joewarkfanclub

Like most of the support, I was concerned with the level and style of football we had to endure last season which was only made acceptable by our staggering over the line into the top 6 and eventually a European slot. I was prepared to give the manager the start of the season to prove that he had learned lessons and was capable of making the changes necessary and improving the quality of the product on the pitch and hopefully our results. Given that we have only played one game it would seem churlish to change my mind now. He did clear out some of the deadwood. The 3 signings made look promising to me, but clearly a few more in key positions are necessary. We need to see huge improvement on Thursdays performance starting with the away leg this week. Even if we lose on Thursday he wont be sacked immediately. However, if we were to perform poorly in our first 4/5 league games and dont beat ICT in the league cup, then I will be on the GA out train and I would imagine the vast majority of supporters will be there too. The board will then come under severe pressure to act. The team will continue to get my backing, the manager is going to have to earn it.

I think its a bit unfair to single out 2 players for being poor on Thursday night when it was the entire team performance that was lacking. Everything was just too slow and pedestrian. I thought Spittal showed glimpses in the first half of having something about him as he was always looking for a forward pass. He did fade badly in the 2nd half. Slattery was similar and had a very poor 2nd half. There is an argument for giving Cornelius and Goss a chance, but as you say, our midfield was poor last year with Goss in it, but it always performed better in the games Slattery played. We were absolutely honking in the games where he was having his "sabbatical". My frustration with Yodo (and some other posters) is that he never gives his alternative. He just comes in when things have gone wrong, says "thats shite" and disappears. Entirely his perogative of course, it is a fans forum, it just gets wearing after a while. Sorry Yodo. Its not personal.......

No Spittall, no Slattery, cant wait to see your midfield.......

ICT will be no pushovers, but thats about as decent a draw as you can get. Hopefully we can get up to speed before we have to play them.

Who are you playing instead of him? And no smart arsed deflection please......

Ok, so counting is obviously not my strong suit! If KVV is 100% fit he plays. Watching him on Thursday he is such a selfish player Im not sure he benefits from having a partner anyway. If henis anything less than 100% Id play Shields.

I think its worth a shot. They may not notice!

Lol! I confused myself debating whether 4-2-3-1 or 3-5-2 was preferable. Its an age thing! They will be taking the controls to the telly off me soon!

This is how we should be lining up on Thursday.... Kelly McGinn Sol Lamie Carroll Maguire Slattery Spittal Tierney Morris KVV Shileds Ditch the 4-3-3 and get after them.

I thought the new signings all showed enough to suggest they might improve our team with time. McGinn looked decent, Spittal and Morris looked like they could develop an understanding and were looking to play positive passes. I went for Morris. He kept at it despite a lot of his work not coming off, mostly because he was zipping passes into the feet of teamates who seemed unable to control the ball.

PS if fans arent happy, why shouldnt they complain? We are a fan owned club after all....

There are different forms of entertainment. It doesnt have to be the technically best football in the world. I get entertained by seeing young players come through our academy, breaking into the first team and celebrating in front of their pals when they score a goal. I get entertained by seeing a team develop and improve, or just getting stuck in to the opposition to make up for our deficiencies. To be entertained, I dont need to see us win, although of course I enjoy that more. I just need to feel that the efforts and cost Im going to, to support the team are worthwhile. Sadly very little of that has been true for some time.

That was a very good post right up until the final paragraph. We do have plenty to be proud about at our club and I do agree that Alexander is unlikely to be punted even if we lose again on Thursday. However, to say the fans have nothing to complain about after the tortuous football we have had to endure the last year is just wrong. We are a fan owned club. The fans pay good money to come and be entertained, or at least not be patronised by the manager when things are clearly lacking. Whilst I think some fans / contributors do need a sense of realism about where we are and what the likely outcomes are, I dont think you can say they just need to suck it up and be happy. There is a middle ground.

Aye fair doohs.......

Ok, Ive bitten way too often than I should have already, so I suppose I should give my own thoughts and open myself to the same scrutiny. Tonights result was abysmal and totally unacceptable in any way, shape or form. Even accepting that Sligo are half way thru their season and this was our first competitive game, the result is still embarassing. Sligo deserved their victory, but I didnt think they were great and probably about Scottish Championahip standard, which in itsf speaks volumes about the result. If we had been beaten at home by the likes of Morton or Raith Rovers we would have been rightly raging. That said, did we really learn anything new about our team? Kelly is a good goalkeeper and kept us in it with a couple of routine but important stops. McGinn, I thought had a decent gameand I wouldnt be disappointed to see him be our first choice right back for the rest of the season. Mugabi has all the physical attributes to be a good centre half but consistently makes very bad decisions. Im not sure how long we can persist with that. Sol should be at least considered for the away leg. Lamie was solid enough, although slow with his disteibution which doesnt help us build attacks. Carroll, still gets caught out of position too often and cant stop a cross ball. He is vetter going forward, but we dont seem to allow him that freedom. It thought Morris and Spittal on the left showed that they have a bit more about them going forward and could with time for a decent partnership. Maguire was ok but seemed to be having to cove a lot of ground which I think is due to the 4-3-3 which leaves us exposed at times. Slattery, started well enough and I think having Spittal and Morris in the team will help him, but he was shocking second half and wasnt one of his better days. Shields is wasted out wide. Formation doesnt suit him at all. KVV may be the most technically gifted player in the team, but he is selfish and lazy and if not 100% fit not worth a start. With respect to GA, Ive had enough of 4-3-3. I dont think it suits the players we have which was highlighted with the Efford substitution which I just xouldnt work out given we had just brought Tierney on. We need to find a system that gets all our best players on the park. At the moment I think they are Kelly, McGinn, Lamie, Slattery, Morris, Spittal, Tierney and a fit and interested KVV. We need a mssive improvement next week or the managers jacket will already be on a shoogly peg before we even play a league game.

On that I can agree with you....

Clearly......

And yet he was involved in just about everything positive we did by your estimation. How shite must the rest of the team have been?

You dont need to make it plainer. From that point on I stopped reading.....

I normally agree with a lot of what you post, but I cant agree that tonight looked as good as St Mirren, St Johnstone etc. I thought they looked more akin to a championship side, which makes tonights result even harder to take.

You lost me at Morris was abysmal......

I think the starting line up will be very close to our line up v Partick. The only real exception I can see is SOD over Johnson.

I think there may be more tickets released tomorrow when the uptake from season ticket holders is known. I didnt know you had to book your own seat to secure the discount so Ive booked a block elsewhere to sit with a mate and his boys. Others may have done the same. I called Fir Park to ask about it and they confirmed no discount but season ticket seats will he released from midnight.

Here was me thinking Dukla Prague were my Czech team!

The question was whether the players improved or "upgraded" the squad. If McGinn, Spittal and Morris all force themselves into the first team then you subs become SOD, Goss, or perhaps Efford depending on where the 3 are played. That immediately improves your bench which is now filled by last years starters. That should, in theory, improve performances. As I said, if we can bring in a better quality striker, that should improve the competition for Efford and Shields as well.