LA-Don

Living in Los Angeles I follow the Lakers basketball and they had a number of injuries last season. Sacked all the people responsible for the fitness of their players. This is the second year running for us, questions have to be asked, this isn’t coincidence.

James Morrison is still a free agent, would you??

Could be a blessing in disguise. Forced to change the formation because of the injuries. 4-4-2 if Campbell is fit Logan-Devlin-Considine-Leigh Hedges-Ferguson-Campbell-McGinn Wilson-Cosgrove If Campbell isn’t fit I think we see Hedges in center mid and McLennan comes in wide.

Oh please, pretty please, make this true!

Same shit different day. Second half was god awful but the problem is that the second half is what we see most games. We are consistently rank rotten.

100% agree on the two holding mids but it ain’t happening with this manager.

Given we’re not anywhere near consistent, surely we start a buzzing and full of confidence McLennan. While I’m not a fan, seems a smart choice Lewis Logan-Devlin-Considine-Leigh Ojo-Ferguson McLennan-McGinn-Hedges Cosgrove Obviously I expect Bryson to start with McGinn wide, and Connor comes on in the 87th minute, but I’m not a fan of Ojo Bryson and Ferguson all playing together, all huff and puff and not enough creativity in my opinion, but my opinion is certainly regularly the opposite of DM. 3-1, Cosgrove 2 (1 pen), McGinn.

Absolute pish performance and while you compare to Killie I thought it was also very similar to us versus Celtic, Rangers, Rejika etc. Far too much sit deep and long ball shite. Not sure what to think of Forrest too, absolutely shit every time I see him play. A fair reflection of the game would have been 3 or 4, even 5, they missed a fair few chances.

If Kent joins that’s the fifth winger they’ll sign this summer. While hastie goes out on loan, and Dorrans leaves, that’s a huge and very expensive squad. Is there any non hun who doesn’t hope they go to shit?

We need a creative attacking mid but in DMs eyes we have hedges mcginn Gallagher Ferguson Wilson and Wright all ‘capable’ of playing there. Don’t see any signings happen unfortunately.

Cannot stand the flopping and diving of Cosgrove. 3-0 up after 50 mins, not worth rewarding Anderson for 30 mins or so? Nope, let's give Wright a run. Grr. Cosgrove, McGinn and Wright missed cry good chances, should be more than 3.

Wonder if DM thinks Christian Pulisic will be good enough for us though??

The purpose of a holding mid is also to allow our full backs to push forward and at our best we have Logan and Leigh in attacking positions. Lewis Logan-Devlin-Considine-Leigh Hedges-Ojo-Ferguson-McGinn Anderson-Cosgrove 3-1 us, Anderson, Cosgrove, Hedges

Rijeka lost 2-1 away and drew 1-1 at home tonight with Gent so are out. Got what we deserved but how exactly do they do the draws given we know if advance specific groupings? Think we got one of the tougher draws, especially seeing Celtic and Rangers advance again.

I'd say based on observation Hayes would be as good, if not most likely better, than Wright, McLennan, Gallagher, and McGinn. I like Hedges but the rest are far too inconsistent and even Hedges is somewhat unknown. You could argue Wright and McLennan need to grow but DM doesn't really develop youth so we can't assume he will with these two. If he's affordable why not, plus can play left back too.

How do we know he’s not good enough for the first team? Based on performances neither are many of our first team players. Shankland was never given that opportunity of extended time like Cosgrove and McKenna lucked out. He was below average at Ayr and if it wasn’t for a shitey team performance at Motherwell he may never have been given a chance. I honestly don’t think the plan was to play Ferguson as much as we do but he got a lucky break too with us not having anyone else!

Think it's about time we start this thread if there isn't one already. Has to be given a chance given the way we are playing, and the way he is playing and scoring. For the most part Shankland came about when McGinn and Hayes were in form and Rooney was banging them in, tough to give him playing time and patience, certainly not the case now. Did Shankland find his level or will we never know?? Since we don't have the creative attacking mid we are crying out for surely it's worth going to 4-4-2 with Anderson up with Cosgrove and two central mids from Ojo, Ferguson, and Bryson? It means change and adaptation from DM. Surely Anderson should be given the playing time and patience we gave big Sam last year.

Your point is that the production of the role players has up until now been good and I'd agree with that. My point is that the star players/stronger players are relied upon to be good every week, that is why they make the big bucks. Strong teams have consistent starters and strong role players. Our role players are declining but it's our star players that are disappearing, and where DM has failed in signing/replacing in recent years. The only player now that appears consistently good is Joe Lewis. Who are our stars?? McKenna appears in decline of late (maybe harsh but not progressing), Cosgrove is hit and miss, McGinn is fading, Logan steadily declining, Ferguson hot/cold..... it's worrying.

You are missing my point so I’ll reword/clarify. We’ve spent a ton of money on underwhelming players, those who failed to live up to expectation. How many have exceeded expectation? I’d agree Lewis, Logan, Lowe, Cosgrove, and Rooney. Shinnie was what we expected, as was Robson solid but a declining good player, Christie a known quality too. McLean underachieved, last six months he was fantastic but we rarely saw that and more often than not should have been dropped. Maddison didn’t play much, stood out on occasion, but struggled with a physical league. We spend the third most money in the league but don’t spend well, or more appropriately, can’t get the best out of players consistently.

When you look at it our major signings over the last few years have been GMS, May, Stewart, Devlin, Forrester, and Gleeson, and I suppose Christie and Wilson on loan. That’s a lot of money. What do we have to show for that? I was excited for most if not all but most have been useless if you ask me. What has killed us is we failed to replace Barry Robson, Flood, Hayes, McLean, and McGinn is a shadow of his former self. Sam is limited but would probably have thrived with the service Rooney got. Pretty depressing stuff at the moment. In my eyes we have one good and consistent player, Lewis. Leigh isn’t as strong as Lowe but isn’t bad, very disappointed how central defense has played out, relying on Considine who is shite, slow, and gifts goals and free kicks, but probably our most consistent defender. Plus another year where our right back is Logan who is clearly on the decline and has been a while. Ferguson is solid in the middle of the park but is being way over played, being given far too much responsibility, and still plays like a spoiled child. DM will burn him out. I rate Ojo but from what I read he wasn’t interested at Scunthorpe when things went shit there, and I expect the same here. Bryson too early to judge but nothing impressive so far....but he’s not fit. Wright and McLennan are nothing special, zero consistency like GMS, while McGinn is on a steady decline too and isn’t a winger now, should be #10 but DM will continue playing him wide with the hope of days gone by. I like Hedges, no clue why he didn’t play at Killie. Vyner looks like Ash. Solid at times but a bombscare at any moment. May is crap, Main very poor, Anderson won’t be given a chance like Shankland, fuck knows about Wilson, no clue why we signed him. I think he’s better than Cosgrove but stuck wide he’s poor. Gallagher works hard and was terrific first game, but very mediocre since against better opponents. Oh, and we just threw a three year contract at the clown. Geez. I’ll finish with a question, have many of DMs signings have excelled/exceed expectations?

It’s terrible that three games into our league season so many appear so unhappy yet we have people so supportive of DM. We are awful to watch, yesterday just showing (again) how limited our manager is in trying to get formation and tactics correct, playing players correctly, and getting the best collective performance from a team. What ratio/percentage of fans are unhappy? Is it just miserable cunts like me or a fair chunk of fans??

First game of the season I’ve given up watching. After 70 mins I’d had enough. Should have given up at half time. God awful. But on the positive side, DM is delighted with our summer signings and the balance of the squad. Clueless.

A combined two shots on goal, painful, and both easy saves from distance. Ojo Ferguson and Bryson are not a good 3 in the middle, the last two are far too similar, no flair supporting Sam. Wilson wasted wide. Non stop flopping and diving from Sam or so it seems. Would like to see mcginn come in centrally for Bryson in the second half to unlock a Killie defense but doubt DM will stray from predictable tactics. Expect two wide for two wide and more of the same. Ugg.

Incredibly predictable. Not terrible but sideways and backwards with no ability/creativity to break them down. Zzzz.

What if Wright was given the minutes in the central attacking midfield role equivalent to what we gave Cosgrove last year? Did he score before November yet we stuck with him? Wright isn’t consistent but has he been given a fair number of consistent and consecutive starts? Much like Shankland, we’ll never know.