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HOOF! Robbos Long Ball Army


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1 hour ago, The Original 59er said:

If I look back at really successful St Mirren teams and their set up we usually had at least one if not two players in our main team that could control the ball well and pick out a pass.

e.g. 

Richardson, Stark or Weir of the early 80's

Fitzpatrick or Scanlon Mid 80's

Billy Davies or Paul Lambert around 1990

Carey, McLean McGowan and Teale of the mid naughties............... I can go on!

I'm not seeing that in our team at present.

Keanu Baccus is good at what he does but so far I haven't seen the penetrating pass regularly nor the gliding past opponents that most if not all of the above could do. Yes Grieve scored with a header on Saturday but did you note his movement before he met the head high ball into the box? His runs are dependent on good passes into the box and to be exact, it wasn't a long ball, it was a fairly short good cross.

I appreciate that cost comes into it, I also appreciate that we are a secondary, peripheral team in the context of the Premier League, but history has shown we can really become a good team with that added dimension.

 

On the contrary, I would say that "gliding past opponents" has been one of the most predominant aspects of Baccus's play so far. You only have to look as far back as last Saturday and the disallowed goal for one such example.

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2 hours ago, stlucifer said:

Horses for courses. Robinson's tactics are all about counter attack. We don't have a great deal of possession but he wants the team to be efficient with it. Sometimes, and I stress not always, this means going from back to front. I do think people are overstating this though. A case in point is that the same folk are waxing lyrical about our midfielders. This shows we do use them. IMO, far more than is suggested.

I haven’t seen any suggestion test we don’t use the midfield?

IMO, the midfield is key to the way we play! 
 

The difference between our midfield and say Dundee United, is that their midfielders attempt to pass the ball about and keep possession - to no advantage - whereas our midfield lets them have possession in non dangerous areas - then we crowd them out, win possession, hit on the break and get our midfield into dangerous areas whilst the opposition are all at sea. 
 

The low possession stats we have are misleading. Our possession is brief, effective and where it hurts the opposition - in their half of the pitch. 
 

The opposition possession is mainly lengthy, in non dangerous areas and we have our defence and midfield organised and behind the ball. When we win it, the opposition is on the back foot and disorganised.

 

Edited by Sue Denim
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24 minutes ago, Sue Denim said:

I haven’t seen any suggestion test we don’t use the midfield?

IMO, the midfield is key to the way we play! 
 

The difference between our midfield and say Dundee United, is that their midfielders attempt to pass the ball about and keep possession - to no advantage - whereas our midfield lets them have possession in non dangerous areas - then we crowd them out, win possession, hit on the break and get our midfield into dangerous areas whilst the opposition are all at sea. 
 

The low possession stats we have are misleading. Our possession is brief, effective and where it hurts the opposition - in their half of the pitch. 
 

The opposition possession is mainly lengthy, in non dangerous areas and we have our defence and midfield organised and behind the ball. When we win it, the opposition is on the back foot and disorganised.

 

Absolutely.

I think people's misconception that our midfield doesn't make cutting, decisive passes, is clouded by the fact that most of the midfield's work is to harry the opposition and break up play.

However, as you say, when we do get the ball in midfield, we can be extremely effective and free flowing, as evidenced by the move that led to Ayunga's (unfairly chopped off) goal on Saturday.

Both O'Hara and Baccus are extremely effective at that, and Erhahon chips in with some useful defence splitting passes.

I did criticise the midfield for not being direct enough through the middle when our wing options have been limited, but it's just the way that we play.

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20 minutes ago, FTOF said:

Absolutely.

I think people's misconception that our midfield doesn't make cutting, decisive passes, is clouded by the fact that most of the midfield's work is to harry the opposition and break up play.

However, as you say, when we do get the ball in midfield, we can be extremely effective and free flowing, as evidenced by the move that led to Ayunga's (unfairly chopped off) goal on Saturday.

Both O'Hara and Baccus are extremely effective at that, and Erhahon chips in with some useful defence splitting passes.

I did criticise the midfield for not being direct enough through the middle when our wing options have been limited, but it's just the way that we play.

You have got it spot on imo. Really good assessment on our play

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