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St Mirren v Kilmarnock 20th October


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Which is slightly bizarre, because of our midfield strength last season.

Our style of football from last season was never going to translate to the top flight. Despite us winning the league, in a strange way Livi were better suited to the transition, their main strengths were without the ball, then attempt to strong arm teams out of games.

I feel Stubbs sort of had the right idea, with the players that were suggested he was looking to replace, but he completely failed to do so. 4 midfield ball players is fine when you are generally going to control possession and set the game on your terms, but actually we needed a whole lot of dig in this team. I don't see that with our current team.

Midfield ball players are fine when you pass the ball to them.

Most kick outs were to the head of Jackson who was getting next to no joy out of Broadfoot. The midfield was getting totally bypassed.

Given every team is bigger and stronger than us we need to use speed and guile to get the better of them.
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12 minutes ago, Hambud said:

Midfield ball players are fine when you pass the ball to them.

Most kick outs were to the head of Jackson who was getting next to no joy out of Broadfoot. The midfield was getting totally bypassed.

Given every team is bigger and stronger than us we need to use speed and guile to get the better of them.

Thing is it's about the second ball. If Jackson is challenging Broadfoot we need Mullen to be looking for where it drops, with help from the midfield. It's about keeping the ball down that end and putting on the pressure. 

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What an absolute kick in the balls again.

Absolutely no chance were either official 100% sure that ball was over the line. Should never have been given.

Goal chopped off later was just as bad.

What an absolutely horrific season this is turning out to be.

Shout outs to Baird, Willock and Jackson. Good first half. Just about everybody faded in the second.

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1 hour ago, buddies1877 said:


I don’t understand the point of jones on the bench either if he’s not going to use him

He’s supposed to be a center back but we choose to play players out of position instead I don’t get that.

That was the only disappointing thing for me today was the substitutions.

Very encouraging 1st half but injuries haunt us yet again this year.

This is the 1st Jones has been on the bench for a while - Heaton was on the bench for the 2 previous games and not used... Oran obviously thinks it is a better option to bring on MacPherson at RB. Possibly as he is one for the future with us... not sure that Jones is... Not sure what is going on with Heaton… is he injured again???

Even during Stubbs era, Jones looked naïve at this level on more than one occasion... though he has some ability for sure.

The reality is Baird and Anton are our 2 best CB's (at the very  least among those who are fit) Without either playing we are weaker. Added to that, at full  back, our 2 best fit players are Hodson and McGinn. When either of these are not at full back we are weaker too.... The issue is the squad is nowhere near strong enough to cope at the moment.

I like Eckers and MacK and either would be better back-ups if they were fit, ---BUT they are not..

Points on the board over the next few weeks and hope the search for great January signings produces some stunning results...

Never mind we have good fans, and I think a really decent management team - wait till he gets more of his stamp on things - then things will be better than OK...

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All about opinions eh? Thought we were quite even in the first half but sensed that killie were already coming back in to it. Hope Ferdinand is ok as we need him on the park and as soon as I realised he wasn't coming back after the break I feared the worst. So did the players. Second half I thought we were slower and weaker than Kilmarnock and probably got what we deserved. Great support from Killie except that cringey as f**k *** song they sing. Utterly embarrassing

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This is the 1st Jones has been on the bench for a while - Heaton was on the bench for the 2 previous games and not used... Oran obviously thinks it is a better option to bring on MacPherson at RB. Possibly as he is one for the future with us... not sure that Jones is... Not sure what is going on with Heaton… is he injured again???
Even during Stubbs era, Jones looked naïve at this level on more than one occasion... though he has some ability for sure.
The reality is Baird and Anton are our 2 best CB's (at the very  least among those who are fit) Without either playing we are weaker. Added to that, at full  back, our 2 best fit players are Hodson and McGinn. When either of these are not at full back we are weaker too.... The issue is the squad is nowhere near strong enough to cope at the moment.
I like Eckers and MacK and either would be better back-ups if they were fit, ---BUT they are not..
Points on the board over the next few weeks and hope the search for great January signings produces some stunning results...
Never mind we have good fans, and I think a really decent management team - wait till he gets more of his stamp on things - then things will be better than OK...

Then send him back if he thinks playing players out of position is the better option no point him being on the bench if not going to use him when needed.

I like MacPherson but I think he’s struggled in recent games not quite ready for premiership football yet imo.

It didn’t work against Hamilton and didn’t work today hoping even Mackenzie is back soonish so we don’t have to see mcginn playing out of position at cb again.
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I thought Kearney made a mistake early in the second half by not taking off one of Jackson or Mullen and putting on another midfielder. We were being over run and the game was lost in the 15 mins at the start of the second half. The rest of the game was pretty even, but the space Killie got in midfield at the start of the second half killed us. It was all way too easy. 

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Mullen works hard but he spends most of his time on his backside as he cannot keep his feet. He also doesn’t hold the ball well enough. Reminds me of Stewart Kean who was poor also. Steven McGinn is not playing well and looks slow maybe he is carrying a knock? Disappointing to lose today but there was signs we might be able to stay on touch

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24 minutes ago, norrie82 said:

Mullen works hard but he spends most of his time on his backside as he cannot keep his feet. He also doesn’t hold the ball well enough. Reminds me of Stewart Kean who was poor also. Steven McGinn is not playing well and looks slow maybe he is carrying a knock? Disappointing to lose today but there was signs we might be able to stay on touch

No again.................we're just back after a 2 week break, couldn't it just be he's not playing well? 

This mysterious injury.............................:blink:

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Guest TPAFKATS
Thing is it's about the second ball. If Jackson is challenging Broadfoot we need Mullen to be looking for where it drops, with help from the midfield. It's about keeping the ball down that end and putting on the pressure. 
Never made today's game, over in Germany watching a higher quality of fitba [emoji6]
However your post is similar to what I recall from watching during Hendrie's and McPherson's reigns.
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26 minutes ago, norrie82 said:

With respect the Kilmarnock team have an outstanding manager and one who operates at a top level. I hope Oran can win soon as it becomes a problem when your losing run continues as confidence drops

A blind person would know that we are already making strides under OK to rebuild a football team after the destruction we saw under the management of that imposter Stubbs. 

Confidence on the park should be increasing rather than dropping despite another defeat. For as long as there are three other clubs in the mire beside us we are still only a couple of wins away from pulling away from the precipice.

OK is still learning about Scottish football and the squad of players / deadwood he has inherited. I remain confident he will learn and he will also come good - and the sooner the better.

KTF.

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4 hours ago, magnus said:

You were at a different game mate. We competed well today. Some excellent performances against a very good Killie side. Goal disallowed, lost big Anton and had to contend with a shite ref. The team showed a lot of passion today.

He really is the most clueless poster on here - which is no mean feat. 

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Lots to be pleased about, particularly in first half where we pressed killie really well and limited them. Felt Ferdinand going off and decision to not use jones was problematic coupled with a significant increase in pace of the game which we couldn't cope with. For equaliser McPherson was caught in two minds and we sat too deep. It was a great goal but shouldn't have been given the chance. Midfield overrun second half, but we still had some good chances. Work in progress but thought switching defence around was a crucial error.

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3 hours ago, gc_SMFC said:

Fitness has always been an issue with us. Even last season the majority of players were struggling by the 70 minute mark, even against part time teams. I'd never describe our style as particularly high tempo either.

Either our fitness training isn't good enough, or more likely the players don't understand or don't commit to what is required. Fitness can hide some technical deficiency, and even a slight increase can be a massive improvement on performance.

Great first half. Missed Ferdinand in the second half.  Willock was superb in the first half. Not surprisingly Hammill tired after the hour mark and this left Willock to cover two positions.  We were pushed back and this allowed Kilmarnock room to shoot ( great first goal by them).  Overall,  I was happier with this performance. Two key refereeing decisions ultimately decided the game with one in favour of Killie and one against Saints. 

Edited by St.Ricky
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8 minutes ago, Hambud said:
1 hour ago, faraway saint said:
No again.................we're just back after a 2 week break, couldn't it just be he's not playing well? 
This mysterious injury.............................:blink:

I thought McGinn was good today.

It wasn't me who said he didn't play well but this feckinf mysterious injury (excuse) is becoming a bit weary. 

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2 hours ago, norrie82 said:

Mullen works hard but he spends most of his time on his backside as he cannot keep his feet. He also doesn’t hold the ball well enough. Reminds me of Stewart Kean who was poor also. Steven McGinn is not playing well and looks slow maybe he is carrying a knock? Disappointing to lose today but there was signs we might be able to stay on touch

Danny diver, isn't good enough!

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Thought DOP made a rare excellent post pre match. if only I’d read it beforehand I’d have been sure to alter my post match comments [emoji6]

Skimmed through the replies. Didn’t I say that I wasn’t sure Killies winner was over the line here? My copy pasting needs work. I haven’t seen it again and didn’t have a great view. I’m not sure, was it? If it wasn’t and Jackson’s was onside can we get back to blaming those big bad refs for these repeated losses?

What I am sure in is that we deserved to lose again today.

For those saying we have improved under Kearney, please, talk me through those improvements.

What has improved? The results certainly haven’t. The retort seems to be that yes the results are worse since Oran arrived (which is indisputably clear) but we are losing in a much more impressive manner than we used to lose!

Desperate stuff indeed. Particularly when the details of the matches involved are looked at. The current results are actually quite clearly worse than the Stubbs losses. Awkward.

Is the solution sacking Oran? No. He seems like a perfectly nice family guy who’s trying his level best. I feel sorry for him.

He’s a guy who has no idea what he’s doing. Of course he doesn’t, he’s never played or managed at this level before. He’s an ambitious part time manager from Northern Ireland who’s been thrown in at the deepest of deep ends.

Unsurprisingly, he’s sinking.

If you put a part timer from another country put into a full time position in any walk of life you can’t expect that it’s going to go well. This appointment was as high risk as it gets, and the people who made it are at fault. Sacking him solves nothing.

The question we need to ask now is, how bad do we let it get? Oran has went 5 games without a win. How many games without a win is too many? 10? 15? 20? If we are winless under him on the 31st of December (not unlikely given recent results and upcoming fixtures) does he get the January window?

Maybe he does. If we get relegated in 12th spot does he get the summer window? Maybe he does.

How long do we allow big bad Alan Stubbs to be the scapegoat for our current failures?

People talk about this being Stubbs team. Here’s some uncomfortable statistics for them: Today’s starting 11:

Youth product 1 (Baird)
Signed by Ross: 5 (Samson, McGinnx2, Mullen, Flynn)
Signed by Kearney 3 (Ferdinand, Jackson, Hammill)
Signed by Alan Stubbs 2 (Willock, Hodson)

Thought Hodson and Willock were two of our best players today! Point is, this side is at least as much Oran’s doing as it is Alan’s.

Regardless, this situation is not Oran Kearney’s fault. It’s not Jack Ross’s fault and it’s not Alan Stubbs fault either.

The people who are at fault for this shambles are Gordon Scott, Tony Fitzpatrick, Alan Wardrop, Chris Stewart and David Nicol.

David has already tendered his resignation, good.

I think the rest of them should follow suit.

Oh and@djchapsticks asked for this post to be dedicated to him giving me a hard time in the pub. [emoji482][emoji16]

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