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Whacking Day Part II - Grangemouth Edition


BishopBrennan

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Telfer saying they were solely focused on football and McKinnon wasn't a motivating factor for the match.

 

Well maybe it should have been seeing as the team weren't motivated enough to even muster a meaningful chance at goal until the 85th minute during a complete nothing of a performance.

 

https://gmfc.net/2018/12/18/telfer-falkirk-draw-was-a-point-gained/

 

Nonsense, best chance of the game was just before HT. Think it was Thomson who slipped just as he shot over the bar.

 

Were you even at the game mate?

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We are celebrating a point against a team that are rank rotten from chairman to fans and who are rightfully bottom

Of the league.

 

I hope JJ is more inspiring to the players than he is fans with his god awful videos and summary of football. Boring!

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We are celebrating a point against a team that are rank rotten from chairman to fans and who are rightfully bottom

Of the league.

 

I hope JJ is more inspiring to the players than he is fans with his god awful videos and summary of football. Boring!

 

I've stopped watching.  It's a bit low key.  Lacks passion.  I'm not calling for him to be sacked, because he has to work with what he's got and there are clear deficiencies in the squad, plus injuries have weakened us.  Having got the job, he deserves time to make it work.  January will be crucial as we must sign someone who can score goals - if Denny recovered, he might make a difference as he looked as if he and Bob could work together, but frankly it wouldn't surprise me if Denny didn't recover until the end of May.  What is it with us and injury-prone strikers?

 

If I didn't have a season ticket I probably wouldn't bother going on Saturday.  Enthusiasm is at a low ebb.

"Any nation given the opportunity to regain its national sovereignty and which then rejects it is so far beneath contempt that it is hard to put words to it."

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The Snake would no doubt have us in a healthier position but the squad’s pish. Can’t be arsed going to Cappielow these days.

Not at all sure that he would. The Falkirk squad that he took over was assembled on a far greater budget than ours and pre- season was touted to do very well.

 

But then we will never know so we can speculate endlessly.

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JJ still does not know his preferred/best formation and I do not believe he fully understand do the squads weaknesses as time and time again we must endure shoddy defending, powderpuff forwards and the midfield looking as though they have no clue what is being asked of them.

 

I have little confidence in JJ and can see the writing being on the wall come February when he signs a bunch of underwhelming players.

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JJ still does not know his preferred/best formation and I do not believe he fully understand do the squads weaknesses as time and time again we must endure shoddy defending, powderpuff forwards and the midfield looking as though they have no clue what is being asked of them.

 

I have little confidence in JJ and can see the writing being on the wall come February when he signs a bunch of underwhelming players.

We've been forced to play Kilday through injuries and he's been a real weak link so not sure what he can do about this. The two new full backs haven't exactly shone either so it's difficult to build on that.

 

Same goes with the forwards - McHugh has been better this year but we don't have great options up there.

 

The midfield just about get pass marks. On Saturday I thought they controlled most of the game but there was absolutely nothing up top there's never going to be many chances.

 

I've not been massively impressed by JJ but when looking at the squad I think it would be difficult for any manager to mould it into a good unit without a couple of additions.

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TBH it's a pretty damning indictment of the squad that we're being "forced" to play the guy who was captain until relatively recently. I bear no ill will towards Kilday, and there's no way this is easy for him after his injuries, but realistically players shouldn't be going from key squad members to total liabilities so quickly. Giving the armband to such a young guy was always going to be a gamble and it looks like it hasn't paid off.

 

Maybe he can recover his old form, but it's not looking good.

EOho8Pw.png

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I don't really think Johansson has earned the right to have the make-up of the squad as  an excuse.

 

Regardless of any imbalances, look at how the midfield, and particular Tidser were functioning early in the season - where he was functioning in Tidser's case - compared to now. He's took somebody who was on course for his best ever season, dragged him further back the park, played him a midfield 2 at times and and has largely nullified his treat more than any defender could. Millar isn't as commanding, McAlister isn't as good, MacLean has disappeared, McKeown has faded badly (although admittedly that could just be down to the player).

 

There's things that were good about our team that are no longer good in terms of style, system and individuals. They haven't been replaced by another distinguishable style or shape, they've just disappeared.

 

You need to earn the right to excuses and Johannson hasn't done that.

AWMSC

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Certainly agree about Tidser.  Been fairly invisible since the Thistle game.  We used to get goals from him but now he doesn't seem to get anywhere near the opposition goal.

"Any nation given the opportunity to regain its national sovereignty and which then rejects it is so far beneath contempt that it is hard to put words to it."

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We've been forced to play Kilday through injuries and he's been a real weak link so not sure what he can do about this. The two new full backs haven't exactly shone either so it's difficult to build on that.

 

Same goes with the forwards - McHugh has been better this year but we don't have great options up there.

 

The midfield just about get pass marks. On Saturday I thought they controlled most of the game but there was absolutely nothing up top there's never going to be many chances.

 

I've not been massively impressed by JJ but when looking at the squad I think it would be difficult for any manager to mould it into a good unit without a couple of additions.

 

This is exactly the issue, though. No one disputes that the squad is imbalanced, and it's entirely accurate to point out that we didn't have enough games under McKinnon for the deficiencies to really start showing, which may have given people a false impression of the quality of the squad and could explain why no one was highlighting them under McKinnon to the extent they were after several games under Johansson.

 

However, even accounting for our lack of depth, with the defence having to include at least one and often two of Tumilty who's hopeless and Kilday who's seemingly been finished by injuries, a midfield with only two natural wide players, one of whom is that shameless charlatan Tiffoney, as well as two players who have been largely anonymous in McAlister & Telfer, and having no centre forwards good enough apart from Johnstone who's been injured pretty much all season, Johansson has still managed to make things worse. Individuals who are good enough have regressed under his management.

 

As an example, you mention the full backs. While acknowledging the small number of games that covers, McKeown was solid under McKinnon and in Johansson's first couple of games. After a few weeks under JJ he started looking less and less assured, continuing to do so to the point where he was getting absolutely roasted against a League Two side. Is this merely a coincidence and he had been uncharacteristically good in his first few games with the player who got torn to bits against Peterhead being a truer reflection of his quality, or has he lost his way because he's being managed badly? One of those is considerably more likely than the other.

 

Anyone who believes Johansson is hamstrung by the squad and powerless to do better only needs to look at the regression in Michael Tidser's performances in the last few weeks. He had been our best player game in game out for weeks - and to be clear that did include several games under Johansson as well - but all of a sudden games are completely passing him by. We've got a player there who's good enough to drag a mediocre team to results by himself, as we've seen him do in other Morton sides when he's been surrounded by utter crap in midfield without a player halfas good as Chris Millar beside him, yet Johansson has contrived to completely negate his undoubted quality by playing him deep when we all know that he can excel as the most advanced of a midfield three. If you have a player as good as Tidser at this level you should set your midfield up to get the most out of him; he's set it up to get the least.

 

While the deficiencies were always there, maybe the reason people are focusing so much on them now isn't that they hadn't come to the fore properly due to the small number of games under McKinnon but simply because McKinnon was capable of overcoming them to get results and Johansson isn't. If that's the case then the issue isn't that we've got a manager hamstrung by the squad he inherited and we need to give him a window to resolve it (no doubt if we're still struggling come the end of February the argument will change to it not being fair to judge someone on January and he needs a summer window to properly change things). It's that we've got a manager who isn't good enough to get results with players who are capable of better and we should appoint one who can.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

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We've been forced to play Kilday through injuries and he's been a real weak link so not sure what he can do about this. The two new full backs haven't exactly shone either so it's difficult to build on that.

 

Same goes with the forwards - McHugh has been better this year but we don't have great options up there.

 

The midfield just about get pass marks. On Saturday I thought they controlled most of the game but there was absolutely nothing up top there's never going to be many chances.

 

I've not been massively impressed by JJ but when looking at the squad I think it would be difficult for any manager to mould it into a good unit without a couple of additions.

 

Sadly that has been the case for the past three or four seasons. Our squads are that small that it always feels like it's just a case of who is available that decides the team.

 

Duffy was very fortunate that it worked out more than not. JJ has not been as lucky so I'd agree that he really needs to make additions to the squad before we can get a better idea of his managerial ability.

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