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2015/16 Ins & Outs


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re: Chalmers it's obviously early days but I was quietly impressed by him. He's clearly not a left winger but he wasn't brought in to be so it'd be unfair to judge him vs Johnson in the wide position. He does seem more than capable of slotting in as a defensive wide midfielder though.

 

He seems decent with the ball at his feet and overall looks a solid player. Sort of guy you could see giving consistent 7/10 performances. I'd say he definitely looks a more rounded player than your Reid, Ramsden & Kerr's.

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re: Chalmers it's obviously early days but I was quietly impressed by him. He's clearly not a left winger but he wasn't brought in to be so it'd be unfair to judge him vs Johnson in the wide position. He does seem more than capable of slotting in as a defensive wide midfielder though.

 

He seems decent with the ball at his feet and overall looks a solid player. Sort of guy you could see giving consistent 7/10 performances. I'd say he definitely looks a more rounded player than your Reid, Ramsden & Kerr's.

I'd go along with that. Wasn't expecting too much from him at left-mid yesterday but thought he slotted in well enough, was actually surprised to see him substituted.

 

Looks a decent footballer and hopefully at the very least, he'll prove to be a decent utility player for us.

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Overall I wasn't convinced of Conor Grant. Yes he is talented and cultured but tended to disappear when the going got tough and scrappy. Not quite the forceful box to box player I was expecting.

We have players who are tough and scrappy, though. It's someone with a bit more nous and a little more creativity we need right now.

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I'm inclined to agree with both of you. I think it depends if we've moved from bringing one midfielder in to two off the back of Pearson's injury. Certainly agree that a ball winner with a bit of presence & physicality would be welcome. However by the same token, I mentioned this earlier possibly on another thread (or possibly this one) so apologies if I'm repeating myself as effective as Ainsworth & Johnson are, much of the "creativity" they offer is down to their pace and direct running. If we're reliant on that then it leaves the possibility of us being a bit one dimensional in an attacking sense.

 

At the risk of speaking in football clichés we don't really seem to have much by way of "genuine" creativity in the middle of the park, someone to "unlock" defences so to speak. Without wanting to fanboy too much I thought Dom Thomas started to offer that a bit yesterday, him taking men on and the nutmegs were eye-catching but to me the fact that he started playing through balls into the channels was something that we had been missing.

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I'm not so sure weeyin, the rumoured pursuit of Irvine and reported offer for Bolger would suggest an energetic ball-winner is our priority. A move that I'd agree with.

 

Skippy, Ainsworth and Marvin should offer enough creativity, with Thomas and McLean backing them up.

 

I don't think we have ever adequately replaced Nicky Law. I'd be fine with Thomas trying to take up that role, but pace on the wings is a different kind of creativty than a central midfielder who can put his foot on the ball and make that yard of space for himself and his team mates. As much as I like Skippy I don't put him in the creative class.

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We have players who are tough and scrappy, though. It's someone with a bit more nous and a little more creativity we need right now.

We need an energetic creative player in the middle who can motor up and down the park. We also need a mobile old fashioned hard man with a bit of physical presence who can compete with the likes of Jackson Irvine types - someone, who, when we're under the cosh, is going to dash out from the defensive shield to close opponents down and get wired in.

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I don't think we have ever adequately replaced Nicky Law. I'd be fine with Thomas trying to take up that role, but pace on the wings is a different kind of creativty than a central midfielder who can put his foot on the ball and make that yard of space for himself and his team mates. As much as I like Skippy I don't put him in the creative class.

Neither Law or Jennings were ever adequately replaced by McCall, hence the current predicament.

 

Would be nice to bring in a playmaker types but with the wages that have been spent on Pearson and Skippy, I think we'll be relying on them to create in their own fashion.

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We need a creative midfield player who can produce a little bit of magic to break down defences and maybe even get on the score sheet himself.

 

I don't know, maybe someone like Vigurs.

 

Seems bizarre to me that we played Vigurs in a 4-4-2 and now we have switched to a 4-2-3-1 he's been released. Worth noting Dundee will play a similar kind of player to Vigurs, Gary Harkins, in that role this season and they are looking quite good so far.

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I don't know, maybe someone like Vigurs.

 

Of course, there's always scope for a showboating injury prone left footer, who gets involved once in a blue moon. Mr Vigurs was a failure, harsh but true, simple as that.

Much greater combativity and forward drive required

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10 a penny? We're trading in pennies, Gary McA and the Shimmy King style quality players are out of our budget these days. Pearo is in their mould, fortunately I think sentiment swung it for us to sign him, but I still think combativity is a greater priority when combined with Lionel, Marv and Skippy. We need to command the middle of the park and build from there

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I still think combativity is a greater priority when combined with Lionel, Marv and Skippy. We need to command the middle of the park and build from there

Absolutely - these three creative players are totally irrelevant if there is no-one to win the ball and feed it to them. You have to win the ball first. I'm with you on this - we need a combative Colin O'Neill or Stewart MacLaren type to charge around, get wired in and do the dirty work in the middle of the park. Someone who can compete physically, get in opposition faces and harrass anyone thinking of attacking our goal. Every team needs one of these guys.

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Amen.

 

Apparently they are reopening the Majestic and simply calling it Tony Straker-tic.

 

I heard they're replacing the James Murray statue at Newmains with one of Fraser Kerr knocking Mohsni's cunt in.

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Absolutely - these three creative players are totally irrelevant if there is no-one to win the ball and feed it to them. You have to win the ball first. I'm with you on this - we need a combative Colin O'Neill or Stewart MacLaren type to charge around, get wired in and do the dirty work in the middle of the park. Someone who can compete physically, get in opposition faces and harrass anyone thinking of attacking our goal. Every team needs one of these guys.

 

Are you saying Pearson, Lasley, Leitch and Cadden aren't ball winners?

 

We are crying out for someone who those guys can pass to, and have been since Josh's brother left us. It's all very well knocking it wide every time, but we need someone more central who can spray the ball around too. A proper Number 10, as it were.

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10 a penny? We're trading in pennies, Gary McA and the Shimmy King style quality players are out of our budget these days. Pearo is in their mould, fortunately I think sentiment swung it for us to sign him, but I still think combativity is a greater priority when combined with Lionel, Marv and Skippy. We need to command the middle of the park and build from there

 

They are 10 a penny, because every team has them and Scottish football, I'd argue, has too many of them. Filling midfield with guys that can run about a lot, but not so clever when it comes to finding the killer pass. Guys like Nicky Law, Gary McAllister, Bobby Russell (plus of course a fit McFadden) are much harder to find.

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I think it's underestimating the need for midfield possession to dismiss the value of ball winners that break up the play and move the ball to the guys with greater attacking threat. If we haven't got the ball then we're no threat at all. Middle of the park is key in dominating games. More recently Steve Jennings would be the mould of guy I'd look for . We were a vastly more secure and threatening side with him

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Are you saying Pearson, Lasley, Leitch and Cadden aren't ball winners?

 

 

Pearo is more of an energetic box to box player. An all rounder if you will. Lasley is not an out and out ball winner but there's more to his game than that and he's a decent tackler. However he'll be 35 next month and isn't the biggest or quickest of lads. Also tends to disappear when we're under the cosh - so not an old fashioned ball winner. Leitch - not looking as if he's going to make it - lacks pace and not the best tackler. Cadden - not sure as I haven't seen much of him but from what little I have witnessed he's not really a ball winner - maybe someone else can confirm. In any event its a lot to ask of Leitch & Cadden to come in immediately and help us to dominate midfield.

 

What we need right now is a real battler like Ally Mauchlen, Stewart MacLaren or Colin O'Neill. These guys would tackle an MBT. They would shield the central defence and might not always win a tackle but they'd make damned sure that no-one got in a cross or had a clean shot at goal. If we were defending with 10/11 players in our own box these were the guys who would rush out from the defensive wall and run 30 yards or so on their own to close down an opponent.

 

The nearest we've had in recent times is perhaps Steve Jennings or Simo Valakari.

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