League Cup 2024/25

[thehustler]

7 minutes ago, Brian Skelton said:

Imrie's post match comments should be interesting.

Maybe he'll complain about the standard of coaching and poor player recruitment? Or maybe its all the players fault? Especially the younger ones. His coat is already on a shaky nail.

Edited July 13 by thehustler

[Chesh]

Well the board can most likely write off any additional funds from progressing in the cup.

 

Unless we beat st johnstone the chances of being one of the best runners up is pretty much already gone 

[Cappiecat 1.2]

6 minutes ago, thehustler said:

His coat is already on a shaky nail.

Is it fuck, behave yourself.

[Mr.Blue]

20 minutes ago, thehustler said:

Maybe he'll complain about the standard of coaching and poor player recruitment? Or maybe its all the players fault? Especially the younger ones. His coat is already on a shaky nail.

You're talking absolute pish.

Can understand people being frustrated after today's result but the team need time to gel and also need time to embed Dougies ideas. I'm happy to give that time however I can't see past the manager continuing to play Kirk Broadfoot while he gives away 2 goals a game.

[RossMcC1874]

Back down to earth with a bump. Of course it's one game but 3-0 against a team two leagues below you is piss poor, I understand it's a new squad and some guys who haven't played at this level but there really isn't any excuses for that level of performance. 

Still need someone who knows where the net is at this level and another option in midfield and Broadfoot to be binned permanently and only to be used in an emergency if Imrie persists with him then its going to really cost him. 

[LargsTON]

1 hour ago, irnbru said:

The worrying thing is that it's easy to point at Broadfoot but we're lucky only to be 3 down and the rest of the team look terrible too. Reynolds in particular looks out his depth and lazy. 

I wonder how much scouting was done on Reynolds?  If the guys a lazy player I'm surprised Imrie signed him.

[irnbru]

1 minute ago, LargsTON said:

I wonder how much scouting was done on Reynolds?  If the guys a lazy player I'm surprised Imrie signed him.

Might not be used to playing through the middle but I thought he looked like he had given up after about half an hour so being out of position shouldn't make a difference. That said, he was back defending near the end of the game but didn't really do much or challenge for anything up top. 

[Chesh]

Shouldn't Davies be through the middle and Reynolds out wide?

[irnbru]

17 minutes ago, Chesh said:

Shouldn't Davies be through the middle and Reynolds out wide?

Maybe, but today neither of them done much to show they'd do a job in either position. 

[TONofmemories]

That was pitiful. Some of our support didn't cover themselves in glory and neither did Imrie telling someone to fuck up

[dunning1874]

I'm keeping in mind that two seasons ago we lost 2-0 at Clyde and still went on to finish 5th with 57 points. There's no need to condemn us to a disastrous season on the back of that, every new signing should get time to gel, but there are serious alarm bells nonetheless.

Thoughts of our defence looking to have more depth than last season were entirely based on more bodies meaning Broadfoot was further from the starting XI. If he's going to be selected regardless of others being fit (based on the entirely fictional in 2024 notion that he can pass the ball; funnily enough he is not as good at 39 as he was 10 years ago) then we're actually not stronger there at all, though at least Ballantyne was one of the few players who came out of today with credit and is obviously an upgrade on French even if he hadn't.

The attacking players all need time to adjust and get used to each other but Reynolds and Davies looked so far out of their depth today you can't help being a bit worried. Quite apart from the levels they've came from, based on their careers to date you'd have thought first and foremost Davies is seen as an option at centre forward and Reynolds as a winger; what then is the thought process behind playing Davies on the right and Reynolds through the middle? You'd have thought the urgency to gel would make it all the more important to play them in their preferred positions in the League Cup.

This is entirely me speculating and maybe it's 2+2 = 1314, but if the reason Imrie has moved Davies out wide is because he's already seen enough to write him off as a centre forward that is seriously worrying. He needs time to adjust but he got absolutely ragdolled by League Two players today, who are to be fair a much higher standard than he'll be used to from the Welsh Premier.

I worry that the idea of adopting a passing style has come with not being the same team out of possession. Airdrie got plaudits for what they did with passing it last season but they were capable of mixing it up when they wanted and more importantly were absolutely excellent off the ball, hounding the opposition defence to an even better extent than we did two seasons ago. If we're giving up on that pressing game - and maybe it was just dysfunction through a team still really needing to gel rather than a choice but no one in front of Wilson seemed to have an iota of positional sense when East Fife had it today - then that's certainly going to be a lot to ask of the defence when we invite teams to come at us. At times it was like having three Ali Crawfords when East Fife had the ball in midfield today, no one even knew what shutting the ball down meant never mind actually doing it.

[DumfriesTon]

No pass marks other than Garrity and maybe Ballantyne. Garrity was excellent when he came on. 

Broadfoot is done. Actually feel sorry for him now - just horrendous and is as good as at least a goal a game. Although Boyes and Delaney weren't much better. Reassuring though that he was subbed so Imrie can clearly see he was having a nightmare. And Blues. 

Concerned about Davies and Reynolds although I feel they're both in the wrong position at the moment. Definitely need a #9 or two and a proper midfielder as Gillespie and especially Blues are not good enough. 

I'm not panicking as I think we'll get better in time and the pitch was pretty diabolical but I do fear for us a little if our next few signings aren't of the needed level. 

Also some of the shouts from the support today were horrendous. Pretty embarrassing stuff.

Edited July 13 by DumfriesTon

[thehustler]

1 hour ago, Mr.Blue said:

You're talking absolute pish.

Can understand people being frustrated after today's result but the team need time to gel and also need time to embed Dougies ideas. I'm happy to give that time however I can't see past the manager continuing to play Kirk Broadfoot while he gives away 2 goals a game.

Well have a blether in January mate. Hope you're proved right.

[Jamie_M]

 

[SassenachTon]

1 hour ago, Jamie_M said:

 

No disrespect whatsoever to Dougie, but I'm not massively convinced by this. I admire the commitment to improve the playing style and move on from the 'lump it and hope' approach, I admire the fact that Dougie's trying to move things forward in terms of fitba quality and the graduation towards the passing game, I respect the fact that he has a limited budget and can only sign available players who are affordable, and I admire the fact that he always backs his players and looks to the next game, using this one as a lesson learned and a stepping-stone to the future.

The Broadfoot situation has been discussed endlessly and I'm in complete agreement. I only made it up for a handful of games last season, but the player I watched was a slow, lumbering, shadow of his former self who has no place in any form of the competitive game, especially given his propensity to shed goals and penalties through abject stupidity, complete lack of positional awareness, and what appears at times to be sheer desperation. For Dougie to seemingly give such a fitba geriatric a permanent 1st-XI start is baffling enough - but to give him the captaincy as well? I have absolutely NO idea what's going on there.

I also don't especially buy the 'he's shite - but that's because he's on the wing rather than in the centre' argument. A professional can either play fitba - or he can't. A few yards to the left or the right shouldn't make the slightest fucking difference to his workrate, his commitment, his skill level, or how he performs.

Early days though. Way too early to anticipate how this will pan out and no knicker-wetting required. So much is new, untried and untested, and one poor result ultimately means nothing in the overall scheme of things. Given Dougie's track record of extracting the absolute best from his players, I'm hoping that today represents nothing more than a 'work-in-process' building block towards better things.

#MonehTon

Edited July 13 by SassenachTon

[HamCam]

That was a tough watch. We were comfortably out-played by East Fife and disappointing to see their players seemed to want it more than Morton. No arguing, yet again Dick Campbell had Imrie's number. If we wish to play the passing game from the back we have to expect the opposition to set up to frustrate and respond accordingly. Our reaction today was pitiful and no player is exempt from criticism. As everyone, apart from Imrie can see, Broadfoot is so far past it, it is excruciating to watch. No doubting he was a good pro in his day but his legs have gone and he makes the same costly mistakes time after time. We desperately need a presence in midfield and a replacement for Oakley. While it is too soon to judge the new boys it is seriously concerning how out their depth Davies and Reynolds looked. 

In the highlights you might pick up Blues and Broadfoot both got subbed after a running shouting match with Imrie. My take on the Broadfoot incident was he actually insisted on being taken off after the verbals. As for the fan/fans who decided early on to shout personal abuse at Imrie what did you expect to achieve? I know some fans clapped Imrie's response in kind but I thought it was equally inappropriate. We all have to do better.

Ending on a positive, I do think the training kit looks very smart.

[SassenachTon]

15 minutes ago, HamCam said:

In the highlights you might pick up Blues and Broadfoot both got subbed after a running shouting match with Imrie. My take on the Broadfoot incident was he actually insisted on being taken off after the verbals.

Concerning. It doesn't bode well for squad solidity and team spirit, does it? Especially coming from the captain and a long-standing player. Fuck knows what the new boys must think.

[standman]

I’ve seen the team twice now. It’s very early days.

The concerns based on what i’ve seen so far include benching Baird to accommodate Broadfoot. Boyes isn’t exactly commanding as yet either.

Delaney has yet to settle at left back.

If Davies is a goalscorer why are we playing him wide right?

Likewise if Reynolds isn’t a goalscorer then why is he playing through the middle ?

 

 

[irnbru]

50 minutes ago, SassenachTon said:

No disrespect whatsoever to Dougie, but I'm not massively convinced by this. I admire the commitment to improve the playing style and move on from the 'lump it and hope' approach, I admire the fact that Dougie's trying to move things forward in terms of fitba quality and the graduation towards the passing game, I respect the fact that he has a limited budget and can only sign available players who are affordable, and I admire the fact that he always backs his players and looks to the next game, using this one as a lesson learned and a stepping-stone to the future.

 

This was never the approach. We pressed high up and were good at winning second balls and had players that worked that system well. We actually had most possession in a lot of the games last season as well just that wouldn't happen if it was simply hit and hope. 

I don't think there was any real need for a full change of approach and it worked. The issue was it relied on a couple of key players and we didn't have a good enough squad to compensate for that. Being quick on the break and hard to play against annoyed teams and they moaned about us just being a big strong team but personally I think a lot of that reputation was sour grapes. 

[vikingTON]

1 hour ago, SassenachTon said:

No disrespect whatsoever to Dougie, but I'm not massively convinced by this. I admire the commitment to improve the playing style and move on from the 'lump it and hope' approach, I admire the fact that Dougie's trying to move things forward in terms of fitba quality and the graduation towards the passing game, I respect the fact that he has a limited budget and can only sign available players who are affordable, and I admire the fact that he always backs his players and looks to the next game, using this one as a lesson learned and a stepping-stone to the future.

What evidence is there to show that your preferred style of play is a "move forward" in terms of this professional club meeting its key targets - in this or any other season? What objective evidence is there to show that this would "improve" on the previous two campaigns? 

There's only one thing - massively - unconvincing here, and it's the mantra that braying bores in the Cowshed have, that predictably had its dinner money stolen by a Dick 'dick' Campbell side today. You got what you wanted - and look at the absolute nick of a result it produced. 

Perhaps Imrie has been spooked by Rhys McCabe's largely unjustified rise to the top of managerial chat in the top flight, but what is most striking from that interview is that the objectives are currently muddled. We want to implement this new plan A, but if that's not working then the players are supposed to decide on a plan B during the game. That's just not realistic: not with the attributes of the players in the team (sand-dancers who would get bullied with a more direct approach) as well as the lack of experience to make that decision. If you want that decision-making on the park then you need Gillespie there and hold him to account as the experienced midfielder if the team doesn't adapt. 

My biggest concern is that we have absolutely no room for manoeuvre in this season's Championship to insist on a particular playing style and get results. There are no obvious or even likely also-rans to prop us up: we will be those also-rans propping everyone else up unless everyone wakes up and smells the coffee. 

If we can add a central midfielder and centre forward of decent quality then we will of course improve, but the fundamentals of a competitive team are not there yet. Establishing that must be the priority. 

Edited July 13 by vikingTON