RicoS321

Yep, back to some of the earlier season performances, against utd and Hibs spring to mind. We had a settled midfield two with Barron and Ramadani being decent as a pairing and beginning to understand each other. His first thought is to equate attacking with lots of players advanced, so puts Ramadani back in to the holding role with Barron and Duncan in front - completely nullifying Barron. Rather than change it when it was obvious we were going to lose a goal he waits until they score. By that point, our confidence is completely shot and theirs is the opposite. Coulson had done nothing to deserve a start, and should probably have been subbed sooner. The 3-1-4-2 doesn't work if Kennedy doesn't attack. I'm not sure which drugs he took before the St Mirren game, but he should be downing them at half-time. Duncan will be the one that's sacrificed on the back of all this of course. Ramirez on for Miovski and anyone for Kennedy. Need to get to grips with their dangerous young winger, no 5. Edit: McRorie too, Jesus Christ he needs to find a position he can actually play for ninety minutes.

I thought mentioning of him was banned?

In fairness, we don't need long term planning for every position (in fact, it's probably safe to say that long term planning doesn't exist in fitba), a couple of years is absolutely fine. Stewart is 30, Long 32, not much difference. I think it's good that we're at least looking for a right sided defender. A bit of experience to replace Stewart's experience is useful too, although experience is largely irrelevant if you're pish as we know.

I thought he looked terrible. Like a poor man's Greg Stewart. Edit: I didn't answer your question! He's still injured. I think he'll be quietly shifted on at the end of the season. Maybe get a couple of games in April/May once we've secured top of the bottom six.

And it's Stewart's, not Stewarts. Some people are just stupid.

Yep, it's not brilliant. The problem that we've had is inconsistency. If we'd just been like Hibs, mainly shite but occasionally good, Goodwin would be in a far better position. There should have been no expectation on Goodwin this season, and Cormack should have been very clear about that. It's completely unrealistic to expect any manager to build a consistent team from where we started in the summer (just as it was for Glass). Our major problems are with personnel. That has resulted in trying to shoehorn formations onto players rather than the opposite. He's consistently having to choose between two bad options, as we don't have the option to really mix things up. Put McRorie into midfield and watch Stewart and Richardson fuck us up from the back. McRorie at the back and watch us be overrun in midfield. Miovski on his own and he's anonymous. Duk alongside him and the midfield have to work twice as hard. Richardson or Kennedy at fullback. And so on (all laid on top of a chairman insisting on attacking fitba, playing out from the back etc). It all stems from not having numbers carried forward from one window to the next. We're a good couple of windows away from sorting that, given a successful return of 50% on signings. Cormack should have addressed that at the beginning of the season (he should have stressed it under Glass, instead of hanging him out to dry) and insisted that it was a transition season to rebuild the squad under new recruitment practices. It should have been reiterated by management at every step, after good games as well as bad. The summer investment, for me, means absolutely nothing. Recruitment at any level of investment is still an uncertainty, but it's almost always helped by having a semblance of a team to fall back on. Thon Hun-scouse fucker couldn't overhaul the Dons in a couple of years of massive investment, because we had an established side.

I've changed my Christmas list to ask for a centre back instead of a midfielder. I hadn't really thought it was possible for Stewart to be so bad that Goodwin might change his mind, but I'm hoping today's performance seals it. With the league's best right back in Matty Kennedy, we can push McRorie into midfield when required and we're sorted.

They had about a five minute spell before the red card where they pushed us back a little bit, but that's not unusual for a football match. We've got no right to expect to dominate a team for ninety minutes. We'd have easily held our lead if it wasn't for Stewart being a total fud. Tactics didn't cause the dithering on the ball, or the pass to Ramadani a few minutes earlier, it's up to the players on the park to know when to get rid of it and when not to. After we made the subs, we were doing okay. You're always going to lose the advantage when you have a player less. They weren't exactly pummeling us when Roos inexplicably took out Curtis fucking Main running away from goal (I mean, he takes six minutes to turn FFS). There was no tactical ploy that could have been made to prevent that. After that, you suggest that they sat back and let us have the space, as if we had zero bearing on that. If that was the case, then St mirren can think themselves lucky not to be leaving with a draw, as we had 2-3 great chances and should have scored. I agree about dropping players though, I'd definitely have Ramirez ahead of Miovski at the moment and a lamppost in place of Stewart. I think Roos has done well this season, but maybe a game off would send a message.

That's not the same setup as usual. Ramadani has been playing in front on his own, with Barron and Clarkson in front, we changed against the Hun to a two in front, which is a lot more balanced. That repeated today with few visible problems until Stewart started his shite. The Duk thing was risky but understandable. It had no bearing on the game. The tactics didn't lead to either of the penalties in the second half, just individual errors. Roos especially was under zero pressure. You say he doesn't have a clue and that he's relying on individual brilliance, but what do you actually expect against an on form team with ten men? It's not like we should be dominating them. We could have just sat in. We're doing okay.

Can't blame Goodwin for this game. We were doing everything right until the shocking defending started.

Can't see those....

That's shocking goalkeeping.

Why would he change it to a free kick though? Difficult one for the ref in fairness.

Waiting this out until halftime is high risk stuff. Duk is injured, take him off. Even if he recovers slightly, we still need to take one of the front two off, so just do it.

Yep. Difficult to say. I think the rule states that if the foul continues into the box then it's a pen. I couldn't tell whether the grab of his arm was in or if he dived in. Anyway, Stewart suspended is no bad thing.

Need a sub on. 4-4-1

Wouldn't have counted in the tennents sixes.

Pen for that? Weird.

What a hit from our dynamic young fullback. Pleased to see the same setup that started the Hun game too, that midfield two of Barron and Ramadani, with Clarkson ahead of them suits us. Richardson being replaced by anyone, or anything, only makes it stronger.

Personally, I think he's amazing. Always have.

I was going to say this on the Hun thread regarding why he didn't come on, but forgot. He picked up that injury against the Atlanta primary school team, which looked a sore one. I wonder if he only made the bench against the scum as an absolute last resort option. If he's tweaked something again, or isn't quite fit, then a family Christmas back home for a few days might not be the worst thing for him. His long term future is doubtful. He's just not quite got the pace to really cause teams problems and I don't see huge room for development in his overall game. He's an intelligent enough player that with a lot of work could turn out a half decent signing for someone when he reaches his mid twenties peak. I'd persevere with him for another year maybe and see how he goes. Or it could be that he was so offended by Shayden Morris getting on a football pitch that he's decided that the football is no longer the sport for him.

Just to clarify, I'm not supporting an extended stay, just suggesting he be allowed to stay until the summer when he can be let go at the end of his deal. Of course, I wouldn't care if he did leave in January, just not worth worrying about. I'm more concerned about shifting those on longer contracts, or guys like Ramirez that are out of favour and may be a bit more of a negative presence. Although Ramirez being there until his contract expires isn't the end of the world either.

McInnes was good at shifting on his own players that didn't work fairly quickly, it'll be interesting to see if Goodwin is of a similar nature. Given we paid fees for Richardson and Morris, it makes it less likely he can admit mistake and let them go, so perhaps both could go out on loan. Richardson's biggest issue is confidence. He's rabbit in headlights, he just panics. He's got great pace, but is so tentative going round a player, that he hasn't worked out how far in front he can kick it yet. Defensively, he just kicks or heads it wherever he's facing. Morris doesn't really have any redeeming qualities that I can see, just looks permanently below our level. We need to stop either player from being an option for the remainder of the season, so get them out the door. I think Roberts will be quietly sneaked out in this window or the next too. I'd like to see Ramirez moved on, and maybe even Watkins. High risk, perhaps, but even if one of the strikers got injured I could see Goodwin just changing formation ahead of starting either of the two. Right back will probably be seen as a way to perhaps allow us to play a back four at times, which I think Goodwin might like the option of (although I still see Stewart as a liability in that setup). If we can get Scales in this window, then we should. He's been decent and will get better with age. No point in risking looking elsewhere if we don't have to. Midfielder the priority as you say. Most importantly, we need to keep things ticking along and getting incremental improvement, whilst tidying up the dross. Kennedy probably deserves a stay of execution until summer.

Anyway, it's the fucking dead queen's fault for dying during the season. Couldn't have waited until England got papped out of the world cup?

The culling was required. Considine aside - and only because he was a known quantity - I wouldn't have kept any of them. Ramirez is the only one I think is being treated unfairly, and the fact he went home early last season suggests that there's more to it. I don't recognise the other parts of your post either, beyond the tactical stuff which I agree with (although the tactics didn't change against the Hun until the subs, just the application). The reality for me is that we have half decent players that are about the level required. Ramadani isn't better than baningime at hearts or baccus at st mirren for example. Each of the names you mentioned has some obvious talent, but some fairly obvious deficiencies which is why they're in our team. McRorie is being held back by his own lack of ability, Ramadani is very one dimensional, the others are decent, but not good enough to drag others like Richardson and Stewart through games against good opponents (they have dragged them through games against poorer opposition). They're playing to the level I'd expect. The problem with not having a carried forward balance of players is that there are no options when we're struggling. The alternative would have been to sign another 3-4 players, but it was always more sensible to wait until January to get a better idea of what the new signings brought. Goodwin is undoubtedly being forced into playing systems he doesn't want to because of personnel. Stewart requires a back three, Richardson too. Barron and Clarkson wanting to do similar roles, Ramadani wanting to sit on the defence too much and the front pairing both being good goalscorers but not great at tracking back. McInnes would have seen out the game against the Hun by bringing on an Anthony O'Connor or Dom Ball type to sit in front and do the agricultural work. We don't even have one of those. We certainly haven't got close to replacing Ferguson.