vikingTON

Ross County are where they are in the league for good reason. A motlew crew of mercenaries who have no connection to each other as team mates, or it seems much time for each other as individuals either. Their keeper seems to despise his own defence. We earned a comprehensive win today but it wasn't due to some one-off, worldy performance (like when we scudded QoS 0-5, for example). Our performance was similar to the one against Arbroath last week, though going up an extra gear in terms of shape/pressing off the ball. On the ball we also benefited from a further week in the same system, with Shaw transformed into peak Antoine Griezmann playing behind two central forwards. I've been banging on about this since day 1 of this season and will take my victory lap now - we do not need to play a formation with wingers. In fact, we were far more dangerous in wide areas today without our Subbuteo-style, rigid 4-3-3/4-5-1 shape. The narrow starting shape still allowed Shaw and Moffat and Delaney (and sometimes Adeloye too) to drift around and completely overload the right side of their defence in particular. Had we spotted Delaney more often as the completely free out ball, it could easily have been 0-3 at half time alone. Longridge and Moore were excellent in winning their individual battles, but were greatly helped by the superb work rate and organised pressing from the front that limited all service to White/Hale. Playing with a partner even halved Adeloye's job off the ball - he can quite effectively corral the opponent down one side of the pitch, where we were able to then win the ball back with good numbers. The key difference between the margin of today's score and last week's equally deserved win was the nick of the opposition though. Arbroath were no mugs after losing the ball and fought hard to stay organised and win it back straight away. Ross County are hilariously, catastrophically inept at doing so. As soon as a Morton player earned a second of time today, a simple pass or out ball almost always presented itself, with little serious risk of losing the ball for the next passage of play. When Ross County coughed up possession, they never looked likely to win it back straight away, and so got picked off by well-worked Morton moves. My only concern from today is that 'Uncle Roy' may consider swapping over a manager, given how inept they were. Otherwise, so long as we stick to this setup (which also suits Garrity, Blues and Crawford very well - and takes a bit less of the holding burden off an improving Wilson), then we can be a match for any team in the division, home or away.

Findlay was an obviously good defender, which makes Celtic clinging onto Stephen Welsh instead for so long all the more baffling.

Nice try, but I'm not actually interested in playing whatever bizarre parlour game you've devised here. Option B, as per the link on the email, is dark navy. A cursory zoom on my phone confirmed this, to inform my voting choice within 60 seconds of the link actually working.

If the folk you've been talking to think it was black and white, then they should probably stop injecting bleach into their eyeballs first tbh.

Try some specs.

There's more than one good reason why GMFC are not shifting many kits, and aren't in a position to demand bespoke kit deals either.

I quite like both B and C, but neither are the proper Parma hoop top this once-proud club should insist on.

Erm, the entire M.O of this forum is "pointless conversation", which keeps the ad revenue trickling in.

What was more difficult about knocking the ball past some dumpling, tired after 85 minutes, and trusting your own pace to get clean through on the goalkeeper? Which he then did, quite easily. As above, just an absolutely bonkers criticism to make.

Why should he have played in Garrity, when his decision not to ended with him being clean through on the goalkeeper anyway? What guarantee was there that Garrity would control the pass and get through on goal (being at least a bit slower than McKay - giving defenders a chance to get goal side again - and that he would then score? Playing the ball across at the very end of the move is the clear, higher percentage decision to score, but to try and add on criticism all the way back to the halfway line is bonkers.

While I agree that Moffat plays much better with the ability to roam and switch positions, that role would also suit Garrity, and even Shaw (who could swap for Adeloye as the 'focal point' too, if needed). What does not suit any of them - and the team as a whole - is playing any two of them out wide. The Firhill shape and the one today are the way forward - there are weaknesses that opponents might exploit, but just copying the same shape as most of our direct competitors with worse options was a hopeless dead end. We could get a chasing at Dingwall next week playing in today's shape - but we could just as easily outplay them and get all 3 points. The win today was deserved as we had the better chances and should have finished the game off with Adeloye's chance, then the shot cleared off the line. I'm not going to criticise McKay for not passing up on a goal of the decade contender - which could be his only, Lewis Hawke level, cameo goal at Cappielow - to square it to any of our far from selfless forwards. One major concern for me today was Robertson, who looked really out of his depth both physically and technically. And if he's having a stinker with the ball, he needs to put in far more of a shift off the ball. That position is ideal for Blues though. Swapping Comrie for Ballantyne for the closing stages was a good move to add extra physicality when they piled their hammer-throwers on and forward to try and bludgeon in an equaliser.

Why are these bumpkin farmers allowed to produce two clearly incompatible kits, while everyone from Warren 'Iron Man' Hawke onwards insists that we can't have Parma hoops because of the terrible clash with... all the other yellow and blue teams in the SPFL? Launch the true kit for 26/27 and shove this in the face of 'the beaks', if they have the brass neck to complain.

He has been brought in as a coach as well IIRC, being the John Sutton figure in the squad is no big issue. The big issue is that the goals/assists return from all our wide players in their supposed 'prime' is also dung, and MOH didn't look out of place compared to their jobber performances too.

Sounds like a job for Sonny Hart or Cammy McPherson IMO.

It's November 1 and unless I've missed something, GMFC as yet has still provided no public update on the chief executive role vacated in the summer - or the Finance Director that they knew had to be filled since about 12 months ago, if not longer than thaf. This approach to club governance is unacceptable and if the current GMFC board are content with this, then they are the problem.

Couldn't happen to a more rancid football club than 'Raith Rovers'. The weest of shames.

And more strange given that we haven't recorded a couple of wins in the leagur at all, with this dung style of play and bloated mess of a squad. Tbh they need to dial down the level of engagement with the Tele, as it does neither Imrie nor the players any favours to have this weekly cycle of self-delusion. He did state that we allowed them to play right through the middle of the team and that we're still allowed to tackle earlier in the week, so I don't think they're being singled out. Either way, Corr should not be cutting around at all after his disgrace of a centre back performance last week.

Can we do better - I'm really not seeing any outstanding external candidates out there, that I'd be changing for right now. And by your own argument the internal option doesn't seen to bringing anything to the table. A manager's position can and often does become untenable regardless of that, but we're not at that point yet. Dalrada have over us (as yet) next to nothing that the MCT membership cannot freely remove. The partnership is due for discussion in January and I'm yet to see a persuasive argument for persisting beyond a basic 'money = full-time fitba = ambishun' pitch. I am somewhat concerned if and when GMFC is handing out any major contracts that extend beyond June 2026, because that's a cheque that we might not be able - or want - to fulfil minus Dalrada. There's a conflict of interests there, when prudent stewardship of the club would have us committing to nothing other than regen contracts beyond Dalrada's legal commitment. I'd like to have a successful 50-50 partnership between investors and MCT running the club, but the refusal of Dalrada to take even nominal value shares and the refusal of their hand-groomed chairman to take a normal accountability role raises alarm bells for me. I'm pretty confident that this level of informal, vibes-based scrutiny would not be tolerated within Brian Bonar's own company - so why should it be an acceptable method of running GMFC?

And Duffy's record was so great, that despite Chick Young touting him for the Scotland job (yes, really.. ) he actually went on to get... hee-haw other jobs in Scottish football management, above the joke outfit known as 'Clyde'. We have certainly had far worse managers than the boomers' great white knight Duffy, but let's be realistic. If he had taken over the dire situation on and off the park when slaphead Gus was finally binned, we'd have gone immediately down and would be in at best the 4th tier of Scottish football right now. And while there's no denying that Imrie is currently making a total hash of working with more resources, we also remain a total zoo behind the scenes as well. Those 'cosmetic' announcements and self-declared positive change from the Bonar interview a few weeks ago really aren't cutting the mustard, when there's no publicly accountable structure for even basic financial management and administration at GMFC right now.

We were shite before McPherson or Corr started playing though, this has been a rinse and repeat issue at Cappielow since being dominated on day 1 by a mediocre Dunfermline side. Our away record and performances have actually been reasonable.

I completely agree, with the addition that the pace of our play is far, far too slow to cause serious problems even when we do acheive the hallowed aim of 'playing the ball through the thirds'. It is being done at a glacial pace, and no defender (e.g. a centre back) steps forward to push the team 10 yards up the park quickly. It is just possession for possession's sake, similar to Johannson with a (usually) better defensive shape. The flip side to that is that every single away team at Cappielow this season has had the red carpet laid out for them to spend long periods on the ball and have a lovely Saturday afternoon, because we have too many sand dancers who either can't or won't press. Though given the ease at which Corr, Longridge etc. cough up possession from basic punts up the park, even a good press wouldn't necessarily solve our problems.

Let's not forget that Boyes was apparently the root of our problems last season. It's almost as if a handful of high profile, visible howlers doesn't outweigh the ability to stroll through the majority of games and win 70% of your first ball challenges. Not one defender has stepped up to Boyes' level, never mind Baird, and so we cough up cheap goals from almost nothing.

No and yes respectively. He's a professional footballer strutting around the place with that stupid Lord Farquaad look, who then makes himself as narrow as an HB pencil in trying to block the second goal. I also don't feel sorry for Sonny Hart because unless there's some screaming injustice at Cappielow, he is clearly miles out of his depth to not break into the team ahead of that. Tbh I have zero sympathy for anyone at the club right now. Of course, Imrie is personally recovering from an unimaginable tragedy. But the first team squad he has been entrusted to build and our larger, Douglas Rae only more incompetent 'ambishun' project are thoroughly dislikable. There is little serious competition for places: it's one jobber in, one jobber out on a tombola system. The only player I think who has been harshly treated (slightly) in the current lot is Blues. Storer has been blameless over the piece too, but his starting place is guaranteed anyway.

Looking forward to our 'false position table' being updated, on account of the rest of the division cruising off into the distance.