RicoS321

Top marks for the searching though. I'd forgotten about Lancelot Huncunt. Hope Montrose bin him.

They only had one win in nine though, and he wasn't actually fired. Seems to me like he recognised that he'd lost the ability to turn things round and jumped (invoking abuse and family) to keep his reputation intact. That fifth place looks as false as our position, we're probably the worst two teams in the league just now. I think they'll continue to fall in league places, but all the evidence suggests that's exactly what would happen if Kettlewell stayed. Edit: I should say, I don't at all blame him for resigning, management is a ridiculous career and you can only really look out for yourself. The biggest difference between us and them is that Thelin is killing us by trying to play entertaining fitba, where Kettlewell was going for exactly the opposite in an attempt to scrape a few lucky wins. They are both unsustainable approaches at our level, and our budget doesn't guarantee being able to play our way out of it anymore than there's does. Both managers should probably have sought a middle ground.

6 figure fee! Bloody hell! I'd fly him to Greece myself for that. That'd be an extremely good bit of business for us. I'd be happy to thank him for his time and let him move for a nominal amount (or nothing) to end his contract. It's not just that he's not good enough for us, he's not good enough for anyone at SPFL level (despite two or three okay performances). He'd fit in at the top end of the championship probably, I'm not sure guys there are going for six figures. He was never "paired" with Pollock though, it was always a triplet, with Scales. He was good in the centre of a three, which might mean he's okay at St Johnstone. However, I think Valakari wants them to play out from the back, which might be an issue. As you say, good luck to him. I think he appreciated his time here, and seemed a nice guy.

Aye, what are the rules on that? I don't mean this particular move, but more generally. Are English teams subject to the same rules as the rest of Europe, or can they raid Scotland on the cheap? Does it differ from a Scotland to Scotland transfer? I'm assuming we'd be due compensation even though he hasn't signed a professional contract?

Was it actually his family taking abuse? The statement seemed to read that his family were fed up hearing him receiving abuse and didn't want to go to games. That puts a different complexion on it, as I doubt Kettlewell seriously believes his next job will be at a club in the UK whose supporters aren't a bunch slavering mentalists who'll scream dog's abuse at him after a run of shite results. The sort of dog's abuse that might lead to a touchline ban if a manager, say, Stuart Kettlewell, gave similar to a fourth official in recent weeks. Twice.

If you haven't seen the absolute disaster we've had with right footed centre backs playing on the left, I don't know what to tell you. We're telling our centre backs to play out from the back and take risks in possession. Even Nilsen, an experienced midfielder, completely struggled. If we were playing pragmatic football, where we're happy for the defender just to play a percentage ball down the line for the forward to run the channel, then it's absolutely fine to have a defender on the wrong side. It's also absolutely fine to play a guy there if we have no other options. I acknowledged the fact that the window is still open and we have to accept that the market doesn't always work in the order it was meant. Jensen will be useful cover for Devlin and MacKenzie, but if MacKenzie leaves without a left sided fullback, then it'll be negligence. That is absolutely not a criticism of Jensen (as far as I can tell nobody has criticised him yet? Although I'd say he was a little bit weak in the tackle at the weekend, but that can be getting up to speed). Also yet to be criticised is Dorrington. You seem to be mistaking criticism of the signing over criticism of the player, despite the fact I made it quite clear. Anyone watching Dorrington in his games so far can see he's not a left sided centre back. He's right footed, he runs with the ball on his right and his body shape is that of a right footer. He did have a nice pass with his left on Saturday, but that's a far cry from playing as a left footer. Again, completely fine if you're not expected to be carrying it forward and moving it quickly. It's the SPFL, managers are very quick to pick up on any weakness, and Dorrington will just be closed down even quicker and it'll lead to mistakes. He is already taking extra touches to get it onto his right, just as MacDonald, Rubi and Nilsen were before him. Moving the ball forward quickly is absolutely fundamental to how Thelin wants to play. Again, nothing to do with Dorrington himself, but he's also a loanee for six months, not a guy we're investing in like Jensen. We knew we had a left centre back missing, we should be replacing with a left centre back. The loan system from down South generally has a lot of availability, I don't believe there wasn't a player available. Once again, if we sign a defender before the window closes and he's just backup for Tobers, then fine I suppose, although I don't think it's the best use of resources in a January window.

Also, assume MacDonald is leaving in this window? Don't think we're going to be needing him in the run in. He was in the box behind me on Saturday, probably doing his bit in the corporate or whatever. Hadn't heard that he was injured, so assuming he's just not making the squad. I think we can cope with Tobers and Dorrington backed up by Rubi until May. If necessary, Devlin and MacKenzie can move across on their respective sides, with Jensen covering both fulbacks. Molloy will be back by March-ish too.

Working is for losers. Ambrose is a very strange one. Normally you can see an attribute in a player that you think that someone must have spotted, but I just don't see any redeeming features with him. Guys like Morris, Richardson, Keskinen, Gueye etc all have skills that you think could be utilised, with the other parts of their game being worked on to hopefully transform them. Even guys like McGarry, Richard Jensen etc are completely understandable signings, because they are not terrible footballers, it's just that they operate at a level just below what we need, and it's not an exact science when transferring from one league to another (hopefully that's where we feed our data back into the models for signing again from those leagues). I agree with you, I think the analytics and videos are probably playing too big a role, and whilst I have no issue with Thelin signing 2-3 players he knows, I hope that there is a limit to that too. This has been happening since McInnes was here though, it seems ridiculous that the technical director role has been pushed to the background. The evidence very much suggests that there is nobody raising the right questions from above. Of course, we have a few days left of the window, and I know that transfers don't always go as scheduled, and it's likely that a couple of new faces would very much change the dynamic. We'll probably sign another number 10 and a right sided centre back.

Aye, that'd be interesting. Although it doesn't matter a whole lot if you don't actually play the only left footed defender.

I guess that the question remains on whether we are going to give Thelin time to implement "the plan" or not, or whether that plan can transcend managers if he's deemed not good enough. The bigger question would be if that plan is even possible on our budget and in Scottish football where teams play each other four times per season, and with the fans on the team's back (witness the booing of Rubi at the weekend). What Thelin is trying is what Glass tried. In my opinion it's going to take years to get to the stage where we can play the passing game from front to back consistently and across a whole season, if it's at all possible. It means that not only our first eleven has to be able to do it, but our whole squad. I don't remember a single team outside the scum since the changes to European football that could do that. We can probably carry one or two players if we're on a good run, but the Huns are spending 3-4 times what we're doing and really struggled with a few injuries earlier this season, which gives a good illustration on where we need to be. Despite the claims about how terrible a team the Huns are, they'll still comfortably hit 80 points this season, as well as match some good teams in Europe. I don't think it's relevant to focus on individual players, or even positions, when discussing the plan, because I think that kind of short termism misses the point and gets us back to sacking managers. It's up to the club to really focus on managing fans expectations in that regard, and up until now they've simply hung a succession of managers out to dry. It strikes me that Thelin is the one having to talk about strategy and the like, and I find that concerning. With that in mind, I find it worrying that we haven't recruited the technical director that was advised after the Warnock debacle. From the outside, it appears that we might be ceding control to the manager in key areas again, heading back towards the McInnes model (see the promotion of Thelin's preferred recruitment guy). We're definitely not at a point where we've got the backroom to handle a crisis and allow the manager some room to breathe. We've just gone into a game with four right sided players defence, largely down to the way we've conducted our signings in this window. There should be someone at the club with the authority to question that before it happens. The recruitment team should have the independence, level of authority and ability to question that. If they're actually scouting players, then they should be able to tell the difference between a player who is a left back, over a player who can play left back (and the same for left sided centre half). The Dorrington signing is perplexing in the circumstances. If MacKenzie is to leave this week, then the Jensen signing is ludicrous. It reeks of a manager seeing a player or players they like and then signing them because they're good, rather than because they fit into the side or we need them. We saw this regularly under the free reign of McInnes, it was almost a fear of missing out on a particular player. There should be someone there who at the very least can question the logic of what appears to be a very basic error. Again, I'm not criticising the particular players, just using them to illustrate the point. They both look like good players playing out of position. Anyway, I quite like the ambition behind the strategy, it's quite ballsy, and it's so far being backed with some funds. In my opinion it'll take significantly more money and time. The 50-60% recruitment success still applies, regardless of the amount you spend, and we're not spending enough that a dud - say, Ambrose (sorry, I said I wouldn't focus on individuals, but fucking hell) - will still manage to do a decent job against most teams. If you took someone like Dessers at the scum as an example of a player roundly laughed at - he'll still get plenty of goals and would walk into most sides in the division. What we have to be cognisant of is the fact that the strategy, if successful, only really gets us up to finishing with 70+ points regularly and occasionally hitting 80. It doesn't actually win us a league, nor even second without relying on the Huns fucking up when we peak. The cup will be a lottery that might go our way, still. I'm not sure that people really understand that. I'm not sure they really apply critical thinking and look at our budget for what it is. I'm not sure people have the patience for any of it. We're basically relying on Cormack having the strength and drive to see it through and continue to sell it to the fans.

Also, yesterday was the first time I've ever heard our own player be booed when he got the ball. It's fairly fucking rank behaviour from a home support.

I don't want them to win.

Apologies, I didn't word that very well. I meant to say "another masterclass in shite defending, this time by Tobers". I think he's looked very good so far, but completely switched off for the third. It wasn't really that quick a break, he had several seconds to deal with it. In real time, I could see that he was dithering, he just needed a couple of steps forward. Basically, when Dorrington went for a run at right centre back, he just needed to be the left centre back and stand where the left centre back would have, but he stood in the right centre back position and then moved when Gogic got the ball. It was poor defending, but he'd had a lot to deal with as you mention. It's clear that he's going to need a left centre back alongside him, and it's extremely frustrating that we haven't got one in this window (and it would be very unbalancing to the squad to go and get one now). I don't like the idea of the reverse MacKenzie and McGrath, I don't think it works. Jensen is cutting inside, at which point he's an inch away from the midfielder and it plays into the tactics of every single team in the league. The fact that Okkels also wants to cut inside just compounds the issue. Overlapping fullbacks are always the way to go, unless they're doing what Devlin does with Morris and charge straight into the box. Really the issue is the point at which he cuts inside, which is way back on the halfway line or in our half. It automatically congests everything. Obviously it's okay to do that now and again, when the defender is expecting him to go down the line, but not every time. If MacKenzie doesn't leave this week, then he needs to be starting every week.

The biggest reason is that I thought he had a few years left. Let's get him signed.

Thing is, we were all very quick to point out here that this would always be the case. I think @Panda is no longer posting, but he put up some stats about thelin's previous side and how they surrendered possession and still won games. We were never going to be able to do that as that's what others do to us. We've not found a way to win when folk sit in against us in years. Playing a high line is fun, but very risky. It simply can't be done with a makeshift defence, it has to be very well coached. Any tiredness in the team and we crumble. Pragmatism would see us sitting a little deeper for a bit and try and ground our some victories. Shite as our results have been, we've still got some good players capable of creating chances from nothing.

The dirty Jambo cunts showing how to sign pragmatically. McCart a really obvious signing. The lad Wales for Killie looks great, but out with our budget I expect.

Exactly. Dodds has seen us enough this season to know that Jimmy would never play him in the only position he seems to be able to play in. Just saw the highlights just now, and as I thought at the game, Doohan was poor for the first. He's been very good at coming off his line and judging on the ball over the top, but he should have been nowhere near that one. In fairness to Rubi, I think he spots Doohan late and gets caught in two minds. The second is very clearly his fault. What was strange is that Tobers started on the left, but they switched. I think Tobers would have dealt with it. Once the player is beyond Rubi, we're screwed, as Nilsen has been poor at getting back for months now. The third was another masterclass in shite defending by Tobers. Dorrington came across, correctly and ran the ball up the park. I noticed during the game that Tobers didn't seem to know what to do. Instead of just dropping into left centre back with an eye on the ball over the top, he hovered around in no-man's land before belatedly stepping up after the ball was kicked, playing everyone on. Dorrington was very slow to get back in too. These things should be basic, especially for Tobers

That would be subs

Yep, I've been very supportive up until today, but these are basic management errors. I mentioned when Dorrington signed that I thought it was a terrible idea to sign a 19 year old right footer when we had no recognised left centre back. I was wrong, it wasn't terrible, it was fucking criminal. One left footer in the team, and he was in midfield. Seriously? Every player playing on his wrong foot, turning back in to trouble or slowing things down, because that is what fucking happens. This is basic stuff. We e don't have the budget to be buying players who, on their wrong foot, are still better than the opposition. The margins are too fine in this league and any coach with slightest knowledge simply tells his forward to press the centre half and then the fullback. I accept that we get injuries, but we're in the middle of a fucking window! Don't sign a right back and play him at left back, and don't sign a trainee and play him on his wrong foot when we've already got guys who struggle on that side. Dorrington was fine, okay at best, it's not him, himself, that is the issue. Centre halves on loan are ten a penny, we could easily have picked up one who is left footed. Fucking annoying like, they didn't actually have to create any chances to score. Okkels was okay, Gueye tried. The sun's were unnecessarily bad. At least give Nisbet a chance to play alongside the big lad. Keskinen, Jensen, Rubi, Doohan, Duk, Nilsen all garbage.

The big plus side is that we're not fucking Huns.

Yep, he's clearly not downed tools anymore than anyone else in the side. He's just looked tired. It possibly hasn't caused this particular injury, but he was played to death since the start of the season and it was only a matter of time before he picked up something.

Miovski is injured. Cameron plays number ten in our system. We don't have an abundance of options for defensive midfielder. We play a 4-2-3-1, and Cameron would play in the centre of the three, as would McGrath (injured), Clarkson, Gueye and Polvara (injured). For the sitting 2, we have Shinnie, Nilsen and Palaversa. Obviously we could shoehorn players between the roles, but those would be the preferred positions of the aforementioned.

He's a great player. Although I'm not convinced that we need another player vying for that one role that we have three other guys looking to play in.

Hopefully we'll concentrate on the striker still. Reckon Jensen could cover midfield if necessary.

Aye, that's frustrating, would really like to see more of him. He did look hurt against Elgin.