Jump to content

What A Shambles


Recommended Posts

Thought Lappin was piss poor and prob our worst player. Hugh Murray was by far the best player once again.

185964[/snapback]

i have to agree with that. murray is going to be such a important player for us this season.

dont wanna slag off any players incase cambo shouts at me as well.

:sheep and what was his sheep all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Edited by speccy_baz
Link to comment
Share on other sites


i have to agree with that.  murry is going to be such a important player for us this season.

dont wanna slag off any players incase cambo shouts at me as well.

:sheep and what was his sheep all about!!!!!!!!!!!!!

185970[/snapback]

His sheep is a lot better looking than some of the burds he's been with.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

So midfield and striking still not resolved.  Today was shambolic and clearly there has to be questions about what the feck Gus and Andy have been doing during the close season.  This performance smacked of the Coughlan days when noone seemed to know what was expected of them and players being played way out of position.

I think Gus is being found out tactically - he got away with it last season - so it will be interesting to see how he shapes the team over the next few weeks.  It will have to happen or we may find ourselves scrapping around the middle of the table rather than near the top.  I have seen this whole issue over and over again at LS and Gus need to have a settled team that play together rather than all the changes he made from last week's team.

185963[/snapback]

Agree...this is why fans boo and get frustrated...the same problems we had with JC are still there...the tactics are poor...the player choice is poor...and the performance was poor...players out of position and so on. Millen doesn't cut it in the middle and i think Gus is making room for players he shouldn't be...Millen :angry:

Put Millen as a sweeper at best...TT done it well with effect

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On a positive note, I thought John Potter looked good today. Pretty solid, although in a team full of defenders it wouldn't be hard to shine.

Murray was vital, Keano ran all day but couldn't get past the 11 wheelie bins in their penalty box. Their tactics and game plan worked a treat, but I'm with Div on this in thinking that it is early days, Gus is obviously still experimenting (although I thought that was what pre season was for), and that we will improve.

Shame Ian Ross has lost his touch though. He was mince.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Agree BG, Millen would be an ideal sweeper, particularly at his age when is clearly going to feel the pace played out of position.

Like last season, I will wait until the first 9 games are played to make my own opionion of how well I think the team will do. My only concern is that we have good players but playing them out of position and with tactics that appear to us as not working and yet the manager is clearly seeing something else. Yet, when the need to change is evident, he appears unable to change things. I hope I am wrong.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today was a perfect example of how badly we're lacking a creative force from the midfield & options upfront. I wish I had the patience and confidence of Div that we'll be alright, because I'm seriously worried that our inability to land attacking players during preseason will cost us. Even if we land a couple of players during the week, the chances are that it'll take them 2-3 games to reach match fitness & sharpness.

St Johnstone have hit the ground running this season & a defeat in McDiarmid Park will see us eight points behind one of the main contenders after only three games... Hope to feck we take something from that game, but it's difficult to see where the goals are going to come from.

As for today's game. I thought Lappin came onto a game in the 2nd half, although I was calling for him to be subbed before then. The moment when he cut the ball back straight to a Stranraer player SHOULD have been the correct ball. Unfortunately the supporting players ran behind the defender blocking the cross to the near post. I'm sure if we had someone like O'Neil who can pick out a position in the box we'd have scored.

I actually thought Mehmet did pretty well given his lack of fitness. Having said that Corcoran was rank rotten when he came on. Offered little despite playing in his supposed favoured position of being a left sided forward. Very disappointing.

As for Millen in midfield, please Gus never again. Some of his passing even from basic freekicks was abysmal. Would have liked to have seen Baird get a place on the bench, because we didn't particularly need a defensive midfielder late on in the game when Stranraer brought everyone back. A goal last week and dropped today? Don't understand the reasoning behind that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Todays performance wasn't pretty. Unfortunately, because of our defensive record, opponents this season at Love street are going to defend deep and in large numbers more often than not. We'd better get used to it.

post-1867-1123978513_thumb.jpgeight defenders plus the goalie!

What we need to do is find a better way of dealing with it rather than simply punting high balls up to Kean. Today we had a 6ft + striker up front and I recall few times where his height was called upon.

Of course, I rather not see high balls up to either of them. Playing 3-5-2 should allow the team to strike an excellent balance between defending in numbers AND attacking in numbers. We defended well(we couldn't really fail when we started with 5 recognised centre halfs), however, our attacks today consisted of long, high balls.

I always believed that the point of wing backs was to promote one-twos up the wing, pacey runs with good crosses in to the box at the end of it. (Isn't this where a lot of our goals came from when Nicolson and Ross played these positions?) I trully believe that Reid, Van Zanten and Corcoran are easily capable of this kind of football but they need to be given the chance. What's the point of having a 5 wide midfield when you don't use it?

Murray put in another excellent shift today. He made some excellent passes and some cracking runs from deep. Also, despite what people have said, I thought Lappin played well. Granted, he made some mistakes towards the end but he also got crosses into some dangerous areas (he put the ball across the six yard box...but no one was there to finish it!). People are complaining about not having playmakers but i think when he was pulled into the centre of midfield last season Simon showed he is more than capable. Also, if Corcoran can live up to his pre-season promise then he will create plenty of opportunities in the coming months.

With a few additions to the squad, we are easily capable of beating any team in the league. What we have to do is start playing to our strengths and take every game to the other team. What we cannot do is bottle it when teams like Stranraer come to Love Street and adopt pish, negative tactics. All credit to Stranraer...they came with one aim and that was not to concede and the did it well.

We have to bear in mind that it is very early in the season. I'm sure that Gus is a good enough manager to see where the team is failing and sort it out accordingly.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Today showed that our signing priority must be an attacking midfielder, not a striker. I don't think Michael Owen could score goals for us just now.

And the boo boys can F*CK OFF.

15 mins to go and a poor forward pass is followed by loads of boo's.

Don't they get it?

This aint going to help the team play better.

They players heads start to drop when this happens.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

No disrepect to ian maxwell whos never put a foot wrong for saints,,but why is that dickhead mcpherson playing him wing back, why today at home to stranrear( no disrepect) are we playing 6 defenders,gus f**k off

186023[/snapback]

it the second game of the season ffs,if your going to talk like this you should f*ck off.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pretty much agree with the general concensus....we were very poor today and are sadly lacking in the midfield.I suspect Keano and mehmet might do well with the right kind of service but on present showings will they get it?

Strangely enough we are crying out for a player like Ricky.It's always the way. :(

Still it's early days and the team needs all the support we can give them.They are professional athletes and they and Gus know that a home draw against a team like Stranraer is unacceptable.Funnily enough I have always felt we are a bit like the National team in many respects.We go through spells when we need to rebuild and wonder where the next crop of stars is going to come from.We bring in youngsters and full of promise and many of them fail to achieve the dizzy heights reached at yoputh level.When faced with what is considered lesser opposition we make a right arse of it and this is followed by a huge outcry against the manager and underachieving players.

Conversely when we are up against a Bigger team we raise our game to such a level that we usually come away with a narrow defeat...considered to be a moral victory.This is followed by renewed enthusiasm and real hope for the future..until we play another diddy team and make an arse of it again.And so on...and so on.....

Cheer up guys.

As they say in Trainspotting it's shite being scottish...and a lot of the time it's shite being a saints fan too.But you know as well as I that when the good times come....they are always worth the wait.

MON THE SAINTS.......AND SCOTLAND TOO! :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday's game was one of the worst I have seen at Love Street for a very long time. We played the game at a pedestrian pace where, being at home we should have been playing the game at pace. We have always played our best football when we play it at pace

I have been saying for some time now that what we need is a midfielder who CAN PASS A BALL and we do not have one in our squad. If we had such a player our current stirke force of Keane, Mehmet and others would score goals but to continually play this high ball is a total waste of time.

I accept that Stranraer came for a point and to play 10 behind the ball is nothing short of criminal and I am sure we will come up against tis tactic again and again so we need to have the game plan to counteract it

As far as yesterday's report card ............

Hinchcliffe Didn't have much to do but doesn't look confident

Reid One of our better players, prefer him on other wing

Maxwell Not a wing back but didn't do much wrong

McGowne Slow and lacking in passing ability and thought

Potter Sound game should be a starter every week

Broadfoot Not one of his better games, should look up more and pass

Millen Abysmal, out of position, cannot pass, be at sweeper

Murray Best player by a mile

Lappin Tried hard but lacking something, crossing is poor

Kean Missed another chance(2 in 2 games) but needs better service

Mehmet Looks if he could be good signing, needs match practice

McGinty Looked sharp and gave us an alternative

Corcoran Non-existant but should be made to hug the touchlne

Van Zanten Did well and should be a starter

I would drop McGowne, bring Millen to sweeper maybe, switch Reid to the left, bring in Van Zanten

It is still early days but unless there are some signings in the middle of the park, a change from the long ball tactic and playing with a bit more zip we will be one of the also rans again. Even after 3 games Saturday is a massive game as a gap of 8 points will be hard to recover from

I also agree that we should get behind the team and stop the booing but it is very difficult when we see a display like yesterday and the appearance that many were just going thorugh the motions with little or no endeavour or spirit

Link to comment
Share on other sites

it the second game of the season ffs,if your going to talk like this you should f*ck off.

186042[/snapback]

Im f**king off nowhere my friend i was supporting saints when you where still shiting yellow, if you think yesterday was acceptable then you dont have clue what your talking about, just for the record iwas not one of the boo boys but i understand why they booed, gus in the papers all week urging the saints fans to get behind the team then dished up that, hope jeffries gets bagged soon cos killie are welcome to gus :(:(:(

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Im f**king off nowhere my friend i was supporting saints when you where still shiting yellow, if you think yesterday was acceptable then you dont have clue what your talking about, just for the record iwas not one of the boo boys but i understand why they booed, gus in the papers all week urging the saints fans to get behind the team then dished up that, hope jeffries gets bagged soon cos killie are welcome to gus :(  :(  :(

186060[/snapback]

Its not an acceptable performance, but your own performance on these boards in the last 3 days, shows someone should be sacked, and its not mcpherson :wink:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Its not an acceptable performance, but your own performance on these boards in the last 3 days, shows someone should be sacked, and its not mcpherson  :wink:

186063[/snapback]

What are not allowed to have an opinion on this forum,just agree with you and everything will be dandy, dont think so, your just a yes man, what is it insecurity will nobody be your pal if you disagree with them,, grow up :P:P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

What are not allowed to have an opinion on this forum,just agree with you and everything will be dandy, dont think so, your just a yes man, what is it insecurity will nobody be your pal if you disagree with them,, grow up :P  :P

186067[/snapback]

Of course your allowed to have an opinion, but i dont really think theres any need to call our manager a dickhead, show your bigotted side in calling catholics bead rattlers etc.

Just shows what level of intelligence you have if you have to resort to that level of language to try and get your point across

:rolleyes:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I find it interesting that some feel that Jeffries will be given the hump at Killie. This is a team that have just beat Aberdeen away and then humped Motherwell 4-1. So, on what grounds would Killie sack their manager? Tosh as usual. McPherson is going nowhere and in any case he has not yet proven his own credentials as a manager and certainly nowhere near good enough at this moment to manage or be considered for an SPL club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yesterday's game was one of the worst I have seen at Love Street for a very long time. We played the game at a pedestrian pace where, being at home we should have been playing the game at pace. We have always played our best football when we play it at pace

186055[/snapback]

Agree completely with that. We knew that Stranraer would come and sit in against us, but our approach actually let them do that. It was a fairly typical mistake for Saints, it's as if they thought that somehow their quality would see them through. We should be looking to take the game to the opposition from the word go, to try and stretch them, but by messing about with the ball at the back for ages before resorting to aimless punts is just playing into their hands.

Any time Kean got the ball and held it up yesterday, he had no option but to play it straight back down the middle of the park to Millen or a defender. We should have players running off him, or players out wide, but yesterday we seemed to want to sit back. Surely the reason we signed Corcoran was to give us that kind of outlet, yet the first opportunity to play him in that role arises and he's on the bench so a centre half can get a game at left wing-back?? :blink:

On another note, was Reilly just dropped yesterday? I thought he had a good game at Dundee. I never rated Millen as a midfielder playing against us, but at sweeper he's been excellent. I have no problem with Gus giving Potter his chance (and he was steady enough) but it shouldn't mean the rest of the team has to be moved around.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some coments suggest that Gus should have had his system worked out during the pre-season preparations. Well, given the variables of injury, form lack of desirable players, Gus's experiments, as with other managers, is an ongoing process througout the season.

How fickle we are. Remember the upbeat atmosphere last week? Where is it now with some of you? :sheep:sheep

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On another note, was Reilly just dropped yesterday? I thought he had a good game at Dundee. I never rated Millen as a midfielder playing against us, but at sweeper he's been excellent. I have no problem with Gus giving Potter his chance (and he was steady enough) but it shouldn't mean the rest of the team has to be moved around.

186101[/snapback]

According to Karen on the offiical site Reilly was injured. Which, given he was on the bench, is a bit sh*t on Baird who scored last week and dropped out of sight.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Was totally confused by yesterday. Issues we spent the 1st half of last season establishing raised themselves again with no need.

Millen in the center of midfield, I know im not the first person to say it but it really did beggar belief, especially with Reilly and Corky on the bench (although Corky failed to impress when he came on)

Van Zanten on the bench. To be honest, despite playing about 20 mins, I thought he was comfortably our best player. Was Gus trying to prove something by leaving him out? I wasnt at Dundee so I dont know how he played but no one seems to have complained too much about him.

And why was Mcgowne finding himself out wide right so much. Frequent nose bleed territory from someone of his pace and ability. When he sticks to defending he fine! Maxwell also, shouldnt have been playing winback, left of a back 3 and left fullback only i think.

Next week I'd be tempted to drop Millen and McGowne and go with Maxi Potter and Broadfoot in defence. Corky left wing, DVZ right, Lappin, Reilly Murray midfield and Kean & McGinty upfront. It cant be any worse than this week, we were truly awful! Im not panicking yet, I just feel some player left us and themselves down yesterday. This is not an easy league, the quality is far better this season and i think the players should realise that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Next week I'd be tempted to drop Millen and McGowne and go with Maxi Potter and Broadfoot in defence. Corky left wing, DVZ right, Lappin, Reilly Murray midfield and Kean & McGinty upfront.

186152[/snapback]

Theres no chance in hell of gus dropping both Kev and Andy, they will probably be both still in the squad. I certainley wouldnt play McGinty as a striker ahead Mehmet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...