hold back. For me Well is our best chance because dont have much pace. I also expect players to give their all and no way did we see that in half OK s games. If u could explain to me the formation against fakes then i could maybe see ur point. 

I’m pretty sure that’s a 442 are you meaning a different 442

[Hambud]

 

I’m pretty sure that’s a 442 are you meaning a different 442

That's pretty much how I saw it.

 

I keep seeing mention of OK signing two forwards aswell. Jackson is one but not sure who the other is.

 

[Hambud]

That's pretty much how I saw it.  
I keep seeing mention of OK signing two forwards aswell. Jackson is one but not sure who the other is.
 

Assume it's Hammill but I thought he was being described as a wide attacking player ie winger.

[Doakes]

26 minutes ago, DougJamie said:

So with Well and Dundee coming up what is acceptable. What stage.... Jan window. We have 11/12 games to play till the window. Again i am not out to get OK however i would expect us to set up better. He has brought in 2 forward players. So i would say 442 would be better. If McGinn and Hodson bomb up wings and we have a lack of centre halves then surely we hold back. For me Well is our best chance because dont have much pace. I also expect players to give their all and no way did we see that in half OK s games. If u could explain to me the formation against fakes then i could maybe see ur point. 

As I said we were poor against the fakes but in every other game we’ve had an obvious game plan. Every team has games they just don’t play well in. I think with Ferdinand out we looked a bit lost. I like Baird but he needs a leader next to him. Personal opinion is we should try to strengthen at centre half during the window, use Bairdy as backup. Doesn’t give me confidence even though I like the guy. Doesn’t look like Gary Mac is reliable enough to wait on, too injury prone. Jones isnae good enough. 

What formation is it you would like to see?

Based on team just now, we can either play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. I think 4-2-3-1 works best personally but we would need to bring in a wide right attacking mid and fix the defence

[Dibbles old paperboy]

10 hours ago, faraway saint said:

The same chance we gave Stubbs? 

It seems it was ok to slag off, and worse, Stubbs but if anyone raises concerns about Kearney it's seen as unnecessary negativity? 

It's early days but there is little to suggest he can lift us out of our current situation.

The January window is being seen as our possible saviour, forgetting other teams will have the same opportunity and will be a better prospect for any players, especially if we are stranded with Dundee keeping us company. 

PS You do make two good examples of managers who could get the best out of players, not seeing this, at this stage, from Kearney. 

You seem to be posting about you-know-who a lot of late.

I'd agree with you about our prospects during the transfer window not being great. It was one thing to bring in 11 new players and get almost instant results in the Championship but people forget we stayed up on goal difference that season after having the 2nd best form in the league from February to May. With the best will in the world we are not going to replicate winning most matches from February to May in the premiership, our main hope at this point is that Hamilton, Motherwell and Dundee will be as bad as us for the remainder of the season.

[jaybee]

2 hours ago, Hambud said:

2 hours ago, Hambud said:

That's pretty much how I saw it.  
I keep seeing mention of OK signing two forwards aswell. Jackson is one but not sure who the other is.
 

Assume it's Hammill but I thought he was being described as a wide attacking player ie winger.

How much further forward can you get, than on the wing?  

[Spam_Valley]

7 hours ago, jaybee said:

How much further forward can you get, than on the wing?  

Striker ?

[Soctty]

9 hours ago, Dibbles old paperboy said:

You seem to be posting about you-know-who a lot of late.

I'd agree with you about our prospects during the transfer window not being great. It was one thing to bring in 11 new players and get almost instant results in the Championship but people forget we stayed up on goal difference that season after having the 2nd best form in the league from February to May. With the best will in the world we are not going to replicate winning most matches from February to May in the premiership, our main hope at this point is that Hamilton, Motherwell and Dundee will be as bad as us for the remainder of the season.

I agree that we are not going to have the run of form which actually saw us with the best form in the league from 1st February until the end of the season  that year, so it is imperative that we are a lot closer than we were at that point in that season come the same point this season, or that we get our transfer business done even earlier in the window.

If we can pick up enough points to keep us within a few points of the two or three teams ahead of us, we have a chance. If we find ourselves adrift by 7 or 8 points or more it will be difficult to see us claw it back. However, nothing is impossible.

[DougJamie]

11 hours ago, buddies1877 said:

I’m pretty sure that’s a 442 are you meaning a different 442

I mean stick to it. Not just have it on paper. Did you see the space Watt had against us. 

[St.Ricky]

1 minute ago, DougJamie said:

I mean stick to it. Not just have it on paper. Did you see the space Watt had against us. 

My biggest concern is how often Hodson is left 1 on 1. Who is supposed to track back to give him support? 

[DougJamie]

10 hours ago, Doakes said:

As I said we were poor against the fakes but in every other game we’ve had an obvious game plan. Every team has games they just don’t play well in. I think with Ferdinand out we looked a bit lost. I like Baird but he needs a leader next to him. Personal opinion is we should try to strengthen at centre half during the window, use Bairdy as backup. Doesn’t give me confidence even though I like the guy. Doesn’t look like Gary Mac is reliable enough to wait on, too injury prone. Jones isnae good enough. 

What formation is it you would like to see?

Based on team just now, we can either play 4-4-2 or 4-5-1. I think 4-2-3-1 works best personally but we would need to bring in a wide right attacking mid and fix the defence

Ok who plays upfront? We have no player that can hold the ball. I agree on Baird

[lovestlegend]

This from today’s herald is a bit alarming:

ST MIRREN manager Oran Kearney believes his players can’t afford to go a goal behind in a match as they currently lack the winning mentality needed to turn it around.

The former Coleraine boss is still looking for his first victory since moving to Paisley last month, with Saturday’s defeat to St Johnstone a fifth loss in as many matches.

The Perth side missed two penalties when they led by a single goal but Kearney’s men couldn’t capitalise and instead ended up conceding a late second to kill any chance of a comeback.

The poor run has left the manager frustrated as he looks ahead to tomorrow's crunch home contest against fellow relegation strugglers Motherwell.

But he revealed it took time to turn around Coleraine’s fortunes and felt it would likely be the same story here.

He said: “The players have to start to believe in themselves but, to be fair to them, they’ve been in this situation longer than I have. I’m not saying that’s acceptable but I’m saying it’s understandable the place they find themselves in at the minute.

“If I look at the team I left to come here, Coleraine, we started out very much like this. But we got to a point where we could go a goal behind in a game but still turn it around to win it.

“Where we are at this moment in time with the current run we’re on and how tough people are finding it – I’m not sure we’re ready yet to do that here.

“These are things we have to work on. We want to instil that ethos where we have that battling mentality and can dig in where we need to and show the fighting qualities that are required.”

Despite Saints losing nine of their last 10 matches, Kearney won’t be putting a rocket under his players as he feels they’re hurting enough already.

He said: “Our lack of consistency frustrates me but I know it frustrates the players as well. There are good people there who want to win matches, to do well at this level and have good careers. So you have to be careful with them from that point of view.


“They’re coming in automatically feeling bad and down after a Saturday, and so me going over the top and magnifying that again isn’t going to make them feel any better. There has to be accountability but we’re also trying to keep people upbeat.

“It’s about getting the correct approach so that people can still float and go into that next game with a positive mindset. It’s the carrot as well as the stick.”

Tomorrow night’s game against Motherwell now looks huge but Kearney hasn’t targeted it specifically.

He added: “I’m not one to distinguish or prioritise games. There were three points available on Saturday and it’s the same on Wednesday and then again next Saturday. So, we’ve not highlighted this game in particular and said it’s a must-win or anything like that.

“We’ve huffed and puffed at times. Saturday’s performance wasn’t as good as the previous Saturday’s so we’re only getting sporadic bursts from them. We need to have more consistency.”

Anton Ferdinand, who missed the weekend’s game through injury, could yet feature on Wednesday, with longer-term casualties Adam Eckersley and Kyle Magennis also edging closer to full fitness.

The manager explained: “We’ll see how the next couple of days goes for Anton but hopefully he’ll get to a place where he can do something. Adam will hopefully get a match in pretty soon, and Kyle is not far away from full training now.”

[St.Ricky]

8 minutes ago, lovestlegend said:

This from today’s herald is a bit alarming:

ST MIRREN manager Oran Kearney believes his players can’t afford to go a goal behind in a match as they currently lack the winning mentality needed to turn it around.

The former Coleraine boss is still looking for his first victory since moving to Paisley last month, with Saturday’s defeat to St Johnstone a fifth loss in as many matches.

The Perth side missed two penalties when they led by a single goal but Kearney’s men couldn’t capitalise and instead ended up conceding a late second to kill any chance of a comeback.

The poor run has left the manager frustrated as he looks ahead to tomorrow's crunch home contest against fellow relegation strugglers Motherwell.

But he revealed it took time to turn around Coleraine’s fortunes and felt it would likely be the same story here.

He said: “The players have to start to believe in themselves but, to be fair to them, they’ve been in this situation longer than I have. I’m not saying that’s acceptable but I’m saying it’s understandable the place they find themselves in at the minute.

“If I look at the team I left to come here, Coleraine, we started out very much like this. But we got to a point where we could go a goal behind in a game but still turn it around to win it.

“Where we are at this moment in time with the current run we’re on and how tough people are finding it – I’m not sure we’re ready yet to do that here.

“These are things we have to work on. We want to instil that ethos where we have that battling mentality and can dig in where we need to and show the fighting qualities that are required.”

Despite Saints losing nine of their last 10 matches, Kearney won’t be putting a rocket under his players as he feels they’re hurting enough already.

He said: “Our lack of consistency frustrates me but I know it frustrates the players as well. There are good people there who want to win matches, to do well at this level and have good careers. So you have to be careful with them from that point of view.


“They’re coming in automatically feeling bad and down after a Saturday, and so me going over the top and magnifying that again isn’t going to make them feel any better. There has to be accountability but we’re also trying to keep people upbeat.

“It’s about getting the correct approach so that people can still float and go into that next game with a positive mindset. It’s the carrot as well as the stick.”

Tomorrow night’s game against Motherwell now looks huge but Kearney hasn’t targeted it specifically.

He added: “I’m not one to distinguish or prioritise games. There were three points available on Saturday and it’s the same on Wednesday and then again next Saturday. So, we’ve not highlighted this game in particular and said it’s a must-win or anything like that.

“We’ve huffed and puffed at times. Saturday’s performance wasn’t as good as the previous Saturday’s so we’re only getting sporadic bursts from them. We need to have more consistency.”

Anton Ferdinand, who missed the weekend’s game through injury, could yet feature on Wednesday, with longer-term casualties Adam Eckersley and Kyle Magennis also edging closer to full fitness.

The manager explained: “We’ll see how the next couple of days goes for Anton but hopefully he’ll get to a place where he can do something. Adam will hopefully get a match in pretty soon, and Kyle is not far away from full training now.”

 

Not difficult to agree with him. It's his job to turn it around. 

[buddies1877]

I mean stick to it. Not just have it on paper. Did you see the space Watt had against us. 

Stick to it when did he change it?

 

 

Are you meaning for the sitter watt missed. Poor defending firstly not stopping the cross and second jones poor defending too busy watching the ball and not marking his man causing him to slide when it was cut back.

 

Was also very poor defending from mcginn on several occasions wasn’t anticipating the ball coming to him should have cleared it instead it goes through his legs leaving st Johnstone player with a tap in.

 

As I’ve said several times it’s the quality of squad that is our problem I don’t see anything wrong with the line up or formation OK has went with.

[Buddie-Boy]

1 hour ago, lovestlegend said:

He said: “Our lack of consistency frustrates me but I know it frustrates the players as well". 
 

What lack of consistency?  We're consistently losing every week 

Edited October 30, 2018 by Buddie-Boy

[DougJamie]

1 hour ago, buddies1877 said:

Stick to it when did he change it?

 

 

Are you meaning for the sitter watt missed. Poor defending firstly not stopping the cross and second jones poor defending too busy watching the ball and not marking his man causing him to slide when it was cut back.

 

Was also very poor defending from mcginn on several occasions wasn’t anticipating the ball coming to him should have cleared it instead it goes through his legs leaving st Johnstone player with a tap in.

 

As I’ve said several times it’s the quality of squad that is our problem I don’t see anything wrong with the line up or formation OK has went with.

Quality of squad of course is a reason, but the team that finished 12 points behinds us is now 14 pts ahead of us, no mega stars just good management good tactics and 100% buy in. That my friend is the issue

[buddies1877]

Quality of squad of course is a reason, but the team that finished 12 points behinds us is now 14 pts ahead of us, no mega stars just good management good tactics and 100% buy in. That my friend is the issue

Is that the Livingston team that pumped us 4-1 last season when we had a much stronger team.

We missed the boat when we should of cherry picked Livy players at the end of last season.

They have a good solid squad we don’t but continue to search for issues.

OK isn’t playing the right formation you said but he’s playing what you think we should be playing a 442 then you say he should be sticking to it but don’t answer when he supposedly changed it [emoji15]

[DougJamie]

1 minute ago, buddies1877 said:

Is that the Livingston team that pumped us 4-1 last season when we had a much stronger team.

We missed the boat when we should of cherry picked Livy players at the end of last season.

They have a good solid squad we don’t but continue to search for issues.

OK isn’t playing the right formation you said but he’s playing what you think we should be playing a 442 then you say he should be sticking to it but don’t answer when he supposedly changed it

I said he should be playing 4 4 2 yes. Eh the players arent keeping shape in case you had not noticed, I would love to see a heat map from Sat is was more like 2 7 1. You keep missing my point. Its that Livi play a game that makes them hard to beat, THEY ARE DISCIPLINED, we are free for all ,we play, even last season , a wide open format, we had 4 forwards last year and 2 attacking midfielders, we averaged well over 20 shots a game, and we were playing far inferior teams...... we also lost Morgan and Reilly thats 39 goals..................  

I am sorry but I despair that we are almost willing to write off our season, because Oran has a sows purse..... I dont buy that. I still think we can be better than played 6 Lost 5 Drawn 1 and 2 goals for 12 against..................

Oran took the job, yes he gets time, but I am sorry, I see the team going back wards not forwards. Accies and Fakes have gubbed us its not even close.  

 

[shull]

9 minutes ago, buddies1877 said:

Is that the Livingston team that pumped us 4-1 last season when we had a much stronger team.

We missed the boat when we should of cherry picked Livy players at the end of last season.

They have a good solid squad we don’t but continue to search for issues.

OK isn’t playing the right formation you said but he’s playing what you think we should be playing a 442 then you say he should be sticking to it but don’t answer when he supposedly changed it

It wasn't the Livy players that should have been cherrypicked. 

They would have been useless under Stubbs and maybe Kearney also. 

[Soctty]

1 hour ago, DougJamie said:

Quality of squad of course is a reason, but the team that finished 12 points behinds us is now 14 pts ahead of us, no mega stars just good management good tactics and 100% buy in. That my friend is the issue

Confidence, morale, team spirit. Call it what you want, but psychology is a huge factor for players and teams. Livingston managed to keep their team largely together, while strengthening, and with the same coaching staff, and have gone from strength to strength. We lost our manager and assistant, and the replacements we brought in had no real interest in keeping that team spirit in the dressing room, choosing instead to bring in a large amount of new players, many untried at this level.

Where we are now is that we have a new guy in charge who understands the psychology of the situation, and knows it takes time to repair players' state of mind. He also knows we don't have the quality required to be as competitive as we'd like. January will be the time to bring in the new recruits required, and the winter break might be the time to start repairing the broken team spirit, if we haven't already begun that process before then. It'll be a scrap to pick up whatever points we can between now and then.

[Soctty]

49 minutes ago, DougJamie said:

I said he should be playing 4 4 2 yes. Eh the players arent keeping shape in case you had not noticed, I would love to see a heat map from Sat is was more like 2 7 1. You keep missing my point. Its that Livi play a game that makes them hard to beat, THEY ARE DISCIPLINED, we are free for all ,we play, even last season , a wide open format, we had 4 forwards last year and 2 attacking midfielders, we averaged well over 20 shots a game, and we were playing far inferior teams...... we also lost Morgan and Reilly thats 39 goals..................  

I am sorry but I despair that we are almost willing to write off our season, because Oran has a sows purse..... I dont buy that. I still think we can be better than played 6 Lost 5 Drawn 1 and 2 goals for 12 against..................

Oran took the job, yes he gets time, but I am sorry, I see the team going back wards not forwards. Accies and Fakes have gubbed us its not even close.  

 

And yet we've run Celtic, Hibs and Killie close at home. There is a clear difference in our home and away performance, but at home we have proven to be competitive.

[John Gotti]

3 hours ago, St.Ricky said:

My biggest concern is how often Hodson is left 1 on 1. Who is supposed to track back to give him support? 

My biggest concern is what has happened to Stephen McGinn, he is a shadow of last seasons captain. Maybe a wee spell out of the team would help him.

[The Original 59er]

10 minutes ago, Soctty said:

Confidence, morale, team spirit. Call it what you want, but psychology is a huge factor for players and teams. Livingston managed to keep their team largely together, while strengthening, and with the same coaching staff, and have gone from strength to strength. We lost our manager and assistant, and the replacements we brought in had no real interest in keeping that team spirit in the dressing room, choosing instead to bring in a large amount of new players, many untried at this level.

Where we are now is that we have a new guy in charge who understands the psychology of the situation, and knows it takes time to repair players' state of mind. He also knows we don't have the quality required to be as competitive as we'd like. January will be the time to bring in the new recruits required, and the winter break might be the time to start repairing the broken team spirit, if we haven't already begun that process before then. It'll be a scrap to pick up whatever points we can between now and then.

I'm not convinced we will have the budget nor the ability to free up salaries sufficiently to make major changes.

Buying in players that could make a difference in the Championship is vastly different to the ability to dramatically change things in the Premier League.

Confidence being reinstalled in the current players must be one of his main targets and a couple of positive results would see a fairly major change to the overall performances and the effect it would have internally to the club and supporters.

I'm close to thinking that we are at a Rubicon, even so early in the season. If the club (and I stress the club not the Manager) can't turn this around by Christmas then it is a case of starting the re-building process from the bottom up, expecting the worst from this season and giving OK all the time he needs to turn it all around and come back again with a team that can hold its own at this level and is prepared to stand up to the standards required to survive at this level.

The disruption of losing the feel-good factor and many of the players from last season and also JR going and the AS debacle, presents OK with little wriggle room with the squad he has inherited. I like his interview (featured above) and it shows compassion, understanding and how best to  deal with people............. something that JR had and AS badly lacked.

[Soctty]

30 minutes ago, The Original 59er said:

I'm not convinced we will have the budget nor the ability to free up salaries sufficiently to make major changes.

Buying in players that could make a difference in the Championship is vastly different to the ability to dramatically change things in the Premier League.

Confidence being reinstalled in the current players must be one of his main targets and a couple of positive results would see a fairly major change to the overall performances and the effect it would have internally to the club and supporters.

I'm close to thinking that we are at a Rubicon, even so early in the season. If the club (and I stress the club not the Manager) can't turn this around by Christmas then it is a case of starting the re-building process from the bottom up, expecting the worst from this season and giving OK all the time he needs to turn it all around and come back again with a team that can hold its own at this level and is prepared to stand up to the standards required to survive at this level.

The disruption of losing the feel-good factor and many of the players from last season and also JR going and the AS debacle, presents OK with little wriggle room with the squad he has inherited. I like his interview (featured above) and it shows compassion, understanding and how best to  deal with people............. something that JR had and AS badly lacked.

The fact that he has already been given funds to bring in 4 players outwith the transfer window leads me to believe we will back him in January. The signings of Ferdinand, Hammill and Jackson have been on a different level to anything Stubbs brought in. If we can get more of that level we can be competitive. Can see more loan players going, as well as pay offs for the likes of Cooke and King, who will be happy to go back south to kickstart any career they may have had.

IF we are still in touch come January we have to do as much as we can to back the manager. I would also back the manager to stay and rebuild if we do go down.

Regarding OK's compassion and understanding. Important qualities for a manager and can play as big a part in motivating players as anything else. 

I can see a win tomorrow night. Our home form - in terms of performances - bodes well for giving ourselves a chance. What a boost a victory would give the players, fans and manager.