Ton v Dunfermline. Saturday 2nd August

[Chicken_Soup]

Happy with a point in the circumstances. With Blues, Crawford, Gillespie all missing from the starting 11 the midfield battle was always going to be difficult. But the positives are that we looked defensively solid, Storer seems like a great find and Moore again played well. Taylor faded but had some good moments and showed promise. 
 

In a game where we struggled to dominate, we made sure not to lose it. And we handled everything they had to throw at us from a series of set pieces that were incorrectly given by an incompetent referee. Hopefully there’s more to come in an attacking sense once our new forwards bed in, Shaw comes back, Garrity gets fit and we make our last few signings. Not a bad start.

[AyrshireTon]

Fairly even first half with Dunfermline finishing it the stronger side.

Second half they were the better side and we had Storer to thank for the point. Wilson had to stand off the play for much of the game after being booked and then warned. Adeloye would have been as well sitting in the stand - his decision making was poor and he won next to nothing in the air. Liked the look of Taylor.

The referee was shocking and from a home fan's POV, Dunfermline seemed to be awarded his more baffling decisions. Still, I've no idea why Lenny was booked. The Dunfermline players seemed to be fouling Moffat a lot early on and getting no more than a word in the ear. 

[vikingTON]

As for the game, while there were few chances overall we could not have complained had we lost it by the end. Started brightly but we looked weaker and (possibly) lacking pace to get to the ball as well - either that, or it was a lack of tactical understanding that had us chasing shadows too often. We also didn't seem to know how to tackle with strength and effectiveness - half of the moaning at referee decisions were caused by us being wrong side of a player trying to compensate for it.

The starting point for our problems today - by no means the only issue - is that the two centre backs could not gobble up the standard, aimless punts into the centre back channels that Baird and a much maligned Boyes swept up 80% of the time last season. While our pressing from the front was understandably disjointed, even when we did put pressure on the ball they could just clip a nothing ball into that channel and have a better than evens chance of controlling it, turning, and starting another attack. That rate is just not sustainable for having good perfomances and results from any game. 

That's a bigger alarm bell for me - we cannot defend from the front effectively if we cheaply cough up easy territory and possession behind the forward and midfield lines. Moore needs to learn when to be more aggressive and Longridge should quite frankly be competing for left back against Delaney with a proper stopper brought in instead. 

By no means a disastrous start, but the men against boys aspect of much of that second half was quite disturbing, given that they're hardly a crack outfit in this division. 

[RossMcC1874]

One more thing about yesterday was about how much physically we got bullied. I looked at the height and build of some of our squad and I really worry about the physical aspect of the game from that side.

Adeloye still looks overweight to me the lack of energy and pressing from him was alarming seems to just saunter around the pitch and not put in a shift he was guilty of it a few times last season as well. 

[Ferguson]

I thought it was our lack of experience and physicality in the middle that killed us. From the start we never looked comfortable in there and second half Dunfermline packed their midfield in tight to take advantage of it. 

It’s obviously correct to say we didn’t defend from the front at all, Adeloye was a waste of a jersey yesterday, but I think that issue was exacerbated by how easy it was to then get by our midfield after the press, or lack thereof. With Crawford and Gillespie back and Blues getting back to full fitness I’m confident we’ll be ok. We’re a winger and a centre back away from having a decent, balanced squad. 

[Chicken_Soup]

One of the most impressive aspect of Blues’ game is his ability to coordinate the press. I’m expecting an improvement in that regard with him back in the side, regardless of which youngsters might keep their place to play alongside him.

[Admin]

We've taken the decision to hide all posts that referenced why Imrie wasn't in the dugout yesterday. While no malice was meant by any of the posts, we think it's in poor taste to have a private matter like that discussed on the Forum.