glasgow sheep

You mean AWESOME!!!

I thought so, where does this lad play?

So does that mean we're still not getting Bassey?

It would have been boring otherwise.

I would like to see Sone or Pawlett up against him, I mean he was slow 2 seasons ago. Makes more sense than our signing however.

In another swap deal with Derek?

I would completely disagree. On first impressions it's an absolute abortion of a deal for us. If, and it's a pretty massive if, this means we get Bassey and another couple of players (probably another FB and a midfielder of some sort) and if Velicka stays fit and reproduces the form of 3-4 years ago then it might be ok. Currently our first team squad (from redweb): Keepers 2 (Howard, Langfield) Full Backs 0 Centre Backs 4 (Diamond, McArdle, Considine, Ifil) Wingers 2 (Aluko, Pawlett) Centre Mid 2 (Folley, Hartley) Utility Mid 1 (Young) Strikers 7 (Magennis, Vernon, Mackie, Maguire, Paton, Megginson, Velicka) Youth Benchwarmers 3 (Jack Midfielder; Shaughnessy Defender; Robertson Defender) That is utterly mental!

We are playing a formation with one striker. We have six at the moment meaning we play them out of position. How the fuck do we fit another striker in? If we sign him I presume Vernon and Magennis will be competing for a place on the bench, meaning a total waste of a wage we could/should have spent on a full back(s) and a midfielder

The more I look at it the worse it looks: Andrius Velicka 2010-11 No Games 2009-10 1 sub appearance for Bristol City 2008-09 9 appearances 4 goals

Is this a "weakens both sides" type deal?

Why get another striker? We have hundreds at the moment ,admittedly none of them score, but has Velika not been injured for ages and not played 1st team football regularly for even longer? Added to that we are giving away our only real full back who provides cover all over the pitch. Seems a bit unnecessary to me.

Oh, I see

Some cunt has just sent me a text saying we are swapping Foster for Velicka

Is this thread still going....................

He might be if he was played up front where he did well for Killie....but we insist on playing him on the right wing

Is he the LB? Why don't we give him a go?

Super amazing goal crazy Hibs just lost 1-0 at Saints and the Arabs losing by the same score and just missed a pen against the Edinburgh huns

I missed this. The beginning of the season showed the formation can work, and, as I have suggested, can work better. However it has also shown it's flaws. This is my main worry with McGhee (and was my main problem with Calderwood): his inability to learn from his mistakes. We need to be far more flexible, and although 433/4231 is the formation that is dominating European football it doesn't mean we have an XI that can play it every week.

Were you?

I would never profess to being a tactical genius, or even having proper footballing ability or tactical understanding but here are my observations from the four games so far this season. We do not play 433. We play the (World Cup 2010) Dutch 4231. This, I think, could work really well for us. Mcghee loves his full backs to be defensive, rarely crossing the half way line and our current back four of centre backs fits the bill perfectly. Solid, unsophisticated defenders who will keep things tight at the back (most the time). We then have a defensive duo of Hartley and Folley who are experts at grafting in the middle of the park. Winning the ball, playing the simple pass, and moving the ball from the defensive back four to our attacking four. Then your attacking four of bright, skillful players with pace to burn. Pawlett wide right, Fyvie in the middle and Aluko out left, all with vision, control, speed and enthusiasm who can deliver in this formation and achieve things. All linking with the the target man up front who knows where the goal is (ok we don't have that yet but 10/11 ain't bad) Problem is when we don't have that XI available, or more importantly that front 4 available, the formations crumbles in to pieces. (The other problem is McGhee playing Pawlett out of position) To summarise this season (and spotted by most before today) We have no width without Aluko and Pawlett. Pawlett is horrifically wasted in the middle. Each game he has moments of genius but these have been exclusively when picking up the ball wide and having space to run at people. For me he is potentially the most exciting player since Jess. We probably only have a year or two of him, and to waste him as we have done this season is sacrilege. His speed and skill will destroy most full backs in this league. Played in a congested midfield he is lost, looks disillusioned and lacks the physicality to succeed. If we aren't playing these two wide we have NO width. Maguire and Mackie can do a perfectly good job for us through the middle but they are TERRIBLE in the wide positions they have been played so far this season. I think both players get too much abuse at times as they are being badly utilised by McGhee and will never achieve anything in the positions they are being asked to play....if I was Maguire I'd get out now otherwise he will be at Peterhead in two years. Both have ability and an eye for goal that we could use through the middle, but, as today proved, played out wide all they ensure is the most narrow, blunt afc attack in history. Fyvie provides the link between our defensive midfielder and the three attacking players, the Sneijder role. Without him we have nobody even close to filling that position, yet I think we could probably get away with the 4231 with Maguire or Young in that role (it is the SPL after all). Thing is, if we have no Fyvie, Aluko or Pawlett (as he is being played out of position) we don't have the attacking players to play 4231. The formation hinges on having exciting players up front and without then it descends into the kind of performance we had today that too often was 45.....................1 Without these players it doesn't matter how good in theory the 4231 is, we have to play 442. Maggenis and Vernon both look like they need partners, a role that Maguire or Mackie could excel at give a chance. Our optimal 4231 can accommodate that. Today's 45...............1 can't. It seems so obvious. We have improved massively on last season but for me if we are to achieve anything in the next couple of years McGhee has to realise he has to utilise the players to the best of their abilities. 4231 can work but other formations may work better depending on the availability and form of players. He needs to acknowledge his formations strengths and weaknesses and learn from his mistakes and we could, maybe, be better than ok.

Mirror image of the St Johnstone game. They were slightly better than us, created more, and in the end probably deserved the win. Generally poor from the dons. Midfield to detached from our one striker, no width what so ever and our best player anonymous in the middle of the park (that's Pawlett btw). Ifil, Howard and McArdle were all ok. Rest were poor. Maguire and Mackie were terrible. One defeat doesn't end the promise we have shown this season but we missed Aluko badly today and the fans will have to be more patient if as 5th or 6th is the very limit of our ability this season.

I heard it was meant to be today but was pulled as it clashed with the europa league draw which was due to be packed full of scottish teams. Oops

Lose a CL place, keep 3 Euro spots. See this excellent website for the details: http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/access2010.html We drop to 15th next year but by 2012-13 are due to drop to the mid 20s unless we have a spectacularly successful season next year http://www.xs4all.nl/~kassiesa/bert/uefa/data/method4/crank2013.html

They can have him if we can get two full backs and a midfielder out of the fee

4-0 :wave: