Squad for next Season - Page 38 - General Morton Chatter - TheMortonForum.com Jump to content
TheMortonForum.com

Squad for next Season


Recommended Posts

9 hours ago, vikingTON said:

Was Shiels 'style of football' only a positive for any young player who was getting thumped by Cowdenbeath or Hamilton that season? 

Obviously not, but would it have been a positive for a young player in the lowland league with a more than competitive squad under shiels compared to joining a team that low down the pyramid with a bunch of cloggers booting the ball up the pitch every time it comes near them? I'd say yes. 

Good people will do good things, bad people will do bad things, but only with religion do good people do bad things!

 

32.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, port-ton said:

Obviously not, but would it have been a positive for a young player in the lowland league with a more than competitive squad under shiels compared to joining a team that low down the pyramid with a bunch of cloggers booting the ball up the pitch every time it comes near them? I'd say yes. 

I don't recall Strapp ever needing a Poundland Guardiola figure to develop his game while on loan at Annan. Getting competitive minutes is about playing the football that the opposition allows you to do while still making an important contribution. Some idealised version of tippy-tappy football - facilitated only by bringing in a souped-up squad of mercenaries - is not actually setting up young players for the reality of playing for real football teams at a genuinely competitive level. 

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I’m guessing from Dougie’s comments and team selections that with everyone fit, then Lyon and Jacobs won’t be in the starting 11, whilst Blues, Gillespie and Easdale will start every match. Not sure what will happen in central defence when Lithgow’s “fit”. 

  • Downvote 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

27 minutes ago, DreamOakTree said:

I’m guessing from Dougie’s comments and team selections that with everyone fit, then Lyon and Jacobs won’t be in the starting 11, whilst Blues, Gillespie and Easdale will start every match. Not sure what will happen in central defence when Lithgow’s “fit”. 

How on earth did you work out that Easdale would start every match? Not a chance it will happen.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Easdale shouldn't be anywhere near the squad, let alone starting.  The league cup I can let go as we were never going to qualify after the Falkirk game, so no real harm by letting him live the dream, but the league is a different matter.  A player who barely gets a touch of the ball in 90 minutes is not playing football, they are spectating.  It would be very difficult to justify having him as a first choice striker with Quitongo & Muirhead in contention, let alone about half a dozen others who would be more effective. Putting Easdale in there even at Championship level is cruelty.

Edited by Alibi

"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."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

if Easdale is a starter in  league matches  will  be cancelling my  direct  debit  for both  season  book  and my  MCT  subscription .  I  cannot continue  to  watch  the dross we have been playing 

forever optimistic

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As I've said before, I don't mind (or at least can see why, more accurately) Easdale playing in those cup games, I think it was justifiable in that there was nobody else to go there and it makes sense to want to leave everybody else in their real positions to get them bedded in.......

However.

If we start seeing Easdale starting league games for any reason other than every other attacking players' legs are falling off (and even at that, stick the sub keeper up front ffs), then it is simply not acceptable and nobody other than Imrie is responsible for it. Put Quitongo in the middle, put Kabia in, try McGregor there, or Garrity, or god knows what else, but there's just no justification at all for Easdale being there. Even for his own sake, it'd be the best thing.

Edited by EanieMeany

AWMSC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really not fussed about Jacobs going on loan. Was never impressed with him tbh he had one semi decent season but he is painfully slow and offers nothing going forward, clearly Dougie didn't fancy him aswell as we barely saw him at all last season. Least this will free up a wage to get a striker in hopefully that has to be the main priority. 

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll not be getting my hopes up. We're probably paying half his wage, there can be no other reason he's gone on loan rather than permanently. 

We'll sign either nobody or a £200pw Duffy-esque 6 month ringer 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Hej said:

I'll not be getting my hopes up. We're probably paying half his wage, there can be no other reason he's gone on loan rather than permanently. 

We'll sign either nobody or a £200pw Duffy-esque 6 month ringer 

 

 

Or £200 we can put towards a decent loan by paying a portion of the wages.

  • Upvote 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I can see both sides of this. When the budget is stretched, McGrattan is our only creative central midfielder and Muirhead & Quitongo are our only centre forward options, we clearly need to make room to bring in the creative quality we're lacking and therefore can't be carrying all of Jacobs, Gillespie, Blues, Lyon and King in the squad. He's clearly the player Imrie had the least intention of using out of those five, he hasn't impressed since the 20/21 season when we were also a dogshit side that wasn't difficult to stand out in, and midfield is the area of the squad we could most afford to lose a player. For all those reasons this makes perfect sense, and bringing a centre forward and playmaker in are both much bigger priorities than keeping Jacobs around.

Thing is though, with Jacobs gone we're now in the position where the famously not injury prone Grant Gillespie is our only real holding midfielder. We need to hope King is capable of adequately stepping into that role when required, because we already know that Blues and Lyon aren't. Even at that King is also our only left back cover, so if we find ourselves with both Strapp and Gillespie out at the same time we'd have an issue there anyway. Imrie clearly doesn't rate Jacobs, but he wouldn't have been first to go for me.

While it's undeniable that he hasn't impressed and even at his best he was nothing more than a decent Championship player, he also wasn't really given a chance under Imrie. He made three starts in Imrie's time in charge; Easdale and Hynes have had more opportunities than that. We've had to move him out on loan because we can't find a club willing to cover his full wage. Freeing up some of the budget was entirely necessary, but when things are this tight finding yourself in the place where you've got some financial outlay on a player you can't use isn't great either.

This brings us back to decisions made with signings in the summer. Jacobs, Lyon, McGrattan and King were already under contract, with Wilson and Blues out of contract. We obviously needed another holding midfielder even if Wilson turned us down, as has come to pass with the signing of Gillespie.  If you've already got Jacobs, Lyon, McGrattan & King signed up and know you are definitely adding a natural holding midfielder while also needing a first choice playmaker, then where is the room in the squad to give Blues a contract? It can only come if one of those under contract players can be moved on at no cost to the club. This was evidently not possible, as we are still covering some of Jacobs' wage. We could have had more room in the budget by not handing out a contract in a position we were already adequately covered in, which has left us paying a player to play for 'FC Edinburgh' while we are pleading poverty.

Now maybe this isn't primarily Imrie's fault as he had the goalposts moved on him with a changing budget and he thought he didn't have to consider King part of the first team squad, or could sign up Blues while still having money available to add a playmaker and striker too. Maybe it is Imrie's fault as he did know what was available and blindly hoped more money might come along when that wasn't guaranteed, leading to the imbalanced squad we have. Regardless of the underlying reason though, it was the wrong decision.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

We don't *need* to play with a designated holding midfielder though. Why can't three central midfielders between them not be tasked with some basic organisation to just not all bomb forward at the same time? It's really not rocket science. 

  • Upvote 1

The site is supposed to be a place for the extended 'family' of Morton supporters - having an affinity with people that you don't know, because you share a love of your local football club. It's not supposed to be about point scoring and showing how 'clever' or 'funny' you are, or just being downright rude and offensive to people you don't know, because you can get away with it. Unfortunately, it seems the classic case of people who have little standing/presence in real life, use this forum as a way of making themselves feel as if they are something. It's sad, and I've said that before..

 

So, having been on Morton forums for about 15 years I guess, I've had enough... well done t*ssers, another Morton supporter driven away. You can all feel happy at how 'clever' you are

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, vikingTON said:

We don't *need* to play with a designated holding midfielder though. Why can't three central midfielders between them not be tasked with some basic organisation to just not all bomb forward at the same time? It's really not rocket science. 

We don't need to no, but the number of goals we conceded around the edge of our box before Wilson came in last season evidently made Imrie want one and showed that we were better defensively with one. Maybe King will just come to be good enough with his defensive positioning that we don't need to worry about it, as we do if Lyon and Blues are the deepest two.

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Brian Wake my Lord, Brian Wake

Oh Lord, Brian Wake

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, dunning1874 said:

We don't need to no, but the number of goals we conceded around the edge of our box before Wilson came in last season evidently made Imrie want one and showed that we were better defensively with one. Maybe King will just come to be good enough with his defensive positioning that we don't need to worry about it, as we do if Lyon and Blues are the deepest two.

Simply replacing Blues with a competent Championship footballer would be the best way to stop goals like that, it doesn’t necessarily need to be a dedicated pivot.

Edited by EanieMeany

AWMSC

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jacobs was the obvious midfield player to move on. Not only was he clearly not rated by Imrie but chances are he was one of the better paid members of the squad. While I remain to be convinced, all managers have valued Blues and he appears to be one of the first names on the team sheet. However you look at it this season is an opportunity for one of the young boys to step up and hold down a midfield position.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...