Kmac Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I remember at NDP on New Years Day, Accies just ran straight through the middle every time and we completely ran away - it happened numerous times in the season. I would imagine that Lasley will be told to sit in front of the back 4 in a straight line, he wont be breaking up play in the middle of the park anymore - Pearson will be challenged with that. We do need cover and are addressing that. I agree with a couple of points above regarding the full backs. Hammell looks like he could be starting on an injury hit path sadly and I'm not sure we have really addressed cover/ a long term plan to compensate for that. On the other side, I'm hoping that Law will be phased out. He gets a lot of man love on here however he is, objectively, a below average football player. Watt meanwhile could fill the gap and I understand he is young, however his positional sense really needs to be worked upon and more generally, the defensive side of his game. He opens the body too much and gives a winger too many thoughts about having a run at him. Goalkeeper should probably have been addressed by now as I honestly think Dan gives half the team 'the fear' - however I hope that will not go beyond the single game at ITC. Anyway, I think we will be okay. A back line of: ---------------GK--------------- RB----McManus-----Laing----Hammell ------------------Lasley----------------- isnt't the worst. Anyway, on a side note... how many season tickets have we sold? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superward Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The point about Lasley is a good one Kmac. If he sits behind the midfield it means Laing and McManus 'shouldn't' have to breenge out to try and stop oncoming forward players. Which is exactly what happened at NDP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Hammell looks like he could be starting on an injury hit path sadly and I'm not sure we have really addressed cover/ a long term plan to compensate for that. Aside from signing a left back, which we've done, what would you like done about that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmcalpin Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Aside from signing a left back, which we've done, what would you like done about that? I assume that Joe Chalmers has been signed to provide cover/take over from Stevie Hammell. He can play left back (his favoured option), centre back and apparently left midfield. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busta Nut Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 We clearly need 6 left backs. As we do with RB's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I assume that Joe Chalmers has been signed to provide cover/take over from Stevie Hammell. He can play left back (his favoured option), centre back and apparently left midfield. The point I think that was being made there was that in your original post, Dave, you suggested we hadn't done anything to address the issue of an aging left back. As you admit in this post, we have attempted to do so with the signing of Chalmers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donaldo87 Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 This place is f'ing mental sometimes. Running a smaller squad on purpose on the basis that youth will be asked to step up if required (the way it should be) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Onthefringes Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 The point about Lasley is a good one Kmac. If he sits behind the midfield it means Laing and McManus 'shouldn't' have to breenge out to try and stop oncoming forward players. Which is exactly what happened at NDP. Think most rank and file supporters agree on the requirement to protect the defence, but, I've seen nothing in 4 pre-season matches that suggest Lasley has the discipline to perform that role under Mr Baraclough's stewardship. 2nd goal from Preston on Friday night suggests same. Last season was a season too far methinks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I think it really depends on what you were expecting to happen in this window. The squad we ended up with was bloated, imbalanced and given the number of injuries, ineffective. It's perfectly correct to suggest that an overhaul was needed but to expect us to achieve that in a single window is a big ask which is why I'd guess Baraclough seemed to indicate in an interview a while back that he's been looking ahead to the January window as well. Similarly it was made fairly clear that the intention was to work with a smaller squad to allow the younger guys the opportunity to step up. Ultimately this is as transitional a season as you can get. Given how vocal the club have been about changes in recruitment policy, beyond McDonald, I don't think it was ever on the cards that we were going to go out and buy in "experience" or continue in the McCall vein of stop-gap signings to drop into the first team. As it stands, of our expected first XI it includes Hammell, McManus, Lasley, Pearson, McDonald with Clarkson added to those 5. That's half the outfield players you'd class as "experienced" pros while Ainsworth is 27 and has played over 200 games in his career. We've brought in Kennedy and Chalmers while Laing's also come back in. As Ya Bezzer! pointed out in his post yesterday Laing had a significant influence on our defence and by extension McManus' performances. With that in mind we've at the very least taken steps to address the defence. Whether Kennedy and Chalmers are good enough we'll have to wait and see. The manager and GM have indicated at every possible opportunity in the past few weeks that we're looking to bring in a goalkeeper and a central midfielder to complete our business which on the whole puts them on exactly the same page as those here in terms of what we need. If it gets to the end of August and we still haven't brought either that's the point that it becomes an issue. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigWeegieDosser Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Assuming Pearson,Lasley and McDonald will be starting- and Ainsworth and Johnson equally likely- who's the other preferred striker? Not sure there's an outstanding candidate . Clarkson has the experience .Fletcher looks more physical , Moult looks sharper, Moore maybe not the main for a main striker if McDonald plays more as a10? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Interesting comparison. Start of last season Goalkeepers Dan Twardzik Gunnar Nielsen Defenders Reid Ramsden Kerr Cummins O'Brien McManus Hammell Angol Midfielders Lasley Lawson Vigurs Carswell Leitch Law (signed as a midfielder) Wingers Ainsworth Strikers Erwin Sutton Moore (injured) Ojaama Start of this season (so far) Goalkeepers Dan Twardzik Defenders Reid Law Laing Kennedy McManus Hammell Chalmers Midfielders Lasley Pearson Leitch Wingers Ainsworth Johnson Strikers McDonald Clarkson Moult Fletcher Moore Obviously, you can add the likes of Watt, Cadden, Thomas and McLean who have featured this close season (and some games last season) but at first glance, we're down in terms of numbers in midfield and defence but have more attacking options. On the other hand, how much did Lawson, O'Brien, Cummins, Carswell and Vigurs (second half of the season) contribute? Surely the very definition of getting rid of dead wood...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thomas is listed as a first team midfielder so it'd probably be fair to add him in to that current squad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 As is Jack Leitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmac Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Aside from signing a left back, which we've done, what would you like done about that? I agree with the other posts that we have signed Chalmers for this job, however we have played Chalmers as a wide midfielder in the pre-season games - suggesting we are in no great hurry to bring him into the team. Whilst I really agree that last season we were much weaker without Hammell, it would appear that it is only a matter of time before he wont be available to play the majority of games. We should be looking to transition - potentially having someone playing with the Development squad as an out and out LB and developing as such. Whilst Chalmers is young, I'm guessing that he wont be spending much time with the development squad and as such his development as a full-back may suffer. I would suggest that the way things stand at the moment, we have no real long term plan to fill that position. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Thomas is listed as a first team midfielder so it'd probably be fair to add him in to that current squad.I suspect that Luke Watt is also being considered as a first team squad member but you never know how young players will develop so I only listed those who've started a few games for us.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 As is Jack Leitch.And that's why I listed him... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I suspect that Luke Watt is also being considered as a first team squad member but you never know how young players will develop so I only listed those who've started a few games for us.. Fair enough. Watt's still listed on the 20s squad on the club's list of players though. Thomas is actually on the first team page, which is the distinction I was making is all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Don't agree with all you wrote but certainly you have a point here. For some years now our goals against tally has been unacceptably high and I'm not sure we have done much to address that. I'm still concerned about our defence and central midfield, especially the latter's ability to compete against younger, faster and more physical/aggressive opponents. We'll find out soon enough though. Central defence seems not too bad on paper but I'm concerned about our keeper and full backs. Hopefully the much discussed new goalie and central midfielder arrive soon. In his interview yesterday, Baraclough said that a couple of keeper options they were pursuing fell through and, while he was open to a loan, he'd prefer to buy (or at a minimum get a full season loan). I agree that defending has been a weak point the past few seasons, but with 2 central defenders and a left back signed, at least it seems we are taking steps to address that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I agree with the other posts that we have signed Chalmers for this job, however we have played Chalmers as a wide midfielder in the pre-season games - suggesting we are in no great hurry to bring him into the team. I'd suggest that him playing wide midfield in the pre-season games is more to do with the knowledge that Ainsworth isn't available for the first two games of the season than anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
weeyin Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I'd suggest that him playing wide midfield in the pre-season games is more to do with the knowledge that Ainsworth isn't available for the first two games of the season than anything. That seems most likely. We missed Hammell last season with no natural left back to cover him and I'm sure Chalmers was brought in to remedy that situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kmac Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I'd suggest that him playing wide midfield in the pre-season games is more to do with the knowledge that Ainsworth isn't available for the first two games of the season than anything. That's my point. Surely in someone like Thomas, we have the natural replacement for Ainsworth? How is Thomas going to develop when we dont give him the chance to play his natural position when the man in front of him gets injured. Are we willing to shoe horn in a guy out of position to cover? That would seem McCall logic (or lack of) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StAndrew7 Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 And that's why I listed him... Apologies, totally missed his name for some reason. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MelvinBragg Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 That's my point. Surely in someone like Thomas, we have the natural replacement for Ainsworth? How is Thomas going to develop when we dont give him the chance to play his natural position when the man in front of him gets injured. Are we willing to shoe horn in a guy out of position to cover? That would seem McCall logic (or lack of)Fairly or unfairly, for a game away from home against Inverness I would ask if Thomas has the defensive discipline or game smarts to start the game. Remaining solid would be the first aim in this kind of game. Thomas started away against Dundee last season and we found ourselves exposed (though I'm not pinning the defeat all on him). I suspect if we were starting the season at home to Hamilton or Partick, then Thomas might get the nod... 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
capt_oats Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 That's my point. Surely in someone like Thomas, we have the natural replacement for Ainsworth? How is Thomas going to develop when we dont give him the chance to play his natural position when the man in front of him gets injured. Are we willing to shoe horn in a guy out of position to cover? That would seem McCall logic (or lack of) Given that Baraclough has spent virtually all close-season saying that the likes of Dom Thomas will get a chance then I've no reason to doubt him. In answer to your question though, Thomas will develop by moving on from 10 - 15 min cameos to getting 25 - 30 min stints in games and depending on how he fares you might see him start with some regularity after that, rotating with Ainsworth more than likely. Chucking him in away from home in the opening game of the season against a physical side isn't going to help him develop all it does is heap expectation on him. As Melvin says above, if we were at home vs Hamilton or Thistle on Saturday I'm pretty sure he'd have been in with a shout. Similarly in the case of Chalmers being played out of position? He's indicated he can play at centre half and left midfield as well as his preferred left back. Going out on a limb I'd suggest the reason that he'd be playing there in the pre-season games was to see if he was reasonably comfortable there. We know he can play left back, that's the position we signed him for after all. Horses for courses and that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropy Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 I saw him at left back in Grangemouth. Not sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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