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St Mirren v Kilmarnock 20th October


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Be interesting to see the debated decisions from yesterday on the tv. I won’t blast Gollum yet.
We weren’t far off a point against a strong top 6 team. Unfortunately we are in a transitional period between getting rid of Stubbs’ poor signings and getting the new arrivals match fit. It must be a strange atmosphere at the training ground with the size of squad and ‘A and B’ teams, but it’s the way Oran wants to work it and it’s where we are. Jack was brutal with the squad he inherited and it worked.
Fitness is definitely a factor in our failings at the moment.
There’s no coincidence with Livvy’s great start and the well documented extra work and focus they have put in on their fitness levels, as well as their work ethic.
We have a team with poor fitness levels due to the side/squad chopping and changing, injuries and a possibly dubious preseason. Even if we have the work ethic we don’t have the legs.
I think Oran is heading in the right direction, but it’s going to take time to sort things out.
It’s not easy being a Buddie at the moment, but it’s too early to say we are going down. January window is huge for us, but Oran’s signings from a barren free agent market have been good, so fingers crossed.

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11 minutes ago, elvis said:

Not very conclusive either way. 

Which is why it should not have been awarded.

The assistant referee must have some eyesight to see through Boyd etc.

Although, maybe a different angle will show he was correct.

Edited by FTOF
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Leave the goals/non goals to be resolved, (or not) by the highlights. In the first half we played our best football this season, passing, harrying and creating. Was a blow to lose big Anton who struggled for the last ten in the first half. That enforced a change, and reshuffle and to my mind that is where Oran got it badly wrong. (Cue the knicker wetters).

1-0 up at half time, at home, lost best defender and anchorman, but replaced with a midfielder, and pulled a wingback into central defence was too many changes, naive and gave the momentum to Killie. Why name Jones on the bench, then not use him as the natural replacement for Ferdinand?

also, given the impact the loss of Anton was likely to have, and the fact you have a precious lead to protect why on gods earth do you persevere with THREE forwards, instead of sticking the midfielder you played at the back into... guess where? Yes, midfield, to stuff that area up, frustrate and keep Killie from settling???

tactically naive is an understatement there. Three precious points were there and were surrendered. Add to that it seems Oran has taken a leaf out of the Alex Rae book on tactics by getting Sammy and the back line to SHELL IT to our diminutive front line, only to see it come racing back at us within seconds.

i like Oran, i want him to succeed, but he needs to wise up quickly. It as no surprise, no startling subs/changes by the opposition, he needed to pack the midfield and aim to see it out. Instead the ball flew over our extensive and talented midfiled the whole second half. Smith came on, made four significant touches, and cocked them all up. What's happened to that boy?

Edited by Lord Pityme
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16 hours ago, magnus said:

Willock's fitness is not at a poor level. He put in a huge shift today and was our MOTM. He was up against a right good midfield and more than held his own.

Seriously ? A right good shift ? He was excellent for 45 mins then had to be subbed. No excuse for not being able to do that for 90 bar a lack of fitness. He is not alone either. 

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1 minute ago, Ayrshire Saints said:

Seriously ? A right good shift ? He was excellent for 45 mins then had to be subbed. No excuse for not being able to do that for 90 bar a lack of fitness. He is not alone either. 

It's called "match" fitness. The only way that individuals achieve that is by playing competitive matches.

Willock has barely played in first XI a game in a couple of months.

Hopefully, with more appearances he can last longer than 60 minutes or so.

 

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Yesterday we great for the first 45 minutes. Losing Ferdinand at half time was a blow because he is quality.   In the 2nd half we were poor but still unlucky not to draw, i need to see the highlights for their 2nd goal and our chopped off goal.   IMO we are not far away from getting a few wins and hopefully that will keep us in the mix till January. We need more quality in the team and hopefully this can be done and also trim down the size of the squad to make it more affordable.  If we can match our first half performance up with the same in the second then we'll win a few games.

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8 minutes ago, FTOF said:

It's called "match" fitness. The only way that individuals achieve that is by playing competitive matches.

Willock has barely played in first XI a game in a couple of months.

Hopefully, with more appearances he can last longer than 60 minutes or so.

 

I'm not sure it is match fitness. The squad as a whole appear to struggle. Flynn and McGinn noticeably flag in games too. It's an area that has to be worked on. Ferdinand is understandable but not the guys who should have done a full pre season either with us or elsewhere. There were rumours of a relaxed summer regime and I think the evidence points to that. It's frustrating as Willock was playing great yesterday although our failure to react properly to Killies ht tactical change didn't help Willock or anyone else in the midfield. Other teams seem stronger, fitter and faster although that might just be down to a lack of quality overall rather than fitness alone.

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24 minutes ago, Lord Pityme said:

Leave the goals/non goals to be resolved, (or not) by the highlights. In the first half we played our best football this season, passing, harrying and creating. Was a blow to lose big Anton who struggled for the last ten in the first half. That enforced a change, and reshuffle and to my mind that is where Oran got it badly wrong. (Cue the knicker wetters).

1-0 up at half time, at home, lost best defender and anchorman, but replaced with a midfielder, and pulled a wingback into central defence was too many changes, naive and gave the momentum to Killie. Why name Jones on the bench, then not use him as the natural replacement for Ferdinand?

also, given the impact the loss of Anton was likely to have, and the fact you have a precious lead to protect why on gods earth do you persevere with THREE forwards, instead of sticking the midfielder you played at the back into... guess where? Yes, midfield, to stuff that area up, frustrate and keep Killie from settling???

tactically naive is an understatement there. Three precious points were there and were surrendered. Add to that it seems Oran has taken a leaf out of the Alex Rae book on tactics by getting Sammy and the back line to SHELL IT to our diminutive front line, only to see it come racing back at us within seconds.

i like Oran, i want him to succeed, but he needs to wise up quickly. It as no surprise, no startling subs/changes by the opposition, he needed to pack the midfield and aim to see it out. Instead the ball flew over our extensive and talented midfiled the whole second half. Smith came on, made four significant touches, and cocked them all up. What's happened to that boy?

Got to say, I agree, we should have taken off one of the strikers, it was obvious 5 mins into the second half we were being overrun in midfield. Even at 1-1 he could have done it and settled us down a bit. That first 15 minutes of the second half we were a shambles, which is a shame as it was the only point of the game where we weren't at least as good as Killie. It cost us heavily.

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Felt gutted when leaving the stadium yesterday at half time felt we could actually get something from the game . First half big Willcock had a great game he has great feet. Hammill was very good also while Jackson will get goals he works hard and has good pace.   Broadfoot bringing Jackson down heading to goal could have been a red card. Second half Killie were the better team. BUT did that ball cross the line ? Have watched buddie vision highlights it's hard to tell what was not hard to call was the goal chopped off it was not offside.  Green shoots slowly improving. 

 

p

Edited by Isle Of Bute Saint
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1 minute ago, Isle Of Bute Saint said:

Felt gutted when leaving the stadium yesterday at half time felt we could actually get something from the game . First half big Willcock had a great game he has great feet. Hammill was very good also while Jackson will get goals he works hard and has good place. Broadfoot bringing Jackson down heading to goal could have been a red card. Second half Killie were the better team. BUT did that ball cross the line ? Have watched buddie vision highlights it's hard to tell what was not hard to call was the goal chopped off it was not offside.  Green shoots slowly improving. 

 

p

Agree and disagree about the green shoots. If you consider we played our best football so far this season, but still surrendered a lead, then thats more cause for concern rather than optimism in my book. The players did their bit first half, even though S McGinn is still well off it. The manager failed them in the second half by persevering with three attackers, when the midfield needed packing out.

Samson and the defence being told to just shell it gave them the ball to score against us. It was just naive, plain and simple.

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1 hour ago, Lord Pityme said:

Add to that it seems Oran has taken a leaf out of the Alex Rae book on tactics by getting Sammy and the back line to SHELL IT to our diminutive front line, only to see it come racing back at us within seconds.

This is nothing new really. JR employed tactics last year that required us to win the 2nd ball from Samson kickouts high up the park, unfortunately Samson’s distribution is woeful and barely reaches the opposition half (if in the field of play at all!)

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I enjoyed the game. It was a much better performance and we were in it till the end which is not a position we have been in for most of the games this season. 

I thought the Kilmarnock fans deserve a bit of praise for their support. They were out in Numbers before and after the game in various Paisley hostelries and no doubt spend a good few quid in the town.  During the game they were very vocal in their support and made lots of noise. Reminded me of the big away support we were enjoying last season. 

Willock did seem like a different player yesterday and It was good to see him getting in about it.  Thought Hodson worked his socks off too.

The centre half situation is a bit Bizarre, Why have Jones or Heaton on the Bench if they are not going to be used unless they are there to replace Baird if he is injured.  Bairdy can be a bit erratic and penalty prone if he doesn't have guidance from an experienced player. Maybe that's why McGinn gets slotted in.

Hopefully we can celebrate OK's first win, next week

It's on its way.........soon

 

 

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37 minutes ago, W6Saint said:

This is nothing new really. JR employed tactics last year that required us to win the 2nd ball from Samson kickouts high up the park, unfortunately Samson’s distribution is woeful and barely reaches the opposition half (if in the field of play at all!)

Don't remember that as an often used tactic? We played out to our strong midfield every chance we got! Thats what helped us overawe most of our opponents. 

If Ross had done that to an even shorter forward line he would have crashed and burned. I think you may be misremembering that. Possibly, yes if we were in the final minutes chasing a result, but certainly not a tactic we deployed week in week out. We, and Ross would have been slaughtered!

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